Grants:Project/Rapid/Semmy1960/WikiBlogger/Report

Report accepted

This report for a Rapid Grant approved in FY 2020-21 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/Semmy1960/WikiBlogger.
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 and No! Yes in terms of recruiting new Editors, we were able to meet part of our goals through training of Lagos state university students (Ojo main campus)who were already bloggers. We hosted a 2-day training for the students and we had the president of the Nigeria user group present who also helped to follow up with mentoring, We also had the President of the Yoruba user group too. Their presence really graced the training. The training has stirred a great thing in the minds of the bloggers which is how to use of Wikipedia platform for research. The training and the news of the success of the training, berthed an ongoing registration of a Wiki Fan club in LASU, with an election of an Executive Council headed by a Part 2 Mass Communication Student Okikiola as their President.

The news of the training has encouraged more students to ask and call for more training which they can benefit from. The students on their own created a WhatsApp group for Students seeking more Wikipedia Training. There are 92 students in all now, waiting to be trained after their examinations. The training has increased the skills of the students but We didn’t meet our goals in terms of article creation because the students had challenges with improving articles on Notable Nigerian bloggers. A list of Notable Nigerian blogger’s that was given were not notable by the Wikipedia notability standard

Outcome

Please report on your original project targets.

Please be sure to review and provide metrics required for Rapid Grants.

Project metrics

Project metrics	Target outcome	Achieved outcome	Explanation
2 Number of events	2 Number of events
25 Number of participants	22 Number of participants
15 Number of new editors	22 Number of new editors
15 Number of articles created or improved	1 Number of articles created or improved	The list of bloggers given were not notable as per Wikipedia notability guidelines
10 Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events)	19 Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events)	19 among the Editors are waiting to have a repeat training on how to use other Wikipedia tools

Learning

What worked well?

The training has stirred a great thing in the minds of the bloggers which is how to use of Wikipedia platform for research. The training and the news of the success of the training, berthed a Wiki Fan club in LASU, with an election of an Executive Council headed by a Part 2 Mass Communication Student Okikiola Makinde as President. The news of the training has encouraged more students to ask and call for more training which they can benefit from. * The students on their own created a WhatsApp group for Students seeking more Wikipedia Training. There are 92 students in all now, waiting to be trained after their examinations.
The training has also created a great awareness within the University System which made the Vice-Chancellor of Lagos State University call for a detailed meeting and presentation of Wikipedia by us and the Wikimedia Nigeria User Group on how Wikipedia Training can be added to the University curriculum. The talk is still ongoing. The online mentoring went a long way to help the students because many had issues getting how to reference articles

What didn't work so well?

The creation of articles by the student Bloggers didn’t work well because the list of notable bloggers that was assigned to the students for creation couldn't be created because the notable Bloggers didn’t adhere to the Wikipedia notability standards so they were not notable enough for the article creation which caused a lot of frustration amongst the students who were willing to start creating articles on Wikipedia
Many of the students had issues with the power supply to work, even though we distributed and have given out as Prizes and gifts, 15 Power Banks during and after the training while we were monitoring the training.

List of bloggers


List of Nigerian Bloggers shared amongst the students for article creation
Demola Ogundele
Kemi Filani
Emeh Achanga
Ladun Liadi (Oladunni)
Laila
Jide Ogunsanya
Yemisi Aiyedun
Noble Igwe
Onibalusi Bamidele
Makinde Azeez
Stella Dimoko korkus
Myne Whitman

What would you do differently next time?

I would ensure I try to expand my project so that if some articles are not notable, they are not restricted to just a particular project but can be expanded so that more contributions can be recorded
To solve these problems, we hope to provide as many iPads next time by partnering with local IT Marketing companies in Nigeria who we will convince of the importance of Wikipedia to the Nigerian environment and why they need to always support Wikimedia in order to help fill the knowledge gap on Nigerian content.
Giving gifts as prizes really gave the event a lot of publicity. We would definitely do that again.

Finances

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

   Event Hall ( 2-day event) - 2xUSD131.39=$263.78
   Refreshment( Tea, Bisiscuits and Lunch) (25x13by2days)- USD650
   Customised Face Masks: 2.63x25= 65.75
   Hands Sanitiser for each participant 2.63x25=65.75
   Printing (2xDrop Banner (USD 27), Rollup Banner(USD81)+Flyers(USD50))- USD158
   Graphics design: 13USD
   Alternative Power (should incase there is disruption in energy supply)- 40.54x2= 81.08
   Camera rentage for two days (65USDX2) - USD130
   Participants Pack (Pen,Wrist bands, keyholder etc)-25X 4.50USD- USD135
   Wikipedia Customised Shirts for 5 Organizers ( USD13.5 x5)- USD 67.5
   Internet Support for Bloggers to encourage ( Post training) ( 25X 8.10)= 202.50
   Local Travels for facilitators- ( USD10X3)- USD 30
   Contingency-USD 50
   Bank Charges- USD45
   Total= 1957.36

Gifts donated by First Digital Press

Power Banks
Reading Lamps
Table fans
Memory cards
Ipods

If there are remaining funds, please list the amount here. The remaining funds must be returned to WMF, reallocated to similar activities, or applied to another approved grant. Let us know what you'd like to do.

No funds remaining

Anything else

These are some of the images from the event with the students, Wikimedia User Group Nigeria, Lecturers from the university. If given more opportunities to run a Wiki project, with my passion for Wikipedia, I would love to campaign more for local companies to fund the content gap on Nigeria for Wikipedia. Truthfully, Wikipedia is the only archival source that is reliable today for storing content that pertains to Nigeria, our lives, heritage without it going into extinction. We need the support of the Nigerian government and the private sector to accept that Wiki is our reliable source for archiving the story about our great nation Nigeria. Thank you for the great opportunity given to me to make an impact in bridging the knowledge gap

Students with their gifts

Students after the training

Meeting with the VC of LASU after the training for a possible Wikipedia partnership in the school

Team of the Wikimedia Nigeria User Group, Lecturers of the university, C.E.O of First Digital Press, Myself and President of Wikimedia Yoruba Group