Grants:Project/Rapid/Elena Patrise/Art+Feminism 2020 Who writes his tory?/Report

Report accepted
This report for a Rapid Grant approved in FY 2019-20 has been reviewed and accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation.


Goals edit

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

Yes! We hosted during January 2020 & January 2021 9 Edit-a-thons, 2 network-meetings for the German speaking community (including 1 weekend conference called FemNetz2021) and 3 online lectures. All talks and events included a range of new editors as well as experienced editors. On a longterm view we do not intend to gain new editors only, but also to keep them writing and therefore may influence given structures.

Outcome edit

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


Target outcome Achieved outcome Explanation
5 Edit-a-thons + print material
  • January 28th, Solothurner Filmtage, Solothurn, Switzerland Dashboard Link
  • February 21st - 23rd, Wikimedia DE, Tempelhof, Berlin, Germany Dashboard Link
  • February 27th, Bridge Books, Johannesburg, South Africa Dashboard Link
  • March 15th, Kaskadenkondensator, Basel, Switzerland (this was shorthand changed to an online Event - Dashboard Link
  • April 2nd-4th, Amerika Gedenkbibliothek, Berlin
9 Edit-a-thons, 2 network-meetings for the German speaking community (including 1 weekend conference called FemNetz2021) and 3 online lectures + print material
  • January 28th, Solothurner Filmtage, Solothurn, Switzerland Dashboard Link
  • February 21st - 23rd, Wikimedia DE, Tempelhof, Berlin, Germany Dashboard Link
  • February 27th, Bridge Books, Johannesburg, South Africa Dashboard Link
  • March 15th, Kaskadenkondensator, Basel, Switzerland (this was shorthand changed to an online Event - Dashboard Link
  • April 2nd-4th, Amerika Gedenkbibliothek, Berlin (this event got postponed to September 4th-6th)
  • March 27th online talk & lecture for the exhibition which only had the opening but then had to close due to the lockdown in Switzerland. For the exhibition we produced two different set of post cards for "Who writes his_tory?"
  • June 21st online lecture + editing instructions in collaboration with "Genderbibliothek Saar" & "K8 Institut für strategische Ästhetik" Dashboard Link
  • June 22nd Solothurner Filmtage online Edit-a-thon in collaboration wiht Solothurn Filmfestival & Cabaret Voltaire, Zürich Dashboard Link
  • September 2nd, Fantoche Festival for Animation Films, Edit-a-thon in collaboration with Fantoche, Baden Dashboard Link
  • September 4th-6th, Amerika Gedenkbibliothek, Berlin Edit-a-thon & lecture, drawing session & film presentation Dashboard Link
  • October 12th & 16th online lecture & online Edit-a-thon in collaboration with "Feministisches Referat", University of Bremen Dashboard Link
  • January 26th, 2021 Solothurner Filmtage, online in collaboration with:Wikimedia CH, Bildwechsel/GuterGrund, Cinémathèque Suisse, SWAN, Solothurner Filmtage, ARF/FDS Dashboard Link
  • January 29th - 31st 2021, FemNetz2021, Networking conference (in German) in collaboration with Wikimedia DE, WomenEdit and many more
2020/2021 as we all know turned out to be different as originally planned. Therefore a lot of events/Edit-a-thons had to be rescheduled or held online. But we continued working and networking.

Please find more information (in German) on our internal wikipedia page Who writes his tory?

Not all listed events were directly financially dependent on the rapid grant only. For the German-Network meetings (February 2020 & January 2021) we collaborated with Wikimedia Germany and the Edit-a-thons with Solothurner Filmtage January 2020, June 2020, January 2021) were each in collaboration with Wikimedia CH. Just to be transparent, that there was no parallel funding at any time.


Learning edit

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?

The interest to host Edit-a-thons or the interest in editing Wikipedia kept going eventhough the lockdown and covid 19 was present all over the place.

  • What did not work so well?

In the beginning we struggeled to change to online edit-a-thons as exactly the personal experience is valuable. But we grew with the time and learned to get more flexible. Eventhough we see online Edit-a-thons as one possibility it all comes with pros and cons as some of our elderly participants sometimes had technical problems, which isn't always easy to help from afar on the same time people who do not live in city centers tend to appreciate the opportunity of more access to online events.

  • What would you do differently next time?

Maybe not so much, but in future we plan to put more effort on structural work as well as networking, as there are many gaps to cover, especially from our experience within the German Wikipedia

Finances edit

Grant funds spent edit

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

CHF 1600.00

    • CHF 408.25 Food & Beverages
    • CHF 181.30 Infrastructure (Data, Rent, Website Host)
    • CHF 80.00 Print material (Postcards)
    • CHF 625.00 Travel Expenses
    • CHF 300.00 Professional Websupport (Backup & Infrastructure Update)
  • Total amount spent: CHF 1594.75

Due to the global pandemic some Edit-a-thons and events had to be cancelled, some rescheduled and some online Edit-a-thons and Webinars occured. Who writes his_tory? reached its audience best via a Newsletter, social media and through different festivals and art institutions. Therefore we spent a part of the grant for webhosting and printed postcards, as we had to change the communication strategy during the pandemic to a more online presence and therefore spent some money on online infrastructure. Otherwise the expenses did not change much to the original rapid grant: food & beverages, travel expenses, internet costs.

Remaining funds edit

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.

5.25 CHF

Anything else edit

Anything else you want to share about your project?

Thank you for your support!