Grants:IdeaLab
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- IdeaLab is an incubator for people to meet, initiate ideas to improve Wikimedia projects, and collaboratively develop them into project plans and grant proposals.
sharing ideas
As much as we want to know your idea for a better hat to deflect alien mind-rays, 
IdeaLab is an incubator for ideas to improve Wikimedia projects. An incubator is an online space where ideas are developed until they are ready to be implemented.
Does your idea improve an existing Wikimedia website? Let us know! Does your idea make it easier for other Wikimedia contributors to volunteer? Let us know! Is your idea related to Wikimedia projects but you're not quite sure where it fits in? Let's talk about it...
what is your idea?
Decide on a name for your idea, write it in the box and push the button to get started.
Wikimedia Research:Index: Main research hub.
Wikimedia status reports: Updates from across the movement.
Editor engagement projects: Experiments and initiatives in various languages.
Strategy proposals: Ideas from Wikimedia's 2010 strategic planning.
improving ideas
can you help with these ideas?
Help turn good ideas into actionable projects! These drafts may be turned into complete Individual Engagement Grant proposals if they meet the criteria, or they can be sent in other directions according to the needs of the idea.
- Open an idea you are interested in and use its discussion page to join the conversation.
- Ask and answer questions on the discussion page and "open questions" section of the idea page. Is there enough information here to plan a project?
- Suggest improvements to the idea. What would make the idea work better?
- Share previous experiences. Do you have learning to share from seeing ideas like this before?
- Sign up in the list of participants for an idea that you'd like to stay involved with. Do you want to be a part of this ongoing project?
- Add sections to help turn an idea into a complete grant proposal. Does it seem like a good candidate for an Individual Engagement Grant?
- Introduce yourself in the IdeaLab and share your skills. What talents or expertise can you contribute to these ideas?
introducing yourself
Everyone is welcome to collaborate on ideas in the IdeaLab! If you have new ideas or can offer your talents to help grow ideas into plans and proposals, we'd like to meet you.
what can you share?
Welcome, new collaborators! Please tell us a bit about you.
Siko Bouterse I work for the Wikimedia Foundation as Head of Individual Engagement Grants. I'm a lover of global online communities who likes to build new projects and help others do the same, and I care a lot about editor retention, Wikipedia's gender gap, and trying innovative things to produce different results. Some Wikimedia projects I've collaborated on include Teahouse, WikiWomen's Collaborative, Editor Growth and Contribution Program and Wikimedia Fellowships.
skills: project management, developing plans that scope to launch quickly and iterate to improve, thinking like a user, balancing big picture with details, data-driven and experimental planning, connecting the dots to match people with projects, asking painfully obvious questions.
Jake Ocaasi I'm still kind of amazed with this whole movement. I like to pursue lots of different projects relating to new user orientation, active editor retention, and community organizing.
skills: Help guides, editathons, Skype, community networking, partnerships with organizations.
User: Pine I liked the work that the Fellowship program did and I'm enthusiastic about seeing that kind of work continue in ways large and small. I'm an administrator on the Outreach wiki, a channel op on some Wikimedia IRC channels, and I have Reviewer permissions on English Wikipedia. I contributed extensively to the Mind the Gap research "paper" that is published here on Meta. Sometimes I contribute to the conversations on the Wikimedia email lists such as Wikimedia-l, Wiki-Research-l, and EE. Two of my favorite places on Wikimedia projects are Commons Featured Picture Candidates and English Wikipedia Featured Picture Candidates. I also sometimes help with with English Wikipedia's WikiProject Finance, WikiProject Business, WikiProject Globalization, and The Signpost. I have many interests and I enjoy intellectual discussions about almost anything.
skills: Diverse. (: You can check out my user page and my talkpages on ENWP, Commons, Meta, and Outreach to get an idea of my many activities around Wikimedia projects. You can also sometimes find me on Wikimedia email lists and on IRC.
Heather Walls I've been helping to design things at the Wikimedia Foundation including the Teahouse project and WikiWomen's Collaborative. I am a fan of efforts to bring more voices into global conversations and Wikimedia projects have the opportunity to do that. I welcome opportunities to see people do amazing things and have my worldview shattered.
skills: Making stuff, removing words, finding things, taking some of the irk out of teamwork. Kittens.
