Grants:PEG/WM CZ/Czech Outreach

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This submission to the Project and Event Grants Program was funded in the fiscal year 2014-15. This is a grant to an organization.

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statusFunded

Project & Event Grants

WM CZ/Czech Outreach

This grant proposal includes various outdoor and indoor events promoting Wikipedia and recruiting new Wikipedians in the Czech Republic.

target(1) Czech Wikipedia (2) other Czech Wikimedia projects (3) other language projects

strategic priorityIncreasing participation.

start date2nd February

start year2015

end date31 December

end year2015

budget (local currency)8,730 EUR (total cost)

budget (USD)9,333 USD

grant typeOrganization

non-profit statusYes

creator• Vojtěch Dostál

contact(s)• vojtech.dostalwikimedia.cz• wm-czwikimedia.org

organization• Wikimedia Czech Republic

website• http://www.wikimedia.cz

friendly space expectations

view all PEG requests

Goal

This grant request covers all presentation initiatives that are planned by Wikimedia Czech Republic for 2015. Besides already established activities with a high outcome (Wikiconference, WikiTown, Students Write Wikipedia), this grant also covers a novel, somewhat experimental approach called "Wikimedia in the public space". As public space initiatives blossom in Prague, we want to be a part of it and get Wikimedia/Wikipedia closer to people.

Plan

Activities

• Wikimedia in the public space - a central point of this grant proposal, novel approach aiming to directly contact people "in the streets", in parks, ... generally in public spaces.

  This part of the grant aims to change what has traditionally been the case for most of our outreach initiatives: most of the events take part indoors, often in the Wikimedia Czech Republic office. While the office has been great for organizing workshops and meetings (to develop the community, see Grants:PEG/WM CZ/Communities), it is less so for presentation of Wikipedia and general outreach to the public. In 2015, we aim to organize three outdoor events - at a student festival, in a public park and during an alternative music festival in Prague. During these events, we will use a medium-sized tent as a place to present Wikipedia, talk to people and show them how Wikipedia is edited (and let them try it). Visitors of the tent will be asked to create an account, sign up in the EducationProgram extension and try editing - so that we can track them later and evaluate the success of public space Wikipedia presentation. This is an experimental approach aiming to prove that public outreach can be as successful as (or even more successful than) indoor outreach.

  To achieve this goal, we need to purchase several pieces of equipment. A party tent (about 4 x 4 metres) will be purchased to contain the whole presentation event. The equipment of the tent will include several pieces of light furniture and 2 laptops, used to introduce visitors to Wikipedia. Besides using it in public spaces of the city, we also envision to use the purchased equipment during the Czech WikiConference and, if possible, also during the WikiTown in May 2015. The furniture will also be used for community outdoor informal meetups, to foster the community and increase it - in concordance with the Communities grant.

• Participation on indoor events

  This includes Havlíčkův Brod Book Fair (an event with 15,000 participants) and Silesian Museum Night (with hundreds of people checking in to our table). These are successful annual events for which we have volunteers willing to organize them. They are organized indoors but we are exempted from paying the fees.

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• Principal annual events

  WikiConference and WikiTown events belong to this category. The Czech WikiConference will take place in 2015 for the 7th time, each year attracting more and more visitors. It is a large event which is supposed to gather Wikipedians, Wikimedians, representatives of our collaborating institutions and partners, as well as general public interested in Wikipedia. All but the last WikiConference took place in Prague, while the conference in 2014 took place in Brno. A place and exact time of the 2015 conference is still to be determined (as of December 2014). Each year, talks are also available online. WikiConference is a strong push for the Czech Wikimedia community and has a critical role in motivating volunteers and creating new projects and partnerships. WikiTown is a novel initiative, started in 2014. Inspired by similar efforts in France, it is a weekend-long edit-a-thon + photographic workshop + outreach event, also combined with GLAM work. The WikiTown 2014 took place in Přibyslav, a birthplace of Jan Otto, famous Czech encyclopedian of the 19th century. As seen from the report, 600 pictures were taken, 64 articles were created and 250 kilobytes of text were added by 12 participants of the event. Similar effort (and results) is expected for 2015, inviting local Wikipedians from the region to participate as well to increase impact and recruit/activize new community members. We were already contacted by several local Wikipedians and/or city council representatives who suggested their town as the next WikiTown.

