Grants:Project/Rapid/Zend2020/WikiEmbrace/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/Zend2020/WikiEmbrace.
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?I met some of my goals not all,I was able to introduce them to the Wikipedia Community and explain the possibilities in the movement.I am happy because they caught on and were elated to be onboarded even though they faced a lot of difficulties but I strongly believe that will be resolved . The most important and valuable lesson was that the community I was dealing with had a lot of differences ,I had to put in consideration to effectively relate with them this I took for granted even though I had in the past related with PWDs.. That also things in a project may not always go as planned. It is important I think outside the box.There were also many issues particular which I discovered I had to sort which ordinarily I won't have to consider with other communities.We had to deal with issues on the Wikipedia platform making it hard for an easy flow

Outcome

Please report on your original project targets. Please be sure to review and provide metrics required for Rapid Grants.

Target outcome	Achieved outcome	Explanation
Social Inclusion of new editors who are empowered with new skills.	They were introduced to Wikipedia and the cause ,thought behind it and how they could become contributors.	As the subtitle goes Wikipedia is the free encyclopaedia that anyone can edit. The rules and features were explained and some demonstration followed.
PLWDs getting relevant skills in today's world is the springboard we aim to launch from this project.	This outcome was realized, many are now tuned in to the possibilities in the digital knowledge economy highlighted in the project and have started to see those opportunities as not far fetched for them.	The morale of the newly introduced editors was high as the endless possibilities in Wikipedia were discussed. One of many is being part of a global movement contributing knowledge to humanity but in practice the blockers were real
I also want to create a relationship with PWDs Organizations in Nigeria	I was able to reach out to various communities of PWD, especially those who are providing assistance in social inclusion and integration with the use of of technology called Assistive Technology	The project also served as an outreach to various stakeholders in the community including NGOs ,CSOs and PWDs . They were well represented even to the executive level as some of the participants were/ are on the National Board of their Communities holding executive seats
Create articles of notable people PWDs	This milestone was not hit for the following reasons. Most of the newly created accounts on creation had their IPs barred even I inclusive at the Ilorin meeting which was predominantly with the deaf community. The blind community had accessibility challenges.	There were a lot of complaints about IP blocks as a result part of the time was used to resolve this issues which lasted for days for some.The visually impaired and blind could not create an account unassisted or edit .
Create articles of notable people PWDs	The team came up with articles to be improved and created but unfortunately ,accessibility was a big issue and Wikipedia not optimized for their use in English Wikipedia.	The inability to create an account was a major issue as the ReCaptha was a major hurdle as it has no audio therefore we had to assist in that process. The inability of the screen reader to read the edit section As a result a group was created to troubleshoot this issue on Whatsapp and I also reached out to the Wikimedia accessibility group about possible solutions .Below are some of their findings English Wikipedia seems to be the only wiki with that complication with various options for account creation .The German https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spezial:Captcha/help and french wikipedia to https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sp%C3%A9cial:Captcha/help which both give an email address instead, which is probably the best option? and French https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sp%C3%A9cial:Captcha/help provide some sort of help which both give an email address instead, which is probably the best option? like in wiktionary and wikdata contact the admins with no real clear pointer to how. Dr Mel an admin was able to come up with another options which also had another issue Which was ‘’Graham Pearce is coFounder of WikiBlind.org, blind-since-birth, and has admin status on en.wikipedia - he has offered to help setup new accounts and get people with visual impairments and accessibility devices started. There’s a simple low-tech solution to the account creation obstacles for people who can’t get through the captcha - which is already sort of there: “request an account” goes to a human somewhere who can then reply. The biggest challenge on this is the length of time it takes just to find the Request Account button. And I’m unsure what happens next with actual requests. If you’d like to better see what I’m seeing: Try using an incognito window to start an account creation, and follow the instructions for what to do if you can’t complete the captcha. How much text do you have to read through before you can find the button to make the request? If someone is using a screen reader, there’s no way to skim the text it takes to get through before you can initiate the request for an account. ‘’AS a result our group still troubleshooting ,a certain blind editor was able to make an edit and we have conscripted him to train others in a virtual training that is upcoming WkiEmbrace report

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? a :The campaign and call for the project though it started low key it gradually built up momentum. There was collaboration with other Wikipedians in the state/venue of the project as they rallied around the project to ensure it was supported .

b The event was well attended and we had to close down the entrance to the meeting.

What did not work so well? There was a delay in the funds reaching us as a result affected some timelines.

There were logistic issues and of course the inability to edit by most of the community The clash in timelines made it impossible for a team member to be present due to another planned project

What would you do differently next time?

I would put in place a risk management plan to mitigate those scenarios and other possible scenarios deciding whether I accommodate,transfer or share the risk.

Finances

Grant funds spent

Please describe how much grant money you spent for approved expenses, and tell us what you spent?I spent $1965 and was spent on the following .I spent the grant on Production of materials for communication and souvenirs like rollup banner this where used for publicity and communication, $60 T shirts, $80 notepads,pens.and souvenirs $250 Local travel expenses by air and road $400,Rentals like renting of both hall $300 Cameras and projectors for both venues $75,Refreshments food,snacks,water and sweets $400,Data and internet subscription $170,Communication:Airtime for Phone Calls $20,Health and Safety: Masks $80 and Hand Sanitizers $20 Contigency(Transportation stipend for participants) $80 Certificates $110

Remaining funds

Remaining funds have been used or will be used for other approved mission-aligned activities. This use has been requested in writing and approved by WMF.

Do you have any remaining grant funds? $20

I will like to use in next project documenting oral history and tradition or the continuation of this project to find out how Wikipedia can be made accessible.

Anything else

Anything else you want to share about your project?Recommendation:I discovered some sites with accessibility features that could be incorporated into Wikipedia like this site https://london.ac.uk/.We will very much like to resolve this issue and happy to work with the Foundation to make Wikipedia accessible to all so it can become an encyclopaedia anybody can edit.