Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Reliable newspaper module for Wikipedia Globalization courses (ID: 22271301)

Endorsment from Prof.DataScience (talk)

Very good idea, improving the quality of Wikipedia articles is very important. I support.

--Prof.DataScience (talk) 08:50, 20 September 2023 (UTC)

Review of team's Wikidata experience

As this proposal mentions Wikidata, I have a performed a review of the team members experience and record.

•  Endorsed Piotrus has a substantial experience of editing Wikidata, a clean record, and responds appropriately to feedback.

Bovlb (talk) 20:42, 26 December 2023 (UTC)

Follow-up Questions from ESEAP Regional Funds Committee and Programme Officer

Hello @Piotrus,

Thank you for your interest in the rapid fund programme.

Your grant application has moved from the grant eligibility phase to grant review phase and is undergoing the review process.

Would you be able to provide responses to the following questions? Thank you and looking forward to hearing from you.

Regards, Jacqueline on behalf of the ESEAP Funds Committee

---

Thank you for putting in a grant application and we are excited to read about the extensive course materials and instructions you have put together over time for your students. The hyperlinks that you have connected to this grant application could be very helpful reference materials for many other wikimedians who are keen to contribute in similar ways.

1) Beyond the subscription of The Economist, do you/your students require access to any other publications that would require similar subscriptions, if yes, you could consider adding them to your budget request. On a similar thread, are your students also able to access the Wikipedia Library during the course of their editing journey, would more information on gaining access be useful to be added to your guide, if yes, we could share some hyperlinks for your addition.

2) For the purposes of the grant application, we are able to approve projects with an implementation timeframe of between 1-12 months. Given your teaching semesters, perhaps we could scope the project duration based on semester schedule and when you would complete and publish this write-up (i.e. formal how-to article for teachers describing the use of reliable newspapers and magazines as sources for student writing activities?) If agreeable, please let us know the adjusted timeline and metrics (where applicable) for your project.

3) Given the extensive track record and the number of students you who sign up for your courses, and your students' contribution to the Wiki Loves Monument campaign in 2016, would there be interest in setting up and sustaining a Wiki Student Clubs (with your oversight and guidance) at Hanyang University?

Within the East Southeast Asia Pacific region, we have budding/ established student wiki clubs. They include but are not limited to Kent Wiki Club where they also recently put in a grant application. Wikimedia Thailand is currently led by alumni who previous learned about Wikipedia editing during their undergraduate/post graduate studies and thereafter took on leadership roles within the movement. Beyond the ESEAP region, here are more examples of Wiki student clubs.

Thank you. JChen (WMF) (talk) 06:42, 19 February 2024 (UTC)

@JChen (WMF) Thank you for getting back to me. Let me address various points you make in order.

1) I appreciate you asking about access to other publications. First, access to the Wikipedia Library would be very helpful (I use the tool myself a lot) - the problem is that it requires "500+ edits, 6+ months editing, 10+ edits in the last 30 days" which the students obviously cannot meet since many are newbie editors. While this may not be the best place to discuss this, I think we should grant TWL access to all accounts registered on educational dashboards (regular and outreach). Second, if I were to make a wishlist of additional stuff that would be useful for the students, given the angle of 'magazines' (since it does not make much sense for me to stockpile newspapers), I think en:Foreign Affairs would be second best choice (given the scope and quality), although it is only bi-monthly; on the other hand its international rates for print is very reasinable at ~90 USD ([1]). Third best I'd point to en:National Geographic, which is relatively famous and might offer some students safety (if they want to avoid politically sensitive topics). Their Korea subcription is alraedy reasonable at ~60 USD per year [2]. I'd be more than happy to add them to my budget but I am not sure where should I do it (somewhere in the fluxx?).

Side note: AFAIK, TWL does not provide access to either of those three magazines (TE, FA, NG)? Please correct me if I am wrong. I'd love to give students digital access to them, but I am not sure how to it. Sharing a print copy falls under fair use, but doing so with a digital subscription probably does not (and right now I am not planning on the latter, due to said concerns).

