Grants talk:Simple/Applications/Wikimedia México/2018-2019

Questions from SAPG members

From Philip Kopetzky

Hi WMMX! Thanks for submitting this application, it's really exciting to read about all the partnerships and plans you have been doing and are planning to do in the coming year :-) Thank you also for thinking about neighbouring countries in Central America, I personally think that this is the kind of work we will to see more of in the years to come.

We talked about a few topics at Wikimedia Conference, but just to make it more transparent I'll ask similar questions here again:

• Metrics
  • The partnerships metrics make sense in context of what you want to achieve - it's more difficult to tell with some of the other metrics:
    • You have the same metrics for gender gap & content creation events and also WLM and Culture of Mexico. Are these projects really that similar that you can tell if they're successful or unsuccessful with the same metrics?
    • The metrics you choose should help you find out if what you set out to do was successful or not - from my point of view it's really difficult to tell from 180 new articles at the gender gap editatonas if this kind of event leads to any sustainable impact on Spanish Wikipedia or tackles the gender gap in any meaningful way.
    • In the events section you state that you are planning one event on content creation per month, but the metric states "one event per week". The latter is probably incorrect? It also has the same problem with number of new articles, which by themselves don't really indicate what your goal for this program is.
    • For the photography projects it is also unclear what the goal is - for WLM you'll probably get a lot of similar images from popular sites like Teotihuacan and the Yucatan peninsula which will get you to 1000 images, but is that really what you are aiming for? "Culture of Mexico" might benefit from a clearer picture of how you would like to use those pictures in order to present the documentation in a way that makes it more visible to the world. Especially with images of new users it is really easy for them to get lost on Commons because they lack categories and descriptions.
    • Digitization: Is it viable to also use those books on Wikisource?
• Hardware
  • You have an item of 3000 USD for laptops in the events section of your budget, which I assume means that you are planning to buy new laptops. Have you considered asking for laptops via the Hardware donation program or do you have specific laptops in mind for a specific type of work, i.e. picture or video processing for example?
  • The two new scanners for 1000 USD a piece are probably being used for the digitization project with BNAH and MUNAL? Or are they used for something else?
• Wikimania
  • 2500 USD per flight + 1500 USD for accommodation is a lot of money to spend on a single person - how will/how have you selected the two community members you're sending to Cape Town and what do you expect them to bring back from the conference to make it worth the time and money spent?
• Administration
  • As mentioned at WMCon, 14160 USD is a lot of money for accounting. While I do understand that this is more complicated and expensive to do in Mexico, it would be interesting to look at alternatives if you find the time.
  • Is the accounting advisor a contractor or someone employed by WMMX?
• Indigenous Languages
  • What exactly is your plan in this regard? Is there potential to build a sustainable community around the Mayan languages?

Hope the questions are clear and comprehensible. Please don't hesitate to ask for clarification if you find a question confusing! :-) Philip Kopetzky (talk) 12:18, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

Answers to Philip

Thanks for your questions Philip! Here is our answers:

Metrics

• Our approximation to this issues on Wikimedia are still about more content and increasing quality on Spanish Wikimedia projects. There are much to do on this matter in the next years. We could use other metrics but we want to have a common criteria in order to have them in the same bag of content creation. Obviously this topics can be measured with other perspective but for us the success will be measured with this specific metrics.
• According to Gender Gap metrics, we think Editatona is very sustainable in the time when we evaluate the big picture of the project and we overcome the criteria of the merely numbers, for an example, the people attending, the increasing of the quality on the contents and others that are not strict numbers. The dramatic panorama of the Gender Gap of Wikimedia maybe need efforts triple of size of the current, but this is what we can plan in the actual conditions of the organization as a realistic goal. We don't have tracked at all the impact of the Editatona project but in 2014 we had one women per nine male in Spanish Wikipedia biographies. In 2018 there are currently 67970 articles of women in Spanish Wikipedia and 274838 about males. We think we are doing something sustainable moving a little bit the needle.
• In our criteria, the Events section states "one event per week" considering as "events" other activities that remain as invisible for achieve a monthly successful content event. Examples of this are evangelistic workshops to partners's staff, planning curational meetings, new partnerships meetings also talks to the general public. This was a suggestion by WMF's staff to begin to measure or real size of our efforts invested every week to achieve our goals. For an example, during six months we invested *many* volunteer hours to achieve the printing of million of tickets with the Wikipedia logo in the subway that were left out of any measuring useful for our records.
• We are planning Culture of Mexico contest aiming to have many images from the Mexican cultural richness in a broad perspective of the cultural concept that isn't strictly monuments heritage. There are other Wikimedia contests devoted to culture like Spain's Wiki Loves Folk and Chile's WikiTour. Derived from our previous WLM contests and other affiliates experiences we know that is inevitable to have always the same images of the must monuments but this can solvable with the terms of the general call.
• Yes, we can use the books in Wikisource but in a primary stage we are planning just scan and upload to Commons. For this matter we have the advisory of some members of the Wikimedia Digitization User Group

