This form is for organizations receiving Annual Plan Grants to report on their results to date. For progress reports, the time period for this report will the first 6 months of each grant (e.g. 1 January - 30 June of the current year). For impact reports, the time period for this report will be the full 12 months of this grant, including the period already reported on in the progress report (e.g. 1 January - 31 December of the current year). This form includes four sections, addressing global metrics, program stories, financial information, and compliance. Please contact APG/FDC staff if you have questions about this form, or concerns submitting it by the deadline. After submitting the form, organizations will also meet with APG staff to discuss their progress.
This report documents the activities developed by Wikimedia Nederland in 2016 - and the impact these activities had.
Wikimedians gathering outside the WMNL office to celebrate the 4th birthday of Wikidata
Throughout the report we have inserted text boxes labelled: lessons learned/moment for reflection. But is a sense the whole of 2016 was a period of reflection for our chapter.. Board, staff and community cooperated in developing a new strategy for the years 2017 - 2019.
Major advances were made since WMNL hired its first staff member in 2012. The number of organised activities increased, as did the number of participants in those activities. New partnerships were established, as well as new forms of cooperation, with the phenomenon of the Wikipedian in Residence having a particularly strong impact.The number of active WMNL volunteers rose to about 50, about 28 of whom were also willing to be active 'off wiki', for example at events organised with partners.
However, this did not quite match the vision of 2012. The unpredictable participation of the community, for example for the processing of the content donations, and sometimes the opposition of the community to activities organised by WMNL, imposed limits on the tangible impact that WMNL could have on the Wikimedia projects. As WMF and the FDC frequently reminded us: results were not commensurate with funding, or indeed effort by staff and board.
These reflection lead to a slight shift in orientation for the coming years. In a sense it is a formal confirmation of a development of the past years: a shift away from being mainly community driven to being more mission driven.
The mission of Wikimedia Nederland is access to all knowledge for everyone. The Wikimedia community is an essential partner here.
Hairdress of a Christian Papuan girl from Manokwari - Donated by the Museum for World Cultures as part of the Netherland and the world project.
The community consists of volunteers; they cannot be obliged to actively add knowledge they don't find interesting, but that may be relevant for the encyclopaedia in objective terms and that may be appreciated by readers. We cannot therefore assume that a Wikimedia community is, at any given time, in a position to cover the entire knowledge spectrum and to meet the knowledge requirements of all actual or potential readers. The fact that there is relatively little information on different language versions of Wikipedia about the third world and biographical information about women is linked worldwide to the make-up of the editor community, which is not sufficiently wide-ranging.
If Wikimedia Nederland were to allow itself to be led entirely by the wishes of the editor community when determining priorities, there is a risk that this effect would be amplified rather than counterbalanced.
To implement its mission in the best possible way, Wikimedia Nederland wishes to follow a course in the years to come that does equal justice to the interests of editors, knowledge holders and readers. By 'knowledge holders', we mean any organisation that is willing to share knowledge, data or collections through the Wikimedia projects.
The setting of priorities relating to the activities and the deployment of resources by Wikimedia Nederland is based on a consideration of the returns generated for the Wikimedia projects and of the interests of editors, partner institutions, and current and future readers.
The primary focus is making knowledge present in the Netherlands or knowledge relevant for the Netherlands freely available.
One form this takes is support for the Wikimedia community in the Netherlands, which works on sharing and making knowledge available on a volunteer basis.
Filling gaps in the knowledge made available by Wikimedia projects and keeping the Wikimedia projects relevant for current and future readers are equally important activities.
In addition, the wishes and needs of knowledge holders are essential in terms of setting priorities.
This will be our focus for the coming years, although of course we may have to make adjustments depending on the outcome of the movement strategy process.
For the rest of the text, the focus will be firmly on what we did in 2016.
A community that does not accept inappropriate behaviour, has a practice of correcting such behaviour in a constructive manner and where key individuals have the skills to intervene effectively. Also a viable community which is more or less representative of wider society with a steady influx of new editors. Increase skills of key individuals in community to deal with/prevent conflicts or inappropriate behaviour
Increase skills of key individuals in community to deal with/prevent conflicts or inappropriate behaviour
provide training to moderators and arbcom members in conflict resolution
develop online resources (exercises) to increase insight/skills in online communication
use Wikimedia Nederland Conference as a venue for further capacity building
Increase and strengthen interpersonal relations within the community to reinforce resilience and problem solving capacity
Create opportunities for Wikipedians to meet in real life: WikiSaturdays, New years reception, WikiCafé’s, WikiMeets and Wikimedia Conferentie Nederland (WCN)
Create opportunities for Wikipedians to meet on social media
Strengthen community spirit and pride by recognizing and celebrating community achievements
Use 15th birthday of NL-Wikipedia to organise positive community events, preferably initiated and organised by the community itself with (logistical/financial) support by WMNL
Increase skills of key individuals in community to deal with/prevent conflicts or inappropriate behaviour
Wikimedia Nederland has made community health a priority and we are experimenting with ways to support the NL-Wikipedia community in maintaining a pleasant and open working atmosphere, which is welcoming to new editors.
After our 2015 survey among editors showed that there was dissatisfaction with the working atmosphere and the level of conflicts on NL-Wikipedia, we started a dialogue with the community on what could be done to remedy this. As we explained in our impact report 2015, it was quite difficult to find editors willing to engage in a discussion and create some sort of momentum in the community. In the end, we decided to start with a training programme to provide moderators, arbcom-members and other Wikipedians with advanced skills in facilitating online communication and preventing or resolving conflicts.
We worked with Alexander Waringa of ECoachpro, a consultancy specialised in online coaching and also involved the community in designing the content of the training. Twelve active members of the community, including moderators and ArbCom-members, learned about different modes of communication and were taught how to 'read between the lines'. By analysing an online message line-by-line, it can become clear what the writer actually is looking for and what kind of response will really help him/her, and avoid conflict. Following the seminar, the participants had the chance to try out these new skills on a rather difficult 'new editor' (in actual fact one of the experts of E-coach pro). Eight participants took part in this process.
The participants shared and evaluated their experience during a final session in June. The participants were positive about the process and what it brought them. Most had been able to apply what they had learned in their work as Wikipedians, but also in other areas of their lives such as interaction with work colleagues. We also asked for suggestions for improvement. These included making available a training module online for editors who are unable or unwilling to attend sessions ‘in real life’, focusing more on interaction between experienced editors rather than on helping a newbie, and training editors to take part in the ‘role play’ phase of the training.
After the summer break, we started on the process of developing an e-learning version of the training. Our first plan was quite ambitious, including the development of an interactive online training module as well as a train-trainers programme. In September we submitted a funding application to a grantmaker focusing on safe and open access to the Internet. The grant we requested ( €55.000) would have covered the costs of development and running the programme for at least 2 years. In November we learned that our application had been turned down. The grant programme prioritises technological innovation, and our application focussed on new ways of applying existing technology.
