Grants:IEG/What is about - C'est quoi. A series of communication tools about Wikipedia. Cameroon pilot project/Final
This project is funded by an Individual Engagement Grant
Welcome to this project's final report!
This report shares the outcomes, impact and learnings from the
Individual Engagement Grantee's 6-month project.
Part 1: The Project[edit]
Summary[edit]
The project "What is about - C'est quoi" has produced in Douala (Cameroon, Africa) a series of comics and two videos about Wikipedia. The project has achieved to pilote the possibility of creating site-specific communication tools, made locally, and focusing on communicating Wikipedia to people who do not necessarily already know Wikipedia. It has tested an approach, the production, the distribution and the feedback about a new possible communication strategy; the distribution went indeed beyond our expectations, with the first Wikipedia TV broadcasting primetime on three national Cameroonian TV channels with the financial support and the management of Orange phone company (the first company initiating Wikipedia Zero). The project has highlighted the relevance of producing site-specific communication tools and the efficiency of linking the communication of Wikipedia and Wikipedia Zero together; we have produced a series of guidelines aiming at sharing the lessons we learned and at suggesting how to adapt and produce new site-specific communication tools elsewhere.
- Watch videos we produced on youtube (still more comfortable than accessing them on Wikimedia Commons):
- Video Wikipedia C koi Dance on youtube (French with subtitles in English) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCt_-sRUe_Y
- Video Wikipedia C koi Maladie on youtube (French with subtitles in English) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIbmDuixUi4
- Have a look at the comics we produced (in French).
- Have a look on how you can replicate the project in other places.
Methods and activities[edit]
What did you do in project?
Please list and describe the activities you've undertaken during this grant. Since you already told us about the setup and first 3 months of activities in your midpoint report, feel free to link back to those sections to give your readers the background, rather than repeating yourself here, and mostly focus on what's happened since your midpoint report in this section.
You can review all activities implemented within the project in our timeline. We provide below just few key documents and images to highlight how the process was managed.
- Planning
-
General strategy -
Concept for the comics -
Script of the videos -
Cast of the videos and materials needed -
Technical details for the videos
- Authorizations
-
Michael Epaka -
Regis Talla -
Bibi Benzo
- Video making
-
First video -
Second video -
Second video
Outcomes and impact[edit]
Outcomes[edit]
Communication tools[edit]
Comics[edit]
Videos[edit]
- Video Wikipedia C koi Dance on youtube (French with subtitles in English) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCt_-sRUe_Y
- Video Wikipedia C koi Maladie on youtube (French with subtitles in English) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIbmDuixUi4
Distribution[edit]
Distribution of the videos on TV[edit]
Distribution of the videos through their broadcasting on three TV channels in Cameroon is an unexpected and fantastic result of the project. Michael Epacka and doual'art achieved to have distribution on TV supported by Orange mobile phone company (already partner of Wikipedia Zero), which financially supported and managed it. Below the three channels and the times and the days in which the different videos have been broadcasted in July 2014. This TV distribution was associated to Wikipedia Zero in Cameroon; the logo of Orange was added to the videos with the link to where to find Wikipedia for free with orange connectivity.
-
Equinoxe TC in July 2014 (15) -
Canal 2 in July 2014 (20) -
STV in July 2014 (15)
Distribution of the comics on newspapers[edit]
The comics were published on the newspaper Le Messager, a major daily newspaper in Cameroon in French.
-
Le Messager, n. 4181, 10 October 2014, p. 5. -
Le Messager, n. 4182, 13 October 2014, p. 6. -
Le Messager, n. 4183, 14 October 2014, p. 11. -
Le Messager, n. 4184, 15 October 2014, p. 8. -
Le Messager, n. 4185, 16 October 2014, p. 2. -
Le Messager, n. 4186, 17 October 2014, p. 10.
Presentations and discussions[edit]
Who made this?
— African curator, Dakar Biennale
Dakar Biennale of Contemporary Art, Dakar, Senegal, May 2014. The fact that the videos were produced in Africa was the information on which people addressed at the Dakar Biennale and by email focussed on with surprise (probably this surprise is related to the fact that something big and international like Wikipedia was communicated locally and by locals - not by an international institutions or from the outside) and by double-checking it (who made this? - asking it, after actually explaining who made the videos). Further investigations would be useful to better understand the surprise around this production and if it is indeed an asset to produce site-specific tools also to bridge Wikipedia with people who feel that Wikipedia is something "faraway" and "outside" their realm.