Hardware

• Salvador and me are grantees of the program you mentioned but the objective of have local equipments are other. Usually we have events with people without equipment and/or that need the temporary support of a laptop to continue their Wikimedia activity.
• We are open to share this scanners with any institution that want to work with us in the future, but the priority in the use will be the mentioned libraries.

Wikimania

• We know about the high costs of moving people to this Wikimania because the distance of Mexico to South Africa and for the closer dates of the events, but we have people with higher activity and with potential growing in the movement that will be very enriched of the Wikimania experience. A major representative of Mexico in the conferences with new faces will grow our experience. The selection of the people will be driven as an internal process considering recent Wikimedia activity, perseverance and persistence in volunteering in recent years, Gender Gap quota as well as demonstration of leadership in the chapter. Those who attend the event must present a report to the community as well as commit to share their experiences.

Administration

• As we mentioned in the WmCon, this is the cost of an a professional admin consultancy. We tried to do in the past and we don't had good experiences carrying ourselves the weight of this important responsibility.
• Is a contractor, not a WMMX employee.

Indigenous Languages

• Derived from talks this week with the Secretariat of Culture, we will *reduce significatively* the amount of this project because the partner will sponsor many of the expenses of the project! Sustainability in Wikimaya is one of our main challenges of course. The project are planned with local grassroots organizations devoted to Mayan Languages that will be support the attendance of Mayan speaking people with their own networks; also we are planning strategies like an open call to gather collaborators in schools and universities with the support if the own Secretariat of Culture.

Thanks, --ProtoplasmaKid (WM-MX) (talk) 05:45, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

@ProtoplasmaKid: Thanks for your answers, I appreciate you taking the time to answer them in detail. They also offer some very interesting details that I think help us understand the great work WMMX is doing in Mexico a lot more :-) Best, Philip Kopetzky (talk) 20:51, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

Questions from Siarus1074 / Kai

Wow! Your work is impressive. Your partnerships with in the Mexico City and the work with the cultural institutions is wonderful. I have a few questions and I hope you can help me understand the topics below a bit more.

Editatona

• I really like this idea. Empowering women Wikipedians is important in Mexico as it is across the world. I like that you are dedicating time and space for cultivating diverse users in WMMX and hope to see more of this in the future.
  • Building off Philip's question, I was wondering if the participants in Editatona edit articles on Hispanic women to add to the gender gap in content?
  • Is your goal to get more women content creators to join WMMX or to have women content creators edit and create content on women in Wikipedia?
  • Are participants editing Spanish Wikipedia or English Wikipedia or any language Wikipedia is in?
  • Is any of what I asked about apart of your goals?

Content Creation

• Again building off Philip's question, I was wondering if you had metrics from last year. You indicate that you "had a sustained rhythm of public events which are still the most requested activities..." I wonder if 52 events which equals 1 per week is sustainable and a reasonable goal. I just am looking to understand if you have done this in the past.
  • Could you provide these metrics?

  - I really think this would help strengthen your application.

Wikipedia Education Program

• I am always delighted to see education program and really am pleased to see you have been doing this for 7 years. I am also happy to see you are continually mindful about the gender gap. I have a question regarding your second goal.
  • Can you explain how you plan to achieve 30% of women contributors in the classes out of 90 new users?

  - I ask because you usually can not control the demographics of the class room unless you know the gender make up ahead of time.

  • Can you provide the dashboard metrics from last year's classes?

Education meeting

• I just wanted to note that I am delighted to see this in your application and am very supportive of this. I look forward to hearing about the results in your mid point report.

Board Meeting

• I am pleased to see further evidence of your commitment to create a environment with diverse voices. I am happy to see that you are bringing in board members from another Mexican state.
  • What does the gender diversity look like on your Board?

