Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Conference Fund/Wikisource Conference 2024/Final Report

Conference Fund Final Report

Report Status: Draft

Due date: 30 May 2025

Funding program: Conference Fund

Report type: Final

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General information

Title of proposal: Wikisource Conference 2024
Username of applicant: VIGNERON
Name of organization: N/A
Amount awarded: 138320.9
Amount spent: USD,

Part 1: Understanding your work

1. Did your event have any impact that you did not expect, positive or negative?

Yes, the Wikisource Conference 2025 had several unexpected positive impacts. One of the most notable was the organic formation of new cross-community collaborations. While we anticipated networking, we didn’t expect such a strong and immediate interest from different language communities in making more new movements of having more proofread in different parts of the movement such as Uganda and Middle East countries and also possibility of implementation of Wikisource Reader App. These collaborations have resulted in ongoing conversations for shared project work, particularly among Wikisource communities.

Another unexpected yet positive outcome was the increased motivation and confidence among newer contributors. Many first-time attendees expressed how participating in global discussions gave them a deeper sense of belonging to the movement, encouraging them to take on leadership roles in their local communities. And some of them are continuing their work in their region or community with more enthusiasm.

On the other hand, one challenge we didn’t fully anticipate was the language barrier during certain sessions. Although support from volunteers was available, some participants found it difficult to engage fully in technical discussions especially things related to governance and tech related stuff. In a few sessions discussion went other ways. This has helped us better understand the importance of designing more inclusive formats and support mechanisms for future events. Overall, the conference not only met its objectives but also created momentum that extended far beyond the event itself.

2. What do you think will be the long term impact of this conference?

The purpose of organising the Wikisource conference is to provide a common platform to the Global Wikisource community and make their work valued. The long-term impact of the Wikisource Conference 2025 lies in the stronger global network it helped to create. By bringing together contributors from diverse language communities, the conference laid the foundation for sustained collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and skill-building across regions. Many participants left with a clearer understanding of technical tools, community growth strategies, and the importance of preserving local knowledge through digitisation. There were also separate spaces or meeting rooms to encourage attendees to align their goals.

One key long-term outcome will be the empowerment of underrepresented communities. The exchange of best practices and mentorship opportunities sparked at the conference are likely to lead to more localised training initiatives, resource development, and leadership in the Wikisource ecosystem. The event also helped reinforce a collective vision where Wikisource is not just a platform for preserving texts, but a movement that values linguistic diversity and open access. The conference also tried to open the doors for Wikimedians through different partners who related things with open access, the digital world and Wikimedia.

In addition, the conversations around standardisation, partnerships, and technological needs have already begun shaping future priorities. These discussions will likely influence how global support structures are designed, making the movement more inclusive and sustainable in the years to come. Hopefully, after the conference, some of the Wikisource editors who participated will continue hosting the Wikisource online monthly platform for Wikisourcers.

3. Would you say that your work improved participants’ ability to apply new skills and knowledge?

Yes

3a. If yes, please describe how and why you think this was successful. Please describe why you think this is the case.

We believe the conference significantly improved participants’ ability to apply new skills and knowledge. Through interactive sessions, hands-on workshops, and peer learning, many editors gained a deeper understanding of Wikisource tools, proofreading standards, and project coordination. Several participants expressed increased confidence in contributing more effectively and even supporting others in their local communities. The follow-up conversations and collaborative initiatives that have emerged since the conference are strong indicators of this positive impact.

4. Please use this space to upload media and other files that help tell your story and impact. You can also provide links to them.

Field to type in URLs.

Diff blogposts :

Medias uploaded on Commons : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikisource_Conference_2025

5. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out with the support of this Fund? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals.

Our efforts during the Fund period have helped to...
A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups
B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community	Strongly agree
C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups
D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives	Disagree
E. Encourage the retention of editors	Agree
F. Encourage the retention of organizers	Agree

6. Please share resources that would be useful to share with other Wikimedia organizations so that they can learn from, adapt or build upon your work. For instance, guides, training material, presentations, work processes, or any other material the team has created to document and transfer knowledge about your work and can be useful for others. Please share any specific resources that you are creating, adapting/contextualizing in ways that are unique to your context (i.e. training material).

Upload Documents and Files

Here is an additional field to type in URLs.

