Grants:Project/Rapid/AlwaysInRed/WPI Wikipedia Editing Community
wpi.edu
Please see the sample Editathon/Training application before drafting your application.
Project Goal
editChoose one or more of the following goals. You can add or delete goals as needed.
- Recruit new editors across all groups at WPI: students, faculty, and staff.
- Increase skills for existing editors by writing independent articles and translating articles to and from English.
- Add or improve content especially when it comes to biographies of people who are underrepresented on Wikipedia (women, people of color, LGBTQIA+ folks, people with disabilities, etc.).
Project Plan
editActivities
editTell us how you'll carry out your project. Be sure to answer the following questions:
1. Are you doing one editathon or training or a series of editathons or trainings?
- We will host monthly editing meet-ups at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute library (and virtually) where newcomers can be introduced to editing and expert editors can meet and edit together. We will encourage editing around monthly themes and suggest potential pages to improve using tools on the Outreach Dashboard under the existing WPI campaign. Each month there will be refreshments and a raffle for participants.
2. How have you let relevant Wikimedia communities know about this proposal? You are required to provide links to on-wiki pages to inform these communities about your proposed work. Examples of places where this can be done include community discussion pages, affiliate discussion pages, or relevant project talk pages.
You may also provide information about external social media channels you may be using.
- We will be using the WPI Library social media channels to publicly share the events and invite people to join the community.
3. How will you let participants know about the edit-a-thon? In what ways will you be communicating with them?
For example, these can include on-wiki spaces, social media channels, mailing lists, messaging apps, or physical/online gatherings.
- To advertise the events and invite participation we will post the events on WPI's official calendar which sends out a daily email to the entire campus community. We will also use the WPI Library social media channels and several WPI mailing lists (to faculty/staff, to alumni, to affiliates, etc.) to reach out to potential participants. If instruction proceeds in person as currently planned, we will also post flyers on campus.
4. Do you have experienced Wikimedia editors to lead the event? Please provide links to the usernames of these individuals.
For example: User:I JethroBT
- We have expert editors who will be regularly attending and leading these meet-ups. They are: User:AlwaysInRed who edits in English and Italian and User:Konxykogure who edits in Catalan and English.
5. Do participants have the equipment or skills needed to participate and contribute high quality content? If not, how will you support them?
- We expect practically all attendees to have their own laptop, but we will be hosting the events at the WPI library where laptops and desktops can be freely accessed if attendees don't have their own. WPI provides freely accessible Wi-Fi to all people on campus. We will have librarians on site to help with research and expert editors to support newcomers and answer any editing-related questions that may arise.
6. How will you engage participants after the event(s)?
- We will set up a LibGuide page on the WPI Library website where attendees can learn about editing and keep in touch with other participants. We have created an Outreach Dashboard campaign: Worcester Polytechnic Institute where all events will be listed so that edits and impact can be tracked. After the first event, a mailing list will be created to reach out directly to past participants.
7. Are you running any in-person events or activities? If so, you will need to complete the steps outlined on the Risk Assessment protocol related to COVID-19. When you have completed these steps, please provide a link to your completed copy of the risk assessment tool below:
- We do not anticipate more than 10 in person attendees at any of the monthly events. This is a new initiative on a campus where there does not seem to be a tradition of editing Wikipedia, so our hope is to build a community of interested editors starting small.
8. Is there anything else you want to tell us about this project?
- Events will be scheduled the same day each month for two hours.
Impact
editHow will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets:
- Number of events: 8
- Number of participants: 6-10 per event
- Number of new editors: 8 total
- Number of articles created or improved: 40-50
- Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events): 4-6
Resources
editWhat resources do you have? Include information on who is organizing the project, what they will do, and if you will receive support from anywhere else (in-kind donations or additional funding).
- We have two experienced editors who will attend all the events. One librarian will prepare the room ahead of the events and offer any technical support needed. The library room and technology use will be provided in-kind by WPI.
What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense and include a total amount.
- Refreshments (food and drink): $15 x 10 people x 8 events = $1,200
- Books for raffle: $30 x 8 events = $240
- WPI swag for raffle: $12 x 8 events = $96
- Advertising materials (flyers): $8 x 8 events = $64
Total: 1,600 US$
Endorsements
editCommunity members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!
- Endorse. The project leaders seem well acquainted with available resources on English Wikipedia (relevant WikiProjects, sources of red-link lists, e.g.) to support these events. Innisfree987 (talk) 19:19, 5 September 2021 (UTC)