Grants:APG/Proposals/2019-2020 round 1/Wikimedia CH/Progress report form
Purpose of the report[edit]
This form is for organizations receiving Annual Plan Grants to report on their progress after completing the first 6 months of their grants. The time period covered in this form will be the first 6 months of each grant (e.g. 1 January - 30 June of the current year). This form includes four sections, addressing grant metrics, program stories, financial information, and compliance. Please contact APG/FDC staff if you have questions about this form, or concerns submitting it by the deadline. After submitting the form, organizations will also meet with APG staff to discuss their progress.
Metrics and results overview - all programs[edit]
We are trying to understand the overall outcomes of the work being funded across our grantees' programs. Please use the table below to let us know how your programs contributed to the Grant Metrics. We understand not all Grant or grantee-defined Metrics will be relevant for all programs, so feel free to put "0" where necessary. For each program include the following table and
- Next to each required metric, list the outcome/results achieved for all of your programs included in your proposal.
- Where necessary, explain the context behind your outcome.
- In addition to the Global Metrics as measures of success for your programs, there is another table format in which you may report on any OTHER relevant measures of your programs success
For more information and a sample, see Grant Metrics.
| Metric | Achieved outcome | Explanation |
| 1. number of total participants | 120 + 200 + 500 = 820 of 1'950 | Because of the COVID crisis some metrics are lower than expected (i.e. the number of participants). The figures are rounded numbers because the re-arrangement from offline to online reduced the capacity to report an exact number of some metrics or to define a clear system of monitoring. |
| 2. number of newly registered users | 50 + 80 + 100 = 210 of 225 | The figures are rounded numbers because the re-arrangement from offline to online reduced the capacity to have an exact number of some metrics or to define a clear system of monitoring. |
| 3. number of content pages created or improved, across all Wikimedia projects | 10'000 + 1'000 + 15'000 = 26'000 of 36'000 | The figures are rounded numbers because the re-arrangement from offline to online reduced the capacity to have an exact number of some metrics or to define a clear system of monitoring. |
| 4. Content reused by other Wikimedia projects | 8'000 + 500 + 2'000 = 15'000 of 9'000 | The figures are rounded numbers because the re-arrangement from offline to online reduced the capacity to have an exact number of some metrics or to define a clear system of monitoring. |
| 5. Number of people reached in Switzerland | 300'000 + 100'000 + 300'000 + 400'000 = 700'000 of 1 450 000 - 1 550 000 | Because of the COVID crisis some metrics are lower than expected (i.e. the number of participants). The figures are rounded numbers because the re-arrangement from offline to online reduced the capacity to report an exact number of some metrics or to define a clear system of monitoring. |
Telling your program stories - all programs[edit]
Executive Summary[edit]
Like many organizations, Wikimedia CH spent much of the first half of 2020 adapting operations to the global health crisis. Despite the online nature of Wikimedia projects, the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown in Switzerland greatly impacted our face-to-face activities, as demonstrated in the Metrics section of this report. However, as our team already works virtually under “normal” circumstances – in such a multilingual country, we don’t have a physical office – Wikimedia CH was able to swiftly move into a totally virtual world, accompanying and even sometimes providing consultation to partners and stakeholders on their digitization and remote-working journeys. As our chapter’s nature is agile, adaptable and creative, it turned many challenges into opportunities and learning that we will take with us into the second half of the year and beyond.
Humanly speaking[edit]
As mentioned, the virtual nature of our team was an asset during the turbulent months of the coronavirus lockdown. We are all used to working remotely and using technology to communicate, so our ways of working were less impacted by the pandemic than they might have been otherwise. At the human level, we were able to continue operating as usual, despite programmatic disruptions, fears and even illnesses.
As in past years, we have continued to try to reduce administrative costs while also working toward greater financial sustainability and stability. To this end, we hired a Fundraising and Grant Manager at 90%. Darja Budanov will join our team on the 1st of August and will be responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders while meeting the financial and budgetary requirements of the chapter. She will also develop a general fundraising and donor strategy for Wikimedia CH, as well as an annual institutional grants strategy and calendar for submitting proposals to funding institutions. Darja’s experience in digital marketing, donor prospect research and partner relations, as well as her ability to speak five languages, will make her a great asset to our team.
We also spent the first half of the year working on our compensation and benefits scheme to attract and retain talent. Our aim is to streamline our compensation and benefits to reduce the time spent on administration while creating a more consistent approach to talent management. Last, we are working on obtaining the appropriate insurance plans for our chapter.
Organization-wise[edit]
In terms of our organization, the first half of 2020 saw changes in the composition of our board of directors, as well as progress toward Wikimedia CH’s new five-year strategic plan. The association also officially registered with the Swiss registry of commerce. While demanding significant effort from our small team, this was a vital administrative step for our operations as we are now eligible for other sources of funding in Switzerland.
As a result of the pandemic, Wikimedia CH held its ordinary General Assembly online for the first time ever. During the assembly, Matthias Nepfer was elected as a board member. Matthias is Head of Innovation and Information Management at the Swiss National Library and has been committed for years to Wikipedia, free knowledge and open data. He takes the seat of Michael Gasser, who stepped down after four years in this function. Additionally, Muriel Staub was elected as the new president of Wikimedia CH. Muriel has been a member of Wikimedia CH’s board since 2017, was a previous staff member and has been active in the worldwide Wikimedia Movement for almost 10 years.
As an association, we decided to step onto a creative and innovative path to drafting our 2020-2025 strategy: Two of the consultants who have been working on the Wikimedia Movement strategy are accompanying us now as we implement the participatory Theory U framework. This framework leverages the techniques of presencing (mindfulness) and sensemaking (syncing information) through approaches like Social Presencing Theatre, the Cynefin framework, the Technology of Participation and Design Thinking. We have had regular online sessions and are organizing a three-day workshop in November with a diverse group of stakeholders around innovation, sustainability, mindfulness and holistic strategy. Until then, the chapter will have to do its homework, interviewing diverse stakeholders, partners, donors, etc. Both board and staff have been involved so far, and soon, we will widen the circle to encompass external views. By using new and unconventional approaches to develop the five-year plan, we hope to create an end result that positions our organization as a leader in our space. With the Wikimedia Movement finalizing its 2030 Strategy, we aim to align our plan with the Movement’s strategic recommendations over the coming months. We are also reviewing our vision and mission to harmonize it with the Movement’s vision and way forward.
Program-wise[edit]
As mentioned, the pandemic greatly affected our programmatic activities. Many events were cancelled or postponed while others were moved online. While not always easy, our team continuously adapted and adjusted, finding new and creative ways to keep our important work going throughout the crisis.
Program GLAM saw the cancellation of several key initiatives, including a GLAM on Tour event and a guided tour of the Biel Bauhaus. The Swiss International Museums Day was postponed; however, we still worked closely with other chapters and led online, cross-border activities around the event. The pandemic also pushed the #GLAMhack 2020 online. Normally an in-person hackathon, the event posed an important challenge: how to maintain enthusiasm and collaboration without face-to-face engagement. Working with event organizers and partners, we found creative solutions that not only led to a successful event but also set a record in terms of gender parity and international participation. The learning that we will take with us is that being adaptable and creative can create opportunities for online collaboration that can be integrated into future activities.
Program Education activities were also limited because of the pandemic. However, that did not stop progress. On the contrary, we were able to move forward on several key initiatives. For example, the annual Wikipedia for Peace workshop was turned into a virtual camp. While the online nature of the event couldn’t completely replace the sense of comradery and community of the usual in-person event, it was still a success, both in terms of output and positive feedback from participants. What’s more, two Wikipedians from Armenia were able to join through the virtual format, which would not have been possible had the workshop been in person. Program Education also took event cancellations as an opportunity to focus on important building blocks for strategic activities. These included a communication plan for the educational sphere, as well as an open education platform that will provide teachers, trainers and students with a knowledge management system based on Wikimedia projects in order to launch a new certification system in 2021.
