Grants:Project/Rapid/Bidgee/RioParalympics/Report

Report accepted

This report for a Rapid Grant approved in FY 2016-17 has been reviewed and accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation.

• To read the approved grant submission describing the plan for this project, please visit Grants:Project/Rapid/Bidgee/RioParalympics.
• You may still comment on this report on its discussion page, or visit the discussion page to read the discussion about this report.
• You are welcome to Email rapidgrants at wikimedia dot org at any time if you have questions or concerns about this report.

Goals

Did you meet your goals? Are you happy with how the project went? I was unable to meet the goals set due to issues with the accreditation, as it was E (journalist) and not the required EP (journalist/photographer), this limited the opportunities to get portraits photographs but I was able to take six (way less then the 40+ target). This also impacted on the ability to record video and audio with the one interview I was able to do. However I was able to get quite a few photographs of events from the press tribune but the IPC restrictions on Commercial use prevents me from uploading to Wikimedia Commons (I like to place these somewhere incase the IPC relaxes its stance).

News reporting far lower than I would've liked due to multiple issues, travel time to a few venues was limit and also long (1 to 2 hrs) which resulted in turning up when the event was already underway, I also became ill with an infection (which required antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and pain medication) and unable to connect to the WiFi in the venues and Media Centres and had to try and rely on 3/4G coverage with limited data limit. Also I got the wrong type of plug adapter (got the rounded European and not the diamond shaped adapter), which limited to what I could charge due to having to borrow an adapter. I was able to get one article published and had one in the works but ran out of data and power on my laptop.

Wikimedia Community User Group Brasil was contacted for meet-ups and possible workshops, I received a reply on the 24th of September with apologies as they were unable to find anyone available in Rio during the games.

Work on Wikipedia articles and any DYKs will happen but not as soon as I originally hoped and planned for, this was due to the move of date for the project which impacted on my uni studies and having issues with my internet connection for the past to weeks at present (waiting on the ISP to send a tech).

I had contacted all Paralympic Committee organisations (excluding Australia, since the APC already donates photographs to Commons) for interviews and portraits photographs (to be taken in a location where accreditation isn't a problem) but I didn't get a single reply. The only interview I got was after an event and was able to pull a few strings. Had I been successful in securing some interviews and portraits, this would've seen the goals better meet. Next time this requires planning way ahead of any competition, months in advance when the organisations are not as busy as they would be during an sporting event such as the Summer and Winter Paralympics.

Outcome

Please report on your original project targets.

Target outcome	Achieved outcome	Explanation
participant 1	participant 1
10+ articles created or improved	0 articles created or improved	No articles created or improved were done due to time and internet access constraints, but work will start on them in the coming weeks (due to uni commitments)
250+ photos uploaded to Wikimedia Commons	6 photos uploaded to Wikimedia Commons	More (over 250) photographs were taken of Paralympic events from the press tribune but due to the "Non-Commercial" restriction by the IPC, this restricted photographs to be uploaded on to WikiNews only.
50+ photos used on Wikimedia projects	11 photos used on Wikimedia projects	5 photographs uploaded onto English Wikinews under fair use with CC-BY-NC license. 6 photographs uploaded on Wikimedia Commons, 5 used on English Wikipedia and 1 Norwegian Wikipedia.
15+ English WikiNews articles, including 5+ interviews	1 published story (interview), 1 draft.	Unable to secure the amount of interviews I was hoping for, I would've had a second but didn't speak English. Internet and time constraints held back my reporting, this needs a second person to help out to keep on top of things.
40+ portrait photographs	6 portrait photographs	Accreditation issues restricted where I could take photographs and also dealing with the IPC issue regarding licensing, along with not receiving responses from Paralympic Committees.
1 or more Wiki Meet-Up	0 Wiki Meet-Up	Sent a email to the Wikimedia Usergroup Brasil but no response until post games that no one in Rio was available during the games.

Learning

Projects do not always go according to plan. Sharing what you learned can help you and others plan similar projects in the future. Help the movement learn from your experience by answering the following questions:

• What worked well?

Even though the approval took longer than I had planned, the Rapid process was smooth, including the wire transfer.

Event wise; The interview that was secured with Deepa Malik after the original grouped media questions was cut short due to a protest by another competitor. Speaking to the very helpful Paralympic volunteers in the media area, I was able to briefly interview her one on one with fully prepared questions but unable to photograph a portrait due to running out of time. I had left my contact details for a further interview and photograph but I didn't hear back from her.

While at some venues I wasn't as lucky with Paralympic volunteers, which were following the guidelines given to them but I recommend to anyone who does something similar to explain to them what you do, what you're wanting but don't be demanding of them. They will do everything they can for you.

