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Grants:PEG/Seeris/Atikamekw knowledge, culture and language in Wikimedia projects/Report

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Report accepted
This report for a Project and Event grant approved in FY Pending has been reviewed and accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation.
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Project status

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Did you comply with the requirements specified by WMF in the grant agreement?
YES
Is your project completed?
YES

Activities and lessons learned

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Activities

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Wikipedia workshop at Otapi school in Manawan (Oct 2016)
 
Wikipetcia workshop (May 2017)
 
Training of Atikamekw contributors by Wikimedia Canada volunteers.
 
Wikipetcia committee discussing Wikimania panel, article labels, summer internship, Lingua Libre project, etc.
 
Photo contest. Director Sakay Ottawa congratulating the participants. See pictures: Commons:Category:Nitaskinan en photos
 
Winners of the photo contest. Sakay Ottawa director of Otapi School, Jonah Newashish, Wikwasa Newashish Petiquay, Benoit Rochon president of Wikimedia Canada.
 
Visit of Matakan camp meeting Grand Chief Constant Awashish

Timeline

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  • Sept.-Oct. 2016: contacts with partners and signature of a memorandum of understanding with the Local Atikamekw Council of Manawan and the Council of the Atikamekw Nation.
  • 23-24 Oct. 2016: first training session at the Otapi school (Manawan), meeting with local coordinator, school staff and elected representatives and beginning of the pedagogic project in computer classes.
  • 28 nov. 2016: second training session at the central Council of the Atikamekw Nation (La Tuque), meeting with the coordinator of cultural services, the director of the Institute of Atikamekw Language and the archivist; focus on internal rules of the Atikamekw Wikipedia.
  • 14 March 2017: third training session at the First Nations Friendship Center in Joliette, focus on interface translation and TranslateWiki.
  • 12 April 2017: online workshop on interface translation;
  • 26 April 2017: seminar on free licences and traditional knowledge at the National Institute of Scientific research (Montreal, videoconference with Manawan and La Tuque), meeting with representative of the First Nations Information Governance Centre.
  • May 2017: photo rally to document the ancestral territory.
  • 01 June 2017: fourth training session at the Otapi school (Manawan), awards ceremony for photo rally and for participation in the pedadogic project;
  • 21 June 2017: Atikamekw Wikipetia officially out of the incubator, celebrations on Manawan local radio.
  • 10 August 2017: edit-a-thon First Nations on Wikipedia at the National Archives (Manawan) for Wikimania; fifth training session for atikamekw partners (focus on Wikidata, involving contributor from Basque Wikipedia); training sessions and public discussion in French and English involving partners from Global Voices and Odia Wikipedia;
  • 11-13 August 2017: recordings for Lingua Libre during Wikimania;
  • 13 August 2017: panel at Wikimania "Indigenous Knowledge on Wikipedia: Lessons Learned from the Project Wikipetia Atikamekw Nehiromowin"
  • 19 August 2017: Wikimedia information kiosk at the Manawan Pow Wow;
  • Fall 2017: writing of toolbox and preparation of writing of an academic article;

Project documentation and outputs

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  •  
    Boîte à outil. Langues et savoirs autochtones dans les projets Wikimédia (French, 2017), PDF
  •  
    Créer et administrer une Wikipédia. Enjeux, opportunités et boîte à outils pour les Premières Nations, (French, 2017), PDF.

Media

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English

Français

Lessons learned

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What worked well?

Overall the project is a great success, mainly because our partners in the Atikamekw community made the project their own, and actively contributed to mobilise key members of their community, such as elders with a deep knowledge of language and tradition who committed to the Mediawiki interface translation, but also educators at the Otapi school, who integrated the project into their classes and mobilized young people. We managed to take the Atikamekw Nehiromowin Wikipetcia out of the incubator after several months of intensive translation, and a delegation of 10 people from the Atikamekw nation participated in Wikimania Montreal, presenting their work in well attended sessions.

What didn't work?

There was no major problem. Here are a couple of things that we had planned to do but couldn't completely fulfill:

  • Since our Atikamekw partners (and our team of volunteers) were focused on creating content in the Atikamekw language and bringing their own wikipedia to life, less energy was devoted to creating content in the French and English Wikipedias, even if several articles have been created. We had wished to improve the articles about the Atikamekw nation in French and English, but we were also cautious to leave space for members of the Atikamekw nation to correct the articles themselves, without imposing our external perspective on their culture and history. That was only partially done because so much energy and time was required from them to build content in their own language. The project might have been too ambitious from this perspective. We did not achieve our goal to create or improve as many articles in French and English, however we produced an extra output: about 500 new words in the Wiktionary in atikamekw, with 800 audio files created with the Lingua Libre tools. To sum it up, we had to adapt to the participants interest in documenting their own language in both written and oral forms.
  • One of our partner at UQO (Thibault Martin) sadly could not take part in the project due to health problems. We had to do the student the was supposed to provide to work on a review of literature on the topic of First Nations and Wikimedia tools.
What would you do differently if you planned a similar project?

