Wikimedia Meta-Wiki

Grants:Simple/Applications/AfroCROWD/2021-2022

< Grants:Simple | Applications
Application or grant stage: approved
Applicant or grantee: applicant
Amount requested: US $94,255.16 (US$86,714.75 + fiscal sponsor fee)
Amount granted: 80,000 USD + 8% fiscal sponsorship fee (6,956.52 USD)
Funding period: 1 July 2021 - 30 June 2022
Midpoint report due: Half YEAR + 15 days
Final report due: YEAR + 30 days

Application

edit

Background

edit

Annual Plan

edit
  • Required. Link to any outside relevant document around your annual plan.
    • For returning grantees, the annual plan should focus on what is being done differently compared to last year.
    • New summaries or explanations are not required for any continuing programs from the previous grant that have no or minimal changes, and can be linked to a previous proposal for reference.
    • 2000-word limit recommended. If you have an annual plan already prepared for other purposes that is over 2000 words, this is satisfactory, and it is not necessary to prepare a separate one for your Simple APG application. Please clearly indicate any new programs or changes from last year.

Our annual plan is based closely on this proposal however there are changes in cohesion.

AfroCROWD's overall theme for 2021-2022 is Our World Connected: The African Diaspora in Wiki 360 - Read, Seen, Heard and Understood. Referring to an increased focus on Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons (both audio and visual) and Linguistics (as in translatathons).

Changes are centered on expansion in the following areas:

  • Growth in our creative efforts, especially in creative representation of knowledge on Wikipedia (for example, animation of data or historical items and figures and oral knowledge/ recorded knowledge using Wikimedia Commons and Open Street Maps).
  • Expansion to a new American state and a new Caribbean country.
  • We also intend to develop new partnerships and relationships in the GLAM and educational community made during the recent fiscal year.
  • We are growing new partnerships within the linguistic and information literacy communities as well.
  • We intend to use consultants in further web development and organizational development.

2021

  • July: French Language Editathon targeting French speakers in New York and online
  • August:Animate the African Diaspora project begins phase 1
  • August: UN Photography Day (August 19) campaign begins for Photograph the African Diaspora Wikimedia Commons project: A project to improve representation online of the daily lives of people of African descent all over the World and to add and improve information missing on notable figures in the African Diaspora.
  • August: Wikimania
  • September:Wiki Caribbean Festival
  • September: Animate the African Diaspora project
  • October: Wiki Conference North America presentation
  • October: UN World Development Information Day (October 24) Day to focus on information literacy and marks the end of the Photograph the African Diaspora Campaign (Winners to be announced and awarded )
  • November: Information Literacy project Week of Wiki
  • December: End of year mixer (Year-end Wikipedia online editathon and celebration with speakers from the Movement)

2022

  • January: Wikipedia Day Celebration
  • February: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Annual Editathon
  • March: AfroCROWD Women’s History Month campaign and partnerships with Wiki GAP, Visible Wiki Women, Art+Fem, Women in Red
  • April: Earth Day celebration and Caribbean Earth Week
  • May: Africa Day Campaign
  • June 19: Caribbean Emancipation Day Awareness Campaign
  • June: AfroCROWD Juneteenth Conference

Budget Plan

edit
  • Required. Link to your budget plan.

Budget plan: link to detailed budget.


Staffing Plan

edit
  • May be required. Link to your staffing plan if you are requesting staff. If you're asking for staff for the first time, please give a rationale (and talk to your program officer). Staffing Plan should only include:
    • Name of staff role.
    • Names of individuals filling those roles (if known).
    • Brief description of responsibilities. Staffing plan

Executive Director: Sherry Antoine. AfroCROWD Executive Director (July 2021 - June 2022) The duties of the executive director, and has been in AfroCROWD management role since 2015 will be as follows in this grant cycle:

  • Direct AfroCROWD programs;
  • Coordinate webinars, online editathons and editathon reporting including maintenance of on-wiki page;
  • Managing and maintaining institutional / GLAM / Grassroots / Educational partnerships to further these programs;
  • Pursue and maintain new institutional / GLAM / Grassroots / Educational partnerships;
  • Direct social media accounts to support outreach for programs and the AfroCROWD brand;
  • Research and draft monthly newsletter;
  • Where needed, represent the organization in public appearances and conferences
  • Draft grant applications and reports.