It is regrettable that we lost momentum in an attempt to obtain external funding but it was worth a try. In cooperation with E-coach pro we have developed a new, slimmed-down approach, focussing entirely on developing the e-learning module. This is currently being developed (with involvement of the community members who took part in the original training) and will become operational by June 2017
Increase and strengthen interpersonal relations within the community to reinforce resilience and problem solving capacity
We continued with our programme of organising opportunities for editors to meet in real life. WMF has indicated in the past that they see no hard evidence that these events help improve community health. However, the feedback we get from the community is that they do feel it really helps to have met someone face to face. Conflicts are avoided, or are less likely to escalate. Apparently, having met someone reintroduces social mores and restraints which can be absent from strictly online interaction. We also see how these events help new, young or insecure Wikipedians find their feet, develop self-confidence and mature into valued members of the community.
Lodewijk, initiator of the WikiSaturdays, cutting the celebratory cake on the 100th WikiSaturday.Wiki-Saturdays - in January, the 100th WikiSaturday took place. This had now become firmly integrated into the Dutch Wikimedia-calendar, with volunteers coming to the office every other Saturday to work together, or just socialize. Over the year, we saw a slight increase in the number of individuals attending WikiSaturdays. This is mainly due to the success of the Gender Gap programme. Every other WikiSaturday, members of the Gender Gap volunteer group are present to welcome (new) ‘women who edit’.
New year's reception: Saturday, January 16, Museum Catharijneconvent hosted Wikimedia Nederland's New Year's reception, attended by 80 wikimedians.
WikiUilen 2015: Wikipedians Romaine and Taketa took the initiative to introduce the ‘Owl’ award scheme to NL Wikipedia. Jan Bart de Vreede hosting the Wiki-Owl award ceremony For some years now, the German Wikipedia-community has been recognising special contributions by awarding ‘Eulen’ (owls, or in Dutch: uilen). Romaine and Taketa felt this was a good way to bring positivity into the NL-Wikipedia community, and acknowledge special achievements. Wikimedia Nederland supported their idea and was happy to incorporate the award ceremony into the New Year's reception. The WikiUilen 2015 were awarded in seven categories: writer, illustrator, editorial, cooperation, newcomer, project and Wikiproject. Active users of the Dutch Wikipedia nominated candidates and voted on the nominations. The initiative was well received by the community, although some editors objected to the idea of awards for editors on principle. It was continued in 2017.
Celebrating 15 years of Wikipedia in the Arnhem Openluchtmuseum15 years NL Wikipedia: On Sunday 19 June, we celebrated the 15th birthday of Dutch Wikipedia. Well in advance, we asked the community to suggest ideas for activities to mark the event. Initially, there was an enthousiastic response, with suggestions for local outreach and social gettogethers. However, none of these suggestions were carried further by the people who suggested them, The main event was a barbecue in the Openluchtmuseum in Arnhem, an open air museum of traditional Dutch buildings and crafts. On Saturday 18 June, 55 Wikipedians came together at the museum for coffee and cake, guided tours, a barbecue and ice-cream. The media were also interested in the birthday, with Dutch Wikipedians featuring in newspapers and on national tv and radio. (See more under Programme Communication)
Wikimedia Conference Nederland. The 9th edition of the annual conference took place on November 19 in Utrecht: 113 people attended, 55 of which came for the first time. Because there was no WikiLovesMonuments award ceremony, the number of participants was lower than in 2015. Visitors could choose from 22 sessions on various subjects ranging from using WikiData in GLAM-partnerships to programmes for very young editors on German Wikipedia. (An overview of presentations can be found here)The programme was developed entirely by volunteer Ziko van Dijk. The media were very interested in the conference, more so than in previous years. This may have to do with the fact that after the media attention for the Erasmus Prize in 2015 and Wikipedia’s 15th birthday earlier in 2016, the press is more aware of the newsworthiness of Wikipedia. The conference venue was Seats2Meet / Meeting Plaza, who have been providing in kind sponsorship for Wikimedia Nederland for several years by not charging us rent for the use of the venue.
Lessons learned/moment to reflect: nine Wikimedia Conferences Nederland....
In the evaluation of the 2016 WCN, participants expressed satisfaction with the conference although some indicated that the WCN formula may be going a bit stale after nine editions. At WMNL we are beginning to get the same idea. We also see that the number of attendants does not really go up, even though our membership has increased. This raises the question whether the time and money invested in organising the WCN in this format is really worth it.
We will use the preparations for the 10th WCN to gather new ideas. Main question will be to reassess what we hope to achieve by organising the conference and who we organise the conference for (the community, our partners, the general public?) A question that already raises itself is whether all target groups can be served in a one-size-fits-all event.
The 2017 conference will also possibly be the last one to be held at Seats2Meet, as the venue will have to be closed due to reconstruction of the building in which they are located. This means that the costs of organising a ‘traditional’ WCN will increase unless we find another host willing to donate the costs of the venue.
Wikimedia history: the Wikimedia Conference Nederland 2007 - 2016
2007: first WCN
2008 - Jan Bart de Vreede discussing growth at WMF: complete at 23 staff members
2010 - first Wiki Loves Monuments Award Ceremony
2012 - Jimmy Wales as keynote speaker
2013: Introducing Hay Kranen, the first Wikipedian in Residence (standing left, next to his 'host' Tim de Haan of the Nationaal Archief)
A majority of the community of editors is aware of the support programme provided by Wikimedia Nederland and does not hesitate to make use of it. The group of editors applying to and making use of the programme has expanded beyond the core group of WMNL volunteers. The grants and reimbursements and other forms of support lead to clear and identifiable contributions to the Wikimedia projects.
provide a small-grants programme, including reimbursement of travel costs
regularly advertise this programme and pro-actively reach out to community members
provide logistical support to activities initiated and coordinated by community members, also continuing the loan/hire of equipment
We know that not all editors are aware of the fact that Wikimedia Nederland can provide them with support. We also know that announcements of activities and events don't reach everyone. Last year's survey showed that a majority of the editing community do not communicate via the Village Pump, do not read newsletters or announcement pages, and are not subscribed to mailing lists. Communication between editors is mainly via talkpages, either their personal talk pages or the talk pages of articles.
This poses a challenge for Wikimedia Nederland: how do we reach our main target group, the editors of NL Wikipedia? We reach out via all the channels open to us, but these are the channels listed above and not effective enough. The only way to reach a majority of editors is via a site notice for logged-in users, or via messages on their talk pages. Both options are not popular with the community and can provoke complaints of spamming and banner-overload.
In the first months of 2016 we worked on a plan to send a one-off message to the 1100 (very) active editors on NL-Wikipedia, to make them aware of the support Wikimedia Nederland can provide and point out how they could keep informed about our activities. Our first plan was to send a message to all editor talkpages but opinions on that were strongly divided. Many editors have the talkpages of other editors on their watchlists, which would suddenly overflow with what could be foreseen as a spam-message from WMNL. We then decided to go for the next best option, which was a message via wiki-mail. One of our volunteers, edoderoo, developed a python-script which allowed us to send a message in bulk to all editors. This was much more acceptable as it would not cause any inconvenience to other editors, but also had some drawbacks: not all editors have enabled wikimail, and wikimail does not allow hyperlinks in the text.
We joined forces with Wikimedia Belgium and sent out a joint message, signed by the two chairmen. They thanked the editors for their work, and pointed out that the two chapters were there to support all Wikipedians. It also listed the various channels editors could monitor if they wanted to keep informed of what WMNL and WMBE were doing.
