Grants:Project/Maunus/UCPH Academic Outreach

statusinactive

Project Grants

UCPH Academic Outreach

summaryOrganize and carry out a series of Wikipedia related public seminars, workshops and edit-a-thons for faculty and students at the University of Copenhagen in the academic year 2017-2018.

targetEnglish and Danish Wikipedia

amount3800

grantee• Maunus

contact• magnuspharaogmail.com

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created on12:59, 23 May 2017 (UTC)

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Project idea

What is the problem you're trying to solve?

What problem are you trying to solve by doing this project? This problem should be small enough that you expect it to be completely or mostly resolved by the end of this project. Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.

• The problems are:

1. That the content review process is hampered by the lack of participation by topic experts familiar with the broader areas of knowledge.
2. That academic topic experts lack motivation to participate in Wikipedia's editing process.
3. That academic topic experts are often negatively disposed towards participating in the editing of Wikipedia
4. That for these reasons experts are not often positively disposed towards contributing text or peer reviews to Wikipedia

• These problems have previously been described in the idea-lab proposal Grants:IdeaLab/Getting_Academic_Reviewers which has not yet been carried out, this is my first move towards beginning the project described there. If this project is successful it can be extended to further Universities.

What is your solution to this problem?

For the problem you identified in the previous section, briefly describe your how you would like to address this problem. We recognize that there are many ways to solve a problem. We’d like to understand why you chose this particular solution, and why you think it is worth pursuing. Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.

• In my previous proposal I suggested in general terms to reach out to academics to request article reviews. In this proposal I propose a specific effort at motivating academics in the department of cross cultural studies at the University of Copenhagen to take an active interest in the Wikipedia and to contribute article reviews and generate content. The grant money requested will be used to improve the likelihood of a significant participation by providing light catering for the events to make the experience more attractive. Because the effort is sustained over an entire academic year it will have the potential of creating a lasting relation between the UCPH faculty and students and the Wikipedia community.

• Specifically I propose a two semester long seminar at the University of Copenhagen including: 1. Public lectures by Wikipedia researchers, 2. Workshops introducing academics to Wikipedia and to editing, 3. inviting specific topic experts to contribute reviews of FA and GA articles within their areas of expertise, 4. a content generation contest in which scholars at UCPH produce content and review each others content and award a prize for the best content. 5. a writing seminar for UCPH students where wikipedia editing is taught as part of teaching public communication an dissemination of academic knowledge.

• The purpose of this seminar will be 1. to create interest and motivation for faculty and students at the University of Copenhagen, create a sense of wikipedia editing as a legitimate form of public dissemination of academic knowledge 2. beginning a process towards having academic experts participate in Wikipedia's peer review process which can be extended to other universities.

Project goals

What are your goals for this project? Your goals should describe the top two or three benefits that will come out of your project. These should be benefits to the Wikimedia projects or Wikimedia communities. They should not be benefits to you individually. Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.

• That the academics at ToRS Institute at the University of Copenhagen become more open to engaging with Wikipedia and to seeing wikipedia as a platform for scholarly work
• That students at the ToRS Institute at the University of Copenhagen are encouraged to engage with Wikipedia writing as a part of their educational process
• Contributions of expert reviews of FA articles in the English Wikipedia - the goal is at least 5
• Content contributions to the Danish wikipedia from University Students (depending on the degree of student interest)

Project impact

How will you know if you have met your goals?

For each of your goals, we’d like you to answer the following questions:

1. During your project, what will you do to achieve this goal? (These are your outputs.)
2. Once your project is over, how will it continue to positively impact the Wikimedia community or projects? (These are your outcomes.)

For each of your answers, think about how you will capture this information. Will you capture it with a survey? With a story? Will you measure it with a number? Remember, if you plan to measure a number, you will need to set a numeric target in your proposal (i.e. 45 people, 10 articles, 100 scanned documents). Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.

• I will keep count of the level of participation in the seminar through a sign up sheet, I will keep count of the number of registered accounts by a sign up sheet for the workshops, and I will keep count of the number of articles edited through the competition. I will find out if attitudes towards wikipedia have changed after participation through conducting surveys with participants before and after the course of the seminars.

