Grants:PEG/WikiFranca/WikiConvention Francophone 2016

This Wikimedia Foundation grant has a fiscal sponsor. Wikimedia Canada administered the grant on behalf of WikiFranca.

statusFunded

WikiFranca/WikiConvention francophone 2016

1^st annual meeting of French speaking Wikimedians.

targetTravel for French-Canadians that are not covered by external sponsorship, like Google, L'Oréal et OIF (see talkpage)

strategic priorityImprove quality and increase participation

start dateApril 15

start year2016

end dateAugust 31

end year2016

budget (local currency)6,600 CAD

budget (USD)5,057.61 USD

grant typeOrganization

non-profit statusYes

creator• Pyb

contact(s)• pierre.beaudouin

wikimedia.fr• brochon

wikimedia.ca

organization• WikiFranca

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Basic information

History & scope

As a major international event, the francophone WikiConvention aims to bring together contributors to Wikimedia projects throughout the Francophonie, to foster cooperation between the different actors of the movement through a dedicated week-end.

For the first time organized for francophone contributors – as it has been the case for many years in other language communities such as Spanish, German or Dutch — the WikiConvention will be the opportunity to share knowledge and practices from various Francophone countries, encourage joint initiatives and develop common strategies. Such a Convention could promote the emergence and development of some French-speaking user groups and chapters. Indeed, we aim to host 160 people from Algeria, Belgium, Canada, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Tunisia, Senegal, Switzerland and France, among others.

This event is part of an international dynamic, focusing first on the Wikimedia movement itself. It is widely supported by WikiFranca, the Wikimedia network that brings together Wikimedians from Francophone chapters and user groups. Cooperation between these entities is a key level for the good health of Wikimedia projects in the French speaking world. This event is thus meant to support, embody and promote this cooperation.

Of course, 2016 is also the year of the 15^th anniversary of the creation of Wikipedia. This is for the organizers a great an opportunity to celebrate 15 years of editing and pay tribute to francophone contributors through a special evening.

What does “Francophonie” mean for us?

Officially, the Francophonie refers to all the people and institutions who use French as their mother tongue, language spoken, administrative language of instruction or chosen language. Francophonie may refer to both the Francophone countries and all countries or regions members of the International Organization of the Francophonie (Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, OIF) which are not necessarily those where French is most frequently used or officially recognized.

According to the OIF, in 2014, French is the fifth most spoken language in the world with 274 million speakers representing 4% of the world population (one in 26), including 212 million by everyday use (+7% between 2010 and 2014) representing 3% of the world population (one in 32). Estimated at 284 million in 2015, the number of francophones will approach 700 million in 2050, or 8% of the world population (one in 13) and 85% of francophones are in Africa because of the demographic growth.

In the Wikiverse, WikiFranca is what we refer to when we think about “Francophonie”. Throughout this PEG request, it is important to note that what we want to achieve with the Francophone Wikiconvention is to bring together French-speakers from all over the world, even if they’re not part of a country which officially recognizes French as its main language (or a francophone chapter / user group…).

General information

The majority of participants will come from France and therefore, for obvious budget reasons, it will be cheaper to have French people coming to Paris than traveling abroad. Nevertheless, we did think about other locations than Paris. We reached out to Bordeaux and Strasbourg but could not find a suitable hosting solution for the participants.

Furthermore, Pyb, who is the lead organizer of this event lives in Paris. Wikimédia France’s office is also located in Paris, which makes it easier to coordinate every single detail, and to meet on a very regular basis to move forward efficiently.

The first francophone WikiConvention will take place in Paris, August 19-21.

Venue

The francophone WikiConvention 2016 will be hosted inside la Halle Pajol, at the Youth Hostel Yves Robert. The Halle Pajol is an old disused building of the National French Railway company, and was part of the courier and customs facilities of the Eastern Railway Company of Paris. It was built in 1926 and restored in 2013.

Accessibility

The building is adapted to different disabilities:

Visual handicap: the floor is decorated with audible and tactile strips, signage is in Braille, and multi-sensory plans can be found on each floor;
Motor disability: the inn offers health and appropriate beds;
Earing disability: health and the rooms are equipped with flashing lights coupled to the fire alarm, reception and the theater include a portable induction loop.

Eco-friendly

An eco-friendly place in a rehabilitated district of Paris.

Located in the heart of an eco-district, the building is covered with 3500 m² of photovoltaic panels on the roof which makes it the largest photovoltaic solar power plant in a city center in France. Most of the Halle Pajol is made of wood from sustainably managed forests, and the facilities include a Canadian well, the use of solar panels for hot water, and the watering of the garden is done with rainwater.

