Grants:Simple/Applications/Wikimedia Canada/2020
- Application or grant stage: grant in progress
- Applicant or grantee: grantee
- Amount requested: CDN$122,850 (~US$93,329)
- Amount granted: CAD 100,000
- Funding period: 1 January 2020 - 31 December 2020
- Midpoint report due: 15 July 2020
- Final report due: 30 January 2021
Background
editAnnual Plan
editBudget Plan
editStaffing Plan
editStrategic plan
editIntroduction
edit- Wikimedia Canada is under Simple APGs since 2017/H2.
- Wikimedia Canada is in the process of obtaining the charity status, which will facilitate the diversification of revenue streams.
- Since August 2018 (2018/H2), Wikimedia Canada is hiring the services of a part-time independent contractor as Institutional Advancement Manager.
- For 2020-2021, Wikimedia Canada is receiving a substantial project grant for the project Weather Observations of the Meteorological Service of Canada in Wikimedia Projects. Details on this grant will be announced at a later date.
- Wikimedia Canada is supporting the Atikamekw Project that is developing the Wikipetcia Atikamekw Nehiromowin, which also receives funding from external sources.
- In 2019, Wikimedia Canada successfully increased its efforts to expand its activities across the country, with having now regular activities in Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, Hamilton and London, and having at least one activity in 20 different cities.
- At the Annual General Meeting 2019, the members of Wikimedia Canada elected a Board with a majority of women, including representatives from different provinces. We are convinced that this will help us to further our efforts to increase the diversity of contributors from Canada, especially in terms of the gender gap, and to expand our activities at a national level.
Programs
editFor 2020, Wikimedia Canada is continuing towards the same main axes as of 2019, but intends to focus more on specific areas of knowledge, including Canadian history and geography, indigenous cultures and languages, health sciences, and biographies of women. Furthermore we will continue to develop the contributors communities in Canada, mainly through WikiClubs. While indigenous cultures are an integral part of the Canadian culture, we include them in a separate program since we place a special focus on this knowledge that is really lacking on Wikimedia projects and because the projects with indigenous communities require a different approach than the more generic projects.
Also, not included in this APG request, from 2019 to 2021, Wikimedia Canada is conducting a large-scale project named "Weather Observations of the Meteorological Service of Canada in Wikimedia Projects". The aim of the project is to prove with a practical example that it would be interesting for Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) to push their various data to the Wikimedia projects. This will be done by transferring observations from Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) weather stations to various Wikimedia projects. In 2020, the project will import data from the MSC to Wikimedia Commons, link Wikidata pages in Wikimedia Commons and implement the categorization of pages containing data in JSON. The following phase will include to reuse the data from Wikimedia Commons in Wikipedia templates. This project is financed by an external project grant. Details on this grant will be available publicly at a later date, since we are still under a non disclosure agreement for the moment, but if WMF staff or members of the sAPG Committee require more information about it, we can share it privately.
For more detailed information on each program, please refer to Wikimedia Canada Annual Strategic Plan 2020.
| Program 1: Content development | Program 2: Communities development | Program 3: Indigenous peoples on Wikimedia projects |
Content Development
| Increase access to quality free knowledge, especially about Canadian cultures, languages, history, geography, sports and other fields of knowledge. |
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Signature of a Memorandum of Understanding between Wikimedia Canada and Library and Archives Canada -
Mardi c'est Wiki at BAnQ during the International Francophone Contribution Month about women in science -
A Wiki workshop at the Cinémathèque québécoise
This program aims at increasing the quantity and the quality of free content, especially about Canada on Wikimedia projects. It includes two axes that are complementary: hosting contribution workshops and developing partnerships with GLAMUs. In 2020, we will place a special focus on content that is directly about Canadian topics as well as specific topics identified by our members.
- Program Objectives
- Augment the quantity, improve the quality and diversify free knowledge about Canada and other identified topics, especially on Wikimedia projects.
- Make existing public domain content held by Canadian institutions more freely and broadly available through the Wikimedia projects.
- Increase the awareness and understanding of the Canadian public and GLAMUs about open knowledge, free licences and Wikimedia projects.
- Hosting contribution workshops
Wikimedia Canada will support volunteers and institutions in hosting contribution workshops to increase access to free knowledge. Contribution workshops can take many forms, including edit-a-thons, scan-a-thons, training sessions and photo scavenger hunts. The goal is to motivate contributors to create and improve content on Wikimedia projects and to give them the knowledge and the support they need to contribute. Other than the content about Canada, our members have identified specific areas of interest where there are knowledge gaps on Wikimedia projects on which we will focus our efforts in 2020: health sciences and biographies of women. We also aim at continuing our efforts to expand Wikimedia Canada's activities across all of Canada.
