Grants:Project/Rapid/WikiEditorasLx/Editatona Visibilidade Negra: juntes editamos a Wikipédia/Report

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Goals

Did you meet your goals? Are you happy with how the project went? Overall, we are extremely happy with how the project went, and below we address goals individually:

Reach out to local BIPOC participants, expanding the knowledge network of our group and projects.
Strategically, we decided to use the organization of this edit-a-thon to create bridges and establish connections with local black-owned organizations, aiming at triggering a partnership with a longer-term perspective. Batoto Yetu, a 26-year old nonprofit with over 900 members, that works for the valorization of black culture with children and youth, promoting self-esteem and skills development, as well as the visibilization of black history and heritage, was invited to provide the food and childcare. Bazofo, a small local merch brand and serigraphy workshop, was our partner for the production of the tote bags. Plus, as estimated, we consolidated our partnership with Bantumen, an independent black lusophone digital media project. All of these organizations promoted our event on their networks, which contributed for the fact that almost 70% of our participants were non-white. Moreover, Bantumen has continued to collaborate with our group (having published a piece about the event) and Batoto Yetu also demonstrated interest in establishing a partnership with Wiki Editoras Lx for capacitation of their community on Wikipedia editing and other wiki projects.
Collectively add or improve content on lusophone BIPOC, queer, women and non-binary people.
Vanessa Sanches, from Bantumen, curated the list of articles to create, assuring that all were lusophone BIPOC, queer, women and non-binary people, and representing diverse lusophone countries and also their diaspora:
- Conceição Queiroz: black, cis woman, journalist, middle-aged, portuguese (pt:Conceição Queiroz)
- Lara de Sousa: black, cis woman, filmmaker, young, mozambican (pt:Lara de Sousa)
- Eva Rapdiva: black, cis woman, rapper, young, angolan (pt:Eva Rapdiva)
- Imanni da Silva: black, trans woman, model, activist, artist, young, angolan (pt:Imanni da Silva)
- Tchinda Andrade: black trans woman, activist, a symbol of the Cape-Verde carnival(pt:Tchinda Andrade)
- Solange Cesarovna: black, cis woman, singer and songwriter, young, cape-verdian (pt:Solange Cesarovna)
- Mamã Kuiba : black cis woman, national personality, chef, representative of the country's cuisine (pt:Mamã Kuiba)
- Amabélia Rodrigues: black, cis woman, epidimiologist, bissau-guinean (pt:Amabélia Rodrigues)
- Manuela Soeiro: black cis woman, actress, other of Mozambican theater (pt:Manuela Soeiro)
- Roselyn Silva: black, cis woman, fashion designer, são tomé and principe (pt:Roselyn Silva)
- Alécia Morais: black, cis woman, model, cape verdian (pt:Alécia Morais)
- Bia Santos: black, cis woman, youg social entrepreneur, brazilian (pt:Bia Santos)
- Pauline Duarte: black, cis woman, first black women to lead a rap music label, french and capeverdian (pt:Pauline Duarte)
- Gingas do Maculusso: black, cis women, musical band, angolans (pt:Gingas do Maculusso)
Recruit new editors particularly cis and trans women and gender non-conforming individuals (underrepresented in Wikipedia), engaging them to join Wiki Editoras Lx (editors group)
In this edit-a-thon, and according to the registration form, we had the participation of cis women (most of the participants) and gender non-conforming individuals. After the event, some of them continued to edit individually or during the online sessions that we have already organized. In addition, they asked to be added to our Whatsapp group - that they have been using to ask for support on Wikipedia edition, as well as our Facebook page, promoting, for example, our online sessions
Increase skills for existing editors and offer basic skills training for new editors.
In this edit-a-thon we had participants who had already edited in Wikipedia (41,2%) and the remaining participants had no editing experience (58,8%). Most of the participants who had already edited in Wikipedia hadn’t done it for some time, so this edit-a-thon allowed them to refresh their knowledge and skills.
The editing rules on Wikipedia were shared with participants, as well as more practical tools: how to create the user on Wikipedia; how to prepare an article on etherpad; how to use the "testing" functionality on Wikipedia; insertion of citations, hyperlinks and categories; creation of paragraphs and text formatting rules; creating new articles and editing existing articles. Some participants also learned how the Wikipedia translation tool works, as well as how to create biographical files or upload photos to the Wikimedia Commons. Some of the more experienced editors had the chance to learn about creating wikidata items and to link them with the corresponding wikipedia page. Moreover, for the experienced editors, our capacitation method, that pairs a more experienced editor with a new editor, providing a practical opportunity for the more experienced to acquire peer-to-peer training skills.
Consolidate the Wiki Editoras Lx existing network, providing a moment to engage physically after the last two years of remote activity.
We have come from a hiatus from face-to-face events because of COVID, and it was great to finally be able to get together safely. We believe that the group came out of this experience with recharged batteries. Also, some editors that were already part of the group but had not edited with us for a long time, after the event, came back and started participating in the events again.

