Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Creating free knowledge through educational, GLAM & capacity building projects & collaborations while enhancing diversity & social representation in He-WP & AR-WP/Midpoint Report

Midterm Learning Report

Report Status: Draft

Due date: 2023-07-15T00:00:00Z

Funding program: Wikimedia Community Fund

Report type: Midterm

Application Final Learning Report

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General information

This form is for organizations receiving Wikimedia Community Funds (General Support) or Wikimedia Alliances Funds to report on their mid-term learning and results. See the Wikimedia Community Fund application if you want to review the initial proposal.

• Name of Organization: Wikimedia Israel
• Title of Proposal: Creating free knowledge through educational, GLAM & capacity building projects & collaborations while enhancing diversity & social representation in He-WP & AR-WP
• Amount awarded: 386183.12 USD, 1430000 ILS
• Amount spent:

Part 1 Understanding your work

1. Briefly describe how your strategies and activities proposed were implemented and if any changes to what was proposed are worth highlighting?

2. Were there any strategies or approaches that you feel are being effective in achieving your goals?

3. What challenges or obstacles have you encountered so far?

4. Please describe how different communities are participating and being informed about your work.

5. Please share reflections on how your efforts are helping to engage participants and/or build content, particularly for underrepresented groups.

N/A

6. In your application, you outlined your learning priorities. What have you learned so far about these areas during this period?

7. What are the next steps and opportunities you’ll be focusing on for the second half of your work?

Part 2: Metrics

8a. Open and additional metrics data.

Open Metrics

Open Metrics	Description	Target	Results	Comments	Methodology
The percentage of articles written about women or gender-related topics, out of the total number of new articles	Increasing diversity is one of the organizing principles of our strategy, which we examine from different angles. Enriching Wikipedia with content about women and gender-related topics is one of the focal elements in implementing this goal. Accordingly, where possible and relevant, we encourage writing articles on this topic, and give it a priority. This matrix provides us with a clear indication of the relative share that this content area constitutes out of the total articles created throughout the editing activities we carry out, and the extent of its development over time in the entirety of our work (= 10% of senior-citizen editing courses; 20% of AR education projects, and 30% of the HE ones). Desired target: An average of 25% of the total articles written through our projects	25	N/A	N/A	N/A
The geographical distribution of participants (center vs. periphery), based on the data about participants in editing courses and geographical location of educational institutes	The geographic dispersion matrix allows us to examine the goal of increasing diversity in terms of accessibility to the chapter's activities, the participation of audiences and partner institutes from different parts of the country, and the division between center and periphery. Up until two and a half years ago, most of the chapter's activities took place in person only, and mostly in the center of the country and nearby areas. While educational activities (both in HE and AR) reached the periphery, the geographical accessibility for senior citizens from the periphery was marginal. This reality changed due to the Covid-19 epidemic and the integration of online methods into our toolbox. It also facilitated the expansion of the educational activities, by combining in-person and online methods, considering the possibilities and needs (the editing courses for senior citizens remain online). This matrix allows us to examine the efficiency and effectiveness of the change we have made in this aspect, and how the geographical dispersion contributes to the increase in equal opportunities and knowledge equity with regard to the accessibility of Wikimedia projects in general (Hebrew Wikipedia, editing courses), and among minority ethnic groups in particular (the Arab society). Desired target: An average of 20-25% of the total participants in our Hebrew educational projects, an average of 20% of the total senior-citizen participants, and an average of 85-90% participants of the total within our Arabic educational projects are located at the geographic periphery (where the majority of the Arab population is concentrated) i.e. an overall average of 40% of the total number of participants in all activities measured in this matrix.	40	N/A	N/A	N/A