Al Silonov My home wiki is Russian Wiktionary, where I am sysop and bureaucrat. For several years I am also sysop at the Belorussian and Ukrainian Wiktionaries (I am also a long-time editor at Russian Wikipedia, Commons etc). My idea is based on my rather extensive experience in several Wiktionary projects (more than 180,000 edits in ru:wikt, more than 4000 at uk:wikt, more than 4000 at be:wikt, about 200 at en:wikt; more than 200,000 edits in whole across the WMF projects). The point is: the interface and functionality inherited from Wikipedia do not fit the specific character and needs of the dictionary. Actually it is a serious limiting factor there. Switching from the plain-text editing to something like object-oriented database editing paradigm with fully customizable views and standardized formats would substantially improve the quality of the dictionaries, simplify the interoperability between different language projects, accelerate and automate the development of the smaller projects. The change implies serious transformations in the project's engine.
skills: Diverse
Haitham I work for the Wikimedia Foundation as contribution research manager, and have been working mainly on projects under Editor Growth and Contribution Program which aims to increase the number of editors from developing countries.
skills: Data analysis, planning, community management.
Jonathan Morgan I'm a PhD candidate in Human Centered Design & Engineering at the en:University of Washington where I study, design and evaluate tools for online collaboration. My dissertation research focuses on Wikipedia WikiProjects, but I have also worked on other open-source volunteer collaboration platforms, like this one. I also consult with the Wikimedia Foundation as a Research Strategist, in the Grantmaking & Programs department. With Heather Walls, Sarah Stierch and Siko Bouterse, I designed the Teahouse.
skills: Analyzing data, programming in Python, scoping research projects, gathering requirements, making useful & usable stuff, corrupting the youth, profaning the divine, and making the weaker argument the stronger.
Gryllida I started with creating new pages at Wikipedia, and then moving to citizen journalism at Wikinews after a while. The latter involved quite a bit of images licensing activity so now I'm pretty familiar with fair use, grant of license, and licenses of media across different Wikimedia projects. This entire activity is rewarding and I keep doing all those things with a passion for the open philosophy of the Wikimedia project. As time allows, I do everything I can to use the potential of people, encourage them to keep contributing if they have a potential for a needed but rare field, and a lot of other things -- so the project moves to a relevant direction efficiently. :)
skills: Languages and documentation; Programming (Perl, cxx, Python); Sciences.
Ilario Valdelli - After a Master of Arts, I dedicated my life to learn and to improve my knowledge in computer science until a second Master in Computer Science. I managed some projects in banking and insurance fields and afterwards in aviation. In the meantime I collaborated with Wikipedia and Wikimedia since 2005 managing some cultural projects. As Wikipedian I am sysop in it.wikipedia, as wikimedian I am founding member of Wikimedia Switzerland and of Wikimedia Italia. I am an Italian speaker living in Switzerland currently in the board of WIkimedia CH.
skills: Computer science, project management, budgeting, cultural projects
Steven Zhang I've been a Wikimedian for five years, mostly working resolving disputes between other Wikipedians, and improving the processes that make this possible. I was a Community Fellow with the Wikimedia Foundation for eight months where I worked on reform efforts (summary of my project is here) and this has given me great insight into execution of community engagement projects.
skills: Project and time management, community engagement, survey creation and analysis
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James Heilman Have been involved with Wikipedia / Wikimedia since 2008. I primarily work to improve medical content and on collaborations with other organizations who share our goals. Get caught up in other unrelated work from time to time (like travel content)
skills: Medicine, Medicine related outreach, Fiduciary responsibily
Netha Hussain I am a medical student living in Kozhikode, India. I collaborate with various projects that aim at bridging the gender gap in Wikipedia. I am interested in conducting and participating in research about Wikipedia culture and demographics. Outside Wikimedia, I am a blogger and a quizzer.
skills: community based participatory research, outreach, connecting people, auscultation.
Mile Kiš I have been active on the projects of the WMF since January 2007. I am Secretary-General and first employee of Wikimedia Serbia. Since July 2012, I am member of Grant Advisory Committee.
skills: finance, budget, event organizer
Thehelpfulone I've been a Wikimedian since November 2007 and have involved myself in numerous aspects of the community and Foundation's work. I've served as an English Wikipedia administrator for just over 4 years, am also an administator and bureaucrat here on Meta-Wiki, Outreach Wiki and have permissions on a few other wikis. I am also an OTRS agent, IRC channel operator and do admin work with Bugzilla/Mailman. I've been quite heavily involved in the work of the Editor Engagement team, particularly on the Article Feedback Tool. I'm also on the Sister Projects Committee and have recently been active on Wikivoyage, where I've been helping with the migration and setting up of our newest sister project.
skills: Connecting people, project management, testing (I can always find a bug!), translation management here on Meta-Wiki, organising stuff, pushing for progress, general helpfulness :-)
Harold Hidalgo Saluts. I am Harold, a Wikimedian since September 2011. In real life, I am a science fiction writer and electronic music producer. I mostly work on the English and Spanish Wikipedias, as well as on Commons. I am a lover of free knowledge and have worked towards that individual goal in spanish literature for the last six years. I currently am a Mediator for the Spanish Wikipedia and a clerk for the English Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee, as well as an OTRS volunteer.
skills: Preparing and designing budgets, planning documentation, translations, help guides, working at writing and giving speeches, working with community...
