Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Wikimedia Community Ireland Annual Grant 2024

Feedback from the Northern and Western Europe (NWE) Regional Funds Committee on your proposal

Dear Wikimedia Community Ireland Team,

Thank you very much for your proposal, describing your activities and projects in support of the Wikimedia projects and the Wikimedia movement. The Northern and Western European Regional Committee has initially reviewed the proposal, and wishes to offer some initial feedback and possibly get some clarification.

• The committee is grateful to see a plan that was presented with an outlook to become multi-year in the next rounds.
• We appreciated the outward projection of the proposal for a growing team such as yours.
• We also appreciated the partnerships established, as well as the potential for new partnerships in the area.

We would like, in this positive overview, to ask you for a few clarifications:

• You express the wish to develop the community outside Dublin: Do you already have outreach plans for volunteers outside the Dublin area? And how do you plan to keep those activities alive?
• The change in personnel will impact on the structure: Do you already have an outlook on what the changes in the volunteer tasks will be? How are you planning to involve the volunteer editing communities of English and Gaelic Wikipedias in the planned outreach work?
• Can you please clarify how the Celtic Knot conference’s recently acquired WMF funding would influence your personnel cost request for the current General Support Fund request?
• What is your overall strategy for the Irish language work in Ireland? Do you foresee that Irish Wikipedians usually writing in English could/would participate more also on the Irish Wikipedia?
• How do you wish to continue your diversity programs, after the WikiWomen Erasmus + Project ends in 2024?

In terms of the schedule for our review process, please complete your review and responses to the committee feedback by May 05th, 2024. In case after receiving your responses, it will be still necessary to find clarity in some specific aspects, we will be happy to provide the opportunity for further responses or offer a meeting to further understand specific elements of your plans. After this period, the Regional Committee will begin a final review of the proposal to make a formal decision.

Thanks again for your work on the proposal and supporting our review.

On behalf of the NWE Regional Committee, ABruszik-WMF (talk) 08:34, 14 April 2024 (UTC)

You express the wish to develop the community outside Dublin: Do you already have outreach plans for volunteers outside the Dublin area? And how do you plan to keep those activities alive?

In the last few months, we have been holding more online editing events and training sessions so that our activities are accessible to those living outside of Dublin. Indeed we now have a monthly online editing session as Gaelige that is run by our Irish Language Officer and is accessible to all. In addition, we have been in contact with GLAMs in Waterford, Galway, Ennis, and Limerick and have several plans in motion. Hosting the Celtic Knot conference in Waterford was also a strategic choice that aligns with the goal of expanding our reach to the whole island of Ireland. The partnerships we have developed with Waterford, Galway, and Clare County libraries promise to provide space for Wikimedia events to take place in the future. We are continuously working towards fortifying these new relationships which promise to bolster our volunteer outreach plans.

We have also registered WCI with the Irish volunteer center and have listed the opportunity to get involved with our work on their numerous forums for the different regions of Ireland. In a similar vein, we are currently working to develop our internship program with a number of third-level institutions with the hopes of recruiting a new throng of Irish Wikimedians with connections to university societies. For example, within SETU in Waterford, ATU in Galway, and Mary Immaculate College which is part of the University of Limerick. There are also plans to engage with other community groups for targeted projects and plans to create collaborative projects with existing groups that have specific subject or community focus that align with annual Global Wikimedia Campaigns (e.g. Wiki Loves Pride, Art and Feminism and Wiki Loves Folklore) allowing opportunities for showcasing Wikimedia Projects as a way to share and document cultural information, community history and in doing so providing an avenue for educational application of digital literacy, comprehension, research and writing skills through Irish or English.

It is also worth mentioning that our team currently spans the island of Ireland from East to West, which is helping to make community development more effective for WCI. The community members, in particular those working through the Irish language on Vicipéid, can also be found in Continental Europe and in North America. As Irish is an official language in the EU and also the established Irish diaspora globally as well as the fact that there are many educational institutions who are engaged with the Irish Language in North America and across Europe there is a lot of scope to expand the work WCI is doing in the development of Vicipéid beyond even the geographical borders of the island of Ireland. This is facilitated by online editing events (such as the monthly edit-a-thon) and also by engagement in collaborative projects and events (such as the Erasmus+ WikiWomen project, the Celtic Knot Conference, guest speaking invitations in TU Dortmund and our guest Wikimedian in residence from Wikimedia Japan). The collaborative nature of the movement and the open nature of the work lends to cross cultural collaboration and expanding the reach of project impact through connecting with and learning from communities both within and outside of Ireland. We believe that creativity and knowledge from Ireland should reflect the full diversity of the island and should be seen and shared internationally without barriers.