Manage:

  • Budget
  • Strategy
  • expenses reimbursement
  • Invoice payment
  • Reporting
  • Maintaining accounts
  • Represent initiative to stakeholders
  • Partnerships and programs
  • Contractors and staffers, if any (from hiring to payment)
  • All reports to funder(s) and funder relations
  • Manage media relations and organizational representation
  • Manage expansion into new regions

Please describe any changes to your staffing plan for the upcoming funding period. These should include increases in staff or contractor hours, new staff positions, or staff positions you are removing. Include your rationale for any staffing changes here.

Our staffing plan has expanded to handle expansion of demand, partnerships and programming, hours due to increased activity, more international and inter-regional programming and expanded responsibilities. The hours have increased to meet and reflect duties by 7 hours. The contract has also increased by seventy five cents. Indication of FTE (full-time equivalent hours) and duration of employment / contract: .9 FTE with a renewable contract for 12 months.

Additional Programatic Positions and Services

  • Community Organizer(2): Linda Fletcher and additional recruit. Community organizers are key to AfroCROWD. A volunteer post, the requested stipend is meant to support their work. We have been working for some time with Linda Fletcher, this year she has been especially vital, she has held regular online meetings in her local community during the lockdown. We want to encourage this consistent long-term effort. We are looking at adding to her efforts at least one more person outside of New York to help build capacity in the Caribbean. These efforts go beyond general organizing but represent sustained efforts by the organizers to continue outreach on behalf of AfroCROWD to community groups in addition to general overall efforts by AfroCROWD. The term budgeted is for 6 months during the year.
  • Web development / media specialist: Bag Of Apples web development. In 2020, AfroCROWD expanded our outreach efforts with an expertly designed website that provides information and tools for participants, press and those seeking to further connect with the initiative. This would allow greater development and management of the site and other media outreach we aim to develop. We aim to continue to work with our web developer who is also a skilled and notable artist in further web development of our general media and website. The terms cover the 6 month project in the coming fiscal year.
  • Audio/Video services: Native Speak Media. This post covers video and audio editing, recording and services for outreach and tutorials as we intend to continue to build on this valued area. This service would also be used as we plan to heighten focus on Wikimedia Commons and edit video from Zoom events throughout the last year for further use. The projected cost covers 4 months in the coming fiscal year.
  • Interpreter Service: Citizen Tales. As a global initiative increasingly working with the linguistic community, interpreters are ever more important. We have worked with volunteers in the past, but find that the need outpaces pro bono availability, especially as we expand. This with 2 interpreters for conference sessions of two to three hours and multilingual planning and coordination meetings of at least 2 hours in the coming fiscal year.
  • Grants and metrics specialist: Prospective hire. As AfroCROWD expands in its programming and development, this post would allow us some assistance in capturing the impact of our efforts and greater development and help with our metrics management. The hire would assist in the compilation or metrics from Outreach Dashboard and other tabulation and help to convert that information towards our reporting and grant application process. The amount requested would cover 12 hours of service in the fall and spring of the 2021-2022 fiscal year.
  • Organizational consultant: Prospective hire. We want to utilize the benefit of an organizational consultant. The hire would provide direct strategies towards our development and internal and external outreach as we expand and continue to grow and build capacity. We plan to hire for this role for 3 months of service in the coming fiscal year.

Strategic plan

edit
  • May be required. Link to your strategic plan, if you have one. This is not required for new applicants or affiliates developing their strategic plan.

AfroCROWD's overall theme for 2021-2022 is Our World Connected: The African Diaspora in Wiki 360 - Read, Seen, Heard and Understood.

In 2021, we remain a world much disconnected and very misunderstood. Millions worldwide continue to struggle with a surge in the Coronavirus despite the advent of vaccines, with some facing another wave of lockdowns.

In the United States, AfroCROWD’s home base, renewed racial and political tensions have once again sparked unrest with terms like “insurrection” and items related to police brutality among the most searched terms on Wikipedia.

Nearby in the Caribbean, the entire population of the majority Afro-descendant island nation of Saint Vincent is evacuated as La Soufrière volcano erupts and life as it was known on the island is changed forever and in some cases completely obliterated.

While we remain in this state of distress and disconnect, online connection continues to be a lifeline of not only information, but community and empowerment to document or even preserve ourstory even as it happens. This is very much the case for the African Diaspora which statistically is often among the groups most negatively impacted by the items just described. This may be why since the start of the pandemic, we have seen a rise in demand for what we do.

