Grants:Simple/Applications/Wikimedia Community Ireland/2021

Application or grant stage: approved

Applicant or grantee: Wikimedia Community Ireland

Amount requested: EUR 42,430.76

Amount granted: EUR 42,430.76

Funding period: 1 July 2021 - 30 June 2022

Midpoint report due: 15 November 2021

Final report due: 30 July 2022

Application

Background

Annual Plan

• Wikimedia Community Ireland annual plan 2021-2022

Budget Plan

• Budget for 2021-2022

Staffing Plan

• No staffing changes

Strategic plan

• Strategic Plan 2021-2024

Introduction

Wikimedia Community Ireland (WCI) is a user group which was founded in 2014. It is supported by one staff member, and a core group of 15 active community members led by a chair. The small team has delivering an active programme of engagement and education across the Wikimedia platforms and wants to build on this for the next grant. In January 2021 the group adopted its first three year strategic plan, reflecting on the achievements of the previous 6 years, and looking to the future of the organisation in all the sectors in which we work. Working with our established and new partners, we will continue our work within education and GLAM sectors, while building a more sustainable community which can support new and emerging participation from communities across the island of Ireland. We aim to work with our partners in Ireland as well as those across the international Wikimedia movement to develop best practice, build capacity, and share our knowledge and experience.

In 2021-2022 we will focus on the events, campaigns, and programmes which have remained resilient during the pandemic, such as working with educators at third level and photography competitions. With vaccine roll out and subsequent re-opening of society, we tentatively anticipate the ability to hold in-person events late 2021 or early 2022, but likely that most outreach will remain virtual for large portions of our programme activity.

Programs

Inclusivity and Diversity

In our drive to continue to be as inclusive as possible, in the coming year we are going to focus on providing greater access to our events by providing suitable facilitation. Initially this work will focus on providing interpretation and support to the deaf community through Irish Sign Language (ISL) interpretation of wide reaching events, as well as facilitation for the participation of blind or visually impaired communities. To allow these communities to be included within our work and to participate in the Wikimedia movement, we must provide the access and remove as many barriers to inclusion as possible.

In 2020, we partnered with House of STEM on a virtual event for Pride in STEM day, which was the first time one of our events was delivered with ISL. As it is likely that we will continue to broadcast a number of these virtual events over the next year, having the ability to provide ISL interpretation for those outreach events. Providing such interpretation has become standard for communication during the pandemic, and would remove a barrier for access to an estimated 45,000 people in Ireland who use ISL daily.

In collaboration with relevant groups in Ireland and the Wiki Blind group, we also aim to reach out to the blind and visually impaired community in Ireland, who represent around 55,000 people in Ireland. Through initial informal contact, we have established some of the fundamental support that the community would need to engage with Wikimedia projects. Beginning with informational sessions to introduce the community to Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects, we would then collaboratively work with them to facilitate participation based on the community's needs and interests, while incorporating more inclusive activities into our wider programmes. Such activities would include promoting the editing of captions on Commons by sighted users with richer and more descriptive information to allow for more engagement from the blind community.

Program Objectives

• Ensure that an increasing number of our public facing events are as inclusive as possible
• Collaborate and support these communities in participation and engagement with Wikimedia projects

Program metrics and targets

• Run or assist in 5 events with facilitation

Education Outreach

Throughout 2021 and 2022 we will continue to work with our existing and new partners within third level education in Ireland. As outlined in our strategic plan, we will focus on developing relationships with educational staff in Ireland’s Institutes of Technology, as a large portion of our outreach to date has focused on universities. For this year, we will refocus on the academic library staff, as these relationships within the universities have proven successful in the past.

We will continue to offer support to those wishing to engage with Irish language Wikipedia, Vicipéid, through teaching or extra curricular activities at any educational level, by offering event support and materials as needed.

Wiki Science returns for 2021, and we will run the Irish edition in November. Due to the subject matter, there has been a strong level of participation from second, third level and postgraduate students in the competition since we first ran it in 2018. It forms a unique form of outreach which allows for those engaged in science at all levels to participate, and has yielded a number of high quality and impactful images. We will continue to award a special prize for an image depicting Women in STEM for the Irish edition, as it aligns with our ethos regarding improved representation across Wikimedia projects from Ireland.

