Grants:Project/Rapid/Enriching the Arabic Wikisource with Arabic and Ottoman books in the public domain from the American University Libraries Archives
Overview edit
What is the main objective of your proposal?
- 1) Enriching the content of Wikimedia projects especially the Arabic versions of Wikisource and Wikipedia.
- 2) Providing access to rare copies of books that exist only in archives and private collections.
What are the main challenges you are trying to solve and your proposed solution?
- 1) The Arabic Wikisource lacks content from the late Ottoman period because items from this epoch are either kept safe in national archives or in private collections and are not accessible to the public.
- 2) Addressing the almost extinct Arabic script-based language: Ottoman Turkish.
In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select a maximum of three options that most apply.
- Innovate in Free Knowledge
Where will this proposal be implemented?
- Lebanon
Project Proposal edit
Please describe the main activities that will be developing to achieve your objective.
- The Arabic version of Wikisource is extremely poor and does not reflect the richness of the Arabic and Islamic cultures. As we are talking about more than a thousand years of creating knowledge in still-leaving languages, mainly: Arabic and Persian, as well as almost-extinct languages such as ottoman Turkish.
As a librarian, I am handling public domain treasures on a daily basis. This content can be uploaded to ar.Wikisource, in order to specifically enhance the content of Arabic literature and Islamic civilization in general. However, scanning these documents require skills that rarely exists out of the professional domain. For example, scanning one page might take 10-15 minutes, not to mention the time needed to upload it to the website, well document it and add it to the related articles in different versions of Wikipedia.
From my point of view as a historian, I can say that uploading such documents is priceless. And that is why I am planning to create a project in accordance with Wikimedia Foundation, where I provide the work and materials and the foundation provides funding.
In the first phase of my project, I'm planning on scanning & adding the texts of 20 old rare books (mostly Arabic and at least 1 or 2 Ottoman) in ar.Wikisource to help improve this project which is still poor and "underdeveloped" compared to its other sister projects, as well as to preserve these Arabic and ottoman texts and make them accessible to the general Arabic speaking / ottoman history researchers. All of these books are either published in the late 19th or early 20th century, and I'll try to find some older works. As a librarian at the American University in Beirut, I have access to some old books not available to the general public.
Examples include
- Kitāb al-bukhalāʼ for Al- Jāḥiẓ, one of the well-known works of classical Arabic - Islamic literature
- Nafḥ al-ṭīb min ghuṣn al-Andalus al-raṭīb, a 3 volume book about the late history of Al-Andalus, by al-Maqqarī al-Tilmisānī.
- Tâcü't-Tevârih, by Saʿd al-Dīn Effendi, an important work in Ottoman Turkish about the Ottoman Empire.
Indicate if it is a local, international, or regional proposal and if it involves several countries?
- Regional
Please state if you will be carrying out any of these activities within your programs? Select all that apply.
- Organizing Meet-up online, Organizing Meet-up offline
Are you running any in-person events or activities?
- No
Please state if your proposal aims to work to bridge any of the identified content knowledge gaps?
- Language, Cultural background, ethnicity, religion, racial
Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select all categories that apply.
- Ethnic/racial/religious or cultural background, Linguistic / Language, Digital Access
Please state if your proposal includes any of these areas or thematic focus.
- Education, Culture, heritage or GLAM, Diversity
Please tell us more about your target participants.
- 1) Wikimedia Levant
- 2) Announcement in the Arabic Wikipedia village pump
Do you have plans to work with other Wikimedia communities, groups or affiliates in your country, or in other countries, to implement this proposal?
- No
How do you hope to sustain or expand the work carried out in this proposal after the grant?
Have you received grants from the Wikimedia Foundation before?
- Did not apply previously
Do you have the team that is needed to implement this proposal?
- Michel Bakni (Technical support; such as helping in cleaning or sharpening the images, compressing the files...etc), User:Michel Bakni
Alaa Najjar (holds steward rights, Cross-wiki support), User:Alaa
Learning, Sharing, and Evaluation edit
Core Metrics edit
Enter a description of the metric and a number in the target field. If the metric does not apply to you, enter N/A for not applicable.
| Core metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | Historians and researchers, especially those working in the field of Islamic and Ottoman history, as well as Wikipedia editors. | |
| Number of editors | N/A | |
| Number of organizers | N/A | |
| Wikisource | Around 4000 new pages will be created if we considered that each book contains about 200 pages as an average. | 4000 |
If for some reason your proposal will not measure these core metrics please provide an explanation.
Additional Metrics edit
Enter a description of the metric and a number in the target field. If the metric does not apply to you, enter N/A for not applicable.
| Additional Metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Number of editors that continue to participate/retained after activities | ||
| Number of organizers that continue to participate/retained after activities | ||
| Number of strategic partnerships that contribute to longer term growth, diversity and sustainability | ||
| Feedback from participants on effective strategies for attracting and retaining contributors | ||
| Diversity of participants brought in by grantees | ||
| Number of people reached through social media publications | ||
| Number of activities developed | ||
| Number of volunteer hours | ||
| number of books and pages | 20 books will be scanned, each of which is formed of 200 pages as an average, which makes the total number of scanned and uploaded pages to ar.Wikisource around 4000. |
What other information will you be collecting to learn about the impacts of your activities? (optional)
- N/A
What tools would you use to measure each metric selected?
- N/A
How do you hope to share these results so that others can learn from them?
- Share results on social media, Share results with our communities, Share it on Meta-Wiki
Financial Proposal edit
What is the amount you are requesting from WMF? Please provide this amount in your local currency. If you are thinking about a multi-year fund, please provide the amount for the first year.
- 2000 USD
What is this amount in US Currency (to the best of your knowledge)?
- 2000 USD
Please share your budget for this proposal.
- Data (internet costs): 200 USD (Total for all duration)
- Transportation costs (From home to Library): 250 USD (Total for all duration)
- Other: Bank Transfer Fee: 50 USD
- Total: 500 USD (Total duration 2.5 months)
By submitting your proposal/funding request you agree that you are in agreement with the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and the Universal Code of Conduct.
I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friend Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.
- Yes