Community Resources and Partnerships/India Rapid Project/Wikipedia 25th Birthday Celebration at Odisha
Applicant
[edit]- Main Wikimedia username. (required)
Ssgapu22
- Organization
Odia Wikimedians User Group
- If you are a group or organization leader, board member, president, executive director, or staff member at any Wikimedia group, affiliate, or Wikimedia Foundation, you are required to self-identify and present all roles. (required)
N/A
- Describe all relevant roles with the name of the group or organization and description of the role. (required)
N/A
Project
[edit]- 1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.
Wikipedia 25th Birthday Celebration at Odisha
- 2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.
2026-01-10 - 2025-10-19
- 4. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)
India
- 5. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign, project, or event? If so, please select the relevant project or campaign. (required)
Wikipedia Birthday or Anniversary
- 6. What is the change you are trying to bring? What are the main challenges or problems you are trying to solve? Describe this change or challenges, as well as main approaches to achieve it. (required)
The Odia Wikimedians User Group aims to strengthen community engagement and awareness of Wikipedia and its sister projects in Odisha through the Wikipedia 25th Birthday Celebration. The change we want to bring is to build a more connected, motivated, and skillful community of volunteers who actively contribute to Odia-language content and promote open knowledge.
The main challenges we faced were low public awareness about the Odia Wikipedia, which we worked on and improving over last couple of years, but these events can be a catalyst to our efforts. Another challenge we are aware of is the limited participation of new editors, and reduced interaction among existing community members respecting other priorities and professional engagements, especially post the pandemic period.
To address these challenges, we plan to organize a community gathering to celebrate Wikipedia’s 25 years, including interactive sessions, experience sharing, training for new contributors, and discussions on future collaborations. This event will help strengthen relationships within the community, attract new editors, and enhance commitment toward the growth of Wikimedia projects.
- 7. What are the planned activities? (required) Please provide a list of main activities. You can also add a link to the public page for your project where details about your project can be found. Alternatively, you can upload a timeline document. When the activities include partnerships, include details about your partners and planned partnerships.
The following activities are planned as part of the Wikipedia 25th Birthday Celebration in Odisha:
- Online Edit-a-thon (10–18 January 2026):
- A week-long online editing event to improve and create articles on Odia Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.
- Focus on topics related to Odisha, culture, history, policies, technology and notable personalities.
- Open to both new and experienced contributors, with online guidance and support from community members.
- A week-long online editing event to improve and create articles on Odia Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.
- Focus on topics related to Odisha, culture, history, policies, technology and notable personalities.
- In-person Meetup and Birthday Celebration (15 January 2026, Bhubaneswar):
- A community gathering to celebrate Wikipedia’s 25th birthday.
- Activities will include sharing community achievements, recognition of active contributors, group discussions on future goals, and a small cake-cutting ceremony.
- The event will also serve as a platform to welcome new editors and strengthen collaboration among existing members.
- A community gathering to celebrate Wikipedia’s 25th birthday.
- Activities will include sharing community achievements, recognition of active contributors, group discussions on future goals, and a small cake-cutting ceremony.
A public project page will be created on the Odia Wikipedia community portal and meta Wiki to share event details and updates.
- 8. Describe your team. Please provide their roles, Wikimedia Usernames and other details. (required) Include more details of the team, including their roles, usernames, Wikimedia group, and whether they are salaried, volunteers, consultants/contractors, etc.
- User:Chinmayee Mishra – Meetup Organizer
- User:Jnanaranjan sahu – Meetup Co-organizer
- User:Aliva Sahoo – Meetup Co-organizer
- User:Ssgapu22 – Edit-a-thon Organizer and Communication manager
- 9. Who are the target participants and from which community? How will you engage participants before and during the activities? How will you follow up with participants after the activities? (required)
The target participants are members of the Odia Wikimedians User Group, including volunteers who actively contribute to Odia Wikipedia, Wikisource, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and other Wikimedia projects.
Before the event, we will engage participants through community channels such as mailing lists, social media groups, and village pump announcements to encourage participation in the online edit-a-thon and in-person meetup.