Like the other programs, Program Community saw some event cancellations but also delivered several successful activities before and after the lockdown. The team especially made progress around knowledge equity, particularly as it relates to women and minorities. In the first half of the year, we made strides in improving the representation of women on our projects and within our community via several initiatives, including the Women for Wikipedia edit-a-thon and activities through the Art + Feminism campaign and with Les sans pagEs. With the ongoing global backlash against anti-Black racism, our work with Noircir Wikipedia to increase articles about Black people and culture was especially important. We also moved forward on the WikiDroitsHumains project in collaboration with the French and Argentinian chapters as well as the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights. The project, which aims to use Wikimedia projects to champion human rights, is a good example of cross-chapter collaboration that turns high-level discussions into concrete results.
In terms of Partnerships and Outreach, we continued to foster and build upon important partnerships both in Switzerland and at the international level. Our work in the first half of the year focused on supporting Parldigi’s communications around COVID-19 tracking and pandemic readiness. We also developed and began implementing a new communications strategy to support our fundraising, outreach and community recruitment efforts. In terms of international outreach, the German- and French-speaking WikiCons were both cancelled, while the Italian one will be moved online. Despite these changes, we continued to work closely with neighboring chapters on several initiatives and activities across all programs. Last, we began discussions with Swiss climate organizations, already laying the foundation for climate change as a potential new strategic impact direction.
Technically speaking[edit]
Thanks to our database of stakeholders, as well as related systems that we began putting in place in 2019, we have continued to use online tools to support our activities. There are still many issues to solve, but we are already in a much better position than before, paving the way for more professional and strategic outreach, communications and fundraising efforts. In the first half of the year, we launched an updated newsletter to more than 16,000 subscribers with the latest news and events from our chapter. We also fine-tuned our website, which was launched last year, and worked to ramp up our social media presence to drive web traffic and, hopefully, increase financial support from stakeholders. All these tools help us get closer to our stakeholders and position the chapter as a leader and partner in free knowledge in Switzerland and beyond.
Strategic context for Wikimedia CH[edit]
Wikimedia CH is the Swiss chapter of the global Wikimedia Movement and is officially recognized as such by the Wikimedia Foundation. In this report, we tell the story of our work in four strategic programs:
- Program GLAM – We collaborate with galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) throughout Switzerland to provide digital access to memory institutions’ collections and artifacts. We aim to share the country’s culture and history in a sustainable format and across all borders.
- Program Education – We deliver and collaborate on education programs that advance learning at every level, for both children and adults. Our work supports lifelong learning as well as teachers and trainers at schools, universities and other institutions of higher education.
- Program Community – We help the Wikimedia CH community grow, supporting existing members and cultivating new Wikipedians. Among other activities, we train and mentor Wikipedia editors and support the diverse and multicultural interests of our community with targeted programming.
- Partnership & Outreach – We believe in using our unique position in the field of information exchange to be an influencer on national and international issues concerning open access and open knowledge. We offer our viewpoints on copyright, technology and more.
We use the image of a house to represent our work. The roof represents our mission of curating and disseminating free knowledge. The house itself is filled with the four strategic programs: GLAM, Education, Community and Partnership & Outreach. The walls and windows encompass and give form to our strategic directions. The walls are our technology, processes (financial policies, guidelines, etc.) and soft skills (human resources, people development). The windows give us transparency, representing good governance and collaboration. The house rests securely on the foundation of our solid legal background and is surrounded by a neighborhood of like-minded organizations, chapters, the Wikiverse and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Program GLAM[edit]
A1.Background and context[edit]
In the first half of 2020, the GLAM program saw several challenges as a result of the pandemic, but just as many successes. Despite GLAM institutions being impacted by the global health crisis and subsequent restrictions in Switzerland, we were able to proceed with most of our planned activities and achieve many of our goals.
As a result of the pandemic, we were forced to postpone two of our key events: the GLAM on Tour at the Neues Museum Biel and the guided tour of the Bauhaus in the same region. While many of our activities could be carried out virtually, the impact of these two events depends on on-site organization and in-person exchange.
That said, the pandemic situation did not stop our work, and in some cases, it even created opportunities. In the case of the #GLAMhack 2020, the event was moved to an online format and ended up attracting participants from all over the world, who may not have been able to attend in person. The International Museums Day (IMD) was another example of both opportunity and challenge. On the one hand, the Swiss IMD2020 was postponed. On the other hand, the closure of museum doors for two months across Switzerland and many other countries underlined the need among those institutions to digitize their content and become more visible online. Despite the event’s postponement in Switzerland, we collaborated closely with chapters in Austria, Germany, France and Italy to launch a cross-border IMD2020 and organize a Wikidata Contest.
Many of our other activities were also possible in a virtual format or were able to continue in person. For example, the Cultural Innovation Open Lab took place online without losing its sense of collaboration and sharing. Meanwhile, our contribution to the Archive Opening Working Group of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG-SSR), which emerged out of our projects with the Swiss National Sound Archives, was held face-to-face. We were also still able to build upon our relationships with important institutions, such as the Montreux Jazz Archives, SBB Historic, the Swiss National Library and the Library of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich). By continuing programs that have worked in the past and building on existing relationships, we are creating a sense of continuity among both our GLAM partners and our community. This builds trust and helps position Wikimedia CH as a proven resource in a rapidly changing and uncertain world.
A2.Highlight activities[edit]
International Museum Day 2020[edit]
Extraordinary times call for an extraordinary response, so for the first time ever, we collaborated with all of Switzerland’s neighboring chapters on this initiative to help bring museum content online. While in the past we had worked with Austria’s and Germany’s chapters, this year we also brought France’s and Italy’s chapters on board. Furthermore, this year’s theme of “Museums for Equality: Diversity and Inclusion” perfectly aligned with our goal of making our community and content more inclusive and diverse.
Also, for the first time ever, we worked closely with the International Council of Museums (ICOM). This was a major achievement, as we have had difficulty in the past working with ICOM at the national level. We consulted ICOM International regarding a Creative Commons License, resulting in all the IMD2020 communication materials being released under CC BY-SA 4.0 International. We also helped with their research, giving them access to georeferenced museum data throughout the world, and wrote a campaign report for their news page.
References
Virtual #GLAMHack 2020[edit]
The event organizers, together with all the partners and sponsors, had to get creative. The hackathon was hosted by the Swiss Institute for Information Science at the University of Applied Sciences in Chur (FHGR), in collaboration with the Institute for Multimedia Production. The event was live-streamed so that participants could follow along and feel part of the event, creating a sense of unity. The team of organizers led the event on-camera from a stage from Chur, giving instructions and encouragement to participants.
The data used in this year’s projects covered a variety of areas, from press articles, topographic information, paintings and provenance descriptions of artworks to datasets containing information about theater performances, Swiss heritage institutions and art exhibitions.
While organizing a virtual event had its challenges, it also created opportunities. Sixty-eight participants (nearly half of them women) from 18 countries joined and shared — a new record for the hackathon both in terms of gender parity and international participation. This diversity, along with virtual break rooms, cocktail hours and other ways to interact online, led to a successful event despite the circumstances. The different formats of the side events enabled the sharing of knowledge, the exchange of experiences and the identification of common goals and challenges, as well as the initiation of future collaborations. With 15 projects, a successful pre-event in Bern and a rich side program open to anyone, the event garnered incredibly positive feedback and results despite its online format.
References
A3.Additional program activities[edit]
Program 1: Libraries and archives[edit]
Despite the pandemic, we saw many achievements through our activities with libraries and archives. Our team worked hard to execute the plan, and our events continued to be exceptionally diverse, both in focus and in language and geography. Meanwhile, we built on existing relationships with key GLAM partners to make progress on several interesting projects. Close collaboration between our GLAM and Education programs also helped ensure more coherent initiatives throughout Switzerland.
Working with the Cantonal Administration Appenzell Ausserrhoden, the WikiProjekt Appenzellerland was launched with the aim to complete the content of the Cantonal Library and State Archive about the canton of Appenzell, personalities, families and more using their archival holdings and the Historical Lexicon of Switzerland. It was the first time a cantonal administration implemented a Wiki-related project largely by themselves. The project includes completing Wikipedia articles, releasing valuable images under a CC BY-SA license on Wikimedia Commons and launching a transcription project on WikiSource. As an example, one of the most beautiful manuscripts from the Cantonal Library, “Memorial der Tugendt (Johann von Schwarzenberg),” was just released under a free license:
We also strengthened relationships with existing partners through both new and ongoing projects. We continued our work with SBB Historic to add content and images to Wikimedia Commons, including a release on rolling material and types sketches. Meanwhile, the Swiss National Library launched a project to archive Wikipedia articles related to Switzerland.