The number of articles dealing with the local Arab society in various fields (out of the total number of new articles in Arabic)	The fact that there is no vibrant ar-wp community within the Arab ethnic minority in Israel brings about a shortage of content and sources of information about this minority within ar-wp. Thus, the activities we hold in our local Arabic-speaking education system, constitutes, in fact, the only source of information about this subject within ar-wp. As such, the impact, on the one hand, and the effectiveness and importance that this activity generates, on the other, is particularly high. Accordingly, we, along with our partners, e.g. the MOE Arabic-language division, pay particular attention to the inclusion of such content in the “Students Write Wikipedia in Arabic” project. This matrix provides us with a clear indication of the relative share this content area constitutes out of the total number of articles created through us on ar-wp, and of the progress we make in narrowing the knowledge gaps in ar-wp. Desired target: An average of 50% of the total articles written in ar-wp, ~ 150 articles	150	N/A	N/A	N/A
The number of innovative processes implemented during the year within the total programs carried out by the chapter	Innovativeness has always been one of the characteristics of our chapter. For us, innovation provides an opportunity for growth, development and improvement of capabilities and skills. It is created on the basis of in-depth learning lessons that we continuously hold in the team, including feedback analysis, identification of needs, examination of options and formulation of solutions. This innovative approach touches each of our organizing principles and strategic goals, as well as the projects derived from them. Over the years, the chapter stood out in its innovative work and created groundbreaking projects that contributed to our local work in particular, and to the Wikimedia movement in general. It is important for us to ensure continuity of this approach and attitude, and to measure ourselves against it. A project will be defined as innovative if it is characterized by one of the following features: Developing a new means to increase the sense of safety and security among new Wikipedia editors; improving and renovating training methods; promoting the inclusion of new or underrepresented content area on he-wp; reaching out to a new target audience; increasing visibility through the usage of a new medium. Desired target: Implementation of at least 3 new innovative processes during 2023 (that meet one of the criteria mentioned above)	3	N/A	N/A	N/A
Year-round engagement growth across our social media platforms	In accordance with our strategic goal of increasing our visibility and reaching out to new and diverse audiences, while using our social media platforms as one of our leading marketing mechanisms, new narrative storytelling techniques were implemented this year, aimed at reinforcing engagement, focusing on telling our story from diverse angles, including, but not limited to, what we do, what motivates us, the people involved, volunteers and partners’ testimonials, call for action and more. Through this matrix, we seek to learn about the effectiveness of this strategy, the engagement it creates throughout the year, and to further analyze the data gathered in a more practical way, such as, identifying the types of content that generate more engagement, the appropriate posting timing, what works better and what less, continued projects vs. newly created ones, and more. Desired target: Year-round engagement growth of 30%	30	N/A	N/A	N/A