Focus group in Douala, Cameroon: cette affaire-là[edit]
A focus group on the comics and videos was organized by doual'art and Michael Epaka in Douala 24 May 2014 with 14 participants: 5 female, 9 male; aged between 20 and 45 years old; 2 people bilingual (French / English); 3 without any knowledge of Wikipedia and very little knowledge of the Internet; 8 people know already doual'art. Employment: 4 employee with a permanent contract, 3 employee with a intermittent contract; 5 students with intermittent contracts; 5 unemployed; 1 not known.
It gives the information that it exists (ça donne l’information que ça existe)
— Participant, Focus group 2014
Video - People might think that the the sickness is the sickness of the Internet (Ils peuvent penser que la maladie c’est la maladie du net.).
— Participant, Focus group 2014
Video - People might think that the the sickness is the sickness of the Internet (Ils peuvent penser que la maladie c’est la maladie du net.).
— Participant, Focus group 2014
Comics - There are no barriers [on Wikipedia] man/woman/young people. You should focus on it (Il n’y a pas de barrières homme/ femme/jeunes. Il faudrait appuyer sur ça.).
— Participant, Focus group 2014
Comics - Women, even literate, do not read comics (Les femmes, même si instruites, ne lisent pas les Bd.).
— Participant, Focus group 2014
Video - The caractères (the man with his tie and the woman in his kaba) look like ordinary people, from different social classes. With the showed situations, there is a proximity with the real world and with the experience of people. "The real life. It is a real fact" (Les personnages (l’homme en costume et la femme en kaba) ressemblent à des personnages de tous les jours, de statut social différent. Avec les situations montrées, il y a une proximité avec le réel et le vécu des gens. « C’est la vraie vie. C’est un fait réel ».).
— Participant, Focus group 2014
Video - "Makes you wanting to understand that thing" (« Ça donne envie de chercher à comprendre cette affaire-là ».).
— Participant, Focus group 2014
Comparing comics to the videos:
- Comics will work better, people will recognize themselves / la BD passera mieux, les gens vont se reconnaitre
- The lady in the kaba dress on the video does not know Wikipedia, but in the comic she knows it and she provides the information to the others / La dame en kaba dans le spot ne sait pas ce qu’est Wikipédia, alors que la dame en kaba dans la BD sait ce que c’est et elle informe les autres.
- In the videos, Wikipedia is not what you think and the answer comes from the voice off, it is impersonal; in the comics the answer comes from people who know / Dans les spots, Wikipédia ce n’est pas ce que vous croyez, et la réponse vient de la voix off, impersonnelle. Dans la BD la réponse vient de ceux qui connaissent.
- There is an issue related to ignorance in the comics which leads to the demystification / Il y a quand même un fait d’ignorance dans la BD qui débouche sur la démystification
- Complementary. The videos tell you about the existence of Wikipedia, the comics tell you want you can find in it / Complémentarité entre les 2. Le spot informe sur l’existence de Wikipédia, la BD sur un contenu puisé dans Wikipédia.
Wiki Indaba Conference (Wikimedia conference focussed on Africa) in Johannesburg, South Africa[edit]
— People watching the videos, Wiki Indaba 2014
Is it public? Can we have it?
— Participant, Wiki Indaba 2014
We want to do it too
— Participant, Wiki Indaba 2014
Wiki Indaba 2014 in Johannesburg.
- Iolanda Pensa attended Wiki Indaba.
- The project "Wikipedia What is about" was at the centre of a presentation (on youtube recording the presentation and below the slides). The presentation was attended by around 25 people, participants of the conference from Africa and two staff members of the Wikimedia Foundation Asaf Bartov and Adele Vrana. The presentation introduced the comics and videos by expelling the reason of the project, the process, and what the project aimed at highlighting.
- In the working groups about "what to do next", the topic of communication has emerged as an important one and it was reported also in the plenary session. The videos appeared to have brought up the issue of communicating Wikipedia (let people know it exists - because they don't know) and Wikimedia Zero (let people know it exists - because they don't know), and the issue of producing site-specific tools (not necessarily importing other communication tools) and a communication which can include the "fun" (not focus necessarily on the educational and development component).
Wikimania in London[edit]
— People watching the videos, Wikimania 2014
Pushing the visibility of Wikipedia locally
— Report on the discussions during the Africa meet up, Wikimania 2014
Wikimania, London, UK, August 2014. Iolanda Pensa, Michael Epaka and Charlotte Epaka attended the event and they met and discussed informally about the project and the videos with other attendees.