Two lessons learned in terms of coordination:

  • We should definitively have planned more trips to the community from the start. We realized how vital it is to have face-to-face meetings in order to build trust with new partners, especially in an intercultural and post-colonial context. Videconferences and online discussion groups can help with remote coordination, but onsite training sessions were very important for the success of the project.
  • We had planned that our local coordinator in the community could help with organizing the Wikimania activities, but we realized that someone locally based in Montreal was necessary to coordinate the logistics, and it was also necessary that this person spoke English to be an intermediary between the Atikamekw partners and the Wikimedia community.

Learning patterns

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We endorse the two following learning patterns: Project roles and Community impact.

Outcomes and impact

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Outcomes

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Provide the original project goal here.

The aim of this project is to increase the presence of the Atikamekw (a Canadian First Nation) knowledge, culture and language on Wikimedia projects by developing the Wikipedia in the Atikamekw language, and uploading documents such as archive pictures and maps about the Atikamekw culture and history on Wikimedia Commons. The long term impact of this project is to also document good practices as well as developing a toolkit allowing to reproduce and scale it to perform similar projects with other Canadian Indigenous communities.

Did you achieve your project goal? How do you know your goal was achieved? Please answer in 1 - 2 short paragraphs.

We achieved the goal of developing a Wikipedia in the Atikamekw language: it was lingering in the incubator for several years, and the community did not have the ressources to step up to the next level. Expert guidance from Wikimedia Canada volunteers combined with heavy interface translation work by elders and local contributors activity allowed to officially launch the Atikamekw Wikipedia in June 2017. We also organized a photo rally that provided recent and diverse visual documentation of the community. The toolkit, written in French and English, is a valuable tool to transmit the knowledge learned from this project to other communities.

Progress towards targets and goals

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Project metrics

Project metrics Target outcome Achieved outcome Explanation
Translation of the mediawiki interface in Atikamekw Translation of 78% of the most important messages in the mediawiki interface in Atikamekw. This translation was done using Wikitranslate and allowed getting the Wikipedia in Atikamekw language out of the incubator.
Training of 1 Atikamekw administrator for the Atikamekw Wikipedia; Training of 3 Atikamekw administrators The admins are Missatikamekw, Kinew1975, Nehirowisiw
A minimum of 30 new Atikamekw contributors. 30 new contributors New contributors were trained during training sessions by WMCA volunteers and by teachers at Otapi school as part of the computer class curriculum, and at the occasion of the photo rally.
A minimum of 200 new articles created in the Atikamekw Wikipedia 172 new articles created in the Atikamekw Wikipedia There was 160 articles before we started the project, at the end of August 2017 there were 332. Most of them were created by students of the Otapi school. One of the computer class teachers was on sick leave for a few weeks during the project and the work of new article creation slowed down.
A minimum of 35 new (or substantially expanded) articles created or improved on French Wikipedia 29 articles created or improved (including 13 new articles) See Lessons learned. We focused on content creation in atikamekw.
A minimum of 15 new (or substantially expanded) articles relating to the subject matter on English Wikipedia 8 articles created or improved on the English Wikipedia (including 5 new articles) such as w:en:Constant Awashish See Lessons learned. We focused on content creation in atikamekw.
Extra output 513 atikamekw words created or improved in the Wiktionary. See Lessons learned. We focused on content creation in atikamekw.
Extra output 900 audio files created using Lingua Libre for 200 different words in the 3 different dialects of Atikamekw language. The files are still being processed and uploaded on Wikimedia Commons and added to Wikimedia projects, mainly Wiktionary and Wikiversity
Extra output 91 audio files of words pronunciation in atikamekw in the Wiktionary and more to come. We used the Lingua Libre tools during Wikimania Montreal to record the prononciation characteristic of the 3 different atikamekw villages (Manawan, Opitciwan, Wemotaci). See [example https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/acikana]. The work is still in progress.
Extra output Introduction to Atikamelw language in Wikiversity A tool based on the work we developed on the atikamekw language.
A minimum of 50 contemporary photographs (with proper descriptions) of Manawan and La Tuque on Wikimedia Commons 220 contemporary photographs of the atikamekw territory 196 images were created by 14 participants for the photo rally (category Nitaskinan en photos) and 24 other images were created to document the project (category Project Wikipetia Atikamekw Nehiromowin).
A minimum of 50 historical documents (with proper descriptions) on Wikimedia Commons not achieved the Council of the Atikamekw Nation prefers to keep these documents offline for now
3 training and discussion workshops (Manawan, La Tuque) 5 training sessions (Manawan, La Tuque, Joliette, Montreal) Extra sessions (on admin tools and Wikidata) were added at the request of our partners.
1 research seminar 1 research seminar on free licences and traditional knowledge See Activities ; 15 participants including a representative of the First Nations Information Governance Centre and a representative of Libraries and Archives of Quebec.
1 edit-a-thon 1 edit-a-thon at the National Archives (Montreal) During Wikimania Montreal. Training sessions in French and English in the morning, public conversation in the afternoon. 55 participants.
1 conference panel organisation 1 conference presentation at Wikimania Montreal See video of the panel: "Indigenous Knowledge on Wikipedia: Lessons Learned from the Project Wikipetia Atikamekw Nehiromowin". About 75 people in the audience.
1 final report with recommendations on how to better include indigenous knowledge and contributors 2 reference documents "Create and administer a Wikipedia. Issues, Opportunities and Toolbox for First Nations" (French); "Toolbox: Indigenous Languages and Knowledge on Wikimedia Projects" (French, English)


Global Metrics

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We are trying to understand the overall outcomes of the work being funded across our grantees. In addition to the measures of success for your specific program (in above section), please use the table below to let us know how your project contributed to the Global Metrics. We know that not all projects will have results for each type of metric, so feel free to put "0" where necessary.

