Grants talk:Project/BlackLunchTable/BLT 2018/Midpoint

Midpoint Report accepted

Dear Heathart and Fishantena,

Thank you for submitting this Midpoint Report. I'm so sorry about my delay in approving it. I understand that this has caused you extra stress and I regret that so much. I will be reaching out to you by email to find out if there is anything I can do to help correct the burden this created for your group.

I am approving your Midpoint Report now, with the following comments:

• The photos your project is generating are so moving. Because you are taking such care to create high quality, evocative portraits, the photos speak volumes and convey a sense of presence that goes far beyond many of the photos of people that I regularly see on Wikimedia projects. It creates a meaningfully layered experience of the visibility of your subjects.
• You mentioned that you "have been evaluating how our methods translate to different cultures" and noted that "Responsible linguistic translation means more than simply creating a direct translation, but must involve a nuanced understanding of language, culture, and history." I would love to hear you explore this further in your Final Report. This is such a challenging issue, and one that we are always grappling with in the Wikimedia Foundation. You might even consider writing a learning pattern on this subject (or checking to see if one exists and expanding/improving it).
• You mentioned that you are considering asking to move some of your funds from event:food budget, since that has often been covered by host institutions, to a new line item event:transportation. This is completely fine. If you would like to move forward with this request, you should use the 'Request a Budget Change' button in your finances tab, then ping me to let me know and I will approve it.
• Are you still hiring? Because of my delay in reviewing your report, I don't know how much things have changed on that front. If you are still hiring, is there any way I can help with getting the word out? Let me know if you would like to talk about this further.

I will reach out to you shortly about connecting further about current needs of your project. In the meantime, your disbursement will be queued up next Tuesday (March 19) and then payment will follow shortly. I will notify our Grants Administrator that your report has been approved.

Thank you so much for the thoughtful, high quality work you are doing.

Kind regards,

--Marti (WMF) (talk) 19:52, 13 March 2019 (UTC)