Through our partnership with the ETH Library in Zurich, we implemented activities initiated during last year’s Wikipedia Action Day 2212 with the aim of enriching Wikipedia articles on 2,212 Swiss municipalities with aerial photos by the Swiss aerial pioneer Walter Mittelholzer and his successor Werner Friedli. Despite the lockdown and ETH Library employees working from home, the project finished in June with nearly 5,800 articles improved by 44 employees in four languages! Last, the Library of Vevey organized two workshops aimed at creating articles about Swiss women. The first event was organized by the library with the contribution of the town archives and the historical museum of Vevey, which prepared sources for the participants. The second workshop took place online due to the pandemic. Both events attracted many complete beginners and created several high-quality biographies.
Finally, we began implementing a project with the Montreux Jazz Festival (MJF) Archives. The respective metadata, which is free of rights, will be extracted from the MJF database with the objective of enriching the Wikidata knowledge base with quality information while also enriching the MJF authority file, enabling a flow of information from Wikidata to the MJF. To perform the alignment with Wikidata, the MJF Archives team first exposed the MJF data through web pages reachable with standard URLs. We are now working on interlinking types of entities with Wikidata, including musicians (approx. 17,000 items), songs (approx. 47,000 items) and concerts (approx. 4,500 items). For songs and concerts, a Wikidata BOT will be developed. For musicians, a manual interlinking is required, as the risk of creating misalignment is too high to use automation. The project also includes developing a database to track and store changes to the MJF metadata, and creating a service to check the MJF database daily and send a notification email to the MJF staff in case of changes.
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Building on past collaboration with Program Education, we continued to implement programs aimed at developing knowledge and skills among both GLAM employees and the GLAM community. We worked closely with Wikimedia France and the French and Swiss Associations of Archivists to organize a series of WikiArchives webinars to help GLAM professionals understand how Wikimedia projects and other tools could help them contribute to preserving and sharing cultural heritage. We also organized workshops through WikiNeoComensia, a project with the University of Neuchâtel and the Laténium museum whereby Wikipedians train future museum personnel to edit Wikipedia and share the results of their research, with the aim of improving the quality of articles and learning about scientific disclosure.
Last, we leveraged proven, replicable formats to continue the work of past years. The first in-person edit-a-thon of the year was held at doku-zug.ch, a publicly accessible, nonprofit documentation center. It gathered 10 authors who wrote and edited Wikipedia articles about the canton of Zug. The event garnered regional media attention, including an article in the Luzerner Zeitung. We also once again supported International Archives Week to complete and improve the presence of archives on Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. While the theme, “Empowering Knowledge Societies,” was different, our approach was the same, allowing us to make an impact without reinventing the wheel.
Program 2: Museums and galleries[edit]
Our work with museums and galleries was especially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. While the effects were not always negative, as in the case of IMD2020 (see the highlighted activity), we were not able to proceed with two initiatives. The GLAM on Tour event in collaboration with the Neues Museum Biel, which was scheduled for mid-June, has been postponed until next year. Meanwhile, the guided visit of the Bauhaus in Biel, scheduled for the end of June, will also be postponed for a later date.
Instead, our work around cultural heritage focused on protecting it, rather than sharing it. To this end, we supported an important initiative in the canton of Ticino: the Transnational Conference of Open Data and Open Maps for Heritage Protection in Bellinzona. The daylong conference included keynote speeches, roundtable discussions and discourse about how to use digitization and data to protect important cultural heritage from the effects of natural disasters, especially those linked to climate change. The event attracted participants from six countries and provided an opportunity to demonstrate the importance of digitalizing cultural content to preserve it for generations to come.
The effects of climate change on cultural heritage was also the focus of a call to action we signed urging the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to set a global standard to preserve important collections. Along with other international GLAM organizations, we asked WIPO to put in place clear rules across borders to protect GLAM sites and other cultural heritage institutions from the devastating effects of natural disasters.
Last, we were contacted by SIKART, a Swiss dictionary for art, which was seeking support in creating templates to use their dictionary as a reference on Wikipedia. They were already using a German template, so we helped create models in French, English and Italian. This project exemplifies how we can support GLAM organizations by leveraging synergies.
Program 3: National and international GLAM outreach[edit]
In the first half of the year, we drew on the competencies, partnerships and experience that we have established over the years to lend our expertise to two new initiatives.
As a result of successful projects around audio and audiovisual content with the Swiss National Sound Archives, the Montreux Jazz Archives and the CC0-Project, Wikimedia CH was invited to participate in the SRG-SSR working group to discuss the opening of their audio and audiovisual archives. Together with important players at the national level, we are exploring how best to open and share these archival gems. With approximately two million hours of radio and television broadcasts in all Swiss languages since the ’30s and late ’50s, it is a significant — and important — undertaking.
We also brought our experience around GLAM in the time of COVID-19 to the first-ever Cultural Innovation Open Lab, hosted by the University of Lausanne and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). The new interdisciplinary project aims to develop digital tools and practices to help museums, music festivals, and theaters continue to operate — and even thrive — in an age of social distancing. The Open Lab participants met virtually throughout the month of June to work on different topics ranging from how museums can leverage the digitalization of their content to new formats that allow concerts and the performative arts to continue during a pandemic. The initiative is not only an avenue for us to learn and provide guidance but also a great opportunity to position Wikimedia CH as an important partner among key contacts at GLAM institutions throughout Switzerland.
Another opportunity for networking and knowledge-sharing was Wikimedia CH’s participation at Cultura Suisse, a trade show for museums, the preservation of monuments and cultural heritage in Bern. As a visitor, we were able to meet and speak with a wide range of players in the GLAM environment, while also attending the various presentations and discussions that made up the event program.
Finally, our efforts to expand the GLAM Wiki Network nationwide are yielding results. We are happy to announce new members — the Cantonal Administration Appenzell Ausserrhoden, the Swiss Archives of Performing Arts and the Association of Swiss Archivists — as well as an interested potential new partner, the Centre d’Iconographie de la Bibliothèque de Genève. The GLAM Wiki Network meets in person quarterly to share knowledge, coordinate Wikimedia-related activities, provide feedback and define needs for Swiss GLAM. The first two meetings this year were held virtually, which made it easier for cultural partners located in different parts of Switzerland to participate without investing travel time.
Program 4: Digital competence & technology[edit]
In addition to the first-ever virtual #GLAMhack (see the highlighted activity), this year marked the fifth anniversary of the annual event. To celebrate this milestone, around 40 participants gathered for a day of inspiration, exchange and brainstorming at the Swiss National Library on the 29th of February. Participants looked back at past #GLAMhack editions with a retrospective, while also looking forward with a workshop on “Linked Open Data Ecosystem for Heritage Data” and a brainstorming session for this year’s #GLAMhack.
The first half of the year also saw the new release of the GLAM Statistical Tool and the WMCH Map Service.
The new version of the GLAM Statistical Tool significantly improves its usability as a working instrument. The added functionalities include new search features for media files, a statistical drill-down by image category, category-related statistics, and analysis of unused media on a statistical level, as well as a practical instrument for planning future work. The GLAM Statistical Tool now also has an algorithm that suggests unused media files to be added to selected Wikipedia articles, with direct links to the suggested articles.
An optimized and newly designed version of the WMCH Map Service was released for this year’s IMD2020. Due to the popularity and acceptance of the WMCH Map Service, as well as the expansion of projects across countries, the requirements had changed. To process a high amount of data while maintaining responsiveness, we needed to increase performance. Together with our partner Synapta, we implemented a new library, which is compatible with the functionalities and the design of the tool and delivers the required response time for launching larger projects like the IMD2020. With this release, we also implemented a historical database and a feature to explore how the map and content change over time. This new Browse History functionality allows us to measure the impact of campaigns — for example, this year’s IMD2020 Wikidata Contest.
