Grants:Project/Chinmayisk/Community toolkit for Greater Diversity

statusproposed

Project Grants

Community toolkit for Greater Diversity

summaryWe aim to design and develop a community toolkit for recruiting, onboarding and retaining editors from underrepresented demographics, and use it to conduct a training program for Wikimedia editors.

targetEnglish, Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Marathi, Odia, Bengali, Punjabi, Tulu, Malayalam Wikimedia India Chapter, CIS-A2K

amountINR 22,86,500

grantee• Chinmayisk• Rohini

advisor• Lahariyaniyathi

contact• chinmayi@thebachchaoproject.org• tanveer@cis-india.org

volunteer• Krishna Chaitanya Velaga

organization• The Centre for Internet and Society

this project needs...

volunteer

created on09:28, 26 September 2017 (UTC)

Friendly space expectations

Project idea

What is the problem you're trying to solve?

What problem are you trying to solve by doing this project? This problem should be small enough that you expect it to be completely or mostly resolved by the end of this project. Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.

The gender gap among Wikipedia’s editors and its ramifications are well-documented . Additionally, a few demographics are disproportionately represented while many others are absent. The lack of diversity creates an imbalance in the content that qualifies as knowledge and is valued by communities, how knowledge is presented, and the body of knowledge that pervades Wikipedia. A neutral point of view is one of the Five Pillars of Wikipedia and one of its three core content policies , but the absence of diversity among its editors makes neutrality, as defined in the five cornerstone principles, difficult to achieve.
While projects based on edit-a-thons aim to correct biases in terms of those who write and are written about, there is want of contextual reference material and systematic training for editors in terms of spotting and addressing diversity gaps on Wikimedia projects.
In the references that do exist, there is a serious void of material that is:

1. tailored towards the inclusion of various underrepresented demographics, while incorporating their voices and active participation.
2. tailored to the South Asian context, in terms of social structure and cultural mores of an economically developing country.
3. written in one or more Indic languages.
   

Additionally, there is lack of adequate training for interpreting, applying and using such material as an individual and as a community.
For the purpose of this project, we define “underrepresented demographics” as women, gender minorities, lower castes, and non-heterosexuals in or from India.

What is your solution to this problem?

For the problem you identified in the previous section, briefly describe your how you would like to address this problem. We recognize that there are many ways to solve a problem. We’d like to understand why you chose this particular solution, and why you think it is worth pursuing. Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.

We aim to create a community toolkit for editors to identify and address diversity gaps, and increase participation and content pertaining to underrepresented demographics on Wikipedia and its sister projects. We will organise one program for the dissemination of the community toolkit and for training editors to use the toolkit and contextualise it for their communities. The alumni of the training program would, in turn, hold their own training programs in their respective communities under this project.

While several efforts to bridge diversity gaps on Wikipedia are afoot, our goal is to create a community resource to enable editors to work towards greater inclusion and diversity, thus taking the discourse to the next level. As elucidated in the problem statement, the community toolkit will be oriented to the South Asian context, with the active participation of demographics underrepresented on Wikipedia. We hope to be able to expand its scope to a globally usable project after the end of the incubatory program in India.

The community toolkit will be released under a Creative Commons license for the benefit of the public.

Project goals

What are your goals for this project? Your goals should describe the top two or three benefits that will come out of your project. These should be benefits to the Wikimedia projects or Wikimedia communities. They should not be benefits to you individually. Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.

• Create learning modules and translate it for the benefit of the Wikipedian communities in India in order to sensitise them on topics including:

1. identifying different axes of privilege (the Indian context of class, caste, and gender and how it plays out on Wikipedia)
2. using wikitools to identify content gaps on Wikipedia and their connection with demographics underrepresented on Wikipedia
3. organizing an event with a group of volunteers from various Indian language communities
4. continuing to engage with the group after concluding the event

• Organize a two-day training program for editors from various Wikimedia communities, who are working towards addressing various diversity gaps on Wikipedia and its sister projects.

• Facilitate the creation of safe spaces by setting up a support group for all people engaged in initiatives to bridge diversity gaps on Wikimedia projects.

Project impact

How will you know if you have met your goals?

For each of your goals, we’d like you to answer the following questions:

1. During your project, what will you do to achieve this goal? (These are your outputs.)
2. Once your project is over, how will it continue to positively impact the Wikimedia community or projects? (These are your outcomes.)

For each of your answers, think about how you will capture this information. Will you capture it with a survey? With a story? Will you measure it with a number? Remember, if you plan to measure a number, you will need to set a numeric target in your proposal (i.e. 45 people, 10 articles, 100 scanned documents). Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.

During your project, what will you do to achieve this goal?

