Grants:Project/Rapid/LET’S MAKE WIKIPEDIA EDIT-A-THON INCLUSIVE!/Report

Report accepted

This report for a Rapid Grant approved in FY 2021-22 has been reviewed and accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation.

To read the approved grant submission describing the plan for this project, please visit Grants:Project/Rapid/LET’S MAKE WIKIPEDIA EDIT-A-THON INCLUSIVE!.
You may still comment on this report on its discussion page, or visit the discussion page to read the discussion about this report.
You are welcome to Email rapidgrants at wikimedia dot org at any time if you have questions or concerns about this report.

Goals

Did you meet your goals? Are you happy with how the project went?' Yes, we met our goal. Our main aim was to introduce our post graduate students with disabilities to Wikipedia editing and encourage them to contribute content on disability related issues especially "people with disabilities in higher education" to Wikipedia. And we achieved it. We are happy with the way the project went. Our post graduate students with disabilities were enthusiactic about the program. They loved it and promised to make it part of the activities of their yearly World disabilities day celebration. The students were always available and on time for the program.

Outcome

Please report on your original project targets. Please be sure to review and provide metrics required for Rapid Grants.''' What is the most imprtant and valuable result of the project? The most important and valuable result of the project was that our post graduate students with disabilities especially post graduate students with visual impairment acquired the skills to contribute content to Wikipedia. By this, the assertion that everybody can contribute to Wikipedia is confirmed. What did it solve, change or accomplish People with disabilities were able to tell their own stories themselves by editing and creating content on disabilities. A search through Wikipedia pages show that there are very few content on disabilities. This program exposed students with disabilities to this reality and the need for them to close the gap. The program also brought to attention the unfriendliness of the Wikipedia editing platform to people with visual impairment. It was very difficult to navigate the computer curso to the field (at the top most estreme right of the pages) where "name, sandbox, contributions, history, login" were. We waisted so much time searching for keys to truncate to get to that field. Eventually, through trial and error we were able to identify the keys. (By continous pressing of the tab key, we got there and we used shift + tab key to move around the field). The program also show the interest of people with disabilities to learn and participate in every societal program. The students were available for the program and on time. They adhered to all instructions geared towards achieving result. Once given instructions, the students carry on, on their own.

Learning

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?
What did not work so well?
What would you do differently next time?

What worked well?

Almost everything worked well. The University Library provided the required space. There were steady internet and electricity supply through out the project. Thanks to the Wikimedia foundation for providing the finance. The participants and facilitators were excited about the project. They loved it and worked towards its success. There was close collaboration between the facilitators and the participants in solving some of the challenges that arose in the course of the project. For instance, tracing computer keys that will enable people with visual impairment navigate Wikipedia pages effectively.

What did not work so well?

The Wikipedia editing interface is not people with visual impairment friendly. Navigating to some of the fields (the field at the top most right corner of the Wikipedia page that contains information on name, sandbox.....log in, was a challenge to all the visually impaired participants in the project. We wasted so much time trying to identify the computer keys that will help us to navigate to those areas. To cover up for the time wasted, we extended the training days from four days to six. User: Tks4Fish blocked our IP address on the first day of our training, making it impossible for us to do any meaning practical training. Several email request to him/her to unblock us yielded no fruitful result. The participants expected light refereshment at each day of training, which was not budgeted for. This forced the organizers to sqeeze the budget to make room for light freshment at the end of each day of training. Again, the certificates were not ready for the participants to collect on the day the program ended. The printer gave the excuse that his computer broke down and that he needs some days to put it in order.

Finances

Grant funds spent

Please describe how much grant money you spent for approved expenses, and tell us what you spent it on. Six hundred and seventy- five thousand, five hundrend naira grants money were spent. they were spent on the following items.