A4.Progress toward the plan[edit]
Despite the pandemic situation, we were able to execute most of our planned projects for the first half of the year. Our activities continue to be guided by a joint focus on both expanding the diversity of our programs and maintaining continuity through replicable, scalable formats.
In the first half of the year, our projects were aligned with our goals of awareness-building among GLAM institutions to position Wikimedia CH as a trusted partner to GLAM, as well as cross-border collaboration to work more closely with other chapters. We continued to build on long-standing relationships while also creating new ones, both with partner organizations and within the Wikiverse. With our focus area of Digital Competence & Technology, we improved the functionalities and expanded the scope of the GLAM Statistical Tool and the WMCH Map Service to continue to meet the needs of our GLAM Partner Network. Particularly in the case of the map service, the expansion of the map to neighboring countries was an important step forward for both our cross-chapter collaboration and our role as an international partner to GLAM institutions
Ensuring progress toward our annual plan despite the pandemic required creativity and adaptability to move previously in-person events online. That said, some events, such as the GLAM on Tour, would be nearly impossible — or at least not as impactful — if they were held virtually.
We had also planned to run a virtual #1lib1ref campaign in May and requested help from the organizational team at the international level. After several emails and contact requests, we gave up, having assumed that the campaign wouldn’t happen this year. We received an answer only about a week before the official campaign started, which was clearly too late to participate. Therefore, we will try to explore this format next year if we receive the necessary support.
A5.Lessons for our future work[edit]
Learning and sharing[edit]
Improve cross-border collaboration – So far this year, we’ve learned that while collaboration with other chapters is important, every chapter needs to engage equally. In the case of IMD2020, it took significant time and energy to bring the five chapters together and get them on the same page. While there was interest from the other chapters to participate, there was minimal response and input, which made the work much more difficult. Apart from Wikimedia Austria, which ran the Wikidata Contest, Wikimedia CH ended up doing most of the work for the event. Going forward, we will need to evaluate how to work together on cross-border projects to avoid a similar situation in the future.
Be adaptable and creative – The COVID-19 pandemic created a significant challenge to our planned programs. Instead of just cancelling or postponing everything, we got creative to explore how to take in-person events online without losing the spirit or impeding the exchange between participants. While not every event could be held virtually, we learned that, with a little creativity, some events were not only possible online but could actually reach more people. Going forward, we should remember these experiences and integrate more online activities in future projects.
Encourage partners to promote and prepare events in advance – Participation at events is greatly improved if the GLAM partner promotes the event through its own channels. In the case of the two workshops with the Vevey Library, the first event was advertised by the library for a few months and had nearly three times the number of participants as the second, which was not promoted as much. Furthermore, advance preparation allows GLAM partners to prepare solid sources, which make the workshops more productive and easier to run.
Looking ahead[edit]
In line with our GLAM strategy, we will finish out 2020 by focusing on the three pillars: GLAM Organization, GLAM Partnerships & Projects and GLAM Digital Competence & Technology.
In terms of GLAM Organization, we will continue our work toward a sustainable project environment whereby we can continue to grow and scale our programs. We also aim to integrate Wikimedia projects into GLAM institutions’ processes, which will require not only awareness-building and knowledge transfer (including working with Program Education to train GLAM employees) but also improved processes and policies within Wikimedia CH.
Regarding GLAM Partnerships & Projects, we will continue to diversify our activities while building upon long-term relationships and scalable formats. Several ongoing projects with both long-standing and recent partners aim to continue helping GLAM institutions digitalize and share their content while building skills among their employees. To this end, we are planning an introductory WikiNeocomensia workshop in October for Neuchâtel GLAM around built heritage in the canton.
Finally, looking at GLAM Digital Competence & Technology, we will continue to improve and further develop the GLAM Statistical Tool. The next step will be to implement an integrated statistical dashboard.
Program Education[edit]
B1.Background and context[edit]
In the first half of 2020, we continued the work we started in 2019, when we implemented a complete overhaul of the Program Education strategy. Since then, we have consolidated the strategy and started a project focusing on communication and outreach.
We revised our strategy for three reasons. First, we wanted to align our approach with the Wikimedia Movement's 2030 strategy by further supporting its two main pillars: equity of knowledge and knowledge as a service.
Second, our strategy should incorporate the latest recommendations from education experts in Switzerland. The 2018 Swiss Education Report from the Coordination Center for Research in Education, a federal education institution, explained that modern educational standards must meet the needs placed on students and workers by technology, especially the impacts of automation and digitization. Furthermore, in 2016, the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland began introducing media and technology into the curriculum, an initiative called Curriculum 21.
The third and final reason we revised our strategy is the recent Federal Act on Continuing Education and Training, which came into effect in 2017 and regulates the non-compulsory continuing education and training domain.
As a result of the pandemic and subsequent lockdown (which began at the end of February), our Education activities were limited to the first two months of 2020. We used the remaining months to review our communication plan in the educational field, which will be critical to building our program and engaging new partners. The plan focuses on three points: the organization, an open education platform and the improvement of the training offered in the context of lifelong learning to increase our partnerships with institutions.
B2.Highlight activities[edit]
openedu.ch[edit]
Openedu.ch is a project to organize the material available through Wikimedia projects for schools, universities and continuous training with the aim of creating a more usable, accessible format for teachers, educators and education departments. While the project will propose tools and experiences that relate more closely to teaching, pedagogy and current school curricula, it also incorporates the broader, more inclusive concept of lifelong education.
This idea of learning from birth to old age is already present in Switzerland and Europe. In fact, Switzerland has recently begun putting greater emphasis on the concept of skills for life by encouraging continuous training, similar to what is being done at the European level. The term “education” no longer just encompasses schools or universities but, instead, refers to the entire learning system into adulthood. As such, a repository that allows Wikimedia projects (and others) to support education becomes indispensable in the Swiss context.
In February, we began work on this repository. After defining keywords and mapping EU skills with Wikimedia projects, we started several focus groups with teachers, education experts and Wikimedia CH staff, which were very enlightening. By June, we had a communication plan for Education, as well as a draft of this open education repository.
Wikipedia for peace: no more war[edit]
Continuing our collaboration with Service Civil International (SCI), we organized the “virtual Wikicamp” Wikipedia for Peace: No More War.
Originally, we had planned two activities with SCI for 2020: the annual Wikipedia for Peace Camp in Mont-Soleil and a camp in La Chaux-de-Fonds to celebrate SCI’s 100th anniversary. Unfortunately, the pandemic changed our plans, forcing us to move both events to August and add a virtual camp from 12-19 June.
During the virtual camp, 15 participants spent three hours each morning working individually or in small groups on topics connected to demilitarization. Then, each afternoon, they met as a group on the video platform Zoom. Some of the core topics covered were anti-militarism, nuclear weapons, nonviolence, disarmament, weapon industries and military conscription.
This year, more than half of the participants were women or students. Meanwhile, the camp’s virtual nature allowed two Wikipedians from Wikimedia Armenia to join. The event resulted in 44 articles in Hungarian, Russian, Serbian, French, Italian, Czech and German. While some of the articles were translations, most were original research on topics that did not have articles in any language before. The number of articles was lower than in previous years, partly because participants had less time to edit in this online format and partly because there was more of a focus on original research.
The feedback from participants was very positive, and in some cases, quite meaningful. One Russian participant, who lives close to the Ukrainian border, translated from English into Russian the article about the Moscow anti-war protests against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The participant said it was a transformative moment. All participants said they would join an online camp like this again and want to continue writing Wikipedia articles.
B3.Additional program activities[edit]
Program 1: Schools (primary and lower secondary levels)[edit]
The activities planned in this program were:
- Laboratories and Wikicamps
- Openedu.ch repository
- Gamification
In the first two months of the year, we started the new season of the #theLab, a series of laboratories in collaboration with the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland. Unfortunately, we had to stop them at the end of February. The labs that happened focused on the use of Wikimedia and OpenStreetMap in schools.
Once the lockdown went into effect, we focused on the openedu.ch project, which is described in the section highlights. We also planned activities for when schools reopen in September.