The message did not lead to any negative reactions. In fact, we got positive responses from editors who appreciated that we had reached out. We also got some responses saying that the friendly tone was a pleasant change from the harsh way in which some editors had been approached by moderators and fellow-wikipedians in the past. However, only a small number of editors (10) subscribed to our newsletter and the number of people following announcement pages also did not increase significantly. So, we have not made huge progress..... This remains a worry as a direct line of communication with the Wikipedia-community is essential for WMNL.
In the last months of 2016 the problem of reaching the editors became more acute. Objections in the editing community against the use of site notices and global notices (‘banners’) is increasing in the NLWP community. The community feels that there are too many banners and find them annoying. Banners are used by the community itself to announce e.g. Arbcom-elections and writing weeks, by WMF to announce global events - and by WMNL .
Dutch Wikimedians in Esino Lario
While the Dutch editing community was restricting the use of site notices, WMF restricted the possibilities of using the global notice.
What this means for Wikimedia Nederland became clear in the run up to the Wikimedia Conference Nederland. The use of a banner announcing the conference draws a lot of traffic to the WMNL webpages with programme details. This year, the WCN banner was visible much less frequently than in previous years and the number of visitors to the website was dramatically lower.
Small grants, supporting volunteers and travel costs
The scholarship programme continues to be popular. We provided scholarships to three volunteers to attend the Wikimedia Hackathon in Jerusalem and to five volunteers for Wikimania in Esino Lario. We also provided two scholarship recipients with the loan of a laptop and a camera respectively. (Overview of media created with equipment from the WMNL technology pool) Several smaller international scholarships were also granted, to attend writing events or Wikimedia conferences in neighbouring countries. At the request of a volunteer we also invested in the purchase of some camera-equipment. We provided practical and logistical support to the Wikipedians organising the writing events on NL-Wikipedia and arranged accreditation and entrance to events for Wiki-photographers. In total, 15 requests for scholarships or small grants were received and awarded.
Making simpleshow videos
One very interesting activity in the small grant programme was a workshop 'simpleshow'. User: Ziko requested a grant to organise a workshop on producing simpleshow explanatory videos. During this workshop, attendees learned the basic skills to write storyboards for animations in the style of simpleshow videos. Focus of the workshop was how to explain complex topics in a short and understandable way, how cut-out animation works and how to write a storyboard. We asked participants to write a storyboard about a Wikimedia related subject. Our plan was, that after the workshop, attendees would refine their storyboard, supported by the simpleshow Foundation team. The videos would then be published on Wikimedia Commons. All participants were very enthusiastic after the workshop, expectations were met and everybody felt that they can use the lessons learned in their (Wikimedia) work. However, no materials were added to Commons. In future, we will make it clearer that participation comes with a string attached. We used simpleshow ourselves to make a video celebrating 15 years of NL Wikipedia.
Capacity building
We started a series of workshops where volunteers share their specialised knowledge and technical skills with other volunteers. We kicked off with a workshop on photography for Wikimedia Commons, followed by a workshop on Pattypan, an easy-to-use tool for processing image donations (more about Patty Pan later), and a workshop on Wikidata. The workshops are also broadcast live for people who can not attend, and can be viewed afterwards via the Wikimedia Nederland Youtube channel. The reactions from participants are positive and we will continue to organize such workshops next year. (Copyrights and ‘how to give a good presentation’ being next on the list) We will also repeat workshops that were very popular to give people a second chance to attend.
One of our volunteers who is involved in editor training took part in a ‘Train-trainers’ course organised by Wikimedia UK. She was very positive about the event. Together with WMUK we are exploring whether it is possible to repeat this Train-trainers course in 2017, specifically for non-native speakers of English. WMUK has invested in developing a good train-trainers programme. We think it is more efficient to make use of their experience than to develop our own programme from scratch. The fact that many Dutch Wikipedians speak good English helps. The aim is that those that attend the course, later share their newly acquired knowledge and skills with others.
Lessons learned/moment to reflect: community support.
Supporting the community is less straightforward than it sounds. On paper, providing small grants sounds like a brilliant idea that should be very popular with editors: an organisation providing you with funds to do something you are passionate about (i.e. editing WIkipedia). What could be better?
Five years of experience has shown us that the market for such support among Dutch editors is actually very limited. We know that a majority of the editors has paid employment and is highly educated. They are able to take care of their own needs .
Travel support is a different matter: international travel is expensive and there editors do know where to find us.
At WMNL we have decided that the fact that there are very few applications for small grants is not a failure.
By 2018, the decline in editors on NL Wikipedia is stopped, and preferably reversed. At least 35% of editors are women. There is a steady influx of new editors who are still active after six months.
Create an atmosphere on NL Wikipedia that is welcoming to new editors
Increase awareness among groups with - potentially - high affinity with free knowledge that Wikipedia can be edited by anyone and create opportunities for them to get acquainted
Provide new editors with a context that will facilitate their ‘induction’: links to other editors with the same interests, create concrete opportunities to make a valuable contribution e.g. by working with newly donated content
Create ‘safe’ opportunities for women to become acquainted with Wikipedia and develop editing skills
Editing about 19th century female writers at Utrecht University
Driving force in the gender gap programme is a group of highly motivated and creative women editors who throughout the year developed a diverse and interesting programme of activities to encourage women to start editing , and editors to write about women. The group works closely with and is supported by Wikimedia Nederland. Also successful is the Gender gap group on Facebook, which provides a friendly space where participants feel free to ask questions about editing Wikipedia. (There is no TeaHouse on NL Wikipedia) The group now has 60 members.
Working their way down the lists
At the beginning of 2016 the Gender Gap working group celebrated the 150th article added to NLWP from the list of 'missing articles'. That was a good start to the year. On June 26, a new milestone was reached: the 500th article was written. This sharing of results seems to be very motivating for the editors and the group tries to thank every editor that adds a new article. By the end of the year the 750th article mark was in sight. (At the time of writing this report the 1000nd article has already been written). In late November the # 100Wikiwomen challenge started, where established and new editors, male and female, joined forces to ensure that for 100 days in a row a new article about a woman or a topic related to women was written every day. (The challenge was successfully completed just before International Womens’ Day 2017).
Writing events and gettogethers
Gendergap WikiSaturday at the WMNL office
An important highlight were the activities organised on 5 & 6 March around International Womens Day. Wikipedians worked together during the weekend of March 5 and 6 to make Wikipedia and sister projects more 'feminine'. The gender gap group provided participants with inspiration; they were able to choose a subject from a long list of desired articles. During the weekend, Wikipedians were available online and offline to answer questions. The event was successful. Over eighty new ‘female’ articles were written during the weekend and twelve articles were improved. Volunteers created a gallery of "portraits of women" on Wikimedia Commons using Wikidata. Nationaal Archief (National Archives) donated 18 new pictures of International Women’s Day. Because of the banner published on Dutch Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata advertising the event, a lot of Wikimedians were inspired to participate. They did not stop writing after the weekend.
There were writing events at the Universities of Utrecht, Groningen and Amsterdam, as well as a writing session at the Royal Academy of Sciences. All of these focussed on women academics and provided synergy with the education programme. The Gender Gap issue is proving to be an attractive way for new partners to establish a partnership with Wikimedia. The challenge will be to maintain the partnerships beyond the original events.
