Grants talk:PEG/Ravan/Iraq Wikipedia Project/Report

• Your comments, questions and feedback are welcome here.

GAC comments

Dear Ravan, thank you for your reporting and congratulations for the completed project. Sometimes results are not the same as we planned but it is important to get know that whatever the result is - they are important and good because it shows us a picture of the situation and on what we should pay attention for the next time. I hope you get that picture and with your motivation you will continue with your work! Keep in mind for a next time that date for reporting is 60 days after the approved completion date from your grant submission. If you will need more time, let us informed on grant submission talk page or vie email directly to WMF Project & Program Officer. I noticed you forgot to list expenses. They should be listed in the same format as the budget table in your approved grant. If you need help, let me know and I will help you. Alos Impact section is empty. You should pick up one of options realted to you and described it. My last question will be about remaining funds. Let us know do you want to return it to WMF or you have some new project/idea for it?--MikyM (talk) 05:18, 3 March 2016 (UTC)

WMF

Hi Ravan, thank you for sharing your experiences from the series of workshops you led last year, and congratulations on meeting or exceeding most of your goals. It is impressive that 6 of the 28 participants were still active editors six months after the workshop - 21% new editor retention is uncommonly high. It is also impressive that most participants created at least 3 articles. You should be proud of these achievements. It would be helpful to get a little more information about your project, please see our comments and questions below:

• You note that 4 participants attended all three workshops and took a lot of notes but never edited, saying they wanted the 'full picture' before editing. Did you follow up with those participants to see if they ever started? Many workshop and education program leaders have reported that some participants never end up editing, your experience sounds frustrating, but it is not worrisome.

1. Thanks a lot for the nice encouragement, actually one of the lessons I've learnt for upcoming workshops that to distinguish between the people who really need some time or they just wasting my time, on the other hand I guess it's normal because all of the participants never knew that they can edit Wikipedia, after that some of them after asking so much and attending the workshops they've just decided that "it's not for us", We will not enjoy doing this! Ravan (talk) 08:10, 6 November 2016 (UTC)

• It is great that more people signed up than you anticipated, and that more than half of the participants were women. It also sounds like participants attended all three sessions. What factors do you think motivated so many people to participate?

1. I guess for decreasing the gender gap, what helped that I was a woman, so female volunteers in a conservative society such as ours would feel more comfortable knowing that the workshop is a female friendly environment, other than that what helped is "as I guess" that I was giving this image all the time about how much is FUN to edit Wikipedia and how you get involved with awesome people ...etc, so once I've announced that I'm having a workshop, many people got interested to participate.Ravan (talk) 08:34, 6 November 2016 (UTC)

• The two metrics tables have a different number for new articles written - were there 268 or 682 new articles created?

1. Sorry, typing mistake. The number is 682 new articles (Excluding the deleted ones), fixed in the grant page as well.Ravan (talk) 09:07, 6 November 2016 (UTC)

• We are pleased to hear that you found Wikimetrics helpful. There is a new tool called the Magic Button that makes calculating global metrics easier. You may also find the Range Contribs tool useful. It can be used to track the activity of a cohort of users over a period of time.

1. I'm planning to use the magic button in my upcoming workshops.Ravan (talk) 09:07, 6 November 2016 (UTC)

• How did the promotion of the education program at the universities in Erbil go? Did any students or professors seem interested in starting a program in their school?

1. Actually I got a lot of interest but the process was lacking a good organizing plan. Gladly, now we are finishing the agreements with 2 big universities in 2 cities to start the WEP program, Tighe is involved and just the launching date is pending, hopefully in next couple of weeks will be announced.Ravan (talk) 09:07, 6 November 2016 (UTC)

• Have you considered leading a new series of workshops, or planning another project?

1. Yes, of course. I'm working now on a new workshop for the Catholic University in Erbil, all arranged by them & I'll go only to teach them and give them, other than that we are working on series of workshops here in Erbil as Iraqi Wikimedians, just waiting to finalize the grant details.Ravan (talk) 09:07, 6 November 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for all of your hard work on this project - it sounds like people in your community are inspired by your dedication to fighting terrorism and racism by increasing free knowledge. We look forward to your responses to our questions. Please let us know if you are planning to apply for a new grant to use the $660 left from this project. If not, please see the instructions for returning unused funds to WMF. --KHarold (WMF) (talk) 18:56, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

1. Thanks a lot to all of you and I'm deeply sorry for delaying the report, please forgive me this time. I have refunded the amount of 660$ successfully to Wikimedia Foundation account.Thanks again for all the support and the following up, we all really appreciate it.Ravan (talk) 09:07, 6 November 2016 (UTC)