Wikimedia chapters/Reports/Shared Knowledge/Impact reports/Q1 2016
This is an Impact report for the first quarter (Q1, January through March) on the 2016 APG grant to Shared Knowledge, with special consideration given to the 2016 Annual plan.
For monthly reports about our activities during this quarter, see January Activity report, February Activity report and March Activity report.
You can also see our Financial report for the same period.
Projects
editA total of 13 projects/activities were planned for the Q1 of 2016 (see our Time frame of projects). They are as follows:
Wikimedian-in-Residence
Wikiexpeditions
Archaeoexpeditions
Macedonian dialects
Educational programme
Lectures about Wikipedia
Edit-a-thons
Editing days
Editing competitions
Photohunts
Wikipedia 15
European Science Photo Competition 2015
Wiki Loves Performing Arts
Achievements
editAll projects (except Wikipedia 15) run for the duration of the year, with intermissions. The projected target outcomes per project are given for the entire year, and these reflect on the global metrics outlined in the beginning of the grant page. This table will therefore not list the annual targets for each of them, but will focus on the actual achievements for this three-month period.
| Name of project | Achieved outcome | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
Wikimedian-in-Residence |
|
refers to period 1 October 2015 - 31 March 2016 (since the beginning of the project after signing the Memorandum of cooperation with MANU) |
Wikiexpeditions |
none as yet | first expedition is scheduled on the first weekend in April |
Archaeoexpeditions |
|
|
Macedonian dialects |
none as yet | still in negotiations with the Institute for Macedonian language "Krste Misirkov" |
Educational programme |
|
refers to period 1 September 2015 - 1 March 2016 (school term) 2 lectures were at universities and 11 lectures were to high school classes |
Lectures about Wikipedia |
|
"Explore Wikipedia" seminar at American Corner in Skopje |
Edit-a-thons |
|
first edit-a-thon organised in cooperation with the GLAM institution and Wikipedian-in-Residence |
Editing days |
|
third editing day was part of the World Mime Day Wiki edit-a-thon |
Editing competitions |
|
the competition was supported by the Wikipedian-in-Residence at MANU who provided materials about the topic |
Photohunts |
|
|
Wikipedia 15 |
|
|
European Science Photo Competition 2015 |
|
|
Wiki Loves Performing Arts |
|
This stage covered the Skopje Drama Theatre only. The project continues with the Macedonian National Theatre and, possibly, the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra. |
Description of activities and learning
editEach of the programmes have their objectives (listed on grant page). This section will describe how the activities during the 1st Quarter lead contributed towards their fulfillment.
Education
editEducational programme
- Goals met by this activity
With our educational work so far, we extended the presence of Wikimedia to 11 new high school classes and two university faculties - the Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Philosophy. In all cases, professors were already Wikipedians in their own right and shared their enthusiasm with their students, stressing the importance of Wikipedia for general education in our language and students' role in this. Content was greatly enriched in the field of Physics and is to be enriched in various economic topics. The newest lecture given to the Classical Philosophy class (not counted in the above metric) will soon cover many ancient Greek and Roman thinkers and schools of thought, using high quality native and foreign literature.
- Some considerations
The programme is going well, except for the fact that the Economics class has yet to start their editing. The reason for this delay is unknown, but must be due to objective reasons. In the past, Prof. Petreski has contributed exceptional content and he will no doubt continue to do so in future. We are also constantly on the lookout for new educational institutions where we want to introduce the Educational Programme. Some of these are the Philology and History departments of the same university, with whom we will soon negotiate.
Lectures about Wikipedia
- Goals met by this activity
On our first Wikipedia lecture for the general public given on the occasion of its 15th birthday we offered the interested public an insight into what is Wikipedia, how to edit it and what it is to be a Wikimedian in general, explaining various activities they can participate in.
- Some considerations
The lecture so far was given in American Corner Skopje, an American cultural centre. We have since established cooperation with two more public institutions that are keen to support us. These are the Brothers Miladinovi City Library and the National and University Library of Macedonia. Both institutions have gladly agreed to provide us with space for general lectures, seminars, workshops and edit-a-thons and importantly, have expressed interest in engaging their membership (and the public in general) in participating in them via the media and notices/advertisements in the libraries themselves.
Community
editEdit-a-thons
- Goals met by this activity
The edit-a-thons aim to increase community spirit in working towards a common goal on a certain topic that has been agreed as being of importance. Quality is improved both by covering missing topics and by extending existing articles.
- Some considerations
Due to the variety of community projects, we have only had one edit-a-thon so far. During these three months, there was greater emphasis on editing days and especially, editing competitions.
Editing days
- Goals met by this activity
With our editing days, we encouraged Wikipedians to devote more of their free time in writing on relevant topics for the duration of a given day.
