Grants talk:Project/Rapid/Semana i Campus Ciudad de México y Campus Chiapas

Latest comment: 6 years ago by I JethroBT (WMF) in topic Comments from I JethroBT (WMF)

Comments from I JethroBT (WMF) edit

Hi Thelmadatter. An important eligibility requirement for our grant programs is that applicants for a proposal and anyone making nontrivial contributions to a funded project or set of events are in good standing on Wikimedia projects. Currently, you are indefinitely blocked on the Spanish Wikipedia, and in order for this application to be considered, you will need to resolve the concerns around that block (i.e. related to this report, and this prior discussion thread) with the Spanish Wikipedia community. Alternatively, it's acceptable if another contributor in good standing with the appropriate background and skill set is willing to lead this project in your place. For now, I will move this proposal back to draft until a decision has been made around this eligibility requirement. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 19:20, 30 June 2017 (UTC)Reply

Hola... I am Dra. Lourdes Epstein. I was secondary for this request but Leigh asked me to take over because of the problem you describe here. Martha (Nutriesilla) will be secondary. You can email me if you have any questions.Lourdes Epstein (talk) 22:47, 1 July 2017 (UTC)Reply
Hi Lourdes Epstein. I have a few comments/questions about the proposal:
  • Overall, the content goals look really promising, interesting, and valuable for historical and sociological purposes. Furthermore, obtaining agreements to license and record folk music from volunteers for Commons is no small task, so I just want to applaud your effort in planning this process.
  • What sort of background does the team have in terms of organizing these events?
  • I have some concerns about the team's experience contributing to these projects. TONYchainsaw is organizing an event for Wikisource, but has never edited es.wikisource or wikisource.org. Nutrisella has minimal edits on es.wikisource. Sary.ruiz has few contributions overall, (but I do note this page has been prepared for the expedition). I think your event is also focused on Wikisource, but you have not yet edited Wikisource. I might be misunderstanding what is meant by "organizing"; maybe this refers to the logistics of event planning, and instead, others will be responsible for teaching students/teachers how to contribute. If that's the case, have you identified individuals (perhaps from Facebook?) to teach students/teachers how to contribute to Wikisource in these events? What are their usernames?
  • In terms of the photo expedition, what goals do you have for incorporating these photos into Wikimedia projects outside of Commons? Are there articles on es.wikipedia or other projects that can be illustrated or better documented with some of these photos?

Let me know if you need me to clarify any questions. Thanks, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 18:54, 11 July 2017 (UTC)Reply

Sorry for the delay in the response. Activity on campus is minimal in July as there are no classes in session and just about everyone is on vacation for at least part of this month. TONYchainsaw does not have much experience with Wikisource, but is being supported by Nutriesilla and Thelmadatter, who, along with Dashaund have started work on documents in this from the w:Cervantine Library and did a workshop at the same last month. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Introduction_to_Wikisource_for_professors_at_the_Biblioteca_Cervantina_June_2017 He has begun selecting articles as can be seen here https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Gothic_Literature_project_Semana_i_Fall_2017 This particular activity is not requesting any of the funds from this grant. It was included only to give an overall picture of what our Semana i activities are. Most of the funds are earmarked for my project, which is almost the same as what we did last year. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Semana_i_Fall_2016_Wiki_Grabac%C3%ADon_(traditional_music) resulting in the following files https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Music_files_created_by_volunteer_musicians_and_students_during_Semana_i_Fall_2016, almost all of which are incorporated in one or another wikiproyect. It is honest to say that we are able to do such a project because we have the support of the Tec de Monterrey and it has a good reputation in Mexico. This gives us resources that most do not have, and a reputation to attract music and academic talent even if we cannot pay them for creating content or pay a small amount for support services (such as the ethnomusicology). As for the photo expedition at the Chiapas campus, the goal is as much to bring in a new campus into Wiki activities as it is to get the photos. Semana i is a unique opportunity to get new people involved in Wikipedia work. Tec de Monterrey already sent Thelmadatter down to Chiapas for a few days to start training teachers there (hence the page creation and photos of the campus at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:ITESM_Campus_Chiapas) and there will be more work to support the development of this project. Thelmadatter expanded the Wikipedia article on Sima de las Cotorras to "make space" for the upcoming photos, using new sources found by the professors in Chiapas. These same professors are tasked with translating that expansion into Spanish Wikipedia. The ideas is that the participating students will decide among themselves which are the best/most appropriate photos to add to this article, as well as identify articles in enwiki and eswiki onto which photos can also be added (eg, articles on plant and maybe even animal species related to the park, geological formations etc). If it is not obvious from the above, Thelmadatter's main role is the training of the professors who are leading the projects, who in turn will train and supervice the other teachers and students who will be participating. Much of this work will occur in August because teachers will be back and students will start selecting their Semana i projects soon after the semester begins. This was decided back in January. Her work is focused now and is supported by funds from the Tec de Monterrey. I hope this answers your questions. If you have any more, please avise me.Lourdes Epstein (talk) 12:11, 20 July 2017 (UTC)Reply
@Lourdes Epstein: I appreciate this context about the project and the planning you've done as a group for these separate initiatives. However, given these circumstances, I'm afraid we cannot fund the proposal at this time. Thelmadatter's role as a trainer in this project is substantial, and we cannot fund projects that largely depend on contributors who are blocked or banned from Wikimedia projects. In order to fund this project, I think one of the following two expectations needs to be met:
  • Thelmadatter makes a successful unblock request from the Spanish Wikipedia community, or
  • someone else in your group with appropriate experience engages the Spanish Wikipedia community to discuss and agree on a set of expectations for this program, and what steps the community asks for.
I have marked the proposal as ineligible for now, but please e-mail rapidgrants wikimedia.org when either of these conditions is satisfied and we will reconsider the proposal. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 04:21, 22 July 2017 (UTC)Reply
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