Facilities in brief

ROOMS 330 beds: 4 single rooms 29 double rooms 24 triple rooms 36 quadruple 7 rooms of 5 3 bedrooms of 6 Breakfast / Shower and sink / Toilet on the landing / Sheets and blankets provided / Towels not supplied	SPACES 1 amphitheater 7 modular rooms 1 lobby 1 associative village 1 quiet room 1 bar 1 library

Although the capacity of the venue is of 330 beds, we limited the number of attendees based on the carrying capacity of the meeting rooms (especially the amphitheater).

One night in a room for 4 people costs 31,50 euros.

Contact details

This project is an initiative of Pierre-Yves Beaudouin (Pyb), a very active editor based in Paris, Île-de-France and used to give life to innovative projects with high impact such as Wikicheese or Wikipedia takes the Louvre.

Two different committees are active: a committee in charge of the WikiConvention programme and a steering committee, more focused on operational tasks.

WikiConvention Steering Committee

Pyb, Wikimédia France
Kikuyu3, Wikimédia France
Papischou, Wikimedia Community User Group Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
Dyolf77, Wikimedia TN User Group (Tunisia)
Benoît Rochon, Wikimedia Canada
Anne-Laure WMFr, Wikimédia France

Wikimedia France supports the project and shoulders both committees in their efforts. Contact: Anne-Laure Prévost, annelaure.prevost wikimedia.fr

WikiConvention Programme Committee:

Goal

At communities level

Create an event for the community by the community;
Support the participation of all (including families, the disabled and people living with modest means);
Make the event a recurring one
Bring together contributors to Wikimedia projects throughout the Francophonie for the first time and share a moment of conviviality;
Promote cooperation between Francophone countries and regions, and participate in the reduction of inequalities of both representation and content between northern and southern countries;

At Wikimedia projects level

Work to improve the various Wikimedia projects;
Value the actions undertaken in different countries with partners involved around the dissemination of free knowledge;
Promote the transfer of knowledge between participants to ensure relevant projects enrichment

Plan

Activities

The Francophone WikiConvention is primarily intended for contributors. A number of topics will focus on the operational level and functioning of the Wikimedia projects, so the audience has to have a basic understanding/experience with using/editing them. An indication of required skills/knowledge to participate in the sessions might be an easy way to help participants find what sessions will best match their expectations.

How to edit Wikimedia projects introductory workshops might be organized, especially for new or recent editors, identified in our networks or those of our partners.

All contributors to the Wikimedia projects will be asked by the Programme Committee to offer their ideas of topics and themes, as well as issues to address. The programme will be entirely built by and for the community. The programme committee is responsible for structuring the programme, and ensure that it runs smoothly.

Project planning : WikiConvention francophone 2016/Rétroplanning

Impact

Fit with strategy

This event is in line with the priority objectives for the Wikimedia movement, including these:

Increase reach & encourage diversity by conducting outreach among groups that have the potential to bring new expertise to the projects, as well as by supporting leaders from underrepresented groups in their efforts to cultivate new members from within their communities.

This first priority will be matched in two ways:

Today, the official list of French speaking areas done by the OIF brings together nearly 80 states and governments, with 25 of them based in Africa. This continent is therefore the second provider of French speakers in the world today, after Europe (see map below). Africa is meeting today very specific issues, related to the facilities and infrastructures available on the spot, and a very small number of active editors in these countries, compared to its potential.

Secondly, we also wish to highlight at this event projects that are jointly conducted with atypical partners. Such projects range from cooperation with major partners from the private sector to increase accessibility to Wikimedia projects in Africa to new communities which we try to plug to the Wikimedia galaxy such as social entrepreneuship networks, botanic experts, sound archives,… The main criteria here will be the reach to already existing communities and how they create synergies within the Wikiworld.

Area of origin	Number of participants
Metropolitan France	120
Belgium	10
Switzerland	10
Canada	4
Sub-Saharan Africa	4
Maghreb	10
Other areas	2
Total	160

Support offline and social events to increase community cohesion and commitment to the projects.

Francophones are bound by the French language, but are scattered all over the planet. The Francophone Wikipedia is the third largest in terms of Wikipedia contributors and yet never a French convention has taken place so far. It is important that user groups, chapters, editors get to know each other and see themselves as peers working in the same direction. WikiFranca gathers today 28 potential user groups and chapters recognized as belonging to the Francophonie.

