Grants:Project/Rapid/Daramlagon/Wiki para sa Karapatan Pantawo 2022/Report

Report accepted
This report for a Rapid Grant approved in FY 2022-23 has been reviewed and accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation.


Goals

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Did you meet your goals? Are you happy with how the project went?

Yes. I was able to invite new editors, involve new partner organizations, and share the mission-vision of the #WikiForHumanRights to other nearby provinces. The participants were mostly students, artists, cultural workers, environmental advocates and young professionals. During the sessions, I was impressed by the facilitating skills of Virusnecross, Simcha4, Tinagoblumentritt, and Maerui-sama. They dedicated time and effort in handling meetups despite the logistical restrictions imposed by the Philippine National Elections in May and the resumption of face-to-face classes in June (three of them are high school teachers and one was a high school student). I am also grateful to Kunokuno and Brazal.dang for their guidance throughout the project. With regard to the output goals, we were able to efficiently work with the translation of articles by dividing the workload into small parts (translation via the content translation tool, manual editing, proofreading, feedback). In addition, insights on how we can improve the translation tool and translation process were solicited from the participants. The lectures and photowalks enriched participants' understanding of the real and tangible dangers of climate change in relation to our human rights. The coffee painting workshop helped participants appreciate environment-friendly alternatives. Through our partners, we were also able to participate and share during a zine & arts fair event and a basic mountaineering course which allowed our volunteers to deepen their stance regarding human rights and environmental issues. Over all, we have learned diverse ways of engaging volunteers and editors that are both fun and aligned to the project's goals.

Outcome

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Please report on your original project targets. Please be sure to review and provide metrics required for Rapid Grants.


Target outcome Achieved outcome Explanation
7 translate-a-thons, 2 online lectures, 1 photowalk 13 edit-a-thons (2 were done remotely), 1 online environmental lecture, 1 in-person Earth Day event with lecture, 1 coffee art workshop event , 1 photowalk event, 1 zine & art fair event, 1 basic mountaineering course We decided to add 6 more sessions to accomodate participants with conflicting schedules.[1]. Two sessions were held via Jitsi to accomodate participant from other provinces.

The first environmental lecture was done via Zoom, and the second one was held in Naga City. The second lecture was part of a bigger activity titled "Let the Earth Breathe" with Youth Representative Hon. Sarah Elago as its main speaker. A coffee painting workshop was also held during that day in Pasacao facilitated by Kunokuno and Brazal.dang in celebration of Earth Day.

The photowalk was facilitated by Maerui-sama and was participated by senior highschool students.

Two other activities were added: human rights-themed arts and zine fair (June) and a basic mountaineering course (July). These were co-organized with our two partner organizations, namely GIYA and ARTIFA respectively.

20–25 participants 23 participants (Translate-a-thon sessions); 50 participants (Let the Earth Breathe: Bike for Climate Action, Fight for Climate Justice!, Naga); 34 participants (Coffee Painting Workshop, Pasacao); 16 participants (Photowalk event); 60 participants (Free Tinang 83: A Zine Fair for the Victims of Illegal Arrests in Tarlac); 30 participants (Basic Mountaineering Course) We were able to reach our target number of participants for the translate-a-thons sessions. They were composed of new and experienced editors, mostly students, artists, advocates and young professionals. [2]. Moreover, we were able to generate more participants from our photowalks, lectures and other partnered activities. During these activities, we made sure to share information about the project and explain the goal of the wiki movements as a whole. We also were able to build contacts we think we can work with in future activities.
50–100 articles improved 133 articles created, 215 articles edited, 2.77k total edits, 29 editors, 425k bytes added, 35.4k article views [3] We were able to exceed our target number of articles. This was mainly due to the delegation and division of tasks, from translation to editing, which made the sessions faster and less stressful. It also made the sessions more collaborative and fun. However, more work has to be done to make the process more efficient based on participants' feedback.
5–10 new editors 9 new editors We were able to reach our target for new editors for Wikipedia Bikol. Each of them were assigned 5 articles. Most of them were already familiar or had some experiences with wiki platforms, so the transition was smooth. As for those who were totally new with the platform, we had to tutor them one-on-one and entertain their questions along the way. The improved video tutorials that we posted on Youtube[4] really helped them with the process, and we plan to upgrade these videos as soon when we have better video facilities.


