Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Cultural Heritage Conservation with local stakeholders in Nevşehir, Türkiye (ID: 23089625)
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Applicant Details
[edit]- Main Wikimedia username. (required)
Seraksin
- Organization
Dijital Kültürel Miras Ağı
- 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.
Cultural Heritage Conservation with local stakeholders in Nevşehir, Türkiye
- 2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.
2025-07-07 - 2026-05-04
- 4. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)
Turkey
- 5. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign, project, or event? If so, please select the relevant project or campaign. (required)
Other (please specify) cultural heritage, information management and conservation
- 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)
Türkiye is well known for its rich historical and cultural legacy, which has been influenced by many different civilisations over the ages and is enhanced by breathtaking natural scenery. All parts of the nation are home to this varied legacy, which draws both domestic and foreign visitors keen to discover these distinctive values. According to the latest 2023 statistics, Nevşehir, the project's focus, is one of the most popular tourist destinations e.g. Cappadocia (https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kategori:Kapadokya). Its stunning natural beauty and abundant historical and cultural resources make it a top choice (https://nevsehir.ktb.gov.tr/TR-230429/muzeoren-yeri-ziyaretci-sayilari.html - https://www.fibhaber.com/kapadokya-bolgesi-2023-yili-subat-ayi-ziyaretci-rakamlari-aciklandi-1).
The information that is currently available online regarding the cultural and touristic attractions in Türkiye, including museums, archaeological sites, open air museums, and traditional, tangible, and intangible cultural heritage, has been found to be dispersed, and not up to date (Çit, D., 2025, unpublished Master Thesis). This makes it more difficult for tourists, both domestic and foreign, to obtain trustworthy and easily accessible information about Nevşehir. With the help of Wikimedia, the project intends to address this problem by compiling a thorough list of Nevşehir's tourist attractions and cultural sites and making sure that current and accurate information is entered.
Through this project, we aim to raise awareness about open access and facilitate easy access for users associated with cultural heritage. The preservation and dissemination of cultural heritage in digital spaces is a top priority for the Digital Cultural Heritage Network. In keeping with this goal, the project also seeks to promote active participation and increase awareness of digital cultural heritage and Wikimedia initiatives among Nevşehir's young university students.
In addition, the project intends to work with regional craftspeople to digitally preserve and disseminate Nevşehir's traditional and cultural values. For example, the pottery tradition in the Avanos district is well known, and this project aims to document the workshops, production methods, and artwork produced by local craftspeople who are preserving it on Wikimedia platforms. The results will increase the visibility of intangible cultural heritage elements and represent the spatial and productive presence of artisans in the digital world. Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia are on the UNESCO Heritage List, and Nevşehir is a gastronomy city in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.
Throughout the project, universities and local municipalities will collaborate to create a comprehensive and sustainable working model with the active participation of students, artisans, and craftspeople. We hope to boost local capacity throughout the project by empowering and involving local artisans. Initiatives pertaining to the preservation and elucidation of traditional knowledge will also benefit from it.
- 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.
We intend to collect the necessary data at the beginning of the project and establish communication with the individuals and institutions we will collaborate with. In this context, our goals are to compile existing online data and collect field-specific information through local partnerships. To bring our project to life, we plan to organize two separate in-person Wiki Edit-a-thons in the province of Nevşehir over two days. As in our previous projects, we aim to utilize the power of social media to effectively promote the events and encourage participation (you can visit the Digital Cultural Heritage Network's Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/dijitalkulturelmiras/).
Additionally, by leveraging our existing partnerships with universities and municipalities in Nevşehir, we will be able to request support for event announcements and other necessary arrangements.
We plan to gather 10 university students and 10 participants from local municipalities, museums, craftspeople, and small business owners for each in-person session. This means we will engage directly with 20 people per event and 40 in total over the two-day period.
Following the in-person sessions, we will host two open online Wiki Edit-a-thons. We aim to engage 20 participants each day, reaching 40 individuals in total, and ensure content contributions are made to Wikipedia.
During the edit-a-thons, participants will be encouraged to visit cultural sites and upload photographs to Wikimedia Commons.
Thus, in addition to presenting Nevşehir's cultural heritage in digital spaces, these events aim to raise awareness about open access and digital cultural heritage among students and the local community.