- The videos were presented at the end of the session Kumusha Takes Wiki: activating communities across Africa
- The videos were presented during WikiFranca meet up of the French-speaking community).
- During the Africa meet up agin emerged the issue of "Pushing the visibility of Wikipedia locally". The videos were brought up as an example. We exchange with some chapters and groups about the possibility of replicating the project in other countries.
Progress towards targets and goals[edit]
Please use the below table to:
- List each of your original measures of success (your targets) from your project plan.
- List the actual outcome that was achieved.
- Explain how your outcome compares with the original target. Did you reach your targets? Why or why not?
| Planned measure of success (include numeric target, if applicable) |
Actual result | Explanation |
| Before it did not exist now it exists. And we can start talking about it. The first measure of success of the project is to produce something and to generate a discussion about it. The production is new because it uses a very specific approach and it focuses on a different target compared to what we currently have as communication tools. The discussion is supported by communication tools which introduce a topic of conversation: what should we focus about if we want to communicate Wikimedia and the Wikimedia projects to people who do not jet know them? What do they mean in a specific context where piracy is the common practice and where sharing knowledge is not considered a priority compared to acquiring knowledge? The topic is both addressed locally - by involving local intellectuals, thinkers and artists and by distributing the communication tools essentially to what we can call the local middle class (people with a TV). | √
Feedback collected at
|
The project has indeed produced something (videos and comics) and it has generated a discussion about it. Please refer to presentations and discussions for further details on the discussions generated by the project and please refer to what didn't work for the critical issues emerged. |
| Producing something good. Feedback and the results of the distribution will give us an idea of the quality of our production. If the production is good, distribution will be easier. There is obviously a risk in a new production: the communication tools might come out mediocre. The risk is managed by involving a team of people with specific skills and experience in the field. | √
|
The involvement of Orange phone company in paying the broadcasting of the videos on TV in Cameroon and the feedback we received allows us to reasonable state that we indeed produced something good. Please refer to what didn't work for the critical issues emerged. |
People see them, use them and react. The project focuses on the step before editing Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects. Even if evidences say that talking about Wikipedia on the media produces an increase of editing, the reality is that we are targeting an audience which is not necessarily in the condition to edit Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects. The statistics on the edits and access from Cameroon will be checked before and after the project, but the project is more likely to produce a reaction on:
|
√
|
In general the project has highlighted the synergies and the potential synergies with groups and existing projects. For Wikipedia Zero and Wikipedia offline the reference in the tools was natural: you need to tell people where to find Wikipedia if you tell them about Wikipedia. Please refer to what didn't work for the critical issues emerged and to next steps and opportunities for the ways the communities can be further involved in replicating or taking advantage of this experience. |
Think back to your overall project goals. Do you feel you achieved your goals? Why or why not?
The overall project goal of producing a series of communication tools about Wikipedia and to test their production in Cameroon has been fully achieved. We have indeed produced the tools we planned to produced, and we gain experience and learn through the process. The project went indeed beyond our expectation thanks to the broadcasting on TV in Cameroon and the capacity of doula'art and Michael Epaka to trigger and obtain the financial support of Orange phone company. The project was a test, the big challenge now is to replicate it. We suggest the model and we produced some more specific hints which might be relevant for other projects. The interest and curiosity (and the exciting enjoyment) the project appears to have produced and the productive synergy with Wikipedia Zero are good starting points to plan its follow up.
Indicators of impact[edit]
Do you see any indication that your project has had impact towards Wikimedia's strategic priorities?
From a short-term and methodological point of view the project focussed on Increasing Reach.
- Option C: How did you increase the reach (readership) of one or more Wikimedia projects?
We reviewed the statistics related to access to Wikipedia (page requests) from mobile phones. We focussed on mobile phones since the TV campaign broadcasted videos porting at the end access to Wikipedia for free on Orange mobile phones. From the data about Mobile Wikipedia views in Cameroon, we can see a general increase from 2013 to 2014 in requests (which can not be associated directly to our project). From the data about access to Orange Cameroon, we can reasonably state that there is a correlation between the July TV campaign and the increase in access in the month of July (it is a visible peak with an increase of 20% of page requests, between June and July, which appears to have at least a partial direct correlation to our project). We can conclude that the statistics allows to view the results of the distribution of the communication tools; the broadcasting of the videos in the TV campaign in Cameroon appears to be recorded. We can reasonably state that the project did produced an increase in page requests on Wikipedia and it is useful to know that we can use statistics to see what the communication produces.