Program Objectives

• Continue current engagement with universities
• Create partnerships with 3 new third level institutions, focusing on the institutes of technology
• Increase of participants and photos to Wiki Science by 10% on 2019

Program metrics and targets

• Run or assist in 15 events held in universities or colleges
• Conduct more outreach by attending and taking part in Irish educational conferences

GLAM Outreach

2020 has seen a number of Irish GLAMs embrace open licencing of their images. In light of this, we have begun further conversations on how best to progress image uploads on Commons and integration of these images into Wikipedia and other projects. This support of GLAMs is key to ensuring that these new resources are utilised to their full potential, but to serve as examples of the benefits of open licences to other GLAM institutions within Ireland.

This opening up of collections not only benefits Wikipedia articles, but has also spurred interest in how these images can be used to illustrate, create and further link the relevant Wikidata items. Based on preliminary discussions with a number of GLAM professionals, with whom we have hosted editing events in the past, there is a keen interest in how to better represent Irish GLAM data within Wikidata. There are plans to host some national conversations showcasing how GLAMs could work with Wikidata through professional networks and to promote engagement with open data throughout the sector.

Program Objectives

• Continue current engagement with GLAMs
• Increase awareness of open licencing and Wikidata for GLAMs

Program metrics and targets

• Run or assist in 5 events held in GLAMs
• Conduct more outreach by attending and taking part in Irish GLAM conferences

Competitions and campaigns

The three photography competitions, Wiki Loves Monuments, Wiki Loves Folklore, and Wiki Loves Earth, will form the centre of our wider outreach to the public throughout 2021-2022. The ability of these campaigns to draw in participation from those who would otherwise not engage with Wikimedia projects is unique, and continues to strengthen and deepen the visual representation of Ireland on Commons.

We will also continue to promote the use of newly represented places and sites to be used on Wikipedia and Vicipéid, and as the driver of new article creation. In line with our drive for more inclusive editing practices, we will highlight the importance of more detailed image descriptions when uploaders add their images, so that the content is more accessible to blind or visually impaired users.

Program Objectives

• Continue to improve the visual representation of Ireland and Irish culture on Commons
• Promote the participation with open licences in Ireland through these photography competitions
• Have over 1000 images by at least 75 participants in WLM
• Have over 500 images by at least 50 participants in WLE
• Have over 100 images by at least 20 participants in WLF

Program metrics and targets

• Promote the competitions with the relevant government departments, agencies, GLAMs, and professional bodies
• Hold virtual upload events during weekly live streams and online events

Grant Metrics Reporting

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

Needs Request

Requests for programmatic support

• Training for the Project Coordinator and two volunteers in Wikidata, to support the increased interest in the platform.

Midterm report

Program story

Our Project Coordinator, Rebecca, featured on the podcast dot com: The Wikipedia Story episode 3.

Program Progress

Inclusivity and Diversity

Due to the continuing restrictions on in-person events until October 2022, as well as the reticence for such events, has meant that these events have not been held yet. We hope to pick up these conversations and events with charities working with the blind and sight impaired communities. We have also not engaged in a large scale event that would benefit from ISL support in this half of the year.

Program Objectives

• Ensure that an increasing number of our public facing events are as inclusive as possible
• Collaborate and support these communities in participation and engagement with Wikimedia projects

Program metrics and targets

• Run or assist in 5 events with facilitation - work ongoing on this through planning

Education Outreach

So far in 2021, most educational institutions have seen their students return to in-person teaching, but there is a continuing level of caution around extra-curricular activities or inviting in outside facilitators to host events or workshops. We have continued to work with academics in University College of Dublin and University of Limerick working with two student cohorts on articles relating to Irish biographies and Irish heritage sites respectively. In 2021, we are working with an academic in Dublin City University for the first time, with a group of geography students on planned settlements in Ireland.

Wiki Science is currently running, opened for uploads on 1 November and closes on 15 December 2021.

Program Objectives

• Continue current engagement with universities
• Create partnerships with 3 new third level institutions, focusing on the institutes of technology
• Increase of participants and photos to Wiki Science by 10% on 2019

Program metrics and targets

• Run or assist in 15 events held in universities or colleges - 3 workshops or events held
• Conduct more outreach by attending and taking part in Irish educational conferences - no such events held so far

GLAM Outreach

Through continued attendance at conferences and workshops, we have had on-going conversations with GLAM professionals about open publishing image collections and considering the use of Wikidata within their professional practice. As part of a panel, Rebecca spoke at the National Libraries Now conference on 17 September.

