Grants talk:IEG/Digitization of Important Libraries Book Catalog in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

Latest comment: 9 years ago by Asaf (WMF) in topic Comments

Hi - there is miner correction in the tittle, will you please correct anybody that to 'Digitization of Important Libraries Book Catalogs in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana' thank you....విశ్వనాధ్.బి.కె. (talk) 12:38, 30 September 2014 (UTC)Reply

Eligibility confirmed, round 2 2014 edit

 

This Individual Engagement Grant proposal is under review!

We've confirmed your proposal is eligible for round 2 2014 review. Please feel free to ask questions and make changes to this proposal as discussions continue during this community comments period.

The committee's formal review for round 2 2014 begins on 21 October 2014, and grants will be announced in December. See the schedule for more details.

Questions? Contact us.

Jtud (WMF) (talk) 17:08, 7 October 2014 (UTC)Reply

Notification suggestions edit

Hello B.K., I see you have notified Telugu Wikipedia about your proposal, thank you for that. Is it possible to also notify Telegu Wikisource if you have not already? Also, it may be helpful to leave a note at the GLAM talk page; there may be editors there who can share some expertise about library catalogs and digitization. Thanks for putting forward this proposal, PEarley (WMF) (talk) 23:57, 9 October 2014 (UTC)Reply

Hi - Dear PEarley (WMF) i have followed ur suggestions. notified Telugu Wikisource, Telugu Wiktionary and pasted in GLAM - Thank you..విశ్వనాధ్.బి.కె. (talk) 07:15, 13 October 2014 (UTC)Reply

comments from rubin16 edit

Hello!

First, is it possible to convert amounts to USD or EUR? And isn't this projects crossing with Grants:IEG/Making telugu content accessible? rubin16 (talk) 12:55, 12 October 2014 (UTC)Reply

Hello rubin16 i have converted to USD -Thank you...విశ్వనాధ్.బి.కె. (talk) 07:16, 13 October 2014 (UTC)Reply
Thanks! rubin16 (talk) 19:17, 14 October 2014 (UTC)Reply

Questions from Superzerocool edit

Hi, thanks for your effort: the idea seems fine. Here is my questions:

  1. Please, use USD or EUR: I don't know how much USD are Rs (I don't like USD, but the WMF uses it, and it give us an idea about the costs :))
  2. The project timeline suggested is 6 months. A year is many time to our committee. Why isn't this project in PEG?
  3. In "Sustainability", we need read how this project could continue without resources or how you want continue if you need a renewal.

Regards Superzerocool (talk) 00:46, 13 October 2014 (UTC)Reply

Hi Superzerocool, thank you for your encouraging words and for engaging with the proposal

  1. As suggested I have now given the budget in USD.
  2. While I understand 6 months is the duration of the project, I feel it is a lot more productive to cover at least 10 important libraries as part of this effort. I was wondering if the project could be split into phase 1 & 2. Please suggest what is the best thing to do.
  3. I am not sure about this question. If your question is about continuing the digitization efforts beyond this grant support, I do not think it is possible. Mainly because this requires dedicated time and effort and that too during the office hours, unlike most of us in India who get to editing Wikipedia in the evening....విశ్వనాధ్.బి.కె. (talk) 07:46, 16 October 2014 (UTC)Reply
IEG does grant renewals for projects that demonstrate success in their first 6 months. So, one way to do this would be to scope for a first 6 months, and then suggest a second phase that could be funded if the first phase was successful. Cheers! Siko (WMF) (talk) 20:53, 17 October 2014 (UTC)Reply

Soup grant edit

First word coming to my mind "minestrone". There is too much mixed stuff in here. I'd recommend removing editathons and travels and whatever and just focusing on specific digitisation objectives. I'd like to know what collections you're talking about, how they're specifically valuable and how big. --Nemo 08:41, 17 October 2014 (UTC)Reply

I'm less sure that these parts are distractions, personally. From what we've seen in many communities in India, actually, edit-a-thons can be a way to get larger community involvement and ensure materials do end up having an impact on Wikipedia. See, for example, the project below :) Cheers, Siko (WMF) (talk) 21:06, 17 October 2014 (UTC)Reply
Hi Nemo, I appreciate your candid feedback. I think Siko (WMF) has better presented above my thoughts that I wanted to give as a reply.--విశ్వనాధ్.బి.కె. (talk) 12:12, 19 October 2014 (UTC)Reply

