Grants talk:APG/Proposals/2012-2013 round2/Wikimédia France/Progress report form/Q2

Report received, and thank you

Dear Nathalie:

We thank you for submitting this complete progress report for Quarter 2 on time, and we look forward to reviewing it soon and learning more about your activities this past quarter. Please be sure to monitor this page for questions and feedback from FDC staff while your report is being reviewed. Contact us with questions or concerns about this report at any time.

Best regards, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 19:49, 31 January 2014 (UTC)

Basic copy-edit?

Thank you for this report. But having clearly invested a lot of work into it, why not spend another 2% of effort to fix the weird language glitches? For example, what on earth is "structuration"? Is someone inventing words? It's really off-putting to readers. Tony (talk) 09:22, 1 February 2014 (UTC)

Hi Tony,

Thank you for your comment (and the compliment on the work invested :)

The postmortem of our previous FDC documents (reports & proposals), regarding both the final result & our own internal writing process, led us to decide that we would first write this Q2 report in French on our chapter wiki, and resort to a professional translation service. Among other things, we figured we would thus avoid the language shortcomings of our previous documents (which you noted, if I remember correctly ;-)

We worked on a very tight schedule, with the 1-month-after-end-of-period deadline, and as the translation was expected to take a lot of time. We got the translation back a few days ago… to be very disappointed with the result, indeed. We spent quite a lot of time these past two days to fix the most glaring language issues as much as we could, and missing many others. (In this case, structuration is a calque on the French structuration = structuring)

We are currently doing the postmortem of this report writing, and will decide how to amend our process to further improve our future documents. And most certainly contract with a different service :)

Thanks, Jean-Fred (talk) 10:11, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

Hi Tony. For what it's worth, and independantly from the "translation mishap" as Jean-Fred describes it, I would like to point out that no matter how well one speaks a second language, they may never ever speak it as you do as a native speaker. I am glad this report was translated by an external service that can be blamed for the glitches, because had it been translated by volunteers, as many others reports are, I would have found your remark extremely disheartening and well... "off-putting" to use your own words. Best, notafish }<';> 16:35, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

Jean-Frédéric, I think it was a good process as you describe it, that yes, fell down at the end of the pipeline. A few million French-speakers could do much better than that, but wouldn't call themselves professionals. As I said before, I'm willing to go over the draft to fix it up, gratis, as long as it's not during a horrendous part of my work schedule; that's an offer I've made to no other chapter.

Notafish, I'm sorry if you find it potentially off-putting, but the language is not good enough in a competitive international forum; many native English-speakers commit horrendous sins in their own writing, so don't feel special on that count. But there's a difference between stumbling over the odd strangeness or awkward grammar and being able to make sense of it, and the use of a word that doesn't exist, like "structuration", where one doesn't know what it means. Inventing weird words is something I've seen before in WMFR; reasonably correct standard English will do (not perfect pearly prose). Tony (talk) 15:09, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Bottom line is, if Wikimedia truly is an international organisation, then we should be mindful of those who have to use English as a second, third or maybe even fourth language because some historical turn of events made English the lingua franca of the movement. I thank you for your offer to copy-edit though, that's extremely kind of you and I wish we could count on many more people who can do that. Not as much as I wish that FDC members, myself included, could actually read reports and applications in their native language though. :D notafish }<';> 16:45, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

No, I'm not accepting that tired old line. WMFR is the stand-out in presenting weird English. Weird, not incorrect. No one expects perfect language, but I do want to be able to understand it. What exactly does "structuration" mean? I've no idea. Perhaps it was meant to be "structuring". Unprofessional to invent new words when your poor readers are trying to make sense of it. No way would I write that way in French. Tony (talk) 02:36, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

Comments from FDC Staff on this report

Thank you for submitting this complete and high-quality report on time! Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 20:26, 11 March 2014 (UTC)

Financial summary

• WMFR’s spending has increased in Q2, and cumulative spending is now approaching almost half of budgeted spending for this year at about 45.05%.
• Operational expenses are higher than expected at 67,102 EUR due to up-front costs associated with hiring new employees. Spending on staffing has now reached close to 25% for Q2.
• A few projects have been delayed or are scheduled for future quarters (for example, territorial development and research); on the other hand, a few project budgets have been nearly spent since no more activity in these areas is planned or expected for the remainder of the grant term (for example, Europeana support).

Inconsistencies

There seem to be some inconsistencies in WMFR’s table of expenses in the “Total” line for Q2 and as a result in the “Total” line for cumulative expenses. The expenses for Q2 seem to add up to “207,117 EUR,” and not “201,786 EUR,” as listed; the cumulative expenses seem to add up to “315,001 EUR” and “412,015 USD,” respectively, rather than “309,670 EUR” and “405,048 USD,” as listed in this table. Please check these numbers and confirm the correct totals, making corrections to this financial report as needed. We apologize in advance if we are misreading the tables and hope to clarify the numbers soon.