Partnerships
Workshop at Atria
The partnership with Atria (Institute on gender equality and women's history) became more solid and Atria has now incorporated working with Wikipedia in its work plan. On April 20th we were invited by Atria and Huygens ING - the research institute on history to give a Wikipedia introduction. 22 participants learned more about Wikipedia and the possibility to contribute to Wikipedia. In the afternoon WMNL board member Marike van Roon gave a talk about how Wikipedia supports GLAM's and she was part of the discussion panel at the end. At the request of Atria we also supported a double writing week about LGTB issues in July, including a writing event in the Atria library. This resulted in 55 new articles. In 2017, Atria started with a programme of monthly WikiFridays: every third Friday of the month the Atria-library is open for editors. These are proving to be very popular. In September, together with Atria we applied for a grant to develop activities in support of the 100th anniversary of voting rights for women. Unfortunately, the application was turned down.
The Gender Gap programme is also getting more attention from womens’ organisations. We gave presentations for the Green Party and the National Women’s Council, both of whom are now actively promoting activities among their constituencies.
Lessons learned/moment to reflect: the success of the Wikimedia Nederland Gender Gap project.
The Gender Gap project is one of the big success stories of Wikimedia Nederland. What makes it so successful?
Looking back, we think it is a combination of the following elements:
A group of knowledgeable volunteers with a wide mix of expertise and talents, ranging from very technical Wikidata skills to being able to give an inspiring presentation to potential new editors. And all inspired by the wish to bridge the gender gap
A structure of social support - in real life and online - which keeps the group motivated and helps new volunteers to find their feet. Off-wiki meeting places provide shelter from too harsh comments
A varied programme of activities. This consists of online activities which allow people with varying interest and levels of experience to contribute, and in real life (writing) events in different parts of the country.
A list with clear suggestions of ways to contribute by writing, fact checking, adding images etc..
Connected to the Gender Gap group is the Textile project, which aims to improve coverage on topics related to textile on Wikipedia.This topic which interests many women is sadly underrepresented at the moment. We organised an Edit-a-thon in TextielMuseum Tilburg. Nine participants gathered in Textielmuseum Tilburg and followed a workshop about how to edit Wikipedia. The museum offered access to books with examples of fabrics, weaving and embroidery. In the week after the workshop the first articles appeared online. However, in the second half of the year no activities were developed. We think the narrow and specialised focus may be a problem.
Universities and colleges are aware of the possibilities to integrate Wikipedia in their curriculum. They have access to tools and materials which makes it easier for them to develop progammes. Students are routinely exposed to contributing to Wikipedia as part of their education. The contributions made by students within the framework of the education programme are welcomed by the community. Wikimedia Nederland has the resources (staff and finances) to support an education programme over a longer period. As a result there is a steady stream of good quality contributions to the Wikimedia projects made by students.
draw attention to/lobby for potential of Wikipedia-work in the curriculum via publications and presentations
raise funds to develop and maintain longer running education programme
develop and make available full set of programme materials and tools, including own materials as well as materials translated from education programmes run by other chapters/WMF
continue existing partnerships with ITV college for translators, Utrecht and Maastricht Universities.
develop at least two new partnerships; building on the positive experiences with providing the community with access to translators. This should also include a college providing training in professional skills such as photography, multimedia design or music
WMNL Board member professor Bart Nieuwenhuis talking about the education programme at the Wikimedia Nederland ConferenceThe University of Maastricht continued with their On Expedition class in mid-March, during which students worked on Wikipedia articles. This is actually the third year in a row that the university is organising this class, and the staff is very enthusiastic. As in previous years, the class focuses on expeditions by historical travellers and scholars. Nine students participated in this course.
The cooperation with the ITV Hogeschool voor Tolken en Vertalers (College for translators and interpreters) entered its second year. The pilot activities of 2015 were evaluated and it was decided to continue on a larger scale - in 2015 the school selected 2 trainees to work on Wikipedia-related projects but for 2016 there was a general call for students to translate articles for the Dutch Wikipedia. As a result, 40 articles were translated from the French, Italian, Russian, German and Spanish Wikipedia. A major change compared to the 2015 trial was that we very clearly limited the involvement of the students to translating text. Wikifying the translation, and making it ready for publication on NL WIkipedia is now the responsibility of the editor. The wikification was very time-consuming for the students and did not contribute to the goals of their traineeship, which is set in amount of text translated. The community likes this project, with some editors taking charge of wikification.Editing about expeditions at Maastricht University
Utrecht University also decided to continue its Wikipedia-programme, which for a while was uncertain due to staff changes. The University held their "Public history" minor, in the first semester of the 2016-17 year. It focussed on a number of important female scientists of University Utrecht, which allowed us to create synergy between the education and gender gap programmes.
We established contact with the University of Leiden, where a teacher has already been including Wikipedia-editing in his classes for a number of years. Students edit German Wikipedia. We organised a meeting with staff from various universities involved in Wikipedia-work to share experiences and exchange ideas.
We has a first meeting with Tilburg University about the possibility to develop a Wikipedia-focused 'law clinic'. During a law clinic, students from the Faculty of Law apply their knowledge and skills in a 'real life' context. We would like the students to assess quality of Wikipedia-articles related to law. Although the University was enthousiastic, it is taking a long time for the idea to materialise.
Wikimedia Nederland held a presentation during a workshop on Wikipedia for employees of the university library of the University of Amsterdam and the Hogeschool van Amsterdam. Some 30 people were present and discussions ranged on the possibilities of Wikipedia for education and the role of the library - ranging from potential content uploads to a teach the teacher program where a course is developed that focuses on teaching lecturers how to incorporate Wikipedia into their classes. However, this has not yet lead to concrete plans.
We started a pilot project with the Graphic Lyceum of Utrecht, a vocational college training graphic designers. Early 2017, students will get the chance to create illustrations for use in Wikipedia articles.
We developed a brochure on how the education sector can best cooperate with Wikipedia. It will be printed early 2017.
Perspective: as or March 2017, we are involved in active education programmes at the Universities of Maastricht, Utrecht en Leiden. We have organised activities with the Universities of Amsterdam and Groningen. We are discussing cooperation with the universities of Tilburg, Nijmegen and the Free University of Amsterdam. This means that we are 'involved' with eight of the fourteen Dutch universities
Lessons learned/moment to reflect: scaling education.
We are finding it difficult to ‘scale’ the education programme. It is rewarding that all the universities we have been working with in the past all decided to continue their programmes. We are also seeing that these programmes are becoming more self-supporting: Utrecht and Maastricht University know the drill and there is a group of volunteers to provide assistance during the working sessions. However, we don’t see other lecturers from these universities copying the programmes.
On the other hand, we are also having a hard time mobilising the time and resources within WMNL needed to successfully lift the education programme to the next level. This would require a dedicated staff person, and extra funding. Board and staff of WMNL throughout 2016 looked for potential funding sources to secure this, but sofar we have been unsuccessful.