Diversity/ Indigenous Languages

• Very excited about this. I see that it was created in 2009, but according to the July 2017 Maya Language Wikipedia Stimulation Workshop, it seems to not have had much "activity or a community that maintains it."
  • Can you share more details about your plan to revive this project?
  • What are your goals for this project?

WikiLoves Monuments Project Manager

• Your application indicates that you have a WLM photo contest at least 3 other times. I was wondering how the project manager's tasks listed her taken care of in the past?
  • For example, how were the evaluation and reports completed?
  • Who provided online support to participants?

  - A volunteer? A contractor? Have you had this position in the past?

  • Can you share the metrics from the last WLM photo contest?

  - How many pictures, participants and new users were there?

Institutional Planning Coordinator

• I am really interested in learning more about this position.
  • Do you have a person in mind to fill this position that is a volunteer with in WMMX or an external candidate? Is the external WMMX candidate from with in the Wikipedia community or external to it?
  • Would the candidate have organizational leadership experience?
  • Can you explain who currently creates your biannual plan? Is the Board involved in this?

I look forward to hearing from you. Siarus1074 (talk) 21:15, 10 May 2018 (UTC)

@ProtoplasmaKid: I was wondering if you could answer my questions too. Thanks looking forward to hearing from you. Siarus1074 (talk) 21:09, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

Answers to Siarus1074

My apologies in the delay. Thanks for your questions and your compliments Siarus! Our answers:

Editatona

• The model of Editatona have the focus on creation about women but not only. Editatona's goals are both to recruit women who edit Wikipedia and to write content about women, both biographies and quality improvement of existing content from a gender approach (as Wikimedia Argentina explained in this pattern). Editatona's creation model also implies working on issues that the project alliances establish continuously as priorities. For example, we had an event dedicated to Feminicide in Mexico where we had the great fortune of gather the most recognized researchers and activists of the matter in the country advising the contents that was published in the Spanish Wikipedia article.
• We have edited Spanish Wikipedia and Wikidata, and some of the girls who have high knowledge of English have done translations, but we prefer to work on expanding the content in our own language were we feel more confident.
• These goals have been part of the project since its inception. If in your opinion we can convert any of these into a metric, we are open to incorporate it! Any suggestion is welcome.

Content creation

• We had that level of requests of events by our partners and interest to schedule one event each week, but as we explain to Philip, this time the metric refers to not only events as editathons. As we reported in 2016 we perform 25 editathons, this means one every two weeks. For 2017 we had the same expectations, but the September 19th, 2017 major earthquake affected the general rhythm of public events in areas of Mexico where we have influence also me and Carmen was direct affected of the earthquake so, we can't achieve the same level of activities for the second semester of 2017. In fact for the first semester we are still having cancellations for the general disorder after the earthquake. We have the trust in the next months the situation will come back to the regular conditions and we will try to have more events outside our regular areas.

WEP

• Usually in the classrooms that we had the Wikipedia Education Program we have a 50%-50% presence of males and females, but we set a conservative metric of 30% considering that fact you are pointing.
• Not all the teachers of the program in 2017 used Dashboard. For an example teacher Ms. Luz María Silva usually tracks by their own the collaboration with Wikipedia. But I can share you the Dashboard of Mónica Quijano which we have available here: https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Facultad_de_Filosofía_y_Letras_UNAM/Seminario_de_Tesis_-_Letras_Hispánicas One learned lesson for us and one of the goals that we want to achieve in the Education meeting with teachers is to have training sessions to have a better documentation in their classes using Wikimedia tools for that objective.

Board meeting

• We are currently four males and three females in the board. We want to achieve the 50/50 in the next election process.

Diversity/ Indigenous Languages

• As we mentioned to Philip our plan allied with Secretariat of Culture and local NGOS devoted to Mayan Language is:

• • translate MediaWiki lines
  • conclude the basic 800 articles of every Wikipedia and
  • make a public call in universities and schools to attract enthusiasts.

Fortunately between the proposal of the Grant and today, the Secretariat of Culture announced they will be the sponsors of the major expenses for a new week of work in Mérida city, so, we will reduce significantly the amount requested.

WikiLoves Monuments Project Manager

• All the tasks of the contest was driven by volunteers. We used the evaluation tool designed by WLM volunteers. Results from 2015 was 4310 photos and 369 uploaders, less participation than 2013 and 2012, essentially because we didn't have any volunteer entirely devoted to the project so we think with a PM managing the contest we will have order and planification so, a more broad margin for success.

