Grants:Project/PKW/OpenGLAM Accelerator.IL
Project idea edit
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What is the problem you're trying to solve? edit
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.
Israeli GLAM collections are a source of international interest to diverse populations spanning religions and cultures. Recent years have seen a focus on preserving a cultural collections through digitalization. While opening up new opportunities, this process revealed additional challenges. These were both logistical - such as releasing access to vast collections, and methodological - how to ensure GLAM professionals without a digital tradition could develop effective OpenGLAM interfaces with the public. Moreover, with funding in some institutions based on physical visitor numbers, there is still a preservation rather than dissemination mindset in some institutions, and comparatively little training or investment in developing OpenGLAM skills and awareness in institutions throughout the country. Because of this, the potential of digitization is yet to be fully realized, with open access and digital release of collections yet to create a broader, more inclusive cultural dialogue as standard with the diverse public in Israel and beyond.
What is your solution? edit
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.
The program seeks to act as a catalyst in developing and embedding a sustainable Open GLAM movement in Israel’s cultural landscape while developing open source MVPs with high interoperability with WikiData and Wiki Commons. It aims to create a bridge between Israeli cultural institutions and the Public Knowledge Workshop’s (PKW) vibrant open access community through its OpenGLAM.IL. Accelerator. By learning together, the program will form a core group of GLAM practitioners and tech specialists who will be able to lead OpenGLAM forward, and champion more release of cultural items through Wikidata articles, and a more inclusive digital cultural dialogue with the Israeli public and beyond. The program trains GLAM practitioners and civic tech volunteers, and requires the commitment by management to devote staff time and resources to the program and its output. The training program instils an open access culture through lectures, expert speakers, introduces wikidata and its potential and links participants with PKW’s civic hack community through weekly hacknights. Participants will then work with developers to tackle challenges presented in their own institutions in their own projects - preparing for sustainable changes in their own organisation. Since the program will train 5 diverse institutions from around Israel (together with 5 from a pilot of a similar program) it will foster a cross-institution, multidisciplinary community to lead sustainable change in open access in Israeli cultural collections - and effective engagement with the public. Moreover, this model - creating an OpenGLAM leadership community could be replicated internationally in other countries to achieve the same aims.
Project goals edit
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.
The goals of the OpenGLAM.IL Accelerator are:
- Open GLAM.IL will extend awareness and skills of Open GLAM amongst Israeli GLAM institutions encouraging the use of Wikidata, and facilitating release of collections through technical support and advice. The program is a model that could be replicated in other countries to achieve the same goals.
- The project will allow participants to develop their own practical OpenGLAM solutions in their organisations (eg releasing collections to Wikidata, creating a minimum viable product etc) and allow smaller organisations with limited resources to benefit from consultancy and mentoring in openGLAM skills to broaden their digital visitor engagement.
- The project will create a core group of OpenGLAM activists to lead open access in Israeli GLAM institutions, sharing information with each other, and with the international GLAM community.
Project impact edit
How will you know if you have met your goals? edit
For each of your goals, we’d like you to answer the following questions:
- During your project, what will you do to achieve this goal? (These are your outputs.)
- 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 (e.g. 45 people, 10 articles, 100 scanned documents). Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.
During the program
- 5 participating institutions, (5-15 GLAM staff) and 15-18 developers will learn about the principle and practice of open access in Israel, completing a 16-week course. This will include lectures about Wiki platforms and where relevant, linking the institution to Wikimedia Israel after the program. Each institution will complete a Minimum Viable Product using OpenGLAM principles forming the basis of developing further projects in future.
- At least one practitioner per institution (5-10 individuals) will develop an MVP together with software developer participants, sharing information and tips in order to underpin future work on OpenGLAM.
- 5 GLAM practitioners will work on technical issues related to database linkage and explore using Wiki platforms appropriate to their work together with software developers belonging to the PKW community/developers attending the program. Participants will consolidate their learning in an OpenGLAM editathon/ hackathon where they will meet with other experts involved in Wikidata and OpenGLAM development and practice skills.
- Participants and former participants will join an OpenGLAM forum to share experiences, consolidating the core group,
After the program:
- GLAM practitioners who graduate the program will be better able to sustain open access in Israeli cultural institutions, with the support of the new OpenGLAM leadership community.
- The OpenGLAM core community will share knowledge and tips regularly in online meetings and the participant forum.
- 1-2 OpenGLAM forum meetings will be held in the 18 months following the program to which participants, developers, GLAM management and also past participants will be invited.
- A toolkit for the program can be produced which other organisations can use to develop a similar program in their own countries.
Do you have any goals around participation or content? edit
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. Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.
