Grants:Project/Rapid/US OH/2016 Projects/Report

Report accepted

This report for a Rapid Grant approved in FY 2016-17 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/US OH/2016 Projects.
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.

Introduction

The US OH 2016 Projects rapid grant provided resources to the Ohio Wikimedians User Group for Wiki Loves Monuments 2016 in the United States, as well as branding and promotion. The grant also provided resources for Wikipedia Connection, a student organization at the Ohio State University and a subsidiary of the Ohio Wikimedians User Group, to host its weekly workshops, edit-a-thons, and other events.

Goals

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

As a whole, yes! Wikipedia Connection was successful at hosting its workshops, edit-a-thons, and educational outreach at the Ohio State University; the Ohio Wikimedians User Group was successful at helping to organize and facilitate Wiki Loves Monuments 2016 in the United States. Us organizers are happy with the projects this grant funded, having put our best effort into them and seeing good success. One aspect of our goal we did not meet was completing everything we had planned - it would have been great to expand the reach and impact of the Ohio Wikimedians User Group beyond the borders of Ohio State University more than we did this semester, though next semester is looking bright with events already planned outside of the Ohio State University. Wikipedia Connection was also unable to get a good start on our GLAM initiative at the Ohio State University, though that too is anticipated for next semester.

For our Impact goals, we're pleased to say that all of them have been met (and in some cases, greatly surpassed).

Number of total participants: 100 - Met by Wikipedia Connection through its three edit-a-thons and workshops; met by the Ohio Wikimedians User Group through Wiki Loves Monuments 2016 in the United States.
Number of articles created or improved (if applicable): 100 - Met by Wikipedia Connection through its three edit-a-thons and workshops; met by the Ohio Wikimedians User Group by the number of Wikipedia articles illustrated with images from Wiki Loves Monuments (~1,000).
Number of photos uploaded to Wikimedia Commons (if applicable): 400 - Greatly surpassed by the Ohio Wikimedians User Group through Wiki Loves Monuments 2016 in the United States; over 11,000 photo uploads.
Number of photos used on Wikimedia projects (if applicable): 100 - Greatly surpassed by the Ohio Wikimedians User Group through Wiki Loves Monuments 2016 in the United States; ~9% of 11,000 photo uploads used on Wikipedia.

Outcome

Please report on your original project targets.

Target outcome	Achieved outcome	Explanation
To promote Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects within Ohio.	Great promotion and outreach at the Ohio State University; limited promotion throughout the rest of Ohio, but great promotion nationwide.	Through Wiki Loves Monuments 2016 in the United States, over 1,700 people participated in uploaded their photos of monuments throughout the United States. Of those 1,700+, over 1,500 people newly registered to participate in the event. As part of the event, the Ohio Wikimedians User Group invited existing Ohio Wikimedians to participate, as well as working with Ohio History Connection to gain recognition and support - however, we did not do our planned Ohio-specific prizes of photo exhibition due to lack of time and resources.
To collaboratively improve the quality of Wikimedia project content through edit-a-thons, workshops, educational programs, and more.	A successful Wiki Loves Monuments 2016 in the United States (over 11,000 photos contributed, with ~9% being used on Wikipedia); weekly workshops and three edit-a-thons at the Ohio State University (resulting in over 90 created or improved articles); and more.	Wiki Loves Monuments 2016 in the United States, particular organized by the Ohio Wikimedians User Group and funded through this grant, resulted in over 11,000 valuable photos of monuments within the United States - which ranked the United States sixth worldwide, out of 42 participating countries. This success was likely attributed to our promotion throughout the nation through existing Wikimedia affiliates, historical societies, and social media; the fact that there was a 3 year gap since the last Wiki Loves Monuments in the United States; and that the scope of Wiki Loves Monuments in the United States was greatly increased to include state- and local-level monuments, instead of solely nationally registered monuments. Wikipedia Connection hosted three edit-a-thons (one more than planned, and one supported by this grant), in total reaching over 75 students and faculty and resulting in the improvement or creation of over 90 articles. Wikipedia Connection also continued its weekly workshops, which host educational sessions on various aspects of Wikipedia and resulting in content creation.
To support any Wikimedia-oriented events or organizations operating within Ohio.	Wikipedia Connection was able to support Wikimedia-oriented (or Wikimedia-supporting) events at the Ohio State University; the Ohio Wikimedians User Group has several opportunities planned for the coming months.	While Wikipedia Connection organized its own events, Wikipedia Connection also had the opportunity to support other events not originally organized by Wikipedia Connection students. The club was fortunate enough to receive word of and help organize the Spanish & Portuguese Edit-A-Thon - an edit-a-thon with the goal of having graduate students translate articles on Latin American women from Spanish and Portuguese into English. Originally hosted by Ohio State's Department of Spanish and two graduate students, there was no actual Wikipedia experience available until Wikipedia Connection found out about the event. The event resulted in over 60 participates translating articles. Wikipedia Connection also became an official organizing supporter of HackOHI/O 2016, Ohio State's largest hackathon. In addition to providing organizational support, Wikipedia Connection promoted developing for the Wikimedia movement for students participating at the hackathon. Finally, the Ohio Wikimedians proved to be a point of contact for several people, included the Central Ohio Chapter of the Association for Information Science and Technology. The group reached out to Wikipedia Connection's president, who gave a talk on Wikidata in January 2017.
To establish a sense of community within our group.	Wikipedia Connection saw new members join, and as a whole became more community-oriented (more work with Ohio State's libraries, social outings, and more). The Ohio Wikimedians User Group, while working with other affiliates during Wiki Loves Monuments, saw limited community building.	Wikipedia Connection, due to the success of its events and outreach on campus, saw an increase in its sense of community. The Ohio Wikimedians User Group was limited in this due to the limited time our members had to put into it. This is something that is already changing and will improve for next semester through better online outreach and supporting/hosting of other events.

