Grants talk:Conference/International WikiCamp/Withdrawn

Comments from I JethroBT (WMF)

@WikiTatik and Armineaghayan: Hi Susanna and Armine! I left you some comments about the proposal based on an initial read, but now I've had a chance to more fully review the proposal, and have the following comments and question to offer as a part of staff review:

General comments

• Thank you for the recent changes you've made to the proposal regarding the audience for this event and around a plan for follow-up after the event is over.
• The event seems to have at least two purposes:
  • Train Wikimedians involved in CEE / Western European communities to be able to run events like WikiCamps back home
  • Share ideas for activities, build some shared knowledge, and develop a formal support network for initiating, learning from, and improving WikiCamps.

These purposes are well aligned with other with other work that Wikimedia Armenia is engaged in, as your chapter has been able to demonstrate some important outcomes with youth engagement and participation with WikiCamps, such as during the Winter WikiCamp 2018. It is therefore beneficial to work to share these skills and learning with others in the movement.

• It is somewhat unclear whether this is also a typical WikiCamp as WMAM has organized in the past, in addition to a event focused on training and building a community amongst WikiCamp organizers. I'll ask more specifically about this in the section below.

Questions and requests

• Initially I thought this event was focused on training, but some aspects make me think it is also another WikiCamp event. For instance, will be an award for community active wikieditors. What are these awards for, and are these awards likely to go to people who actually are interested in being lead organizers of wikicamps in their home countries?

In fact this is an International Wikicamp and it does have a training component for communities to learn more about how a camp should be organized in their home countries as Wikimedia Armenia has received various requests from several affiliates to provide information and details about activities of WikiCamps. Leaders will be chosen by their home chapters, since leadership requires leadership capacities, and mostly it is from nature, and isn't connected to editing skills. After this camp each affiliate would be able to manage camps in their respective countries. Their communities choose them according to their wiki summery and activity. But also there will be some inspiring prizes during WikiCamp in the process of competition of editing or sport activities (books, souvenirs) for active campers just for fun.

Their communities choose them according to their wiki summery and activity. But also there will be some inspiring prizes in the process of competition of editing or sport activities (books, souvenirs) for active campers just for fun.

• There are a few statements in the proposal that need some clarification:
  • The active wikipedians need to know each other to share knowledge, to create new projects, to feel as part of huge movement. I'm not sure how this statement answers the question: What are the top issues affecting your community that need to be discussed in person? Based on your survey or other discussions (such as at Wikimania 2018), what are the top issues amongst likely attendees that WikiCamps can help address?

• To raise collaboration between communities
• To start new projects
• To bring new editors into community and inspire them

• • Since our community was build through offline activities, we need to continue train community to other projects and represent them new capacities of Wiki projects. Again, I'm not sure how statement addresses the question: Are there important skills that many people in your community need to learn? What are some specific skills that need to be taught in order for people to run successful WikiCamps at home?

• Technical skills
• Learning patterns
• Community building
• Communication skills (offline communication helps to solve online conflicts)
• Keeping up the emotional high spirit

• • WikiCamps are very successful way for community building, so participants of guest countries will learn community building approach of the camp. Also we can learn from other countries experiences. I am confident this statement is true, but it does not address the question: Are there other in-person activities are important for community building? At this event, what specific in-person activities will help build community amongst these attendees interested in WikiCamps?

• To learn from successful and unsuccessful experiences
• To plan next International WikiCamp
• Sport activities and art and cuisine performances, which are included in schedule, help the campers to stay friends after the camp, to keep good relationship

• In the budget, what is the Hotel “playgrounds” expense ?

In the hotel playgrounds there is equipment (like zip-line, tightrope walking) that requires separate price.

• The request is currently over the $10,000 USD somemaximum for new conference proposals this round, albeit not by a whole lot. I'd like to ask what the $250 USD in "Other costs" is, because it is not well-defined and in excess of the maximum request this round.

By "Other costs" we mean Unforeseen expenses, and since our community is participating in the International camp, Wikimedia Armenia could cover those expenses.

When you're able, please respond to the questions above and revise the proposal as needed. These revisions will be due by 21 September 2018, after which the Conference Grant Committee will begin formal review of the proposal. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 20:13, 12 September 2018 (UTC)

WMF comments - 2020 proposal

Dear @WikiTatik:, Thank you for submitting this proposal! We are happy to explore the opportunity to support you in hosting the International WikiCamp 2020. It’s clear that you have a lot of experience, best practices and knowledge to share, so the wider community can benefit and duplicate your success.

