Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/wikiBlind outreach at the 2022 National Federation for the Blind Convention (ID: 21897820)
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Applicant Details edit
- Please provide your main Wikimedia Username.
CaliLive
- Please provide the Usernames of people related to this proposal.
Acamdeic_Challenger DrMel Willdemelo CaliLive
- Organization
WikiBlind User Group
- Are you a member of any Wikimedia affiliate or group, including informal groups like Wiki Fan Clubs, emerging language communities, not recognized Wikimedia groups etc.? Please list them all.
wikiBlind User Group, wikimedia Accessibility User Group, wikiSoCal
Grant Proposal edit
- M. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.
wikiBlind outreach at the 2022 National Federation for the Blind Convention
- Q. Indicate if it is a local, international, or regional proposal and if it involves several countries? (optional)
International
- Q2. If you have answered regional or international, please write the country names and any other information that is useful for understanding your proposal.
United States of America
International focus: the work funded by this grant will lead to improved accessibility of all language versions of Wikipedia and potentially other Wikimedia projects.
Regional focus: contacts and partnerships with US-based charities and self-advocates will enable the WikiBlind user group to grow the number of blind Americans participating in the Wikimedia movement.
- R. If you would like, please share any websites or social media accounts that your group or organization has.
- 1. What is the change that you are trying to bring about and why is this important.
We are requesting funds to enable one member of the WikiBlind user group to attend the 2022 National Federation of the Blind Convention as a representative of the Wikimedia movement.
We believe that the blind community needs to play a larger role in the development of free knowledge. Our participation in this event is the first step in our plan to engage members of the blind community and encourage them to join the Wikimedia movement.
We plan to do this both on an individual level, as well as through working with existing non-profits in the blind space, which will be present at the event.
Connections made at the event will serve to grow our user group, as well as identify potential partners and their interests.
We will also use the event as an opportunity to gather input on accessibility pain points and common issues that blind users have when using Wikipedia.
- 2. Describe your main approaches or strategies to achieve these changes and why you think they will be effective.
Before the event, we will identify key organizations and individuals to connect with. This will help our representative to build a schedule of must-see sessions and act as a to-do list throughout the event.
To make connections, our representative will: actively participate in selected talks, panel sessions, etc. and engage speakers afterwards, join ad hoc discussions as they happen, and network at planned evening social slots and in-between scheduled sessions.
All connections will be added to a database (see question 18). We believe such an organized and focused approach to networking will result in a larger number of connections made.
- 3. What are the activities you will be developing and delivering as part of these approaches or strategies?
By attending the 2022 National Foundation for the Blind Convention in person, we will be able to connect with individuals and organizational leadership within the blind communities in the US and more globally.
By organizing a follow-up review meeting for Wikimedians, we will be able to align our plans for accessibility improvements and further outreach with the learnings and takeaways from the event.
- 4. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign or event? If so, please select the relevant campaign below. If so, please select all the relevant campaigns from the list below. If "other", please state which.
Not applicable
- 5. Do you have the team that is needed to implement this proposal?
Yes. Apart from the WikiBlind representative attending the convention (1 person), 7 members of the WikiBlind user group (both blind and sighted) will work together to best use the contacts gained at the event in order to engage the organizations and individuals we meet in collaboration towards the goals of the Wikimedia movement.
This follow up work will take the form of on-line discussions, project planning work, as well as trainings.
WikiBlind members who have volunteered to participate in post-event follow-up work are: CaliLive Academic_Challenger DrMel Graham87 Kara Willdemelo Kirk Adams
- 6. Please state if your proposal aims to work to bridge any of the identified CONTENT knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select up to THREE that most apply to your work.
Not applicable
- 6.1 In a few sentences, explain how your work is specifically addressing this content gap (or Knowledge inequity) to ensure a greater representation of knowledge.
Not applicable. This grant request is not focused on content generation.
- 7. Please state if your proposal includes any of these areas or THEMATIC focus. Select up to THREE that most apply to your work and explain the rationale for identifying these themes.
Education, Diversity
- 8. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities?
Disabilities, Digital Access
- 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?
Due to travel costs, we have opted to send just one representative to this event.
Courtney is a blind Wikipedian and will work to create connections with other attendees of the event, leading to follow-up on-line meetings and collaboration with other members of the WikiBlind user group.
We will also provide a written post-event report and organize a post-event review meeting (see # of participants metric in question 17).
We will create a database of all contacts made, and use that to initiate new projects and keep in touch with potential partners after the event.