Survey forms: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeMlrswJd0cWVxHiyzWcbiwHguLBBnCGN8s2-KWF0T_iS2zpw/viewform

Analysis of the survey: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v8oz5yp_3laXLO7GE7Ig3vpf39ghDt1NX4Pc4fjrizw

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikisource_Conference_2025_by_Memora_Productions

7. Is there anything else you would like to share about how your efforts helped to bring in participants and/or build out content, particularly for underrepresented groups?

N/A

Part 2: Your main learning

8. Were there any major challenges or things you found difficult that you would like to share? What would you do differently next time?

1. Limited local representation in the COT: Many local members were unavailable due to other responsibilities, and the long preparation period made it difficult to maintain engagement.

Solution: Increase the number of local organizers and consider appointing roles instead of relying solely on volunteers.

2. Time zone differences: Coordinating across different time zones, especially for participants from Latin America, made scheduling meetings challenging.

Solution: This issue has no easy fix, but volunteers must be prepared to make sacrifices to accommodate various time zones.

3. Logistics delays: Late ticket bookings due to passport availability issues, and other logistical problems caused last-minute complications.

Solution: Require scholarship applicants to provide their passport expiration dates during the application process to avoid delays.

4. Lack of African community participation: Only one attendee from Uganda represented SSA, and there was no African presence in the conference program.

Solution: A COT member raised this issue during the February Afrika Baraza meeting, encouraging African community members to participate, especially in Wikisource activities. Moving forward, it is essential to continue outreach efforts, collaborate with regional organizers, and ensure better representation from SSA in both attendance and program content.

5. Lack of media coverage: Despite outreach efforts, there was no significant media coverage of the event.

Solution: Strengthen social media presence to compensate for the lack of traditional media coverage. Need more help from communication specialists at the Foundation.

6. Unauthorized attendees: One scholarship recipient brought family members who were rejected for scholarships and accommodations. They benefited from a hotel stay that was not their right. Creating additional burdens on the COT and disrupting the planning process.

Solution: Clearly communicate the importance of respecting COT decisions, ensure WMF staff uphold these guidelines, and reinforce that non-scholarship participants should not receive conference benefits.

9. Was there any non-financial support that the Wikimedia Foundation could have provided that would have better supported you in achieving your goals?

We had help from the WMF around communication but we could have used more help on that part, for instance to reach media coverage.

10. What would you recommend on a local and/or regional level as the best next step to leverage your success and momentum?

To leverage this success, we recommend targeted local and regional initiatives in four areas:

Community Engagement

Host regular local Wikisource meetups and cultural events: Encourage local chapters or user groups to organize monthly gatherings (in-person or virtual) that mix technical workshops with cultural activities.

Forge partnerships with local cultural institutions (GLAM) and language experts: Building on the conference emphasis on collaboration, communities should reach out to museums, libraries, archives, universities, and local historians. For instance, teams can co-host digitization sprints or archive tours with GLAM institutions, as discussed in Bali.

Inclusive outreach and mentorship: To retain the momentum, communities should proactively engage underrepresented groups (by region, gender, age, or language) through mentorship and targeted programs. Conference discussions highlighted the importance of “spreading awareness about available resources… and creating realistic strategies to attract newbies”.

Content Development

Digitize and curate regionally significant texts: Identify and transcribe local heritage materials (e.g. manuscripts, newspapers, folklore) on Wikisource. Inspired by Bali’s Wikisource Loves Manuscripts (WiLMa) initiative

Expand language coverage and fill content gaps: Focus on adding content in languages or regions where Wikisource is less active. The conference recognized that Wikisource is “active in Europe, South Asia and ESEAP” but needs to “bridge the geographical gap and expand Wikisource to other regions”. To do this, local groups can simplify the process of starting new language subdomains and encourage fluent speakers to contribute. For example, forming ad-hoc teams to prepare language pages, keyboard input tools, and style guidelines will lower barriers for new languages. This responds to the conference’s plan to “invite more languages” and make onboarding easier.

Capacity Building

Organize regular training workshops on tools and workflows: Sustain the skill-building from conference workshops by holding ongoing local training sessions. These can cover Wikisource basics (scanning, proofreading, formatting) and advanced topics (OCR tuning, text encoding). For instance, volunteers can be trained in machine-recognition tools like Transkribus, as showcased at the conference.

