Grants:Project/Global Voices/Strengthening Indigenous-Language Wikipedias in Latin America/Timeline

This project is funded by a Project Grant

Timeline for Global Voices

Timeline	Date
Assemble documentation, complete Grant Agreement	October 20, 2016
Complete Job Description	October 21, 2016
Assemble Selection Commitee	October 21, 2016
Share Job Announcement	October 24, 2016
Deadline for applications	November 4, 2016
Interviews and Final Selection	November 16, 2016
First planning meeting with lead researcher	November 21, 2016
Project Design Complete	December 9, 2016
Completion of project pages on Meta and Activismo Lenguas	December 16, 2016
Thirteen blog posts/case studies completed	March 16, 2017
25 blog posts/case studies completed	June 16, 2017
Final report with conclusions and recommendations	July 16, 2017
Final Report Submitted	July 21, 2017

Monthly updates

Please prepare a brief project update each month, in a format of your choice, to share progress and learnings with the community along the way. Submit the link below as you complete each update.

Month 1&2 - October & November

Much of the end of October was dedicated to outreach for the search for the position of Lead Researcher, which was announced on October 26, 2016. The announcement was published on Global Voices' Activismo Lenguas site and shared extensively on mailing lists and social media. Individual outreach was conducted with key individuals within the affiliate community, including in the Iberocoop, Languages, and Wikimedia Research lists. The deadline was November 4, 2016.

Assistance for reviewing and interviewing was received from members of Wikimedia Mexico and Chile with whom Global Voices has worked previously, as well as active editors from the Wikipedia in Náhuatl and Wayuunaiki sites. Following a review, a shortlist of candidates was created for interview between November 10-15, 2016. After careful consideration, we offered the position to Rodrigo Pérez, a Zapotec digital activists from Oaxaca, México. Please see the People Section of this project page for more information about this background.

On November 21, a Skype call was conducted with Eddie Ávila, Rising Voices Director and project coordinator. In this case, we established the guidelines and the mechanisms for communication to report on the project’s progress.

One of the principal points of agreement of this meeting was to make contact with Asaf Bartov, Program Official for Emerging Communities with the Wikimedia Foundation. The online meeting took place on November 23 with the participation of Pérez, Ávila, Bartov, and Marti Johnson, Program Grants Officer from the Wikimedia Foundation.

From this meeting with staff from the Wikimedia Foundation, Bartov considers that in addition to the established products, the project should answer the following questions:

What is the motivation to contribute free knowledge in indigenous languages?
What are some of the more interesting topics to write about/read about?
Which communities are especially likely to participate or successfully integrate themselves with the practice of writing encyclopedic content in indigenous languages? (for example, activists, youth, librarians, educators, photographers)

Month 2- December 1-31, 2016

During the month of December, which was shortened due to the end of the year holidays, the research methodology and information collection tools were designed, which includes:

Initial survey for Wikimedia affiliates to gather basic information and which will be further discussed on personal online calls. Semi-structured survey to Wikipedians and editors of active/incubator Wikipedia projects in indigenous languags.

Near the end of December, an invitation was extended to the affiliates in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia to begin, as these are regional countries with affiliates and which counts on a significant indigenous population or has had firsthand experience designing activities to engage these communities. At the time of submission of this report, representatives from each affiliate have agreed to scheduling a call after the new year, with the exception of Mexico and Argentina. We will continue to follow-up for their important feedback.

The first post providing updates about the project was completed in December for publication in early January.

Month 3 - January 1-31 2017

During the month of January, the following interviews were conducted over Skype with representatives from Wikimedia affiliates. These members responded to the initial invitation to establish contact with this stakeholder group as a way to 1.) solicit their opinions on the state of Wikipedias in indigenous languages in general 2.) previous activities implemented by the group to support Wikipedia in these native languages 3.) their thoughts on the current state of indigenous languages in their country 4.) how this study might be beneficial to their group's work.

The following interviews were conducted:

Wikimedia Bolivia Working Group - Erlan Vega
Wikimedians of Colombia - Juan Sebastian Quintero
Wikimedia Venezuela - Oscar Costero, Carlos Mora

Please note: the initial email request was sent to each affiliate's president or executive director who was asked to share with their group in order to establish with whom the interview would be conducted. During the course of the interviews, they also suggested others from their community to interview or to get into contact for further clarification.

Interviews are scheduled with Wikimedia Argentina, Wikimedians of Ecuador, Wikimedia Chile are all scheduled for early February.

In addition, as part of the 25 case studies focusing on an individual active or incubator Wikipedia project, three additional interviews were conducted with native-speaking editors of those projects:

Victoriano De la Cruz – Wikipedia en náhuatl
Rúben Hilari – Wikipedia en Aymara
Leonardi Fernández – Wikipedia en Wayuunaiki

The systematization of these interviews are currently in process and the first three blog posts will be published in February.

In addition, two of the online spaces where this research project's documentation and progress will be shared have been created in its initial stages. We are currently soliciting input on improvements to the sites:

Research - description of the methodology, design, and process
Portal on Meta- to share the updates and provide a space for further collaboration by the public.

Month 4 - February 1-28, 2017

In the month of February, the following interviews were conducted:

Wikimedia México (Iván Martínez)
Wikimedia Argentina (Anna Torres)
Wikimedia Chile (Marco Correa)

and the following editors/promoters of Wikipedia in indigenous languages:

Jorge López Bachiller – Wikipedia en kaquichel
Tulio Cañumil – Wikipedia en Mapundungun
Yásnaya Aguilar – Wikipedia en Mixe

and the following preliminary systematization of the case studies:

Respecto a la sistematización de los casos de estudio, se cuenta con la versión preliminar de la Wikipedia en Nahuátl y Maya:

Month 5 - March 1-31, 2017

In March, six case studies were completed:

The project pages in beta version for each site were shared with members of that community for review and feedback.

Month 6- April 1-30, 2017

Month 7- May 1-31, 2017

Is your final report due but you need more time?

Extension request

New end date

July 6, 2017 (one-month extension)

Rationale

We ran into some delays finding the contact info and receiving responses from some of the key stakeholders with whom we wanted to speak. Some have yet to respond, but we are likely to move on without their input. In addition, we have been seeking feedback and contributions to some of the case studies have already published on Meta, but hope to conduct some additional individual outreach to solicit this important element to the project. Finally, due to the nature of this research, where we have received suggestions on other people with whom to speak, the list of people interested in this field continues to grow. We fully expect to conclude with the project with a one-month extension to the grant.

Noting that Alex's approval for this new grant end date is in the discussion page. -- JTud (WMF), Grants Administrator (talk) 00:54, 3 June 2017 (UTC)