During the activities, participants will collaborate in the edit-a-thon and take part in discussions, presentations, and team-building sessions at the in-person celebration.
After the event, we will continue engagement through our monthly online community calls and follow-up discussions on project outcomes, ensuring ongoing collaboration and momentum for the Odia Wikimedia movement.
- 9.1. If your project includes in-person activities, are there any international participants travelling to India for them? (required)
- No
- 9.1.1. List all countries of participation. (required)
- 9.2. Will the project be transferring funds to any international participants? (required)
- No
- 9.2.1. List all international participants receiving funding and their countries. (required)
N/A
- 10. Does your project involve work with children or youth? (required)
- No
- 10.1. Please provide a link to your Youth Safety Policy. (required) If the proposal indicates direct contact with children or youth, you are required to outline compliance with international and local laws for working with children and youth, and provide a youth safety policy aligned with these laws. Read more here.
N/A
- 11. How did you discuss the idea of your project with your community members and/or any relevant groups? Please describe steps taken and provide links to any on-wiki community discussion(s) about the proposal. (required) You need to inform the community and/or group, discuss the project with them, and involve them in planning this proposal. You also need to align the activities with other projects happening in the planned area of implementation to ensure collaboration within the community.
At the initial stage, we started the conversation in a small meetup with each other (Chinmayee, Jnana, Sangram, Aliva) in a get-together. Later, we had discussed on a private chat group and then, mentioned on the village pump (https://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ:ଆଲୋଚନା_ସଭା#ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର_୨୫ତମ_ଜନ୍ମବାର୍ଷିକୀ_ପାଳନ_ବାବଦରେ).
- 12. Does your proposal aim to work to bridge any of the content knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Language
- 13. Does your proposal include any of these areas or thematic focus? Select one option that most applies to your work. (required)
Culture, heritage or GLAM
- 14. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Linguistic / Language
- 15. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select one that most applies. (required)
Invest in Skills and Leadership Development
Metrics
[edit]- 17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)
Through this project, we hope to learn how community events like the Wikipedia 25th Birthday Celebration and online edit-a-thons can strengthen engagement and motivation among Odia Wikimedians. We also aim to understand the best ways to attract and retain new contributors through celebration-based activities.
Learning Questions:
- How effective are community celebrations in improving participation and collaboration within the Odia Wikimedia community?
- What strategies work best to encourage new editors to join and stay active after the event?
The feedback and participation data from the events will help guide future community engagement and capacity-building efforts.
- 18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
| Other Metrics | Target | Optional description |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 15 | We are expecting 15 participants at the in-person meetup and celebration. |
| Number of editors | 10 | |
| Number of organizers | 4 |
| Wikimedia project | Number of content created or improved |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 50 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 300 |
| Wikidata | 800 |
| Wiktionary | |
| Wikisource | |
| Wikimedia Incubator | |
| Translatewiki | |
| MediaWiki | |
| Wikiquote | |
| Wikivoyage | |
| Wikibooks | |
| Wikiversity | |
| Wikinews | |
| Wikispecies | |
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
- Optional description for content contributions.
N/A
- 19. Do you have any other project targets in numbers (metrics)? (optional)
No
| Main Open Metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
- 20. What tools would you use to measure each metrics? Please refer to the guide for a list of tools. You can also write that you are not sure and need support. (required)
To measure the metrics of the edit-a-thon, we will use fountain tool (http://fountain.toolforge.org) and outreach dashboard.
Budget
[edit]- 21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x6h8mcuVxYqiP7_6Un8xqkeyqBYLxNvZkrhKLqF0FMQ/edit?usp=sharing
- 22. What is the amount you are requesting for this proposal? Please provide the amount in Indian Rupees. (required)
176000 INR
- 22.1. Convert the amount requested into USD using the Oanda converter. This is done to help you assess the USD equivalent of the requested amount. Your request should be between 500 - 5,000 USD. (required)
1992.41 USD
- By submitting this proposal request you agree with the Institutional Partner Privacy Policy, Application Privacy Statements, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.
Yes
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