Outputs:

• We will develop at least five learning modules in English on various issues pertaining to various diversity gaps.
• Using the modules, we will conduct a training and sensitisation program for around 20 Wikipedia volunteers active on initiatives geared towards addressing diversity gaps. The tentative name of the event is 'Working with demographics underrepresented on Wikipedia to increase diversity of content and editors’.
• We will translate our learning modules into at least two Indian languages.
• After the event has been concluded, we will form a support group of volunteers and enlist the participants into it. The support group would be aimed at volunteers working on various diversity gaps in Indian language Wikimedia projects.

Once your project is over, how will it continue to positively impact the Wikimedia community or projects? Outcome:

Development of at least five learning modules on various issues pertaining to the diversity gaps.	At least one Indian language Wikimedia community uses our modules to promote diversity within itself. We will interview members of one such community after conducting the training program.
Twenty Indian language editors involved in addressing various diversity gaps participate in a training and sensitisation program.	At least one of the participants will organically start working with a demographic underrepresented on Wikipedia or its sister projects to make its presence grow on the projects.
	At least one of the trainees uses the training imparted during the workshop to bridge the content gap.
Translation of the community toolkit into at least two Indian languages.	At least one Wikimedia community uses the toolkit to promote diversity within itself. We will interview members of one such community after the training program is over.
A support for diversity and inclusion issues is formed comprising the participants from the training program.	The support group provides a safe space to volunteers working on addressing diversity gaps on Wikimedia projects.

Do you have any goals around participation or content?

Are any of your goals related to increasing participation within the Wikimedia movement, or increasing/improving the content on Wikimedia projects? If so, we ask that you look through these three metrics, and include any that are relevant to your project. Please set a numeric target against the metrics, if applicable.

The community toolkit and training program are aimed at existing Wikimedia editors. So there will be no direct impact on the number of new editors recruited, but the project will support Wikimedians in improving diversity within their community. We aim to support three events held by the participants of our training program in their respective Indian languages. Here are the projected metrics for the three programs:

	Metric	Definition	Tools and Documentation
1	Total participants in the events we support	60	Sign-up Sheet at the event. Outreach Dashboard
2	Total participants for the event we hold	20	Sign-up sheet at the event. FOSS-based website that comprises the community toolkit and participants’ stories and experiences of working on diversity issues after attending the workshop.
3	Number of newly registered users	40	Outreach Dashboard
4	Number of content pages created or improved, across all Wikimedia projects	40	Outreach Dashboard

Project plan

Activities

Tell us how you'll carry out your project. What will you and other organizers spend your time doing? What will you have done at the end of your project? How will you follow-up with people that are involved with your project?
Community toolkit design :

1. We will examine the needs of a new user based on the lessons derived from different communities, and document them.
2. The community toolkit would comprise “learning modules” based on the study of these needs.
3. We will examine existing modules, guides, and other documentation created by other Wikimedians as well as openness communities and gather the best practices from them.
4. We will create at least one module for every underrepresented demographic defined in the problem statement, while staying conscious of the intersectionality among these demographics.
   

Process for selecting collaborators, experts and peer-reviewers for designing and creating the modules:

1. We are in the process of reaching out to individuals and civil society organisations that belong to "underrepresented demographics" as defined in the problem statement. They have established a body of work pertaining to the empowerment of the underrepresented demographics and possess profound knowledge, insight and experience in their areas of work. We prefer to involve some of them directly as we do not wish to appropriate the voices of the populations we don’t belong to.
2. We would prioritise collaborations with individuals and organisations that have demonstrated commitment to openness and are acquainted with Wikimedia projects, the nuances of their diversity gaps, the processes of collaborative editing and policy formation, and the policies and guidelines on these projects.
3. In the event that we do not succeed in finding a collaborator who fits all three criteria (working with an "underrepresented demographic" in South Asia, committed to openness, and acquainted or highly experienced with the Wikimedia projects), we would choose one who fits at least one criterion and jointly create the modules with them.
   

Community toolkit creation:

1. We have identified some lacunae in training and facilitation from our experience of working towards bridging the diversity gap.
2. We will develop modules on these identified topics with the collaborators. The modules will be in the form of text articles and podcasts.which will be peer reviewed by domain experts.
3. We will copy edit the modules for style and carry out substantive editing to contextualise them to the specific diversity gaps in Wikimedia projects.
4. The modules will be peer reviewed by domain experts.
   

Community review of the toolkit:

1. We will issue a public call for community review of the modules once we publish them, and publicly document the responses
2. We will explicitly seek feedback from the underrepresented demographics and publicly document the responses. This feedback will be sought via our networks, relevant mailing lists of civil society groups and of communities committed to openness.
3. We will periodically review and revise the toolkit by approaching the relevant communities to determine if it is in sync with their sense and sensibility.
   

