Grants talk:TPS/Abbasjnr/OKFestival

Your request

Hello Abbas, thanks for your request! To allow us to properly consider your proposal, it would be very good if you could provide some additional info. From my perspective, I would like to learn more on the following questions:

1. Going throught the programm stream at the OK festival's web site, I did not get the impression, that education was a focus issue at this festival. Could you explain, why you think that this festival is the best place for you to present the school project?
2. Have you submitted a proposal to the conference hosts and has it been accepted? Have you been assigned a slot in the programme? If so, I would be very glad if you could provide details!

Thanks so much in advance! --Johannes Rohr (WMDE) (talk) 16:45, 22 August 2012 (UTC) Hello Johannes,

1. I am not sure where you checked exactly -- my participation is going to be mainly focused on the Open Development Stream which is mainly going to revolve around how the developing world tackles the issue of access to Open Educational Resources, and how various projects/solutions have been created to suit the challenges facing the developing world. That said, I think that the use of Offline Wikipedia in Kenya and Tanzania is a good example of how access to knowledge has been modified to suit people who don't have internet in the developing world.
2. I have been talking to Sarah Johns from Plan International (who is the Open Development Stream organizer) and Kat Braybrooke, who is the OKFestival Organizer about my participation at this Festival. Sarah has agreed to give me a slot for a Lightning Talk to talk about Offline Projects, pending my scholarship approval. Abbasjnr (talk) 17:25, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

Additional questions

1. The OKFestival site suggests bursaries were available. Did you seek such funding? (The Participation Support program is generally for events where such bursaries/scholarships are not available, or were denied despite merit.) Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 18:23, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

I had applied for the scholarship from OKFestival, and didn't get any response yet. I therefore used this route, inorder to secure funding in time for me to make the necessary travel arrangements. Abbasjnr (talk) 18:49, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

1. As you have recently left the Wikimedia Kenya chapter, can you describe the degree to which you intend to remain active in the offline distribution effort? If you do not intend to remain involved, perhaps the project would be better represented by someone still involved with the project? Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 18:23, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

Yes, I have indeed left WMKE, and I do not intend to participate in any of Wikimedia Kenya's projects -- whether they are associated with offline or otherwise. I have, however, in the past (and in the future) hope to continue undertaking Wikimedia projects in my own capacity or with other external, like-minded organizations I have worked with, such as ZAWA.(See here & here). Abbasjnr (talk) 18:49, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

Decision by Participation Support Committee

I regret to inform you that we have not been able to approve your request.

Please allow me to explain the reasons for this decision.

• First, while we have the greatest respect for your personal commitment, in particular your efforts to bring Wikipedia to rural communities in Kenya and Tanzania, we are not convinced that what you propose is sufficient to justify the expenses. We believe that the impact of a lightning talk is limited and that more would be needed to warrant the effort;
• Second, it is not sufficiently clear how the results of your participation would be used in the future, given that as you write, you are no longer involved with WMKY and you have not mentioned specific plans to pursue similar activities in the near future
• Third, the Participation Support programme focuses its resources on events which do not offer their own scholarships/bursaries. We would be very happy indeed if you received a positive response from the conference hosts. However, we also felt that it would be good to state in the initial request that you have applied there in parallel.

Again, I regret, that we were unable to decide otherwise, and I sincerely hope that there will be other occasions in the future, where we will be able to support your efforts. Thanks, --Johannes Rohr (WMDE) (talk) 19:18, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

Response by Abbas

As much as I appreciate your decision, I reject the premise(s) on which it is based:

• You claim that my participation is "limited". The Participation Support page states that this program funds people who want to "participate in an event". Period. Participation can be a 5 minute talk, or a whole day talk. The type of participation wasn't made specific. Abbasjnr (talk) 10:17, 26 August 2012 (UTC)
• I have told you that I am now involved with ZAWA, with which I have done Offline Wikipedia projects with in the past, and I do intend to continue with them in the future. How "sufficiently clear" do you want me to get? Do you want me to get you an official commitment letter from ZAWA or what? .Abbasjnr (talk) 10:17, 26 August 2012 (UTC)
• It is not the conference hosts that are issuing the scholarships. It is an independent external organization: SIDA, and the conference hosts are not involved in the scholarships process. I can not understand how failing to disclose my financial plans result in me not getting a scholarship from WMF/WMDE. Why should I? In fact, I have seen that you have funded other grantees to conferences which had a scholarship program, and those applicants didn't indicate what you have just asked me to (at least publicly--according to their application page). Abbasjnr (talk) 10:17, 26 August 2012 (UTC)
• It is saddening that funding this has been denied since "I have not mentioned specific plans to pursue this in the future". Really, Johannes? Did Heather or Sarah Stierch give you details of what they wanted to do in the future before their funding was approved? Abbasjnr (talk) 13:04, 26 August 2012 (UTC)
• It is such a shame that you guys were willing to give a member of WMKE this scholarship, but not me. Which brings me to my next point: I think that you guys are evaluating Abbas Mahmood, rather than the grant(which was mission-aligned) itself. While it _might_ be good to interview me about my future plans, I believe that this is a flawed approach, since you can never know with absolte certainty--whether I was with Wikimedia Kenya or not--that I will continue to contribute to Wikimedia.Abbasjnr (talk) 13:04, 26 August 2012 (UTC)
• I believe that if these are the criteria that you use to approve/deny a grant, then you better indicate them in the Participation Support program page. That would've saved us a lot of time since 1) I wouldn't have bothered applying, and 2)You wouldn't have wasted your time evaluating my grant. Thanks. Abbasjnr (talk) 13:04, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

Responses to Abbas

We understand you are frustrated with our decision. We need to reiterate that there is no guarantee a request would be funded, even when it meets the minimal criteria for consideration. Ultimately, approval depends on the magnitude and likeliness of impact, versus the cost, all within the limited budget available for this program.

• The Participation Support page does clearly state: “Applicants who are active participants in events are significantly more likely to receive funding, and examples of active participation may include speaking at a conference, or leading a workshop.” Though we define participation broadly because we do not wish to categorically exclude any types of participation that may have impact, we do evaluate each participation request based on the impact of the participation described.
• WMKE membership is not a sufficient criterion, nor a mandatory one. Remaining a WMKE member would not have been enough for us approve this particular request — coming from any other person, WMKE member or not, we would still think the cost is too high for the opportunity this represents. Asking about future plans was relevant simply to get a better sense of what value you expected your participation to provide. Our questions are asked to clarify or expand on what we are missing in the proposal.
• We do feel it is important for those requesting support to disclose other potential sources of funding. We do state: “Events with other scholarships, bursaries or grants programs are generally out of scope of the Participation Support program.” We will make this suggestion to disclose this information more explicit on the Participation Support page itself - thank you for the suggestion!
• We do also state, “In some cases, however, the Participation Support Committee may fund applicants to other scholarship or grants programs whose applications had merit, but were denied by the scholarship program due to limited funds for scholarships.” Therefore, in some cases, we have indeed approved requests for participation in programs that do have their own scholarship programs in cases when the specific application meets those requirements.
• Again, the criteria outlined on the Participation Support page state that each applicant must, “Present a clear goal and statement of expected impact in the request”. As said above, this is a formal requirement for the request to be considered, it does not guarantee that it will be approved. While you did provide a goal and statement of impact, the committee has read your statement and has determined that this request would not be impactful enough to justify the expense of your proposal. We will re-examine the language in this section of the Participation Support page to see how it might be improved or clarified.

Please be assured that we value and respect your commitment. We hope that our expectations and requirements are clearer as a result of this discussion. --Johannes Rohr (WMDE) (talk) 17:43, 29 August 2012 (UTC)