Grants:Project/Rapid/SallyBrownErinBrockCarlson(Art+Feminism)Amplifying Appalachia Edit-a-thon 2022 @WVU
Please see the sample Editathon/Training application before drafting your application.
Project Goal
editChoose one or more of the following goals. You can add or delete goals as needed.
- Recruit new editors and increase skills for existing editors within the academic community of West Virginia University
- Add or improve content on women, people of color, and LGBTQ individuals connected to the Appalachian region, as well as issues relevant to these identities, across a diversity of academic disciplines
- Continue building resources to integrate the Edit-a-thon into spring courses across academic disciplines
- Continue to encourage wide participation to establish interest across campus for events in future years
Project Plan
editActivities
editTell us how you'll carry out your project. Be sure to answer the following questions:
1. Are you doing one editathon or training or a series of editathons or trainings?
- One asynchronous edit-a-thon from March 21-25, 2022
2. How have you let relevant Wikimedia communities know about this proposal? You are required to provide links to on-wiki pages to inform these communities about your proposed work. Examples of places where this can be done include community discussion pages, affiliate discussion pages, or relevant project talk pages.
You may also provide information about external social media channels you may be using.
- We have shared information about the event on talk pages for the following Wiki projects: WikiProject West Virginia, WikiProject LGBT studies, and WikiProject Appalachia.
3. How will you let participants know about the edit-a-thon? In what ways will you be communicating with them?
For example, these can include on-wiki spaces, social media channels, mailing lists, messaging apps, or physical/online gatherings.
- This event has been and will be advertised to our University community through the following methods: (1) targeted emails to department heads, faculty and staff working in areas related to feminism and Appalachian studies, and various contacts, (2) advertisement on the University's daily news bulletin, ENews, (3) advertisement on social media including but not limited to the University Library accounts, (recent Twitter post as example) (4) word-of-mouth, and (5) event page on art + feminism. We will also be advertising via paper flyers at the Appalachian Studies Association conference, which is being held in-person on WVU's campus in early March.
4. Do you have experienced Wikimedia editors to lead the event? Please provide links to the usernames of these individuals.
- Our planning committee has 5 editors: User:Rhizomesandranch User:Uterodactyl User:KjessJKT User:BethJaneToren User:SallyDWV. All participated in planning our first event last year, two taught course assignments with Wikipedia (Rhizomesandranch and KjessJKT), and one is a very experienced Wikipedia editor that ran our help sessions during last year’s event (BethJaneToren).
5. Do participants have the equipment or skills needed to participate and contribute high quality content? If not, how will you support them?
- Participants will have access to Wiki Education Program training modules, as well as drop-in training hours during the weeklong event. Instructors interested in building the event directly into their spring course curricula also have access to in-class tutorials and training materials that the committee has assembled. The Event Dashboard will contain these resources, in addition to a list of stub-, start-, and c-class articles on issues relevant to diverse Appalachian creators.
6. How will you engage participants after the event(s)?
- We will distribute a survey to assess participant experience after the event. This will be created in Qualtrics and distributed through email to participants, as well as being linked through our event dashboard. We will also distribute swag that we received to encourage participants to keep editing.
7. Are you running any in-person events or activities? If so, you will need to complete the steps outlined on the Risk Assessment protocol related to COVID-19. When you have completed these steps, please provide a link to your completed copy of the risk assessment tool below:
- No.
8. Is there anything else you want to tell us about this project?
- With this event, we are trying to engage our campus community in Wikipedia editing so that they feel confident in engaging with public texts and filling gaps that often lead the Appalachian region to be misrepresented, or ignored. Our focus on amplifying the accomplishments of diverse Appalachian creators further emphasizes the role that women, people of color, and LGBTQ Appalachians have played in the arts. By focusing on implementing the edit-a-thon into courses, in the hopes that in future years, we can have a more robust event with more widespread participation across campus.
- We are applying for funding to incentivize the survey so that we have a good understanding of what participants got out of the edit-a-thon, and to make appropriate changes in future years–especially looking towards in-person events.
- This is our second year putting together an edit-a-thon. Last year was a huge success for us (94 editors with 61 articles edited or created), and though we were not able to build to an in-person event this year like we had hoped, we are still trying to build a foundation for future years.
Impact
editHow will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets:
- Number of events: 1
- Number of participants: 50
- Number of new editors: 25 [this is lower than last year because we hope to have a lot of repeat participants from last year!]
- Number of of articles created or improved: 40
- Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events): N/A
Note: we adjusted our ideal goals based on our performance last year (i.e. increased number of articles improved, but lowered number of participants because fewer classes are taking part this year due to what is clearly extended burn out of faculty and students alike)
Resources
editWhat 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).
- 5 facilitators, with varying levels of Wikipedia literacy, will be an important resource for this event, as they represent different areas across the university, particularly the library system and the Department of English. Two planning committee members are incorporating the event into their classes, and therefore have created training materials based on Wikimedia and Art+Feminism resources that will be shared with others.
- Further, since this is the second time we are holding this event, we have amassed a lot of resources from last year and have a lot more knowledge on how to pull off an asynchronous event.
- We will be holding a synchronous welcome event and drop-in editing hours, as we did last year. We are also adding a quick closing ceremony where we will share current stats, offer live help, and share information about where to pick up swag.
What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense and include a total amount.
- Visa gift cards to incentivize taking the post-event survey - 40 x $10 = $400
- Activation fees for gift cards - 40 x $2.95 = $118
- Total costs - $518
Endorsements
editCommunity members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!
- As Program Coordinator for WVU Libraries, I'm excited to help facilitate this important event! 157.182.147.81 15:38, 8 February 2022 (UTC)
- WVU's current Edit-a-Thon program reflects continuity in including students to improve Wikipedia and increase representation of our region's diversity. The hard-won foundation of support established in the past is always at risk of being diminished. This grant will validate the work in the view of administrators seeking evidence of merit in the wake of Academic Transformation. BethJaneToren (talk) 17:34, 8 February 2022 (UTC)
Strong support Kunokuno (talk) 12:20, 15 February 2022 (UTC)
