Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Balancing Narratives in Wikipedia:A Step towards addressing Systemic Bias in a Global Encyclopedia (ID: 22393368)
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Applicant Details[edit]
- Main Wikimedia username. (required)
Nosakhare Okuons
- Organization
N/A
- If you are a group or organization leader, board member, president, executive director, or staff member at any Wikimedia group, affiliate, or Wikimedia Foundation, you are required to self-identify and present all roles. (required)
N/A
- Describe all relevant roles with the name of the group or organization and description of the role. (required)
Main Proposal[edit]
- 1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.
Balancing Narratives in Wikipedia: A Step towards addressing Systemic Bias in a Global Encyclopedia
- 2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.
2024-01-21 - 2024-02-29
- 4. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)
Nigeria
- 5. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign, project, or event? If so, please select the relevant project or campaign. (required)
Not applicable
- 6. What is the change you are trying to bring? What are the main challenges or problems you are trying to solve? Describe this change or challenges, as well as main approaches to achieve it. (required)
Wikipedia, as a global encyclopedia, has faced ongoing concerns regarding the inclusivity of its content due to prevailing knowledge gaps and inherent systemic bias. Notably, there is a distinct underrepresentation of significant indigenous knowledge from the West African perspective, particularly concerning the Edo culture. This deficiency is evident in the scarcity of standard Wikipedia articles addressing various aspects of Edo culture, such as traditional beliefs systems, festivals, rituals, clothing, cuisine, clan and family structures, arts, crafts, and more.
Although efforts have been made from past projects to close this content gap, there is still much to be done, as substantial voids remain in both content and contributor representation. This is despite the fact that many of the topics from Edo indigenous knowledge system meet Wikipedia's notability criteria. This project therefore aims to address these gaps and make Wikipedia a truly global encyclopedia while also making information about Edo culture and indigenous knowledge visible and accessible for learning and research purposes.
To achieve this, the project will collaborate with experienced librarians and Wikimedians from the region to carry out extensive Wikipedia training, edit-a-thons, and write-a-thons. Two main strategies/approaches will be used to execute this project. It include capacity building/mentorship to build the skills of the participants, as well as generating diverse local expert knowledge on Edo culture and indigenous knowledge system.
- 7. What are the planned activities? (required) Please provide a list of main activities. You can also add a link to the public page for your project where details about your project can be found. Alternatively, you can upload a timeline document. When the activities include partnerships, include details about your partners and planned partnerships.
The planned activities for this project include:
- 1. Recruiting experienced and new Wikipedia editors that will help improve content on Wikipedia
- 2. organizing series of online and one in-person training to help train the participants to contribute to Wikipedia
- 3. One edit-a-thon/write-a-thon exercise to help generate diverse content about Edo culture and indigenous knowledge system.
- 8. Describe your team. Please provide their roles, Wikimedia Usernames and other details. (required) Include more details of the team, including their roles, usernames, Wikimedia group, and whether they are salaried, volunteers, consultants/contractors, etc. Team members involved in the grant application need to be aware of their involvement in the project.
The project will be handled by the following experienced Wikimedians:
- 1. User: Nosakhare Okuons (Volunteer Project Coordinator) - is an experienced Wikimedian who has led, coordinated and facilitated several Wikimedia projects in Nigeria. He will coordinate this project.
- 2. User: Omorodion1 (Volunteer Lead Facilitator): User Omorodion1 is an experienced Wikimedian and co-founder of the Port Harcourt Wikimedia Hub. He has organized and facilitated several Wikimedia events in Nigeria and beyond. He will be the chief facilitator for this project. He is a member of the first Cohort of the Organizer Lab course by the Wikimedia Foundation.
- 3. User: PraiseGideon26 (Volunteer Publicity and Logistics Coordinator) - User PraiseGideon26 will handle the publicity and regularly engage with the project participants. User PraiseGideon26 will also help in handling the logistics for the in-person events.
- 9. Who are the target participants and from which community? How will you engage participants before and during the activities? How will you follow up with participants after the activities? (required)
The target participants include staff and students of the Ambrose Alli University in Edo State. The participants will mainly consist of Edo indigenes who are knowledgeable about the Edo culture and have the required skillset to contribute quality content to Wikipedia. The participants will be engaged using Whatsapp groups to help keep participants up-to-date. Communication with the participants during and after the events will be via the project whatsapp group.
