Grants talk:Simple/Applications/Wikimedia Canada/2018/H1

Eligibility

Wikimedia Canada is eligible to apply for a 6-month grant starting 1 January 2018, for a grant up to 35,000 CAD, and with no staff. Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 18:54, 3 November 2017 (UTC)

Questions from Liang

Hi, I am still in the process of review your proposal, in the mean time I have the following questions for you:

1. In my observation, most of the large countries that successfully make a grassroot volunteer groups follows the multi local chapter models. The only exception is Art+Feminism model, they try to provide mostly online support but successfully to host a large amount of workshopss. Why do you think the current model of travel is possible? Do you have past experience in incubate local organizers through this model?

   Thank you for your question, the creation of a framework of WikiClubs (i.e. multi local chapter model) is my priority at Wikimedia Canada. The travel is to meet key institutional partners (i.e. GLAM), and not to conduct local activities everywhere in the country. For that, we will develop tools and skills that we can provide at a distance to the local Wikipedians that wish to organize activities. For instance, the monthly Mardi c'est wiki in Montreal are broadcasted online and we often have communities from elsewhere in Canada joining to learn how to edit Wikipedia. We also have programs to encourage them to organize activities such as the National Contribution Month in Canada and the International Francophone Contribution Month, both organized by Wikimedia Canada where Wikimedians are asked and encouraged to host local edit-a-thons. For instance, last October we had the National Contribution Month and we had 21 workshops in 17 different cities across 7 different provinces out of 10 without any travel. The intent is to build WikiClubs from those activities since now the local Wikimedians met. For instance, we already have 4 WikiClubs in 4 different cities in 2 different provinces that are active and in the process of being officially recognized by the chapter. WikiClubs will be local hubs for the Wikimedia activities in Canada. We have learnt in the past years that meeting in a more formal way with the cultural and knowledge institutions really helps and is often key to develop the local communities of contributors at the same time by building partnerships between the local Wikimedians and the cultural institution. For that we are using our very successful model with Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) (the national library and archives of Quebec) in Montreal to develop communities elsewhere in Quebec through the other centres of BAnQ across the province. We also use this model to approach other institutions in Canada. For instance, we gave a presentation to Library and Archives Canada (LAC) in Ottawa recently to present the Wikimedia projects and two archivists of BAnQ came as well to present the model for GLAM partnership; the Librarian and Archivist of Canada (Guy Berthiaume) himself was at this presentation and we met with him afterwards. The results of this travel to Ottawa are already tangible since LAC put in place a Wikipedian in Residence and an internal Wikipedia Working Group and they are hosting public workshops and edit-a-thons in collaboration with the local WikiClub. Another more recent example, is the meeting with the Governor General of Canada (head of state) in Ottawa that looks very promising since she was very receptive to our cause and we even talked about releasing some of the official work from the federal government under a free license. For this kind of meetings, it is essential that the people are key board members and not just any local Wikimedian, that's why travel is required. It is more to set things in motion, than doing work everywhere in the country ourselves. I can provide more details on our strategy plan about this if you'd like or more examples of recent activities in this line. I hope it answers your question. Thank you, Amqui (talk) 17:09, 9 November 2017 (UTC)

2. In the indegineous program, there is a travel to go to United Nations. Have you been invited to go there to do certain events? What will you do in New York? What will this help the project?

   We will be hosting a side event; we are not invited. We are in contact with Wikimedia New York City to get local contacts and we will seek, if possible, the support of the Wikimedia Foundation to be added to the official agenda of the forum. The activity that we planned are a panel of 1h to present the toolkit about creating Wikipedias in indigenous languages based on our Atikamekw Project that we will publish. The benefits of this activity are to introduce the toolkit to many different indigenous nations from around the world that could stimulate partnerships, perhaps, with other national chapters. For instance, Wikimedia NYC is already planning to use this activity as a lever to launch projects with First Nations in their region. During Wikimania 2017, we presented the Atikamekw Project to a large audience. We received interest from participants from various countries, showing that there is a need for this. I will answer again with more information later. Amqui (talk) 18:12, 9 November 2017 (UTC)