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• Outreach programs

  Our outreach programs are well-established platforms for improving content and recruiting new editors. Czech GLAM is a project aiming for collaboration with GLAM institutions. A promise of collaboration has been given by the Geographical Library of Faculty of Science, Charles University for 2015, and we are evaluating the encyclopedically interesting content present in the archives of this institution as well as others. A part of the reserved financial amount may be used for a contract with the person who digitalizes the archives due to a high time demand for such an effort. Students Write Wikipedia is a platform for teachers, students and Wikipedians who want to embrace Wikipedia in education. 2,000,000 bytes are added annually by the students, improving the content of Wikipedia. A similar program, Senior Citizens Write Wikipedia, is on the way since September 2014, attracting more than 40 senior citizens to learn to edit Wikipedia during classes in Prague. Having been funded by an individual engagement grant, we consider it the most powerful project for recruiting new long-term Wikipedians. many of our participants edit Wikipedia after they had finished the 10-12 hour courses. We aim to upscale the senior citizen program efforts: By organizing 3 beginner courses for librarians (45 people) and one advanced course for librarians (15 people out of these), we will turn this very motivated group of people (with enormous interest in Wikipedia and the senior citizen program) into Wikipedia course leaders in their regional libraries.

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Impact

Target readership

Principally Czech Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. Other Czech Wikimedia projects (Wiktionary, etc.) are also presented at our events, but to a lesser extent.

Fit with strategy

Increasing reach - essential for WikiConference, indoor events and outdoor activities

Increasing participation - essential for WikiConference, Senior Citizens Write Wikipedia

Increasing quality - essential for WikiTown, Students Write Wikipedia, GLAM

Measures of success

Quantitative:

1. Number of participants present at our events (estimates, or number of registered participants in the case of Wikiconference) | 750 visitors of outdoor events coming to our booth, 200 visitors to indoor events, 120 participants of the Czech WikiConference
2. Number of participants actively editing at our events (Wikimetrics) | 150 participants, registering to Wikipedia and editing articles (we expect about 3 % of these to continue editing, similar to the retention of student education programs)
3. Number of pictures uploaded by WikiTown participants and by the GLAM team, and the usage of such pictures on Wikimedia projects (GLAMorous) | 500 pictures uploaded, 100 picture usages on all wikis
4. Bytes added by WikiTown participants | 250 kilobytes of text in Wikipedia
5. Bytes added and articles created by 'our' students and senior citizens (we already use Wikimetrics for both) | 2,000,000 bytes to be added during the course of the 2014/2015 school year
6. Number of student courses organized | 6-8 courses each school term, i.e. about 12-18 courses during the year. 75% of these will be lead by "repeat teachers", putting stress on their retention
7. Number of senior citizen courses organized | 3 courses in Prague, 2 new courses outside Prague
8. GLAM and senior citizen program workshops | 6 courses for librarians and other employees of cultural organizations which could lead senior citizen courses, 3 of these from outside Prague (totalling at least 40 participants)
9. New Wikipedians recruited from 'our' senior citizen participants (Wikimetrics) | 10 new Wikipedians (long-term community members)

Qualitative:

1. Articles in the press about our events and projects
2. Collaborations started thanks to Czech WikiConference
3. GLAM collaboration with regional institutions during Czech WikiTown 2015
4. New collaborations with regional Wikipedians contacted during Czech WikiTown 2015

Resources and risks

Resources

Program coordinators:

• Wikimedia in the public space - User:Vojtěch Dostál
• Participation in indoor events - User:Packa, User:Gampe
• Principal annual events - Undetermined at the moment, will be based on location. Overseen by User:Vojtěch Dostál
• Outreach programs - User:Gampe (GLAM), User:Vojtěch Veselý (Senior program), User:Dominikmatus and User:Vojtěch Dostál (Student program)

Evidence of past success in executing similar projects: 2010-2013 grant, 2014 grant. We have significant experience in organizing most of the types of events in this grant; some of the approaches are novel.

Risks

• Recruiting enough volunteers to attend to visitors during outdoor events - might decrease the number of events organized. However, we believe that the amount of time and work required from such volunteers will not be overwhelming and that our community is large enough.