In 2017, Wikimania will be organized in Montréal and we hope that it will be a way for francophone Wikimedians to work together around the preparation of this event. However, we are aware of the fact that having Wikimedians from Northern Africa and other parts of Africa travelling to Canada might be much more expensive than coming to France. Additionnally, the fact of organizing a conference where francophone Wikimedians can play a key role is not the same as having a dedicated moment, over a week-end, to better share and focus on what matters for our language community. Last but not least, we do think that bringing people together a year before the 2017 Wikimania takes place can be a great opportunity to strengthen cooperation capacities for this further event.

Measures of success

Global Metrics

We will try to track the Global Metrics throughout the event, mainly:

Number of active editors involved
Number of individuals involved
Learning question: Did your work increase the motivation of contributors, and how do you know?

Additionnal indicators

Quantitative

At least 150 participants
At least 8 countries represented
At least 20 French-speaking Wikimedians coming from outside of Metropolitan France
At least 25 Wikimedians participating for the first time to a Wikimedia movement activity
At least 20 attendees participating actively as speakers or table hosts
All of the presentations documented on Meta and at least 75% of the presentation slides made publicly available
At least 85% of attendees find the conference useful in the post-conference survey
At least 75% of attendees confirm having new ideas and/or better vision for the projects they want to work on
At least 75% of attendees confirm having learned new information regarding project management, running chapter projects, or community building
10% of participants receive a scholarship (50% from France and 50% from Rest of the World)

Qualitative

Improved regional cooperation, with launch of new cross-border activities or significant improvement of existing ones (related to at least 3 projects)
Designed working patterns for "standard" projects such as Wikipedia Education Program (WEP), GLAM, and article and photo contests
Transfer of acquired knowledge, skills, know-how from meeting representatives to their local communities

Knowledge transfer

As usual, we will ask the scholars to create documentation as a counterpart for the scholarships. Their contribution may take any of the following commitments: writing a blog post, writing a learning pattern of something they have learned at the conference, taking photos of the event and sharing them on Commons; holding a follow-up session in their local communities.

We will also seek to have some sessions with live-streaming to ensure that people who cannot attend will be able to follow what’s going on. This is currently under study both from a technical and financial standpoint.

Last but not least, based on Wikimedia Netherlands learnings, we will make sure to have, for each session, 3 volunteers in charge of taking pictures of the session; taking notes; facilitating the session (welcoming and introducing speakers, checking the timing, helping to display presentations, etc.)

Resources and risks

SWOT

STRENGTHS Active French chapter coordinating the event Local Paris group highly motivated Existing structure mobilized to ensure diversity: WikiFranca Benchmark of previous events (German, Dutch Wikicon, Wikisource event in Austria, etc.)	WEAKNESSES A tough year financially speaking for Wikimédia France First francophone convention ever
OPPORTUNITIES Favorable context: Wikipedia 15^th birthday First francophone & international event before Wikimania 2017 in Montreal Event that can mobilize key players of the Francophonie around a concrete project	THREATS Highly depending on external funding Under-respresentation of Wikimedians from Southern countries Wikimania 2016 already based in Europe (travelling twice to Europe on the same summer = high cost) Too few non-members editors involved (lack of representativity of the event)

Regarding our threats and weaknesses, we have already :

started to look for additional partners and sponsors to financially support this event
built on other regional cooperation events learnings and organizers’ feedbacks (see next section)
made sure that Southern countries would be represented at least in one of our two committees
started to plan to reach through Wikimedia projects to “non-Wikimedians” editors

Past experiences

Pierre-Yves Beaudouin has co-organized Colloque Wikipédia 2007, as well as smaller community events as President of WMFR.

Habib M’henni has co-organized WikiArabia 2015.

There is precedent that indicates that conferences organized by Wikimédia France (Colloque Wikipédia 2007, Rencontres Wikimédia France 2010, Rencontres Wikimédia France 2012, Hackathon 2015) have had success in increasing reach and participation in local Wikimedia community.

Moreover, to prepare for this event, we relied on feedback and experiences from other chapters which have already organized a similar event:

Wikimedia Netherlands: participation to Wikimedia Conferentie Nederlands 2015. Contacts: Ziko van Dijk; Denise Jansen
Wikimedia Deutschland: visit at fall 2015. Contact: Geolina163
Wikimedia Tunisie: exchanges around WikiArabia. Contact: Habib M’henni
Wikimedia Österreich: participation first Wikisource event and experience sharing. Contact: Claudia Garad

A benchmark was built for the occasion, so as to capitalize on the experience of other Wikimedia organizations in organizing regional and language versions of these meetings.

