Wikimedia CH/Call for projects 2017/Let's fill the gender gap 2017

Legal name of organization or individual requesting this grant:


Contact username: Nattes à chat

Project name: Let's fill the gender gap 2017

Please provide a detailed description of your project: In the lake Geneva region, community meetings and events are rare. At the same time, there is a need to fill the gender gap and find more women contributors, as well as addressing other subjects like handisport and getting new contributors from passed events engaged im projects and editing. Last year, the Let's fill the gender gap workshops was very successful and attracted more than 60 new contributors, most of them women. This emerging community wishes to continue editing and also enhance and translate the 89 articles created last year, in a contribution to the english Women in Red project. We want to help these new contributors integrate fully in the wikipedian community by helping them on technical aspects (wikidata, commons, translation tool) and also enable them to meet other wikipedians, in the region (Lake Geneva) in Switzerland (swiss German community) and France (Paris and Lyon), as contacts have been established with these wikipedian communities last year. We believe that the Swiss chapter has a great role to play in establishing interwikilanguage links, as this chapter allready is using English as communication language as well as promoting the different language community composing the swiss linguistic diversity. For this, we plan to organize :

  • weekly meetings on Monday at lunchtime
  • monthly meetings on Friday evenings with a more festive approach (contributing should remain the main focus).

We plan to propose wiki trips to the community (4 this year: one to visit Wikicheese in Paris, one to visit the Cabale de la Quenelle in Lyon), one to visit the swiss german community, and one in Neuchatel or Fribourg to establish links.

We also want to organize the following thematic edit-a-thons:

  • a two day week end Art&Feminism in Geneva with the support of the local artists and feminist movement
  • an edit-a-thon on the history of womens right with the Gostelli foundation http://www.gosteli-foundation.ch/fr

To promote visibility of women on Wikipedia we want to have people wear the T shirts presented at the wikiconvention in Paris [[File:WiKiconvention-Langage epicene-Angela Marzullo.jpg|thumb|WiKiconvention-Langage epicene-Angela Marzullo].We would then sell these T shirts 20 chf to help cover future cost of the project and goodies. The T shirts would be worn while visiting outside events, making the gender gap subject visible, specifically by the trainers of the editathons and the participants if they wish. For this reason, they have been made in English, to allow interwiki recognition.

Please provide a detailed budget for your request:

We have asked for a idealab grant and would like to have formal WMCH support for that. If the grant is accepted, what we would need from WMCH is support to organize the two edit-a-thons with Art&feminism and the Gostelli foundation.

Provisional budget:

  • travel expenses for : 1000 chf (covering travel expenses for 10 participants to the event)
  • accomodation expense : 1000 chf (covering accomodation expenses for 10 participants)
  • 50 T shirts Stop wiki sexism on wikipedia : 800 chf (would be 350 if done in France without travel expenses)
  • artist performance opening and/or closing the event to make women artist more visible and part of the project, as this point was criticized in the last Art&feminism edit-a-thon : 1000 chf
  • room conference renting for two days for the Art&Feminism : 1000 chf (based on Impact hub prices for the whole space)
  • catering: 60 chf / person for the art feminism event : 6 000 chf (based on 100 participants and on impact hub prices)
  • catering 30 chf /person for the Gostelli event: 600 chf (prices based on the cost in the Let's fill the gender gap project)

This is what we need globally if we have to pay for all services. Maybe part of these events can be organized and hosted by local institutions which would bring the cost down, but we are waiting for more information from one local foundation and two institutions.

Please explain what influence your activity will have on Wikimedia Projects:
The community building activity will influence positively relationships between the different language communities in Switzerland, and make the contribution aspect of Wikipedia more visible to the public. It will justify the existence of a local swiss chapter fully in its particular function of coordinating interwiki relationships between languages, as in Switzerland we have various language communities. It will also continue to address the gender gap problem and have an influence on fighting harassment issues by promoting non sexist language in a positive and constructive way, by favouring the mingling of people from different horizons and ideas. The most important thing will be the creation of a french swiss in Geneva speaking community organized in a participative and collaborative way.

(Quantitative: number of new pictures uploaded to commons, number of active and new editors involved, number of new articles created & Qualitative: strengthen the community of XXX etc) - translation of all articles published in the Lets fill the gender gap project: 70 articles - upload of pictures missing in the present articles : 20 - new articles: 30

How does your project fulfil WMCH's focus on GLAM, Education and Community programs? This project might have the support of the University of Geneva and other institutions. Negotiations are underway. Participants form the Lets fill the gender gap project included librarians and the Art and feminism event could be hosted/supported by the HES SO. I myself work for the University of Geneva and could be offered a wikipedian in residence type of permanent engagement to support the project in the next years.

Provide the provisional target start date and completion date: september 2016 - to september 2017

Provide any other information you believe helps to understand your project better:

template:project_proposal_2017 Please note that only applications that have been completed in full will be considered.
If you are not able to submit your request via a wiki, please use the same template and send your proposal via info@wikimedia.ch.