Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Alliances Fund/WikiGraphers-Visualizing Open Knowledge

Regional Committee feedback and questions

Hello @Armenmir and Lilitik22:, and thanks for your proposal for the Wikimedia Alliances Fund on behalf of the Investigative Journalists NGO. The Regional Committee has been able to review the proposal and has the following feedback and questions at this stage to support their final review:

• The current proposal has a lot of clear strengths, including the expertise that the team brings to proposed activities for project management, and experience with working with educational institutions in Armenia, and financial management.
• The general plan is also innovative, as it supports long-term training and skill development in contrast to more short-term workshops more typical in the Wikimedia movement. The focus on training is also something less available in the movement, specifically on the skills needed to create high-quality and complex images using data and visual design principles to better illustrate certain topics on Wikimedia projects.
• The proposed courses are a significant investment in training for this group of students. How is your organization planning to help support and motivate these students to continue to engage and participate in the Wikimedia movement beyond the coursework and hack-a-thon?
• There are some concerns that the overall impact in terms of participation is low relative to the budget. That is, the budget is a significant investment (over 90,000 USD) for activities that will support less than 100 event participants, editors, and organizers, especially in terms of the amount of staff proposed (there are eight staff positions for this proposal). Related to these concerns, the committee is wanting to understand your perspective on some questions:
  • Outside of the current content metrics, are there other ways of assessing impact in terms of participation, or evaluating who will directly benefit from this project?
  • If a funding decision could not support the total request, how would this impact the project in terms of staffing or other logistics? Can the project be carried out on a smaller scale, or would the project generally not be viable?

We request that you respond to this feedback on the talk page before 22:00 UTC on 26 February, as we hope to finalize a funding decision for Monday, 28 February. If you have any needs for clarity, please reach out to Chris at cschillingwikimedia.org. On behalf of the Regional Committee, MikyM (talk) 16:06, 24 February 2022 (UTC)

Dear I JethroBT (WMF) and MikyM, thank you for your comments and concerns! We will answer them below:

• Being Wikimedians, we emphasize the importance of Wikimedia values, free and collaboratively created knowledge. Therefore, one of the core courses of WikiFactory is the "Wiki Ideology and Wiki Editing" course. It aims to instill Wikimedia ideology and open-knowledge values into the WikiGraphers' perceptions in a long-term perspective. However, we also plan to take practical steps to further engage the project participants in Wikimedia projects.

In the Hetq Media Factory educational process, the department of alumni coordination has an essential role in keeping contact with graduates and involving them in various projects and activities. We have a full-time alumni coordinator that organizes meet-ups, movie screenings, get-together events, and jointly implemented professional projects in participation with Hetq Media Factory alumni.

Our alumni coordination department will provide the WikiFactory graduated students’ involvement in Wiki- editing and visualizing sessions through regular meet-ups and events.

• The number of long-term participants and beneficiaries of the project is 38 (20 students, 10 hackathon participants, 8 team members) but in fact, more than 100 people will take part in short-term activities of the project.

Every month the Hetq Media Factory organizes open-doors for high school and university students, as well as events for young professionals. 20-40 people register and take part in each of our events. We are planning to have presentations, invite experienced Wikipedians and tell about the Wikimedia movement and WikiFactory project (courses and outputs) during these events. The participation can be measured through registration list and photo stories that we publish from each event.

• Based on the budget size, the number of courses, students, and events might be decreased. However, it would be better to keep the proposed number to have the expected impact. The responsibilities of each staff member are specific to their positions and do not overlap. It is important to have a core team for the implementation of such a long-term and innovation-driven project.

If there will be any other questions, we will be happy to answer.--Armenmir (talk) 10:58, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

Alliances Fund Program Funding approved in the amount of 28,984,356 AMD

@Armenmir and Lilitik22: Congratulations! Your grant is approved in the amount of 28,984,356 AMD (~60,000 USD) with a grant term starting 8 March 2022 and ending 31January 2023. For clarity, the start date was adjusted in order to support the requirements of our grant agreement process. If more time is needed to complete the proposed work, we are happy to extend the proposed end date during your grant period.

The CEE & Central Asia Committee is pleased to support the work of the Investigative Journalists NGO and the WikiGraphers: Visualizing Open Knowledge program. The Committee values your efforts in putting together the grant application and budget as well as responding to feedback and questions. The Regional Committee appreciates the innovative approach to training on visual design work designed by the applicants. Combined with the background and expertise of the team, the program is likely to support robust training outcomes for students in complex areas of graphic design as well as Wikimedia movement participation. In response to committee feedback, you have also detailed thoughtful planning around supporting graduates after their coursework to potentially continue their participation in the Wikimedia movement.

However, the proposed budget could not be fully supported because:

• While the committee agrees that dedicated administrative and teaching staff are required for a project involving this kind of coordination and training, the proposed outcomes depend heavily on a large number of staff overall, which may be difficult to expand or sustain in this funding program at the proposed level.

• Relatedly, the committee felt that the amount of staffing required for the proposed content goals and metrics was too high, and suggest designing a smaller scale program. Based on the decision, it is understandable that this may affect potential courses offered, overall participation, and content outcomes.

• The proposed impact in terms of general participation is somewhat low. While it is understandable that there would be fewer long-term participants due to the design of the project, the overall impact of more short-term activities for a broader audience was not sufficiently specific.

Based on the partial funding decision, you are welcome to revise the scope of the project, budget, outcomes, and metrics of the proposal at your discretion based on what would be achievable during the funding period.

The Regional Committee also wanted to learn more about two additional topics:

• To the extent the program involves minors, how will the Investigative Journalists NGO be supporting a Youth Safety policy in this project?
• If the content work involves potentially sensitive domestic or international topics (e.g. related to territorial disputes or recent military actions), how will the Investigative Journalists NGO help reduce risks to students contributing content in these areas?

You are welcome to respond to these questions via e-mail (to cschillingwikimedia.org) or here on the discussion page when you are able.

The committee is excited to see the Investigative Journalists NGO engagement and training efforts for students in Armenia. We appreciate your work and we look forward to learning about this project in your reports. On behalf of the committee, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 02:19, 1 March 2022 (UTC)