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Grants:Project/MSIG/WMNO/Language Diversity Hub

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statusFunded
Wikimedia Language Diversity Hub Research
Identifying barriers for small-language communities on Wikimedia projects, especially barriers that are shared between a diverse set of communities and explore how a Hub can be used as a method of working
targetSmall language Wikipedias
start dateMay 1
start year2022
end dateDecember 31
end year2022
budget (local currency)230,000 NOK
budget (USD)24,222
grant typeOrganization
non-profit statusYes
contact(s)• mali(_AT_)wikimedia.no
organization (if applicable)• Wikimedia Norge, on behalf of the steering committee for the initiative Wikimedia Language Diversity Hub
website (if applicable)• wikimedia.no
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Applications are not required to be in English. Please complete the application in your preferred language.

Project Goal

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What will be the outputs of your project and how will those outputs contribute to advancing a specific Movement Strategy Initiative?

  • As part of the Wikimedia Language Diversity Hub work, this research's overarching theme is initiative 4 (Ensure Equity in Decision-Making), point 25 (Regional & thematic hubs).
  • The goal with the research is to collect and analyze data from a globally varied array of sources about what the challenges are for new and upcoming Wikipedia editions and their communities. The goal of the project is two-fold:
    1. We want to identify barriers and challenges experienced by contributors from small language communities on Wikimedia projects on a global scale. The findings will provide a starting point for further research and development of new solutions to improve the situation for contributors to small-language projects.
    2. We will explore how a thematic hub can be used as a method to work with smaller Wikipedia communities on a global scale. The learnings from this project will be used to further develop the hub, and can also be useful for other thematic hubs.
  • The final output of the project will be two reports posted on Meta; the main research report will focus on the findings of the interviews and an analysis of these. These findings will provide an important foundation for further work for supporting small language communities on Wikimedia projects. The second report (which can be part of the project report) will focus on the hub as a working method (a "meta report", if you will). This report will be valuable for further developing this hub in particular, and for other thematic hub initiatives.

Project Background

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  • When do you intend to begin this project and when will it be completed?
  • February 2022–September 2022
  • Where will your project activities be happening?
  • The group interviews will be conducted as online video meetings. The interviews will be with 2 small-language communities in each of these continents: Asia, Africa, Europe, South America and North America.
  • Are you collaborating with other communities or affiliates on this project? Please provide details of how partners intend to work together to achieve the project goal.
  • The project is initiated by the Steering Committee of the Wikimedia Language Diversity Hub. The Steering Committee is made up of a diverse group of experienced Wikimedians working in and with small and indigenous language communities. The steering committee group has been active since August 2021 and was established after Wikimedia Norge organized The Arctic Knot Wikimedia Language Conference 2021. Minutes from the meetings the steering committee has held so far can be read here. The steering committee members that are not actively participating in this research, will have an advisory role throughout the process. The Wikimedia User Groups Wikitongues and Art+Feminism are both long time partners of Wikimedia Norge, and were both involved partners in organizing The Arctic Knot Wikimedia Conference, as they will be in this research.
  • Collaborations
  • Wikitongues: One staff member from Wikitongues is an observerer in the steering committee. Wikitongues are working on a project to support the new language versions of Wikipedia and this process from A to Z.
  • Artandfeminism: Art+Feminism has experience in working with underrepresented groups in a dezentralized way around the world. These experiences will be valuable to build on in this research project.
  • Dagbani Wikimedians User Group
  • The other hub initiatives will be important collaboration partners + Movement Strategy & Governance team
  • What specific challenge will your project be aiming to solve? And what opportunities do you plan to take advantage of to solve the problem?
  • Challenges:
  • Identifying barriers: Contributors to small-language Wikimedia projects experience challenges and barriers to participation that often differ greatly from the challenges for contributors to larger languages. Some barriers may be larger than what the Wikimedia community can realistically hope to influence (like economical or cultural barriers), but there are other barriers that we can influence greatly, like technical barriers and availability and discoverability of help resources and support structures. This research will be a first step in documenting such barriers for this class of contributors. Since this is an early stage, we wish to be open to a large spectrum of possible barriers and challenges, to get a foundation for building the hub and for further research.
  • Building community: The research project will bring the indigenous and small language communities closer together, facilitate communication between them, and build a global community of language diversity.
  • Exploring the Hub method: As the hubs and their purpose are not very well defined yet, an important part of this research project is exploring how a thematic hub might work. The research project will be a small scale pilot for future work of a hub.
  • Opportunities:
  • Identifying barriers is the first step to reducing the entry barriers and to attract more language communities to be able to contribute to the Wikimedia projects and join the Wikimedia movement.
  • UNESCO’s International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032) goal is to build a global community for the preservation, revitalization and support of indigenous languages worldwide. It is a great opportunity to show how the Wikimedia projects and tools aligns with, and can be used to support the goals of the Decade of Indigenous Languages.
  • With the implementation of the 2030 Movement Strategy recommendations, and building on the work already done by many small language communities globally, this research project is a step in connecting those communities in a network and a possible future hub.
  • Does this project aim to apply one of the examples shared in the call for grants and if so which one?
  • Research example.