The experiences with the college of translators and the initial contact with the Graphic Lyceum show that there is potential for focussing on students applying more practical skills for WIkipedia, rather than academic skills.
the Wikipedian in Residence programme continues to lay the foundation for longer running partnerships with GLAM institutions, GLAM-Wiki coordinators are appointed at more major GLAMs after residencies have ended. Contributing to Wikimedia projects becomes common practice in the GLAM community, also involving smaller GLAMs with specialised collections. The community welcomes editing by staff of GLAM partners, leading to a more substantial improvement of content on Wikipedia. A wider group of people has the necessary skills to process content donations, mass uploads etc. There is a successful and productive cooperation with public libraries
Host a GLAM-Wiki group, consisting of Wikipedians in Residence and GLAM-Wiki coordinators. Support and facilitate exchange of experiences and joint activities
Facilitate involvement of small GLAMs by providing a GLAM-Wiki toolkit and generating funding for a ‘small GLAM’ Wikipedian in Residence
Encourage new Residencies at major GLAM institutions
Carry out pilot activities with at least two public libraries and make decision about feasibility of a longer running public library programme
Organise capacity building events for aspiring Wikipedians in Residence and GLAM-Wiki coordinators
Use the ‘textile project’ developed by several of our GLAM partners and volunteers with a clear aim to improve content on Wikipedia related to textiles as a test case for promoting interaction between GLAM partners and the Wikipedia community.
Early in the year, we visited all of our GLAM-partners to evaluate prior projects and discuss future plans. The GLAM partners are Tropenmuseum (now part of Nationaal Museum voor Wereldculturen), Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Nationaal Archief, NIOD, Museum Catharijneconvent, Rijksmuseum, and Beeld & Geluid. Overall, the partners were positive about their cooperation with Wikipedia/Wikimedia Nederland and will continue. They were enthousiastic about the new thematic priority Nederland and the World (described later), as most of them hold content on that topic and they appreciate a focus for cooperation.
The GLAM-Wiki coordinators at various institutes met on 23 February to discuss common issues, keep each other posted on developments and make an inventory of how WMNL can help coordinators and how the community can be involved. Some of the issues raised were that the partners sometimes find it difficult to communicate with the Wikipedia-community and that it would be helpful if there were more volunteers willing and able to assist e.g. in content uploads. This lead to the development of the Patty Pan training mentioned below.
In December we organised a Patty Pan training for staff of GLAMs. This was fully booked - we will repeat the course in 2017.
The Wikimedia Nederland volunteers who are active in GLAM - cooperation came together for a working dinner on May 20. Between courses, there were two minute slots to present projects and results. This was the first time all the GLAM volunteers came together - everyone enjoyed the evening and the foundations for new activities and projects were put down.
Public libraries
Photograph made and uploaded during photo-hunt at Amsterdam public library
For over a year we have been exploring ways to cooperate with public libraries. Although there was enthusiasm on all sides, for a long time it was difficult to make concrete progress. Things are now moving: we have a dedicated project coordinator at WMNL (Arne Wossink) and our long-term partner the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library) is now also responsible for public libraries.
We decided on a pilot activity with the public libraries in Amsterdam, Arnhem, Amersfoort and Oosterhout. This is an interesting mix of locations, from the cosmopolitan (Amsterdam) to the rural (Oosterhout). In April, these libraries organised local photo hunts. Each day started with a short introduction in Wikipedia and photography, followed by the actual photo hunt where participants were asked to take photos of local heritage, either monuments or objects). Participation was good, as was the upload rate to Commons.
Due to the outreach activities by the National Library, other libraries have expressed an interest as well. For example, there now is an active Wikipedia group in the public library of Hengelo, focussing on regional culture and history. One of Wikimedia Nederland’s active volunteers is acting as trainer and mentor. We think this formula can be copied to other libraries.
1Lib1Ref
As part of the celebrations of 15 years Wikipedia, the international action 1Lib1Ref was also held in the Netherlands. On the Dutch WP the hashtag #1Lib1Ref seems to have been used 8 times by 7 different users. The real number is probably slightly higher because the #-sign was left out in the edit summary One complicating factor is that citing references is not mandatory on Nl-Wikipedia. There is a long-running debate on whether it is even acceptable to add references ex-post, when it is not certain that the works cited are the works that were used in writing the article. (Update: when 1Lib1Ref was repeated in 2017 the results were similar - and again there was debate about adding references that may have not been used for the article.)
Wikipedians in Residence
Last year, we succeeded in raising € 34,000 for a Wikipedian in Residence to work on species information. In this application we cooperated with the Vlinderstichting (Butterfly Foundation), who will host the Wikipedian in Residence. More information can be found under Project Nature.
Together with a number of smaller GLAMs from the Province of Gelderland we raised funds for another Wikipedian in Residence. The WiR started work in January 2017. The project is promising to be very successful and we are exploring whether we can duplicate it in other regions.
We supported the Dutch national committee of UNESCO to develop a Wikipedian-in-Residence programme focussing on the Dutch entries to the Memory of the World Register, and put them in contact with the Wikipedian in Residence currently working at UNESCO-headquarters in Paris. The WiR will start May 2017. We are especially excited about this opportunity, as some of the Dutch documents on the MoW register are of relevance to our Netherlands and the World programme, e.g. the Archives of the East India Company, the (slave-trading) Middelburgsche Commercie Compagnie, and the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam.
Lessons learned/moment to reflect: Should a Wikipedian in Residence really be a Wikipedian
As we have mentioned in previous reports, there are not that many people around who have the Wikimedia-skills, the professional skils and the social skills required to be a good Wikipedian in Residence - and are available to take up a temporary, sometimes part time job. In the case of the Wikipedian in Residence on species information the choice was made to hire someone who has extensive knowledge of species data and a good network of contacts in that field. He had however, no Wikipedia-experience.
Although this formula could be successful in theory, so far experiences are not entirely positive. It is proving difficult for a newcomer to rapidly acquire the skills needed, and more importantly, to accept that the culture and structure of the Wikimedia-movement are what they are, and cannot be changed easily. We would hesitate to repeat this in the future.
Image donated by Museum Catharijneconvent
Content donations and upload tools
Throughout the year, WMNL partners donated images and sound files to Wikimedia Commons. The total amount is lower than in previous years. We did not pursue massive donations of files of which most would not be used and also the output of the WIkipedian in Residence Programma on species information is lagging behind somewhat.
To put things in perspective: by April 2017 we have already exceeded 20,000 donated images.
Lessons learned/moment to reflect: Patty Pan - how a new tool can act as a katalyst
An image donation by Museum Catharijneconvent has also served as an important test-case for the new batch-upload tool Pattypan. This tool was built to allow batch-uploads of offline images with metadata supplied through a spreadsheet and was specifically designed to be simpler in use than the GWT. The MCC image donation revealed an important error in the upload tool, and the developer was able to address it promptly. As a result of this upload, it is expected that Pattypan will also play an important role in future uploads by Dutch GLAMs and WiRs.
One of the obstacles we encounter in adding content to the Wikimedia projects, is that not many editors have the skills to process uploads. After asking around, we discovered that there was demand for a training session to develop such skills. On 26 May, WMNL organised a workshop on the new batch-upload tool Pattypan at the WMNL office. The workshop was given by WMNL project coordinator Arne Wossink. The workshop consisted of a walk-through of the tool workflow, discussion of pros, cons and known bugs (which have since been addressed), and some participants uploaded some images during the evening. The workshop was attended by 4 editors, and 2 editors joined the live stream in Google Hangout. The powerpoint is available on Commons; the live stream can be viewed here.