Why are we doing this?
There are certain knowledge gaps on Wikimedia projects about certain fields of knowledge of Canada, such as cultures, languages, history, geography and sports. Through the organization of contribution workshops and editing campaigns, we will develop and improve content on Wikimedia projects about those topics. Our members also identified specific topics in which they can contribute that are lacking quality information on Wikimedia projects, such as health sciences. Through partnerships with universities, we will encourage students and professors with relevant expertise and interest to contribute to Wikimedia projects about those topics. We will continue to organize the #1lib1ref campaign in Canada by putting in place a friendly competition to add references between different Canadian institutions, since we found this is an ideal way to engage those institutions while improving the Wikimedia projects.
- Planned activities
- Host contribution workshops, including regular monthly events, to improve content on Wikimedia projects.
- Organize and participate in large-scale editing campaigns, including the National Contribution Month in Canada, the International Francophone Contribution Month, #1lib1ref and Art+Feminism.
- Developing partnerships with GLAMUs
Wikimedia Canada will increase its number of partnerships with Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums and Universities (GLAMUs) in Canada. The intent is two folds: making their content more freely and broadly available through the Wikimedia projects, and encourage and support institutions to include the Wikimedia projects as part of their regular work. In 2019, Wikimedia Canada signed an overarching agreement with Library and Archives Canada (LAC), the federal government institution responsible for acquiring, preserving and making Canada’s documentary heritage accessible. In 2020, we specifically aims at increasing our activities with our existing partners, including Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) (National Library and Archives of Quebec) and Library and Archives Canada (LAC), as well as conducting targeted outreach to new potential partners.
Why are we doing this?
The Canadian GLAMUs possess content and expertise that are of interest for the readers of Wikimedia projects and the public in general. However a lot of this content is not under a free licence and is not easily and broadly available online. Through education and outreach, we want to encourage those institutions to use Wikimedia projects to disseminate their knowledge and content in order to make them more broadly available to everyone.
- Planned activities
- Conduct outreach to GLAMUs in order to increase their understanding of Wikimedia projects and open knowledge with the goal of establishing content partnerships.
- Participate in a Canadian GLAM Summit organized by Library and Archives Canada (LAC) to promote the Wikimedia projects to the GLAM sector in Canada.
- Program metrics and targets
- Number of participants to workshops and editing campaigns: 1,000
- Number of newly registered users during workshops and editing campaigns: 400
- Number of content pages created and improved during workshops and editing campaigns: 5,000
- Number of different cities where contribution workshops are hosted: 15
- Number of different GLAMUs in Canada involved with Wikimedia projects: 20
| Strengths | Weaknesses | |
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| Opportunities | Threats | |
Communities development
| Increase the number and the diversity of contributors to free knowledge from Canada. |
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Meetup after a contribution day at Université Laval -
Visit of Wikimedia Canada in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean -
Conference about Wikimedia projects given at the Musée de la civilisation de Québec thanks to a microgrant
This program aims at developing the contributors communities in Canada. This includes to provide the resources to encourage their growth and support their initiatives, as well as developing their knowledge and skills to allow them to contribute more to the Wikimedia projects. Due to the large size of the Canadian territory, Wikimedia Canada aims at establishing a network of WikiClubs in different cities across the country. Those WikiClubs are local and regional hubs that deliver the programs of the chapter and conduct activities to further the mission of the Wikimedia movement at a local level. In 2020, we will continue to provide microgrants to volunteers in Canada and support local meetups of contributors. We will also support Canadian contributors to take an active role within the larger Wikimedia movement to allow them to share their knowledge with others as well as learning from the international community by participating in relevant international and regional events.
- Program Objectives
- Empower the contributors communities in Canada with the knowledge, skills and tools required to contribute to Wikimedia projects.
- Motivate the Canadian contributors to continue to contribute to Wikimedia projects and organizing local activities.
- Diversify the contributors to the Wikimedia projects, with a focus on the gender gap.
- Expand the activities of Wikimedia Canada across all of Canada.
- Support existing WikiClubs and encourage the creation of new WikiClubs in Canada.
- Take an active role within the international Wikimedia movement to share the expertise and knowledge of Canadian volunteers as well as learning from others.
- Logistical and administrative support
Wikimedia Canada, through its contractual staff, will support volunteers in Canada by providing them with the logistical and administrative support required for them to more efficiently deliver the programs of the chapter and organize their own activities, while avoiding their exhaustion due to the burden of the workload for coordination, management and administration. The chapter will also support the WikiClubs in acquiring the necessary tools for the execution of their activities furthering the mission of the Wikimedia movement.
