Grants talk:Project/Rapid/Wikipedia Day, Los Angeles/Report
Dear JSFarman,
Thank you again for submitting your report! It's great to see that Wikipedia Day was a success not only in allowing the LA community to meet, but also to immerse their interest in heavily relevant and timely discussions. The lineup of your program is impressive, and we hope this has informed attendees about how free knowledge can prevail in this media climate. We also hope this has encouraged you and the local community to plan more events in the future to continue engagement and socialization. Before we mark this grant as completed, I was curious about a few things:
- Please elaborate in your report about any ideas or actionable plans that took shape as a result of these discussions. For example, did the opinions or presentation around Art+Feminism inform you about the needs or direction of the community about addressing the gender gap?
- The Art + Feminism panel was an exchange of ideas, mostly; my takeaway was that we need to address the gender gap but we also need to address content issues related to feminism in art; it's not just about balancing the gender representation. I would like to investigate creating hit lists for edit-a-thons that are related to areas of feminist thought in the arts. The Alternative Facts panel was actionable in that it brought to light the value of radical transparency in sourcing; in knowing the provenance of the writers and editors we cite. It's challenging to do so on Wikipedia, since our guidelines regarding sourcing (and what constitutes a reliable source) are precise, but it's an area I would like to explore, possibly as a wikiproject.
- Was the drop-off of volunteers come as a surprise? How could you encourage more volunteers in the future?
- As an Angeleno, the drop off wasn't surprising - it's par for the course around here. I think we're in much better shape moving forward - the in-person interaction at Wikipedia Day LA built a real-life foundation. People are invested in a way that they aren't when they're communicating via email and talk pages and Zoom. People signed up to be involved in Wikipedia LA at Art + Feminism at LACMA on Sunday; I have an email list that I'll exploit relentlessly.
- Did this inform you or your community about specific needs it might want to address as it develops into a user group?
- It's early to tell, but we're starting to plan our next meet up (which will likely be a salon).
- It was unfortunate that it was difficult to find a way to follow-up with participants afterwards. How can you pre-empt this issue next time with new potential members or volunteers?
- I need to delegate! We'll have a group of people working on the next event, so the responsibility will be shared.
For the remaining funds, there are several ways you could use them. For example, you may wish to reallocate this underspend towards a new Rapid Grant request. It sounds like there is potential to host ongoing events, in which case we encourage you to consider planning a series of them over a longer period of time. If not, we recommend returning funds to WMF. If possible, let us know before 15 April what you decide. We will also need documentation of expenses before closing out this grant, which you can send to grantsadmin at wikimedia dot org. Looking forward to your reply! Morgan Jue (WMF) (talk) 00:04, 25 March 2017 (UTC)
Report accepted contingent on remaining funds edit
Thanks for your responses, JSFarman! These conversations seemed to be especially valuable and informative to your future activities, and we hope you can continue to stimulate fellow Angelenos and more to participate in this developing user group. All things considered, this sounds like a jumping off point for you to pursue, and we hope you'll keep us updated with your future plans. If you have thought further about dedicating the remaining funds to mission-aligned activities such as the proposed salon, we suggest that you submit a new Rapid Grant proposal, due to the size of the underspend.
When you're ready for us to review, be sure to contact us at rapidgrants at wikimedia dot org. We'd like your response before 30 April, or we may ask you to return these funds to WMF.
We'll be able to accept this report once you've provided documentation of expenses from this grant, as well as your proposed plans for the remaining funds. Thanks once more for your work for the movement!