We provide below two visuals about access to Wikipedia in Cameroon in 2014 (thanks Haitham, Adele and Siko). We are not authorized to provide the specific statistics about access to Wikipedia through the mobile phone service of Orange Cameroon. In the stats actually emerge some discrepancies; it is possible that data are not fully recorded in all the stats.
Project resources[edit]
- The documentation of the project on Wikimedia Commons (images and videos) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_What_is_about
- Facebook account https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wiki-cest-quoi/257114217791490?fref=ts
- Video Wikipedia C koi Dance on youtube (French with subtitles in English) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCt_-sRUe_Y
- Video Wikipedia C koi Maladie on youtube (French with subtitles in English) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIbmDuixUi4
In press[edit]
News about the project:
- Siko Bouterse, New Individual Engagement Grantees to engage community with tools and outreach in Wikimedia Foundation Global Blog, 16/12/2013.
- Project mentioned in Wikimedia News - Edizione del 9 gennaio 2014, session "Novità dl mondo Wiki".
The comics were published on the newspaper Le Messager, a major daily newspaper in Cameroon in French.
- Le Messager, n. 4181, 10 October 2014, p. 5.
- Le Messager, n. 4182, 13 October 2014, p. 6.
- Le Messager, n. 4183, 14 October 2014, p. 11.
- Le Messager, n. 4184, 15 October 2014, p. 8.
- Le Messager, n. 4185, 16 October 2014, p. 2.
- Le Messager, n. 4186, 17 October 2014, p. 10.
Blog post
- Victor Grigas and Yoona Ha, The first Wikipedia TV spots and awareness campaign in Cameroon (VIDEO) in "Wikimedia Blog", 16 April 2015.
Learning[edit]
What worked well[edit]
What did you try that was successful and you'd recommend others do? To help spread successful strategies so that they can be of use to others in the movement, rather than writing lots of text here, we'd like you to share your finding in the form of a link to a learning pattern.
- Guidelines to replicate Wikipedia what is about
- How to include the license in a contract or letter of appointment
- How to properly include credits in communication tools
What didn’t work[edit]
What did you try that you learned didn't work? What would you think about doing differently in the future? Please list these as short bullet points.
- Involving African intellectuals. The discussion appears to have triggered more the interest of the Wikimedia Community (people active on the Wikimedia projects gathering at Wikimedia events) rather than intellectuals. This is probably due to the fact that what we produced is actually new for our community rather than for other people; for the viewers talking about Wikipedia and making it funny does not appear as something new (in any case they never see communication tools before) and furthermore the simple message we focused on did not raise issues of control, power, notability, sources and other issues which can be closer to the discourse of intellectuals working in Africa or on Africa.
- Mistakes in the credits. Credits were really a major issue and it is not obvious to make it. We made the credits tons of times, we made mistakes (a misspelled link to Wikipedia on mobile phones - but probably the impact of this mistake is reasonable (it is unlikely that people actually copy the exact link from a TV spot and they are probably more likely to eventually google Wikipedia or to know already Wikipedia and to discover that it is available from free on Orange mobile phones). We created the lesson learned on it (How to properly include credits in communication tools) but the reality is that credits are really a challenge (and it is quite complicate to change them more times on a video).
- Confidence. We produced something good but also unexpected. It was not easy at first to envision how the Wikimedia community would have react. In the communication and the distribution of the tools at an international level we have been pretty cautious: we didn't launch the video online with a social media campaign but we rather checked reactions and feedback during Wikimedia events. This experience can maybe facilitate new initiatives and encourage them to be courageous: at the end we noticed people appreciated the work and they appeared to understand why it was different from other communication tools.
Other recommendations[edit]
If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please list them here.
- French/English. Having an Italian speaking volunteer managing the communication of a project in French and English is not necessarily the way to go :)
- Local wikipedian. Having a volunteer based in the country who can support the production of the communication tools and attend face-to-face discussions would be great and easier than on distance (with connected connectivity issues). Our project worked on distance but we already knew each other and there is trust among us.
Next steps and opportunities[edit]
Are there opportunities for future growth of this project, or new areas you have uncovered in the course of this grant that could be fruitful for more exploration (either by yourself, or others)? What ideas or suggestions do you have for future projects based on the work you’ve completed? Please list these as short bullet points.
- It appears that the most relevant follow up of the project might be lead by the community working in Africa or focusing on Africa.
- Furthermore the most successful use of the project appears to be linked to Wikipedia Zero:
- Communicating Wikipedia and Wikimedia Zero together responds to the necessity of telling people what they can access and where (two essential pieces of information together).