Project Activities

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  • What specific activities will be carried out during this project? Please describe the specific activities that will be carried out during this project.
  • Research design:
    1. Making the interview guide, translations of interview guides and information materials. Making sure the group interviews can be conducted in an inclusive way. Steering committee members will be compensated for the work on interview design.
    2. Selecting the communities.The steering committee will jointly agree on 2 communities from each region (Asia, Africa, Europa, North and South America), that also meet one of these two criteria
1) have recently (within the last 2 years) got a new Wikipedia project approved and created, or
2) are communities whose Wikipedia are still in the Incubator stage.
Steering committee members will be compensated for this work.
  • Research:
The research will be conducted as group interviews. Information will be given to the selected communities in advance, either through an information meeting, or by posting announcements on the local Village Pumps. The interviews will be transcribed and also translated when necessary. This work will be done by steering committee members, and they will be compensated for it.
  • Analysis:
Qualitative analysis of the interviews to provide an answer to the research question. The preliminary findings will be discussed in workshops with the communities and the wider movement. We envision that the results of this research and the workshops can form the basis for a key focus area for further work within the hub.
  • Evaluation:
The steering committee will evaluate the experience of working together as a hub.
  • Documentation and Communication: Writing of the two research reports, make all interview material available on the Wikimedia Language Diversity Hub Meta page. Communication on and off wiki about the research.
  • Coordination:
Coordinate work to manage and support multiple workflows and manage expenses. :Prepare and host regularly meetings.


  • How do you intend to keep communities updated on the progress and outcomes of the project? Please add the names or usernames of these individuals responsible for updating the community
  • The Wikimedia Language Diversity Hub Meta page will be used as the landing page for everything related to this research project
  • Regular announcements and engaging in discussions in relevant Telegram groups
  • Regular announcements on relevant Village Pumps (or equivalents) in the small-language Wikipedias
  • Offer online/offline information meetings in connection with the group interviews
  • Propose workshops with discussions on preliminary findings at the 2022 Celtic Knot Wikimedia Language Conference and Wikimania 2022
  • Share two blog posts, in May/June and October 2022 about the research on Diff blog
  • Translate the research reports and blog posts into the languages of the communities that have been involved, and possibly other relevant languages


  • Who will be responsible for delivering on this project and what are their roles and responsibilities?

Active participants in the research project from the steering committee are: (some are still to be confirmed)

  • Amqui: Research activities in Canada/USA/Haiti and possibly other French-speaking countries of the Americas.
  • Iyumu: Research activities in the Southeast Asia region, will provide translations.
  • Jon Harald Søby (WMNO): Research design, coordination and communication.
  • Oscar .: Research activities in South America/Central America/Mexico/Caribbean
  • SGill (WMF): Research design and research activities in the South Asia region.
  • Shahadusadik: Research design and research activities in the African region, will provide translations.
  • Yupik: Research design, research activities in the Northern/Eastern European region.
  • Mali Brødreskift (WMNO): Coordination and communication.

The steering committee members that are not active in this research project, will still have advisory roles throughout the project in monthly steering committee meetings. It will also be important to keep an open dialogue with other hub initiatives and the possible peer support / communities of practice discussions that will happen. We welcome any support from the Movement Strategy & Governance team in our work.

Additional information

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  • If your activities include community discussions, what is your plan for ensuring that the conversations are productive? Provide a link to a Friendly Space Policy or UCoC that will be implemented to support these discussions.
  • We will create an interview guide that is inclusive and have a neutral language. We will do two rounds of test interviews in the steering committee before we start with the 10 community research interviews. We will follow the Universal Code of Conduct for all interviews and communication in the project.
  • If your activities include in-person events or activities, you will need to complete the steps outlined in the Risk Assessment protocol. Please provide a link to your completed copy of the risk assessment tool.
  • The interviews will most likely take place online and be recorded if participants agree to recording. For possible in person interviews we will follow the local regulations, and use the Risk assessment protocol for meetings with more than 5 participants.
  • If your activities include the use of paid online tools, please describe what tools these are and how you intend to use them.
  • Paid online tools for video calls and online collaboration tools will be organized by Wikimedia Norge. Either by tools we already pay for or new subscriptions we might need eg Zoom.
  • Do your activities include the translation of materials, and if so, in what languages will the translation be done? Please include details of those responsible for making the translations.

