Grants talk:Rapid/Black Lunch Table/Summer 2017

Comments from I JethroBT (WMF)

Hi Heathart and Fishantena, thanks for your proposal for Black Lunch Table's summer events. I've moved the request from Project Grants to Rapid Grants based on your request over e-mail, and seeing as Project Grants asks for a bit more detail compared to Rapid Grant proposals, you've provided a lot of and exciting details about your planned activities. I have a few comments and questions about the proposal:

• Any initial plans or interests in terms of where you'd like to host these events?
• Could you put a start and end date for the proposal in the Probox template? I've added these fields to the Probox.
• I wanted to applaud the degree of community engagement you've planned for this proposal. I think word-of-mouth and asking participants to bring a friend or two can be immensely valuable beyond the usual kinds of outreach through social media and on-wiki. I'm also very glad to hear that you've made a goal to engage individuals who specifically lack access to a personal computer, so thank you for this specific outreach.
• In terms of the laptop, the funding guidelines require that purchased equipment can be shared amongst Wikimedia community members with a plan for use and content integration. I think the ideas around having it for assistants and sharing it with edit-a-thon attendees who lack a device at this and future events will be beneficial; have you considered how the laptop could be loaned out to community members outside of Black Lunch Table events?

Let me know if I can clarify any of my questions or comments. Thanks, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 22:21, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Thanks I JethroBT! Should we answer on the Grant page or here? I'll start with here... We did provide a supplemental food for our editathon at MoMA last week because we had many more people than we anticipated so the food WikiNYC folks provided wasn't enough. In the future: we have an editathon planned at Brooklyn Museum and one without a date set yet at a space called Black Ladies Theater in Brooklyn. We will be having one at Storm King Art Center, one at Kohler Foundation in Sheboygan and one at Mt Mary University in Milwaukee. We are also planning (though no space has been procured yet) something in brooklyn with the hip hop world where this computer will come in particularly important. I really want to make at least a monthly habit of these wherever we find ourselves... Borrowing the computer: what a great idea! Maybe we could add a comment on local wiki editathons that don't fit our scope? I would worry about its care taking as I am no tech person and want to make this computer last as long as possible...I'd hate to limit it to people in our community that we know and already trust... so maybe we could set up a library system of some kind for folks who want to edit at home too! Maybe make a simple contract of liability? Is that too much? I'm curious how others may have done this. Thanks! --Heathart (talk) 14:19, 28 June 2017 (UTC)

@Heathart: Thanks for your responses, and responding here on the talk page is great, thanks. Good question about the logistics of lending! One thing we would need someone to agree to be the custodian of the laptop in terms of being responsible for managing requests, documenting how equipment is used, and follow up with borrowers as needed. In terms of tracking, groups usually create a page on Meta where the equipment is tracked and where community members can request to use it (e.g. User Group Sri Lanka logbook, Wikimedia Ghana logbook, Maithili Wikimedians User Group logbook). Some information to ask borrowers and otherwise track would include the following:

• Who is accessing the equipment
• Purpose of the request / what Wikimedia-related work will be done with the equipment?
• Duration the equipment will be needed
• Some form of contact information (e-mail, phone, etc.)
• A form of ID
• Outcomes of what work was done with the equipment upon its return.

In terms of guidelines for who to lend it to, some groups have established different kinds of criteria related to length of membership in the group, edit count, block history, how long someone has been editing, etc. Outside of events, I think allowing anyone to borrow the equipment presents too much risk, so setting some reasonable eligibility criteria along those lines makes sense. Some of the examples above use the following:

Members of this usergroup who are active for at least 6 months with a global edit count of more than 500 edits, and without any history of blocks/disciplinary actions are encouraged to make use of the equipment to improve the coverage and quality of Wikipedia/Wikimedia related topics.

However, these aren't official guidelines, and you have discretion to reasonably adjust them based on your community's needs. When you're able, could you let me know who would be the custodian of the equipment, set up a logbook for the laptop on Meta, and post a link to it on the grant proposal page? Thanks, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 22:33, 28 June 2017 (UTC)

@I JethroBT: Ok, just getting back from travelling... I'd be the custodian and I'll get to the Meta asap. Thanks!--Heathart (talk) 18:28, 1 July 2017 (UTC)

Hi Heather -- I set up a page here as a placeholder that can include a table and policies on equipment use. Grid, etc. can be added. Hope this is helpful!

I want to also mention that at last night's event BLT brought 2-3 computers/tablets with keyboards and I made mine available for those without computers -- they were all utilized and also (can't stress this enough) were very necessary for new editors to be able to participate. This is a great idea to try and add to this resource need.

Best -- Erika aka BrillLyle (talk) 10:50, 2 July 2017 (UTC)

@I JethroBT: Ok, all done. :)--Heathart (talk) 02:09, 6 July 2017 (UTC)

@Heathart: Thanks! When you're able, could you also add the guidelines you've decided upon for who to lend to as well? I'll be approving this proposal in the meantime. Thanks! I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 16:59, 6 July 2017 (UTC)