We repeated the course in December for staff of GLAM partners, and will offer it in 2017 to the small GLAMs involved in the Gelderland WiR-project.
photos of historical buildings and heritage in French Antilles, French Guyana, Ghana, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Dutch Antilles, Sri Lanka, Suriname, South Africa
Historic images of Leiden, donated by Erfgoed Leiden
Jansje Schuringa, one of the first dentists in the Netherlands, Image donated by Utrecht University
Historic Bookbindings - image donated by Koninklijke Bibliotheek
Writer Janne IJmker - image donated by public library Zwaterwaterland
Meeting of women of the Dutch Labour Party. Donated by Nationaal Archief
Hand grenade - image donated by National Liberation Museum
Verzetskranten (Resistance Newspapers)
The main goal of the project Verzetskranten is describing and linking all 1300 Dutch resistance newspapers during World War II that have been published. Koninklijke Bibliotheek, NIOD Instituut voor Oorlogs-, Holocaust- en Genocidestudies and the Wikipedia community work together to reach this goal. The 1300 resistance newspapers have been published in a book from 1954, the standard on Dutch resistance newspapers. This book from Lydia Winkel has been donated in the public domain by NIOD. This publication is combined with Delpher, a project from the Koninklijke Bibliotheek that gives the possibility to search among other things 1.3 digitized million newspapers. This has resulted in a worklist with stubs for each resistance newspaper. Wikipedians writing in Dutch have been asked to improve, complement and enlarge the articles. Also to link each newspaper to members of the resistance, printing offices and publishers that were involved with making the resistance newspapers. So far, 73 new articles have been created and 23 articles have been improved.
Wikipedia-plugin for Adlib to facilitate uploads
During meetings with GLAM partners it was suggested that it would be useful for museums if the popular Collections Management System Adlib had a plugin that allows immediate export of metadata to a format that is supported by Wikimedia platforms, or even to immediately upload media files to Commons or other platforms. If successful, this addition to Adlib could make contributing to the Wikimedia projects much easier for Dutch GLAMs. We are working with expert Wikimedian Multichill to bring this about. WMNL has contacted Adlib's publisher Axiell and they have shown interest in investigating that possibility. However, they fell silent by the end of the year. We are not giving up and hope to revitalise the project in 2017.
And also
Edit-a-thon Tresoar Attic Nights (Noctes Atticae)
Minister Bussemaker of Education, Culture and Sciences opening the Cultural heritage writing week
On April the 14th there was a edit-a-thon in Tresoar, the archive of the region Friesland. The theme was the work Attic Nights by Aulus Gellius. Tresoar has the oldest manuscript (approx. 836) of the Attic Nights. This manuscript will shortly be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. There were 4 participants (including 2 new volunteers), 8 people in total involved and eleven attendees with the reading.
Double writing week on cultural heritage and EU-presidency conference
After successful writing events about different countries, the NL-Wikipedia community organised a double writing week with as theme 'cultural heritage'. This coincided with the Conference Digitalisation Cultural Heritage, organised by the Netherlands' Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in the framework of the Dutch EU-presidency. Minister Jet Bussemaker of Education, Culture and Science opened the writing event by posting an article about one of her favourite paintings.
Summerschool
As part of the University of Amsterdam Summer School, we participated in organising an editor training and a writing event. The topic was 17th century Amsterdam printers and publishers. The coordinator of the event was WMNL board member Marike van Roon, also head-curator of the University Library Special Collections. She created a Facebook group for participants and asked them to prepare the text of the article they wanted to create before coming to the Summer School. This ensured that during the writing event, the participants could focus entirely on Wikification. Twelve new articles were created.
quarterly meetings of the GLAM-Wiki group, involving Wikipedians and Residence and GLAM-Wiki coordinators
group meeting and individual meetings with all GLAM partners
training for GlamWIki group on Patty Pan
2 new Wikipedians in Residence start work
1
1 started
1 WiR active by 31/12, 1 hired, 1 vacancy
By May 1, 2017 there will be three WiRs active
at least two external grantmaking organisations make available funds for GLAM-Wiki work
na
2 grantmakers contribute to Gelderland projects, proposal submitted to two more organisations
5 grantmakers contributing to WiR projects, or have pledged to do so
grants are always to the host organisation, never to WMNL
at least 20 smaller GLAMs become involved in activities
dependent on funding for Gelderland project
7 smaller Glams active via Gelderland - project. 5 more committed via UNESCO
The formula of one WiR for several smaller GLAMs looks to be attractive. We are working with Erfgoed Brabant to copy the Gelderland model.
at least 15 content donations by partners
8
5 content donations
8 donations
donations for programmes gender gap, nature, netherlands and the world are listed under those programmes. In total, there were 16 donations
1000 articles improved over various Wikipedias
500
127
245
even though we are going the extra mile to advertise content donations, uptake sofar is limited. We will be tracking this all through 2017 to see if anything changes
at least 100 articles on textile added or improved by GLAM partners without serious objections from the community
na
15 articles added
25
There is a steady trickle of new articles, but the topic may be too specialised for it to become 'really big'. Still, every article is a valuable contribution to a topic that is not well covered on NLWP (especially when compared to FRWP)
Programme 6: Thematic priorities: ‘nature’ and ‘Netherlands and the world’
Two topics functioning as a focal point for activities of GLAM and education partners, volunteers and editors, leading to substantial increase in content on Wikimedia projects. Ultimately this results in self-sustaining processes of content donation and content processing requiring only minimal support from WMNL.
work together with other Wikimedia chapters to identify how GLAM and education partners in the Netherlands can best contribute to content donations
work with partners to realise content donations
work with the editing community to encourage incorporation of content donations into Wikimedia projects
provide training to staff of partners institutes and volunteers working around themes nature and Netherlands and the world
organise online and offline activities around themes nature and Netherlands and the world
Over the centuries the Netherlands has developed close ties with many countries through trade and colonialism. As a result, museums and archives in the Netherlands hold colletions with materials which is relevant for people in countries like Indonesia, Surinam, Brazil, Ghana, Japan, China, South Africa...... With the project “The Netherlands and the world” Wikimedia Nederland wants to increase free access to these collections. And we want to stimulate active participation of GLAM partners and the Wikimedia community, both in the Netherlands and in other countries. We want to develop partnerships and activities, with Wikipedians and Wikimedians worldwide, and with knowledge and heritage institutions that want to share and connect relevant collections.
In April the project was introduced to the Dutch Wikipedia community. We used the Berlin Wikimedia conference and Wikimania to reach out to Wikimedians from all over the world, especially affiliates in countries with a historic connection to the Netherlands. So far, WM Indonesia and WM South Africa already have expressed interest in cooperating. On the Dutch side of things, almost all of our GLAM partners hold relevant information and are keen to cooperate. With Wikimedia Indonesia we will work on bringing more information about education pioneer Ki Hadjar Dewantara into the public domain. Some of his early writings are in Dutch and not very well accessible to Indonesians. Also, some of WMNL GLAM partners like the National Archive and the National Library have relevant information on his life and work. The start of this project was postponed because of procedural issues in Wikimedia Indonesia to 2017.
Shared Heritage Exchange Platform
Soldiers playing cards in Guinea-Bissau. Image from the Coutinho collection
That the project also has appeal outside the Wikimedia community became clear when early in July we received a grant of €16.000 from the expertise centre for Digital heritage. We were one of four successful applicants out of a total of 70. Aim of the application was the development of a Shared Heritage Exchange platform, where Dutch GLAM partners can ‘advertise’ collections of interest to Wikipedians in countries with which the Netherlands has historic ties, and Wikipedians post specific requests for materials. We worked with our web-builders from October to December to design the platform. It was launched in March 2017, and is already being used.