We actually made ​​a small mistake in the sum of expenditures. The result is indeed € 207.117. We apologize and will correct the document. Sbaijard 28 April 2014 12:35 (CEST)

Appreciation

• This is a high-quality report with a good level of detail, and we appreciate the engaging photographs included in this report that help us understand the results of WMFR’s work. Furthermore, we appreciate that this report is reflective and shares observations with the broader community that may be helpful to others: for example, WMFR has have shared the success of unique (or “one-time”) workshops vs. workshops that are held more regularly.
• Thank you for providing clear metrics overview tables for each program! We are excited to see this information summarized in an easy-to-read way, and are pointing other entities to this idea. We hope (and believe!) that this process will make it easier for WMFR to compose a high-quality impact report for this grant. It certainly helps us understand how WMFR is making progress toward WMFR’s objectives over time. We have asked a few questions about how to read the tables below, but we first wanted to express our appreciation for WMFR’s leadership in this area. We also found the measurement of the re-use of content generated useful and appreciate WMFR’s efforts to categorize and track content over time.
• We appreciate WMFR’s flexibility in re-shaping and adapting the timeline of the Territorial Development program based on what WMFR is learning, and we hope this re-shaping leads to the results Wikimédia France would like to achieve. We also appreciate that WMFR is willing to share when some programs do not go as well as planned or when some targets are not met because they may not have been realistic. This shows how WMFR is learning from its experiences.
• We like WMFR’s emphasis on volunteer engagement that was presented throughout the analysis of various programs. We appreciated that this was a constant theme and that WMFR is both recognizing when it is going well and looking for opportunities to improve it where that is needed. Wikimédia France is becoming a leader in this area. By the way, congratulations on the strong volunteer involvement in some programs, including the Dissemination program, Recruiting new contributors, and Increasing the free content.

We would like to learn more

1. WMFR reports that it did not achieve the expected level of progress on its programs this quarter because of efforts related to its operational work. Is a change in focus expected in future quarters or will this be an ongoing challenge throughout the funding period?
2. We want to make sure we are correctly understanding the metrics overview tables. A few of the tables show only amounts for Q2 and do not show any cumulative amounts. Should we assume the cumulative totals are the same as the Q2 totals in these cases?
3. Please tell us more about the monitoring group for territorial development! How will the group increase member involvement? What benefits will member involvement bring to the program overall?
4. Congratulations on achieving the goals for the number of microfunding requests supported and for already surpassing the goals for this funding period in terms of content supported. Does WMFR have a strategy for increasing the amount of quality-rated content to meet its goals?
5. WMFR reports that volunteer participation in its Afripédia projects is still weak. Does WMFR have any ideas about why participation is weak, and how does WMFR plan to improve this in future quarters? How or why is volunteer participation critical to the success of this program?
6. What does WMFR hope will be the effects of distributing booklets to secondary students? Is there a plan in place to measure this?

I have moved the answers below to show the translations as well. Jean-Fred (talk) 22:38, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

Suggestions for future reports

Keep up the good work! This was an engaging report. Moving forward, be sure to pay attention to the details. There is a lot of information presented in this report, so it can be a big effort to make sure that the metrics tables and financial tables are consistent, but it is important that both WMFR and the FDC are understanding this information in the same way. We hope that WMFR will continue to reflect on its programs and share learning with the wider movement, and continue to be open about its challenges as well as its successes.

Thanks again for this report! Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 20:26, 11 March 2014 (UTC)

Answers

WMFR reports that it did not achieve the expected level of progress on its programs this quarter because of efforts related to its operational work. Is a change in focus expected in future quarters or will this be an ongoing challenge throughout the funding period?

WMFR indique ne pas avoir atteint le niveau d’avancement prévu dans ses programmes ce trimestre, en raison des efforts liés au travail opérationnel. Une réorientation est-elle prévue pour les prochains trimestres ou bien cela sera-t-il un défi permanent durant toute la période de financement ?

This will be an issue as long as there won't be a full team of paid staff and as long as its reorganization won't be in effect. Until the end of this period, we will try to catch up on the delays in the programs. The team should be full at the beginning of the new budget cycle. Sbaijard 28 April 2014 12:40 (CEST)

Cette problématique va se poser tant que l'équipe salariée ne sera pas au complet et que la réorganisation ne sera pas effective. Jusqu'à la fin de la période, nous allons donc de tenter de récupérer le retard pris sur les différents programmes. L'équipe devrait être au complet pour débuter le nouveau cycle budgétaire.

We want to make sure we are correctly understanding the metrics overview tables. A few of the tables show only amounts for Q2 and do not show any cumulative amounts. Should we assume the cumulative totals are the same as the Q2 totals in these cases?

Nous voulons nous assurer de bien comprendre les tableaux récapitulatifs des métriques. Quelques-uns des tableaux ne montrent que des chiffres pour le Q2 et pas de totaux cumulés. Devons-nous partir du principe que les totaux cumulés sont les mêmes que les totaux Q2 dans ces cas ?

