Grants:Project/Rapid/Ceslause/Wiki Loves Africa 2022/Report

Report accepted

This report for a Rapid Grant approved in FY 2021-22 has been reviewed and accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation.

To read the approved grant submission describing the plan for this project, please visit Grants:Project/Rapid/Ceslause/Wiki Loves Africa 2022.
You may still comment on this report on its discussion page, or visit the discussion page to read the discussion about this report.
You are welcome to Email rapidgrants at wikimedia dot org at any time if you have questions or concerns about this report.

Goals

Did you meet your goals? Are you happy with how the project went?

No, we didn't meet all the goals. But generally, I'm happy with the project, being a first attempt at Wiki Loves Africa local partnership in Nigeria.

Outcome

Please report on your original project targets. Please be sure to review and provide metrics required for Rapid Grants.

Target outcome	Achieved outcome	Explanation
Number of participants: 500+	200+	The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in Nigeria went on strike, which made the students go back home. But we still engaged those of them who live in the targeted university towns. IP blocks didn't also help, as many people were blocked before they could even create their usernames. I managed to secure up to 200+ in a telegram group https://t.me/CampusPhotofest , and we'll bring in more people before the next Wiki Loves Africa.
Number of photos uploaded to Wikimedia Commons:1000+	400+	Our respective photohunts yielded more than 2000 images, but unfortunately, it was raining IP blocks during the respective upload sessions. This was very frustrating. The luck participants are still blocked till 2025! Most couldn't even create usernames, and their IPs are blocked indefinitely. Requesting IP block exemptions didn't produce any results. I'm looking at working out a means for those media files to be uploaded much later.
Number of photos used on Wikimedia projects: 100+	0	As at the time of filing this report, none of the photos have been used yet. This is because the Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos 2022 campaign applied more stringent rules on inexperience editors not participating. Since the pool of the Wiki Loves Africa 2022 Campus Photofest participants only know about Commons, I didn't want to risk them vandalizing stuff on wikis. However, we have an ISA tool campaign coming up, during which I intend to show them how to add meta data to the images using the ISA tool. I also will inculcate a training on how to add images to Wiki projects in the ISA tool training they will go through, hence enabling them to use the images on wikis.
6 months after the contest, over 50 of the uploaded photos are categorized either as valued, quality or featured images.	0	As at the time of filing this report, none of the photos have been categorized either as valued, quality or feature images yet. Though it's not yet up to 6 six months they were uploaded, over 50 images submitted have the characteristics to be categorized either as valued, quality or featured images by Wiki Loves Africa standard. And there is a Wiki Loves Africa team working on nominations for valued, quality or feature image for Wiki Loves Africa 2022 entries that tick the boxes.

Learning

Projects do not always go according to plan. Sharing what you learned can help you and others plan similar projects in the future. Help the movement learn from your experience by answering the following questions:

What worked well?

The various training sessions we had were super helpful! A Commonist, User:OtuNwachinemere handled training on Wikimedia Commons for us, User:Anthere handled the training on CC licenses & IP, and here WIPO WiR role helped reassure our participants that she's top tier and a subject-matter expert on the issue! In all, I was shocked to learn that over 80% of the participants and creatives didn't know about CC licenses before then. Another thing that worked well was local partnerships! Partnering with Campus Photofest turned out to be a great idea, as that ensured more professional photographers were reached. Our Campus Photofest attracted the partnership with Kodak Nigeria, which offered to make free frames for the winning images in one of these formats depending on the option we choose:

Canvas stretched on wood 44x48 inches
24x36 direct print on acrylic
Canvass on wood
Acrylic floating frame
Segmented canvas

What did not work so well?

The IP blocks was demoralizing. It discouraged a lot of the participants, most of who were first-timers in the wiki space. It affected the creation of usernames, and the upload sessions...hence affecting the number of entries made.

I also underestimated the level of training partnering with Campus Photofest; a pool of Non-wikimedians, would require. We ended up having three webinars, which ate beyond our data reimbursement budget, but good thing we had miscellaneous on our budget...it really helped us a lot. We had the following webinars:

What would you do differently next time?

I have decided to focus on expanding the telegram group I created. It saved us from losing participants, and surely is our opportunity to be and build a community and engage in more wiki projects. I have also decided to plan way ahead, to afford us more time for contingencies. Koda Nigeria had suggested an exhibition on the winning images, but unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to finetune the plan. I think we will maximize our partnership with Kodak Nigeria for next year, to get all professional photographers on their local network involved.

Finances

Grant funds spent

Please describe how much grant money you spent for approved expenses, and tell us what you spent it on.

Printings (Banners, Graphics design, and shirts for Top 10 participants)

Customized T-shirts – 10 pieces X 7USD = 70 USD
Nose Mask – 500 pieces X 25 cents = 125 USD
Backdrops and Flyers = 100 USD

Subtotal = 295 USD

Photo Hunt and Uploads

Campus Photo Fest - University of Nigeria, Enugu = 200 USD
Campus Photo Fest - University of Nigeria, Nsukka = 200 USD
Campus Photo Fest – Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka = 200 USD
Campus Photo Fest – University of Lagos = 200 USD
Campus Photo Fest – Imo State University, Owerri = 200 USD

Subtotal = 1000 USD

Refreshments for the respective photo hunts and upload sessions Amount = 1000USD

Prizes for top 3 participants

1st prize = 100 USD Gift voucher
2nd prize = 80 USD Gift voucher
3rd prize = 60 USD Gift voucher

Subtotal = 240 USD

Data reimbursement for participants who upload more than 2 photos and for 3 webinar participations

Amount = 2000 USD

Contingency and miscellaneous (Which also helped in reimbursement for the 3 webinars)

Amount = 135 USD

Grand Total = 4685 USD

Remaining funds

Do you have any remaining grant funds?

No

Anything else

Anything else you want to share about your project?

I always heard how we should partner with local organizations to execute wiki projects, but I never tried it until now...and I must say, it was worth it. Though we navigated mostly on the fly, but it was a worthwhile experience.