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Grants:PEG/WM US-DC/Wiki Loves Monuments 2012 USA/Report

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Report accepted
This report for a Project and Event grant approved in FY 2012-13 has been reviewed and accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation.
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Compliance and completion

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Did you comply with the requirements specified by WMF in the grant agreement?
Answer YES or NO.
Yes
Is your project completed?
Answer YES or NO.
Yes
Did you use any of the grant funds?
Answer YES or NO.
Yes

Activities and lessons learned

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This section describes what the grantee did, and what the grantee learned from implementing the project. This section should be useful to others implementing similar projects and is an opportunity for the grantee to reflect on the project's performance.

Activities

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Provide a detailed list of activities performed to complete this project, descriptions of these activities, and the amount of time spent on each activity. This section should also include a list of participants, or a link to pictures, blog posts, or videos from the project or event.
Summary
We executed the month-long Wiki Loves Monuments contest for the United States. We received over 22,000 photographs as part of the contest. Peter Ekman oversaw the photography contest, which sought to improve coverage of national landmarks and feats of architecture on Wikimedia Commons as part of the international Wiki Loves Monuments contest. The judges included Carol M. Highsmith, Heather Moran, Rick Prelinger, Daniel Case, Howard Cheng, Daniel Schwen, and David Shankbone. Wikimedia DC's specific responsibility was to provide the technical infrastructure and organizational support for the contest. We successfully handled the surge in web traffic with no disruptions. We were also prepared to issue prizes, however, much of the prize money went unclaimed.
We also conducted outreach to promote Wiki Loves Monuments. In addition to organizing Wikipedia Takes DC 2012 with the assistance of our outreach coordination intern, we held a reception for the top three finalists at the National Press Club on Friday, December 14, 2012. This reception was part of the National Press Club Young Member Committee's holiday get-together, co-sponsored by 100Reporters, Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Fund for Investigative Journalism. This reception featured high-quality prints of the finalists, as well as informational displays about the contest and the value of using free media in news media. Planning Wikimedia DC's participation in the event took around two weeks. Around five representatives from Wikimedia DC attended, along with over 50 journalists from the DC area. The Young Members Committee enjoyed the event, and they are looking to work with Wikimedia DC in the future.
We would like to thank Peter Ekman (Wiki Loves Monuments US coordinator), Matthew Roth (assistant coordinator), Ryan Kaldari (technical), Jeremy Baron (technical) and the jury for their efforts.
Coverage of Wiki Loves Monuments USA
See also: coverage from Wikimedia DC and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Gallery
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    First Place: The Cabin Creek Historic District, Kittitas County, Washington
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    Second Place: Wupatki National Monument, near Flagstaff, Arizona
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    Third Place: Al Mac's Diner-Restaurant, Fall River, Massachusetts
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    "What is Wiki Loves Monuments" display featured at the National Press Club.
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    "Use Free Media In Your Publications" display featured at the National Press Club.

Lessons learned

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What lessons were learned that may help others succeed in similar projects? Consider the following questions and respond with 1 - 2 paragraphs.
What went well?
The contest was successful in increasing contributions to Wikimedia Commons, and the reception was well-received. It was one of the first national collaborations, of its kind. Wikimedians around the United States organized a series of smaller-scale "Wikipedia Takes America" events, in conjunction with Wiki Loves Monuments. On the technical side, we implemented caching with Varnish to make the website scale well, while keeping the hosting costs down.
What did not go well?
We got a late start in planning for Wiki Loves Monuments and were not able to handle as much of the organizational workload for the contest, as the chapter was largely preoccupied with organizing Wikimania 2012 in the summer of 2012. Several volunteers from outside of the DC region took more of a lead role in organizing, while Wikimedia DC provided technical and fiscal support. Unsure of how many submissions we would get but presumably a very large amount, it was a challenge to develop the *right* tools and process for sifting through the submissions and make the judging process easy for the jury.
We were also unable to organize all of the auxiliary events in the DC region that we originally intended to. Instead of having more Wiki Takes the "city" events, we held a series of less formal upload "parties".
Additionally, many of the prize-winners did not claim their prizes. This is possibly due to participants creating throwaway accounts and then not checking their emails.
What would you do differently if you planned a similar project?
Wikimedia DC's Board of Directors approved a Programs Committee and Event Coordinator position to help strengthen relationships with partners and capacity for Wikimedia DC outreach.
For future Wiki Loves Monuments or similar initiatives, we would need to get an earlier start in planning, and would have a better sense of the workload involved. More work is needed on tools and technical infrastructure to support such contests, make them scale better and be easier for local events organizers.
With a successful exhibition at the Press Club under our belt, for next year we will pursue more direct engagement with exhibition viewers, including soliciting feedback and recruiting new members to keep them continually engaged in the Wikimedia movement. We should also aim for a more prominent exhibition, with more engagement with outside press. We would also need to figure out how to more reliably contact participants in case they win so that they may receive their well-deserved prizes.

Project goal and measures of success

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This section should reference the project goals and measures of success described in the approved grant submission. See Grants:PEG/WM US-DC/Wiki Loves Monuments 2012 USA to review the goals and metrics listed in the approved submission.

Project goal

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Provide the project goal here.
The stated goal was to substantially increase the number of freely licensed photographs on Wikimedia Commons.
Did you achieve your project goal? How do you know your goal was achieved? Please answer in 1 - 2 paragraphs.
Given the number of uploads, it is reasonable to conclude that Wiki Loves Monuments USA achieved its goal. While we could not conduct more active outreach in September during the contest, we succeeded in providing technical and organizational support for the contest and showcasing the contest as a means of promoting free media in journalism.

