Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Introduction to Wikipedia and Commons micro credential course (ID: 22362462)
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Applicant Details edit
- Main Wikimedia username. (required)
Jimmyjrg
- Organization
N/A
- If you are a group or organization leader, board member, president, executive director, or staff member at any Wikimedia group, affiliate, or Wikimedia Foundation, you are required to self-identify and present all roles. (required)
N/A
- Describe all relevant roles with the name of the group or organization and description of the role. (required)
Main Proposal edit
- 1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.
Introduction to Wikipedia and Commons micro credential course
- 2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.
2024-01-15 - 2024-06-30
- 4. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)
Australia
- 5. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign, project, or event? If so, please select the relevant project or campaign. (required)
Not applicable
- 6. What is the change you are trying to bring? What are the main challenges or problems you are trying to solve? Describe this change or challenges, as well as main approaches to achieve it. (required)
To make learning about Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons more accessible, I will create two 'Introduction to...' courses on the Wiki Learn platform. Currently, if you follow tutorials on YouTube, the Outreach Dashboard, or elsewhere, you usually won't get a certificate to show what you've learnt. By using Wiki Learn, participants will get a certificate of completion and a micro credential they can add to their cv or LinkedIn profile, and will be able to prove they have completed steps to understand Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons, how to use them, and how to contribute to the movement.
I will create a series of video tutorials along with quizzes for participants so participants can study online at their own pace. This will be hosted on Wiki Learn in English, but others will be able to adapt and translate the course into their own languages.
Overall, this will promote more people to learn about Wikipedia and Commons thanks to the micro credential incentive, promote increased awareness about the Wikimedia Movement, and also serve to promote the Wiki Learn platform as a place for the Wikimedia community to host courses about Wikimedia projects. The 'Introduction to...' courses will bring in new users and empower existing users from around the world to contribute to the Wikimedia movements and projects.
Based on my experience running workshops on how to edit Wikipedia, new users often want to add images, so the Introduction to Wikimedia Commons course will show people how to add images to Commons and then to Wikipedia. More advanced courses could be created later based on feedback to these initial ones.
- 7. What are the planned activities? (required) Please provide a list of main activities. You can also add a link to the public page for your project where details about your project can be found. Alternatively, you can upload a timeline document. When the activities include partnerships, include details about your partners and planned partnerships.
I will script and create a series of new video tutorials based on my experience running Wikipedia workshops with Wikimedia Australia. This will include recording and editing videos, creating quizzes to test participant learning, and preparing additional documentation for people to read beyond the course.
Overall this project will run between January and May 2024, with the course launched officially by June 2024. The Rapid Grant would allow for 26 days of work, and Wikimedia Australia have agreed to provide additional funding to extend the project to 33 days. This additional funding will allow for extra time to create the Introduction to Wikimedia Commons course.
The course structure will be as below:
Course 1. Introduction to Wikipedia
- 1. Introducing Wiki Learn and how this course works.
- 2. Introduction to Wikipedia, why it’s important, and an overview of other WMF projects
- 3. Sign up for an account / Log in, and tour of Wikipedia
- 4. Your Wikipedia User Page, Talk Page, and Sandbox
- 5. Editing Wikipedia in Source and Visual editor
- 6. Creative Commons, plagiarism, and copyright basics to keep in mind
- 7. Adding citations, and where to find good sources
- 8. Unlocking more with Wikipedia (Wikipedia Library, Translations, etc.)
- 9. Overview of information learnt
Course 2. Introduction to Wikimedia Commons
- 1. Introducing Wiki Learn and how this course works.
- 2. Introduction to Wikimedia Commons, why it’s important, and how it fits in with other WMF projects
- 3. Sign up for an account / Log in, and tour of Wikimedia Commons
- 4. Creative Commons, open licenses, and copyright basics to keep in mind
- 5. Uploading an image
- 6. Creating categories and adding images to your category
- 7. Adding your images to Wikipedia
- 8. Adding images from Flickr and other sources
- 9. Overview of information learnt
The course will be self-taught, allowing participants to follow at their own pace so they can go away and practise in-between the videos and quizzes. I believe this will work best, as for people new to the movement there is a lot to take in. Having run workshops on Wikipedia before, a lot of participants drop off and stop editing soon after. I hope that by allowing people to take the course at their own pace (and to repeat sections if needed) it will mean participants continue editing for longer, as they practise and come back to gain their certificate and micro credential.
Using Wiki Learn has the added advantage that I can update select videos as things on Wikipedia change, whereas YouTube forces you to delete and re-upload videos if you want to make changes.
- 8. Describe your team. Please provide their roles, Wikimedia Usernames and other details. (required) Include more details of the team, including their roles, usernames, Wikimedia group, and whether they are salaried, volunteers, consultants/contractors, etc. Team members involved in the grant application need to be aware of their involvement in the project.
Name: James Gaunt Wikimedia username: Jimmyjrg
James is the former Communications and Project Coordinator of Wikimedia Australia, but is no longer working with Wikimedia Australia as staff. In this role he presented training workshops for Wikimedia project and ran edit-a-thons, created video tutorials and documentation on how to use and edit Wikimedia projects, and created blog posts for Wikimedia Australia, This Month in GLAM, and Diff. His 'Wikipedia For Beginners' series of YouTube video tutorials have collectively received over 2,800 views as of 18 October 2023.
James will be the sole member of the project team. He is experienced with video and audio editing, creating manuals, and presenting workshops on how to use Wikimedia projects.
- 9. Who are the target participants and from which community? How will you engage participants before and during the activities? How will you follow up with participants after the activities? (required)
This project targets everyone who uses English Wikipedia, with a focus on new users or those who have never edited Wikipedia before. It also targets rural or regional people who may be unable to attend in-person training events due being based outside of a major city.
