Grants:Project/Rapid/Rosalina523/Report

Report accepted

This report for a Rapid Grant approved in FY 2018-19 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/Rosalina523.
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?

Yes, project goals were met. Event organizers were pleased with the outcome and contributions from the group of new editors who attended the edit-a-thon. The project kicked off as planned with the edit-a-thon at the Indianapolis Museum of Art on March 1, 2019. Editors continued to contribute Wikidata entries and English Wikipedia article improvements throughout the tracking period, ending March 31, 2019. The Wikidata contributions to the project are ongoing.

Outcome

Please report on your original project targets.

1. Recruit new editors in central Indiana.

2. Increase skills for existing editors in the Indianapolis metropolitan area.

3. Add or improve content related to Indiana women in the arts.

Target outcome	Achieved outcome	Explanation
25 attendees	23 attendees - Nearly all of the attendees were first-time Wikipedia editors and new to Wikidata. A few editors from the previous Indiana Women in STEM edit-a-thon returned for this year’s event. (A couple of registrants were no-shows.)	Participants included members of the public and representatives from the Herron School of Art, Indiana University–Purdue University at Indianapolis, the Indiana Historical Bureau, the Indiana Women’s History Association, the Indiana Historical Society, the National Archives and Records Administration, and the event host, the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Provide Wikidata and English Wikipedia training for all attendees	All event participants were able attend both Wikidata and Wikipedia training sessions, each one lasting about an hour.	After introductions and welcoming remarks from Lydia Spotts (IMA library) and Jill Weiss (Indiana Historical Bureau), the attendees split into two groups for training in the morning. Mairelys Lemus-Rojas (IUPUI) lead the Wikidata training; Elaine Rosa (Indiana Historical Society) and Dominic Byrd-McDevitt (NARA) lead the English Wikipedia training.
Improve 30 to 60 articles in Wikidata/English Wikipedia	98 articles edited, 49 articles created, and 160,000 words added, based on Dashboard statistics gathered for February 28–March 31, 2019. See: https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Indianapolis_Museum_of_Art/Indiana_Women_in_the_Arts_Edit-a-thon_(2019)	The IMA staff had selected about 60 Indiana women artists as potential subjects for the edit-a-thon and pulled resources in advance of the event to have ready for the attendees’ use.

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?

Promotion of the edit-a-thon was coordinated by Jill Weiss, Nicole Politika, and Jessie Cortesi of the Indiana Historical Bureau through various social media channels and emails to those attending the 2017 Hoosier Women in STEM edit-a-thon. Online registration was handled through Eventbrite and coordinated by the IHB staff and intern. Registration reached 25 attendees about a week before the March 1 edit-a-thon. (Event registration was limited to 25 attendees due to the available space in the IMA library, where the event would be held.) Throughout the daylong edit-a-thon event on March 1, the IMA and IHB staff promoted the editing activity though Twitter posts.

We divided the larger group into two small groups for training in the morning so that attendees would be able to attend both Wikidata and Wikipedia training sessions, each one lasting about an hour. Afternoon sessions were mostly one-on-one coaching with a demonstration of how to add new Wikipedia articles. This gave the attendees time to research, ask the trainers for individual help, and research on their own. The event concluded with an IMA docent-led gallery tour that highlighted the work of women artists.

What did not work so well?

The edit-a-thon event went very smoothly. We were happy with the event, executed according to plan.

For the remainder of the month of March some of the editors continued to add Wikidata and English Wikipedia content from the IMA’s selected topic suggestions and resource materials. We had hoped that more edit-a-thon attendees would continue to work on the project throughout March, although we didn't have that as a specific outcome in our planning. Participation dwindled to two or three people by the end of March. Wikidata contributions related to the project are ongoing.

What would you do differently next time?

Plan efforts to keep in touch with attendees post-event rather than wait until we recruit for the next edit-a-thons.

Finances

Grant funds spent

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

Grant expense summary:

Box lunches $503.00

Remaining funds

Do you have any remaining grant funds?

Remaining grant funds: $ 41.00

The remaining funds will be used to pay for refreshments at a June or July 2019 gathering of the newly-formed Central Indiana Wikipedia Usergroup. We will invite March 2019 edit-a-thon attendees who are interested in continuing to contribute to Wikimedia projects. The local usergroup will share their experiences and provide assistance to others as needed. Tentative dates for the usergroup meeting at the Indiana Historical Society are either on June 27 or July 11, from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

Remaining funds are retained by the grantee with WMF's permission until after the report review has been completed and report has been accepted, at which time the WMF program officer will also provide instructions regarding the grantee's reallocation or return of the unspent grant funds.

Anything else

Anything else you want to share about your project?

A few individuals who attended the March 1 edit-a-thon indicated an interest in participating in the newly-formed Wikipedia Usergroup in Central Indiana on an ongoing basis.

In addition, some members of Indianapolis’s GLAM community are interested in collaborating on future Wikidata and Wikipedia-related editing projects. Discussions are ongoing.