Grants:Project/Rapid/Black Lunch Table/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/Black Lunch Table.
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?

With this funding we were able to host several edit-a-thons in different cities. We were successful in our goal to educate community members new to editing on the practices of Wikipedia authorship, protocol for doing so, and need for new editors to contribute to our project. We were also successful in forming new partnerships with experienced editors at each of these institutions. Experienced editors, Wikipedians, and librarians familiar with hosting edit-a-thons are always welcome additions to these events. Despite the range in attendance at each of these events, we feel that we value the quality of the interaction and experience over the quantity of attendees present.

Outcome

Please report on your original project targets.

Target outcome	Achieved outcome	Explanation
9 events	8 events	Two of our events at Guilford College and Brooklyn Museum were postponed. Two other events ended up being collaborations with Art+Feminism, so was covered under their funding.
180 participants	58 participants	We have had much better outcomes in the past and, as we explain below, we are learning quickly how to strategize timing, budgeting, incentives and outreach for each of our sites.
150 new editors	29 new editors	We have had much better outcomes in the past and, as we explain below, we are learning quickly how to strategize timing, budgeting, incentives and outreach for each of our sites. We have found that new editors understand, are excited about, and respect Wikipedia after our sessions since we have such one-on-one attention.
45 new articles created	8 new articles created	We realized focusing on guiding new editors to improve and fix existing articles was most sustainable as opposed to expecting inexperienced editors to create new articles in one session, so we are also adding our words added below for a better idea of impact.
n/a repeat participants	2 repeat participants	Our project travels and we have very few, if any repeat participants.
words added	23652 words added	Although we don’t focus entirely on creating new articles, we do have an impact on existing articles that are in need of help.
articles improved	77 articles improved	Although we don’t focus entirely on creating new articles, we do have an impact on existing articles that are in need of help.

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:

We would like to discuss partnerships with university librarians so that our project can better integrate into their resource introduction programs for students and faculty. While we have been successful in inviting targeted audiences and entire classes or community organizations, we believe that introducing Wikipedia as an resource integral to library research, as well as educating students on Wikipedia editing and authorship, would be worthy goals.

We are also discussing ways in which we could return to these institutions to host regular (annual?) edit-a-thons and encourage a more sustained growth of community authorship. We have been able to help people start their own meet-up groups in places we have traveled.

New editors expressed they are more likely to return to editing Wikipedia after our sessions since we give one-on-one attention and follow up.

Also, we have found that hosting these events as part of a larger public programming schedule has been useful as it adds greater context to our project, and organically introduces new participants.

Finances

Grant funds spent

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

Food and drink = $185.27
Miscellaneous supplies = $30 (wire processing fee)

Total spent = $215.27 USD

Remaining funds

Do you have any remaining grant funds?

Yes, we have $1,234.73 USD remaining. We are continuing to travel project and would like to retain the funds to use towards incentive prizes for edit-a-thon attendees and a back-up laptop for our Wikipedia project administrative purposes, and for use during edit-a-thons by attendees without a laptop.

The funds remaining from this grant may be allocated to another grant submission if it is approved: Grants:Rapid/Black_Lunch_Table/Summer_2017.

Anything else

Anything else you want to share about your project?

We received additional funding from our host institutions to cover the costs of office supplies, additional food, and support. This accounts, in part, for the remaining grant amount.

We are thrilled by the support and enthusiasm we have received for our project. Art+Feminism collaborated with us by using our task list as their primary list of recommended tasks, WikiNYC remains supportive and are determined to help it grow. Here are a few press pieces we were included in during the run of this grant:

Thank you for your consideration!