Mentorship and leadership development: Establish mentorship chains and working groups to sustain momentum. Experienced Wikisourcers should mentor new editors, following the conference’s focus on attracting and retaining usersLocal leadership teams (as envisioned in the grant’s follow-up plan) should continue meeting monthly to plan activities and support contributors. This maintains accountability and knowledge transfer. Additionally, training select volunteers as “regional trainers” ensures that capacity grows organically: those trained at one workshop can teach others, creating a multiplier effect.

Develop localized documentation and outreach materials: To lower barriers, communities should create and share Wikisource guides in their own languages and cultural contexts. Using materials from conference sessions as a base, volunteers can draft step-by-step tutorials, FAQs, and cheat-sheets about editing and tools. These resources – hosted on local project pages or communities – will help new users get started without needing to refer back to the English-centric docs. This addresses the conference’s point about spreading awareness of resources.

Technology & Tool Development

Localize and improve Wikisource tools: Encourage tech-savvy volunteers to collaborate on identified “pain points” in the Wikisource interface and tools

Adopt and adapt advanced digitization tools: Promote the use of cutting-edge text-recognition and image processing tools at the local level. For instance, Regional volunteers could be trained to use Transkribus (a machine-learning OCR platform featured at the conference) to convert scanned documents into text more efficiently. Communities might also explore partnerships with initiatives like Google Books or Wikidata to import existing scans and metadata. Tech-oriented chapters can host workshops on setting up these tools, and share trained models for local languages. This builds technical capacity and directly improves content conversion quality in each region.

Strengthen technical infrastructure: In areas where resources are limited, collaborative infrastructure can make a big difference. Local chapters should consider pooling equipment (e.g. communal scanners or servers) in cultural centers or universities to digitize collections. Leveraging the conference’s roadmap focus on tools.

Each of these recommended steps builds directly on the ideas, connections, and enthusiasm generated at the Wikisource Conference 2025

11. Please add any 3 operational recommendations for future events organizers.

1. Clarify accommodation policies in advance: Clearly communicate guidelines regarding guest attendance and accommodation use during registration. Specify that only registered participants are permitted to stay in the provided rooms, and any exceptions (e.g., family members) must be arranged in advance with the organizers.

2. Streamline visa and travel support: Start visa processes early, provide clear documentation templates, and designate a support team to assist participants with travel logistics.

3. Include hands-on technical sessions: Incorporate more practical workshops on tools like OCR, transcription gadgets, and Wikidata integration to enhance skill-building and collaboration.

Part 3: Metrics

12. Open Metrics reporting

In your application, you defined some open metrics and targets (goals). You will see a table like the one below with your metric in the title and the target you set in your proposal automatically filled in.

Open Metrics Summary
Open Metrics	Description	Target	Results	Comments	Methodology
Challenges & solutions	The event identified 5 key challenges ("pain points") in our main Wikisource platform and tools and 5 proposed solutions to address them.	10	N/A	N/A	N/A
Problems and the way forward for technical problems	Documentation from the event about the most concerning technical problems and way going forward	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Empowering Communities	The objective of the event is to harness the combined strengths of a minimum of 10 chapters and local communities, establishing a dynamic platform for exchanging knowledge and enhancing capacity.	10	N/A	N/A	N/A
inter language cooperation	Coordinated initiatives across different language Wikisource projects	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Post-conference project	Any post-conference project or activity undertaken by participants based on the conference discussions and lessons learned.	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

13. Were there any metrics in your proposal that you could not collect or that you had to change?

13a. If you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results, please describe and add any recommendations on how to address them in the future. Also mention why you felt you had to change some metrics.

N/A

14. Please indicate if you applied any of the following survey and registration tools. Please select all that apply.

14a. Please share the result(s) with us, provide the link(s) or summarize the main result(s) and insight(s) from them.

N/A

14b. If you used other forms, please share them with us, as these forms might be useful for others to use.

Part 4: Financial reporting and compliance

15. & 16. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency.

17. Please state the total amount spent in USD.

USD

18. Please report the funds received and spending in the currency of your fund.

Upload a financial report file.

Please provide a link to your financial reporting document.

N/A

As required in the fund agreement, please report any deviations from your fund 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.

19. If you have not already done so in your budget report, please provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal.

N/A

20. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?

20a. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.

N/A

20b. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?

N/A

20c. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.

N/A

21. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement?

22. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?

23. 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 Funds as outlined in the grant agreement? In summary, this is to confirm that the funds were used in alignment with the WMF mission and for charitable/nonprofit/educational purposes.

24. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here.