Connections with other Telugu catalogue IEG edit

Hi, thanks for submitting this proposal! Making catalogues more available seems to be of ongoing interest to the Telugu community - I can see this is an area for much exploration. I assume you've been following this project, as that grantee is one of your advisors. Are you considering using a similar on-wiki format for these catalogues? Any other areas that you would be learning from that other project, or potential for collaboration that you would like to share here? Best wishes, Siko (WMF) (talk) 21:06, 17 October 2014 (UTC)Reply

Hi Siko (WMF), thanks for the encouragement to the proposal idea. Yes I have been helping with this project as a volunteer and I also helped organize one of the edit-a-thons under that project. I will not be directly generating the catalogues on-wiki format, as this will consume a lot of time and will reduce the outcomes that I intend to deliver. I have already done a testing with a set of catalogues on-wiki and in a spread-sheet, which I shared with all the people who have showed willingness to act as Advisors to the proposed project. Based on a consensus it has been decided that the digital catalogues will be generated on google spreadsheet (that are publicly visible). Once the catalogues are done I will take help in getting the entries converted into on-wiki format using a python script and then populate the final outcome on-wiki. The twp things that I have learned from this project is to involve the community in edit-a-thons and not just look at the library catalogue but also engage the librarians and visitors to the library.--విశ్వనాధ్.బి.కె. (talk) 12:09, 19 October 2014 (UTC)Reply
Hi విశ్వనాధ్.బి.కె., thanks for sharing these thoughts. Using a shared Google spreadsheet based on the group's consensus makes really good sense to me, and it is lovely to hear what you've learned from the other ongoing IEG project as well, as I expect this can only make your new initiative stronger. Best of luck, Siko (WMF) (talk) 18:29, 20 October 2014 (UTC)Reply

Comments edit

Hi there, and thanks for your proposal. I was hoping you could please clarify something for me: this project intends to digitize library catalogues, and not any books, correct? That is my understanding but I would appreciate having that confirmed.

I completely agree with what you write about how books are not seen as "existing" until they are made easily accessible on the Internet, and I think your goal of recording Telugu literary output and contributions by means of digitizing library catalogues is an important one. However, I am a bit uncertain about how being able to easily access the citation of book (and only the citation, i.e. without a link to a digitally available copy) will help editors add sources to articles and result in improved quality on Wikipedia.

You later mention another goal of the project is to create a network that allows Telugu Wikipedians to connect each other with the information found in various books depending on which libraries they are held in (and the geographical location of the Wikipedians). This is an interesting idea and a potential solution to the problem of linking citations to improved quality content. It'd be great if you could therefore provide more information on what work specifically will be done to develop this network.

Finally, I see from your conversation with User:Siko (WMF)'s above that this project is somewhat modelled after "Making telugu content accessible" and some of your experiences with it are what motivates your choice to use at first a Google spreadsheet, and then later move on to on-wiki list for the catalogue contents. I wonder, however, if you have looked into projects like Archives & Access that may allow uploading or adding the contents to a fully functional online library catalogue? (Archives & Access was also mentioned by someone else on the main proposal page).

Thanks,
-Thepwnco (talk) 20:27, 20 October 2014 (UTC)Reply


Hi Thepwnco, sorry for late answer because of Divali season, and thanks for engaging with the proposal and for sharing useful feedback. :Some replies below.