Through engagement with 2nd and 3rd level educational programmes and with the added opportunities presented through programs like Erasmus+ and other support from organisations like Conradh na Gaeilge (The Gaelic League), and other resources, e.g. local GLAM public engagement initiatives. These will provide a steady stream of cohorts to engage with the work and the wider Wikimedia movement - the hope is that the development of the community will happen organically through this sustained outreach and by developing these partnerships with local, national, and international communities. In conversations and engagement with these partners, to date, this has seemed promising and there is an abundance of interest in engaging with our projects and resources. We also hope that, in the long-term, these partnerships will lead to Wikimedians in Residence in these GLAMs and educational institutions which will further expand the resources available to WCI.

a) The change in personnel will impact on the structure: Do you already have an outlook on what the changes in the volunteer tasks will be?

Right now, we have a volunteer who is handling budgeting, payroll, and other miscellaneous administration tasks. If the part time administrative assistant is approved, that will free that volunteer to once again focus on programmatic and growth tasks, such as the renewal of our Strategic Plan.

b) How are you planning to involve the volunteer editing communities of English and Gaelic Wikipedias in the planned outreach work?

• Continued online monthly Edit-a-thons which current and new volunteers are welcome to attend
• A need for Irish language focused events was expressed by the community in the past and the monthly Irish-medium edit-a-thons have been a response to that and will continue to be an online space for current and future volunteers to meet on a regular basis
• Continued monthly online community meetings that are open to new and existing volunteers. At these meetings we update the community on what is happening (in addition to our communications and monthly newsletter), ask for feedback and then try and address these needs in our work, as mentioned above
• Current volunteers are located both inside and outside of the Island of Ireland which widens the reach of WCI’s work and opens opportunities for collaboration through our volunteers’ networks.
• Volunteers have assisted events in the past (by attending, supporting new editors and sharing knowledge) and we hope that this will continue as our community grows
• We will invite our volunteers to engage with the hosting of the Celtic Knot in whatever capacity they can whether that be as an attendee or part of the organising team in a voluntary role
• Additional engagement with cultural festivals and conferences around Ireland which align with the values and mission of WCI to  promote a culture of openness across the island. For example the Oireachtas conference which provides a platform for discussion on Irish language planning in addition to being a key networking event for the Irish language community across the Island.
• Outreach focus does include establishing, growing and maintaining relationships with our volunteer base, experience has shown that the volunteer pool in Ireland is limited. We have navigated this by focusing on cultivating relationships with ‘ally’ organisations and public services.
  • These include other organisations that are open source or who promote open source practices or groups who are interested in running Wiki-related events. We have found that this has been an effective way to promote the Wikiverse. It has also been effective in reclaiming the reputation of Wikipedia as a reliable source in Ireland. For example at our recent editing seminar at the ADAPT Centre for AI, we had 20 participants and 11 new editors.
  • We have also introduced our contact here to the wider international community of Wikimedians who are working on AI projects and minority language Wikipedias. We also recently offered support to the Library of the University of Cork, for their 1Lib1Ref Campaign during which 5.99K words were added to Wikipedia and we had one of our volunteers from that area represent us at the event.
  • Engaging with programmes - like ‘History in Your Hands’ at DCU - that engage with secondary level students and introduce them to digital literacy skills, researching, editing and writing will also allow us to engage with younger demographics and how Wikipedia can be used in the classroom. This has been proven successful through the WikiWomen project and with the toolkits created through that we will have a full programme to support GLAMS, educators, and students in getting started on Wikipedia through a variety of different languages, with a focus on the Irish language which makes the programme attractive to both Irish medium-schools and English-medium schools with Irish as a taught subject.

Can you please clarify how the Celtic Knot conference’s recently acquired WMF funding would influence your personnel cost request for the current General Support Fund request?

The grant for the Celtic Knot Conference was not approved when this grant was submitted. The staffing funds granted under the Celtic Knot grant provides for 100 days (@ 150/day=15,000 EUR), divided equally between the Programme Manager and The Irish Language Officer as well as funds for administration of the event and the grant. Taking into consideration the 100 days provided for staff, we will reduce the salary of the Programme Manager by 7,500 EUR to 38,500 EUR and the Irish Language Officer by 5400 EUR to 26,600 EUR. As the ILO is currently on a part time contract, she wouldn’t become full time until July. Due to that, the reduction in the ILO salary is lower. The additional 9,000 EUR will be used for administration and to cover the ILO’s time in planning and preparing for the conference before the grant was submitted.  