I reviewed your proposal, and have some follow up questions and comments to offer as a part of staff review.

First - As the community can grow and change quite a lot in 2 years, the survey from 2018 will probably not be as relevant for this event. As the application guide indicates, conducting a Community Engagement Survey is a core requirement for any conference grant proposal. Although we fully acknowledge the importance of the WikiCamps, in order to support the conference, we need to be sure there is a real need for it. The survey is one of our ways to ensure that. To understand what the community is asking to focus on, their priorities and challenges, to make sure we are keeping up with the emerging changes and delivering quality activities. This is also a significant part of the goals and impact assessment. Do you have any up-to-date data to support this? I will still provide feedback on the proposal, but please note that a grant proposal that does not include a community input survey, will not be eligible for funding.

Purpose and vision

• Scope of the event - is it a camp for affiliates representatives to learn how to organize a camp? Train the trainers type event? Or is it a camp for wikimedians to engage and build capacity?

This event can actually incorporate both, but will require designing the program accordingly, in a way that highlights the learning components (maybe by having 2 tracks? For individual campers, and for affiliates representatives).

• 20 responses to the survey is not great for the scope of this event. Can you please confirm if this is based on a 2018 community survey, or the 2020?
• ‘’There are common goals as sharing experiences, the discussion of some issues together, working on common projects.’’ This is very general and does not provide a lot of insights. Can you please share a more elaborate analysis of the survey and the specific community goals for the next 12 months and during the camp? What are the main projects that need work? What are the most common skills that community members lack or need more support in? What are the pressing issues and challenges that the community is facing at the moment?

Context

• As I understand from the 2019 wiki page, the camp is designed for wikipedians aged 18-35. So how will in encourage youth to become more engaged? If that information is not correct for the 2020 event, please specify and add the up to date information.
• If it is for under aged and youth, doe’s your government authorities require any special permits?
• It is still not clear to me how the 2020 WikiCamp relates to other activities that the Armenian, and CEE community is working on. What are you already doing now, that is not the Camp, that links, or work in favor of the WikiCamp?
• Progress made - ‘’To inspire other communities to start International Wikicamps, to broaden the scope of collaboration between chapters and affiliates.’’ It’s not clear to me what is the actual progress made in those areas since the last event. You are raising good points, but please try to focus more on what is requested in the questions (for all the Survey analysis and Context sections of the proposal).
• Key lessons - what would you do differently this time to accommodate a meaningful program?

Friendly space policy - The link you provided is not for the Friendly space policy.

Scholarships - You mentioned you are not providing scholarships but I do see an accommodation budget item for 90 people, so I guess you do give scholarships, but they will only cover accommodation and food. Is that correct? If that is the case, please amend the proposal to reflect that, and indicate how many of the 90 participants will be organizing team, and how many will be campers.

Budget

• I don’t see any catering expenses - are those a part of the accommodation costs?
• What is the ‘playgrounds’ item for?
• How many nights are covered by the accommodation budget?
• What will be done with the Video shooting?

Your experience, creativity and hands on support are clear and valuable. I’m confident that the International WikiCamp is much valuable and impactful, but the proposals lack a lot of core information which makes it hard to really evaluate the potential impact of the camp and it’s activities. I know that you have already organized several successful camps worldwide, but a grant request still needs to include core information and clear rational so we will have enough to base the decision on.

What will indicate that the camp brought collaboration, individual and community capacity developments, newcomers or more engagement within the movement? How do you follow up and measure your activities and goals? What are the objectives? As this is not your first WikiCamp and you already have a wide experience in hosting such events, it should be easier to collect that data and to follow up on the progress made. Please identify the key deliverables, goals, objectives and metrics to support that.

For us to consider the proposal, a full community survey and analysis should be in place by February 28, 2020. Please also make sure to fully answer all parts of the proposal.

Thank you again for your significant role in supporting your community. Best CAlmog (WMF) (talk) 15:39, 21 February 2020 (UTC)

Reply to WMF comments on WikiCamp 2020 proposal

Dear CAlmog (WMF), thank you for your comments. We have made all the necessary changes to the proposal. Now you can review it.--WikiTatik (talk) 13:05, 27 February 2020 (UTC)