Additional Metrics

Additional Metrics	Description	Target	Results	Comments	Methodology
Number of editors that continue to participate/retained after activities	New graduates of the 2023 editing courses that will continue to edit for at least 3 months after completing their course. The online editing course trains he-wp editors, hoping that its graduates will persist in their editing activity, thereby will contribute to the expansion of the editors' community and increase its diversity, while creating encyclopedic content on a continuous basis. Accordingly, the success of the course should be measured, in our view, and to a large extent, through the question: How many of its graduates continue editing following graduation? In order to answer this question, we examine whether at least one edit was made on he-wp or another Wikimedia project by each of the graduates, within the time period between the end of the course and three months later. Our understanding (based on our accumulated experience) is that graduates that did not edit even once during the aforementioned period of time, were not likely to persist in editing, whereas there is high probability that those who edited on their own and without our support during this time period, will probably continue to edit. The desired target set for 25 graduates was determined based on our planning for 2023, during which approximately 70 men and women are expected to participate in the editing course. This means that we aim for a persistence ratio of at least 35% of the participants during the time period in question. Our experience shows that though the target is quite ambitious, it is nonetheless realistic in the context of the high-quality target audiences that the online editing course addresses.	25	N/A	N/A	N/A
Number of organizers that continue to participate/retained after activities	X	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Number of strategic partnerships that contribute to longer term growth, diversity and sustainability	Institutes/organizations that demonstrate continued collaboration and contribute to the implementation of our strategies and goals, constitute force multipliers of our activity and provide added value to the implementation of the shared projects These partnerships include 66 entities, including governmental departments, with focus on the Ministry of Education (in both he-wp and ar-wp educational projects), public institutes, such as Yad Vashem (HE-education), the National Library (their partnership relates to a series of Wikimedia projects: he-wp and ar-wp educational projects, GLAM, Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata), GLAM institutes (mostly Wikimedia Commons), educational institutes (HE- and AR-speaking schools), universities and colleges (4 Institutes / 7 departments), the Israel Film Archive (Wikidata and Wikipedia), thematic non-profit organizations that support and promote our activity within a specified focal area (such as gifted youth program at Tel Aviv University, 929 - global jewish conversation about the Hebrew Bible, PikiIWiki), significant marketing partners = 4 (i.e. that distribute our marketing materials to their mailing lists) and recruitment partners = 1-2 (i.e. that recruit by themselves from their own target audience participants to join our editing courses).	66	N/A	N/A	N/A
Feedback from participants on effective strategies for attracting and retaining contributors	Editing-course feedback survey (conducted among participants at the end of each cycle): An average overall final score of 4 out of 5 among participants At the end of each editing course cycle, we send anonymous and comprehensive feedback questionnaires to all participants, which refer to the various aspects of the course. Among other things, the questionnaires include several questions about the participants' general level of satisfaction and their level of motivation to continue editing on Wikipedia. The answers are of particular significance for us. High satisfaction and great motivation to continue editing are, in our view, an indication that the methodology with which the course was organized, and its application in practice, meet the needs of the target audience on the one hand, and encourage them to continue contributing content to he-wp on the other.	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Diversity of participants brought in by grantees	X	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Number of people reached through social media publications	No. of new followers of social media posts and newsletter related to the work developed within the framework of this proposal = new social-media followers, and new mailing-list subscribers We believe there is a direct and important linkage between the degree and quality of the chapter's exposure, and the potential of strengthening its resilience and growth over time, including the diversification of its fundraising sources. The more we increase awareness of the Wikimedia vision, of our work, and of he-wp, the more opportunities we can find for collaborations, resource development, and the expansion of our work. Our digital assets constitute a significant growth engine that allows exposure expansion. In accordance with our marketing approach that was invigorated this year, we continuously monitor the number of followers, namely the growth data. Unlike the engagement data (an important aspect in its own right, which we also follow), the number of new followers is an indication of an action taken by the interested person themselves, namely, the follower chose us as a target of their interest. The quantitative target has an important qualitative aspect too. Not only do we follow the trends and their level, but also analyze the reason behind them, e.g., whether it is a specific type of content that generates a movement of followers, whether it has to do with posting timing or circumstances, whether there are certain activities behind it, and whether it is possible to identify to which target audiences these new followers belong. Such information enables us to draw conclusions regarding the focus of our marketing activity and to optimize it continuously. Desired target: 1200 new social media followers and 300 new mailing-list subscribers = 1500 in total	1500	N/A	N/A	N/A
Number of activities developed	X	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Number of volunteer hours	No. of person-hours of volunteers in our various projects: educational, senior-citizens editing course, and events. The chapter's volunteers are, in our view, valuable partners who significantly contribute their wealth of skills, knowledge, experience, expertise and time to our work, thereby allowing us to expand and deepen the implementation of the Wikimedia vision we share. The volunteers are active in a number of our projects and activities, and in each, contribute their unique capabilities that are relevant to the project. In editing courses, for example, where they partner with us in leading the training and serve as consultants and mentors of the participants, they represent dual expertise: editing Wikipedia and training newcomers. They are highly motivated to train new editors and continue to provide support also after the course, to facilitate their integration into the editors’ community. Accordingly, their time investment, which we consider a valuable resource, is massive. We monitor it constantly and encourage the increase of its scope, if and where possible. The target we set (400 hours out of the total target defined below) is based on an informed assessment that we carried out in light of the data collected in previous years. In the education system, their contribution is mainly focused on attending the school editing workshops and supporting the activity of the coordinator who leads them. They also check the article drafts in both school and academy projects. In the field of events and marketing, the volunteers help organize events, either behind the scenes or during the gathering itself (whether online or offline), in delivering lectures to selected audiences, and otherwise. Our volunteers also support GLAM activities, mainly through helping and guiding institutes that contact us to upload media files to Wikimedia Commons, and otherwise.	800	N/A	N/A	N/A

8b. Additional core metrics data.