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

Exchange rate: 1 EUR = 1.10280 USD (as of 25th of February 2015)

Number	Item description	Unit	Qty	Cost per unit EUR /USD	Total cost EUR	Total cost USD	Notes
1. Travel costs & visas					13,860.00	15,284.81
1.1	Scholarships		16		11,500.00	12,680.00	10% of participants on scholarships (50% from France and 50% from Rest of the World)
1.2	Visas				500.00	551.00	translation and shipping of documents
1.3	Transport for keynote speaker				200.00	220.00
1.4	Accommodation for keynote speaker	Speaker x night	1 x 2	80.00 / 88.00	160.00	176.00
1.5	Childcare				2,000.00	2,205.60
2. Meals					11,530.00	12,712.00
2.1	Lunches	Participant x lunch	170	12.50 / 14.00	4,250.00	4,687.00
2.2	Dinners	Participant x dinner	170	12.50 / 14.00	4,250.00	4,687.00
2.3	Breaks	Participant x break x day	170	3.00 / 3.30	1,530.00	1,687.00	Coffee breaks will include drinks (coffee, tea, juices)
2.4	Gala dinner				1,500.00	1,654.00
3. Venue					6,820.00	7,521.10
3.1	Meeting Rooms				3,000.00	3,308.00	1 amphitheater, 4 rooms, lunchroom, Community Village
3.2	Streaming				2,000.00	2,206.00	We expect to stream 20% of workshops
3.3	Materials				400.00	441.00	extension cords, power strips, etc.
3.4	Computers (renting)				1,000.00	1,103.00	Large touchscreen monitors for demo
3.5	Video projectors (renting)				420.00	463.00	video projectors for rooms and amphitheater
4. Materials & gifts					2,313.00	2,550.78
4.1	Badges		170	0.50 / 0.55	85.00	94.00
4.2	Lanyards		170	2.00 / 2.21	340.00	375.00
4.3	T-shirts		170	10.00	1,700.00	1,875.00
4.4	Pens		40	1.20 / 1.32	48.00	53.00	to limit costs, we will not give one pen to each participant
4.5	Papers		40	3.50 / 3.86	140.00	154.40	to limit costs, we will not give one notebook to each participant
5. Communication					1,000.00	1,103.00
5.1	Roller banners				500.00	551.00
5.2	Prints				500.00	551.00
6. Unforseen					4,000.00	4,411.00
TOTAL					40,023.00	44,085.96

Total cost of project

39,523.00 EUR

43,585.96 USD

Total amount requested from the Project and Event Grants program

6,600 EUR (~5,057 USD)

Details of this sum : 5 French Canadians to attend the conference. Budget is approximately 1,200 Canadian dollars per person, accommodation 30 euro per night with breakfast, for 4 night.

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

Exchange rate as of 2016-05-17

Wikimédia France 5,123.52 USD / 4,523.00 EUR
Wikimedia CH 3,398.31 USD / 3,000.00 EUR
Sponsors
- Organisation internationale de la Francophonie 18,101.66 USD / 15,980.00 EUR (Francophone African countries)
- Google France 11,327.69 USD / 10,000 EUR (non allocation resquested)
- L'Oréal : 1,128 USD / 1,000 EUR (child care)
- 1, 2 or 3 more grants
Fees (10 EUR/participant) 1,764.48 USD / 1,600.00 EUR

Non-financial requirements

None.

Discussion

Community notification

Endorsements

Do you think this project should be selected for a Project and Event Grant? Please add your name and rationale for endorsing this project in the list below. Other feedback, questions or concerns from community members are also highly valued, but please post them on the talk page of this proposal.

