Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/CCCC Wikipedia Initiative at Conference on College Composition and Communication (ID: 22981745)/Final Report
Application type: Standard application
Part 1: Project and impact
1. Describe the implemented activities and results achieved. Additionally, share which approaches were most effective in supporting you to achieve the results. (required)
Our planned activities included: 1) an edit-a-thon workshop (entitled "Playing Our Songs: CCCC Edits Wikipedia"), 2) informational table for the initiative, CCCC Wikipedia Initiative, which will provide a presence for our project throughout the conference 3) scholarly panel on Wikipedia-based education entitled "Remixing the Knowledge Playlist: Wikipedia-Based Education in an AI World"
However, we encountered difficulties in terms of the edit-a-thon workshop - we did not have a sufficient number of registered attendees (only 1) and had to quickly pivot to a different program. Instead of implementing the edit-a-thon workshop during a single 4-hour session, we invited all conference attendees to participate in the edit-a-thon via social media, listserv (writing studies-l) and in-person via our informational table. This was frustrating at first, because the edit-a-thon would have enabled more hands-on training/education. However, the more flexible timeframe - having the edit-a-thon throughout the entire conference and afterwards proved to be very successful.
The additional two activities were also successful. The informational table was active throughout the entire conference. We were able to sign up people for our listserv, Wikiproject Writing, and invite them to create an account and edit articles in line with Writing Studies.
The panel was also successful with a moderate turnout (audience) of about 20. As a result of the panel, Zach and I were also able to connect with other educators using Wikipedia in college courses.
2. Documentation of your impact. Please use space below to share links that help tell your story, impact, and evaluation. (required)
Share links to:
- Project page on Meta-Wiki or any other Wikimedia project
- Dashboards and tools that you used to track contributions
- Some photos or videos from your event. Remember to share access.
You can also share links to:
- Important social media posts
- Surveys and their results
- Infographics and sound files
- Examples of content edited on Wikimedia projects
Wikiproject Writing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Writing
CCCC Wikipedia Initiative on NCTE website: https://cccc.ncte.org/cccc/wikipedia-initiative/
Dashboard for Edit-a-thon: https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/2025_CCCC_Annual_Convention/Playing_Our_Songs_-_CCCC_2025_Edits_Wikipedia_(April_2025)
Example content: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Smitherman; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_circulation; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Bishop
Additionally, share the materials and resources that you used in the implementation of your project. (required)
For example:
- Training materials and guides
- Presentations and slides
- Work processes and plans
- Any other materials your team has created or adapted and can be shared with others
Informational table handout: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kGSep-bYW8V9_mxLOALI219WMS-nXLsD/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=113182016009423657566&rtpof=true&sd=true Presentation slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1rJDurXjHy3G2CN8_06-rFjotWGiCdbV5_sP9oA5Zef0/edit?usp=sharing
3. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out with this Rapid Fund? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals. Required. Select one option per question. (required)
| A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups | Strongly agree |
| B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community | Strongly agree |
| C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups | Agree |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Strongly agree |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | Strongly agree |
| F. Encourage the retention of organizers | Strongly agree |
| G. Increased participants' feelings of belonging and connection to the movement | Agree |
| F. Other (optional) |
Part 2: Learning
4. In your application, you outlined some learning questions. What did you learn from these learning questions when you implemented your project? How do you hope to use this learnings in the future? You can recall these learning questions below. (required)
You can recall these learning questions below: What sorts of challenges do academics face when trying to edit Wikipedia within their field of study? How can the CCCC Wikipedia Initative help motivate academics in writing and communication studies to improve and contribute to Wikipedia.
One of the biggest learnings was the lack of academic individuals who registered for the workshop. Since this is controlled by CCCC (confrence) registration, we think there was too much competition from other offerings. In the future, we will operate an edit-a-thon in a more flexible way - via either the informational table or through a regular session panel. This will allow for more informal collaboration, although it also limits how much training we can do.
5. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities? This can include both positive and negative situations. What did you learn from those experiences? (required)
Yes - the conference IP was blocked and we could not get an exception despite posting on Phabricator and Telegram channels - this was the biggest challenge that limited how many editors could actively participate from the site. We did find ways to encourage people to log in from separate IPs, however.
6. What is your plan to share your project learnings and results with other community members? If you have already done it, describe how. (required)
I have already updated the immediate community via listserv. But I am open to other ideas for updating Wikimedia community.
Part 3: Metrics
7. Wikimedia Metrics results. (required)
In your application, you set some Wikimedia targets in numbers (Wikimedia metrics). In this section, you will describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used.
| Target | Results | Comments and tools used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 70 | 80 | |
| Number of editors | 25 | 18 | |
| Number of organizers | 5 | 5 |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 10 | 2 | 36 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 3 | 3 | |
| Wikidata | |||
| Wiktionary | |||
| Wikisource | |||
| Wikimedia Incubator | |||
| Translatewiki | |||
| MediaWiki | |||
| Wikiquote | |||
| Wikivoyage | |||
| Wikibooks | |||
| Wikiversity | |||
| Wikinews | |||
| Wikispecies | |||
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
8. Other Metrics results.
In your proposal, you could also set Other Metrics targets. Please describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used if you set Other Metrics in your application.
| Other Metrics name | Metrics Description | Target | Result | Tools and comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
9. Did you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results? (required)
No
9.1. Please state what difficulties you had. How do you hope to overcome these challenges in the future? Do you have any recommendations for the Foundation to support you in addressing these challenges? (required)
Part 4: Financial reporting
[edit]10. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency. (required)
2373.96
11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
2373.96
12. Report the funds spent in the currency of your fund. (required)
Upload the financial report
12.2. If you have not already done so in your financial spending report, please provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal. (optional)
Funds budgeted for snacks for workshop were used on snacks for informational table.
13. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?
No
13.1. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.
N/A
13.2. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
N/A
13.3. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
N/A
14.1. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement?
Yes
14.2. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?
Yes
14.3. 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.
Yes
15. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here. (optional)
Review notes
[edit]Review notes from Program Officer:
N/A
Applicant's response to the review feedback.
N/A