Documenting stories :

1. We will create an open platform, such as a FOSS-based website, for practitioners of the community toolkit to share their stories and experiences with onboarding new editors from diverse backgrounds, and their successes and failures during this process.
   

Risk mitigation

• We commit to create and test the community toolkit we develop.
• We will seek feedback from different linguistic communities and stakeholders and incorporate it into revised versions of the toolkit.
• We will facilitate localisation efforts after creating the toolkit. This process will help us identify any missed nuances of culture or language and make appropriate rectifications, and standardise terms and concepts used in the community toolkit.
  

Future research
The proposal comprises the first phase of potential research and advocacy on the topic. After the creation of the community toolkit, we would like to embark on a study to understand the issues with respect to access and recruiting editors from diverse demographics, based on our lessons and insights from this project.

Budget

How you will use the funds you are requesting? List bullet points for each expense. (You can create a table later if needed.) Don’t forget to include a total amount, and update this amount in the Probox at the top of your page too!

Remuneration for people involved

• Project Lead: INR 2,10,000 (30 % of time)
• Resource Person 1: INR 1,40,000 (40% of time)
• Event Co-ordination: INR 1,20,000 (100% of time for 2 people for 2 months)
• Project Manager: INR 1,20,000 (20 % of time)

Event Expenses

• Travel and lodging: INR 4,80,000
• Consumables: INR 20,000
• Venue and Internet: INR 30,000
• Support for community events: INR 80,000
• Contingency costs: INR 20,000

Infrastructure

• Website Creation and maintenance : INR 1,50,000

Documentation

• Remuneration for module writing by experts: INR 2,40,000
• Visualisation and graphics for modules, documentation and website: INR 50,000
• Equipment for trainings: INR 50,000
• Podcast recording and editing: INR 50,000
• Creating, shooting and editing short videos: INR 75,000 (for 3 videos)

Dissemination

• Travel to conferences to disseminate or present the project, it findings or outcome: INR 3,60,000

Operational Overhead

• INR 2,21,500 (approximately 10% of the total budget)

In-kind support we have been assured so far INR 1,50,000 this is in the form of Venue, Internet and Project Management

Total budget : INR 22,86,500

Community engagement

How will you let others in your community know about your project? Why are you targeting a specific audience? How will you engage the community you’re aiming to serve at various points during your project? Community input and participation helps make projects successful.

1. Once we have a draft version of the community toolkit, we will invite comments and feedback from various experienced community members.
2. We will conduct a program to disseminate our lessons and insights from the exercise of creating the community toolkit as well as to impart training on how to use the toolkit. Around 20 members from different Indian Wikimedia communities will be invited to it.
3. We will create a mailing list to share the progress and lessons. This list will also serve as a forum for continuing discourse on the topic.
4. We will release the community toolkit under a Creative Commons license. We hope that many communities and the CIS-A2K team will adopt it while organising future trainings.
5. We will encourage the participants of the training program to hold their own trainings in their respective communities by using the toolkit and the training imparted to them. To this end, we will financially support a limited number of community events.
6. We will present and disseminate our work in events such as WikiConference India, Wikimania and CIS-A2K workshops.
7. Beyond the timeline of this project, the mailing list will also serve as a support group for all Indic Wikimedians working on the topic.

Get involved

Participants

Please use this section to tell us more about who is working on this project. For each member of the team, please describe any project-related skills, experience, or other background you have that might help contribute to making this idea a success.

Chinmayi S. K.

Chinmayi S. K. is an English Wikipedian with experience of working with the Indian-language Wikipedia communities. She has previously conducted outreach activities in India aimed at bridging the gender gap in Wikimedia projects. She was part of the two-member Diversity and Inclusion team at WikiConference India 2016 that drafted the Code of Conduct, Friendly Space Policy and diversity and inclusion guidelines for organisers. The same team also served as the Incident Response team at the conference. Among the Wiki-related trainings she has conducted Wikidata and wikitools workshops, Wikipedia-editing workshops, and Ally Skills trainings.

Chinmayi works on gender and technology initiatives in India and runs an organisation called The Bachchao Project. She has more than ten years of experience of working with openness communities around the world. She has authored a manual along with Rohini Lakshané and Willow Brugh on creating inclusive technologies. She also has run open-licensed courses on the same topic. Her expertise lies in building alternative technologies for grassroots gender activism. Apart from this, she has created methodologies for workshops and facilitation documents for international organisations such as Geeks Without Bounds and Internews.