Thank you for answering. --Liang(WMTW) (talk) 18:10, 8 November 2017 (UTC)

Simple Annual Plan Grant Committee Recommendation

Committee recommendations

Funding recommendations: We recommend that Wikimedia Canada receive 22,000 CAD + 10% contingency, or 24,200 CAD including the contingency fee. We are providing the following rationale: This will allow the chapter to increase their administrative capacity, while maintaining a similar level of program activity to the past 6 months. We recommend Wikimedia Canada consider some changes to Program 2 (indigenous work), which right now seems both very intensive (a total of 9 workshops in the next 6 months) and not clearly planned (the trip to the UN does not have concrete outcomes defined). This should include reducing the total number of workshops, and eliminating the UN activity. Although we find the scope of this plan to be too ambitious at this time, we are aware that Wikimedia Canada is benefiting from a positive after-effect of Wikimania in Montreal and that the organization is on a good trajectory forward. We are looking forward to Wikimedia Canada building capacity with time to take full advantage of these opportunities.

Comments on the next year's plan: This is Wikimedia Canada’s second application for an Annual Plan Grant. They have received one 6-month grant so far. They are applying for their second 6-month grant, which does not include a staffing request, but does include a request for a significant increase of the current grant amount. Wikimedia Canada’s plan is detailed, and models good program planning practices. Along with traditional photography and community support initiatives, it includes the Indigenous peoples on Wikimedia projects program, which is unique in the movement. Yet, it seems like it will be a challenge for a small group of volunteers to carry out this plan while also achieving their organizational goals.

Comments on the current year's focus and achievements: This is a first-time applicant to Simple Annual Plan Grants.

Other considerations: Wikimedia Canada initially requested to apply for a grant with staff, which Wikimedia Foundation-Annual Plan Grants staff recommended against due to the organization’s lack of prior experience with annual planning and lack of infrastructure, and due to the limited number of volunteers actively involved in the chapters activities. Wikimedia Canada was challenged to adjust the scope of this plan so that it could be realistically achieved without paid staff, and Wikimedia Foundation-Annual Plan Grants staff had concerns that the current plan may not be achievable. Wikimedia Canada is experiencing the "after-Wikimania" effect, which seems to be presenting them with lots of opportunities. It is not clear however whether they have really managed to prioritize these opportunities with regard to their capacity. Most of the significant increase included in this grant is devoted to travel in order to expand the group’s geographic reach outside of Quebec. While this may be a laudable goal for a group with a national scope, it is not clear if this answers real opportunities. (We have not yet seen a national chapter model be effective in any countries of comparable size, and it is not clear if the current team have capacity to execute this at this time.) Funding Wikimedia Canada at this level puts Wikimedia Canada on a path to rapid future growth, since this would be an annual equivalent of nearly $60K US dollars. If Wikimedia Canada does return with a request for staffing in another 6 months, this would likely make the next grant close to $100K. Wikimedia Foundation-Annual Plan Grants staff have encouraged Wikimedia Canada to reduce the number of activities they are planning and their geographic scope, so that they can focus on building their volunteer base and putting adequate infrastructure in place to lay the groundwork for future success.

Comments on the next year's focus: 2018 will be a year to focus on building the chapter’s administrative capacities and working with the chapter to more realistically assess their capacity and define their focus. Developing a larger leadership team and involving more volunteers in the chapter’s work will be critical to increasing the chapter’s long term capacity.

