Grants talk:Project/Rapid/UG GR/Wiki Loves Monuments in Greece 2021

Comments from I JethroBT (WMF)

@MARKELLOS, Magioladitis, and C messier: Thanks for your proposal to support WLM in Greece this year. Your history of supporting photo contests for 10 years, incorporating quality images, and supporting a great program for both newcomers and experienced community members in the movement is appreciated. Here are my comments and questions:

• In your last report, you had remarked that The increase of the level of prizes did not have the impact on the number of photos, we would have expected, but it may be the result of the quarantine during the contest period. I agree that the pandemic has had general global reductions on programmatic participation, but I also want to acknowledge that the prize budget for your event is relatively high for a campaign contest funded through this grant program, even taking into consideration the general impact of your activities and the number of participants. Because higher prizes may not be having the impact you would expect, would you be willing to reduce your prize budget to a range closer 550 - 650 EUR, similar to what was offered in 2019?
• Along these lines, I wanted to ask if you have ever done any surveying or assessment of what motivates people to participate in this prominent campaign. If not, I recommend surveying your participants to ask about different factors and, perhaps, what prevents them from doing so). While prizes can be one motivating factor, there may be other factors to consider (like the schedule for the campaign, participants seeing their photo on a relevant Wikimedia project article, receiving press coverage, getting to know other photographers, being recognized by the User Group, etc.) that may help you support better outreach in the future. If you need funding to support this work, let me know.
• One of the goals you've described is to increase the amount of freely-licensed material related to Greek monuments in Wikimedia Commons. Are there resources you are sharing with participants to help them learn what Greek monuments are not yet documented, or could benefit from a better quality image?
• In terms of the goals you've set around incorporating WLM images onto Wikimedia projects after a four-month period, can you explain more about why you've set a goal of 5% (80 images)? I am also wondering what would be needed to support a higher goal here. Would more time be helpful? More volunteers to help incorporate images? Something else?

Please let me know if you need any clarifications around my comments. With thanks, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 09:23, 23 September 2021 (UTC)

@I JethroBT (WMF): Thank you for yor comments. These are the answers to your questions.

• We recall that in the report about 2019 we expressed that there could be an impact to the number of photos and participants since we had a lower budget than in 2018 and 2017, since it was the only different factor. Anyway, we can reduce the price budget to 650 EUR and try this configuration.
• Frankly, we had asked this question to people that came to the awards' ceremonies but not in a proper survey. Thank you for the notice, we will be doing it.
• Yes, the participants choose and submit photos of monuments from our own curated lists of monuments. For every year we create tables with which monuments were photographed.
• Many participants tend to submit photos for monuments that are already well documented (such as the Acropolis). Thus we expect that a lot of the submited photos while they are great to be kept in Commons will not be actually used in Wikipedia. But if 80 articles or wikidata items get their first image it has a great value for them.--MARKELLOS^{Leave me a message} 09:10, 2 October 2021 (UTC)

@MARKELLOS: Thanks for your responses. Please update the prize budget on the main proposal page, and then I will be able to approve the proposal for funding. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 07:50, 6 October 2021 (UTC)

@I JethroBT (WMF): I updated the prize budget as requested.--MARKELLOS^{Leave me a message} 17:05, 9 October 2021 (UTC)