Grants:Project/Rapid/Prabhune rajendra/San Francisco - Radio Interview & Presentation/Report

Draft report

This is a draft of a grant report for a grant funded for fiscal year 2017-18. Please do not respond or comment on it just yet: it's not yet ready for review. To read the approved grant submission, please visit Grants:Project/Rapid/Prabhune rajendra/San Francisco - Radio Interview & Presentation.

Goals

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

Yes.

a) My Radio Interview at 'Soft Biz' program at KZSU Stanford 90.1 FM, (Stanford University Radio station, San Francisco.) was Recorded on 21 Apr 2018, from 10:10 AM to 11:30 AM.

It was Broadcasted on 25 July 2018, at 11 AM US California Time, for Listeners of Stanford University Radio: Students and people in and around university campus
After broadcasting on 25th July 2018, it was publicly published and shared in Social Media

b) My Presentation at iGurukul foundation, an Indian (mainly Oriya) organization in Bay Area, San Francisco was on the Subject: ‘Why One Should Contribute in Regional Wikipedia.’ was on 12 May 2018, from 06:00 PM to 07:00 PM. It was well appreciated by the audience of Students and Members of iGurukul Foundation.

c) In addition I had an opportunity to meet and informally interact with people of many Indian regional groups and organizations in San Francisco Bay Area and Tampa, Florida. During these meetings I was able to create awareness and interest about Wikimedia Projects and emphasize the need to contribute, mainly in Regional language Wikimedia Projects.

Outcome

Please report on your original project targets.

Target outcome	Achieved outcome	Explanation
Increase awareness of Wikimedia projects	Achieved.	1. The exact number of listeners of the Radio program in not known. But it must be a large number because it is a popular program on popular radio channel. 2. The recording was shared extensively on many social media with good response 3. There were prolonged question and answer sessions before the interview with the compere of 'Soft-biz' program and after the presentation at iGurukul foundation. 4. Overall, the audience was very much interested in the topic and had many doubts and questions, which I tried to answer to the best of my knowledge. 5. In addition to the above programs I talked extensively about Wikipedia with people from many other groups mainly from Maharashtrian communities in San Francisco bay area and Tampa, Florida.
Recruit new editors	Not Achieved.	To increase the awareness about Wikimedia projects was my main purpose. That was achieved and I had good feedback, mainly in the form of increased awareness, clear concepts about Wikimedia and expectations from editors and expressed interest to contribute as an editor. But I could not recruit new editors at this stage. That and to organize contributory workshops will be the next step.
Encourage new editors to contribute mainly in Regional Wikimedia projects	Achieved.	I had extensive discussions before and after the radio recording, the presentation at iGurukul and with Maharashtrian and other groups and communities in San Francisco and Tampa. The audience of the presentation and people of various groups (with whom I had discussions) . A. Almost all were motivated and showed interest in contributing to Wikimedia projects as editors. B. The reasons they were not doing so were as follows - 1. Lack of awareness that a. Any person can edit b. Editing is now easy. It is not necessary to be accustomed to source editing. c. Any person can contribute. d. Contribution need not be in a form of full article. e. There are many ways and many platforms (like Media Wiki, Wikidata, Wctionay, Wiki source, etc.) to contribute. f. There are regional Wikimedia projects where they can contribute in Vernacular. In fact, that is more important because, the number of readers of Regional Wikipedia is increasing very fast and so Regional Wikimedia projects should expand very fast, g. Exceptional literary skills are not required for Wiki-contributions. 2. Fear of software language used in source editing. 3. Fear if something goes wrong. 4. Lack of time – This really was the problem. But many people were enthusiastic when they became aware that one can do small edits and contributions like uploading a photo, minor corrections, etc. 5. Lack of motivation. 6. Actually, contribution without any monitory gain was not the major issue with people I interacted with. C. Since I went from India, it was easy for such Indian communities like (iGurukul - Oriya Group, Maharashtra Mandal, Bengali community, etc.) to communicate and interact with me. D. After my presentation and many other informal discussions to create awareness, many expressed the need for Workshops on ‘How to contribute’ in Wikipedia, Media Wiki, Wikidata, Wiki source, etc.
Encourage new editors to do correctional, complementary and small contributory edits	Partly Achieved.	Potential new editors were motivated to do correctional, complementary and small contributory edits because they became aware that this type of editing is also as important as contribution of a full article. During my next visits, with more thorough planning, a. I will be able to create awareness, about Contribution in Regional Wikimedia projects, in many more regional communities b. I will be able to recruit new editors c. I will be able to organize Workshops on ‘How to contribute’ in Wikimedia projects, for new editors.

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?

1. Overall response and enthusiasm were very good.

2. The goal of creating interest and motivating people of various Indian Regional Groups to contribute in Wiki Media projects was fulfilled.

3. I was able to answer and clarify most of the questions and doubts regarding Wikipedia.

4. The people I met and communicated with were from various regional and Professional backgrounds and were well-established. That is why, they were best suited to participate in any Social activity with Intellectual Contribution like Wiki Media Projects.

What did not work so well?

1. Radio is a very good platform for Outreach program. It potentially reaches a very large population. The 'Soft biz' program seems to be fairly popular.

2. But I am unable to know the exact number of people who listened to it.

3. I also cannot be certain (from the 'likes') about how many actually listened to the Audio recording which we shared on social media.

4. I cannot get actual feedback from the listeners of Radio Program. So the chances of recruiting actual new editors seems to be nil.

What would you do differently next time?

1. I felt the need for more such Introductory Presentations and Workshops. There appears to be a lack of awareness that they also can contribute and edit. And there are many misconceptions and doubts. This became apparent from the questions asked in the interview and during discussions after my presentation.

2. After this, I will organize Participatory workshops on "How to contribute".

Finances

Grant funds spent

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

No.	Head	Particulars	Vehicle	INR	Approx USD (1)	USD
1	Travel	Wai - Pune - Wai	Car: 50.2 X 2 = 100.4 Miles		100.4 X 0.545(2)	54.72
2	Travel	Pune - Mumbai - Pune	Taxi	4900	72.04	72.04
3	Travel	Mumbai - San Francisco - Tampa - Mumbai	Air Fare	71230	1047.5	1047.5
4	Travel	San Francisco Airport - San Jose residence - San Francisco Airport	Car: 41 X 2 = 82 Miles		82 X 0.545	44.69
5	Travel	San Jose – Stanford University – San Jose	Car: 25 X 2 = 50 Miles		50 X 0.545	27.25
6	Travel	San Jose – iGurukul Foundation, Fremont – San Jose	Car: 26 X 2 = 52 Miles		52 X 0.545	28.34
7	Venue	Studio at Radio Station Stanford				0
8	Venue	Hall at iGurukul Foundation, Fremont				0
9	LCD Projector	By iGurukul Foundation				0
10	Refreshments	By iGurukul Foundation				0
			Total	86668.72		1274.54
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example

(68 INR=1USD)
Mileage reimbursement rate: 0.545 USD/Mile, as per IRS Standard Mileage rate

Remaining funds

Do you have any remaining grant funds?

Anything else

Anything else you want to share about your project?