Grants:Project/Rapid/Juandev/Wikiexpedice: Mlada Vozice

statusFunded

Rapid Grants

Juandev/Wikiexpedice: Mlada Vozice

Our goal is to completely photodocument all settlements in the target area and use the taken photos to illustrate dozens of Wikipedia articles as well as hundreds of Wikidata items.

targetWikimedia Commons, (Czech) Wikipedia, Wikidata

start dateMarch, 1^st

end dateJuly, 31^st

budget (local currency)24,360

budget (USD)1,088.44

grant typeindividual

grantee• Juandev

contact(s)• janlochmangmail.com

friendly space expectations

ucc

privacystatement

Review your report

Please see the sample Photowalk application before drafting your application.

Project Goal

Choose one or more of the following goals. You can add or delete goals as needed. You can add details to each goal.

1. Illustrate Wikipedia articles on Czech settlements that do not have any photos just yet.
2. Get better photographic illustrations of Czech settlements.
3. Illustrate other articles on Wikipedia and/or Wikidata (all unillustrated articles found via Wikinity tool).
4. Advocate for Wikipedia as a reliable, high-quality resource.

Project Plan

Activities

Tell us how you'll carry out your project. Be sure to answer the following questions:
1. How many walks/tours will you organize and how many people on each walk?

On this Wikiexpedition we plan to organise one three-day tour (Wikiexpedition) during Easter 2019 when most of Wikimedia contributors, who already have full-time jobs, have spare time to support Wikimedia projects. We will take pictures of all unphotographed settlements in the area around Mladá Vožice. This area has been identified and selected using Wikidata query tool. Then we made an estimate on how many teams (here a team means one driver-photographer with one or two other photographers) and days we need to cover the area.

We expect that at least five skilled Wikiphotographers with experience from previous Wikiexpeditions will take part.

After the Wikiexpedition there will be a one-day get-together to help each other with image processing and uploading to Wikimedia Commons.

2. What kind of content will the walks focus on? Why is this topic a priority?

This Wikiexpedition's focus is on covering unphotographed settlements. This long-term struggle of the Czech Wikimedia community started in 2009, exactly ten years ago with the Czech Municipality Photograph Project (CMPP). We still identify villages (a major part of the type group of settlements) as something that helps to advocate for Wikipedia and attract new contributors. Even though most people in the Czech Republic live in towns, people still feel strongly connected to the countryside and they are proud to see images of the villages they, or their parents, come from. Another reason to focus on one object at a time (here an object stands for anything that has or can have an article on Wikipedia, or an item on Wikidata) is the fact that we are a lot more efficient when focusing solely on one object rather than trying to take pictures of everything.

This does not mean we will not photograph other yet unphotographed objects. As our long-term struggle to cover all villages in the Czech Republic is coming to an end, the density of unphotographed settlements in the area decreases. This means that eventually, Wikiexpedition participants will photograph other still unphotographed objects from both Wikidata and Wikipedia identified via Wikidata query.

3. What is the plan to ensure images will be used on Wikimedia projects?

Over the years of photowalks and expeditions, we have developed a methodology on how to process photographs for Wikimedia Commons and then to place them in appropriate Wikipedia, Wikidata or other WMF projects. As participants take a lot of images of hundreds of objects over a very short period of time, the first step is to log all objects in time they were photographed. This is usually done with a pencil on a piece of paper. Then, the participants have time every evening to sort the taken images and move them to directories named after the proper objects or Wikipedia/Wikidata articles and items. Photographers have to follow deadlines for uploading their images (approx. two months after the expedition).

Two to three weeks after the expedition, there will be a meeting to help one another and upload the images. Processing of photographs of settlements can be done easily – organisers will show the participants how to do it efficiently with Pattypan or VicunaUploader tool. The processing of other objects found via Wikidata query might be a bit exhausting and that is why we will meet in person, to help one another.

When all images are uploaded, the organisers will, along with volunteers, look for Wikipedia or Wikidata pages to place these photographs in. Last year, we were able to use up to 30% of the images and this expedition is expected to deliver similar results (see usage of some of the 2017 Wikiexpedition West images).

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

The expedition participants are skilled photographers with appropriate equipment at their disposal. Moreover, we have a very skilled photographer in every team with experience from previous Wikiexpeditions who manages the team and provides help along the way. Local enthusiasts can also accompany us and benefit from the team leader's help.