Yes, some material and interviews will have to be translated. Depending on the communities that are part of the research process, we might need paid translations as well. Already confirmed translators are:

  • Are there any other details you would like to share? Consider providing rationale, research or community discussion outputs, and any other similar information, that will give more context on your proposed project.

The Wikimedia Language Diversity Hub is a proposed Wikimedia hub for affiliates and volunteers who are working on indigenous, minority, marginalized and under-resourced language communities in Wikimedia projects. The hub is an extension and continuation of the Wikimedia Language Diversity initiative, and is proposed as a result of the Wikimedia 2030 Movement Strategy Recommendations.

The idea for this hub is that it would be a gathering place for affiliates and volunteers within its topic area to share experiences, expertise and resources in order to help each other grow and succeed, and to act as a united front in advocating issues that affect smaller language projects. It would also serve as a facilitator for partnerships with external partners looking to collaborate with Wikimedians on language issues all over the world.

In the post-conference survey at the Arctic Knot Wikimedia Language Conference we asked what functions people would want to have in a Language Diversity Hub. The list of answers can be read here. We also did a workshop during Wikimania 2021 to gather input on 1: what focus areas a possible Wikimedia Language Diversity hub could have, and 2: what partnerships in the wider ecosystem of free knowledge a hub could benefit from. Here is a link to the etherpad with session notes.

We believe that a Language Diversity Hub can and will work with several 2030 Movement Strategy initiatives, and we have listed the most relevant strategy recommendations and initiatives on this page. We expect the research conducted in this particular project to give valuable input on how the hub can contribute to initiative 9 (Innovate in Free Knowledge), point 39 (Identifying policies that hinder knowledge equity) as well as initiative 8 (Identify Topics for Impact), point 38 (Content initiatives in underrepresented communities).

Please see the page for the Wikimedia Language Diversity Hub for further rationale.

Outcomes

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After your activities are complete, we would like to understand the draft implementation plan for your community. You will be required to prepare a document detailing this plan around a movement strategy initiative. This report can be prepared through Meta-wiki using the Share your results button on this page. The report can be prepared in your language, and is not required to be written in English.

In this report, you will be asked to:

  • Provide a link to the draft implementation plan document or Wikimedia page
  • Describe what activities supported the development of the plan
  • Describe how and where you have communicated your plan to relevant communities.
  • Report on how your funding was spent

Your draft implementation plan document should address the following questions clearly:

  • What movement strategy initiative or goal are you addressing?
  • What activities will you be doing to address that initiative?
  • What do you expect will happen as a result of your activities? How do those outcomes address the movement strategy initiative?
  • How will you measure or evaluate your activities? What tools or methods will you use to evaluate your activities?

To create a draft implementation plan, we recommend the use of a logic model, which will help you and your team think about goals, activities, outcomes, and other factors in an organized way. Please refer the following resources to develop a logic model:

Please confirm below that you will be able to prepare a draft implementation plan document by the end of your grant:

  • Yes

Optionally, you are welcome to include other information you'd like to share around participation and representation in your activities. Please include any additional outcomes you would like to report on below:

Budget

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How you will use the funds you are requesting? List bullet points for each expense. Don’t forget to include a total amount, and update this amount in the Probox at the top of your page too!

The budget items Interview Design and Research will be spendings covering the work of all involved from the steering committee and Wikimedia Norge will act as the fiscal sponsor.

We would like to use the Celtic Knot Wikimedia Language Conference 2022 and Wikimania 2022 as possible check in opportunities with the wider Wikimedia movement and present a rough draft of research findings at these conferences. The expenses for participating at these conferences will be covered by Wikimedia Norge and others involved. We estimate additional Coordination expenses of about 80,000–100,000 NOK. These spendings will be covered by Wikimedia Norge's Wikimedia Foundation Annual Plan Grant for June 2021–July 2022.

Exchange rate=0,1101 USD


Budget
Expense Responsible part Amount in NOK Amount in USD
Prepare Interview Design Steering committee 50,000 5,505
Conduct Research / 10 interviews Steering committee 50,000 5,505
Analyze Research Wikimedia Norge 40,000 4,404
Documentation and Communication on and off wiki Wikimedia Norge 20,000 2,202
Coordination of workflows Wikimedia Norge 50,000 5,505
Accounting External partner 10,000 1,101
TOTAL AMOUNT 220,000 24,222

Completing your application

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Once you have completed the application, please do the following:

  • Change the application status from status=draft to status=proposed in the {{Probox}} template.
  • Contact strategy2030 wikimedia.org to confirm your submission, as well as to request any support around your application.

