Grants:Project/Rapid/Nnamdi Azikiwe Library 2021 Art and Feminism English Wikipedia edit-a-thon/Report
- Report accepted
- To read the approved grant submission describing the plan for this project, please visit Grants:Project/Rapid/Nnamdi Azikiwe Library 2021 Art and Feminism English Wikipedia edit-a-thon.
- 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 edit
Did you meet your goals? Are you happy with how the project went? Yes, we met our goals and we were happy with the way the project went. We carried out series of training and two edit-a-thons as we proposed. We improved on 360 articles against the 50 we proposed and introduced 14 new articles into Wikipedia. 51 people turned up on the first day of our event and 58 on the second day. Among the participants were seven people who have been editing with us since we started the program in 2017. We did not permit all-new editors who did not attend at least two training sessions to edit. Rather we paired them with more experienced editors to enable them to learn more. For the first time, people with disabilities (One final year Psychology student and one University staff with visual impairment) joined us in the editing event. Some university male staff joined too. It was all fun.
Step 2. What is the most important and valuable result of your project?
Ans: As an institution, the library contributed to creating open knowledge and equipped individuals with the skill to contribute to open knowledge. It is expected that our participants at their leisure time will continue to add more information to Wikipedia and may even train up more new editors on their own. Moreover, by editing existing Wikipedia articles ( adding references, correcting grammatical errors, and adding additional reliable and verifiable information), the library helps to ensure that information available in the public domain is authentic.
| Targeted outcome | Achieved outcome | Explanation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of events 2 | 2 Events | We were able to carry out two events as we planned. Thanks to our University Librarian for her support to the program, our dogged for their zeal and the Wikimedia Foundation for providing all the resources needed for a successful program. | |||
| Number of participants 50 | 50 | Though we met our target, we would have had more participants had it not been that within the week of our event, there was a workshop for post graduate students project and thesis supervisors which kept many would be editors off. Moreover, the stress placed on teaching and learning by the Covid-19 lockdown which compelled the University administration to compress the University time table to maximize time prevented many would be participants from attending. | |||
| Number of new editors 35 | 51 | As stated above | |||
| Number of articles created or improved | 360 articles improved and 14 new ones introduced into Wikipedia | Many of our participants started editing immediately the dashboard became active. The provision for cash prices for the three best editors and three best article creators created a sense of competition among the participants as every person want to be the winner of the prize. | |||
| Number of repeat participants | 51 | This includes 7 people that have been participating in the program since 2017 when Nnamdi Azikiwe Library started organizing the event. All the people that turned up on the first day, 51 people also turned up in the second day in addition to 7 new participants | Example | Example | Example |
Link to content we created. https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/University_of_Nigeria,_Nsukka/Nnamdi_Azikiwe_Library_(May_19-20,_2021)/articles/edited
A learning platform we created – Our WhatsApp platform. Participants were also introduced to the training module at https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/training
A blog post or a link to some….. An abridged version of this report will be sent to the University Public Relations Officer (PRO) for publication in the University bulletin. Some of pictures taken at the event have been pasted at:
Group_photograph_of_the_participants_at_the_2021_Nnamdi_Azikiwe_Library_edit-a-thon.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2nd_Best_artice_creator_recieving_her_cash_price.jpg
|}
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?
Many things worked well. Our participants were very happy to be part of the program. There was steady electric power supply. Internet connectivity was available. Thanks to Wikimedia Foundation for making finance available for diesel and internet data. The splendid lunch and tea break provided by Wikimedia Foundation sustained the participants beyond the official office closing hour of 4:00pm. The facilitators were up and doing moving from one table to the other helping participants.
- What did not work so well?
People with disabilities were among our participants for the first time. The facilitators were ill equipped to train people with disabilities on how to edit. Many of them shied away from the participants with disabilities because they lacked the skill to work with them. We failed to create the visibility we had planned for our project because we were unable to publicize our events at the two radio stations (Lion FM and Federal Radio Cooperation of Nigeria, (FRCN)) as we proposed. This is as a result of the current inflation in Nigeria which eroded our budget. For instance, publicity at Federal Radio Cooperation of Nigeria (FRCN) budgeted at 21,000NGN rose to 28,000NGN. Bus hire which we budgeted at N15,000 a day rose to N20,000NGN, diesel which we budgeted at 220NGN a liter rose to 250NGN and lunch which we budgeted for 1, 500NGN a plate rose to 1, 750NGN. To make matters worse, we failed to budget for bus to cover up for school run for young mothers. These placed our budget on a serious strain. To overcome some of these challenges, we were forced to dropped some budgeted items and use the fund stipulated for them to cover up more pressing items. Many participants came late on the first day. They were battling to maintain presence at the on-going post graduate students’ supervisors training and being part of the edit-a-thon. Some of the air-conditioners at the MTN Universities Connect, the venue of the edit-a-thon were faulty making the venue not very convenient for participants. Many of the participants failed to come to the event with their electric power extension cable. The is placed the facilitators on unnecessary stress to provide electric power connection cables for them. We (facilitators) had to work extra hard to ensure that at least people in our networks and local environment were aware of our event. We had to intensify publicity through the University mailing list and online platforms in which we belonged to cover up for lack of visibility which our none use of the two radio stations (Lion FM and FRCN) might have caused. We were compelled to appeal too the bus drivers which brought participants from Enugu to cover up fr school run for nursing mothers which was not part of the bargain initially. Though the bus drivers accepted the additional task, they did it with reluctancy. We were not happy that there was no provision for remuneration for us as facilitators while there is one for repeat participants and best article creators and editors. It was difficult to identify the earliest repeat participants (repeat participants as used here refer to people who have been editing with us since 2017 when the library started participating in the program) to enroll from the dashboard. As such we were compelled to extend the 1,000NGN cash prize to the first 4 participants to enroll to all the 7 repeat participants. We were not happy that many of our new articles were deleted within twenty-four hours despite our efforts to ensure that they are verifiable.