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

Wikiexpeditions have become very popular as a model of photographing the Czech Republic. The concept originally came from Poland, where the very first Wikiexpedition of this kind took place in 2009. Czech Wikiexpeditions slightly differ from the Polish model, they incorporate our knowledge of the Czech countryside acquired over the years of individual photowalks with Czech Municipality Photograph Project directed by Wikimedia Czech Republic. The grantee of the previous Wikiexpeditions, user Aktron, participated in previous Polish Wikiexpeditions and realised many individual photowalks under CMPP. In 2016, he organised a Wikiexpedition along with users Juandev (Czechia) and Travelarz (Poland,) which followed the Czech-Polish border. This expedition was designed to test the model in Czech environment and compare it to the Polish model. The expedition was a success and we took almost 4,000 images in only 8 days and 3 participants. Thanks to this expedition we illustrated many articles that up to that point had no images.

Inspired by this success, user Juandev organised the so-called Wikiexpedition West (in Czech Wikiexpedice Západ). The number of participants increased up to 10 and together we took more than 9,000 images within 4 days and newly illustrated almost 1,000 articles. (See the final report in English)

The feedback from the participants of the Wikiexpedition West indicated that we need to manage the event more carefully, which means that this year's main organiser will be spending more time managing the event than taking photos. The organisers themselves then pointed out the slow image uploading and complicated funding as the two biggest issues. The slow upload might have been caused by the high number of objects photographed over a very short period of time, tiring processing or improper methods of operating with large amounts of images. Therefore, we want to focus on taking pictures of settlements, proper everyday sorting of taken pictures and shortening the deadlines. We also want to encourage participants to upload their images in time, so we will provide them with online help and organise a day-long help-oriented meeting. As a rule, we only accept skilled wiki photographers for full-fledged participants. Photographers with no Wikipedia knowledge may become part of the teams for a half-day so they can see how these photowalks work. We have already reached out to local information centres, libraries and museums with a request to help us find and contact local enthusiasts. We hope to solve the complicated funding issue for this year with this grant application.

Because of the profound experience, we now know how to prepare detailed maps and plans for each photowalk so as to avoid unnecessary financial loss or wasted time. Thanks to this, Wikiexpeditions have become a popular way to efficiently and quickly contribute images to WMF projects. Recently, user Juandev delivered a presentation on the topic during the Polish winter conference Zlot Zimowy 2019, which made 5 local wiki photographers interested. That is why the next Wikiexpedition called Wikiexpedition Lower Silesia is planned for July 2019, which will most likely be funded by Wikimedia Polska. We expect to take photos of all Czech villages in the next 5 years and we are also prepared to help our Polish fellows take photos of theirs.

We are currently working on the project page, where we will share the general information such as the rules, including the Friendly Space Policy.

Impact

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

1. Number of participants: 4
2. Number of photos uploaded to Wikimedia Commons: 3,000+
3. Number of photos used in Wikimedia projects: 25%
4. Number of newly illustrated Wikipedia articles: 80
5. Percentage of the selected region covered by the images taken during the expedition: 95%

The number of photos uploaded to Wikimedia Commons is not that important to us as a measure of success, because we focus more on the amout of articles recieving good photographs rather than the quantity. That means we prefer to cover the completely unphotographed settlements as well as the very badly photographed ones (we have very detailed criteria to help us determine which need new photos and which do not). We also try to thoroughly photodocument the Czech countryside and cover every important aspect, so as the photos from the given category of the village can also be used in other articles. These numbers have been estimated drawing on the experience from previous Wikiexpeditions.

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).

• We already have two people who will provide their cars for the expedition.
• We have two participants with long-term experience in individual photowalks and Czech countryside topography.
• We have five participants who took part in previous Wikiexpeditions.
• We have methods to process data, to exclude articles which already have enough images, and to use provided finances effectively.
• We have skills and methods to properly organise our workload and work quickly and precisely.
• We have methods to process images efficiently, upload them to Wikimedia Commons quickly and provide them for use in Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects to increase the use of the images.
• We have our own printer to print out a new map for another area every day.
• We have power banks and other equipment available to support the teams.
• We have secured a place in Prague (all participants come from Prague) with fast internet connection that will be used on the upload day.
• User Juandev, who is in charge of organising this event, has experience in managing smaller volunteer working teams, which he demonstrated during the Wikiexpedition West in 2017 (10 participants, 9,100 photographs, 30% usage, 990 illustrated articles) or during the Edit-a-thon Prague 2 in 2018 (7 people, 15 articles).
• User Aktron, who is in charge of preparing resource materials and site topography, demonstrated his skills during all previous expeditions which were all highly successful: Wikiexpedition Silesia/Wikiexpedition Opole (2016), Wikiexpedition West (2017) and Wikiexpedition South (2018) (see example of topography resource material prepared by Aktron). Aktron will help the less skilled photographers as he has experience from 10 years of photographing for the Czech Municipality Photo Project and Mediagrant.

