Grants:Project/Rapid/CCCCWI/CWPA Edits Wikipedia!

statusNot funded

Rapid Grants

CCCCWI/CWPA Edits Wikipedia!

This grant would support an editing workshop at the 2019 Conference of the Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA) as part of the CCCC Wikipedia Initiative. The Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) is the flagship professional organization of composition studies (i.e., the people who teach college-level writing courses, run writing programs, and study rhetoric and writing broadly construed).

targetEnglish Wikipedia

start dateJune 26

end dateJuly 31

budget (USD)$1622.00

grant typeorganization

non-profit statusyes

grantee• Drkill

contact(s)• Melanie Kill (User:Drkill - mkillumd.edu)• Patrick Owen (powenncte.org)

organization (if applicable)• National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) - CCCC is an official conference of NCTE and NCTE serves as CCCC's fiscal agent.

website (if applicable)• cccc.ncte.org/cccc/wikipedia-initiative/

friendly space expectations

ucc

privacystatement

Create your report

Please see the sample Editathon/Training application before drafting your application.

Project Goal

Choose one or more of the following goals. You can add or delete goals as needed.

1. Recruit new editors - We aim to increase understanding of Wikimedia projects and train content experts in composition studies to edit Wikipedia.
2. Add or improve content - We aim to improve content related to composition (e.g., language, literacy, writing, and rhetoric).
3. Increase skills for existing editors - We aim to build a support network for academic editors with expertise in composition studies.

Project Plan

Activities

Tell 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?

The CCCC Wikipedia Initiative (CCCCWI) will offer two editing workshops at academic conferences in 2019. Both will bring together content experts and experienced Wikipedians. This proposal is for funding of the first workshop, which will take place at the 2019 Conference of the Council of Writing Program Administrators (“More Seats at the Table: Radical Inclusion in Writing Programs,” Baltimore, MD, July 25-28, www.cwpa2019.com) and will focus on generating significant improvement to 1-2 key articles (e.g., w:Collaborative writing and w:Writing process) related to the teaching of writing in higher ed contexts.

2. How will you let your community know about the event? Please paste links below to where relevant communities have been notified of your proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions.

Workshop details will be listed on the initiative webpage and in the CWPA conference program. We will announce the workshop in advance via CCCCWI-L and other listservs for academics in composition and rhetoric. We will also circulate announcements via social media.

3. Do you have experienced Wikimedia editors to lead the event?

Yes, the event will be supported by Wikimedia DC and organized by team of academics with varying types and levels of experience with Wikipedia.

4. Do participants have the equipment or skills needed to participate and contribute high quality content? If not, how will you support them?

Participants will have the necessary equipment and learn necessary skills. We ask that participants bring their own laptops. The conference will provide space, equipment for presenting, and wifi. In order to support and draw on participant expertise, event organizers will link an editable collection of sources and other research materials relevant to the target articles from the event page. We will begin the workshop with an overview of core content policies and Wikipedian writing practices and offer engaged support as participants collaboratively edit an article.

5. How will you engage participants after the event(s)?

We are building a community online and off. Event participants who join the CCCCWI-L can use it to ask questions and communicate with organizers and each other as they continue editing after the workshop. We will share event impact reports and invitations to participate in future programs and events via our listserv and website.

6. Is there anything else you want to tell us about this project?

The CCCC Wikipedia Initiative is just getting started, and we anticipate and are planning for future growth. Like the mission of the Wikimedia Foundation to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain - CCCC and NCTE believe in creating high quality, free and open-source educational materials. We are committed to bringing our content experts - leaders in their fields - to be participants in and resources to the Wikipedian community.

Impact

How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets:

We will be using the Programs and Events dashboard to track the impact of our initiative. The core goals of these small-group editing workshops are to get academics in composition studies comfortable editing Wikipedia and to focus their attention on high-impact articles. We are planning these events to be small and targeted so that we can offer content experts all the support and scaffolding they need to understand the technical, procedural, and cultural practices of Wikipedia as they collaborate to transform high-traffic articles into high quality public resources.

1. Number of events: 1 (of 2)
2. Number of participants: 15-20 (of 45-70)
3. Number of new editors: 13-18 (of 40-60)
4. Number of of articles created or improved: 1-2 (of 7-12)
5. Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events): 5

These events are among our first steps in building an academic community with the skills and motivation to share the knowledge of our field with global publics. We expect a significant subset of these new editors to become active both on Wikipedia and within our initiative, mentoring subsequent waves of new editors and supporting/organizing future events. Our three-year plan includes building community, establishing infrastructure, and securing support for sustained effort. For example, we plan to:

• offer editing workshops at each meeting of four important national conferences in our field (e.g., CCCC Convention, Computers and Writing Conference, CWPA Conference, Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference alternating with Rhetoric Society of America Conference)
• offer 2-3 Wiki Scholars courses for CCCC members each year in partnership the Wiki Education Foundation
• establish a WikiProject with the help of a WIkipedian-in-Residence
• study academic editors and editing practices to understand and improve public collaboration involving scholars in the humanities (i.e., editor retention)

Resources

What 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).

The event will be organized by the CCCC Wikipedia Initiative task force and run with support from Wikimedia DC and Council of Writing Program Administrators conference. Wikimedia DC will provide on-site support from two highly experienced Wikipedians. The conference will provide space and resources (catering, wifi, etc.) at no cost.

What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense and include a total amount.

1. Conference registration for lead workshop facilitator - $450 - Dylan Dryer (w:User:Compositionist - dylan.dryermaine.edu)
2. Airfare for lead facilitator - $500 - Dylan Dryer (w:User:Compositionist - dylan.dryermaine.edu)
3. Accommodations for lead facilitator ($200 x 3 nights) - $600 - Dylan Dryer (w:User:Compositionist - dylan.dryermaine.edu)
4. Editing and recruitment materials (handouts, accessible materials, flyers, etc.) - $50
5. Wikipedia merch for participants (stickers and buttons) - $22

Total - $1,622 USD

Endorsements

Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!

• proven meetup leader, with outreach to academic writing group. Slowking4 (talk) 14:40, 15 May 2019 (UTC)
•  Support Excited about this proposal and event. I will be there to help out as well! Matthewvetter (talk) 15:47, 15 May 2019 (UTC)
• Seems like a viable project from someone doing strong advocacy in the North America in the academic space, Sadads (talk) 15:40, 15 May 2019 (UTC)
• This project will increase Wikipedia content in an important domain of knowledge where overall coverage and quality are low and spotty. In addition, the organizer, Dr. Kill, was a participant in the 2011 Wikipedia Summer of Research. Her deep expertise in all things Wikipedia will ensure that this project is executed professionally and to great effect. I endorse this project enthusiastically and with a glad heart. Jtmorgan (talk) 17:25, 16 May 2019 (UTC)
• An edit-a-thon at the Council of Writing Program Administrators gives us access to the real decision-makers on curricula that reach nearly all US college first-year students. Compositionist (talk) 15:23, 1 June 2019 (UTC)