Grants:Project/Rapid/Project/Semester Funding for Workshops and Events in Spring 2018

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Wikipedia Connection/Semester Funding for Workshops and Events in Spring 2018
Wikipedia Connection is a student organization at Ohio State University in Columbus. We are requesting funds for our semester activities which includes weekly workshops, edit-a-thons, and other events with faculty and students on campus to get others involved with Wikipedia.
targetEnglish Wikipedia
start dateJanuary 31
end dateMay 1
budget (USD)$925.00
grant typegroup
non-profit statusNo
grantee• Lilnors
contact(s)• Nora Myer, Treasurer: myer.41(_AT_)osu.edu
organization (if applicable)• Wikipedia Connection, a student organization and Ohio Wikimedians User Group affiliate
website (if applicable)• Wikipedia Connection Homepage


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Background & Project Goals[edit]

Wikipedia Connection is an active student organization dedicated to exploring and contributing to Wikipedia at the Ohio State University. In previous semesters, Wikipedia Connection has hosted multiple edit-a-thons (list here), weekly workshops, photography events, and more that cater to and attract students, librarians, and other university faculty. We aim to reach members of the community who otherwise may not explore Wikipedia and to generate interest as well as continue to support those who currently are involved with Wikipedia in the local community. The 2016 - 2017 annual report for Wikipedia Connection's activities and outcomes is available here.

This Rapid Grant request is to request funding for Wikipedia Connection's activities in the Spring 2018 semester. This is the 5th grant request involving Wikipedia Connection (1, 2, 3, 4)

Briefly explain what are you trying to accomplish with this project, or what do you expect will change as a result of this grant. Example goals include, "recruit new editors", "add high quality content", or "train existing editors on a specific skill".

The purpose of this Rapid Grant request is to continue Wikipedia Connection's initiatives at the Ohio State University (expanded on in the 'Project Plan' section). Through these events, we have the following goals:

  • Educate Ohio State students and faculty on how to utilize and edit Wikipedia.
  • Recruit new members for Wikipedia Connection and new editors for Wikipedia.
  • Improve the diversity of our editors.
  • Continue to motivate and train existing editors/members on editing Wikipedia through weekly meetings.
  • Collaboratively improve the quality of Wikimedia project content through edit-a-thons, workshops, educational programs, and more.
  • Support any Wikimedia-oriented events or classrooms at Ohio State.
  • Establish a sense of community within our group and connect students with the up-and-coming Ohio Wikimedians User Group.

Project Plan[edit]

Activities[edit]

Tell us how you'll carry out your project. What will you and other organizers spend your time doing?

Our planned activities for this upcoming semester include:
  • Our Weekly Workshops, which engage our group of regularly attending students. (Target: involve 8 - 15 students each week)
  • Climate Change Edit-a-thon, partnered with Ohio State's Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center. The center has a large amount of research and historical data regarding environmental conditions at the earths poles, as well as glaciers throughout the world. (Target: involve 15 faculty plus students)
    • This edit-a-thon would aim to bring as much of this research as possible out from the vaults of the Center and onto Wikipedia, adding more scientific data on this pressing world issue in a format easily accessible to all. The edit-a-thon would also heavily focus on training to ensure that the Centers staff have the knowledge to upload their data outside of an edit-a-thon.
  • Spanish & Portuguese Edit-a-thon, partnered with OSU's Spanish department. (Target: involve 30 students and faculty). The focus of this edit-a-thon is to translate Spanish articles to expand English equivalent articles. This is a great way for Spanish students to practice their Spanish skills and expand Wikipedia. Last spring's event was very successful with over 30 new editors.
  • Women in Red Edit-a-thon, partner with OSU's SWE and ACMW Chapters, as well as other faculty and student groups to work on improving articles relating to women in the arts, technology and business. (Target: involve 30 students and faculty). We hope to increase the number of female editors in our community through this.
  • Continuing the GLAM initiative with Ohio State University's University Archives. (Target: create or improve 4 articles on topics found in Ohio State's galleries, libraries, archives, and museums)
  • Supporting at least two classrooms with Wikipedia assignments at Ohio State. We want to build close relationships with at least two professors and create a partnership within those classes which involves either class credit for edits made to relevant articles, classroom workshops where we explain the importance and benefits of contributing to Wikipedia, or even a themed edit-a-thon similar to last year's Spanish + Portuguese event where Spanish majors translated articles from Spanish to expand the English version of articles relating to Spanish culture.
  • Outreach through annual events including Ohio State's involvement fairs, where we hope to hand out 50 flyers and see at least 5 new faces at our first workshop back in the spring.
  • Museum, local heritage, and monument site trips to expand Columbus-related articles and connect with local historians, librarians, and others. (Target: hold 1 event in the semester)

How will you let others in your community know about your project (please provide links to where relevant communities have been notified of your proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions)? Why are you targeting a specific audience?

Wikipedia Connection's main audience is the Ohio State University community. We will engage and promote our activities in the following ways:
  • Participating in campus involvement fairs.
  • Posting flyers around campus.
  • E-mailing various Ohio State University listservs.
  • E-mailing a mailing list of subscribers.
  • Working with Ohio State professors and faculty to promote events to students (word of mouth, extra credit opportunities, etc.)
  • Collaborating with other University organizations and departments as well as other Columbus-area organizations to raise awareness of events.
  • Promotion via social media (Facebook and Twitter).