We have continued as part of the steering group for a national Decade of Centenaries digitisation project with the public libraries in Ireland under the management of the Local Government Management Agency.

Program Objectives

• Continue current engagement with GLAMs
• Increase awareness of open licencing and Wikidata for GLAMs

Program metrics and targets

• Run or assist in 5 events held in GLAMs - no events held thus far
• Conduct more outreach by attending and taking part in Irish GLAM conferences - 2 conferences attended, presented at 1

Competitions and campaigns

So far we have held Wiki Loves Monuments in 2021. Wiki Loves Earth and Wiki Loves Folklore are planned for 2022. Rebecca presented on the use of Wikidata with Wiki Loves Monuments at the WikidataCon 2021.

Program Objectives

• Continue to improve the visual representation of Ireland and Irish culture on Commons
• Promote the participation with open licences in Ireland through these photography competitions
• Have over 1000 images by at least 75 participants in WLM - 990 images by 48 participants
• Have over 500 images by at least 50 participants in WLE - planned for 2022
• Have over 100 images by at least 20 participants in WLF - planned for 2022

Program metrics and targets

• Promote the competitions with the relevant government departments, agencies, GLAMs, and professional bodies - work ongoing
• Hold virtual upload events during weekly live streams and online events - these events and outreach ongoing

Capacity building

As part of our group's on-going attempt to increase our capacity with regard to specific skills, our Project Coordinator has taken part in a number of training opportunities.

• Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom Train the Trainer pilot course
• Measuring Impact Logic Models & Choosing (and using) Tools. with The Wheel, 22 September 2021
• Introduction to Wikidata course held by Wikimedia UK from 23 November onwards

Spending update Midterm

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:

• 11,539.88 EURO detailed financial report

Grant Metrics Reporting Midterm

Metrics, targets and results: grants metrics worksheet here.

Final report

Program story

Blog post on Erasmus+ programme (in Basque)

Learning story

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

Programs Impact

Inclusivity and Diversity

On 13 June, Rebecca was invited to present and have a discussion with the members of the charity Fighting Blindness social club. Having presented on Wikipedia, Rebecca answered questions about accessibility on Wikipedia, and what the group looks for when accessing information on Wikipedia.

In partnership with Irish Museum Association of Ireland (IMA), we held a workshop led by VocalEyes, and covered best practice in relation to digital accessibility broadly and then focused on writing high quality alt text using Wikipedia as a working examples. This event was attended by 31 participants from the membership of the IMA and WCI.

Going forward, we plan on building on this initial work, and expand the accessibility of our work by using appropriate facilitators such as captions, transcripts, alt text, and ISL.

Rebecca also took part in two sessions about the future of charitable and non-profit work and outreach across the island of Ireland convened by iCommunity on 10 May and 8 June.

Program Objectives

• Ensure that an increasing number of our public facing events are as inclusive as possible
• Collaborate and support these communities in participation and engagement with Wikimedia projects

Program metrics and targets

• Run or assist in 5 events with facilitation - in place of multiple events, one longer workshop was held with VocalEyes

Education Outreach

While the restrictions on in-person events were lifted in Ireland in February 2022, it has been challenging to re-engage with a number of educators that we have worked with previously. The challenges faced by educators returning to the classroom, while still supporting virtual learning for students who could not attend in-person resulted in programmes with us not being a priority. We have begun to reach out to these educators over the summer to begin these initial conversations before they return to teaching in September 2022.

Wiki Science ran from 1 November and closes on 15 December 2021, and outreach relating to the competition was severely impacted by the pandemic. During this period pandemic restrictions on in-person events were still in place, and there was a lot of uncertainty about what activities could take place. We struggled to engage partners or allies in promoting the competition as those other groups and organisations were also attempting to restart or provide events and outreach that were compliant with restrictions at the time.

In February 2022, Rebecca was invited to give a session on editing Wikipedia to a class of law students in Trinity College Dublin, with a focus on writing articles relating to Irish case law. This was a group of 90 students.

As of January 2022, Wikimedia Community Ireland is a fully funded partner in the EU funded Erasmus+ WikiWomen project. This project will see students from Ireland, the Basque Country, and Friesland learning to edit Wikipedia in their languages by adding new articles about women to the relevant language Wikipedia. This is a 3 year project, and the initial in-person meeting took place in Leeuwarden in March 2022. This was followed by a bootcamp for the teachers of the partner organisations learning to edit Wikipedia in June 2022.