It is therefore more timely than ever that groups like AfroCROWD develop opportunities to empower documentation and knowledge sharing and preservation about our ever changing world, whether it be life during the pandemic, civil rights and social justice news and statistics or imagery from an island nation as it was and the effects of the data that will form what it will be.

Introduction

edit
  • Required. Introduce your organization, give some context about it, highlight your strategic plan and some activities to give an overview. (300 words limit)

Afro Free Culture Crowdsourcing Wikimedia (AfroCROWD) is an initiative and Wikimedia User Group which seeks to increase awareness about the Wikimedia Movement in the African Diaspora and the number of people of African descent who actively partake in the Wikimedia and free knowledge, culture and software movements. AfroCROWD has sensitized thousands in its target audience about free culture crowdsourcing and the need to close the multicultural and gender gaps in Wikipedia. Since it's founding in 2015, AfroCROWD has also held monthly multilingual editathons in partnership with cultural institutions, galleries, libraries, archives, museums (GLAM), colleges, universities and many others including institutions at the United Nations and grassroots organizations.

AfroCROWD's Wiki 360 focus for 2021-2022 is mission based using best practices developed from our successes in campaigns held during the lockdowns of 2020 like our Global Wiki Check In, our Juneteenth Conference on Civil Rights, our Wiki Trivia Challenges, our Caribbean outreach and others.

We also want to use knowledge gained from pioneering efforts we have partnered in like translatathons and recordathons to take a deeper view of the African Diaspora in a global context. This 360 degree look at information will purposely strive to enable greater availability and addition of information that can be read, seen, heard and finally, discussed in a multicultural Wiki context. As such, we will invest more resources in Wikipedia editing, Wikidata training, WikiCommons uploads and guest speakers for virtual symposiums, similar to the series we implemented during Black History Month and Women’s History Month edit-a-thons in February and March of 2021.

Finally, this year especially, we want to play a part in implementation and participation in the future of Wikimedia and Wikipedia as we keep the Movement Strategy recommendations and friendly space policy at the forefront of each program with an eye at continuing our culture and practice of valuing inclusion, equity, innovation, movement solidarity, knowledge sharing, cohesion, skills development and growth.

Programs

edit

Wikimedia Movement Outreach

Continue to work on integration and cross-fertilization of existing AfroCROWD community to the broader movement. AfroCROWD does the following:

  • Supports 5 AfroCROWDers participate or present in Wikimania online
  • We are featured in 4-5 articles in blogs, local or national press
  • AfroCROWD holds an editathon, translatathon or recordathon per trimester (online while restrictions remain)
  • Generate a monthly newsletter of AfroCROWD news and activities in the Wikipedia Movement
  • Continued maintenance of mailing list and continued maintenance and growth of a cross-continental AfroCROWD google group and/or Slack channel
  • Support and encourage Wikipedia-related efforts by members of the community, using our growing training videos on Youtube
  • Continue using toolkit and Training video for those in target group who want to hold editathons independently (this continues in French and Haitian Creole)
  • Continue fostering awareness of AfroCROWD and of our availability as a resource nationally and globally through near daily engagement on social media
Program Objectives
  • Support factors of growth and coordination in the current and potential communities primarily in the diaspora and user group online

Why are we doing this? Increase Cross Participation Among Allied Wikimedia Stakeholders in the Movement

In synergy with Movement strategy alignment to:

  • Coordinate Across Stakeholders
  • Invest in Skills and Leadership Development
  • Manage Internal Knowledge
  • Identify Topics for Impact
Program metrics and targets
  • Number of AfroCROWDers presenting or involved at Wikimania or WikiConference North America workshops: 7
  • Number of people added to mailing list: 250
  • Number of articles, blog posts or other media where AfroCROWD features: 3
  • Number of audio/ video features AfroCROWD adds to Wikimedia Movement for skills share: 5


Editor training

AfroCROWD will continue to seek to increase awareness of the Wikimedia and free knowledge, culture and software movements among potential editors of African descent.

AfroCROWD virtual events and activities will engage existing contributors and new contributors in building community and in content creation with the aim of bridging the multicultural gap in editorship and content coming from and regarding Africa and the African Diaspora through meetups, editathons, public speaking, social media outreach, community engagement, and partnerships with cultural grassroots groups in our target groups and GLAM and educational institutions. We are also planning content innovations in animation and open street maps to further expand knowledge sharing.