Budget

Please provide a detailed breakdown of project expenses according to the instructions here. See Budget Guidelines.

Grantees are subject to line-item scrutiny of expenses. Changes to the approved budget beyond 10% in any category must be approved in advance.

Project budget table

Number	Category	Item description	Total cost	Currency	Notes
1.1	Wikimedia in the public space	Tent	100	EUR	Purchase of a simple garden "party tent" , similar to the one suggested at the proposal discussion page but somewhat bigger to accomodate more people.
1.2	Wikimedia in the public space	2 laptops	670	EUR	Chromebook-style cheap laptops for presenting Wikipedia. In contrast with the original request, we decided to only buy 2 laptops and even cheaper then originally intended.
1.3	Wikimedia in the public space	Accessories and equipment of the tent	340	EUR	This includes a folding round table for the laptops (100 EUR), 3 folding chairs (35 EUR), laptop accessories and peripheries including 2 laptop cases (100 EUR), Kensington locks (55 EUR) and miscellaneous (50 EUR) Leaflet rack will not be purchased from this grant's budget. All purchased equipment will remain in the hands of Wikimedia Czech Republic. Use beyong this grant will be actively encouraged because we want to maximize their usage. After the end of the grant period, similar events are expected to take place and the purchases are in concordance with long-term goals of the chapter.
1.4	Wikimedia in the public space	Internet fees, Fees for usage of public space	250	EUR	mobile Internet
1.5	Wikimedia in the public space	Consumables	350	EUR	This includes leaflets (handouts), promotional items for visitors and refreshment for volunteers and also travel costs for the volunteers (also because of the transport of the tent). Leaflets will only be printed modestly to provide visitors with information they cannot/would not find online.
2.1	Participation in indoor events	Participation costs, travel costs	850	EUR	This includes Havlíčkův Brod Book Fair and Silesian Museum Night, basically participation costs, transport, and promotional items or a small contest for participants
2.2	Participation in indoor events	Technical equipment for our indoor efforts	520	EUR	This includes a video projector mount, a reflector and a tablet to improve our presentation opportunities.
3.1	Principal annual events	Czech Wikiconference	2500	EUR	7th annual WikiConference in November 2015. Costs include venue, travelling, food and drink, video acquisition
3.2	Principal annual events	WikiTown 2015	1000	EUR	Includes accomodation, travel costs, food and drink, other
4.1	Outreach programs	Outreach to students and senior citizens	750 1200	EUR	A budget for our education programs. May be partially used for short-time contracts if needed.
4.2	Outreach programs	Outreach to cultural institutions: GLAM	350	EUR	An annual budget for GLAM. May be partially used for short-time contracts if needed.
5.1	Additional requisites	Promotional items out of scope of programs above	500	EUR	This may include other print-outs for various initiatives, business cards or small items.
5.2	Additional requisites	Grant administration	450 0	EUR	Contract-based handling of our grant receipts, keeping track of them and preparing them for reimbursement.
5.3	Additional requisites	Phone receipts for project managers	100	EUR	As the projects require substantial amount of volunteer organizing

Total cost of project

8,730 EUR

Total amount requested from the Project and Event Grants program

8,730 EUR (~2,738 EUR to be reallocated from Presentation & Outreach II grant)

Additional sources of revenue that may fund part of this project, and amounts funded

• Full list of chapter partners and sponsors can be found here; several donations or partnerships involve Outreach. For example, web domains are paid from the sponsorship by Active24
• Senior Citizens Write Wikipedia are funded by an IEG grant, the project also actively seeks other (non-WMF) grant offers to support senior outreach to other cities.
• WikiTown may be partially funded by town councils. WikiConference 2015 may attract partners and sponsors too, as it was the case in 2014.

Non-financial requirements

• We would be happy to receive supplies for outreach from Wikimedia Foundation. Can reviewers please state if this is possible, and redirect us to responsible people?

Discussion

Community notification

You are responsible for notifying relevant communities of your proposal, so that they can help you! Depending on your project, notification may be most appropriate on a village pump, talkpage, mailing list. Please paste a link below to where the relevant communities have been notified of this proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions. Need notification tips?

notified on a Village pump and via a chapter mailing list; will notify on social sites once the community review starts.--Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 16:46, 20 December 2014 (UTC)

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