Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Conference Fund/3rd Wikimedia Technology Summit (WTS 2024)

WMF review and feedback

Hi @Kasyap,

Thank you very much for this proposal and for your initiative in organizing the 3rd Wikimedia Technology Summit. I highly appreciate the time and effort you put into this proposal. I have reviewed your proposal and have some comments and follow up questions:

• The number of responses to community engagement is very very low. This unfortunately does not provide us with a good indication of the need for this conference.
• I see one of the main objectives is to ‘increase the technical contributions from the student community and wikipedian’. Considering this is a proposal for the third summit - do you have any indications that this objective was indeed achieved over the last 2 years? What is the growth in technical contributions and in general engagement that was documented over the last few years, and in underrepresented communities?
• On a similar topic, as the last summit also targeted local students who were not Wikimedians at first, I’m interested to know if you have any metrics of the percentage of engagement or retention of those students now. Did the summit prove to be efficient in that?
• “We plan a tool workshop/demo as requested by contributors” - what type of tool/ workshop will it be? What will it specifically be focused on?
• You are targeting a total of 180 participants and 120 scholarships. Does it mean you are expecting 60 to be local/ self funded?
• Scholarship distribution - What kind of criteria will you set? Wikipedia readers for example are not really suitable candidates for this event or for a scholarship.
• Roles and responsibilities - what is the organizing team capacity that you have available? How many team members will fill those roles?
• Is the Hackathone intended to be a pre-conference event? Or is it part of the summit program?
• I see one of the risks you identified was the language barrier. Don’t you want to consider a translation service of some kind? That is the one risk that seems harder to mitigate without planning.
• Please make sure to have a Friendly space policy at hand and to include it in the registration + to be documented and communicated before and during the event.
• Learnings - You are describing great collaborations and outreach efforts that show a great approach for growing and strategic engagement. I also think that with the right and balanced program design, this type of event has a very significant role in bridging background gaps.

Budget:

• I see 100 schol;arship represented in the budget, but you said you will grant a total of 120 scholarships. Can you please clarify?
• We all love getting swag from conferences and events -- it is a tangible way to share our love for Wikimedia and let folks know we are part of the community. However, over the last several years reports on event swag practices have made it clear that they have a very damaging environmental footprint other than very high costs that are increasing. Therefore we now ask you to limit swag to low cost items like stickers. I see you are budgeting for 3 items per person - shirt/bag and bottle. This doesn't seem necessary. Please choose 1 item.
• The total budget request had more than doubled since the last Summit (which even had an underspent). Other than the increasing amount of scholarships, why do you think the budget has increased so dramatically? * Why have you budgeted for 200 items on all merchandise items if the total number of participants is 180?

Thank you again for submitting this proposal. When you're able, please respond to the questions on meta and revise the proposal on Fluxx if needed (I have sent the application back on Fluxx so you can edit it, just don't forget to re-submit when you are done). These revisions will be due by March 4, 2024 after which the Conference Grant Committee will begin formal review of the proposal to make the funding decisions.

Best, CAlmog (WMF) (talk) 04:20, 27 February 2024 (UTC)

Dear @CAlmog (WMF)

We appreciate you reviewing the WTS 2024 application and providing your feedback. Below are our responses to your questions.

• We recognize the low response rate from our initial community engagement attempt, despite reaching out to WTS 2023 participants this may be because of we have not opted for Wiki mailing list or publishing notice on the Indic Languages village pumps as we dont have technology focused active community like Indic-TechCom for survey . However, with over 90% (41 outof 45 responded) of participants from WTS 2023 expressing interest in joining, We're encouraged by the strong interest in our initiative, We've been actively engaging with Wiki Tech volunteers, and their positive support is evident, including offering training opportunities for aspiring WikiTech contributors. . Understanding the scarcity of active contributors in Wiki technologies from India, we are committed to enhancing our efforts to bolster tech contributors. Presently, we are executing supplementary strategies to expand our outreach, such as targeted engagement with specific communities and partnerships with pertinent organizations.
• Although we haven't officially recorded the progress in technical contributions and general involvement over the past two summits in alignment with summit goals, anecdotal evidence indicates a rise in involvement from students and Wikipedians in technical endeavors. To address this, we are introducing a more robust data collection system for the forthcoming summit to precisely monitor and gauge these metrics, ensuring representation from underrepresented communities.
• Student representatives from 5 Wikiclubs have actively participated, showing increased engagement in Edit-a-thons and Hackathons. You can find detailed statistics at Outreach Dashboard, along with information on WikiClub and Tech activities like Mallareddy University and VJIT and Hackathons
• While we are conducting online session with WTS 2023 participants we have requested for demonstration on Tools like AutoWikiBrowser (AWB), PAWS and some important tools from Coolest Tool Awards.