Donation by the National Museum of World Cultures
The National Museum of World Cultures (a merger of the former Tropenmuseum, the Museum Volkenkunde and the Afrika Museum) donated a collection of 720 images to Wikimedia Commons. This donation consists of photos of objects from the museum's collection, and of photos taken during Dutch scientific and military expeditions in Suriname and the Dutch East Indies.
Donation by the KITLV
Men dancing in Papua New Guinea, Donated bu the Museum of World Cultures
The Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies and Leiden University Library donated 3114 images to Wikimedia Commons as a follow-up to an earlier donation containing 2400+ images. The new donation contains photos, lithos, drawings, watercolours showing people, landscapes, plantations, plants and butterflies from countries such as Suriname, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan and Singapore. The upload was carried out by Hans Muller.
Content donation Afrika Studiecentrum
The African Studies Center, Leiden University, donated 756 images made by Roel Coutinho, a Dutch MD working in Guinea-Bissau and Senegal between 1973 and 1974. The images show aspects of daily life such as food preparation, festivities and school and hospital buildings, among other things. The metadata (including Portuguese captions) were prepared by Michele Portatadino, the upload was done by Hans Muller using the GWToolset.
In the coming months we will use these donations as a test case to see if donated images will be used more after we spread the word on mailing lists and relevant talk pages of Wikipedia-projects.
Temminck Groll collections
House of the director of a Surinam plantation. Image from the Temminck Groll collection
The Cultural Heritage Servince donated photos of historical buildings and heritage in French Antilles, French Guyana, Ghana, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Dutch Antilles, Sri Lanka, Suriname, South Africa. The photographs were made by the architect Temminck Groll.
Lessons learned/moment to reflect: learning to look beyond Nederland
We feel that with Nederland and the World we have a viable idea that can provide real results for the Wikimedia movement worldwide. Like all activities we have developed, it will take at least a year (and a lot of pushing and shoving by WMNL) for it to gain momentum. We are pretty confident that it will develop into a success.
We are finding that as a project, it is quite different from anything we have done before. There is no focus on the NL Wikipedia or even on the Netherlands’ editing community per se. We are reaching out to sister chapters in Asia and Africa, and have to find our way among mailing lists and village pumps that are unfamiliar.
And we are noticing that there is a trend for the project to drift back to ‘Dutch colonial heritage ’ rather than the much wider focus of ‘material in Dutch collections of relevance to other parts of the world’. This applies to sister chapters as well as to WMNL-staff.
The project continued this year to further improve information about nature on Wikimedia projects and the enthusiasm of new processors. The volunteers made the video series "Wikipedia? Just do it!'. These short videos explain novice editors how to contribute to Wikipedia.
Image donated by museum Ecomare
Together with The Green House in Amersfoort the project group develop local 'QR-pedia'. In the educational garden they placed signs with QR codes. Whoever scans the code with a smartphone comes from the Wikipedia article on the particular plant. An evaluation of results showed an increase of page views of articles related to plants in the garden, but further evaluation is needed to determine whether this can be attributed to the QR-codes or whether it is seasonal.
In collaboration with Institute for Sound and Vision and the Stichting Natuurbeelden (Foundation for Nature images), the project group organized an editathon on the theme Wikipedia 'animal kingdom'. Audio and video files were made available on Wikimedia Commons.
Wikipedian in Residence
Wikimedia Nederland cooperated successfully with Soorten.nl. the federation of NGO's in the Netherlands involved in gathering data about wildlife, to obtain funding for a Wikipedian in Residence. See above for more information.
Iconographia Zoologica
Amsterdam University is planning a major content donation: the iconographia zoologica, a collection of 20,000 19th century images of animal species. The University is keen to use this experience to gain skills in processing content uploads. Wikimedia Nederland is assisting them in this and has asked our long standing partner the National Library to provide support and advice. (The images were uploaded in February 2017.)
Ecomare, a museum of marine biology donated 382 images of marine wildlife
Commons already has images of this grasshopper - thanks to a media donation it now also has its sound. All the audio files donated have been linked to relevant Wikipedia articles.The KNNV (Royal Natural History Society) donated recordings of the sounds made by grasshoppers and crickets. They were uploaded and are now linked to the relevant articles.
Cooperation with botanic gardensImage donated by Leiden Hortus Botanicus
WMNL director Sandra Rientjes and project nature volunteer Dick Bos gave presentations at the annual meeting of Dutch Botanic Gardens. Also present were representatives of the Norwegian botanic garden and with the help of WMNO we provided some information in Norwegian. To make the event even more international, one of the projects presented was a WMAT project with the Botanic Garden in Graz. It is also a good example of how sharing information among chapters and having good personal contacts among chapter staff world wide is so useful.
The Dutch Botanic Gardens were suitably impressed.(The Norwegian gardens are also considering cooperation with WMNO). WMNL started cooperating with them in October.The first activity was a donation by the Hortus Leiden to Wikimedia Commons.It's about 75 illustrations drawn by Abraham Jacobus Wendel for the reference work Flora by H. White (1868). Editor training and photo hunts with the Botanic Gardens were originally planned for autums 2016, but were postponed until 2017 at their request.
Lessons learned/moment to reflect: project Nature
Project Nature is now entering its 4th year and the group continues to develop a full programme of activities. In 2016, they started developing a new workplan and also reflected on how things were going so far. One thing that came to light during discussion was that the project group, which has many members who are also active in Wiki Loves Monuments, had automatically applied the WLM model on project nature. That means that every member of the group works towards one objective - and there is also only one activity ‘in preparation’ at any given time. This was beginning to cause some frustration and long discussions about which activity should be put on the agenda. In fact, project nature allows for more diversity in involvement. Single volunteers can individually develop an activity that really interests them, while smaller sub groups work on specialised projects at the same time. This way of working will be tried out in 2017.
It also became clear that content donations are very effective drivers for activities. It is a pity that the Wikipedian in Residence project still has to pick up speed.
Of some concern is that the group is still very reliant on support by WMNL staff to keep the ball rolling.
There is sufficient level of insight in the quality of the Dutch language Wikipedia to provide a framework for targeted action by the editing community and WMNL
in consultation with community set up working group to develop research question
reach out to universities, in particular existing partners in education programme, to sound out whether there is interest and expertise to carry out such research
(support) application for funding
We did not find any opportunities for funding and were unable to give the topic much time due to limited staff resources and low involvement of volunteers. . However, we started a dialogue with WMF to explore possibilities of research concerning NLWP to be carried out in 2017.
Lessons learned/moment to reflect: fundraising
Wikimedia Nederland is making every effort to raise funds outside the Wikimedia Movement.
In 2016 we submitted three funding applications, one of which was successful. We have also started working with Van Dooren Advies, a consultancy specialised in fundraising for the non-profit sector. Together with them, we reviewed our funding needs, and potential funding sources. For VDA, Wikimedia Nederland is unlike most organisations they work with. We are connected to a ‘product’ (Wikipedia) that is well known and loved. However, we have no influence on the content of Wikipedia and donors will get no recognition for their support in the form of a logo on articles they helped create.
After several sessions with VDA, we decided to focus on approaching companies that work internationally, in a sector where knowledge is crucial and which is somehow ‘very Dutch’. In 2017 we will make a first approach to companies working in water management and flood protection. The focus will be on knowledge contributions as much as on financial support.