María Sefidari I've been a Wikimedian since 2006. I'm an admin and 'crat in the Spanish Wikipedia, one of the temporary admins in Wikidata, and a rollbacker in the English Wikipedia. In the Spanish Wikipedia I founded the LGBT Wikiproject, which continues to this day. I am very interested in all that happens in the Wikimedia movement. I am currently the Treasurer of the Affiliations Committee, and participate in initiatives such as Iberocoop or WikiWomen's Collaborative.
skills: organization, keeping track of projects, looking at the bigger picture, connecting people
Asaf Bartov I'm a longtime Wikipedian interested in the developing world, editor engagement, expert outreach, bots and tools, and library metadata. I work for the Wikimedia Foundation and run the Wikimedia Grants Program.
skills: project management, public speaking, software programming, grant evaluation, library technology
Liam Wyatt G'day. I've been a Wikimedia Fellow and originator of the GLAM outreach projects including the inaugural Wikipedian in Residence. I've been involved in many aspects of the community including serving on the board of my country's Chapter, convened several conferences and events, long term participant on many of the mailing lists, co-host of the (former) "Wikipedia weekly" podcast. I wrote my honours thesis about the historiogrpahy of Wikipedia and my masters thesis about the copyrightability of faithful reproductions of 2D works of public domain art.
skills: GLAM, outreach, presentations/workshops.
William Beutler I've been a Wikipedian for what seems like ages, and I've even written a blog about Wikipedia for some years now, yet I've done very little on the Wikimedia side of things, let alone the Meta. I'd like to help work on ideas toward building the project for long-term success, and help others develop ideas to do the same.
skills: Research, writing, social interwebs, team leadership, consensus building, er... origami?
Tomo suzuki Hi everyone. I started to edit Wikipedia in 2005, and now serve as a sysop on Japanese Wikipedia. I am looking forward to meeting new people and ideas through the program.
My primary focus as a member of IEG Committee is to reach out to individuals or small groups who have little experience in grant application but have wonderful ideas. I understand that Individual/Small group applicants encounter different challenges than that of bigger groups. Personal situation (ie. job, family, financial, medical etc.) has bigger impact on their overall performance during application and reporting. As a former applicant who experienced similar challenge, I want to offer casual mentoring opportunity to anyone who needs help overcome the challenges.
I spent my teen years in Japan, and then moved to the United States, South Korea, and now Pakistan. Based on my experience, I am sure that Wikimedia Movemen’s potential is huge in Asian region, and I am waiting to hear from anyone in the region!
skills: Mentoring, community organizing, and big smile 
Yusuke Matsubara Hi, I'm from Japan and have been Wikimedian for more than four years. I'm also a former intern for Wikimedia Summer of Research. Having myself immersed in those areas, I'd love to collaborate on data-oriented projects and innovations.
skills: wrangling data, planning research, writing code, translation & localization
Ansuman I am active mostly at en.wikipedia, or.wikipedia, commons, acc tool, translatewiki. Administrator at Odia Wikipedia, involved in various tasks. A MBA graduate, and working as a Research Analyst. I am into movie, music, literature, care for social causes, believe in sustainable living and vegetarianism. I intend to devote more time here on Wikimedia, in other similar fields and be a part of something bigger.
skills: outreach | translations | blogging | project management | analysis | don't follow the herd, try unusual | Believer!
Oarabile Mudongo My name is Oarabile Mudongo and i am a citizen of Botswana.I pursue Bachelor_of_Computer_Science at Botho College and a major in Network_engineering.
