Grants:TPS/Vantharith/BlogFestAsia2012

User name

w:km:អ្នកប្រើប្រាស់:វ័ណថារិទ្ធ on Khmer Wikipedia and w:en:User:Vantharith on the English Wikipedia (Name: Vantharith Oum)

User location (country)

South Korea

Event name

BlogFestAsia2012

Event Web site

http://2012.blogfest.asia

Event date(s)

1-5 November 2012

Event location (city)

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Amount requested (remember to specify currency!)

USD 1400

Endorsements

1. — Nearly Headless Nick {C} 12:49, 6 October 2012 (UTC)
2. Abbasjnr (talk) 09:09, 10 October 2012 (UTC)

Budget breakdown

• Travel: USD 1200 (round trip economy class ticket from Seoul, South Korea to Siem Reap, Cambodia)
• Accommodation: USD 50 x 4 = USD 200 (estimated cost of accommodation and living expenses through the duration of the event)

Proposed Participation

This application is being made by Anirudh Bhati on the behalf of Vantharith Oum who has graciously agreed to participate in BlogFestAsia2012 event as a speaker on the following topics:

• Khmer Wikipedia (presentation)
• Wikimedia Commons (presentation)
• Wiki Loves Monuments (workshop)

BlogFestAsia2012 is a regional event focusing on Blogging and use of Social Media technologies among the youth in the ASEAN region. The use of blogs and other social media tools has increased tremendously in the ASEAN region over the past decade with the proliferation of affordable internet technology and access. There are numerous individuals and groups of bloggers in the region who write about a plethora of topics including but not limited to technology, culture, history, travel and living, in the region. My aim is to conduct outreach among the members of this community to spread the word about Wikimedia projects.

Vantharith Oum is a veteran Khmer Wikipedian who has been around since the early days of the project and has amassed over 7,000 edits. He is currently based in Seoul, South Korea as a student of public policy. The organizers and I believe that his participation in this event would be invaluable for the promotion of Khmer Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects in the Khmer language due to his deep knowledge and understanding of Khmer Wikimedia projects. Furthermore, Vantharith will help organize a "Wikipedia takes Angkor" event at the site of Angkor Wat and other temples in Siem Reap province for the 200+ participants of the event. The images taken as a part of this exercise will be uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons.

The event organizers can currently support only local participation and limited regional participation with the current budget. Therefore, I request WMF/WMDE to kindly help support us with covering Vantharith's travel expenses.

If this grant application is successful, I would appreciate an advance disbursement of the funds and/or direct travel support by helping book the round trip economy tickets for the nominee.

Goal and Expected Impact

I believe this event will serve as a good platform to launch Wikimedia projects among the technology oriented communities in Cambodia and the region. With the exception of Indonesia and the Philippines, outreach efforts in ASEAN have been very limited. We intend to change that by building relationships with institutions of higher learning, civil society organizations and individuals from different walks of life. Vantharith's presence will bolster the standing of Wikimedia projects in Cambodia, specially among the Khmer-speaking populace.

The event will be covered by regional and national newspapers and digital media outlets such as the Phnom Penh Post, the Cambodia Daily, Le Petit Journal, Sabay Online, CTN Network etc.

Should you have any questions or require clarification, please leave a message on the talk page. I can also be contacted via my email : anirudh [at] wikimedia [dot] in.

Vantharith will comment on this page shortly.

Comments by Nominee

Add comments here ~~~~

Greetings from Seoul!
This is Vantharith from Khmer Wikipedia. As mentioned by Anirudh Bhati, I would like to join this BlogFestAsia 2012 as a guest speaker. I plan to share my experiences with Wikimedia Projects and Khmer Wikipedia's future plans on how to build and grow our local community as well as to connect and integrate into regional coomunities. The presentations and/or workshops will not only engage with existing Khmer Wikipedians and potential contributors, but also trying to reach out to local photography community and convince them to be part of our free knowledge projects, namely Wikimedia Commons. There are still lacking and limited resources of media on/about Cambodia subjects as well as low participation from Cambodian contributors.

Back in early 2011, I start utilizing social media (our Facebook Fan Page, Twitter and Blog) to promote our Khmer language projects aiming to engage users, build our community and coordinate activities. On the other side, our presence on social media helps us to get connected with regional communities and to have our voice heard. As a result, our community has builded up awareness with various media coverages including 1) Email interview on VOA News Blog, 2) Radio interview on ABC News, 3) News article on Cambodia Daily... etc. Moreover, we also happened to organise offline Wikimeetup in Phnom Penh for couple of times, but it is currently irregular now because our key offline lead team are too busy with their work/study.

I also got full travel scholarship to attend Wikimania 2012 but unfortunately I couldn't secure US Visa from US Embassy in Seoul here, which was a bad step-back and obstacle in blocking me from networking with bigger and more active communities to learn from them as well as getting any possible support in growing our Khmer Wikipedia. It was my worst experience to deal with and I was badly saddened by this bad news as i attempted twice for the visa interview.

Thus, I foresee this upcoming BlogFestAsia 2012 as another great opportunity to promote awareness of Wikimedia projects as well as Khmer Wikipedia to both the locals and regional participants alike. If I am privileged to get travel grant from WMF, then I will extend my invitation to other regional Wikimedia/Wikipedia communities in Asia to join me in Siem Reap as it's relatively most affordable for them to travel to Cambodia.

Again, thank you so far for the opportunities I have been given to work with Wikimedia and build our Khmer Wikipedia community! And I hope I will be given this opportunity again to serve in what we believe in - building a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Thank you! --វ័ណថារិទ្ធ (Vantharith) (talk) 14:40, 6 October 2012 (UTC)