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: 1	1 event	As proposed, we organized a single editathon on April 30, 2022, a saturday. The event took place at the Penhasco Arte Cooperativa between 11:00 and 4:00 PM.
Number of participants: maximum of 25 seating participants + 4 organizers + 4 facilitators + 1 curatorial specialist + 2 people from the venue (childcare/food services) = 36	Number of participants: 11 participants + 7 organizers/facilitators/editors + 1 curatorial specialist who also edited + 2 service providers (childcare/food services) + 1 journalist/photographer + 3 children = 25	We would like to mention that we received 17 registrations for the editathon. Even though we sent confirmation and reminder emails, 6 people did not show up. However, compared to our previous experience, we felt that a smaller group allowed for a more intimate dynamic and created a more approachable learning environment. Also, one of the participants could only stay during the morning, so she was not able to edit and join the dashboard.
Number of new editors: 20 people	7	This outcome corresponds to 70% of the participants that edited during the event.
Number of articles created or improved: 25	Articles Created: 38 Articles Edited: 157 Commons Uploads: 45 Number of editions: 1.k	38 wikipedia articles were created and 157 edited during our activity tracking period, April 30 - May 31. Contexts of articles' creation: -during the editathon -during our online and and in-person group meetings after the editathon during the tracking period, where we continued editing based on the curatorial specialist’s proposed articles list Please check the details in our dashboard.

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?

This was the second time that we organized an in-person WMF funded editathon as WikiEditorasLx. We were mindful of the lessons we have learned from our last Editathon, from the grant request process to logistic issues.

As for the grant writing process, we felt more confident to request our needs since we knew they were based on real feedback from previous participants.

Some examples of the improvements we were able to implement from our previous experience were:

meeting the day before in the venue and taking more time ahead to dispose the tables and chairs, decorate it and check the video projector, to avoid technical issues on the event day;
we started the event at 11am, which was a more friendly hour for a saturday morning event - this time there were no complaints about the starting time;
having a bigger and more experienced facilitating team and placing at least one experienced editor per table, allowed for the learning and clarifications to run more smoothly. Even though we had a lot of new editors, it was not so demanding. Also, as stated before, we realized that it is better to have a smaller group of participants, so everyone can have full attention from our facilitators, clarify all the doubts and not get frustrated with the process. In future events, we will reduce the target number of participants to 12-15;
acquiring locally our merch for the event - besides avoiding all the customs issues we had previously, it also gave us an opportunity to reach out to a black-owned small business that has a big social impact on its community, which in turn also gave the event visibility within that community.

Partially based on our previous experience, working so closely with local BIPOC organizations at this event allowed us to build the best possible environment to host BIPOC editors. We couldn’t have reached out to that community by ourselves the same way. We feel that we were able to create a safe, light and fun space for all of us. In particular, having a black curatorial specialist presenting herself the list of articles and being herself an editor that started to edit with Wiki Editoras Lx was very inspiring for the (new) editors.

Even though it was not based on a lesson from past experiences, we learned that separating the more “theoretical” part of the day from the practical editing phase, with a lunch in between the two parts to give opportunity to the participants to mingle, to get to know each other and to connect (this is particularly important since our capacitation method is based on editing in pairs). Our pictures from the day can show how people that have met that day became so close in the end of the meeting. Please see this example and this example.

Some editors participating in the event shared their experience while creating wikipedia articles in social media, what generated a new sort of promotion for WikiEditorasLx[1].

It was important to work with a venue we already know and to reinforce our partnership with Penhasco Arte Cooperativa.

Even though it represented more work for the organizers, the fact that this time we asked another organization to be responsible for the food and childcare, Batoto Yetu, a very important and active black organization, allowed Wiki Editoras Lx to show their decolonial values, by extending the event to this community, contributing to their mission of black representation and promoting black culture through food. Batoto alsw showed interest in continuing the partnership, on a capacitation level. Hopefully, we will be submitting a grant on it within the next few months.

The co-organizers managed to share the workload equally and decisions were made horizontally and democratically at all times. The team work worked really well! All of the work of the co-organizers was completely voluntary and complementary.

Since some of the organizers are not based in Lisbon, and this is also the leading group that keeps all the Wiki Editoras Lx regular meeting organization afloat, it was very important to have this chance of meeting in person, strengthening our connection, motivation and joint values.

Also for existing editors that participated on the meeting, it was an amazing opportunity to reconnect, refresh skills and knowledge and to reinforce their motivation and commitment to editing wikipedia.

The existing connection with administrators of lusophone Wikipedia through the close partnership of some of our members with Wikimedia Portugal allowed us to solve in a timely fashion some user registration ans user filters issues as well. Unlike previous events, this time we didn’t have any issues with the publication of articles nor with subsequent elimination requests. Preventing new editors' articles (that obviously comply with Wikipedia rules) from getting eliminated is key to ensure that they do not get discouraged and keep editing.

Finally, the fact that we invited a media project co-leader to be the curatorial specialist provided media exposure to the work developed by the group, targeted to the black lusophone community, through a piece done during the event. And moreover, it also allowed for an opportunity to briefly discuss the role and importance of media for the wikipedia editing work.