Learning

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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?
Results from Feedback and Evaluation
Overall the project was a success despite its ambitious goals and the limited manpower we had. One reason for this is the delegation of tasks which greatly helped in easing the workload for each activities. This also helped mitigate schedule conflicts whenever one is not available to facilitate.
The target for the translate-a-thons were easily achieved with the help of prepared video tutorials and handouts which were distributed in advance. Also, by dividing the translation process into three parts (machine translation, manual editing, proofreading), the sessions became less daunting and encouraged collaboration among new and experienced editors. This led to a more fun experience. Also limiting the sessions to 3–5 participants worked as intended as it allowed the facilitators focus on each participants. This increased the quality of the output.
Past partnerships with aligned organizations also proved fruitful for this project. They were able to provide the lectures and skills development activities for our participants. This also allowed participants from their own networks to attend in our activities. As a result, we were able to provide our participants new knowledge and skills, while at the same time allowing us to advertise #WikiForHumanRights and other wikiprojects to a wider audience. Moreover, we and our partner organizations learned from each others' best practices.
Activities such as photowalks, zine fairs, workshops, and camping appeared to attract younger participants. With this we realized that diversifying activities was effective in sustaining their interests and attention. We plan to replicate these in the future.
As an outreach, Virusnecross, Tinagoblumentritt, and I assembled an Offline Wikipedia device from preloved computer parts. It contained Wikipedia English, Filipino and Bikol, and environmental articles and videos. We donated it to a remote elementary school in Catanduanes. The turnover of the device was done by Kunokuno and Brazal.dang during their community visit last May. We are now working with Mr. Nap Arcilla to organize wiki volunteers in the said province.
Feedback after each sessions helped us determine areas for improvement.
  • What did not work so well?
Results from Feedback and Evaluation
The timing of the event in the Philippines was not the most ideal as it was the peak of the election season. Most of the venues were already reserved by local politicians. Moreover, people's mindsets were already geared towards campaigning. These two factors made hard for us to invite and promote to an even wider audience. We resolve this by increasing the number of sessions so as to accomodate participants on their available time. This inevitable streched the project's timeframe. We also resorted to one-on-one sessions either in persion or via Zoom and Jitsi.
Most of the facilitators were senior high school teachers, so there were times when they could not be present in some activities. Thankfully, we were assisted by other experienced Wikipedians in the area.
Because of the increased number of sessions and activities, consolidating the documentation and feedback turned out very time-consuming. In June, most of the facilitators were already focused teaching (face-to-face) in their respective schools. Because we failed to upload photos right after each activities, we had the hard time uploading all the photos to Wikimedia Commons.
The project was simultaneously done together with other wiki projects thus affecting our personal time schedule. This also caused delay in the reporting.
The video tutorials were detailed but a bit long. There is a need to create shorter videos on subtopics and FAQs (animated if possible).
We have limited manpower. Instead of soley recruiting for editors, we should be more open to volunteers interested in handling admin and logistics roles.
  • What would you do differently next time?
Results from Feedback and Evaluation
Planning of projects should be done annually to avoid conflicts with national events and holidays.
Encourage more experienced Wikipedians to attend tutorial and editing sessions.
Upload documentations immediately after every project-related activity (finance, photos, videos, etc). Everyone in the core group must have access to these files to avoid delay in the reporting during unforeseened events. Report preparation should be drafted, finalized, and submitted in a core group meeting.
Avoid overlap of wikiprojects. Plan ahead and only assign projects to available keypersons.
Recruit for volunteers interested in handling admin and logistic roles. We should cater to diverse kinds of people that will help us in the organizational work.
Develop a permanent communications and PR team to handle posters, public announcements, video editing, handouts, and infographics for all wikiprojects handled by the organization.

Finances

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Grant funds spent

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

Breakdown of Resources
Item Alloted Budget Actual Expenses
Foods and refreshments 17,500.00 17,258.00
Sanitation kits 5,000.00 4,405.00
Communication and travel expenses 15,000.00 15,000
Venue rental 35,000.00 33,990.00
Laptop rental 10,000.00 10,000.00
Tokens for participants 12,500.00 12,500.00
Tokens for speakers 9,000.00 9,000.00
Publication materials, give-aways & prizes 6,000.00 5,500.00
Data allowance for editing assignments 10,000.00 11,000.00
Contingency fund 5,000.00 5,000.00
Total PHP 125,000.00 PHP 123,563.00

Remaining funds

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Do you have any remaining grant funds?

Remaining funds have been used or will be used for other approved mission-aligned activities. This use has been requested in writing and approved by WMF.

Yes, PHP 1,437.00


Anything else

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Anything else you want to share about your project?

I am grateful for the opportunity to once again contribute to the #WikiForHumanRights movement. Through the lectures and photowalks, this project has helped many people in my community open their eyes regarding the dangers of climate change and environmental abuse. Through the translate-a-thons, it has equipped them with skills to tackle these issues via free, unbiased, and accessible platforms like Wikipedia. In the end, I hope these efforts would help materialize a more tangible climate action from the community.
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