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

As the USD to CZK exchange rate fluctuates, it is important to note that the conversion has been done using the rate of February 11^th, 2019 USD = CZK 22.84. The detailed budget is available in Google Tabs.

• Transport: USD 315
  • The participants will use two cars (owned by the participants) to transport themselves during the event. The same cars will be used for transport from one photoshoot location to the next. We have a calculation of the distance we expect to travel, based on the previous Wikiexpeditions, past individual photowalks and the actual density of the sites we will be interested in as well as the road network in the area. The cost of transport is calculated based on the price of CZK 4.5 per kilometer provided by the Wikimedia Czech Republic.
• Accommodation: USD 394
  • We have set standards for the accommodation, which are routinely applied on many Wiki events organised in the Czech Republic. Suitable accommodation is a lockable room with a ceiling, standard beds, ensured temperature comfort (heating available from fall to spring) and a bathroom equipped with a toilet and shower; Wi-Fi connection is a plus. There may be a cheaper option available, however, in our experience the cheapest accommodation usually does not meet the standards. Thus, we look for available rooms in B&B or in cheap hotels. To ensure that the accommodation meets our requirements, we look at the provider's website and we also look for good reviews written in text on e.g. Google Maps.
• Food: USD 177
  • During the event breakfast will be provided in the given residence and one meal covered during the day. As the participants are in the field the entire day, there is no set time to have the meal, it all depends on the participants themselves. They can choose whatever they want from the menu, however, if they exceed the price of CZK 200, they must settle the difference.
• Other: USD 202
  • This point covers especially the proofreading of this funding request (English), reports (Czech, English) and press releases (Czech), which we all perceive as very important texts. The funding request and reports need to be perfectly comprehensible, and the press releases need to be high-quality. We have already prepared templates, figured out the ways to distribute the texts to the media, and we have also taken steps to ensure that the resulting texts are top quality. These texts also need to be released on time and volunteers are not always available to do it. Other texts are a little less important so they can stay as they are or they can be proofread by volunteers and any time. Other expenses in this section are calculated to cover fees for international wire transfers or foreign exchange risk to compensate for the fluctuating exchange rates.
• Total: USD 1,088

Endorsements

Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!

1. Aktron (talk) 10:32, 15 February 2019 (UTC) As a long-term photographer for Wikimedia Commons in the Czech Republic I would like to endorse this proposal. Juandev is a skilled organizer and protographer that does have abilities to do this event in a very good scale, with costs lower that are there in neighboring chapters for events of such a magnitude. The experience from Wikiexpedition Silesia and Wikiexpedition West speak for themselves. Moreover, there is a very good experience from other photographic projects, such as Czech Municipalities Photo Grant (FČO) where Juandev was participating almost from its beginning in 2009.
2.  Support Juan is a skilled organizer and photographer, he already organized multiple successful WikiExpeditions. However I have to declare conflict of interest, as I will probably join Wikiexpedice: Mlada Vozice as a participant. — The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jklamo (talk)
3.  Support This looks like another well prepared event, which seems to be standard by Juandev and Aktron. I have participated in or supervised their events before and believe this one will contribute greatly to Wikimedia projects again, both in quantity and quality. Czeva (talk) 08:01, 26 February 2019
4. I support the Wikiexpedition project, because it provides the opportunity to obtain detailed information for education students, and the general public. Songheart92 (talk) 12:50, 25 February 2019 (UTC)
5. myslím si, že přinese hodně fotografii a článků Al.trcka (talk) 13:22, 25 February 2019 (UTC)
6. Targeted summaries of the Southwestern Bohemia rural photo documentation with the adjacent area. Art Jarka (talk) 19:36, 25 February 2019 (UTC)
7. This project is very well thought-through, the organisers are determined to see it through as well as help others with their similar projects. It will be a great contribution to the society as a whole and local communities. I sincerely endorse and support both this project and the volunteers behind it. Fiery Teresa (talk) 08:26, 28 February 2019 (UTC)
8.  Support I took part in few past events organized by this person/team. This project looks useful and well prepared as well. Bazi (talk) 11:24, 1 March 2019 (UTC)