Grants:TPS/Strainu/OSGEO Cluj

User name

Strainu

User location (country)

Bucharest (Romania)

Event name

Free and open-source solutions for working with and representing geo-spatial data (short: OSGEO)

Event Web site

http://earth.unibuc.ro/osgeo (new page is added for each edition when the program is completed)

Event date(s)

April 4-5, 2014, 09:00-20:00

Event location (city)

Cluj-Napoca

Amount requested (remember to specify currency!)

325 - 365 EUR (USD 445 - 500)

Endorsements

Budget breakdown

• Travel: 170-200 EUR
• Accommodation: 45-50 EUR per night x 2 nights = 90-100 EUR
• Meals: 10 EUR x 4 = 40 EUR
• Incidentals (basically local transport): 25 EUR

Proposed Participation

I am a sysop and active Wikipedian on ro.wp and commons. I am also an organizer of Wiki Loves Monuments in Romania, making me the de facto maintainer of the Romanian historic monuments list used as a base for that contest. In OSGEO 2014 Cluj I will hold a 20' presentation about gathering, cleaning and populating the geo-spatial information (aka coordinates) about monuments in Wikipedia. I will also illustrate the other geo-spatial initiatives used in Wikipedia, such as Wikipedia World and others.

As a bonus, there might be an (yet unconfirmed) workshop about designing maps using Inkscape and GIMP, taught by a former participant in ro.wp. I am currently in discussions with him to illustrate the workshop by realizing maps that the Romanian community would require. If this workshop will happen, I will of course be attending and providing assistance and guidance to the participants.

Usual networking and outreach activities would take place - invitations to participate in specific projects, facilitating contacts within the community, etc.

Goal and Expected Impact

This is mainly an outreach event, as I'm hoping to make the audience (mostly geography students and teachers) aware that their niche domain is present on Wikipedia and that they can help further the coverage of the subject. By the end of the presentation, the audience should be aware that:

• there are geographical initiatives within the Wikipedia/Wikimedia community that they can join no matter what their specific skills
• there is a need for clean, reliable geographical data within the Historic Monuments project in particular, as well as Wikipedia in general

I'm sincerely hoping that at least a couple of participants will try to "get dirty" for the first time and edit Wikipedia. If we will be able to keep them on our side depends on the community at large. If the second workshop takes place, the number could be bigger and we will also get some usable material.