What did not work so well?

We had some technical issues when it came to creating logins for the new users. For context, the lusophone community requires login to edit Wikipedia. Two of the new editors had the creation of their local accounts blocked. We are not entirely sure of the reasons, but according to the message one of them received, that happened because their devices were perceived as IP addresses believed to be web hosts providers or colocations providers. One of the participants had to create the account using one of our facilitator's computers. One of the facilitators said she had faced the same issue with new users when facilitating another Mozambican event remotely the previous day, but we don’t know if the issues are related.

We also had some technical issues with the wikipedia interface: the automatic reference insertion did not work for links from african newspapers/sources, since they were not recognized. Besides the extra effort of adding the references manually, the participants saw this as a reinforcement of a stigma towards those african references, since the same didn’t happen to portuguese media references.

Even if we felt that the number of participants was the best to keep an intimate feeling, it was low. Although we reached out to local BIPOC organizations and we had paid ads on social media, it’s important for white allies to be better known in the community before black people feel they will be mindful of creating a safe space. We hope this editathon has contributed to start that conversation.

What would you do differently next time?

It was important to test the projection the day before, because we had a lot of issues with projector-laptop compatibility. For the following events, we should try to acquire our own video projector.

Our communication efforts still need to be improved. Although we used our contacts database and mailchimp as a mailing tool to promote the event and make sure that our message gets through easier, we still didn’t have enough registration to meet our target. It can be explained partially by the fact that we were communicating mainly to a new community, and also that during this post-confinement times, there have been many events at the same time, but until we do all we possibly can, and more timely, we won’t be able to know for sure. Also, it would help to be able to keep our social media more active, to increase our traction and organic reach, so when we promote events, it will be more effective.

We are aware that it may be difficult to make people commit to free events, but we are looking forward to learning and developing strategies to reduce last minute cancellations and no-shows. It takes a lot of work and costs to make an event happen and it’s sad not to be able to make the most out of it.

Finances

Grant funds spent

Please describe how much grant money you spent for approved expenses, and tell us what you spent it on.


ITEM	DETAILS	UNIT €	QUANTITY	TOTAL €
1. Food expenses	Breakfast, lunch and coffee, including drinks for 39 people	16,00	39	624,00
2. Childcare	Childcare during event for participants with children.	80,00	1	80,00
3. Social Media Paid Aid Campaign	Facebook and Instagram Ad Campaign - event promotion	40,27	1	40,27
4. Local transportation	Taxis for organization members (event and pre-event logistics) and curatorial specialist (event)	varies	4 trips/tickets	32,38
5. Transportation for main facilitators from out of Lisbon	Train and bus for two organizers/facilitators, round trips (Espinho>Lisboa>Espinho and Portimão>Lisboa>Portimão)	varies	2 round-trips	89,30
6. Venue	1 full day space and services (incl. pre-event organization)	400,00	1	400,00
7. Graphics designing	Promotion digital materials, stickers and tote bag design and imprint preparation	300,00	1	300,00
8. Merchandising	90 stickers and 40 tote bags	376,06	1	376,06
9. Accomodation for curatorial specialist	2 nights for curatorial specialist	57,87	2	115,74
10. Unforeseen expenses	Food expenses for 5 organizers and facilitators (previous night - preparation of venue for event)	52,45	1	52,45
11. Unforeseen Expenses	Posters printing and decor	27,35	1	27,35
1 € = 1,05 USD			TOTAL EXPENDITURE €	2.137,55
			TOTAL EXPENDITURE USD	2,242.38

Remaining funds

Do you have any remaining grant funds?

Remaining funds are retained by the grantee with WMF's permission until after the report review has been completed and report has been accepted, at which time the WMF program officer will also provide instructions regarding the grantee's reallocation or return of the unspent grant funds.

This funded event total budget was 2.314,40 € (US$ 2,532.72) and the final expenditure was 2.137,55€, thus we have 176,85€ remaining. We would like to retain the funds in order to invest on a projector, reducing the amount to be requested for this purpose on a future grant.

Anything else

Anything else you want to share about your project?

Thank you so much, Wikimedia team, for all the resources - human and financial - that allowed us to make this editathon happen!

We truly feel that this editathon triggered the beginning of a new strategic partnership between Wiki Editoras Lx and Bantumen, as well as with Batoto Yetu, and in a smaller scale, with Bazofo. Please check its post about our event and their participation.

Here you can find more pictures from the event.

Also, we would like to share some comments and testimonies from participants that we extracted from the post-event assessment questionnaire:

"I liked the welcoming, interaction, and empowerment of the women involved."

"I really loved seeing people again, meeting new people, the delicious food, the personalities in the articles."

"I really liked the separation between what we did before and after lunch. I liked the overall dynamic of the event."

"I loved the joy of being able to be part of a digital change."

"What I loved most were the hugs, going back to the face-to-face format, learning from them all."

Finally, according to 100% of the participants who answered our post-event evaluation questionnaire, overall the event was good or very good, 100% would definitely recommend the event to friends and 78% said they wanted to join our regular editing sessions.