Initial participation will be targeted at librarians and a network of people I know who are interested in Wikipedia but haven't found time to attend an in-person event. Prior to the program officially launching, I will invite people from this network to take the course and provide feedback using the Discussion area on Wiki Learn. Additionally, this discussion area will remain open and I can continue to tweak things based on feedback to make sure the course is easy to understand for everyone.
I will follow up with participants however they have contacted me. For example, replying through the Wiki Learn discussion area, email, or elsewhere on a Wikimedia project if applicable.
Once the project is launched, participants will be targeted through promotion on Diff, social media (with a focus on LinkedIn), and through the wider Wikimedia community sharing the project through their own platforms.
- 10. Does your project involve work with children or youth? (required)
No
- 10.1. Please provide a link to your Youth Safety Policy. (required) If the proposal indicates direct contact with children or youth, you are required to outline compliance with international and local laws for working with children and youth, and provide a youth safety policy aligned with these laws. Read more here.
N/A
- 11. How did you discuss the idea of your project with your community members and/or any relevant groups? Please describe steps taken and provide links to any on-wiki community discussion(s) about the proposal. (required) You need to inform the community and/or group, discuss the project with them, and involve them in planning this proposal. You also need to align the activities with other projects happening in the planned area of implementation to ensure collaboration within the community.
Previously I have spoken to members of the Wikimedia community at Wikimedia Australia's community meetings. I expressed interest in creating a series of tutorials to compliment edit-a-thon events, and it was emphasised there is a need for a certificate or micro credentials to appeal to people.
In August 2023, I spoke with Melissa Guadalupe Huertas, Senior Program Officer, Education, about Wiki Learn and my idea to create an Introduction to Wikipedia course. They liked the idea and said they will give me access to Wiki Learn to host my course as soon as I'm ready.
I approached Wikimedia Australia in October 2023 about whether they can offer any support to this project. Their Board are enthusiastic as it would appeal to and attract newcomers to their community, and allow them to further engage regional participants. They have given their support, confirmed with Belinda Spry, Executive Officer of Wikimedia Australia.
All discussions were held via email, Zoom, or in-person.
- 12. Does your proposal aim to work to bridge any of the content knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Not applicable
- 13. Does your proposal include any of these areas or thematic focus? Select one option that most applies to your work. (required)
Education
- 14. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Geographic
- 15. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select one that most applies. (required)
Manage Internal Knowledge
Learning and metrics edit
- 17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)
This project will show whether there is interest in learning about Wikipedia in an online course, and whether Wiki Learn is the best place to host that. I hope to know the answers to the following questions:
- Is a certificate/micro credential enough to attract new users to learn about Wikimedia projects?
- Is Wiki Learn the best place to host such a course?
- Is there interest in creating additional introductory courses on Wiki Learn?
- Can these courses be used as part of professional development for employees?
- Is an online self-paced course a good alternative to existing edit-a-thon / Wikipedia workshops held in-person or online?
- 18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
| Other Metrics | Target | Optional description |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 20 | By the end of 2024, I hope to have had 20 people participate and complete the course 100% and earn their certificate. |
| Number of editors | 20 | Everyone who takes the course should sign up for an account and edit on Wikipedia. This course is aimed at new users, but may attract returning editors too. |
| Number of organizers | 1 |
| Wikimedia project | Number of content created or improved |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 20 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 20 |
| Wikidata | |
| Wiktionary | |
| Wikisource | |
| Wikimedia Incubator | |
| Translatewiki | |
| MediaWiki | |
| Wikiquote | |
| Wikivoyage | |
| Wikibooks | |
| Wikiversity | |
| Wikinews | |
| Wikispecies | |
| Wikifunctions or Abtsract Wikipedia |
- Optional description for content contributions.
Every participant in the course should make at least one edit while taking the course. They will also be shown how to upload images, and should upload one of their own as part of completing the course.
- 19. Do you have any other project targets in numbers (metrics)? (optional)
No
| Main Open Metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
- 20. What tools would you use to measure each metrics? Please refer to the guide for a list of tools. You can also write that you are not sure and need support. (required)
As part of the course, I will instruct participants to add their username to the Outreach Dashboard as a way to track metrics for this project. Alternatively, participants will be able to paste a URL of pages they have edited or uploads made to show they have completed a task. Both of these sources can be gathered into a final report to show participant metrics.
Financial proposal edit
- 21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Qs_whQoNZfn1ubJL5H7mocOUuubQ640KUE1Weup-sps/edit?usp=sharing
- 22. and 22.1. What is the amount you are requesting for this proposal? Please provide the amount in your local currency. (required)
7800 AUD
- 22.2. Convert the amount requested into USD using the Oanda converter. This is done only to help you assess the USD equivalent of the requested amount. Your request should be between 500 - 5,000 USD.
4921.67 USD
- We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.
Yes
Endorsements and Feedback edit
Please add endorsements and feedback to the grant discussion page only. Endorsements added here will be removed automatically.
Community members are invited to share meaningful feedback on the proposal and include reasons why they endorse the proposal. Consider the following:
- Stating why the proposal is important for the communities involved and why they think the strategies chosen will achieve the results that are expected.
- Highlighting any aspects they think are particularly well developed: for instance, the strategies and activities proposed, the levels of community engagement, outreach to underrepresented groups, addressing knowledge gaps, partnerships, the overall budget and learning and evaluation section of the proposal, etc.
- Highlighting if the proposal focuses on any interesting research, learning or innovation, etc. Also if it builds on learning from past proposals developed by the individual or organization, or other Wikimedia communities.
- Analyzing if the proposal is going to contribute in any way to important developments around specific Wikimedia projects or Movement Strategy.
- Analysing if the proposal is coherent in terms of the objectives, strategies, budget, and expected results (metrics).