Currently i am a full time wikipedia Editor since the Setswana Wikipedia Challenge started till its end.From Wikipedia i have edited and created many articles and still working on more articles to be published later.This is one of the articles i have known Setswana at first when i entered the challenge.At first Botswana had only Ten articles written in Setswana but since the challenge was introduced more articles where created and their numbers increased almost to 500.I was a contestant in these challenge and emerged the top wikipedian in Botswana as shown by the statistics here Statistics of the Setswana Wikipedia Challenge.Not just that but Google also organised for all the Participants of the challenge an award ceremony which was gazed by many,as a way of thanking us for the massive work done by Batswana students in improving Wikipedia articles in Setswana.I was awarded many presents including Net-books,Android phones etc as i was the top contributor in the Setswana wikipedia Challange.
My favourite Wikimedia Projects are Wikipedia,Wikimedia commons,Wikiversity and the current one being Wikivoyage.I am also a leader of volunteers who are planing an upcoming chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation in Botswana which shall be called Wikimedia Botswana.
skills: Web Content Developer,Network Engineering Tasks,Project Management,Community Outreach,Education Outreach online.
Hey guys, My name is Leonardo Correia I am a 23-year-old Brazilian who has graduated in International Relations and is a Law student. I am interested in many different areas but my work has mainly been with business and the third-sector. On one hand, I have co-founded a student-run business at my university. It is an international consultancy that aims to offer in-depth conjunctural and prospective analysis, international benchmarking and logistics planning. I have also worked as a consultant for a Logistics and Supply Chain firm. On the other hand, I have volunteered for the Doctors Without Boarders, have coordinated a project in which a group of 5 students developed a Fundraising Strategic Planning for a Kindergarden in which kids from the slum got educated and, finally, I have developed my own project in the Salgueiro slum - Salgueiro Sustentável. This project aims to raise awareness of sustainability and empower community inhabitants to build a sustainable community. Last but not least, I am passionate for collaborative projects and international settings, in which I have worked through conferences and programs for youth.
skills: strong oral and written communication skills, teamworking, debating, analytical reasoning, project management, leadership, strategic planning, business plan writting skills, business model analysis, fluent: English, German, Spanish, intermediary: French
what if this idea needs funding?
wikimedia foundation offers grants
The Wikimedia Foundation’s grantmaking programs increase the quantity, quality, diversity, and reach of free knowledge by supporting allied organizations and people around the world.
| Individual Engagement Grants | Participation Support | Wikimedia Foundation Grants | Funds Dissemination Committee |
| Funding individuals to lead time‑intensive projects. | Co-funding with WMDE, for individual contributors to travel to participate in events. | Funding project expenses for individuals, groups, and organizations. | Funding annual plans and programs for Wikimedia affiliate organizations. |
| Proposals accepted twice annually. | Proposals accepted at any time. | Proposals accepted at any time. | Proposals accepted twice annually. |
Individual Engagement Grants
« congratulations to the round 1 grantees! »
Individual or team of up to 4 individuals. See other grant options
Demonstrated involvement in the Wikimedia movement, with good community-standing.
Willing to provide full legal name and address. See more program rules
Able to independently complete the project.
Grantees are not awarded special access to WMF Engineering and Product Development or other non-grantmaking staff.
Scoped to 6 months, with potential to renew for 6 more if need is shown.
Maximum request USD 30,000. No minimum.
Aimed at improving one or more of Wikimedia's existing websites. Creating a new wiki instead?
Any technical components must be standalone or completed on-wiki. Projects are completed without assistance or review from WMF engineering, so MediaWiki Extensions or software features requiring integration cannot be funded. On-wiki tech work (templates, user scripts, gadgets) and completely standalone applications without a hosting dependency are allowed.
Any code or other materials produced must be published and released as free and open-source. Licensing should be compatible with current Wikimedia and MediaWiki practices.
Content-creation is not directly funded.
Projects should foster conditions that encourage editing by volunteers (e.g. editor recruitment campaigns), not replace volunteer action by funding someone to edit articles, upload photos, etc.
Proposals are evaluated and selected according to the following criteria:
- Alignment with the Wikimedia mission and vision, and fit within the movement's 5-year strategic priorities of increasing readership, quantity and quality of content, participation and diversity in the Wikimedia movement.
- Potential impact of the proposed project on the mission goals and strategic priorities.
- Innovative approach to solving critical issues in the movement, particularly online or on-wiki.
- Sustainability of impact beyond the duration of the grant, and potential for the project to scale, add critical knowledge, be adapted for other Wikimedia projects, or spur further innovation in the Wikimedia movement.
- Community discussions and interest in the project by those it aims to serve.
- Feasibility of completing the project as scoped with the requested and available resources.
- Efficiency of proposed use of funds.
- Fit between the skills and experience of the grantees and the needs of the proposed project.
- The total amount of funding available, as provided by the WMF Board.
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