Core Metrics Summary

Core metrics	Description	Target	Results	Comments	Methodology
Number of participants	The total number of participants in all activities: 1608 (returning + new participants) Of these: 550 new middle- & high-school students of the HE education system, 300 new students of the AR education system, and about additional 50 returning ones, 100 senior citizens who took part in the editing course, of which 70% new and 30% returning. In addition, about 300 participants in the Wiki Talk series of lectures, of which at least 50% (=150) returning, 150 participants in both WP anniversary events - of which 75% returning (~110), and additional 150 participants (estimated) in various events related to the he-wp’s 20th anniversary, of which at least 50% (=75) returning 8 youths from the "Youth Editing Club" - all returning. New participants: 1185 Returning participants: 423 As we currently seek a new academy coordinator, the number of participating higher-education students is not included and will be defined once the new team member takes office.	1608
Number of editors	The total number of new editors in all activities: 900. The data consists of middle-and high-school students (500 in HE, 300 in AR, all new), Wikidata editors (10), New senior citizens, both men and women, that take part in the editing courses (70), new editors that take part in editing events or contests (20).	900
Number of organizers	The total number of organizers in all activities: 146, consisting of 38 organizers of the Hebrew education-system project, of which 11 will be new (teachers, school coordinators, librarians, Yad Vashem coordinators, gifted-youth program leaders at Tel Aviv University) / 20 education and training volunteers that are involved in a variety of the chapter’s programs - including HE education (8), the academy (2), senior-citizen editing courses (10), of which 3 new or returning after an idle period as volunteers. Some of the volunteers are active in more than one program. /1 senior-citizen training facilitator / 6 volunteers of marketing activities and events (2 new) / 1 technical developer (Dashboard) / 50 organizers of the AR education-system project, of which 25 new (senior officials of the Ministry of Education, pedagogical instructors, teachers, Arabic-language coordinators at the National Library) / 18 academic staff members at various levels / 5 representatives of GLAM institutes and cultural organizations (2 new), 7 team members (2 new). Expected outcome:New participant: 55 Returning participant: 91	146

Number of new content contributions per Wikimedia project

Wikimedia Project	Description	Target	Results	Comments	Methodology
Wikipedia	Hebrew Wikipedia: The total number of all added and improved articles on he-wp: 920. Of these - 250 new and 120 improved in HE educational projects / 400 new articles and 75 improved ones by participants of the editing courses / 75 improved articles in writing competitions. ,**Number of articles resulting from our activity within the academy will be updated once the new Academic coordinator, currently under recruiting process, will take office. Expected outcome: New articles: 650 Improved articles: 270	920	N/A	N/A	N/A
Wikipedia	Arabic Wikipedia: Articles written on the AR Wikipedia as part of our formal education activities in partnership with the Ministry of Education, and as part of activities taking place in partnership with the National Library Expected outcome: 250 articles of which 125 new and 125 improved.	250	N/A	N/A	N/A
Wikimedia Commons	20,000 new media files uploaded by GLAM partner institutes, additional 250 files uploaded in the context of editing events or contests by both new and returning editors	20250	N/A	N/A	N/A
Wikidata	Items created or improved as a result of our cooperation with the National Library and the Israel Film Archive	10000	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	X	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

9. Are you having any difficulties collecting data to measure your results?

N/A

10. Are you collaborating and sharing learning with Wikimedia affiliates or community members?

10a. Please describe how you have already shared them and if you would like to do more sharing, and if so how?

11. Documentation of your work process, story, and impact.

• Below there is a section to upload files, videos, sound files, images (photos and infographics, e.g. communications materials, blog posts, compelling quotes, social media posts, etc.). This can be anything that would be useful to understand and show your learning and results to date (e.g., training material, dashboards, presentations, communications material, training material, etc).

• Below is an additional field to type in link URLs.

Part 3: Financial reporting and compliance

12. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency.

13. Local currency type

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

• Upload Documents, Templates, and Files.
• Provide links to your financial reporting documents.

15. Based on your implementation and learning to date, do you have any plans to make changes to the budget spending?

15a. Please provide an explanation on how you hope to adjust this.

N/A

16. We’d love to hear any thoughts you have on how the experience of being a grantee has been so far.