Rohini Lakshané

Rohini has been a Wikimedian since 2008, editing Wikipedia in three languages, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata. She served as the chairperson of the Gender Gap Special Interest Group at Wikimedia India Chapter (March 2013-June 2014). During her time as the chairperson, she drafted a policy and work plan for the gender gap initiative in India. She also served as a Wikipedian-in-Residence (pilot project) for Wikimedia India Chapter and the Bombay Natural History Society in 2013. Rohini was part of the two-member Diversity and Inclusion team at WikiConference India 2016. The team, which also acted as the Incident Response team at the conference, drafted the Code of Conduct, Friendly Space Policy and guidelines for organisers on diversity and inclusion of participants and speakers. Since 2011,Rohini has conducted and supported numerous workshops, outreach activities, and edit-a-thons. She has been a speaker at various Wikimedia events, including Wikimania 2016, where she gave a talk on “Gender gap in the global south: Lessons from policy and outreach”. Rohini is also a member of the Simple Annual Plan Grants Committee. Along with Chinmayi S.K. and Willow Brugh, she has co-authored a manual on creating inclusive technologies.

By profession, Rohini is a technologist, public policy researcher and a former technology journalist and editor. She has worked on several research and advocacy projects on the intersection of technology, policy, and civil liberties. Her body of work encompasses diverse territories such as the application of technology and policy to solve issues of gender inequity, violence and discrimination; access to knowledge; openness; patent reform; and making tech spaces diverse and inclusive. From October 2013 to April 2014, she served as the editor of EroTICs (Exploratory Research on ICTs and Sexuality) India, a project on the cross-hairs of gender, sexuality and the Internet.

Community notification

You are responsible for notifying relevant communities of your proposal, so that they can help you! Depending on your project, notification may be most appropriate on a Village Pump, talk page, mailing list, etc.--> Please paste links below to where relevant communities have been notified of your proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions. Need notification tips?

• WikimediaIndia-l mailing list: https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2017-September/013082.html

• Noticeboard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Noticeboard_for_India-related_topics#Community_toolkit_for_greater_diversity

Endorsements

Do you think this project should be selected for a Project Grant? Please add your name and rationale for endorsing this project below! (Other constructive feedback is welcome on the discussion page).

This section is for endorsements. Please post anything that is not an endorsement on the Discussion page.

•  Support I support this project wholeheartedly. Thanks a lot for creating such an innovative project. Best of luck! Do let me know how can help for it. I will try to help as per my capacity and time. Thank you. -- Abhijeet Safai (talk) 06:25, 27 September 2017 (UTC)
•  Support Good initiative for editor retention measures and as well as training. Looking forward to collaborate. Please ping for any kind of help related to en Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talk — mail) 06:54, 27 September 2017 (UTC) Neutral Have a few queries as per on talk page. Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talk — mail) 15:40, 28 September 2017 (UTC)
• Encouraging "diversity" just leads to yet more extreme POV pushing by people with vested interests - that's a situation which is well documented, eg: regarding the Dalit History Month collaboration. I'm sorry but my eyes started bleeding while reading the proposal, so I'm not actually coming out for or against it. - Sitush (talk) 10:13, 27 September 2017 (UTC)

  With reference to your bleeding eyes, allow me to make you aware of the Friendly Space Policy that applies to this page and the associated Discussion page. If you wish to engage with us constructively, please move the rest of your comment to the Discussion page, so that we may reply to it. -- Rohini (talk) 13:11, 28 September 2017 (UTC)

• Neutral While I agree with the issue of gender gap and the need to fix it, I am unsure if this is a very cost effective way to go about it, to put it bluntly. I cannot speak for any of the remunerations, but there's a number of places, such as website infrastructure, that could be perhaps easily avoided by hosting it on Wikimedia. (There are a number of ways apart from standard Wikitext, like the Outreachy dashboards have done for Learning and Evaluation or a number of other mediums, all hosted on Mediawiki). I would love to see more time, resources and funds being focused on the Global South in general (and South Asia in particular) but when the amount is roughly 66% of what a country-wide Wikimedia conference needs, I would rather it be focused more on organising events that fix the problem than on building things that will be indirectly talking about what the problem is. I strongly recommend a scaled down version to act as a proof of concept before going for a larger scale approach. Soni (talk) 14:11, 27 September 2017 (UTC)

  @Soni: Please move your comment on the Discussion page, so that we may reply to it. -- Rohini (talk) 12:57, 28 September 2017 (UTC)

•  Oppose for now. Please refer to the discussion on the application's talk page. Cheers, Jim Carter (talk) 07:41, 28 September 2017 (UTC)
• I have organised many editathons to address gender gap in the recent past in India. I see a lot of value in the undertaking of a project of this nature. I am very happy to endorse this project. ShobhaSV (talk) 13:49, 29 September 2017 (UTC)