Grants talk:Project/Rapid/Launching of Wikimedia Fan Club, Ekiti State University

My Observations

@SuperSwift: see my comments below with respect to your grant:

1. I am of the opnion that since the Club is registered by the instituion there Hall should be released for free. Why do we need to pay for it  ?
2. I am not comfortable with Internet Broadband and Internet subscription . Kindly look into the item ( I hopr its not a duplication?)

I will also like to see some of the intersted students of the institution endorsing the grant ....Olaniyan Olushola (talk) 21:43, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

with respect to your questions, I have the following reasons. As for the halls, we will use the halls inside the school premises for subsequent meetings but for the launch, we have to use a location outside the school premises; a walkable distance from the school. This is because the only halls available are not large for the number of students we are expecting. The large halls in the school are only meant for events like inaugural lectures, matriculations and convocations. SuperSwift (talk) 02:27, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

internet broadband is different from internet subscription. The school is located in Ado-Ekiti which is not a major Nigerian City. As a result, the normally used internet services by the Nigerian User Group cannot work there so we have to buy two 4G MiFi from MTN as it is the best network there; we need two because of the number of participants involved so that everyone can have access to internet. The internet subscription talks about internet bundles (data plans).

The students will endorse it soon.SuperSwift (talk) 02:27, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

Suggestions...

@SuperSwift: I am of the opinion that the first step in ensuring the establishment of a viable university fan club is to have at least one existing/former student who is a knowledgeable Wikipedian. The success of the club in Ilorin was because they had Jamie Tubers during startup, the success of club in Ibadan was because they had HandsomeBoy at startup. The one at LASU had Maheovm. To the best of my knowledge you did not have your first or second degrees in Ekiti State University, neither is the state your current residential location. Do you have anyone in the school who already has significant edits on Wikipedia? Or are you intending to relocate to Ekiti? I am asking this because from my experience, I did a lot of running around to sustain the club in UI. Are you confident that your main contact in the school will be dedicated to that course? Does your main contact understand the basic policies of Wikipedia and what it stands for? What is even the username of your main contact?

I think this is a good development, and I have confidence in your dedication and understanding towards the Wikimedia movement in Nigeria, but I want to know what you have to say about my concern above. HandsomeBoy (talk) 23:30, 19 August 2018 (UTC)

• Comment Thanks for your comment above HandsomeBoy and for your works at our Hub in Ibadan. I wish to place on record that having the skills to edit Wikipedia is not the same has having the skills to build and manage a community. The former does not make anyone a good community manager, rather it means they can edit Wikipedia and possibly may be able to teach others how to edit Wikipedia, and you will agree with me that not all Wikipedians have the boldness to speak in public or teach others in public. That being said, there are multiple ways to contribute to Wikimedia movement. As Katherine Mayer correctly stated at Wikimanian 2016 in Esino Lario, there are other ways to contribute to Wikimedia movement aside editing Wikipedia. One of the intrinsic motivation in the Wikimedia movement is that no one tells anyone what to do or dictate how they must contribute to Wikimedia movement/projects. People work on what interest them. AFAIK, SuperSwift is not only a dedicated member of our community but also a very active editor on Wikimedia projects. If this user feels the way he could contribute to Wikimedia movement aside editing Wikipedia is to help build a community, we should support, rather than discouraging them? I'll like to point out that they don't have to live in Ekiti to support the club in Ekiti, the same way you do not have to stay or relocate to Ibadan to support the clubs in Ibadan and the same way the WMF don't have to stay in all countries to support volunteers across the globe. We still mentor people without contact with them. I do this on a daily basis including for people in Ibadan club. I keep in touch, I call, text, engage them on whatsapp, and on Wikimedia projects where I contribute (yo:wiki and Wikimedia Commons). I speak about them, tell people about their works and sometimes share their works on my social media accounts, just to encourage them. User:SuperSwift doesn't have to sleep and eat with club members in Ekiti for them to be experience Wikipedians and he doesn't have to relocate to Ekiti because he wanted to build a community. We are all volunteers. While having an experience Wikipedian in a club may be an additional advantage, it is never a requirement to establish a Wikimedia fan club in Nigeria. Wikimedia User Group Nigeria has carefully considered all the concerns you are raising above closely before implementing the idea of fan clubs and Hubs in Nigeria. While having an experience Wikipedian in a club may be an additional advantage, it is never a requirement to establish a Wikimedia fan club in Nigeria. The Ekiti State University Fan Club has been registered by the university management, we at Wikimedia User Group Nigeria have provided support throughout the processes, and we'll continue to support and nurture this club.