- Establishing synergies with phone companies providing free access to Wikipedia facilitates distribution. Phone companies can better manage distribution and broadcasting on TV (they already make communication on TV) and they can be interested in communicating their service.
- Wikipedia at the centre. It is important that the communication tools are produced independently from the phone company: this is interesting for the phone company because you provide content, but it is also very important for Wikipedia because the community/communication project can control content and emphasize Wikipedia (the core message become Wikipedia – not the phone service; the free access to Wikipedia on mobile phones is the information on where to access Wikipedia).
- It would be interesting to present the videos on a site notice in Cameroon (without of course the reference to Orange phone company to avoid publicity); the message could be something like "Look at what has been produced in Cameroon. You can contribute to Wikipedia too"; this message can be important to show Cameroonian readers that Wikipedia is also "made" in Cameroon (a message which could bridge distances and trigger contributions) .
- Further work can be implemented to communicate the work we produced. At the moment there is basically no communication of the videos on social networks nor articles about what was produced.
Part 2: The Grant[edit]
Finances[edit]
Actual spending[edit]
| Expense | Approved amount | Actual funds spent | Difference |
Video production (together with comics series)
|
€5000 + €1000 (comics, please see below) + €350 moved from distribution = €6350 | €6350,69 (one bill together with the comics)
|
-€0,69 |
| Comics series | €1000 | €1000 | €0
|
Project management
|
€1500 | €3224,09
|
-€1'724,09 |
Distribution
|
€4000 -€350 moved to production and approved | €3342,70 | +€307,30
|
Travel
|
€3500 | €2'050,86
|
€1'449,14 |
| Total | €15000 | €14'968,34 | +€31,66 |
Remaining funds[edit]
Do you have any unspent funds from the grant?
Please answer yes or no. If yes, list the amount you did not use and explain why.
- Yes. +€31,66. It is simply the result of the bills.
If you have unspent funds, they must be returned to WMF. Please see the instructions for returning unspent funds and indicate here if this is still in progress, or if this is already completed:
- We have been suggested to use the remaining funds locally, since it is not a large amount and the costs of international transfers would burn it out. The funds will be used for a local event to present the videos.
Documentation[edit]
Did you send documentation of all expenses paid with grant funds to grantsadmin
wikimedia.org, according to the guidelines here?
Please answer yes or no. If no, include an explanation.
- Yes.
Confirmation of project status[edit]
Did you comply with the requirements specified by WMF in the grant agreement?
Please answer yes or no.
- Yes.
Is your project completed?
Please answer yes or no.
- Yes.
Grantee reflection[edit]
We’d love to hear any thoughts you have on what this project has meant to you, or how the experience of being an IEGrantee has gone overall. Is there something that surprised you, or that you particularly enjoyed, or that you’ll do differently going forward as a result of the IEG experience? Please share it here!
Producing communication tools has been a challenging and exciting experience. It is fantastic to have the chance to think creatively on how to present Wikipedia and its world, and it is an experience which should be recommended and supported among local communities: it allows people with different backgrounds to discuss and to create something together. People who do not know Wikipedia are protagonist as well, because they contribute with their feedback and they are part of the creative process. It is adventurous, it is not obvious to actually "produce things", but it gives a great satisfaction to see the results.
Feedback[edit]
Please do not hesitate to add your feedback on the project and the communication tools.
These are two beautiful, funny, irreverent ads - none of that stuffy, serious ICT4D stuff here!
— Heather Ford, email 29/10/2014
Hilariously funny videos. Let's ask 'random' people: "What is Wikipedia?"
— Erik Zachte, facebook 29/10/2014
Congratulations to all of you who were involved in the conception, production and distribution of these comics and videos. They are fantastic. For the Wikimedia world, they are - in my opinion - so important because they make the idea of Wikipedia sound like *fun* - an element that does in fact exist in the real world, but too often doesn't make it to everyday online interactions or the more preachy outreach work that lots of us engage in. For the general world, they are refreshingly devoid of the "feed me" mentality we already see too much of. To me, someone who works in South Africa and periodically works in other parts of the African continent, I'm delighted to see something normal, humorous and local - because, unfortunately, these elements are too often missing in communication that involves people from the continent.
Really great work. I wonder what the impact and trajectory of such a project might be, but I certainly think, regardless of what the eventual editing and reading outcomes are, that these punchy messages will make people sit up and seek Wikipedia. And that's a great thing in itself. aprabhala (talk) 15:28, 29 October 2014 (UTC)
Comment by Nemo in the discussion page. --iopensa (talk) 19:25, 5 November 2014 (UTC)