Grants:Project/Rapid/Pgallert/ICCCS editathon

statusnot funded
Pgallert/ICCCS Editathon
targetProject: Incubator, language versions: Mainly OtjiHerero. A few participants might contribute to OshiNdonga or Khoekhoe.
start date26 October, please see explanation below.
end date31 December
budget (local currency)ZAR 9,173.25
budget (USD)661.684
grant typeIndividual
granteePgallert
contact(s)• pgallert(_AT_)nust.na


Project Goal edit

  1. Recruit new editors
  2. Popularise the existance of Wikipedia in Namibian indigenous languages
  3. Add or improve content

Project Plan edit

Activities edit

1. Are you doing one editathon or training or a series of editathons or trainings?

One editathon, run on two afternoons

2. How will you let your community know about the event? Please paste links below to where relevant communities have been notified of your proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions.

  • Facebook. A colleague already did this. I cannot view this page as I haven't got an account there, but we have 20 people indicating that they will come, and a few that said they're not sure.
  • A few people we contacted directly.
  • We also had an advert created to be broadcast on OtjiHerero radio, but this advert apparently never ran.

3. Do you have experienced Wikimedia editors to lead the event?

I'll conduct the introduction myself. For technical help with formatting and navigation I have recruited two senior IT students. They are Wikipedia beginners, though.

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

The focus of this editathon is more the raising of awareness, and the removal of psychological obstacles to contribute, not the quality of the content. The article count for OtjiHerero, OshiNdonga and Khoekhoe today is 80/50/1, respectively. At this stage I believe we need to demonstrate to the native speakers that it is as easy as typing "Brazil is a country in South America." --- save --- "Peru is a country in South America." --- save --- "Argentina is a country in South America." --- save, and so on. This is in the hope of getting at least a few people that would continue to participate.

5. How will you engage participants after the event(s)?

I'll create the accounts myself. This way I can find the user names in my log and watchlist their user pages to be able to help them if they are getting into trouble. Furthermore, I am frequestly checking the recent changes of the respective languages. If people still contribute after the event I'll use their talk page to encourage them further. Participants also have my contact details, and I'll encourage them to contact me if they have difficulties with Wikipedia.

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

Note regarding the date: I was sitting on unused funds for over a year, left by this project. Assuming that I could spend the rest of the money on core Wikimedia events, I asked here to have the workshop fee covered (ZAR 200 per participant for food), and I asked Tflanagan (WMF) (talk · contribs) via email for a new set of T-Shirts. Now I have to return the funds, and I'm not getting T-Shirts either. I had, however, in the mean time communicated to the participants that the workshop would be free, and I have ordered T-Shirts locally to have then in time. I'll pick them up and pay for them today, as the workshop starts this afternoon.

Now, this is not to wrestle you into accepting this proposal. I still have research funds from elsewhere. That said, I would prefer to use the research funds---for research. And I'd like to notify you that if you approve then the bills will be from October 2016, as I have paid out of my pocket for now.

Impact edit

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

  1. Number of events: Participants attending the editathon
  2. Number of participants: 25
  3. Number of new editors: 25
  4. Number of of articles created or improved: I assume that every participant will create 1-5 new articles in their mother tongue on Incubator.
  5. Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events): N/A

Resources edit

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).

This event is part of the International Conference on Culture & Computer Science Namibia 2016. I'll use computers, labs, and student volunteers from en:Namibia University of Science and Technology. The conference organisers print name tags and attendance certificates, as well as a conference bag for each participant.

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

  • For each participant: ZAR 200 for refreshments and 2xfood at the end of the two workshop days---max. ZAR 5000
  • 30 T-Shirts. If I don't get 30 participants I'll use the Tshirts on one of our outreach events, but I don't want to risk that I don't have one T-Shirt per participant, plus one per unpaid student volunteer.---The T-Shirts were about ZAR 2,500. The printing is ZAR 1,673.25.

Endorsements edit

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