We also made some progress in gamification. We made contact with Klexikon, a Wikipedia for young people and a very widespread project in the German linguistic area. Also, we started discussions around more formal collaboration with Dicoado, a dictionary for and written by students that is present in the French linguistic area. Last, we supported a project to simplify the Italian Wikipedia with the aim of making it more accessible to students by following the Txikipedia model in the Basque community.
Program 2: Universities & high schools[edit]
We had several innovative projects in the pipeline with important universities like the EPFL in Lausanne. However, once the pandemic hit, universities were the first to close, putting a stop to our planned activities.
The universities and high schools program proposed to focus on:
- Hackathons and Wikicamps
- Open Science
- Ambassador’s program
While all of our hackathons were cancelled, just before the lockdown we were able to organize an important edit-a-thon with ETH and 500 Women Scientists in celebration of International Women’s Day. The objective of the event was to increase the representation of women on Wikipedia. The event originally had more than 50 participants; however, due to the lockdown, that number was reduced to half. Despite the difficult situation, the group continued to contribute to Wikipedia and contacted the women scientists about whom biographies were written during the event.
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Editathon 500 Women Scientists -
Wiki Science competition's winners -
Sapphire Biomolecular Imager (Azure Biosystems) is a laser scanning system -
Medaillon with Agrippina portrait -
Grotte du Bichon
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Additionally, the project Wikineocomensia continued in the first half of 2020 with students studying the humanities at the University of Neuchâtel. See the libraries and archives information in the GLAM section of this report for more details.
At the beginning of the year, we started discussions with Franklin University, one of the oldest American institutions of higher education in Europe and the first to be established in Switzerland. Together, we collaborated on a webinar about fake news, which included a presentation by Leila Zia, Principal Research Scientist and Head of Research at Wikimedia Foundation.
For Open Science, the 2020 Wiki Science Competition is planned for the end of the year. As it is a completely virtual project, it has not been impacted by the pandemic. Before the lockdown, we hosted an awards ceremony for the 2019 Swiss winners of the competition at the ETH Hönggerberg campus in Zurich.
As the academic year 2019-2020 is now over, we will focus on the 2020-2021 year. We will also move forward with our work on the Ambassador’s Program, which enables internal contacts within universities to run Wikimedia activities.
Program 3: Lifelong learning[edit]
The lifelong learning program proposed to focus on:
- Trainers
- Training Days
- MOOC
Lifelong learning is considered one of the pillars of our 2020 plan, and we carried out initial tests around the selection of software solutions for content distribution. However, the change in priorities linked to the pandemic led us to focus on open education and move this program to the second half of 2020.
That said, we made progress on creating a framework, while the agreements for a MOOC led us to the first meetings with SwissMOOC for a possible collaboration.
Program 4: Digital innovation & diversity[edit]
Digital innovation touches all the other programs, including the aforementioned development of an open education platform and the agreements with Klexikon, Dicoado and SwissMOOC.
In this case, we do not intend to develop new tools if they already exist but instead seek to support existing solutions. In the first half of the year, we made great progress in preparing the materials and tools that can eventually be distributed on the open education platform.
B4.Progress toward the plan[edit]
In the early months of 2020, we carried out Program Education as planned, but with the closure of schools and universities due to the pandemic, there was a stop on activities and a change of priorities. We focused instead on organizational projects to help us face the second half of the year with more effective and useful tools.
While many activities were cancelled, we were able to focus on the organization and structure of the program, consolidating the work done in 2019.
B5.Lessons for our future work[edit]
Learning and sharing[edit]
During the educational reorganization, we reflected a lot on the current state and future path of education in the program. Here are some of this year’s lessons so far:
Communicate better - We realized that extraordinary things are happening in the Wikimedia world, but they are not transmitted effectively. Many teachers, for example, do not know our projects or how to best use them at school. As a result, university students and professionals are unaware of the many possibilities offered by acquiring knowledge through Wikimedia projects. Our goal, therefore, has been to improve this communication.
Ensure that bottom-up organization is part of a global strategy - In the past, Program Education activities were proposed and started with a predominantly bottom-up approach. Volunteers, partners and community members proposed a project that met a specific need, but that was not necessarily tied to a predetermined strategic goal. This led to disjointed projects. We are thrilled to have defined a programmatic strategy in 2019 in line with the recommendations of the Wikimedia Global Movement. We have already started to give more coherence to the program by stopping the activities that do not fit the strategy and by improving and adding to the activities that do.
Differentiate Education from GLAM and Community - The GLAM and Community programs of our chapter are more established than Program Education. While there will always be an overlap between the three, it is important to articulate a distinct vision and purpose. The new strategy allows us to explain why the Education program differs and, in fact, should differ. As we built and launched the strategy in 2019, we found that the hardest job was to create an understanding around our new strategy and goals. But we must be persistent in “defining our why.” Program Education has a new strategy, it stands apart from GLAM and Community, and Wikimedia brings value to Swiss education. The strategy has already produced many advantages in this regard, allowing us to speak credibly with the main players in the field of education, including teachers, schools, universities and training centers.
Looking ahead[edit]
Even though 2019 was a pivotal year in defining our education strategy, the evolution of Program Education is still underway. We expect to continue shaping our path forward in 2020.
To this end, we are especially interested in building our programming around two of the Wikimedia Movement’s recommendations, namely Recommendation 6: Invest in Skills and Leadership Development and Recommendation 7: Manage Internal Knowledge. Specifically, we intend to invest more in train-the-trainer activities that allow professionals to enhance their skills and then apply them in ways that share knowledge with a wider audience of students and other professionals.
We expect to accomplish two goals at once. First, we will offer the Continuing Education and Training community ways to build up their lifelong skills by becoming trainers. Second, we will expand Program Education’s impact by making “the internal knowledge of our Movement easy to capture, discover, consume, and adapt by all contributors to facilitate sustainability and resilience, individual and organizational skill development, and growth in an equitable way across all communities,” as stated in Recommendation 7. The openedu.ch project, especially, will help us reach these goals.
Program Community[edit]
C1.Background and context[edit]
Following a review of the strategy for Program Community last year, we are continuing our focus on four main areas:
- Community health – tending to the relationships we have built with longtime Wikipedians.
- Community building – motivating new volunteers to continue their involvement with our chapter.
- Community recruitment – attracting new people to our chapter and the Wikimedia Movement.
- International collaboration – reaching out to and working with other chapters and international groups committed to supporting free and unbiased knowledge.
We are also closely following the discussion around the Wikimedia Movement’s 2030 Strategy, specifically the working groups addressing community issues.
Core to our Community strategy is the idea of “knowledge equity,” particularly among women and minorities, who are less represented both in our community and in Wikimedia project content. As such, the first half of the year saw several events aimed at increasing representation on Wikipedia and diversifying our community of editors. These initiatives also allow participants to edit based on topics that interest them, which has proven to increase engagement and support community retention.
Another key part of our new community management plan is the organization of offline events. These in-person activities give longtime community members an opportunity to get to know the person behind the username. At the same time, they encourage a sense of welcome and provide technical support to newer members. As a result of the pandemic, many in-person Community events had to be postponed, cancelled or moved online.
C2.Highlight activities[edit]
WikiDroitsHumains[edit]
WikiDroitsHumains started as a collaboration between Wikimedia CH and Tonpseudo, a volunteer Wikipedian based in France, to replicate Wikimedia Argentina’s WikiDerechosHumanos efforts. It also aligns with #WikiforHumanRights, the Foundation’s partnership with OHCHR to improve content about human rights issues on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.
The project launched in mid-February with a meeting at the United Nations Office in Geneva. It brought together representatives from different nongovernmental and civil service organizations, experts from OHCHR and members of the Wikimedia community to understand content gaps on Wikipedia and create a plan to go forward.
The project plan was based on the idea of pairing Wikipedians with activists in the area of human rights to gauge the content quality and gaps to both improve existing articles and create new ones. Two weeks after the launch, we organized another meeting for Wikimedia volunteers interested in participating in the project, where they learned to work with human rights experts.