Yes. This project only looks at digitizing catalogues and not books.
Citation of the book alone by itself will not always help add sources to the articles but it does sometime, especially when you had read the book and are sure about using it as a source. I am not sure if this serves to clarify the query you have.
One is to have meet-ups and edit-a-thons in these libraries, where Telugu Wikipedians participate. Would appreciate any further ideas that I could take up.
Thanks for suggesting me to look at Archives and Access. I have noticed that CIS was involved in this. I will look at the possibility of also uploading the contents to this.....విశ్వనాధ్.బి.కె. (talk) 12:18, 27 October 2014 (UTC)Reply
I agree it would make sense to collaborate to the extent practical with Archives & Access. (I note, however, it does not appear to be a stable project yet; the "catalog search" functionality seems completely down at the moment, and the (admittedly new) state of Telangana is not listed at all.)
In the same vein, it would be good to seek ways to ensure the work is compatible and integratable with the Digital Library of India, if possible, as it seems on the face of it to be work that the DLI should have undertaken in the first place, and perhaps there would be a way to get them to adopt the work, integrate it, and carry it forward. Asaf (WMF) (talk) 22:03, 17 November 2014 (UTC)Reply

Aggregated feedback from the committee for Digitization of Important Libraries Book Catalog in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana edit

Scoring criteria (see the rubric for background) Score
1=weak alignment 10=strong alignment
(A) Impact potential
  • Does it fit with Wikimedia's strategic priorities?
  • Does it have potential for online impact?
  • Can it be sustained, scaled, or adapted elsewhere after the grant ends?
7.2
(B) Innovation and learning
  • Does it take an Innovative approach to solving a key problem?
  • Is the potential impact greater than the risks?
  • Can we measure success?
6.0
(C) Ability to execute
  • Can the scope be accomplished in 6 months?
  • How realistic/efficient is the budget?
  • Do the participants have the necessary skills/experience?
5.8
(D) Community engagement
  • Does it have a specific target community and plan to engage it often?
  • Does it have community support?
  • Does it support diversity?
7.0
Comments from the committee:
  • A very interesting idea and potentially a proof of concept for other efforts in regions where library catalogs are not digitized, which presents a huge obstacle to locating necessary sources for articles.
  • Hopefully easy to measure success based on citations added to books in the digitized catalogs.
  • Would be interested to see if a resource exchange network springs up around the newly available library catalog.
  • Might make sense to pare back to six months rather than a year. Budget generally looks reasonable though the outreach events seem expensive for India.
  • Fits with Wikimedia's strategic priorities to increase participation, less convinced that book titles or bibliographic information alone is enough to improve quality though.
  • Missing information about the sustainability of the project beyond the grant.
  • Holding the series of edit-a-thons in libraries may be the more viable and sustainable way of encouraging community and library involvement. Would be nice to see a sustainable plan for capacity building for libraries and action coming from within libraries themselves -- for example, the design and delivery of workshops to empower librarians, and strengthen partnerships between WMF communities and libraries to capitalize on other funding opportunities and initiatives (such as the Archive and Access project) to grow their digital infrastructure.
  • Is there evidence that there are libraries that are both interested and have the capacity to participate in this project?
  • The grantee states that recruiting 20-40 new Wikimedians is an objective of the project, but there are no specific details as to how new Wikimedians will be engaged.
  • Digitization can be expensive and the main step is transcription: without the transcription any book is not usable in Wikimedia projects.
  • Concerns that relevant expertise is not being engaged. Would be good to involve participants with some library training or experience – there may be better existing online resources than Excel for this.
  • Appears to have strong community support.

Thank you for submitting this proposal. The committee is now deliberating based on these scoring results, and WMF is proceeding with its due-diligence. You are welcome to continue making updates to your proposal pages during this period. Funding decisions will be announced by early December. — ΛΧΣ21 16:58, 13 November 2014 (UTC)Reply

Round 2 2014 decision edit

 

Congratulations! Your proposal has been selected for an Individual Engagement Grant.

WMF has approved partial funding for this project, in accordance with the committee's recommendation. This project is funded with Rs. 2,70,000

Comments regarding this decision:
We’re pleased to offer funding for an initial 6-month phase of this project. Based on demonstrating successful impact from this first phase, you will be welcome to request an additional 6-month extension to complete a second phase to involve more library partners.

Next steps:

  1. You will be contacted to sign a grant agreement and setup a monthly check-in schedule.
  2. Review the information for grantees.
  3. Make any necessary scope adjustments to your proposal page, as discussed with grantmaking staff.
  4. Use the new buttons on your original proposal to create your project pages.
  5. Start work on your project!
Questions? Contact us.
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