Don't be scared to ask if you can take a photograph, whether they're a competitor or coach. Some cases they may say no but you'll find they will be ok with it (Doing this will get you photographs, like; File:Itaken Kipelian.jpg, File:Marco Galeon.jpg, File:Kseniya Markitantova, archer for the Ukraine.jpg, File:Oyun-Erdene Buyanjargal, archer for Mongolia.jpg).

• What did not work so well?

The late approval and waiting for the wired funds to clear meant that costs increased more than I had planned for and also resulted in the trip being pushed back by four days (which ate into my uni classes, though able to work with the lecturers). The issue of the accreditation was the biggest problem that restricted what I could do in the venues, which prevented me from doing the photography I had been planning to under take. Issues with the WiFi on my laptop had held back the amount of work I could do, along with becoming ill which required medication.

Another interview that I had been able to organise with one of the Paralympic volunteers was at the archery but after the competition, found that Indian competitor Pooja didn't speak English and I didn't speak Hindi. I had started work on an short article, however I was in transit and only operating on battery power (due to having the wrong adapter) which meant I didn't get it completed in time. Having someone to help you write, will make a world of difference and take away some of the stress.

• What would you do differently next time?

Advanced planning and application for funding, while allowing extra time and working out extra costs from the time pricing is done and adding time for approval and clearance for the funds requested. I'd recommend to anyone that you'd want to start the request for funding at about the six month mark, while you may not have accreditation by then but leaving it until you do will put you in my situation. Costs will not increase as much during that time (six months), unlike a month or two from the event.

Contact the Paralympic Committees to organise photographs and interviews in the lead-up, not a few weeks before or during the games (or you'll not get a response). Contact them at least a year, six months at a minimum. Try email, if that doesn't work try calling them. Letters don't generally work, due to the time it can take to arrive.

I also recommend taking a temporary travel SIM for phone and internet access, you'll find that hotel internet or hotspots are slow to unusable, you also want to be contactable. I found not being contactable during the transit an issue and having access to unreliable hotspots was a problem that had limited my ability to email.

Ensure the accreditation is what I had asked for and has the access you require, E limits to to "Journalist areas" and EP allows access to both "Journalist" and "Photographer" areas. Not having access to Photographer areas will hamper your abilities to take photographs of the events that you attend. After sending in the accreditation application, contact the organisation or committee and have them acknowledge to you in an email as to what accreditation you've or they've applied for. Make sure to tell them why you're asking, which is for a third party (WMF) grant. Once you've received the accreditation (typically sent a couple of months before the event), it cannot be changed. Once you have this information, supply this to the WMF grant email when applying for a grant.

Also look at the cost of exchanging your cash, I've found that it has been cheaper to withdraw from an ATM overseas, with lower fees and better exchange rate then it has been to exchange notes and coins, which I personally found out the hard way. Also best not to carry too much cash on your person in a foreign country, a tip I was given from family and friends and use on all trips.

Make sure with the flights to foreign country/ies that you don't have a stop over longer then 8 to 10 hours, or you may need to apply for a visa or pay an entree fee to collect check baggage and re-check in. I was required to pay a $117 USD reciprocity fee to enter Chile due to a 22 hour stop over.

Finances

Grant funds spent

Please describe how much grant money you spent for approved expenses, and tell us what you spent it on.

Travel

• AU$2,437.84 Sydney - Rio (return) with LATAM, costs increased and booked as soon as the grant was credited in the account. With the $AU500 WM-AU VPS Grant to cover for the overspend, which bring that down to AU$1,937.84.

A change of date was required due to grant funds clearing my account on 6 September and limited available flights under AU$2500

Accomodation

• AU$109 Ibis Budget East Sydney (check-in 8th, checkout 9th)
• AU$497 [R$1200] Pousada da Felicidade (checked in 10th September and checked out on the 16th of September)

Insurance

• AU$93.85 cover from the 9th - 18th from 1Cover

Food

• AU$315.04

• 8/09/2016 – $7.00
• 9/09/2016 – in transit
• 10/09/2016 – $54.36
• 11/09/2016 – $20.00
• 12/09/2016 – $27.77
• 13/09/2016 – $23.75
• 14/09/2016 – $66.32
• 15/09/2016 – $31.56
• 16/09/2016 – $23.35
• 17/09/2016 – in transit
• 18/09/2016 – $60.93

Extra costs

• AU$159.72 [US$114] Entry into Chile (unexpected expense. payable by all Australians who enter the country, needed to enter to collect my bag due to the 22hr stop over). The extra cost was cover by WM-AU post trip.
• AU$21 [$49] TIM SIM card for mobile phone and data coverage in Brazil

Total

• $AU3,633.45 (minus AU$659 from the WMAU = AU$2,974.45)

Remaining funds

Do you have any remaining grant funds?

No, the full grant amount was used with extra funds required from Wikimedia Australia for unexpected expenses that I wasn unable to cover out of my own pocket.

Anything else

Anything else you want to share about your project?