Do you have any goals around participation or content?

Are any of your goals related to increasing participation within the Wikimedia movement, or increasing/improving the content on Wikimedia projects? If so, we ask that you look through these three metrics, and include any that are relevant to your project. Please set a numeric target against the metrics, if applicable.

• Participation goal will be a total of some 50 academics participating in the Public seminar series. At least 10 academics participating in the workshop series.
• Registered user goal: The goal is 20 new registered users.
• Content creation goal will be at least 100 pages edited and improved by university students.
• Grantee defined goal: at least 5 academics from ToRS, each contributing at least 1 review of an article.
• Grantee defined goal: increased knowledge of Wikipedia among academic participants, and increased openness to engaging with wikipedia as part of a knowledge dissemination strategy. This will be measured by surveys before and after the beginning of the project.

Project plan

Activities

Tell us how you'll carry out your project. What will you and other organizers spend your time doing? What will you have done at the end of your project? How will you follow-up with people that are involved with your project?

• Autumn 2017: Faculty Seminar

• A Public Seminar with University of Copenhagen Wikipedia researchers at the ToRS Institute, and a keynote speaker from another country and a following round-table debate about the relation between Academia and Wikipedia
• Three two hour Wikipedia Workshops: about the topics "Wikipedia and Knowledge", "Wikipedia and Culture", "Wikipedia and Scholarship".
• Each Workshop followed by a three hour edit-a-thon
• A semester long Wikipedia Competition in which participants in the seminar are encouraged to write articles, review each others' article and vote for the best article written by a participant who will receive a prize.

• Spring 2018: Graduate Student Seminar

• A weekly seminar (10 weeks*3 hrs) for graduate students, the goal for students will be to learn more about communicating academic knowledge for the general public, and the exercises will be based on wikipedia editing and they will include both writing on the topics of expertise represented among the students and peer reviewing each others' articles.

Budget

How you will use the funds you are requesting? List bullet points for each expense. (You can create a table later if needed.) Don’t forget to include a total amount, and update this amount in the Probox at the top of your page too!

• Catering (Coffee, beer, soda, cookies, snacks, sandwiches) for public lectures, Workshops and edit-a-thons (will help secure wider participation).2500x4 = 10000 DKK
• Prize money for the Editing competition (should be relatively substantial to off-set the discouraging factor of lost worktime). 1500 dkk
• Printing information materials and advertising the events 2500 DKK
• Small gift to the wikipedia scholars who will give the public lecture (in lieu of a honorarium). 3x500 DKK = 1500 DKK
• Minor catering to encourage student participation in the weekly seminar (they will likely not receive academic credit). 800 DKK x 12 = 9600 DKK
• Total: 25100 DKK = 3800 USD

Community engagement

How will you let others in your community know about your project? Why are you targeting a specific audience? How will you engage the community you’re aiming to serve at various points during your project? Community input and participation helps make projects successful.

Get involved

Participants

Please use this section to tell us more about who is working on this project. For each member of the team, please describe any project-related skills, experience, or other background you have that might help contribute to making this idea a success.

• Maunus (talk · contribs) - I have a temporary faculty position at ToRS, UCPH in the 2017-2018 academic year, this will make it possible for me to be the liaison between Wikimedia and ToRS for this project, I will also be the main organizer and teach the seminars. I have edited the English, Danish and Spanish language wikipedias since 2005, and I have published an article in American Anthropologist arguing that anthropologists ought to be more involved in making sure that anthropological knowledge about minority communities is not misrepresented in Wikipedia. I will be volunteering my time as I will not be paid for this project by my institution.

Community notification

You are responsible for notifying relevant communities of your proposal, so that they can help you! Depending on your project, notification may be most appropriate on a Village Pump, talk page, mailing list, etc.--> Please paste links below to where relevant communities have been notified of your proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions. Need notification tips?

• I will notify the users who endorsed the proposal Grants:IdeaLab/Getting Academic Reviewers

Endorsements

Do you think this project should be selected for a Project Grant? Please add your name and rationale for endorsing this project below! (Other constructive feedback is welcome on the discussion page).