• Yes, we are excepting approximately 60 as self-funded participants to be self-funded or locally sponsored from Hyderabad region.
• Thank you for this valuable insight. For previous WTS 2023, we'd introduced consistent wiki contributions as a criterion for scholarships due to the lack of significant contributors solely dedicated to the Wikipedia technology ecosystem. However, moving forward, we will establish transparent criteria for scholarship selection, giving priority to individuals who actively contribute to Wikimedia projects and hackathons or show strong potential to do so. Wikipedians with technical expertise will receive preferential consideration.
• At IIIT Hyderabad, we boast a dedicated outreach team comprising experienced individuals with diverse skill sets. You can explore some of the prestigious international and national conferences organized by us on IIIT event page . With confidence in our team's capabilities and WikiClub student volunteers, we are assured of organizing a successful summit.
• We planning to conduct two hackathons - one specifically designed for women on International Women's Day, March 8th, 2024. This initiative aims to empower and welcome new participants interested in contributing to WikiTech. We are planning to award some scholarships to participate in the Wikimedia Technology Summit , and another mini hackathon tailored for active Mediawiki contributors as a pre-conference event.
• Although participants in the technology summit generally have sufficient English proficiency, we acknowledge the significant risk posed by language barriers. To address this concern, we are considering several options, including providing language support services in Telugu and Hindi by IIIT student volunteers.
• We will seek assistance from WikiWomenCamp 2023 and WikiConference India organizers to develop a comprehensive Friendly Space Policy. The core members of WTS 2024, who were key stakeholders in previous events, will be involved in this process. This policy will be integrated into the registration process, documented on the event website, and clearly communicated to all participants and staff before and during the event.
• We appreciate your positive feedback on our outreach efforts and program design. We believe this summit has the potential to bridge background gaps and foster collaboration within the Wikimedia community. We are committed to addressing your concerns and providing a comprehensive and well-organized summit.

Budget:

• We have included 20 scholarships more in budget for summit speakers and special invites from communities like Mozilla, Opensource and Free and Open-source Software (FOSS) India.
• Please consider that SWAGS are great tools for providing branding for WIKI within the communities. Following your suggestion, this time we are considering providing only one item (a bag) and removing the bottle from the offerings.
• Our previous summit had an underspent budget because we offered limited scholarships with airfare and accommodated participants on the IIIT campus due to hotel costs. Based on feedback and better understanding of participant needs, we plan to provide more scholarships at the national level for WTS 2024. Additionally, we will book hotel accommodations similar to previous successful Wiki events in India. These changes have led to an increased budget allocation.
• It is a common practice to have extra items as a buffer to cater to unexpected participants and other guests.

Thank you in advance for consideration,Please let us know if you need any further information: Kasyap (talk) 07:57, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

Endorsment from Nskjnv (talk)

The Wikimedia Technology Summit 2023 provided an invaluable opportunity to engage with tech enthusiasts and glean insights from the Wikimedia Foundation's language team. This interaction proved particularly enlightening for advancing initiatives within the Gondi and Kolami Wikimedia communities. Anticipation builds for the upcoming Wikimedia Tech Summit 2024, where I hope to see @Kasyap and their team prioritize strategic initiatives aligned with the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, placing Indian indigenous language communities at the forefront.

 Strong support I strongly Endorse this proposal.

--Nskjnv (talk) 14:08, 14 March 2024 (UTC)