WMBE Will endorse the Wikiconvention 2016 project
Long due. Great effort. Anthere (talk) 15:25, 1 March 2016 (UTC)
First convention for French speaking wikipedians. Very important for sharing experiences and assisting emerging groups and chapters. On behalf of WMTN User Group -- Dyolf77 (talk) 15:30, 1 March 2016 (UTC)
The first francophone event \o/ VIGNERON * ^discut. 15:33, 1 March 2016 (UTC)
Bringing together communities based on shared language (not just shared nationality, or specific interest topic) is an obvious way to help share best practices and improve the on-wiki environment. We have seen this for Spanish and German, now it's French's turn! Wittylama (talk) 15:40, 1 March 2016 (UTC)
I support this request. Having a French-speaking event like this to share best pratices and strategies will be very helpful, especially for smaller francophone chapters, such as Wikimedia Canada, to learn from "bigger" more established chapters such as Wikimedia France. Amqui (talk) 16:00, 1 March 2016 (UTC)
Support I support this request Touzrimounir (talk) 18:03, 1 March 2016 (UTC)
Support I support this request. I think it's important to have this kind of conferences to support different commununities and gather them to work together. Millars (talk) 18:34, 1 March 2016 (UTC)
Support Very important to have a french-speaking event. Kvardek du (talk) 20:13, 1 March 2016 (UTC)
Support Wikimedians meetings are among the most usefull offline activities, a French speaking one is a long due one. Chandres 20:29, 1 March 2016 (UTC)
Support I support this request Hamed Gamaoun (talk) 20:51, 1 March 2016 (UTC)
Support Based on the added value of WikiCon for German-speaking contributors and WikiArabia for Arabic-speaking contributors. Moumou82 (talk) 22:51, 1 March 2016 (UTC)
Support The french wikiconference has come at a time when countries of Francophone from emerging countries realize the value of open knowledge; this gathering shows the way for the volunteers how to do better this task - an experience exchange is expected.good luck to the organizers. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-La wikiconférence viens à a moment oû les pays de les francophones venant des pays émergents prennent conscience de la valeur de la connaissance ouverte. ce rassemblement montre le chemin pour les bénévoles comment mieux faire cette tache - un échange d’expérience est attendu. bonne chance pour les organisateurs.Mohammed Bachounda (talk) 09:08, 2 March 2016 (UTC)
Support I support this proposal --Kippelboy (talk) 10:02, 2 March 2016 (UTC)
Support I support this proposal - the WikiCon for the German-speaking communities has been an important pillar for cross-border on- and offline collaboration, community building and skill transfer for many years. I am positive that this event can be equally beneficial for the even more widespread francophone communities. CDG (WMAT staff) (talk) 10:50, 2 March 2016 (UTC)
As indicated, Wikimedia CH endorses the proposal. Stephane (talk) 11:21, 2 March 2016 (UTC)
Support I support this project. It is important to have IRL meetings regularly, it facilitate contacts and projects. Lionel Allorge (talk) 13:41, 2 March 2016 (UTC)
I endorse this grant proposal. Conferences and gatherings – especially focussed on such a big language community as French is – are more than important and can help to create (or sustain) the often mentioned "Community Health". Also as preparation for the Wikimania in Montréal I'd see the Francophone Wikiconvention as a huge step forward. I'm available to support the Programme Committee and share my learnings and experience around the Wikimedia Conference, in case support is needed. Allez-y! :) --Cornelius Kibelka (WMDE) (talk) 14:02, 2 March 2016 (UTC)
Support a well sized plan to gather people in France and talk about recent evolutions of the movement. I personally can present something there about Wiktionary or lead a workshop on it. Noé (talk) 17:11, 2 March 2016 (UTC)
Support WikiFranca & Wikimedia Canada, endorse the Wikiconvention 2016 project. It is essential that participants of the Wiki-Francophonie can meet, coordinate and share their experience and activities in francophone countries. Best regards. Benoit Rochon (talk) 17:22, 2 March 2016 (UTC)
I endorse this grant proposal. That's a good oportunity to bring francophones together and to improve their presence and commitment to the wikimedian projects. — X-Javier ✉ ^[m'écrire] 12:13, 3 March 2016 (UTC)
Good idea - long overdue. :) Chris Keating (The Land) (talk) 16:04, 3 March 2016 (UTC)
Support Definitely endorse. Hopefully I might even get myself capable of travelling to a future instance of it ;o) — OwenBlacker (Talk) 20:21, 3 March 2016 (UTC)
Support great initiative. Looking forward to meeting other contributors Nattes à chat (talk)
Wonderful idea, really looking forward to participate in this first francophone Wikiconvention. Nattes à chat (talk) 17:40, 2 April 2016 (UTC)

This is a great opportunity to strengthen links between francophone contributors and also promote cooperation between different francophone linguistic regions. The local community is really looking forward to the event, especially the contributors who do not have the means to achieve the Wikimania events. Nattes à chat (talk) 20:18, 10 April 2016 (UTC)
Support Creating a comfortable space for any contributor to participate in a language community is really important. Sadads (talk) 15:29, 4 March 2016 (UTC)
Support Let's do it ! Lionel Scheepmans ^{✉ Contact} _{French native speaker, désolé pour ma dysorthographie} 19:21, 6 March 2016 (UTC)
Support, Yes, let's do it! Lotje (talk) 09:58, 8 March 2016 (UTC)
Support I support this request. --Envlh (talk) 18:00, 10 March 2016 (UTC)
Support This would be an amazing opportunity for the french speaking community to meet, exchange and share best practices.Gabrielle Marie WMCH (talk) 15:46, 15 March 2016 (UTC)
Support Akeron (talk) 19:26, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
Laudable idea I think it is a good starter Rberchie (talk) 23:00, 3 April 2016 (UTC)
Support Ernest-Mlt 12:53, 22 April 2016 (EDT)