As everyone knows, fundraising takes a lot of time and effort - especially from senior staff. The return on investment can be limited. We are also finding that in order to make a proposal interesting to a grantmaker or donor, we have to ‘tweek’ our annual plan. It is very rare to have a perfect match between the activities we want to carry out, and the activities a donor wants to fund.
To put this in perspective: in March 2017 Wikimedia Nederland received a donation of €100,000 from a private grantmaker.
measurable results in 2016
university department willing to carry our research
The general public and crucial stakeholders have an understanding of Wikipedia that allows them to become engaged with the project in an appropriate and constructive manner if they choose. Crucial stakeholders (e.g. institutions in the GLAM and education sector) are aware of Wikimedia Nederland and have an understanding of the role of the organisation.
Further develop strategic use of social media to reach out to key stakeholders, responding to direct question and contributing to discussions relevant to the Wikimedia projects
Attend important events (annual meetings, conferences, seminars) where key stakeholders will be present to disseminate information
Respond to questions from the media about Wikipedia and the Wikimedia movement, reach out to the media when/where relevant
Regularly produce the newsletter announcing and reporting on WMNL events and activities
Activities
Media attention
The celebration of the 15th birthday of EN-WP (in January) and NL-WP (in June) led to a lot of favourable media attention. In both cases, this surprised us. In January we did not expect much interest from the media because it was only 6 weeks after the massive media coverage of the Erasmusprize Ceremony. But our press-release was picked up and radio, television and newspapers covered the event. In June, again we thought there would not be much attention and once again our press release was picked up. WMNL is the first port of call for journalists in these cases, but we try to involve 'real' Wikipedians as much as possible. This is appreciated by the media as well as by the community. An overview of media-attention can be found here Also interesting: Wikipedia's birthday became the 'topic of the week' in a teaching programme used to teach reading skills and media-literacy at primary + secondary schools throughout the Netherlands. Pupils read and discuss texts about a topic currently in the news. These topics are suggested by pupils.In this case, the texts were about how wikipedia is made, it's history and questions such as reliability and neutrality
The Wikimedia Conference Nederland 2017 again drew media attention..
EU Presidency conference on Digital Heritage
The Netherlands had the presidency of the European Union from January to July. The very last event organised within the framework of this presidency was an international conference on digital heritage. WMNL Board Member Dr Marike van Roon gave a presentation about cooperating with the Wikimedia movement. 'In real life' she is head-curator of the special collections of Amsterdam University Library, which gives her a unique perspective on cooperation between the Wikimedia movement and GLAMs. Before the start of the conference minister Bussemaker of Education, Culture and Sciences opened a Wikipedia writing-event on cultural heritage (see Programme 5 - GLAM).
Newsletter and social media
We published 10 newsletters
71 new subscribers to the newsletter (+5%)
249 new followers on Twitter (+12%)
67 new followers on Facebook (+19%)
11 new followers on WLM Facebook (+9%)
17 new followers on Project Nature facebook (+11%)
19 new followers on YouTube. (+211%)
The number of unique visitors on the website dropped with 75% compared to 2015 (from 179099 to e 42.832). This is largely a result of reduced exposure via banners and site notices, especially when announcing the Wikimedia Nederland Conference.
Please use the exchange rate in your APG proposal.
Table 2Please report all spending in the currency of your grant unless US$ is requested.
Please also include any in-kind contributions or resources that you have received in this revenues table. This might include donated office space, services, prizes, food, etc. If you are to provide a monetary equivalent (e.g. $500 for food from Organization X for service Y), please include it in this table. Otherwise, please highlight the contribution, as well as the name of the partner, in the notes section.
Revenue source
Currency
Anticipated
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Cumulative
Anticipated ($US)*
Cumulative ($US)*
Explanation of variances from plan
donations
Euro
4,500
4,846
4,000
3,948
10,987
23,781
5,045
26,656
We sent out a letter to former donors in Q4. Also, there was a lot of media attention.
contributions
Euro
4,500
3,386
941
73
40
4,440
5,045
4,977
k
Project funding
Euro
71,000
0
0
11,200
1,418
12,618
79,591
14,144
We received a €16,000 grant which is partly considered revenue for 2016. Two other grant applications were unsuccessful
WMF Grant
Euro
340,000
198,333
0
141,667
-
340,000
381,140
381,140
'total revenue
Euro
420,000
206,565
4,941
156,888
12,445
380,839
470,820
426,882
k
* Provide estimates in US Dollars
In 2016 WMNL received €315 in interest.
Spending during this period (6 month for progress report, 12 months for impact report)
Please use the exchange rate in your APG proposal.
Table 3Please report all spending in the currency of your grant unless US$ is requested.
(The "budgeted" amount is the total planned for the year as submitted in your proposal form or your revised plan, and the "cumulative" column refers to the total spent to date this year. The "percentage spent to date" is the ratio of the cumulative amount spent over the budgeted amount.)
Expense
Currency
Budgeted
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Cumulative
Budgeted ($US)*
Cumulative ($US)*
Percentage spent to date
Explanation of variances from plan
Programme Community and Participation
Euro
59,250
16,857
4,278
578
8,812
29,895
66,419
33,509
50
Activities postponed because funding applications failed
Programme Content
Euro
56,000
5,958
7,659
8,341
14,354
36,312
62,776
40,521
65
Costs of programmes lower than expected.
Programme Communication
Euro
22,752
4,201
4,509
4,098
4,534
17,342
25,505
19,352
76
TOTAL PROGRAMME COSTS
Euro
138,002
27,016
16,446
13,017
27,070
83,549
154,700
92,232
60
Staff salary costs
Euro
214,000
55,366
56,808
58,431
58,709
229,314
239,894
255,891
107
Operations
Euro
68,530
17,554
14,658
16,292
16,512
65,016
76,822
72,551
95
TOTAL ADMINISTRATIVE AND OTHER NON PROGRAMME COSTS
As required in the grant agreement, please report any deviations from your grant proposal here. Note that, among other things, any changes must be consistent with our WMF mission, must be for charitable purposes as defined in the grant agreement, and must otherwise comply with the grant agreement.
There are no deviations from the proposal.
Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement? Please answer "Yes" or "No".
Yes
Are you in compliance with provisions of the United States Internal Revenue Code (“Code”), and with relevant tax laws and regulations restricting the use of the Grant funds as outlined in the grant agreement? Please answer "Yes" or "No".
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2007: first WCN
2008 - Jan Bart de Vreede discussing growth at WMF: complete at 23 staff members
2010 - first Wiki Loves Monuments Award Ceremony
2012 - Jimmy Wales as keynote speaker
2013: Introducing Hay Kranen, the first Wikipedian in Residence (standing left, next to his 'host' Tim de Haan of the Nationaal Archief)
2015: gendergap fortune cookies
Opening session of 2016 conference
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Historic images of Leiden, donated by Erfgoed Leiden
Jansje Schuringa, one of the first dentists in the Netherlands, Image donated by Utrecht University
Historic Bookbindings - image donated by Koninklijke Bibliotheek
Writer Janne IJmker - image donated by public library Zwaterwaterland
Meeting of women of the Dutch Labour Party. Donated by Nationaal Archief
Hand grenade - image donated by National Liberation Museum
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