What will you have done at the end of your project? How will you follow-up with people that are involved with your project?

At the end of the project, we will have accomplished the following:
  • Host our planned list of weekly workshops, edit-a-thons, photography events, and more, resulting in new membership and quality content for Wiikipedia.
  • Educated Ohio State students and faculty on how to utilize and edit Wikipedia.
  • Improved our existing editors' skillset, as well as teaching new editors how to edit.
  • Improved our sense of community within our group, and connected students with the up-and-coming Ohio Wikimedians User Group.
  • Fostered diversity within the Wikipedia community.

Impact[edit]

How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets and feel free to add more specific to your project:

  1. Number of total participants: 55 unique participants throughout semester.
  2. Number of total new editors: 40 participants who have never contributed to Wikipedia before.
  3. Number of articles created or improved (if applicable): 100 (primarily through edit-a-thons)
  4. Number of photos uploaded to Wikimedia Commons (if applicable): 10. There is a lot of articles still without pictures for the local Columbus and Ohio State community, and we hope to continue to upload photos through initiatives like Wiki-takes-Columbus to expand these articles and the Commons.
  5. Number of photos used on Wikimedia projects (if applicable): 5

Resources[edit]

What resources do you have? Include information on who is the organizing the project, what they will do, and if you will receive support from anywhere else (in-kind donations or additional funding).

Wikipedia Connection has three student officers, one official faculty advisor, and the support of several other Ohio State University Libraries employees. The student officers consist of the President, Vice President, and Treasurer. Working with Ohio State faculty, the officers organize the student groups' events. Wikipedia Connection will also be hosting multiple events with other orgs such as SWE (Society of Women Engineers), ACM-W (Association of Computer and Machinery- Women's Chapter), and the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center. With these events, both organizations will be sharing expenses and organizing the event together.
Wikipedia Connection has $691.69 in funds left over from the previous semester's Rapid Grant request. These funds will be applied to this grant.
Wikipedia Connection also has some Ohio State University resources available for use; usage of these resources will be prioritized when possible:
  • Operating funds, which are used for general operation of the organization in the year (up to $200).
  • Programming funds, which are used to host programs and events on campus. We plan to use this for at least one edit-a-thon this semester (Women in Red).
  • By collaborating with other groups, we can split the costs of edit-a-thons. We plan to do this when collaborating with the Byrd Institute, SWE, ACM-W, and the Spanish Dept.
  • Resource room funds, which is a free $250 allocation given per year for student organizations to use on resources such as printing, signage, and balloons. Wikipedia Connection has also become a Lyft Partner, earning some funds for referring members and students to use Lyft. A designated application for these funds has yet to be determined.

What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense:

Activity Item Cost Notes
General Postage $5 Coverage for any shipping expenses (letters and annual reports)
General Parking $15 Coverage for any parking costs related to hosting Wikipedia Connection events, primarily parking to move supplies
Weekly Workshops Food, beverages, and office supplies $455 Wikipedia Connection plans to host 13 weekly workshops during the spring semester, at a cost of $35 each. Each workshop includes food (usually pizza), snacks, refreshments, and tableware. This semester we want to focus on expanding new member participation.
Spanish + Portuguese Edit-a-thon Food, beverages, and supplies needed to host an edit-a-thon $200 Due to scheduling conflicts in the fall, we plan to hold this event in the early spring. This is a collaboration event with OSU's Spanish Department focusing on expanding Spanish and Portuguese culture on Wikipedia, and a similar event in spring 2017 had 30+ people. The funds will go to promotion and supplies for the event. The focus is to encourage new students in the dept. to edit.
Climate Change Edit-a-thon Food, beverages, and supplies needed to host an edit-a-thon $150 Collaborative event with OSU's Polar Institute, and funds will go towards the promotion and supplies to host the event with a goal of 30 editors. Our tentative dates are currently Feb. 2nd or Feb. 9th.
Women in Red Edit-a-thon Food, beverages, and supplies needed to host an edit-a-thon $0 We've applied for a university grant for this program, so will not be requesting funding. Collaborative event with OSU's ACM-W, SWE, and women in gender studies organizations that aims to boost female editor participation and expand articles on female engineers, artists, writers, businesswomen, and leaders. This will be held in late March.
GLAM Meetings Food and beverages $20 Wikipedia Connection is continuing a GLAM initiative on-campus; these funds will go towards any light snacks and beverages needed when hosting meetings with local institutions regarding GLAM. This semester we are currently planning on doing a competition with University of Michigan's editor group for #1Lib1Ref.
General Unforeseen costs $80 Funds to cover unforeseen costs, such as unexpected need for extra supplies or food. This will most likely be used for advertising costs if we run out of semester university funds.
  • Total: $925.00 We are applying for funds through other sources as well, so we expect to spend under this amount. However, just in case we are requesting this total.
  • Funds left over from last semester: $691.69
  • Amount requested from Foundation: $233.31

Endorsements[edit]

  • I am it's Vice President Blervis (talk) 00:23, 16 January 2018 (UTC)
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