- Some considerations
So far, we held 3 editing days on the topic of Grand Viziers of the Ottoman Empire, Romance languages and Pantomime. The number of articles written vary widely from one day to another, depending on the amount of free time of participants during the day. The main issue with editing events is the limited number of participants (about 5 on average). This problem is being solved by opening collaborations with two public libraries that will support us in the outreach for training, lectures and events.
Editing competitions
- Goals met by this activity
With the editing competitions, we are joining forces to create as many articles as possible within a certain longer time period. A jury then decides the winners, who are awarded. There is a great collaboration on resources from the Wikimedian-in-Residence and special attention is paid on size and quality of articles. As planned, we are holding 4 editing competitions this year. One has already taken place, with the great result of 419 articles.
- Some considerations
We are very satisfied with the editing competitions. There is always a good number of articles of decent size and quality. The only thing that needs to change is the number of participants, that is usually around 6-7. It is the same issue as with other community projects, and we are working on resolving it by the above mentioned collaboration with libraries.
Photohunts
- Goals met by this activity
The aim of this project encourage individuals with interest in topics to take initiative in formulating their own expedition plans, thus widening coverage of content, widening the community and promoting innovation within it.
- Some considerations
So far, we have approved 3 photohunt requests. One of them already took place and covered good ground that was unexplored as yet. We are satisfied with the ideas, as they genuinely represent good concepts for covering underrepresented areas on a reasonable budget.
Wikipedia 15
- Goals met by this activity
With this activity we gained very wide publicity on TV, radio, print and online media about the event itself, about the movement and its importance. We featured in one TV programme made about us, and we were guests on the Morning program on the national MTV1 as well as on radio.
- Some considerations
Apart from reporting about the event, Bojan Jankuloski gave a full-page interview for the largest newspaper in the country and this featured on the cover of the issue. We raises awareness of our movement and encourage participation by holding presentations and panel discussions in front of around 45 people who listened attentively and watched our presentations. Thanks to this, it is our impression that institutions are more readily available for collaboration.
European Science Photo Competition 2015
- Goals met by this activity
The goal of the competition was to provide representative photographic material on scientific topics to the European public, as part of our work on recording scientific experiments and equipment (below).
- Some considerations
The project lasted throughout November and December, prolonged from the original dates in order to gather more participation. We are quite satisfied as the organiser informed us that the average user from Macedonia added 15.9 images (three times more than in most of the countries).
GLAM
editWikimedian-in-Residence
- Goals met by this activity
Our Wikimedian-in-residence at the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Art (MANU) has provided many invaluable images of public domain works and old documents. He also provided our community with important book resources that were used in the editing contests and he supports activities such as expeditions by finding material that relates to places and events relevant to them.
- Some considerations
Wikiexpeditions
- Goals met by this activity
Our Wikiexpeditions regularly visit different regions of Macedonia with a daily plan, photographing villages and towns, their houses, landmarks, important places, museums, and monuments. Many images are taken, and most of them are used in articles that are created or greatly improved by the knowledge gained on the expeditions and subsequent material researched to provide substance to the articles about the places or landmarks. The expedition reports, as well as articles on various settlements and their monuments and heritage are then shared on our special Facebook group dedicated to the Wikiexpeditions as well as our mk.wiki group page.
- Some considerations
Archaeoexpeditions
- Goals met by this activity
We made valuable images of two important archaeological sites, one of which is completely new to the public and we have the honour to be the first to release images from it. This is Baderiana, an ancient town near Taor in the Skopje region. The images document the excavation, that has only recently begun. The content on one site was improved, but was greatly enhanced about the other. This was shared on the social media, raising awareness about the site and about our work in the movement.
- Some considerations
Macedonian dialects
- Goals met by this activity
The aim of the project is to improve the rather theoretical and dry articles on the various dialects of Macedonia with audio samples by recording native speakers of those dialects in their areas. To this was added the aim to cover biographies and works of important dialecticians in Macedonia.
- Some considerations
The project has not started yet. We are in negotiations with the Institute of Macedonian Language "Krste Misirkov" about the project, whose management and staff have expressed an interest in collaboration.
Wiki Loves Performing Arts
The goal of this project is to take photographs of notable actors and other performers in the country, and place them in their articles on wiki. There was a severe lack of freely-licensed images of Macedonian actors, and this solves the issue. The idea is also to illustrate articles on stage works such as plays, operas and ballets by making pictures of performances. The project also encourages the creation of new articles on these topics, inspired by the images taken.
- Some considerations
So far, we have only done the first stage of this multi-stage project. This stage refers to the Skopje Drama Theatre, with its own measures re-purposed from 2015 leftover funds. The funds were given only for that theatre, but then we decided that much more can be done with the same amount, and decided to pursue Macedonian National Theatre (waiting to start) and, possibly, the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra, therefore extending in through 2016.