Endorsements

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An endorsement from community members (especially from outside your community) will be part of the considerations when reviewing your application. Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!

  •   Strong support necessary for the Wikimedia language communities.Shahadusadik (talk) 17:31, 3 December 2021 (UTC)
  •   Strong support This project will help bridge the yawning gap paced for indigenous languages.Dnshitobu (talk) 17:33, 3 December 2021 (UTC)
  • Alhaj Darajaati (talk) 18:21, 3 December 2021 (UTC)
  •   Strong support This would help lift up the indigenous languages higher and people together as a community. Munkaila Sulemana (talk) 20:07, 3 December 2021 (UTC)
  • Ruky Wunpini (talk) 19:45, 3 December 2021 (UTC)
  • This project will help grow and make known indigenous languages like Dagbani to the whole world. Abubakari Khadijah (talk) 20:19, 3 December 2021 (UTC)
  • I strongly endorse this project
  •   Strong support Dagbani deserves to be preserved and this offers a great opportunity to organize and provide conducive environment for editors to digitise the indigenous language. Uprising Man (talk)
  •   Strong support I strongly endorse this project Alhassan Mohammed Awal (talk) 12:05, 4 December 2021 (UTC)
  •   Strong support this is something which will help in promoting indigenous languages participation in the Wikimedia communities.Achiri Bitamsimli (talk) 12:19, 4 December 2021 (UTC)
  •   Strong support I strongly ssupport this projectAdam Tuferu (talk) 16:42, 4 December 2021 (UTC)
  •   Strong support I endorse this project project. Abubakar280 (talk) 17:14, 4 December 2021 (UTC)
  •   Strong support I endorse this project project. Zak Raha (talk) 17:20, 4 December 2021 (UTC)
  •   Strong support I strongly support this project on behalf of Art+Feminism. --Kiraface (talk) 22:38, 7 December 2021 (UTC)
  •   Strong support I strongly endorse this project --Robertjamal12 (talk) 10:14, 8 December 2021 (UTC)
  •   Strong support I strongly support this project. The challenges minority languages face are grossly underestimated, and the project and its systematic approach to facing these challenges is really needed. 129.242.81.79 10:38, 8 December 2021 (UTC).
  •   Strong support On behalf of Wikimedia Venezuela, we fully support this project. We believe it will greatly benefit access to tools and resources for those in indigenous communities around the world.Oscar_. (talk) 11:29, 8 December 2021 (UTC)
  •   Strong support This would help lift up the under-represented languages higher and people together as a community. I fully endorse this project. DaSupremo (talk) 11:34, 8 December 2021 (UTC)
  •   Strong support I think language diversity deserves having resources and planning. There are many common barriers many languages come across and only together we can think of solutions in order to get them closer to Wikimedia. I trust the team will do a good job. --Marcmiquel (talk) 11:58, 8 December 2021 (UTC)
  •   Strong support This sounds like valuable research and planning towards addressing the problems faced by smaller-language projects and minority-language communities. — OwenBlacker (Talk) 12:29, 8 December 2021 (UTC)
  •   Strong support I endorse this project. ~~~~
  •   Strong support Smaller languages like Tyap deserve a representation on the global stage. I fully endorse this project. Kambai Akau (talk) 15:07, 8 December 2021 (UTC)
  •   Support This is a well-defined proposal that provides much-needed information for establishing the best practices for supporting under-resources languages with the help of the Wikimedia ecosystem. – Susanna Ånäs (Susannaanas) 🦜 15:31, 8 December 2021 (UTC)
  •   Support under-represented languages need more attention Mardetanha (talk) 16:45, 8 December 2021 (UTC)
  •   Strong support Important work towards a more diverse Wiki-community, I strongly endorse this project - Premeditated (talk) 07:20, 9 December 2021 (UTC)
  •   Strong support I endorse this project, on behalf of the board of Wikimedia Norway. We are very excited to see this project move forward. --Sigrunespe (talk) 14:38, 9 December 2021 (UTC)
  •   Strong support Support from Paiwan Wikimedians User Group. We believe language diversity is important for Wikimedia Movement. Small languages such as Formasan languages in Taiwan need more different ways of support which I believe Language Diversity Hub will help. iyumu   02:51, 10 December 2021 (UTC)
    Rhizomesandranch (talk) 15:23, 8 February 2022 (UTC)
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