Why are we doing this?
In recent years, we have seen a drastic increase in the exhaustion of our volunteers because of the burden put on them in terms of logistics, management and administration. In order to avoid losing them, we plan to provide them professional support from our contractual staff and other volunteers. Furthermore the volunteers need access to certain tools to contribute to the Wikimedia projects, such as scanners for example. Due to the size of the country, it is simply impossible for Wikimedia Canada to hold those resources at a centralized location and give access to them to volunteers across the country. This is one of the reasons why we encourage the creation of WikiClubs that will be able to manage those resources at a local and regional level and provide access to them to the volunteers in their respective regions.
- Planned activities
- Provide professional logistical, administrative and management support to volunteers
- Support the WikiClubs in acquiring the tools they need to conduct their activities.
- Microgrants
Wikimedia Canada will support volunteers in Canada to organize their own activities, projects and initiatives contributing in increasing access to quality free knowledge by providing microgrants in order to alleviate the financial burden of organizing such activities. In 2018-2019, Wikimedia Canada gave a total of 55 microgrants to volunteers in Canada.
Why are we doing this?
There are a lot of motivated volunteers in Canada with great ideas willing to organize activities and projects to contribute to increase access to quality free knowledge. The intent of the microgrants is to support them so they don't have to financially provide for these activities themselves, which is an obstacle for them. The financial investment is very low compared to the return we get in terms of content and new contributors. The microgrant program of Wikimedia Canada aims at being very flexible, fast and easy for the volunteers.
- Planned activities
- Provide microgrants to support volunteers and communities in Canada to organize their own initiatives, such as thematic photographic expeditions, outreach events, purchasing references to improve Wikimedia projects and local meetups.
- Active role within the Wikimedia movement
Wikimedia Canada will support its volunteers to take an active role within the international Wikimedia movement. The intent is two folds: sharing our knowledge and expertise with others, and learning from others. In 2020, we plan to support some Canadian volunteers to attend international and regional conferences, including Wikimania, the Francophone WikiConvention and the North American WikiConference.
Why are we doing this?
Some Canadian volunteers possess an expertise and a knowledge that could benefit the international community. While we are already sharing this knowledge online, nothing compares to meet in-person with others. We also want Canadian volunteers to participate in those events to bring back knowledge and lessons learned to the Canadian communities.
- Planned activities
- Provide financial support to Canadian volunteers to attend international and regional Wikimedia events.
- Program metrics and targets
- Number of participants to activities organized by the WikiClubs and/or through microgrants: 400.
- Number of newly registered users during activities organized by the WikiClubs and/or through microgrants: 100.
- Number of content pages created and improved during activities organzied by the WikiClubs and/or through microgrants: 8,000.
- Number of active WikiClubs in Canada: 8.
- Number of projects and activities supported by our contractual staff: 25.
- Number of projects and activities that benefited from the microgrants: 20.
- Number of volunteers supported to attend international and regional Wikimedia events: 8.
| Strengths | Weaknesses | |
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| Opportunities | Threats | |
Indigenous peoples on Wikimedia projects
| Develop Wikimedia projects in the indigenous languages of Canada and increase quality free knowledge about Canadian First Nations, Inuit and Métis. |
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Meetup on Indigenous knowledges in Toronto -
Tapiskwan Sipi Expedition 2019 -
An Atikamekw artisan making a miniature canoe -
Atikamekw archives photography uploaded during Nitaskinan in pictures 2019
This program aims at increasing the quantity and the quality of content on Wikimedia projects in Canadian indigenous languages and about Canadian indigenous peoples by hosting outreach events, training sessions and contribution workshops with indigenous communities in Canada. Wikimedia Canada will coordinate its activities in this program with the Wikimedians of North American Indigenous Languages User Group and Wikimedia Language Diversity. We will also ensure that projects in this program are led by the indigenous communities themselves with our support.
- Program Objectives
- Augment and improve free knowledge in Canadian indigenous languages, especially on Wikimedia projects.
- Augment, improve and modernize free knowledge about Canadian indigenous peoples, especially on Wikimedia projects.
- Increase the awareness and knowledge of indigenous communities about Wikimedia projects, free licences and open knowledge.
