Grants talk:PEG/WM AT/Annual Program Plan 2012/Report

Thank you for the report[edit]

Thank you for the thoughtful final report and linking to your detailed annual report and to your recently developed strategy document. We have a few more questions about your annual grant not covered in the discussion around the Q4 report.

A few clarifications[edit]

You mention "equipment for volunteers not only in Austria". Does this mean that you are sponsoring equipment for volunteers in other places? If so, could you explain the context? Thank you, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 22:46, 9 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
This means we lend equipment (photography equipment) to volunteers from other chapters. Especially with the German community makes frequent use of it. Find one of many examples here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:1st_session_on_the_1st_day_at_German_Masters_2013 (photos were made by a German volunteer with a lens, stand and teleconverter from WMAT). At Wikimania in Hongong we plan to have a session with other chapters in order to improve the mutual information and coordination of our existing and planned equipment, so that as many volunteers in the movement as possible can profit from the experiences and (where possible) equipment. --CDG (talk) 23:29, 9 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for clarifying and for your efforts in this area; sounds like an interesting session. Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 00:45, 10 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Since your expenses exceeded your revenues, did you draw on your reserves for the additional funding?Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 22:47, 9 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, as already discussed in the questions to our FDC proposal: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round1/Wikimedia_%C3%96sterreich/Proposal_form#Clarifying_questions_from_FDC_staff --CDG (talk) 09:56, 12 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Would you offer a brief explanation of underspends in the following areas:
Infrastructure and programming project
Major spending on optimizing CiviCRM and website, travel cost for volunteer in charge of these projects

School and university projects
Contractor for preparing presentations and info material / production cost for info material

GLAM / Open Content
Contractor for coordination tasks, travel expenses GLAM conference

Admont Monastery / Wikisource project
Scanner and Software for digitalizing books

--CDG (talk) 17:24, 10 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 22:46, 9 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Questions about strategy and impact[edit]

You mention that plans for professionalization were delayed. Would you describe how you think this affected your plans last year? Thanks, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 22:46, 9 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
The Executive Director was hired a couple of month later than planned, this resulted in her having to start in the middle of the FDC proposal and programm planing process. Setting up the office in Vienna was also delayed. Fortunately, board, volunteers and the new ED quickly found a good and productive mode of cooperation, which could make up for some of the delay. --CDG (talk) 10:27, 12 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
You mention "further effort will be invested in strategies to overcome the limitations caused by a shortage of manpower." Are you able to share any of these strategies with the movement? Thanks, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 22:46, 9 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
We hired a second full-time staff member (in May) who will support the time-consuming reporting. Apart from that he will have the role of a community manager and develop strategies und programs for suppoorting and fostering the existing community and gaining new volunteers. However, this will take some time. Results / experiences will be shared at given time. --CDG (talk) 10:12, 12 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Regarding external contacts, could you provide a brief statement about the new partnerships you developed this year to give us an idea of how successful this was? It seems like partnerships are becoming a new area of emphasis for WMAT. Thanks, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 22:46, 9 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
The Cooperation with the Federal Monuments Office is quite successful and a door opener for other cooperations and projects. Partnerships are no self-purpose for us - we usually invest time in these activities when we expect more impact for our projects, access to free content/information/data and/or new sources of funding etc. Progress of more recent cooperations and partnerships will be featured in the quarterly reports for 2013. --CDG (talk) 10:38, 12 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
You mention that WMAT had a successful year! Would you be able to highlight here what you consider to be your 3 most impactful projects? This can be a brief response. Thanks again, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 22:46, 9 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
- WikiCon
- Wiki Loves Monuments
- Cooperation with Federal Monuments Office

Requests for links to your work[edit]

Please link to the project categories for your photography project. We'd love to see your work. Thanks, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 22:46, 9 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Please find the photos of our photography project in the Commons-Category Category:Supported by Wikimedia Österreich. At the moment there are more than 14.000 files in this category. The production of all of these files have been supported by Wikimedia Austria in several ways: Through providing the photographic equipment, organising accreditations or refunding of travel expanses, for example. --Thomas Planinger (talk) 07:55, 10 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Are there details about the workshops conducted in schools available somewhere online? For example, training materials that are linked to on commons? Thanks, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 22:46, 9 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
There were two sessions on this topic at WikiCon, where experiences and information were shared: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia%2BWikiversity_in_der_Hochschule.pdf and here http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WikiCon2012_Wikipediaprojekt_UIBK.pdf --CDG (talk) 16:49, 10 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Would you provide a link to your new policy around travel expenses, if a public version is available? Other organizations might find it useful. Thanks, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 22:46, 9 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
They are available here (in German only though): http://mitglieder.wikimedia.at/Archiv/Reisekostenerstattung --CDG (talk) 23:17, 9 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Great! Thank you for sharing. Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 00:44, 10 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks again for your attention! We know it takes time to answer these questions and we appreciate your thoughtful responses. Best, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 22:46, 9 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Status of this report[edit]

Please move this report from "Draft" to "Under review" since it is ready for review! Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 19:36, 10 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Follow up to clarifying questions[edit]

Apologies if I did not phrase this question well. I am looking for an explanation about why you spent much less in these areas than expected (not an explanation of what the funds were spent on).

Infrastructure and programming project
School and university projects
GLAM / Open Content
Admont Monastery / Wikisource project

After the strategy process and the decision to hire staff and establish an office, we had to cut back on some planned spendings, as there were no funds planned for that in the annual plan. In the projects mentioned above we already had some good results and were able to spend some of the planned funds on the newly agreed upon activities that were not planned at the beginning of the year. --CDG (talk) 22:20, 15 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

OK. Thank you for the explanation! Best, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 17:35, 16 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks again! Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 17:51, 15 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Question about your strategy[edit]

Is this document now ready to publish, and are you able to publish it here on Meta? Thanks again, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 17:51, 15 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

We ask because that page, and the other documents on the members wiki, are inaccessible (HTTP error 403) at the moment(?). Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 17:57, 15 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

We migrated our Wikis to a new server today. We are working on fixing the problem asap --CDG (talk) 21:54, 15 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, okay! :) Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 22:42, 15 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

As we know that our Wikis are not reachable at any time, we decided to place a copy of our strategical program here on meta. Please note, that the document is only available in german language at the moment. --Thomas Planinger (talk) 07:19, 16 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, Thomas! Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 17:35, 16 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Report accepted[edit]

In the mean time, your report is accepted. Cheers! Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 17:51, 15 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]