- What would you do differently next time?
Next time, we will ensure that at least three of our computers have reading software installed in them and that our facilitators have the skill to operate them. Reading software helps people with visual impairment to interact with text. We will also make provision in our budget for inflation and unforseen circumstances
Finances edit
In all we spent seven hundred and eighteen thousand, seven hundred (NGN718,700) grant funds. We spent them on the items listed in tables A and B.
Grant funds spent edit
Please describe how much grant money you spent for approved expenses, and tell us what you spent it on.
| Item | Details | Unit NGN | Quantity | Total NGN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lunch | First day 77 participants @ 1,750. Second day 85 participants @ 1, 750 | 1,750 | 77, 85 | 134,750, 148,750 |
| Tea break | Small chops (Biscuits, ground nuts, garden eggs, sausage roll, sweets and chewing gum). Children were not included in the small chops | 550 | First day 64 participants, Second day 72 participants | 35,200, 39,600 |
| Drinks | Bottled water, Satchet water, Malt and Cocoa cola | 900, 150, 3,500 and 1,900 | 12 pkts 6 pkts, 6 crates and 2 crates | 10,800, 900, 21,000 and 3,800 |
| Flex Banner | For publicity: 2 pieces. One was placed at the University main gate and the other, in front of the venue. | 6,000 | 2 | 12,000 |
| A 3 size poster | For publicity. Copies were pasted at the notice boards of departments and at some institutions in Enugu State. | - | 100 | 38,000 |
| Internet data | Used for trainings and during the main editing events | - | - | 29,000 |
| Childcare | People to look after the children while their parents engage in editing | 5000 | 2 | 10,000 |
| Diesel | Use for back up in case of power outage | 250 | 50 | 12,500 |
| A hired bus | To convey participants from Enugu to Nsukka | 20,000 | 2 | 40,000 |
| Customised writing material | Writing material to serve as sourvenier to participants | NGN 1,800 per dozen | 14 | 25,200 |
| Prizes for the best three editors | To boost morale and encourage participation | Best editor, 2nd best editor and 3rd best editor | 7,000, 6,000 and 5,000 respectively | 18,000 |
| Prizes for the best article creators. | To boost morale and encourage participation | Best article creator, 2nd best article creator and 3rd best article creator | 10,000, 9,000 and 8,000 respectively | 27,000 |
| Face mask | As a precaution against COVID-19 | 100 | 200 | 20,000 |
| Prizes for the first 5 repeat particiants | 7 of the repeat participants enrolled. It was difficult to determine who was the first person to enroll from the dashboard. So, the cash prize was extended to all of the seven. | 1,000 | 7 | 7,000 |
| Hand Sanitizer | As a precaution against COVID-19 | 1000 | 4 | 4,000 |
| Water buckets | As a precaution against COVID-19 | 2 | 1,200 | 2,400 |
| Certificates | Only for facilitator and editors | 400 | 63 | 25,200 |
| Transportation | For facilitators during trainings and to purchase items (buckets, face masks, hand sanitizers etc. | Trainings were held at Enugu twice and trice at Nsukka | - | 42,000 |
| Total | - | - | - | 706,900 |
| Item | Details | Unit cost (NGN) | Quantity | Total |
| Toiletries | For use in the conveniences (They include disinfectant, odor control, liquid soap and toilet tissue | 350, 550, 500 and 400 repectively | one (1) each | 1,800 |
| Stipend to cleaner | - | 5,000 | 2 | 10,000 |
| Total | - | - | - | 11,800 |
| Grand total. Table A + B = 706,900 + 11,800 = 718,700 |
Remaining funds edit
Do you have any remaining grant funds?
We have NGN 37,190 unused funds. NGN 30,000 of this is the allowance made for bank charges during our 2019 edit-a-thon. We will like to keep this money for our future events.
Anything else edit
Anything else you want to share about your project? Art and feminism Wikipedia edit-a-thon has prospects of growth at UNN. The facilitators and Wikipedia foundation need to fan the glowing ambers into flame. There are women organizations such as the University women Association, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Forum for African Women Educationalist, University of Nigeria, Nsukka Cell, Organization of Women in Science in Developing (OWSD) Countries and the University Gender Office to mention but a few that may be incorporated into the project if well managed.