- Wikimedia projects in indigenous languages
Wikimedia Canada will support the creation, development and growth of Wikimedia projects in indigenous languages. We will do so by empowering the indigenous communities through education and training about Wikimedia projects and free licences. In 2020, we will continue to focus on developing the Wikipetcia Atikamekw Nehiromowin in partnership with the Atikamekw First Nation which will be used as a model to showcase the potential of Wikimedia projects to other indigenous communities. We will also explore the use of Wiktionaries with the Atikamekw First Nation.
Why are we doing this?
The vast majority of the indigenous languages spoken in Canada are in danger of extinction. Wikimedia projects can be a free tool as part of a global approach to revitalize those languages. We need to understand that language's importance to indigenous peoples is immense and bears an important social and cultural aspect. Canadian indigenous languages are also an integral part of the Canadian culture. Through its Aboriginal Communities Outreach Program, Wikimedia Canada will reach indigenous communities and familiarize them with Wikimedia projects and free licences.
- Planned activities
- Host outreach events, training sessions and contribution workshops with indigenous communities.
- Support the growth of the Wikipetcia Atikamekw Nehiromowin by continuing the successful partnership with the Atikamekw First Nation.
- Participate in relevant events to promote the Wikimedia projects and free licences.
- Free knowledge about Canadian indigenous peoples
Wikimedia Canada will support the development of free knowledge about the Canadian First Nations, Inuit and Métis, mainly by empowering the indigenous communities themselves in developing content about them on Wikimedia projects through education and training sessions.
Why are we doing this?
There is a real knowledge gap about the Canadian indigenous peoples, especially about modern communities. Indeed a lot of the content available on Wikimedia projects about the Canadian indigenous peoples is only archival. Furthermore this content is developed by outsiders. We want to create and improve free content about Canadian First Nations, Inuit and Métis with a focus on empowering the indigenous communities themselves to develop free content about them on Wikimedia projects. We will do so by conducting outreach, education and training to indigenous communities as well as providing the support and resources they need to develop content on Wikimedia projects about their cultures.
- Planned activities
- Document indigenous traditions with text, pictures and videos on Wikimedia projects.
- Organize the Nitaskinan in pictures event in partnership with the Metapeckeka WikiClub.
- Use Lingua Libre to record Canadian indigenous languages and upload the files to Wikimedia Commons to be used on Wikimedia projects such as the Wiktionaries.
- Program metrics and targets
- Number of participants to workshops about indigenous projects: 100
- Number of newly registered users during workshops about indigenous projects: 35
- Number of content pages written in Canadian indigenous languages on Wikimedia projects: 400
- Number of pictures and videos of indigenous peoples of Canada uploaded to Wikimedia Commons: 600
- Number of words recorded in indigenous languages of Canada using Lingua Libre: 400
| Strengths | Weaknesses | |
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| Opportunities | Threats | |
Grant Metrics Reporting
editMetrics, targets and results: grants metrics worksheet here.
Midterm report
editProgram story
editPlease 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.
Some media coverage of Canadian contributions to Wikipedia about COVID-19: [5], [6], and [7].
Program Progress
editUp to date detailed information on our activities in each program can be found here.
Content development
In January, February and March, we continued to host monthly workshops in Montreal and Quebec City in Quebec. Also, the Cinémathèque québécoise in Montreal, Quebec continued to host monthly workshops to improve articles about cinema.
On 7 January, Western University hosted a workshop on "Wikifying the library catalogue".
From 15 January to 5 February, we participated in #1Lib1Ref, an international campaign aiming at encouraging librarians across the world to add references to Wikipedia. Across Canada, contributors to #1Lib1Ref 2020 added more than 4,610 references, edited 1,810 articles, and created 182 articles. Over 4 in-person workshops were organized in London and Toronto in Ontario by Western and York universities.
In January and February, McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario started an initiative to contribute about health sciences by hosting two workshops. The rest of this project was postponed because of the COVID-19.
On 27 February, a workshop was hosted in Montreal, Quebec on the theme of interdisciplinary arts.
From 1 to 31 March, Wikimedia Canada collaborated with WikiFranca to organize the International Francophone Contribution Month, a series of workshops hosted in March around the Francophonie with the goal of improving Wikimedia projects in French. In Canada, we had planned 12 workshops in Montreal and Quebec City in Quebec as well as in Edmonton, Alberta and Winnipeg, Manitoba. However, due to the COVID-19, most of those events had to be cancelled. We only hosted 3 workshops in the first half of March in Montreal and Quebec City in Quebec.