Program Objectives

• Continue current engagement with universities
• Create partnerships with 3 new third level institutions, focusing on the institutes of technology - not achieved in this period
• Increase of participants and photos to Wiki Science by 10% on 2019 - 106 images by 7 participants, 7% increase in images, 50% decrease in participants

Program metrics and targets

• Run or assist in 15 events held in universities or colleges - 5 workshops or events held
• Conduct more outreach by attending and taking part in Irish educational conferences - no suitable events held in this period

GLAM Outreach

Similar to our experience with educational partners, GLAM partners did not have capacity for holding the usual number of events with us. Also, the convening of the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Ireland in July 2022 meant that most of the librarians we have partnered with in the past were not available for additional event programming.

We have continued as part of the steering group for a national Decade of Centenaries digitisation project with the public libraries in Ireland under the management of the Local Government Management Agency, with the events planned once the digitisation of the materials has been completed.

On 20 January 2022, the Hunt Museum hosted an editathon revisiting the subject of Sybil Connolly on foot of the upload of some of her design sketches. This is a continuing partnership between the Museum and WCI, and we aim to build towards more Wikidata work in this area to draw together images and entries on realised garments and Connolly's drawings.

From March 2022 onwards, Rebecca supported the group organising the first Wikimedia+Libraries International Convention 2022 which took place in July. This support was primarily logistical as the fiscal sponsor, and also providing documentation such as letters of invitation and sponsorship for those applying for visas to attend.

Rebecca was invited to contribute to a blog post of open licences by the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI). There are also on-going discussions with the DRI about potential collaboration on further promotion of the correct and appropriate use of Creative Commons licences by those depositing digital collections with the DRI.

Program Objectives

• Continue current engagement with GLAMs
• Increase awareness of open licencing and Wikidata for GLAMs

Program metrics and targets

• Run or assist in 5 events held in GLAMs - 2 events held
• Conduct more outreach by attending and taking part in Irish GLAM conferences - 2 conferences attended, presented at 1

Competitions and campaigns

Photography competitions remain the best tool for wider participation by large number of people in Ireland with Wikimedia projects. While WLM and WLE continue to perform at a stable level, Wiki Loves Folkore remains a very relevant topic for Ireland but encouraging participation is more of a challenge. Some of the ideas discussed to encourage more participation is moving the competition away from February to later in the year to coincide with suitable cultural events such as Traveller Pride Week. This year, one of the judges for WLF was the keeper of the National Museum of Ireland - Folklife Division, Clodagh Doyle. This was a very positive experience, which we hope to build on going forward. During WLF, Rebecca was interviewed by local radio station, Near FM on 24 February.

Participation in WLE exceeded our goals this year, but it has been challenging to form partnerships with groups and organisations involved in protected landscapes or biodiversity in Ireland. We will continue to work in this area, but there are already a number of high profile photography competitions in this space within Ireland.

On 25 March, Rebecca was a guest on episode 11 of the WikiAfrica Hour.

Program Objectives

• Continue to improve the visual representation of Ireland and Irish culture on Commons
• Promote the participation with open licences in Ireland through these photography competitions
• Have over 1000 images by at least 75 participants in WLM - 990 images by 48 participants
• Have over 500 images by at least 50 participants in WLE - 600 images by 68 participants
• Have over 100 images by at least 20 participants in WLF - 228 images by 7 participants

Program metrics and targets

• Promote the competitions with the relevant government departments, agencies, GLAMs, and professional bodies - moderate success with WLF and WLM, no uptake with WLE
• Hold virtual upload events during weekly live streams and online events - held across Twitch, Discord editing evenings, and on social media

Capacity building

As part of our group's on-going attempt to increase our capacity with regard to specific skills, our Project Coordinator has taken part in a number of training opportunities. She is also involved in the Capacity Exchange pilot programme and the Language Diversity Hub.

• Completed the Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom Train the Trainer pilot course
• Introduction to Wikidata course held by Wikimedia UK November 2021

Spending update Final

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:

• €38,394.47 detailed spreadsheet

Grant Metrics Reporting Final

Metrics, targets and results: grants metrics worksheet here.