On behalf of the Simple Annual Plan Grants Committee. --Kai (talk) 12:4, 2 December 2017 (Pacific)

Decision from WMF

Funding decision: Thank you, Wikimedia Canada, for this thoughtful application, and to the committee for this recommendation. This grant is approved in the amount of 24,200 Canadian Dollars, or 22,000 Canadian Dollars to be spent according to a revised budget approved by WMF prior to the start of the grant period and a 10% contingency fee for unanticipated expenses to be used only with the approval of WMF. The grant term will begin on 1 January 2018, and will end on 30 June 2018. A midpoint report covering the first 3 months of the grant term should be submitted by 15 April 2018, and a final report covering the entire 6 months should be submitted by 30 July 2018. You should reapply for the second half of 2018 by 1 May 2018 in order to secure funding by 1 July 2018. Please submit a revised budget to WMF as soon as possible so that we can be sure to approve it before the grant start date. This revised budget should incorporate the recommendations of the committee, including reducing the total number of workshops, and eliminating the UN activity. We look forward to your work in the coming 6 months, and hope to support you in the focus areas recommended by the committee. Congratulations! Best, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 02:11, 9 December 2017 (UTC)

Revised budget approved

Hello, all! Noting here that the revised budget submitted by Wikimedia Canada includes the committee's recommendations and comes in under the approved grant amount, and is hereby approved by WMF, in time to start the new grant on 1 January. Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 17:15, 22 December 2017 (UTC)

Requested amendments to the budget

Good day, we are proposing amendments to the budget. It does not change the overall total of the budget. The proposed changes can be seen in the same spreadsheet (new tab "APG REQUESTED ADJUSTMENTS") there: [1]. All the changes are explained in details in the column "DETAILS". The new line items and the increases above 20% are indicated in green while the decrease of more than 20% are indicated in blue and the cancellation of line items in red. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you, Amqui (talk) 09:20, 27 April 2018 (UTC)

Last amendment of the budget

Hello to the committee,

I would like to have a permission to realocate unspent funds that was originally planned for “Travel for outreach to indigenous communities”. The budget was initially planned for “Travel for outreach to indigenous communities”. We were supposed to have a meeting with members of the Innu People, but the meeting was cancelled because of the availability of several Innu during the spring season, and we have not reprogrammed it yet.

We have several needs to use the funds for indigenous outreach, but not for travelling in the next 2 weeks. As you know we were an active partner in the creation of the Wikipedia Atikamekw with Nathalie Casemajor from the National Institute of Scientific Research, see WMF blog. The team of researchers on this project (one of them being an active member of Wikimedia Canada) wrote a toolbox (translated into English by a volunteer) that would need to be carefully revised by an English translator before we print some copies that we can use in future outreach activities. The researchers are also working on a scientific article in English about the project. This article needs to be revised by a professional translator before being submitted to an open access journal (available under free licence for the whole community) on June 30. During the same project, we also created a guide explaining how to create and administer an Indigenous Wikipedia. This guide is in French only, but most Canadian Indigenous Peoples only speak English. We need to have it translated to be able to use it outside of francophone communities. Here is a budget for these items:

• 800 $ English revision for Toolbox
• 800 $ English revision for open access scientific article^[1]
• 1500 $ for translating the guide
• 500 $ for T-Shirts in Atikamekw language
  • Total: 3600$

It does not change the overall total of the budget.