We plan to collaborate with local partners in Avanos Municipality and Mustafapaşa village, and one of our team members will help coordinate activities in the Nevşehir region.
Furthermore, we will use relevant hashtags and add references to Wikipedia pages to contribute to the WPWP and Wiki Loves Monuments campaigns. A Programs & Events Dashboard will be created for the project to monitor edits during and after the activities.
- 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 Digital Cultural Heritage Network is a volunteer-based community that aims to bring together individuals and institutions working in the field of digital cultural heritage in Türkiye. All activities carried out within the network are voluntary and non-profit in nature. Individuals from various disciplines and with diverse areas of expertise and interests share knowledge and experiences around selected themes within the network; based on these exchanges, collective production processes are carried out. User: seraksin (Project Manager) She is an archaeologist and holds a PhD from the Information and Records Management Department at Ankara University. She has more than 20 years of experience in the digital cultural heritage field and an active Wikipedian, contributing and editing content related to archaeology and cultural heritage on Wikimedia platforms. She also has expertise in project management and will be responsible for managing and coordinating this project. Is one of the founders of the Digital Cultural Heritage Network in Türkiye.
User: Atreju.x (Project Administrator) Is a librarian and archaeologist. Has worked on various European Union projects. Currently writing a master’s thesis focusing on Wikipedia and cultural heritage. Is a member of the Digital Cultural Heritage Network in Türkiye. Deniz completed her master’s thesis in 2025, titled “BİLGİ ERİŞİMDE VİKİPEDİ'NİN ROLÜ: ANKARA’DAKİ MÜZELER ÖRNEĞİ” (“The Role of Wikipedia in Information Access: The Case of Museums in Ankara”), at the Department of Information and Records Management, Ankara University, under the supervision of Dr. Nurdan Atalan Çayırezmez as the second advisor.
User: Aslibtr (Event Trainer and Facilitator) Graduated from the Information and Records Management department and currently works as a Project Coordinator in Erasmus+ projects. Has experience in organizing and coordinating activities and events. Will support the organization of meetings and editathons within this project. Will also serve as an archivist to create the preliminary data that will form the basis for Wikidata creation and editing tasks. Is a member of the Digital Cultural Heritage Network in Türkiye. Note: Both Atreju.x and Aslibtr are also responsible for social media activities and project coordination tasks, such as social media announcements, event posters, and communication organization. In 2024, as the Digital Cultural Heritage Network team, we successfully implemented our project titled 'Building a Knowledge Repository for Cultural Heritage Post-Earthquake Disaster in Southeast Türkiye' under the Wikimedia Foundation Rapid Fund program.
Akbugday (Event Trainer) Is an interdisciplinary social scientist and holds a Ph.D. from Geography at the Ohio State University. Currently works in the United States as faculty in the Environmental Studies and Sciences Program. Has incorporated Wikipedia assignments and worked with Wiki Education Foundation since 2023. Her students contributed more than 74,000 words, 800 references, through revisions of 21 Wiki entries and creating 5 new entries on climate change in the Middle East and North Africa. Is an active Wikipedian. Designed and facilitated a panel on teaching with Wikipedia at her institution. Worked with Dijital Kültürel Miras Ağı as an informal mentor and Wiki assignments previously.
Jervenska (Cultural heritage professional) Jervenska is a cultural heritage professional, a local partner, and a contributor to Wikimedia. She is an expert in cultural heritage projects, currently working in Nevşehir, and will help to organize events in Nevşehir.
- 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 project team consists of volunteer members from the Digital Cultural Heritage Network. Two participant profiles have been identified for the in-person events. The first group will consist of young individuals aged 18–25, while the second group will include tradespeople, artisans, and municipal employees aged 30–45.
For the online events, priority will be given to individuals aged 18–45 who have an interest or expertise in cultural and digital cultural heritage and possess data or knowledge related to the cultural heritage of Nevşehir province.
Gender equality will be taken into consideration during the selection process, and participation from diverse social groups will be encouraged. Applications will be collected through announcements shared via social media channels and email groups. Additionally, local support will be obtained through collaborations with municipalities, museums, and universities.
Participant information will be gathered through a registration form. Selected individuals will then be contacted via email and phone to provide detailed information about the process.