2) I am not sure if I understand the "an implementation timeframe of between 1-12 months" - I did not notice such a restriction in the grant description. The reason I asked for 3 years subscription is that a single year subscription of TE ([3]/[4]) is just ~250 USD, and rapid fund states that minimum amount one can ask for is 500 USD. Their two year subscription is ~750 USD (after first year, subscription price jumps up to 400 USD), and three years is the longest option they offer at the most efficient at ~1000 USD (when considered on a yearly basis). Since I intened to run this activity for many years, 3 years-long subscription seems most financially prudent. (Side note 1: I am unable to find deals longer than 1 year for Foreign Affairs or National Geographic mentioned above). (Side note 2: if due to grant limitations you cannot support subscriptions for over 1 years, note that TE+FA+NG=400 USD... if necessary I could try to find one or two more magazines but I'd rather we consider this project for more than one year; as a reminder, I've been doing the related teaching with Wikipedia activity for over 10 years now and I have no plans to stop before retiring, which is still ~20 years away).

I am not sure how to understand your request for revised timetable, although that may become clear if you explain to me whether you can consider subscription duration of 1+ year or not. Please note that I intend this to be an activity that lasts years, not just one semester. Of course, after the first semester is concluded (tentatively that would be the Fall semester this year which lasts from Septeber to December at my university), I'd have data that might allow me to start writing up research. As for timetable for paper publication, as you may well be aware, this is impossible to predict; while I can write a paper within months or weeks, when it will be accepted and published is beyond my control - it can be anything from months to years after the paper is finished. Of course, a pre-print version can be made available in a repository like arxiv or even uploaded to Wikimedia Commons as soon as it is finished.

3) I'd be happy to become involved with Wiki Clubs, but I feel there is a lack of interest from my university to do this, perhaps related to my lack of fluence in Korean, and lack of connection to 'industry' or 'government' that I believe is valued here. I did run several workshops and such at my university for faculty in the past, but there was no interest for engaging with Wikipedia (no faculty member expressed interest in doing anything, nor was there any interest from the administration); neither am I aware of student interest that continues outside the classroom. Again, I expect the issue is the language barrier; perhaps if Wikimedia Korea became involved, this might help (Wikimedia Korea https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/%EC%9C%84%ED%82%A4%EB%AF%B8%EB%94%94%EC%96%B4_%ED%95%9C%EA%B5%AD), alas, my contacts with them are relatively limited again due to said language barrier. The fact remains that I am a very active proponent of Wikimedia use in education, but for a decade now I have been unable to do anything on the local level beyond teaching my courses. I would be happy to help but I am not sure how to go about it without a Korean-speaking partner. Do note I am quite interested in what you are proposing, but I need help that goes beyond financial support. Brainstorming this, I'd suggest that WMKorea should reach out to my university and propose some collaboration where I could be involved in? But this grant application is probably not the right place to discuss this.

Piotrus (talk) 03:46, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

Hello @Piotrus,

Thank you for your taking time to respond and also connecting online.

We made inroads to 1 and 2 and this has been reflected on the revised grant application.

On 3, let's continue to keep in touch and we look to explore opportunities during the course of your grant duration.

Thank you.

Regards,

Jacqueline JChen (WMF) (talk) 00:30, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

Your grant application has been approved

Hello @Piotrus,

Thank you for your comprehensive response to the follow-ups questions and also taking time to connect via a call.

Congratulations! Your grant application has been approved in the amount of PLN 15,000 from 16 March 2024 to 15 March 2025. I have also made some provision for currency exchange as you are working with three different currencies (USD/PLN/KRW).

Let’s continue having regular conversations over the course of your grant implementation. Please let me know if you require support in any way or would like to share your experiences with a wider community through the Let's Connect Programme or at ESEAP community meetings.

The reporting requirements and templates for the grant can be found here. Timelines for reporting can be found in your grant agreement or on Fluxx. All reports are to be completed and submitted via Fluxx.

We thank you for your participation in the grant application process and hope to continue to journey with you as you embark on this project.

Regards, Jacqueline on behalf of ESEAP Funds Committee JChen (WMF) (talk) 00:39, 4 March 2024 (UTC)