Grants:Project/Rapid/OSULibraries/PacificNorthwestHistory/Report

Report accepted

This report for a Rapid Grant approved in FY 2017-18 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/OSULibraries/PacificNorthwestHistory.
• 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

We are pleased to have met all of our goals (through three editathons - one in-person editathon in 2020 and two remote editathons in 2021).

• Recruit new editors
• Increase skills for existing editors
• Add or improve content about African American history in the Pacific Northwest, USA
• Add or improve content about Women's history in the Pacific Northwest, USA

Outcome

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

Target outcome	Achieved outcome	Explanation
Number of events: 2	3 editathons	Because of the pandemic we had to cancel our second editathon in 2020. However, we carried the funds over to 2021 and had two remote editathons
Number of participants at each event: 30	2020 Black History of PNW Event: 22 editors, 2021 Black History of PNW event: 37 Editors, and 2021 Women in STEM event: 25 editors	Attendance at the three events was 84. Our original target was 30 editors at each of our 2 editathons in 2020, which would have been a total of 60. However, we were able to attract 84 total editors across three events in 2020 and 2021.
Number of new editors: 20 at each editathon	Approximately half of all editors were new between the three events	The remote editathons attracted more experienced editathons, while the in-person editathon attracted more new editors.
Number of articles created or improved at each event: 20	2020 Editathon: 32 articles edited and 1 article created. First editathon in 2021: 88 articles edited and 11 articles created. Second editathon in 2021: 42 articles edited and 5 articles created.	The editors at the first editathon in 2021 (Black History of the Pacific Northwest) were especially engaged and enthusiastic. For this editathon the library invited a guest speaker, Alexandria Lockett, which attracted many people. The numbers would have been even higher - but there was a power outage in our town that day! the power outage effected half the town and the electricity was out throughout the entire event.
Number of returning participants: 10	Unsure	We didn't track this information.

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?
  • Our library sponsored a guest speaker, Alexandria Lockett, for the "Writing Black History of the Pacific Northwest Editathon/2021" event. Advertising and word of mouth about Dr. Lockett's presentation attracted people from across the campus. In addition, Dr. Lockett's presentation attracted librarians and participants from outside of Oregon to attend. As mentioned in the target/outcome table, the electricity was out for half our town, and this influenced the number of local attendees. I would strongly suggest remote editathons have keynote speakers to attract a larger audience.
  • We organized our remote editathons to have a "Main Lobby" (where folks enter in Zoom) plus breakout rooms for different tasks and activities. For example, Pete Forsyth hosted a Wikidata room, while Laurie Bridges trained newcomers in a different room. A graduate student was in the "Main Lobby" greeting and speaking to newcomers who dropped in, and directing people to their specific rooms. The format worked well; as evidence, Adele Vrana from WhoseKnowledge? was in attendance and she told us afterward that WhoseKnowledge? would be using the same format in a future event.
  • Partnering with AfroCROWD and with Stanford helped to boost attendance and enthusiasm.
• What did not work so well?
  • It was difficult hosting our first remote editathons. We had not done remote editathons before and planning took extra time and foresight in an attempt to anticipate any possible problems.
• What would you do differently next time?
  • Each member of the editathon team prefers a different format (online or in-person) and now we'll have to consider which we prefer for the future - remote or in-person? Doing both at the same time may require too much time and planning.
  • We've never had much student participation in the editathons. Perhaps this is fine - because professors/instructors do attend and take the knowledge to their classrooms. However, we need to determine if students are a primary audience for the future. And, if they are, we need to take steps to attract them to the events.

Finances

Grant funds spent

Please describe how much grant money you spent for approved expenses, and tell us what you spent it on. Our grant was originally for 2020, but we extended into 2021 because of the pandemic.

• 2020 Expenditures:
• Wikimedia Merchandise for Giveaways: $87.80
• Facebook Advertising: $87.52
• Large Banner for (now and future) Events: $200.98
• Stickers for Giveaways from StickerMule: $88
• Print advertisements: $58.30
• Catering: $260.65
• 2021 Expenditures
• Six Hardback Book Prizes: $188.52
• Editathon Stickers from StickerMule (for current and future events): $160.50
  • TOTAL: $1,132.27 (Note, this is over the $1,091 grant and library funds were used for the extra expenses.)

Remaining funds

No remaining funds.

Anything else

Thank you!!