Program Objectives

AfroCROWD aims to expand online trainings with eyes on a new state, Connecticut, and a specific part of the world, the Caribbean. We also aim to innovate in the way we create and share information in the African Disapora in formats available in Wiki projects for audio and visual learners and share within an online training and eventually in person context.

Why are we doing this?

Central, is AfroCROWD's commitment to improvement in both content and editorship of people of the African Diaspora on Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects. Editor training on projects like Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata remain key to AfroCROWD's mission to increase awareness and engagement of people of African descent in Wikimedia.

Program metrics and targets
  • Number of participants to workshops: 350
  • Number of newly registered users during workshops: 75
  • Number of content pages improved or created: 400
  • Number of pictures and videos of places uploaded to Wikimedia Commons: 100


Wikimedia Education and Skills Share

AfroCROWD will develop a program in continuation of remote learning efforts during COVID19 to build information literacy and technical capacity using skills that can be garnered through both readership and editorship via Wikipedia and Wiki projects. We also hope to connect with Wikipedians in the movement to exchange skills and lessons learned that can be shared with new and growing editors.

Program Objectives

Hold at least 2 events focused on Wikipedia as a learning tool and focused on skills development with at least 1 aimed at a residential housing community.

Why are we doing this?

Without technical understanding and information literacy, AfroCROWDers cannot fully participate and access the Wikimedia Movement or contribute to knowledge creation. Projects like this can also benefit communities.

Program metrics and targets
  • Number of participants to workshops: 100
  • Number of newly registered users during workshops: 45
  • Number of content pages improved or created: 100
  • Number of pictures and videos of places uploaded to Wikimedia Commons: 50


AfroCROWD Wiki Linguistics Outreach

We in intend to increase our connection and investment in the linguistics community as vital to knowledge access and understanding in our communities. We aim to

  • Hold a Francophone translatathon
  • Engage Spanish-speaking Afrolatinx communities in Latin-America with Wikimedia Uruguay and Afrolatino Project via an online program/ event
  • Continue translating and voice over of tutorial videos in at least 1 of 3 languages of the African Diaspora (e.g. French, Spanish, Haitian Kreyol, Protuguese)
Program Objectives
  • Engaging both the languages of the African Diaspora and oral knowledge, generating oral testimonials in several African Diaspora languages to be uploaded to Commons.
  • Bring attention and awareness to the various African and African diaspora languages through outreach and 2 projects

Why are we doing this?

Ideally, AfroCROWD’s efforts in our various events will bring attention and awareness to the various African and African diaspora languages on Wikipedia. This also improves information access on open knowledge we share.

Program metrics and targets
  • Number of participants to workshops: 40
  • Number of newly registered users during workshops: 25
  • Number of content pages improved or created: 60
  • Number of videos uploaded to Wikimedia Commons: 5


Caribbean, African Diaspora Outreach

AfroCROWD will hold a photo and data campaign focused on St. Vincent and the Grenadines as well as other Caribbean Islands reeling from natural disasters or other historic events that may have altered communities there.

SMART objective/ goal

Create a repository of information related to the islands in images for Wikimedia Commons and data on Wikidata that preserve knowledge about the communities and cultures as well as daily life and histories about areas that may be fundamentally changed by nature and other large scale events. Purpose: Often large scale events like hurricanes, earthquakes and eruptions can wipe landscapes and along with them histories. This aims to ensure images of the communities and daily lives of the communities included in this project are available to help share and preserve the wider story of the cultures that populate the cataclysmic headlines. The aim is for greater understanding of daily life through imagery along with the data.

Why are we doing this?

Often large scale events like hurricanes, earthquakes and eruptions can wipe landscapes and along with them histories. This aims to ensure images of the communities and daily lives of the communities included in this project are available to help share and preserve the wider story of the cultures that populate the cataclysmic headlines. The aim is for greater understanding of daily life through imagery along with the data.

Program metrics and targets
  • Number of participants to workshops: 100
  • Number of newly registered users during workshops: 45
  • Number of image uploaded to Wikimedia Commons: 200
  • Number of items uploaded to Wikdata: 300

Grant Metrics Reporting

edit

Required. Metrics, targets and results: grants metrics worksheet here.