The project kicked off in earnest with two online workshops — one to train human rights activists and one for Wikipedians. In collaboration with the French Collectif Intersexes et Allié.e.s and the Swiss InterAction Suisse, two associations for intersex rights, we first assessed knowledge gaps on French Wikipedia about intersex issues. We then held a workshop for intersex activists new to Wikipedia, where they translated content, edited 14 existing articles and created two new ones. Following that event, we facilitated another workshop, this time with both Wikipedians and the activists from the first workshop, who supported Wikipedians with their knowledge of vocabulary and sources. During the event, 13 participants worked to improve the content on intersex rights and issues by improving 20 existing articles and creating nine new ones. The focus for these workshops was qualitative more than quantitative. We are working on more appropriate ways, other than metrics, to gauge their progress.
The WikiDroitsHumains project exemplifies how to break down high-level discussions into concrete initiatives. Thanks to a budding collaboration with Wikimedia France, we are taking real steps to bring the project to the French-speaking world.
Increasing gender equity on Wikipedia[edit]
This year, we are again supporting the Women for Wikipedia edit-a-thon, a collaboration with Swiss Radio and Television (SRF) and Ringier AG. Women for Wikipedia brings together female journalists to write biographies of notable women that are missing on Wikipedia. The collaboration began in November last year and has resulted in three in-person events since. The most recent event, held at the end of April, was the very first online meeting. Despite the new format, it was highly successful, with around 40 authors and almost 100 new articles. As such, we will consider continuing the online format going forward.
Another event with a similar goal was the Wikipedia workshop “Who writes his_tory,” held in June in cooperation with the Solothurn Film Festival as part of the Art+Feminism campaign. The editing workshop focused on Women in Cinema and invited both newcomers and longtime Wikipedians to write articles about female directors and women in film. The event attracted 11 authors, who created four new articles and edited seven, many of them in French (see all results here). What’s more, the collaboration with the film festival helped pave the way toward a new relationship with the fine arts institution.
Last, we continued our long-standing support of Les sans pagEs, which aims to increase the representation of women on Wikipedia. The group, along with Noircir Wikipedia (see the community building section below), was featured on the inclusive news outlet AJ+ Francais in a video showcasing their work and its importance to the wider feminism movement. Les sans pagEs also continued to organize regular “wikimidi” lunchtime meetups (moving them online since mid-March) to encourage participants to edit and create Wikipedia articles about women.
C3.Additional program activities[edit]
Program 1: Community health[edit]
Community health focuses on supporting long-standing chapter members.
Two of the ways we support our community is by financing their projects with grants and promoting them through our network. Wikimedia CH Grants fund Wikimedia community members — individuals, groups or organizations contributing to Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia or Commons — to organize projects or activities throughout the year with a budget from 1,001 CHF. To make it easier for Wikipedians to request financial support, we reviewed and formalized our grant process this year. Our Wikimedia CH team worked together to adapt best practices from around the Movement to the Swiss context to create a clear, streamlined grant process, which was then approved by the board.
Another way we promote community health is by providing ways for Wikipedians to spend time together and build comradery as a community. As in past years, we hosted New Year’s events across the country to give community members — who often only know each other online — valuable time for face-to-face networking. One such event, the New Year’s Brunch in Chiasso, hosted 15 Wikipedians from the Insubria group, which brings together members from the cross-border areas of Italy and Switzerland. The group also organized the sixth editing event of the In the Steps of Carlo Amoretti project, which mixes activities on Wikidata, Wikipedia, Wikivoyage and OpenStreetMap.
Our work to ensure community health also included facilitating communication within our community, both during the lockdown and going forward. One of the ways we did this was by moving regular meetings among German-speaking Wikipedians online through an open video channel. We launched a closed mailing list in three languages, where subscribers can both learn about upcoming activities and promote their own initiatives around Wikimedia projects. Given that many of our community activities were moved online, we also refreshed our Respectful Behavior Space Policy for virtual events.
Program 2: Community building[edit]
Community building refers to activities that make newly acquired community members feel welcome. An important part of this work is to create an inclusive space that feels open to everyone, both within our community and through the content on Wikimedia projects. For this reason, we aim to build a more diverse community of volunteers, who will not only bring a new perspective but also help improve representation in articles on Wikipedia. (For details on how we are working to increase the presence of women on Wikipedia, see this section’s highlighted activities.)
With recent international outcry over systemic racism against the Black community, our support of Noircir Wikipedia is especially important. In fact, the project is the only Wikimedia-supported workshop series in Switzerland that regularly sees Black participants. So far this year, the project has facilitated five workshops (four of which were via a Zoom membership, which Wikimedia CH supports financially) to edit and create Wikipedia articles about Black people, history and culture, as well as a workshop focused on WikiSource to edit a book. One of the online workshops was held in collaboration with a museum in France, Magasin des Horizons, and allowed for participants to join from Switzerland, France and Guadeloupe. The project also joined the campaign #visiblewikiwomenofcolors to increase the visibility of women of color on Wikipedia.
Program 3: Community recruitment[edit]
Recruitment is closely aligned with community building. Engaging new volunteers (community building) can inspire them to invite their friends and become long-term members (community recruitment). We therefore focus on building ongoing series of events around themes that spark their interests.
A Wikipedia Studio event in Winterthur invited new and experienced Wikipedians to learn about editing Wikipedia and work on articles about Winterthur. Pairing an introductory session with an edit-a-thon allowed newcomers to put what they learned directly into practice.
As COVID-19 forced many of our in-person recruitment events to be postponed, we took our efforts to teach new editors about Wikipedia online. Community Manager Ulrich Lantermann created a video tutorial about how to create a biography on Wikipedia, aimed at those new to Wikimedia projects.
Program 4: International collaboration[edit]
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As a linguistically diverse country with a large international population, Switzerland is uniquely placed to collaborate with other countries. For this reason, we routinely work with the chapters of border countries on joint initiatives and cross-promote events together.
One such collaboration is the Volunteer Supporters Network. Since 2014, the network has aimed to improve volunteer and community support in the Wikimedia Movement by developing, growing and maintaining collaboration and exchange of expertise, ideas and resources. To do so, we continuously work with other chapters on international meetings and conferences and collaborate on resources to support volunteers. We meet at least once a month and are currently discussing the impact of the new 2030 strategy on our activities.
Another way we cooperate with other chapters is by supporting WikiCons for the German-, French- and Italian-speaking communities. Due to COVID-19, the German and French chapters had to make the difficult decision to cancel their respective WikiCons this year. Meanwhile, the Italian community decided to organize the ItWikiCon online. We supported this decision and will help with the organization and promotion of the event, which will be held in October.
C4.Progress toward the plan[edit]
Like the other programs, many of our Program Community activities were impacted by the pandemic. That said, one of our goals this year was to revitalize online projects. As the pandemic pushed several of the usual in-person events online, it was a good opportunity to test new formats for old initiatives.
What’s more, we made significant strides toward more effective Community communication as a result of our new website and newsletter. Events are now easier to find on the website, while the newsletter and social media outreach make them more visible to potential participants. To learn more about our outreach approach, see the highlighted activity in the Outreach section of this report.
C5.Lessons for our future work[edit]
Learning and sharing[edit]
Two key events — WikiDroitsHumains and Women for Wikipedia — presented a few issues to consider for future initiatives.
Be aware of paid editing – The Women for Wikipedia event started a long discussion about paid editing because one journalist wrote biographies about personalities close to her and intended for advertising. Our community quickly found out about this, deleting the articles in question and blocking the user account. This proves the reliability of the system, where even with a high density of new articles, self-interested edits do not slip through the cracks. That said, as we aim to grow our community, we must continue to be aware of editors who are paid or who do not share our value of neutrality.
Understand and adjust for the sensitivity of political topics – During the first hands-on WikiDroitsHumains workshop, some participants mentioned being afraid to add #WikiDroitsHumains to their edit summary due to the political nature of such a statement. The hashtag was meant to keep track of metrics. Therefore, omitting it in summaries resulted in a very long process of tracking the activity of these regularly active Wikipedians, for whom an outreach dashboard would have reported all sorts of activity from the workshop and beyond. To remedy this issue, we are working with Wikimedia France to explore how to prevent harassment for Wikipedians participating in this series of human rights workshops.