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?
- Wiki Loves Monuments 2016 in the United States, organized in-part by the Ohio Wikimedians User Group, was a huge success. The event brought in over 11,000 images on the United States from ~1,778 uploaders - more uploads than any other country in 2016. Of the images uploaded, ~9% are currently being used in Wikipedia articles.
- Wikipedia Connection, the student organization at the Ohio State University, also saw several successes. Three diverse edit-a-thons were held, which ended up being one more than planned: the United Nations Day Edit-a-thon, Wikipedia Asian Month Edit-a-thon, and the Spanish & Portuguese Edit-a-thon. While the former two saw a typical turnout of between 15 and 20, the Spanish & Portuguese Edit-a-thon (with the goal of translating articles on Latin American women into English) saw over 60 participants! This was thanks to a collaboration with several grad students who coordinated and promoted the event with professors and their classrooms, oftentimes with an offer of extra credit for attending.

What did not work so well?
- We did not complete everything we wanted to do with our budget (such as advertising Wiki Loves Monuments in Ohio more, providing an exhibition for the event, and getting a good start on our GLAM initiative). The biggest cause of this was a lack of time and resources of our students to work on all these.

What would you do differently next time?
- Wikipedia Connection would better attempt to distribute workloads and tasks to students, which will be more possible now due to increased experience of our regular attendees. The Ohio Wikimedians will do more online outreach, starting with a monthly newsletter and getting involved with various online and offline projects (speaking opportunities, The 50,000 Challenge, virtual edit-a-thons, etc.).

Finances

Grant funds spent

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

Note: The full spreadsheet (with receipts) has been shared with the Foundation's Grants team through Google Drive.

Activity	Primary Host	Item	Cost	Actual Spent	Previous Notes	Post Notes
General	US-OH	Ohio Wikimedians User Group stickers (200)	$75	$99	From StickerMule
Wiki Loves Monuments 2016 in the United States	US-OH	Prizes	$300	$304.96	$150 for first place, $75 for second and third places	Small overspend due to PayPal fees
Wiki Loves Monuments 2016 in the United States, Ohio outreach	US-OH	Prizes	$100	$0	$50 for first place, $25 for second and third places	We cancelled the Ohio prize due to lack of resources to promote event; national focus.
Wiki Loves Monuments 2016 in the United States	US-OH	Exhibition supplies	$100	$0	Photo printouts, frames, and flyers	Alongside the Ohio prize, we cancelled the exhibition.
General	US-OH	Travel costs	$100	$0	General travel reimbursement costs for organizers travelling to various cities for event organization	No members made a claim for travel reimbursement.
General	US-OH	Printing costs	$30	$0	Printing costs for certificates, flyers, etc.	Utilized Ohio State's Resource Room; no cost to grant.
General	US-OH	Shipping costs	$20	$4.90	Shipping costs for certificates, event prizes, etc.
General	WC	Custom business cards	$35	$54.74	Custom business cards for Wikipedia Connection's officers; these will be used while networking at conferences, on-campus, meetings, etc.	Originally planned single-side cards; printed double-sided to represent both Wikipedia Connection and US-OH
General	WC	Two 50-packs of globe stickers	From Store	N/A	To be handed out for publicity and door prizes.
Weekly Workshops	WC	Food, beverages, and office supplies	$630	$524.12	Wikipedia Connection plans to host 14 weekly workshops during the semester, at a cost of $45 each. This rise from last semester is due to a rise in attendance. Each workshop includes food (usually pizza), snacks, refreshments, and tableware.	Amount less due to some underspending, leftover tableware, and one or two cancelled workshops.
Edit-a-thon	WC	Food, beverages, and supplies needed to host an edit-a-thon	$350	$114.06		Buffet-style food and leftover tableware brought down costs.
Edit-a-thon	WC	Four Wikipedia language water bottles	From Store	N/A	To be raffled off for participants in our two scheduled edit-a-thons.
GLAM Meetings	WC	Food and beverages	$40	$0	Wikipedia Connection is going to start a GLAM initiative on-campus; these funds will go towards light snacks and beverages for when we host meetings with local institutions regarding GLAM.	GLAM meetings in the works; no meetings where light snacks/beverages would have benefited.
Advertising	WC	Social media advertisement on Facebook	$50	$34.85	Facebook advertising will be used to raise targeted awareness about our club and our events.	Money went towards two edit-a-thons
General	WC	Unforeseen costs	$80	N/A	Funds to cover unforeseen costs, such as unexpected need for extra supplies or food	Covers some of the over-spending above (stickers, business cards, and PayPal fees)

TOTAL: $1,136.63

Remaining funds

The funds remaining from this grant in the amount of US$773.37 were deducted from another grant payment for Grants:Project/Rapid/Wikipedia Connection/Semester Funding for Workshops and Events in Spring 2017.

Do you have any remaining grant funds?

Yes. Our total budget was $1,910; having spent $1,136.63, that leaves $773.37.

We would like Wikipedia Connection to use these remaining funds during the Spring 2017 semester (grant request here).

Anything else

Anything else you want to share about your project?

Overall, this was a great semester, and as always, we are appreciative of the Foundation's and community's support. We're happy to see Wikipedia Connection "blossom" into the broader Ohio Wikimedians User Group, which in-time will support and host Wikimedia initiatives throughout the state (Wikipedia Connection being one of them).

An annual report for Wikipedia Connectioncan be expected in Summer 2017 for the 2016 - 2017 school year. As an example, the annual report for 2015 - 2016 is viewable here.