Needs Request

edit

Optional. The Community Resources team would like understand the best way to support the success of your programs and organization in general. If you have any requests or needs you have related to your programs, organizational operations, or other needs below under the appropriate section, please describe them here. You may instead e-mail simple wikimedia.org to reach your program officer if you prefer.

Suggestions for Simple APG Application process

edit
  • ...

Requests for programmatic support

edit

For example, requesting guidance or expertise from Wikimedia Foundation staff on GLAM- or Education-related areas.

  • ...

Requests for operational support

edit

For example, requesting guidance or expertise from Wikimedia Foundation staff on public communications, financial practices, or hiring procedures.

  • ....

Other requests

edit
  • ...

No requests needed

edit

If you have no specific requests, please confirm this here.

  • Thank you for this resource. We don’t have any requests at this time.

Midterm report

edit
 
Growing in challenging spaces and times requires a strategy or diligent effort, patience and care long before breakthrough. AfroCROWD planning follows this example as seen in the hardiest of nature, like a plant growing in the creases and cracks of a rock.



AfroCROWD Midpoint Report, January 2022: Growing Through Adversity

edit

Despite the challenges of the ongoing COVID 19 Pandemic, AfroCROWD has seen a very fruitful end to 2021. For our Midpoint Review Report, join as we take a look back on our accomplishments for this period. We are excited about what is to come.

Program story

edit

Optional. Please tell or link to one program story that showcases your organization's achievements during the reporting period. This can be another meta page, a blog post or any other source that tells your program story.

We think it is fair to say that it has been a tough year… for the second time around. So first of all, thanks to the joint efforts of our community, participants, and partners we are still growing, innovating and advancing during this challenging time.

When the worldwide pandemic hit, everyone’s lives changed. No matter the size of the institution, everyone has been affected. This has been a time of adversity and we have successfully taken on this challenge and were able to push it through in our second year in this very tough period.

During this time, AfroCROWD has been like a determined plant, finding a way, regardless of environment, to grow. The pandemic has put us in a very tough position but with everyone working together, we were able to plant our seed, take root, punch through the hard surface, and grow. We are glad to see everyone pitching in for this plant to reach this point and keep on bearing the fruit of all our hard work.

For that, we offer our deepest gratitude for everyone’s support.



Program Progress

edit

July

 
Like a blooming plant growing in the rock, and any plant that breaks through the surface of the challenging ground, the greatest effort lay below the surface long before resulting first bud and bloom can be seen.

Jumping right into July we presented at Wikimania 2021 hosted by Wikimedia Uganda. In this event we revisited the AfroCROWD Juneteenth Wiki Civil Rights Conference of 2020. Inviting collaborators and organizers who work with us for the event as well as other partners working with us since then, we created an open space to interact, discuss and create a contemporary narrative about the relationship between Wikipedia and Civil Rights. Participants and panelists were able to hold a substantive discussion about the significance of Wikipedia to our understanding of the Black historical narrative of civil rights.

During Wikimania 2021, we also held a talk revisiting the Global Wiki Check In during the first global lockdowns for COVID 19. We developed the Check In in 2020 to combat the great disconnect during the lockdowns worldwide. The main purpose of this was to collaborate with members of the Wikimedia community and consolidate snapshots and other images of life in the times of the pandemic. For the revisit, we conducted a global Meetup of Wikipedians from Australia to India, Africa and Europe to Los Angeles. The Wikimanis talk was hosted and presented by our ED, Sherry Antoine. The Check In brought together Wikimedia Community partners that include Wikimedia Sweden, Wiki Donne, Wikimujeres, Wikimedia Nigeria and others. This was also, that we know of, the first 24 Hour Wikipedia Editathon documented.


August

Moving into August, we presented at Wiki Indaba with Indaba Diaspora, launching the Start of AfroCROWD HBCU with Smooth Inc. and the Howard university Center for African Studies. We were joined by our guest speakers, Dr. Krista Johnson, Director of the Howard University Department of African Studies, and Dr. Phiwokuhle Mnyandu, Howard University lecturer on World Languages & Cultures, and DaQuan Lawrence, SMOOTH Inc.. We are also joined by African students and others in a discussion about the importance of the African Wikimedia community in African knowledge sharing directly from the continent and connection with those working to close data gaps on Africa and related topics. We aimed to connect students in the diaspora with Wikipedia editors in the African region. This commences a greater effort at the universities to train students in Wikipedia and Wikidata editing, in an effort to contribute to information about Africa and it's diaspora.