Narrow the focus of edit-a-thons – During the first WikiDroitsHumains workshop, the article work list was long and not focused exclusively on human rights. As a result, participants included research that touched on the topic at hand in only a very distant way. To avoid this issue in the future, we will prepare much shorter, more focused article lists, even though it means that we will not be able to tackle some of the issues identified by activists as content gaps and inaccurate content on the French-language Wikipedia.
Looking ahead[edit]
In the second half of the year, we will continue to both organize offline events and revitalize online initiatives.
Two focus areas going forward will be (1) creating a system of gratification and rewards to motivate and retain community members and (2) developing tools to monitor Swiss users and the content they edit.
We are also planning more structured support to the community by reviewing our policies and information pages for users.
Last, we will continue our collaboration with other chapters, notably with Wikimedia Italy on the online ItWikiCon in October.
Partnerships & Outreach[edit]
D1.Background and context[edit]
Our Partnerships & Outreach efforts focus on international and national public relations, whereby we use our influence and expertise to promote issues around free knowledge. In Switzerland, we are seen as a trusted partner when it comes to topics related to the digital world. Our influence extends to the European level, as what happens in the EU impacts laws and policies in Switzerland.
In 2020, we aim to continue important partnerships, both in Switzerland and internationally, that advance policies and activities that promote a more knowledgeable society. Meanwhile, our new communications strategy is already supporting our outreach to new and existing stakeholders, including partners, community members, the media and like-minded organizations. A new multichannel communications approach helps keep our organization top-of-mind among potential and current partners alike.
D2.Highlight activities[edit]
Pardigi communications around COVID-19[edit]
So far this year, our work with Parldigi has focused on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Switzerland. The pandemic has exposed many vulnerabilities and holes in Switzerland’s digital transformation. From insufficiently digitized administrative processes to the lack of digital tools to help combat the pandemic, there are many lessons to be learned and issues to address.
To advance the necessary changes, we contributed to developing a call to action letter, which identifies areas that should immediately be addressed and suggests necessary measures to take. Included in the call to action is the need for digital tools to both mitigate the current pandemic and help prevent new outbreaks.
As such, we supported Parldigi on their statement endorsing a COVID-19 tracing app that was chosen by the Federal Office of Public Health, as well as the virtual open hearing about the app. Among other things, the statement says: “Parldigi welcomes the fact that the Federal Office of Public Health has opted for the decentralized model of DP-3T, since data protection is a high priority and at the same time, essential requirements of digital sustainability are met.” We shared the statement on our website and through our social media channels.
New communications strategy[edit]
As we aim to build our reputation as a trusted partner in free, open and unbiased knowledge, we have begun implementing a new communications strategy to reach a wider audience with a more compelling message. The strategy embraces the Wikimedia Movement 2030 strategy and supports outreach to our main stakeholders, partners and members through our website, social media, a monthly newsletter, press outreach and partnerships. These activities contribute to our annual plan’s objective of improving people’s top-of-mind awareness and understanding of our work.
The newsletter has been a focal point for our communications strategy. Previously, our newsletter approach was irregular, with ad hoc, text-heavy communications that were both inefficient to create and ineffective as an outreach tool. As a team, we looked closely at the newsletter process and identified a more efficient workflow and a better format to share our news. The monthly newsletter now goes out to more than 16,000 recipients and garners an open rate of over 40% — well above the industry average.
We also continue to refine our website, including regular updates to our News page, usually in four different languages. Meanwhile, our new database allows us to ask donors and other visitors to sign up for our newsletter.
We have ramped up our social media outreach and are now present on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Overall, our objective is to grow our following organically, without paying for promotion. So far, our strategy is working: we have increased our following on all channels, including growing several hundred followers from scratch on our new Instagram and LinkedIn profiles.
In terms of media and partner outreach, we have been contacting the press in three languages regarding key initiatives, and in some cases, inviting them to events. We have also had several discussions with various partner organizations and neighboring chapters about coordinating our communications activities. Last, we have taken initial steps toward drafting a partner outreach strategy, including creating a list of strategic partnerships to get a better overview of our engagement.
D3.Additional program activities[edit]
Program 1: International outreach[edit]
Despite the cancellation of the German- and French-speaking WikiCons this year, we continued our collaboration with neighboring chapters to implement our programmatic activities. International events like IMD2020, our work to expand the WMCH Map Service and our organization of international WikiArchives webinars (all described in the Program GLAM section), as well as community-focused programs like WikiDroitsHumains and Noircir Wikipedia, exemplify how we have worked closely with other chapters and thus expanded the impact of our activities. They also demonstrate just how deeply engrained this cross-border collaboration is in our functions and strategy.
We are also in very much involved in the Wikifranca discussions WikiFranca, the partnership between francophone Wikimedia chapters and affiliated working groups. We have been supporting the initiative financially in the past; all partners have identified that it would be more effective to establish a more formal association to better support French-speaking countries. This project bears a significant potential to take on a greater role as WMCH. Because of simplicity of processes, the association might likely be based in Switzerland with an antenna in Côte d'Yvoire. As discussions continue and plans for the future of the partnership solidify, we will see our involvement expand. More will be known in the second half of 2020.
As mentioned in the GLAM section, we are also signed a call to action urging WIPO to set a global standard to protect cultural heritage institutions from the effects of climate change and natural disasters. Joining other international organizations, including many in the GLAM space, we are calling on WIPO to use its international position to put in place clear rules across borders to protect GLAM sites. Particularly considering the pandemic and its devastating impact on GLAM institutions, an international response is critical.
Program 2: National outreach[edit]
Our national outreach activities aim to make an impact on Swiss policies that affect open and free knowledge. So far this year, our national activities have focused on our work with Parldigi, which was discussed in this section’s highlights.
We had also planned to support an event with Women 4 Digital and ATED ICT Ticino, an organization we regularly sponsor that provides expertise to organize, promote and manage events in the information and communication technologies sector. The event, called “Donne che Ispirano le Donne” (Women who inspire women), was to take place on 7 May in Lugano for 100-120 people and included our executive director, Jenny Ebermann, as a keynote speaker. The event aimed to introduce women of all ages to professions in STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), including the many job opportunities available in this time of digital transformation. Unfortunately, the event was cancelled due to the pandemic. The organizers are in the process of deciding how to proceed.
Program 3: Collaboration with like-minded associations[edit]
Building partnerships with like-minded organizations allows Wikimedia CH to make a greater impact by amplifying our message to new, sympathetic audiences. As such, we aim to collaborate with other advocates of free knowledge in Switzerland.
Meanwhile, we increasingly see climate change as an area where Wikimedia can help make a difference. In Switzerland and abroad, organizations focusing on the environment abound but often struggle to share their important messages. We have therefore started initial discussions with Swiss-based environmental organizations to see how we might use Wikimedia projects to support their missions. We met with SILVIVA, an organization that leads courses and classes in nature to raise awareness about deforestation and sustainability, to begin exploring the potential for joint activities. We have also been in contact with MYBLUEPLANET, which aims to inspire and support individual action around climate protection and CO2 reduction. Among other things, we are exploring how to work together to deliver climate change education in schools.
D4.Progress toward the plan[edit]
So far this year, we have leveraged the Movement’s name recognition to support open and free knowledge, mostly through our work with Parldigi, but also at an international level with the call to action to WIPO. Meanwhile, we have continued our planned work to raise brand awareness with our new communications strategy and more professional outreach to stakeholders and press.
Collaboration with other chapters and organizations has also been a priority. While the pandemic slowed down some of these activities, we have still seen close cooperation with other chapters on projects across all strategic impact areas. What’s more, a new focus on climate change opens up a wealth of potential new partnerships and projects, which we will continue to explore going forward.
D5.Lessons for our future work[edit]
Learning and sharing[edit]
Our main learnings so far this year have been around our outreach and communications.