What is your overall strategy for the Irish language work in Ireland? Do you foresee that Irish Wikipedians usually writing in English could/would participate more also on the Irish Wikipedia?

Our overall strategy for Wikimedia Community Ireland's Irish language work will focus on best practices for language policy and digital spaces through collaboration with researchers, Irish language communities, and students. We aim to create more bilingual content and solely Irish content, while also cultivating a new cohort of Irish language speakers through Wikipedia editing training and regular events. Our approach takes a multi-faceted approach to support Irish Wikipedians in benefiting from the community and the digital encyclopaedia in their minority language, contributing to its fortification and further growth.

Within the Irish context, we have deemed it necessary to take a bilingual approach to our Irish language outreach work thus far. This has been reflected in our implementation of bilingual content in our communications, and our wholehearted participation in Seachtain na Gaeilge this year - an international campaign that promotes the use of Irish even for those who are only beginners.

It is typical in Ireland that people will have learned Irish at school, however may not have had the chance to use it very much post-education, or feel confident in using the language - as is often the case with minoritized languages. There has been a notable trend over the last 10-15 years of a revival of the language through the resurgence in Irish-medium education and resulting in a rise in the social perception of the language and also the services and media available through it. Aligning with the growing rate of online content creation through Irish, we want to elevate and promote the use of Irish in the digital sphere but also need to be careful not to alienate our long-standing community of Irish Wikipedians who may not be Irish language speakers.

Our approach to this has been one that is open and invites participants to join in our Irish language events or come along, even if they are not absolutely confident in their Irish language skills. In this way we hope that yes, Wikipedians usually writing in English will gradually become more aware of the work that is needed on Vicipéid. Community members who write in English also continue to lend support to those contributing to Vicipéid with technical and skill support, so while they do not directly contribute to Vicipéid they are part of the community ecosystem that supports the work being done through the Irish language within the work of WCI.

Since Amy has come on board as WCI’s first ILO the capacity for Irish-language outreach has increased and having further increased capacity in her role in making it full-time will enable us to do more direct outreach through Irish and build on the connections and relationships she has formed so far. Further strategic plans to connect with State bodies and supports are in the works and our detailed strategy for WCI's Irish language work in Ireland is being developed in tandem with our 2025-30 Strategic Plan. As above, this is focusing on best practices for language policy and digital spaces. This involves collaboration with our current community of Wikimedias on Vicipéid as well as Irish language communities, organisations, researchers, and students to ensure a comprehensive approach. We aim to create more bilingual and solely Irish content while also cultivating a new cohort of Irish language speakers through Wikipedia editing training. This multifaceted strategy aims to strengthen the presence and accessibility of the Irish language within Wikimedia projects and beyond. This also communicates WCI’s projects and work in general to Irish-speaking audiences increasing the reach and impact of our work.

How do you wish to continue your diversity programs, after the WikiWomen Erasmus + Project ends in 2024?

A key outcome of the WikiWomen Erasmus + Project is the creation of toolkits designed for GLAMs, students, and educators. We have already been in contact with several educational institutions, including teacher training universities and additional schools (both Irish and English medium) about implementing the toolkits into the curriculum. We have also recently been integrated as a partner in the UCD internships program and hope to take on a student intern to help us further the Wiki Women work. In this way, we hope that the Wiki Women Erasmus + Project will become a mainstay and evergreen aspect of our work. It is our hope that eventually, we will be able to successfully integrate the Wiki Women learning materials into the mainstream education curriculum in Ireland within Irish medium-schools and as an applied project in language classes in both traditional educational institutes and in non-traditional community-based language initiatives.

In addition, we are hoping to become more involved in Wiki Loves Living Heritage. We have already had discussions with potential partners from the Travelling Community for this project. We have also upped our engagement with Wiki Campaigns such as Art and Feminism, WikiforHumanRights and Wiki Loves Pride and hope for this to only grow and expand as time goes on. Additionally, this year we took part in the Wear Red Campaign for the International day of the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and also provided a resource toolkit on our website specifically for Ireland. Our Projects and Communications Manager is also in the process of finding the right partner to team up with to publish similar resources on Wiki as inspired by Wikimedia UK’s Changemakers toolkit. Sameichel (talk) 08:26, 3 May 2024 (UTC)