September
For September, we partnered with Wiki Caribbean, of which we are an active part, to hold the Wiki Cari Festival. With our theme for 2021; Haiti. In partnership with Wikipedia Weekly and Wiki Caribbean in partnership with AfroCROWD and Wiki Conference North America; all pitching in to raise awareness on the richness of Caribbean Culture. September is where most of the Caribbean festivals and carnivals are held so we came up with this event to keep the festive vibe going amidst the pandemic. All along inspiring community members to improve contributions on Wikipedia Categories, Commons & most importantly, WikiData - in all the region's representative languages. We are joined by our special guests;

  • NYU Professor Wynnie Lamour, founder and managing director of the Haitian Creole Institute of New York
  • Haitian vocalist / percussionist Okai Music
  • Haitian American actor/director Bechir Sylvain
  • Amilcar Priestley, co-director of the Afro-Latino Festival and director of the Afro-Latino Project
  • And throughout September as well, we have been also busy planning on the Unseen Project. We have constantly reached out and connected with artists in order to smoothly carry this project out.
 
Still from Wiki Cari Fest 2021 on Wikipedia Weekly presented in partnership with AfroCROWD

More than 800 viewers joined us for this event in the first few days of streaming on the Wikipedia Weekly Podcast site. It remains one of the highest visited of the show and was the highest up to that point in 2021.

 
The results of this hard work, despite the challenges, or perhaps because of them, have been even more rewarding.


October
In the month of October; we presented at WikiConference North America 2021 on our effcontinuing orts during News On Wiki, Phase 2. During this event we discussed results and plans that included professors and students of ASU journalism school.

We also held with Wiki Caribbean, of which our director is the lead organizer, the Caribbean Digital Human Rights Community Workspace & Edit-A-Thon.


November
In November we took part in Wiki Indaba 2021. We were honored to have the presence of Our Speakers from HBCU Howard university and SMOOTH Inc. We had Dr. Krista Johnson, Director of the Howard University Department of African Studies, Dr. Phiwokuhle Mnyandu, Howard University World Languages & Cultures lecturer and DaQuan Lawrence from SMOOTH Inc.

 
AfroCROWD HBCU presentation at Wiki Indaba 2021

December
For December, again we have teamed up with HBCU and SMOOTH Inc. for AfroCROWD HBCU Africa Wikipedia Exchange Indaba Diaspora Skillshare, Focus: Africa. This is the first online exchange between HBCU students and African Wikipedians. Establishing collaboration across oceans in joint efforts of improving and expanding information all about Africa and its Diaspora.

The year ended with an interview with the Wiki Africa Hour featuring details about the Unseen Project begun with the Wikimedia Foundation. As a new year begins, we look forward to sharing more on this exciting project now entering its next phase. You may find the interview here. '

Partners this Period

Take a look at images from this year.

Thank you! Onward.


Spending update Midterm

edit

Please link to a detailed financial report for your spending during the first half of your grant period. This should be in the same format as your detailed budget from your Simple APG application.

Please include the total amount of Simple APG funds you spent during the grant period:

  • 25,066.88 USD/Local currency

Grant Metrics Reporting Midterm

edit

Metrics, targets and results: grants metrics worksheet here.

Final report

edit

This year has been one of continued growth and development as well as continued adaptation. Take a look at some of the highlights as we move forward.

 
The National Science Foundation RU ILLC program has been a great partner
 
We were honored to be a part of the Wiki Unseen pilot

Program story

edit

Optional. Please tell or link to one program story that showcases your organization's achievements during the reporting period. This can be another meta page, a blog post or any other source that tells your program story.

We have been moving in the direction of series development in the face of the need for shorter online programming rather than the traditional multi-hour editathon model, and the success of these efforts has led us to grow this even further.

As an example, this year was our second working with the National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates ILLC Site Program with linguistics, language and culture students to get students on the African Diaspora on Wikipedia. This program, which we spread out into a series of three parts, helped to demonstrate the value of creating a series of events rather than holding edit-a-tathons alone. Especially in an environment where you can only hold online events, more and more we saw this as evidence of how Wikipedia can be an even more effective part of an online curriculum when given time beyond the traditional model.