[1]Scientific article summary : Journal of Peer Production

"The Journal of Peer Production seeks high-quality contributions from researchers and practitioners of peer production. We understand peer production as a mode of commons-based and oriented production in which participation is voluntary and predicated on the self-selection of tasks. Notable examples are the collaborative development of Free Software projects and of the Wikipedia online encyclopedia". How to translate “category” in Atikamekw? Opportunities and challenges in building an Indigenous Wikipedia Nathalie Casemajor, Assistant Professor, Institut national de la recherche scientifique Christian Coocoo, Coordinator of cultural services, Council of the Atikamekw Nation Karine Gentelet, Assistant Professor, Université du Québec en Outaouais In 2017, the Wikimedia Foundation launched a broad discussion within the Wikimedia movement to define its strategic goals for the next decade. The lack of diversity of contributors in Wikimedia projects was among the most discussed topics. By including more non-Western knowledge, the Wikimedia platform would move closer to the goal of collecting “the sum of all knowledge”. Many exciting initiatives have been implemented in the last years to create content in several languages from India, Africa, Latin America or Australia (Pérez Ramírez, 2017). The process of engaging in a collaborative online encyclopaedia can be empowering for Indigenous peoples. It is an opportunity to create online educational resources in their native language, to create new words to name elements of the digital environment and to engage youth in creative activities. Yet the imperative to diversify sources of knowledge and to make all non-Western knowneldge and heritage accessible online can also create tension. Among many Indigenous peoples, some elements of knowledge are considered “common” and may freely be shared with all. Others are considered "specific" to a family or an individual (e.g. crafts, maps of resources), or “sacred” and secret (e.g. use of medicinal plants, rituals). As Kimberly Christen (2012) pointed out, the inclusion of indigenous knowledge systems into open digital platforms calls for a renewed critical discussion of the notions of information freedom and protection of sensitive information. It also opens a conversation about how to adapt Western-centric ontologies and media formats to a plurality of knowledge systems (Gallert and van der Velden, 2014, 2015; Ludwig, 2016). This paper is based on an action research project conducted in 2016-2017 in partnership with the Atikamekw Nehirowisiw Nation and Wikimedia Canada. Among Canadian First Nations, the Atikamekw Nehirowisiw has one of the best preserved native languages, as 95% of the total population (6600 speakers) use the language. Built into the educational curriculum of a secondary school in the village of Manawan, the project lead to the launch of a Wikipedia encyclopaedia in the Atikamekw language, as well as to the creation of hundreds of images of the region, the villages and their inhabitants. According to Jeannette Coocoo, an elder involved in translating the MediaWiki user interface, the word “category” (referring to the labels classifying images and articles) was one of the most difficult words to translate into the Atikamekw language. This example illuminates the intricate relationship between language, thought systems, the organisation of knowledge and the technical architecture of digital platforms. This paper discusses the results of this project by examining the challenges and opportunities raised in the collaborative process of creating Wikimedia content in the Atikamekw language. How can we adapt Wikimedia's protocols to the specificities of indigenous oral traditions? How can we mobilize traditional references in the process of creating new words describing the digital environment? Finally, how can we take advantage of the opportunities of free licences while retaining some control on the most sensitive elements of the group’s collective knowledge? One of the main conclusions we draw from this project is to not overestimate the impact of digital production in cultural transmission, and to acknowledge that some of the most crucial operations of knowledge transmission happen through face-to-face social interactions and cultural activities on the land.

If you have quetions, please feel free to ask.

Best regards, Benoit Rochon (talk) 11:55, 18 June 2018 (UTC)

Reallocation approval and extension of the grant period

Hello Benoit[*]. as explained per email, approval is given for th reallocation of:

• 800 $ English revision for Toolbox
• 800 $ English revision for open access scientific article
• 500 $ for T-Shirts in Atikamekw language
  • Total: 2100$

Translation of the guide seems a lot of money without a clear understanding of exact needs, so this is not approved for now and if you want to go forward with this, we expect you to scope out interest and see how much of this can be already started with community help.

This grant period is extended until 30 July so we can sort out these reallocation questions in a timely manner. Final report is then due on 30 August 2018. Next grant period might be moved but I need to confirm how this works. Best, Delphine (WMF) (talk) 08:27, 6 July 2018 (UTC)

[*] T'as pas d'accent circonflexe ? o.O

Thank you Delphine[*] for the approval. Regarding the translation of the guide, I will let Nathalie Casemajor explain more clearly what this guide is about and the importance of having it translated (professionnally) in English. Merci encore. Au plaisir, Benoit Rochon (talk) 19:15, 6 July 2018 (UTC)

[*] Non, pas d'accent circonflexe dans ma "vie virtuelle", c'est trop compliqué à gérer pour les anglophones qui n'ont pas de clavier français ou de notion de code ascii.