- 10. Does your project involve work with children or youth? (required)
No
- 10.1. Please provide a link to your Youth Safety Policy. (required) If the proposal indicates direct contact with children or youth, you are required to outline compliance with international and local laws for working with children and youth, and provide a youth safety policy aligned with these laws. Read more here.
N/A
- 11. How did you discuss the idea of your project with your community members and/or any relevant groups? Please describe steps taken and provide links to any on-wiki community discussion(s) about the proposal. (required) You need to inform the community and/or group, discuss the project with them, and involve them in planning this proposal. You also need to align the activities with other projects happening in the planned area of implementation to ensure collaboration within the community.
The project was discussed with Wikimedia community members in Edo State. Also, librarians at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma were also told about the project and they liked the idea. An announcement about the project was made in the on-Wiki page of Edo Wikimedia Hub and the Wikimedia User Group Nigeria. You can find the link to the announcement from the link below: Wikimedia User Group Nigeria: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_User_Group_Nigeria#Balancing_Narratives_in_Wikipedia:_A_Step_towards_addressing_Systemic_Bias_in_a_Global_Encyclopedia
- 12. Does your proposal aim to work to bridge any of the content knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Geography
- 13. Does your proposal include any of these areas or thematic focus? Select one option that most applies to your work. (required)
Culture, heritage or GLAM
- 14. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Linguistic / Language
- 15. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select one that most applies. (required)
Manage Internal Knowledge
Learning and metrics[edit]
- 17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)
I would like to know how much valuable Edo indigenous knowledge can be contributed to Wikipedia through this project, how much Edo indigenes are keen to continue contributing Edo content to Wikipedia, what are the factors that could prevent the continuous contribution of free Edo content to Wikipedia.
- 18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
| Other Metrics | Target | Optional description |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 48 | This refers to the total number of participants for this project |
| Number of editors | 48 | The total number of editors for this project |
| Number of organizers | 3 | Three key organizers will coordinate this project |
| Wikimedia project | Number of content created or improved |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 200 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 50 |
| Wikidata | |
| Wiktionary | |
| Wikisource | |
| Wikimedia Incubator | |
| Translatewiki | |
| MediaWiki | |
| Wikiquote | |
| Wikivoyage | |
| Wikibooks | |
| Wikiversity | |
| Wikinews | |
| Wikispecies | |
| Wikifunctions or Abtsract Wikipedia |
- Optional description for content contributions.
N/A
- 19. Do you have any other project targets in numbers (metrics)? (optional)
Yes
| Main Open Metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
- 20. What tools would you use to measure each metrics? Please refer to the guide for a list of tools. You can also write that you are not sure and need support. (required)
Outreachdashboard
Financial proposal[edit]
- 21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1juXFgW6b_mzAsNOkeEKFiWE_LIHb4naCB-jia4IPPjI/edit?usp=sharing
- 22. and 22.1. What is the amount you are requesting for this proposal? Please provide the amount in your local currency. (required)
925000 NGN
- 22.2. Convert the amount requested into USD using the Oanda converter. This is done only to help you assess the USD equivalent of the requested amount. Your request should be between 500 - 5,000 USD.
1172.73 USD
- We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.
Yes
Endorsements and Feedback[edit]
Please add endorsements and feedback to the grant discussion page only. Endorsements added here will be removed automatically.
Community members are invited to share meaningful feedback on the proposal and include reasons why they endorse the proposal. Consider the following:
- Stating why the proposal is important for the communities involved and why they think the strategies chosen will achieve the results that are expected.
- Highlighting any aspects they think are particularly well developed: for instance, the strategies and activities proposed, the levels of community engagement, outreach to underrepresented groups, addressing knowledge gaps, partnerships, the overall budget and learning and evaluation section of the proposal, etc.
- Highlighting if the proposal focuses on any interesting research, learning or innovation, etc. Also if it builds on learning from past proposals developed by the individual or organization, or other Wikimedia communities.
- Analyzing if the proposal is going to contribute in any way to important developments around specific Wikimedia projects or Movement Strategy.
- Analysing if the proposal is coherent in terms of the objectives, strategies, budget, and expected results (metrics).