As a side note, there is currently a call for application for members of working group for Wikimedia Fan Club. The role of members of the working group will include but not limited to

1. Identifying Nigerian institution that shares the same objective with our movement.
2. Manage correspondence and meetings among the identified institutions.
3. Handle paper work for the registration of the clubs.
4. Identify with the help of student union in the identified institution the pioneer members of the club.
5. Organize launching of such club after registration.
6. Organize on and off wiki training for pioneer members and any other functions that will be assigned to the group in the course of registration

See details at here and the application form here. T Cells (talk) 11:14, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

Let me start by saying I appreciate your efforts in keeping tabs on some members of Ibadan community, especially the Yoruba editors. I didn't know my comment came out as "discouraging", it was genuinely not my intention. While I agree with you that you don't have to be an active editor to be an off-wiki volunteer, I am of the opinion that it is essential to have an understanding on what Wikipedia stands for, and to a lesser extent the editing process to be effectively functional. Notice that the first quality I stated was "knowledgeable Wikipedian", not active editor. My suggestion was an opinion based on my individual experience as a founder of a similar fan club on how I think a university club in similar clime can be sustainable. Even if there is no student that fits my description, the response I wanted was an assurance that he will begin the process of grooming a student to that effect, maybe not through on-wiki procedures but by off-wiki orientation. And thanks for the links. HandsomeBoy (talk) 12:14, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

No worries and thanks for your insight. I am happy to learn that he's been grooming them and he will continue to do that. As usual, with your support and other experience members of the community, we can nurture them to be productive. Greetings from my Lagos home and see you soon again. T Cells (talk) 12:28, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

:) HandsomeBoy (talk) 12:37, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

• Comment thanks for your comment HandsomeBoy and thanks for the support T Cells. I have plans of visiting regularly as a Coordinator of the hub while the club is in very capable hands in Ekiti. Most of the work done in the registration process were by members of the club. The reason you do not see most edits from them is because I'm still training them on the basics especially the NPOV and other wikipedia core principles. Managing a club is never the same as editing. The members over there are more than willing and are even bringing interested members to me almost daily. I've assisted them in creating accounts and will be visiting the school before the end of the month to have a little meeting with them at my own expense. I can assure you that the club is in safe hands. Thanks. SuperSwift (talk) 11:31, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

I have supported your grant, and I wish you good luck with the fan club. Cheers. HandsomeBoy (talk) 12:21, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

Comments from WMF

Thank you SuperSwift for submitting this grant request and to all the community members who have added their comments here regarding this grant proposal. I appreciate your input in reviewing this request and offering your observations. I have one additional one of my own in regards to t-shirts:

• Given that t-shirts are a high price item we encourage our grantees to offer them as a prize as opposed to a giveaway for everyone. Is it possible to take them out of your budget for this first launching of the fan club?

I can proceed with next steps once I receive your response. Best regards, WJifar (WMF) (talk) 21:15, 21 September 2018 (UTC)

thanks for the response WJifar (WMF). The shirts are not for everyone. Just for the founding members (myself, Barolove, Ayo, Pat) of the club, the executives (8 in number) as well as the two staff advisers (the lecturers that made the registration of the club possible) and the three resource persons. The best two participants in the four sessions will be given shirts as prizes taking it to a total of 25 shirts. These shirts will be used as a publicity stunt for the day 2 as we will be going out on day 1 mainly for publicity. The 10 shirts left will be given to the most active editors from a dashboard (to be created at the launch) and edit ladder. This club will no longer request for funding for shirts. SuperSwift (talk) 15:57, 22 September 2018 (UTC)

Approval

Hello SuperSwift, thank you for providing an explanation for the t-shirt expense. I am approving your grant request. Best regards, WJifar (WMF) (talk) 00:41, 26 September 2018 (UTC)

thank you so much and thanks to the WMF. SuperSwift (talk) 01:08, 28 September 2018 (UTC)