Question the status quo – In the past, Wikimedia CH sent out an irregular newsletter to approximately 300 community members. The process was not efficient, yielding content that the readers already knew, an unclear workflow, undefined responsibilities, text that was too long and uninviting, and a time-consuming drafting process that the team disliked. Rather than continue with business as usual, we revolutionized the newsletter, changing the audience, goal, process, content, database management — everything. The result has been increased readership and open rates, positive feedback from audiences and a manageable process for the team. We learned that we should never be married to activities (administrative, programmatic or other) just because that is what has always been done. We should instead continuously question our activities and look for opportunities to innovate.
Leverage the team’s collective experience – Another learning from the newsletter refresh was to draw on the team’s experience and ideas in order to create more efficient processes and effective deliverables. As we worked to identify a new path for the newsletter, we held a team workshop where we discussed key challenges and brainstormed solutions. Several team members have worked with Wikimedia CH for years, so they had a wealth of knowledge to help streamline the process. By including them when developing the solution, they felt more accountable for its success and more motivated to contribute.
Looking ahead[edit]
In the second half of the year, we will continue to provide communications support to Parldigi. In particular, we plan to feature their Open Source Software Directory project in our newsletter once the project is ready.
In terms of our communications strategy, we will develop a content calendar for social media outreach and will collaborate with the new fundraising manager to promote and support those efforts. We will also create a Media page on our website for press inquiries.
We will also continue discussions with like-minded organizations, both with those with whom we have existing relationships and with potential new partners. Initiatives like Wikifranca and Parldigi, among others, allow us to combine our goals with those of other organizations, helping maximize our voice and impact.
Revenues received during this six-month period[edit]
Please use the exchange rate in your APG proposal.
- Important note
- the anticipated column may list revenues anticipated for the whole year instead of only the 6 months. Please make sure that this the time period clear in the table.
- In the explanation column, always mention relevant information about the numbers: what period they refer to etc.
Table 2 Please report all spending in the currency of your grant unless US$ is requested.
- Please also include any in-kind contributions or resources that you have received in this revenues table. This might include donated office space, services, prizes, food, etc. If you are to provide a monetary equivalent (e.g. $500 for food from Organization X for service Y), please include it in this table. Otherwise, please highlight the contribution, as well as the name of the partner, in the notes section.
Revenue source Currency Anticipated Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Cumulative Anticipated ($US)* Cumulative ($US)* Explanation of variances from plan Exchange Rate 1.0385 1.0385 Membership fees (3000) CHF 12,000.00 10,899.72 4,142.99 0,00 0,00 15,042.71 12,462.00 15,621.85 Excellent results from the membership reminder letter APG (Annual Plan Grant) CHF 150,000.00 87,500.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 87,500.00 155,775.00 90,868.75 Second part of APG (62,500.00) expected for after progress report delivery in August 2020 WMF Fundraising Costs (3402) CHF 70,000.00 4,887.35 724.14 0.00 0.00 5,611.49 72,695.00 5,827.53 10% as usual Donations WMCH (3410) CHF 440,000.00 398,080.66 227,559.50 0.00 0.00 625,640.16 456,940.00 649,727.31 Good results from a combination of emarketing with letter campaign Pro Bono / In-kind donations (3420) CHF 25,000.00 503.60 1,248.45 0.00 0.00 1,752.05 25,962.50 1,819.50 Legal services and translation pro bono; more to come this year. Income of courses (Conferences, Trainings) (3610) CHF 500.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 519.25 0.00 No courses so far due to the COVID situation Sponsorship (3652) CHF 500.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 519.25 0.00 No projects where WMCH takes on the fiscal ownership so far TOTAL CHF 698,000.00 501,871.33 233,675.08 0.00 0.00 735,546.41 724,873.00 763,864.95 In line with expectations
* Provide estimates in US Dollars
Spending during this six-month period[edit]
Please use the exchange rate in your APG proposal.
- Important note
- Budget can be the budget for the whole year (and thus the percentage will reflect the half year and should be around 50%, or the half year, in which case the % should be around 100%. Please make that clear in the table.
- In the explanation column, always mention relevant information about the numbers: what period they refer to.
Table 3 Please report all spending in the currency of your grant unless US$ is requested.
- (The "budgeted" amount is the total planned for the year as submitted in your proposal form or your revised plan, and the "cumulative" column refers to the total spent to date this year. The "percentage spent to date" is the ratio of the cumulative amount spent over the budgeted amount.)
Expense Currency Budgeted Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Cumulative Budgeted ($US)* Cumulative ($US)* Percentage spent to date Explanation of variances from plan Exchange Rate 1.04 1.04 PROGRAM 1 - GLAM CHF 120,000.00 26,346.20 2,083.65 0.00 0.00 28,429.85 124,620.00 29,524.40 23.69 Less spending because of the COVID situation; spending expected in the 2nd half of 2020. PROGRAM 2 - Education CHF 130,000.00 31,206.24 19,768.06 0.00 0.00 50,974.30 135,005.00 52,936.81 39.21 In line with the budget, other operations to be expected during the 2nd half of 2020, depending on the evolution of the COVID situation. PROGRAM 3 - Community CHF 106,000.00 16,959.05 4,876.18 0.00 0.00 21,835.23 110,081.00 22,675.89 20.60 Less spending because of the COVID situation; most offline meetings cancelled... spending to be followed closely during the 2nd half of 2020. Program 4: International and National (Public) Relations CHF 75,000.00 7,838.85 12,000.00 0.00 0.00 19,838.85 77,887.50 20,602.65 26.45 In line with the budget, mmore operations to be expected during the 2nd half of 2020, depending on the evolution of the COVID situation. Staff Wages & Expenses CHF 597,770.00 148,878.60 137,830.05 0.00 0.00 286,708.65 620,784.15 297,746.93 47.96 In line with the budget. Extra: reimbursement sick leave Mrs.Ebermann, accident. Operations (excludes staff and programs) CHF 280,811.40 65,499.52 71,411.11 0.00 0.00 136,910.63 291,622.64 142,181.69 48.76 In line with the budget. Includes: BDO invoice (auditing company),Board Expenses,annual report for the GA, final report for the WMF, IT systems, 3rd parties services (accounting and admin support). TOTAL CHF 1,309,581.40 296,728.46 247,969.05 0.00 0.00 544.697.51 1,360,000.28 565,668.36 41.59
* Provide estimates in US Dollars
Compliance[edit]
Is your organization compliant with the terms outlined in the grant agreement?[edit]
As required in the grant agreement, please report any deviations from your grant proposal here. Note that, among other things, any changes must be consistent with our WMF mission, must be for charitable purposes as defined in the grant agreement, and must otherwise comply with the grant agreement.
- NO DEVIATIONS
Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement? Please answer "Yes" or "No".
- YES
Are you in compliance with provisions of the United States Internal Revenue Code (“Code”), and with relevant tax laws and regulations restricting the use of the Grant funds as outlined in the grant agreement? Please answer "Yes" or "No".
- YES
Signature[edit]
- Once complete, please sign below with the usual four tildes.
- Jenny WMCH (talk) 04:57, 25 July 2020 (UTC)
Resources[edit]
Resources to plan for measurement[edit]
- Global metrics are an important starting point for grantees when it comes to measuring programmatic impact (Learning Patterns and Tutorial) but don’t stop there.
- Logic Models provide a framework for mapping your pathway to impact through the cause and effect chain from inputs to outputs to outcomes. Develop a logic model to map out your theory of change and determine the metrics and measures for your programs.
- Importantly, both qualitative and quantitative measures are important so consider both as you determine measures for your evaluation and be sure to ask the right questions to be sure to capture your program stories.
Resources for storytelling[edit]
- WMF storytelling series and toolkit (DRAFT)
- Online workshop on Storytelling. By Frameworks institute
- The origin of storytelling
- Story frames, with a focus on news-worthiness.
- Reading guide: Storytelling and Social change. By Working Narratives
- The uses of the story.
- Case studies.
- Blog: 3 Tips on telling stories that move people to action. By Paul VanDeCarr (Working Narratives), on Philanthropy.com
- Building bridges using narrative techniques. By Sparknow.net
- Differences between a report and a story
- Question guides and exercises.
- Guide: Tools for Knowledge and Learning. By Overseas Development Institute (UK).
- Developing a strategy
- Collaboration mechanisms
- Knowledge sharing and learning
- Capturing and storing knowledge.