  1. Next to each required metric, list the actual outcome achieved through this project.
  2. Where necessary, explain the context behind your outcome. For example, if you were funded for an edit-a-thon which resulted in 0 new images, your explanation might be "This project focused solely on participation and articles written/improved, the goal was not to collect images."

For more information and a sample, see Global Metrics.

Metric Achieved outcome Explanation
1. # of active editors involved 45 30 new atikamekw editors and 10 editors from Wikimedia Canada and partners attending Wikimania Montreal
2. # of new editors 40 30 new atikamekw editors and 10 non indigenous editors introduced to Wikipedia during and edit-a-thon
3. # of individuals involved 60 atikamekw editors, atikamekw administration partners, volunteers from Wikimedia Canada, participants in public discussions
4a. # of new images/media added to Wikimedia articles/pages 20 Images illustrating the articles on the atikamekw community villages and band councils
4b. # of new images/media uploaded to Wikimedia Commons (Optional) 311 220 contemporary photographs of the atikamekw territory; 91 audio files of words pronunciation in atikamekw in the Wiktionary.
5. # of articles added or improved on Wikimedia projects 714 172 new articles created in the Atikamekw Wikipedia, 29 articles created or improved in French, 513 atikamekw words created or improved in the Wiktionary.
6. Absolute value of bytes added to or deleted from Wikimedia projects unknown We unfortunately did not use the tool that could have allowed to report this metric.
Learning question
Did your work increase the motivation of contributors, and how do you know?
Yes, the project increased the motivation of contributors within the Atikamekw community. As of Feb. 2018, the local coordination team in Manawan is still holding monthly events to collectively contribute to Wikipedia in Atikamekw. They also requested a new grant to the WMF to continue the project with a new phase focused on image production to document the land. The challenge for the coming months and years will be to engage with contributors in the other villages.

Impact

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What impact did this project have on WMF's mission and the strategic priorities?

Option A: How did you increase participation in one or more Wikimedia projects?

Option B: How did you improve quality on one or more Wikimedia projects?

Option C: How did you increase the reach (readership) of one or more Wikimedia projects?

The project contributed to the following strategic priority : "Increasing participation (Higher impact potential)". It improved editor diversity by recruiting new editors from a target group: members on Canadian First Nations. It also contributed to the strategic priority of "Increasing quality (Higher impact potential)" by creating a photo event focused on integrating media on wiki projects (photographic "hunt" to document the Atikamekw territory).

Reporting and documentation of expenditures

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This section describes the grant's use of funds

Documentation

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Did you send documentation of all expenses paid with grant funds to grants at wikimedia dot org, according to the guidelines here? Answer "Yes" or "No".
YES

Expenses

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Please list all project expenses in a table here, with descriptions and dates. Review the instructions here.

SEE INSTRUCTIONS AT Grants:Index/Create financial report.

 
Total project budget (from your approved grant submission)
20 400,12 CAD
Total amount requested from WMF (from your approved grant submission, this total will be the same as the total project budget if PEG is your only funding source)
13 870,12 CAD (10 836,03 USD)
Total amount spent on this project
13 170,12 CAD (10 836,03 USD)
Total amount of Project and Event grant funds spent on this project
13 170,12 CAD (10 836,03 USD)
Are there additional sources that funded any part of this project? List them here.
  • INRS Graduate student (research assistance) : 500 CAD
  • Use of own car instead of rental for Trip 2 (La Tuque): 155 CAD
  • Support from the Atikamekw Linguistic Institute to pedagogic projects in Manawan (25h x 25$ an hour): 625 CAD
  • Venue rental at BAnQ for edit-a-thon: 1000 CAD
  • Venue rental at INRS for research seminar: 500 CAD
The Canada Research Chair in Governance of Indigenous Territories (UQO) could not contribute as planned because its coordinator (Thibault Martin) sadly passed away in the course of the project.

Remaining funds

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Are there any grant funds remaining?
Answer YES or NO.
YES
Please list the total amount (specify currency) remaining here. (This is the amount you did not use, or the amount you still have after completing your grant.)
100 CAD
If funds are remaining they must be returned to WMF, reallocated to mission-aligned activities, or applied to another approved grant.
Please state here if you intend to return unused funds to WMF, submit a request for reallocation, or submit a new grant request, and then follow the instructions on your approved grant submission.
/
We will submit a request for reallocation.


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