Also from 1 to 31 March, we participated in Art+Feminism, an international campaign to contribute to improve the coverage of women and non binary people on Wikimedia projects. Several workshops were planned across Canada. However, due to the COVID-19, most of those events had to be cancelled. There were only 7 workshops hosted in 6 different cities across 3 provinces in the first half of March. Those included two events for International Women's Day. The first one was an edit-a-thon at Nanaimo Museum in Nanaimo, British Columbia. The second one was organized part of 500 Women Scientists campaign in Guelph, Ontario.
On 11 March, we started a collaboration with the ADN Network to host workshops in Montreal, Quebec by hosting an in-person workshop on the theme of Quebec culture. On 30 May, this project hosted an online training on "Augmenting the presence of living heritage on Wikipedia".
From 1 to 31 July, we participated to Wiki Loves Earth, an international photographic competition to promote natural sites around the world. The results of this will be presented in the final report. This competition in Canada was entirely online and no workshop were organized.
From 1 July to 31 August, we are participating in the Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos campaign, a competition aiming at adding pictures to Wikipedia. The local contest in Canada is called #WPWPCA (Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos in Canada). The results of this will be presented in the final report. So far, this competition in Canada is entirely online and no workshop have been organized. To encourage participation, we have created a page listing hundreds of Wikipedia articles about different topics in Canada without any image.
| Metrics | Targets | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants to workshops and editing campaigns | 1,000 | 19% |
| Number of newly registered users during workshops and editing campaigns | 400 | 0% |
| Number of content pages created and improved during workshops and editing campaigns | 5,000 | 42% |
| Number of different cities where contribution workshops are hosted | 15 | 73% |
| Number of different GLAMUs in Canada involved with Wikimedia projects | 20 | 140% |
Communities development
From January to mid-March, we hosted 3 events in this program. With the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning mid-March, we had to cancel all our in-person events. We found that the situation was very difficult for our volunteers, especially to maintain their motivation. As such, we were not really able to transition to online events until July.
On 16 January, a professional meeting was hosted at the Cinémathèque québécoise in Montreal, Quebec.
On 30 January, during the Ontario Library Association (OLA) Super Conference in Toronto, Ontario, the largest gathering of librarians in Canada, a volunteer from Wikimedia Canada gave a 75 minutes presentation titled "GLAMming the Wikiworld" presenting the collaboration between Canadian libraries and Wikimedia Canada.
On 10 March, a workshop was hosted at the École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l'informations at the Université de Montréal. This workshop aimed to increase the knowledge about Wikipedia of the participants.
In July, two Wikidata online training events aimed at newcomers, one in French on 8 July and one in English on 9 July, were hosted by the Conseil québécois du théâtre.
| Metrics | Targets | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants to activities organized by the WikiClubs and/or through microgrants | 400 | 0% |
| Number of newly registered users during activities organized by the WikiClubs and/or through microgrants | 100 | 0% |
| Number of content pages created and improved during activities organzied by the WikiClubs and/or through microgrants | 8,000 | 0% |
| Number of active WikiClubs in Canada | 8 | 75% |
| Number of projects and activities supported by our contractual staff | 25 | 8% |
| Number of projects and activities that benefited from the microgrants | 20 | 5% |
| Number of volunteers supported to attend international and regional Wikimedia events | 8 | 0% |
Indigenous Peoples on Wikimedia projects
The restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on this program. Many activities planned as part of the Atikamekw Project were cancelled.
To encourage online participation, we created a page with suggestions of contribution to Wikimedia projects, mainly Wikipedia, about Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
On 23 June, Ryerson University Aboriginal Student Services hosted an online event via Zoom about "Indigenizing Wikipedia".
| Metrics | Targets | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants to workshops about indigenous projects | 100 | 0% |
| Number of newly registered users during workshops about indigenous projects | 35 | 0% |
| Number of content pages written in Canadian indigenous languages on Wikimedia projects | 35 | 62% |
| Number of pictures and videos of indigenous peoples of Canada uploaded to Wikimedia Commons | 600 | 2% |
| Number of words recorded in indigenous languages of Canada using Lingua Libre | 400 | 0% |
Spending update Midterm
editPlease 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:
- 49,937.66 CAD
Grant Metrics Reporting Midterm
editMetrics, targets and results: grants metrics worksheet here.
Final report
editProgram story
edit- Revitalizing Indigenous languages in Canada
- Étude de la place de l'Acadie sur Wikipédia : naissance du WikiClub Acadie
Learning story
editThis research report in French about the place of the Acadians on Wikipedia contains many lessons learned and solutions: [9].
Programs Impact
editSee Commons:File:WMCA Annual Report 2020.pdf.
Spending update
editWe have 7,603 CAD remaining unspent.
Grant Metrics Reporting
editMetrics, targets and results: grants metrics worksheet here.