- 10. In what ways are you actively seeking to contribute towards creating a safer, supportive, more equitable environment for participants?
The convention is entirely organized by the National Foundation for the Blind, which sets the rules of conduct and provides safety measures.
The WikiBlind representative will follow all rules and regulations set out by the organizers.
Additionally, the WikiBlind representative will provide a written summary of the event to other members of the WikiBlind user group and the larger Wikimedia community, to ensure those not present can benefit from the knowledge gained during this event.
- 11. Please tell us about how you have let your Wikimedia communities know about the planned activities and this proposal. Use this space to describe the processes you carried out to make the community more involved in planning this proposal. Please link the on-wiki community discussion(s) around the proposals.
The plan for a WikiBlind representative to attend this event has been discussed with members of the WikiBlind user group (via Facebook Messenger) and members of the Wikimedia Accessibility user group (via Telegram).
Due to the highly specialized nature of the event, we chose not to consult with any other groups.
- 12. Are you aware of other Rapid Fund proposals in your local group, community, or region that are being submitted and that align with your proposed project?
No
If yes:
- 12.1 Did you explore the possibility of doing a joint proposal with other leaders in your group?
- N/A
- 12.2 How will this joint proposal allow you to have better results?
- N/A
- 13. Will you be working with other external, non-Wikimedia partners to implement this proposal? Required.
No
- 13.1 Please describe these partnerships and what motivates the potential partner to be part of the proposal and how they add value to your work.
- 14. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select a maximum of THREE options that most apply.
Increase the Sustainability of Our Movement, Improve User Experience, Evaluate, Iterate, and Adapt
Learning, Sharing, and Evaluation edit
- 15. What do you hope to learn from your work in this fund proposal?
What accessibility obstacles are most commonly preventing blind users from: (a) using Wikimedia content? (b) contributing to Wikipedia?
Is there interest and capacity within the blind community to participate in the Wikimedia movement in a bigger way?
What resources and support can the WikiBlind user group obtain from the larger blind and accessibility communities (including organizations and institutions working in this field) that can further our goal of making free knowledge accessible?
- 16. Based on these learning questions, what is the information or data you need to collect to answer these questions? Please register this information (as metric description) in the following spaces provided.
| Main Open Metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Number of new direct contacts | The number of people our representative has talked to, connected with, and gathered contact information from (name and e-mail address). | 30 |
| Number of new potential organizational partners | The number of organizations (non-profits, businesses and other institutions) our representative has talked to, which have expressed interest in working with WikiBlind in the future and provided a person of contact (name and e-mail address). | 5 |
| Number of new WikiBlind user group members | The number of new members of the WikiBlind User Group who will join our group as a result of outreach work done by our representative at the event. Measured 60 days after event. | 5 |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
- 17. Core quantitative metrics.
| Core metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | While one person will be present at the event in person, we will organize an on-line meeting of WikiBlind members, Wikimedia Accessibility user group members, and other interested Wikimedians, where Courtney will present a summary of the topics raised and connections made. This will serve as a kick-off for discussions around identifying most urgent accessibility issues to be solved. | 15 |
| Number of editors | ||
| Number of organizers |
| Wikimedia Project | 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 |
- 17.1 If for some reason your proposal will not measure these core metrics please provide an explanation.
Since this proposal is not connected with content generation, but rather focuses on networking and outreach work to invite new people and organizations into our movement, we opted to focus on post-event information dissemination (as measured by # of participants in post-event review meeting) as an indicator of sharing learnings and collaborating. Question 16 details proposed metrics around networking efforts and their impact.
- 18. What tools would you use to measure each metric selected? Please refer to the guide for a list of tools. You can also write that you are not sure and need support.
We will create an accessible CRM-type database and assign each contact to a group, depending on the type of contact, e.g. potential member, potential partner, resource. If a free web-based CRM solution is sufficiently accessible, we will use that. If not, we will design a database and workflow in a shared spreadsheet.
We will define an “engagement funnel” for each group, with stages leading to the outcome we’re after (members joining the user group, starting a project with potential partners, etc.).
User group members will be trained in the use of this tool, and it will act as a to do list for outreach activities connected with this and future events.
Financial Proposal edit
- 19. & 19.1 What is the amount you are requesting from Wikimedia Foundation? Please provide this amount in your local currency.
3300 USD
- 19.2 What is this amount in US Currency (to the best of your knowledge)?
3300 USD
- 20. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yR1qgrjX6HzUi92WlU9zy97QuCvlXKmWJ7LY_eSyVfw/edit?usp=sharing
- 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).