Target outcome	Achieved outcome	Explanation
Total number of Participants: 24	17	The project targeted both post graduate students with disabilities in the employment of the University of Nigeria and those that are just post graduate students. Unfortunately, the University was very busy trying to cover the gap in school calendar created by the COVID-19 pandemic, as such, post graduate students in the employment of the University were unable to attend the program
Number of new participants: 12	12	Publicity for the program was timely. Awareness in contributing to Wikipedia is gradually pemeating the University.
Number of people who will help to organise the event: 3	3	The facilitators were happy to be involved in Wikipedia events
Number of articles created or improved 14	Articles editied = 7. Total edits = 53.	There were very few articles on disabilities in Wikipedia. Some of the few available ones were on watchlist, as such can not be editied. Added to this, User: Tks4Fish blocked our IP address on the first day we introduced the project and our participants were creating their accounts. As a result of the blockage our participants were forced into creating new articles in the first few days after creating their accounts. Due to this, many of them were unable to move the articles they created into the Wiki main space. Though, requests were made for more experienced Wikipedians to move this articles to the Wikimain Space, many of the articles have not been moved and are still in the participants sandboxes.

Table 1. Items grant funds were spent on.
S/n	Items	Details	Unit cost (NGN)	Quantity	Total cost
1	Ear phones	This is for use by our post graduate students with visually impairment. These students need the help of a reading software to read. Ear phones help to reduce the poise pollution that occurs when many reading software are reading at the same time	7,000	8	56,000
2	Internet bundle	Kept as a standby incase of disruptions in the University Internet connectivity supply	40,000	-	40,000
3	Internet radio	To help boast internet connectivity at the venue (Post graduate students with disabilities reading room) of the program	55,000	1	55,000
4	Transportation	To convey participants to and fro to the venue throughout the program	20,000	6	80,000
5	Diesel	As a standby incase of electric power outage	300	100	30,000
6	Flex Banner	For Publicity	2	8,500	17,000
7	Sourvenier	Flash Drive (32 Gig). To all participants.	17	4,000	68,000
8	Prizes	Initially meant for the best two article creators and editors. Later, the prizes were splint into eight prizes of 5,000 each to include people who accomplished different challenging task during the program. These include persons that identified the computer keys to enable people with visual impairment navigate the Wikipedia pages and first visual impaired student to successfully create account and join the program with minimal help	8	5,000	40,000
9	Certificates	Given to participants as evidence of participation	400	17	7,650
10	Childcare	To take care of childrens whose mothers are involved in the program. Initially budgeted at 5,000 each of the 4 training days and 20,000 for the two main editing days. The training was however extended by two more days as a result of the difficulty the participants with visual impairment were facing in navigating the Wikipedia pages	8	-	50,000
11	Hand Sanitizers	As a precaution against COVID-19	2	1000	2,000
12	Face Masks	As a precuation against COVID-19	50	300	15,000
13	Toiletories	Liquid soap, toilet tissue, disinfectant and odur control =. For use in conceniences during the main editing event	800, 500, 800,800	-	2,900
14	Lunch	39 peopl made up of 12 post graduate students with disabilities and their 12 aids, 5 members of the Surplus people in the universities research group, 2 ICT technicians, one cleaner and one driver	1,750	39	68,250
15	Tea break	For 39 participants as above	600	39	23,400
16	Light refereshment	For participants during the last four days of training	39 participants @ 200 each\|\| 4 \|\| 31,200
17	Bottled water	-	900	8	7,200
18	Satchet water	-	6	150	900
19	Malt drink	39 people	3,700	4	14,800
20	Cocoa cola drink	For children	2,200	1	2,200
21	Honorarium to the Library	For using the Library Space for the program	-	8	60,000
22.	Transportation for purchases	-	-	-	4,000
Total	-	-	-	-	675,500. Six hundred and seventy -six thousand, five hundred naira only. USD1,638.17.

Remaining funds

Do you have any remaining grant funds? NO

Anything else

Anything else you want to share about your project? People with disabilities enjoy being included in societal affairs especially the ones that will enable them to showcase their skills. Wikipedia will be helping the world to attain goals 4 (quality education) and 10 (reduce inequalities) of the UN sustainable development goals if people with disabilities especially people with visaul impairment will be equipped with the sikll to contribute to Wikipedia. Teaching peple with visual impairment to edit Wikipedia is laborous but it is a worthwhile venture. The assertion that "Everybody can contribute to Wikipedia" can not be true if some categories of people such as people with visual impairment cannot edit Wikipedia. It is good if the Wikipedia editing interface is reconfigured to be more user friendly to people with visual impairment.