- We foresee 1-5 new institutions using Wikidata in their work
- 5-10 new Wikimedians will join the Wikimedia community as OpenGLAM specialists.
- Participant institutions will scan and upload at 20++ documents/images/articles to wikidata.
- 5 Minimum Viable Products/projects will be created, from which the institutions can develop more sustainable open access digital engagement platforms linking to Wikidata.
- The OpenGLAM community will consist of at least 10 institutions and 30+ participants, and continue to grow.
Project plan edit
Activities edit
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?
Months 1-3 - Participant selection by open call, 4-5 institutions chosen on the basis of: commitment to develop the OpenGLAM.IL MVP product and ensuring open access to collections, and release of items through Wikidata; involvement of senior executive to ensure top-down commitment; diversity of type and size of institution; ability/commitment to sustain open access beyond the program. Management commits to ensuring 1-3 staff to attend 16 x 6 hour sessions plus attending a weekly ‘Hackita’ (Hack+classroom in Hebrew), PKW’s innovative volunteer tech workshops.
- PKW works with participant institutions to analyse needs, define challenges and decide on appropriate projects.
Month 3 Participant Selection of Developers (16-18 per course) to collaborate on GLAM software.
Months 4-8 16 week course and minimum viable product development (16 x 6 hour sessions plus attending a weekly ‘Hackita’ (Hack+classroom in Hebrew). Curriculum includes expert talks; project design; open access licenses; using Wikidata for GLAM collections; collaborative working; mentoring; meetings with previous participants.
Month 7 Hackathon, consisting of participants from the course and any other developers interested in attending
Month 9-10 Closing event where all participants present their projects, in the presence of current and past participants, tech volunteers and representatives of a range of cultural institutions.
Ongoing Community building; participation in weekly PKW volunteer ‘Hackitas’ and continual exchange of ideas amongst members of the OpenGLAM.IL community and PKW's committed public. After the program, plans for further meetings organised by the community.
Note: We ran a pilot for a similar program last year, for which this one is a progression. Eynat Sharon, the leader of the OpenGLAM pilot, talked about the program at the WikiGLAM conference Israel. in November 2018
The pilot program website can also be seen here (Hebrew only).
Budget. edit
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!
Program Costs of 12 month program:
Program Director, 10% of CEO's time - $8,100
Course and Meetups: $41,000:
OpenGLAM Accelerator Coordinator (350 hours), weekly meetup costs (logistics, sundries refreshments), speaker costs, closing evening costs; 2 day hackathon/editathon - venue, refreshments, prominent GLAM speakers), 5% of Volunteer Coordinator's time for coordination with tech community
Tech trainers: $41,600
Tech lead and two assistants to teach and mentor throughout the course/meetups/hackathon/editathon
Operations $25,600: Dev-ops, room rent, web-servers, PR, website graphics etc.
Sub-total expenses: = $103,500 minus $2,600 in participant fees =
Total program costs: $100,900
Grant Requested: $25,000 to part fund Tech trainer and lead tech time for developing open source MVPs for participant institutions with high interoperability with WikiData and Wiki Commons.
Community engagement edit
Community input and participation helps make projects successful. 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 during your project?
We have a facebook following of 13,000, twitter following of 3,600, and over 3,600 newsletter readers as well as a volunteer base of 200, to whom we regularly send updates of programs, events and news. Partner institutions will also send out details of programs and events through their own communications networks. We will develop a program website, see pilot website (in Hebrew) and use PR services to publicise the program.
The program leader has also given several presentations at conferences, including Wikimedia GLAM Conference (05.11.2018, and the Israeli National Conference for Heritage Preservation (20.11.2018).
Get involved edit
Participants edit
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.
Eynat Sharon will be the leading the project. She is the International Council of Museums in Israel (ICOM)’s first consultant for Digital Media Development, and is passionate about promoting the role of digital engagement in Israeli museums and cultural institutions. She led the first pilot OpenGLAM accelerator working with five Israeli institutions including the Israeli Film Archive and the Museum of the Diaspora. see linkedin
Shevy Korzen has over 20 years experience in non-profit management. Before joining PKW she was director of the award winning Hotline for Refugees and migrants, and since joining PKW was named one of the top civic actors in Israel by a leading Israeli Newspaper the Marker in 2015. She is passionate about civic participation and open access.
Community notification edit
Please paste links below to where reylevant communities have been notified of your proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions. 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. Need notification tips?
We are notifying through our community.
Endorsements edit
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).
Support I've worked with the Public Knowledge Workshop, I think they are an excellent and worthy partner which can deliver on this plan. I also know the open source tools they work on provide thousands of developers and open data enthusiasts worldwide with means to open up datasets and collections.
Alleycat80 (talk) 21:55, 2 December 2018 (UTC)