Yes indeed, especially when the actions have been done in Q2 : the total is therefore the same as for the trimester. This will be clarified in the next report. Sbaijard 28 April 2014 12:40 (CEST)

Effectivement c'est le cas, principalement quand les actions ont été faites au Q2 : le total est donc le même que celui sur le trimestre. Nous expliciterons cela dans le prochain rapport.

Please tell us more about the monitoring group for territorial development! How will the group increase member involvement? What benefits will member involvement bring to the program overall?

Dites nous en plus sur le groupe de suivi du développement territorial ! Comment ce groupe va-t-il accroître l’investissement des membres ? Quels bénéfices l’implication des membres va-t-elle apporter au programme ?

The monitoring group for territorial development, also known as "network group", was created under the new organisation of the Board into task forces. It was then open to members willing to get involved. We hope that involving volunteers will help us identify the levers and obstacles to raise participation on a local scale. This group will also work towards elaborating useful, common tools for all territories. Sbaijard 28 April 2014 12:40 (CEST)

Le groupe de suivi du développement territorial, appelé « groupe réseau » est issu de la nouvelle organisation du conseil d'administration, en groupes de travail. Il a ensuite été ouvert aux membres désireux de s'y investir. Nous espérons que cette implication des membres nous permette d'identifier les leviers pour augmenter la participation à l'échelle d'un territoire ainsi que les freins. De plus, ce groupe de travail pourra oeuvrer à l'élaboration d'outils communs et utiles à l'ensemble des régions.

Congratulations on achieving the goals for the number of microfunding requests supported and for already surpassing the goals for this funding period in terms of content supported. Does WMFR have a strategy for increasing the amount of quality-rated content to meet its goals?

Félicitations pour avoir atteint les objectifs en nombre de microfinancements accordés, et pour avoir surpassés les objectifs en terme de contenu soutenu pour cette période de financement. Est-ce que WMFR a une stratégie pour accroître la quantité de contenu primé pour atteindre ses objectifs ?

We don't have a defined strategy, but several actions : upload to meta to increase visibility, reminder messages on Twitter, on the village pump, and on thematic projects. We have joined international grants to observe what is going on and import good practices. Sbaijard 28 April 2014 12:40 (CEST)

Nous n'avons pas de stratégie définie mais plusieurs actions : versement sur meta pour augmenter la visibilité, messages de rappel sur Twitter, sur les bistrots des projets et sur les projets thématiques. Nous avons rejoint les grants internationales pour faire également de l'observation de ce qui s'y passe et pouvoir importer les bonnes pratiques.

WMFR reports that volunteer participation in its Afripédia projects is still weak. Does WMFR have any ideas about why participation is weak, and how does WMFR plan to improve this in future quarters? How or why is volunteer participation critical to the success of this program?

WMFR indique que la participation bénévole aux projets Afripédia est toujours faible. Est-ce que WMFR a une idée de pourquoi la participation est faible, et comment WMFR prévoit-elle de changer cela dans les trimestres à venir ? En quoi et pourquoi l’investissement bénévole est-il critique au succès de ce programme ?

The participation in Afripedia is weak mainly because we can't follow up the trainees at the moment : we don't have time to encourage them and help them. However, a better selection of the participants to the last training session (october 2013) already led to more involvement. In addition, the evolutions planned in the program, especially the hiring of a community manager to follow up the project, make us believe that this problem will be solved in the months to come. Sbaijard 28 April 2014 12:40 (CEST)

La participation est faible pour Afripédia principalement parce que nous ne sommes pas en mesure actuellement d'accorder le suivi nécessaire aux personnes formées : nous n'avons pas assez de temps pour les accompagner, les encourager, les aider. Cependant, une meilleure sélection des participants de la dernière formation (en octobre 2013) montre dès à présent que leur implication est meilleure que les précédents. D'autre part, les évolutions prévues dans le programme, et notamment l'embauche d'un community manager pour se consacrer à l'accompagnement du projet, laissent penser que ce problème va être résolu dans les mois prochains.

What does WMFR hope will be the effects of distributing booklets to secondary students? Is there a plan in place to measure this?

Quels sont les effets escomptés par WMFR de la distribution de fascicules aux élèves du secondaire ? Un plan est-il en place pour le mesurer ?

We think that the distribution of those booklets will raise awareness about relevant use of Wikipedia, and then motivate the students to contribute. This awareness campaign can't be directly measured in another way than a global change in attitudes towards Wikipedia. Sbaijard 28 April 2014 12:40 (CEST)

Nous pensons que la distribution de ces fascicules permettra une meilleure sensibilisation des élèves à une bonne utilisation de Wikipédia et, dans un deuxième temps, à les inviter à contribuer. Cette action de sensibilisation ne peut pas être directement mesurée autrement que par un changement global des mentalités vis-à-vis de Wikipédia.