Measures of success

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List the measures of success exactly as provided in the approved grant submission, and evaluate your project according to each measure listed there.
  1. How many articles and blog posts were written about Wiki Loves Monuments in the US as a result of our events?—Around three non-Wikimedia publications covered the USA contest, in addition to two personal blog posts that we could find. See above.
  2. How many people signed up for other Wiki Loves Monuments events throughout September as a result of our events?—Unfortunately this is not applicable, since the only WLM event we held in September was Wikipedia Takes DC (held in parallel with Wikipedia Takes Baltimore).
  3. How many new photographs were contributed from the US to Wikimedia Commons during the month of September?—Over 22,000 photographs were contributed, according to the Wiki Loves Monuments USA website.
  4. How many objects from the National Building Museum's collection were digitized during our events with them?—Not applicable.
  5. How many articles were translated into how many languages during our DC QRpedia Challenge?—Not applicable.
  6. How many articles were improved during our various Wiki Loves Monuments-related edit-a-thons?—Not applicable.
  7. Did we successfully get any professional photographers to contribute photos to Wikimedia Commons?—We did not.
  8. Did we successfully persuade a gallery or museum to have a temporary Wiki Loves Monuments exhibit?—Yes; we held an exhibition at the National Press Club.
Provide an overall assessment of how your project went according to these measures.
While we were successful in our core goals, we lacked the capacity to carry out additional projects to supplement the contest.
If you were to plan a similar project, would you measure it differently? If yes, please explain how.
Possible future metrics may include the number of new contributors, including long-term contributors, recruited as a result of Wiki Loves Monuments.

Impact

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This section ties this project to Wikimedia's broader goals, and shows what the project accomplished.

What impact did this project have on WMF's mission and the strategic goals? Please answer in 1 -2 paragraphs and include specific measures of impact such as the number of readers or editors reached by a particular project, or the number of articles edited or improved.
Stabilize infrastructure
Increase participation
Participation spiked during this month.
Improve quality
The 22,000 photographs uploaded will improve the quality and visual appearance of articles about the US.
Increase reach
We have increased participation by new photographers at Wikimedia Commons. In addition, we have developed a strategic partnership between Wikimedia DC and the Young Member Committee of the National Press Club, thanks to the Wiki Loves Monuments project, and we wish to keep them engaged.
Encourage innovation
By hosting the Wiki Loves Monuments contest for the United States, we facilitated the upload of over 22,000 photographs, available for the world to use. This project aided the Wikimedia movement in the short term by increasing the number of contributions and by setting the stage for future collaborations with institutions. While we regret that we could not have had a larger impact, we now have one Wiki Loves Monuments contest under our belt and we hope to prepare adequately for a second.

Reporting and documentation of expenditures

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This section describes the grant's use of funds

Documentation

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Documentation of expenditures has been received by WMF.

Did you send documentation of all expenses paid with grant funds to grants at wikimedia dot org, according to the guidelines here? Answer "Yes" or "No".
Yes

Expenses

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Please list all project expenses in a table here, with descriptions and dates. Review the instructions here.
These expenses should be listed in the same format as the budget table in your approved submission so that anyone reading this report may be able to easily compare budgeted vs. actual expenses.
Note that variances in the project budget over 10% per expense category must be approved in advance by WMF Grants Program staff. For all other variances, please provide an explanation in the table below.
Description Amount allocated Amount spent Difference Explanation
Wiki Loves Monuments Prizes $1,500.00 $450.00 -$1,050.00 We reduced the prize amounts to stay below tax reporting thresholds. Also, the first and second place prizes were unclaimed.
Printing costs for images of winning and finalist photographs from 2012 for display $1,000.00 $625.92 -$374.08 We held an exhibition of the Wiki Loves Monuments USA finalists at the National Press Club to demonstrate the value of free media to journalists in Washington. We saved money by partnering with the National Press Club.
Web Hosting $250.00 $79.90 -$170.10 Through software changes we were able to avoid upgrading our hosting plan to a more expensive plan, saving money.
Total $2,750.00 $1,155.82 -$1,594.18
Total project budget (from your approved grant submission)
$2,750.00
Total amount requested from WMF (from your approved grant submission, this total will be the same as the total project budget if the WMF grant is your only funding source)
$2,750.00
Total amount spent on this project (this total should be the total calculated from the table above)
$1,155.82
Total amount of WMF grant funds spent on this project (this total will be the same as the total amount spent if the WMF grant is your only funding source)
$1,155.82
Are there additional sources of revenue that funded any part of this project? List them here.
No

Remaining funds

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Are there any grant funds remaining?
Answer YES or NO.
Yes
Please list the total amount (specify currency) remaining here. (This is the amount you did not use, or the amount you still have after completing your grant.)
$1,594.18
If funds are remaining they must be returned to WMF, reallocated to mission-aligned activities, or applied to another approved grant.
Please state here if you intend to return unused funds to WMF, submit a request for reallocation, or submit a new grant request, and then follow the instructions on your approved grant submission.
The funds remaining from this grant in the amount of {{{amount}}} were deducted from another grant payment for Grants:WM_US-DC/Outreach_2013.
We request to use remaining funds on the Outreach 2013 proposal.
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