This model helped us to not only build on items we began but it allowed the students to be able to ask and develop even better questions beyond a solo event. We were eventually also able to hold a hybrid event that was available both online and in person which allowed us to be able to get an idea of what interested the students, what skills were needed and more applicable than others for both their studies and individual learning and promote further interaction with the Wikipedia editing community at large. All of the second-semester students being women with varied linguistic backgrounds, we were able to build on their interests further and even, because of the public nature of the series, interact with students from other schools.

The students created more than 60 articles and edited over 325 in several languages, these articles have been viewed over 3 million times to date and added more than forty thousand words to the Wiki lexicon.

Wikipedia, as a part of the curriculum, allowed the students greater motivation to not only participate in the program but also to envision how Wikipedia could play a role in what they were learning beyond the events that we were developing for them. We encouraged them to see Wikipedia not only as a useful resource but to be a resource they could have a part in growing and developing.

Learning with Wikipedia was also something that we saw as a theme with a group that is growing in New York led by AfroCROWD coach Linda Fletcher who has been leading a group of women in w to research for Wikipedia editing. She has been meeting with them regularly to look at ways to add information on items that they were interested in.

Among other highlights, this year we also engaged with Behance and the Wikimedia Foundation for the Wiki Unseen pilot project. An effort piloted as a way to pursue illustrations as a bridge to closing visual information gaps on Wikipedia. This information gap is one that is particularly important for underrepresented communities and people of color online. We were honored to be a part of this effort and think it will continue to open doors for more image gap solutions in the future even as more is done in other areas. The project not only brought attention to unseen figures, but as a result, the Wiki community was able to locate more images and photographs related to the figures, thus closing a lot of that image gap.

There are other stories that surround this theme of exploring Wikipedia in the many ways that it can be a tool for connection and learning. See our featured Learning Story below for another great example.


Learning story

edit

Optional. Please link to one learning story that shows how your organization documents lessons learned and adapts its programs accordingly.

 
Partner Howard University

AfroCROWD is committed to the African Diaspora on Wikipedia and other projects in the Wikimedia Movement. We have worked with many academia-based groups, and a connection is very important that we would like to grow has been the connection between Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States where we are based and our partners and friends on the African continent and the African Diaspora. We noted that the Wiki connection in many cases has been limited. We see that while there are certainly African Wikipedians, the immediate connection between African Wikipedia editors and the HBCU community was not as vigorously evident. This year, we began Indaba Diaspora, a project to introduce a purposeful connection between Wikimedia editors in Africa and the African Diaspora with HBCU students, especially those students studying African history and culture, and Wikimedia editors intrerested in HBCUs and Black American or Caribbean culture and history.

Throughout the 2021-2022 year we developed events intended to establish connections beyond the webinar set up between editors in the AfroCROWD community and the African continent. These were designed in a time when we were not connected in person, to be able to be acquainted with one another, in the hopes of eventually establishing mentorship and skillshare between the groups.

We did this through several events beginning with an introduction of the concept during our presentation at Wiki Indaba with invited guests that included members of the African and African Diaspora Wikimedia communities and with the HBCU community including HBCU alumni and the current head of the Howard University Center for African Studies, one of the main partners in our efforts. It then continued with an event a few months later that allowed interested editors and the participants to get to know each other as well as the opportunity to support one another's projects. The hope was to have the new editors get to know about how to participate in the Wikimedia community, and to create an opportunity to participate. Through this we were able to begin to develop a community that by the time we were gathered during Black history month, we were working on growing rather than starting from scratch. This allowed us to see a connection develop between members of the program. As a result, we have been asked to partner again at Howard.

We are looking forward to continuing these efforts and developing further.


Programs Impact

edit

PROGRAM TITLE AfroCROWD Program Activities / Impact

The second half of this year has brought innovation and collaboration, new angles in development and promising efforts as we walk into new seasons of growth for AfroCROWD.

Metrics and Progress:

Events: This innovative year saw us transition from the solely online events system brought on by the pandemic, to a hybrid model of both online and in-person gatherings.

Photos:

AfroCROWD in the media:

Here is a list of the partners we worked with during this second portion of our year:

Swedish Residence and the Swedish Mission to the United Nations

Thank you for your support!

Spending update Final

edit

Please link to a detailed financial report for your spending during the grant period. This should be in the same format as your detailed budget from your Simple APG application.

Please include the total amount of Simple APG funds you spent during the grant period:

Retrieved from "https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grants:Simple/Applications/AfroCROWD/2021-2022&oldid=24136451"