Institutional Planning Coordinator

• Due the specific tasks that the person will need to fulfill we will search into the local NGOs for a consultancy that are familiar with Wikimedia and/or the free knowledge or free culture ecosystem in order to advance soon. Currently we don't have a biannual or annual strategy developed and for this matter we are requesting external support. This person will request feedback from community and will have Board input.

Thanks, --ProtoplasmaKid (WM-MX) (talk) 22:26, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

@ProtoplasmaKid: Thank you so much for getting back to me. This has all helped me understand your work better. I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Siarus1074 (talk) 22:34, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

Simple Annual Plan Grant Committee Recommendation

Committee recommendations

Funding recommendations: This is Wikimedia México’s first application to the Simple APG process, and they have requested 1,129,918 MXN for 12 months. We recommend funding Wikimedia México in the amount of 1,129,918 MXN for 12 months + a 10% contingency to address unexpected risks or opportunities, or a total amount of 1,242,910 MXN. Since WMMX is preparing to bring on staff in the following grant period, they may assign this contingency fee to their reserves at the end of this grant period, provided it is not used during the grant period. Wikimedia México has been active for a number of years and has experienced volunteers with the capacity to do great program work, and we believe that receiving an annual plan grant that covers their operating expenses in addition to their program costs will be a positive step in building the organization’s capacity in the long term. We understand that Wikimedia México is planning to bring on permanent staff in the longer term, and they have built preparation toward this goal into their plan. We appreciate that WMMX has provided detailed background information about the improvements they want to make in administration, including creating a framework for the next two years. We also appreciate that WMMX explicitly states that they will be engaging with the movement strategy process, and that this will be a priority in the next year. Wikimedia México’s woman-led gender gap work is particularly interesting, including thoughtfully designed curricula that address issues of gender bias on the Spanish WIkipedia, and a photo contest to cover media content gaps about women. We believe that work like this is well-aligned with the movement’s new strategic direction, and that Wikimedia México has the expertise to achieve good results in this area. WMMX is a high performer in the area of content creation, and has many years of expertise running complex and successful events. These include innovative editing events held in partnership with institutions, as well as successful photo contests. We look forward to the results of the photo competitions, especially the one emphasizing cultural heritage. Furthermore, WMMX has been successful in partnering with institutions to scan digital content, and even getting researchers from their institutions to devote time to this initiative. WMMX has also included an education program with modest goals, and we hope to learn more about their work in this area and their future plans in education. Wikimedia México’s work on Spanish language projects in an under-resourced region has huge potential for impact, and we hope Wikimedia México will make the most of this in the long term. WMMX is also focusing on several indigenous languages of México, including their Wikimaya work on Mayan language projects, although the plans they included in this area are very general. Past challenges have been around managing grants and funding, and adequate and timely reporting. Wikimedia México must address these challenges if they plan to grow. Now that their capacity is increasing, and they have the help of a professional accountant, we expect them to meet high standards in this area. This also includes working on clearer goals and the purpose of certain projects and events in order to make WMMX’s metrics more useful for them and for the global community. WMMX has previously relied on volunteers to do all of their work, and in the current plan they are requesting to engage several contractors on short term projects. We believe this may lead to good results in these areas, and may also be a way for the chapter to gain some experience managing contractors prior to bringing on any permanent staff. It will be important for the chapter and the committee to monitor this, to understand how it is working.

Strengths identified by the committee: See recommendations above.

Concerns identified by the committee: See recommendations above.

Due to the size of this grant request, WMF may take a few days or as long as a week to post the final decision. Thank you for your patience! Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 18:49, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

WMF decision

1,129,918 MXN + a 10% contingency to address unexpected risks or opportunities, or a total amount of 1,242,910 MXN for 12 months. Congratulations! Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 20:00, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

Regarding unused funds from this grant

Dear WFM and @VThamaini (WMF): Making an update on this 2018 - 2019 grant I would like to clarify that we have unused funds for an amount of 659,649 MXN, and we would like to ask that these funds be could reallocated to our current request for the upcoming grant 2021-2022, for which there is already a pre-approval of 2,721,008 MXN.

For context, we have unused funds from our 2019-2020 grant too, where I’m going to clarify the amount and total. And then update our current grant request 2021-2022 with the total for reallocation, and the additional amount requested for your attention and approval.

I hope this finds you well so we can hear about you soon.

--Agustín Peña (WMMX) (talk) 05:26, 3 June 2021 (UTC)