- 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 team planned this initiative in consultation with the local user group, Wikimedia Community User Group Turkey. The user group will actively support the project throughout the events. Experienced Wikipedians will contribute to the process by providing training to the event participants. In addition, as the Digital Cultural Heritage Network team, we had the opportunity to attend the Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2024 conference, where we followed recent developments from around the world and shared our experiences (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Meeting_2024/Submissions/A_Case_Study_for_T%C3%BCrkiye_to_Build_A_Knowledge_Repository_for_Cultural_Heritage_in_Wikimedia:_The_R-RF-2308-13594_Project) One of our team members, Deniz Çit, in her master's thesis titled “The Role of Wikipedia in Information Retrieval: The Case of Museums in Ankara” written under the supervision of Dr. Nurdan Atalan Çayırezmez, highlighted that data on cultural heritage artifacts in museums across Türkiye is highly fragmented and difficult to access online.
Similarly, in 2024, our network carried out a Wikimedia-supported project focusing on cultural memory institutions in the earthquake-affected regions of Türkiye. In this project, we aimed to gather and organize dispersed data from these institutions:https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/Rapid_Fund/Building_a_knowledge_repository_for_cultural_heritage_post-earthquake_disaster_in_southeast_T%C3%BCrkiye_(ID:_22267858) With the current project, we aim to conduct a similar study specifically for the Nevşehir province, bringing together cultural heritage data and making it openly accessible in digital environments for everyone.
- 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)
Cultural background, ethnicity, religion, racial
- 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)
Ethnic/racial/religious or cultural background
- 15. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select one that most applies. (required)
Innovate in Free Knowledge
Learning and metrics
[edit]- 17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)
Nevşehir Province is home to a rich cultural heritage, deep-rooted history, and vibrant traditions. However, access to this valuable heritage via the internet is currently limited, and the available information is often outdated or scattered. Through the project we plan to implement, we aim to compile existing data with the support of local stakeholders, digitize it, and make it openly accessible to the world—thus contributing to the preservation and visibility of this cultural heritage.
At the same time, the project aims to support the capacity development of local communities. With the active participation of local artisans, these communities will be empowered and encouraged to take an active role in the preservation process. Digitizing cultural, historical, and traditional heritage and publishing it on Wikimedia platforms with open access will play a crucial role in safeguarding traditional knowledge, increasing its visibility, and ensuring its transmission to future generations.
- 18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
| Other Metrics | Target | Optional description |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 300 | Through the four editathons we will organize—two in-person and two online—we aim to reach a total of 80 different participants. Additionally, when we issue an open call for each event, we typically receive more applications than the number of available participant slots. It is anticipated that even those who are unable to participate but follow our events and activities will help raise awareness about the project. Furthermore, the work carried out will help foster awareness among the existing universities, municipalities, and museums in the province of Nevşehir, potentially paving the way for new collaborations in the future. In total, we expect to reach approximately 300 people, both directly and indirectly, through the events and related awareness-raising activities. |
| Number of editors | 87 | As part of the project, all participants attending our events are expected to create a Wikipedia account and contribute through data entry and content edits. Accordingly, it is aimed that 80 participants will have active Wikipedia accounts and make edits on the project pages. In addition, it is anticipated that 7 members of our team who are supporting the project will also contribute to the data entry process. |
| Number of organizers | 7 | 2 coordinator , 3 trainers, 2 facilitators |
| Wikimedia project | Number of content created or improved |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 160 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 120 |
| Wikidata | 20 |
| Wiktionary | |
| Wikisource | |
| Wikimedia Incubator | |
| Translatewiki | |
| MediaWiki | |
| Wikiquote | |
| Wikivoyage | |
| Wikibooks | |
| Wikiversity | |
| Wikinews | |
| Wikispecies | |
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
- Optional description for content contributions.
N/A
- 19. Do you have any other project targets in numbers (metrics)? (optional)
No
| 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)
We will provide metric data using the Wikimedia Programs & Events Dashboard to measure the metrics. We are also collecting data using our forms. Additionally, for the past two terms, we have been working with students from universities and checking students' data on Wikipedia. One of our team members, Akbugday (Event Trainer), has extensive experience and knowledge to check and measure the metrics for students' edits. If we need additional information, we can also ask for additional support from user groups and other Wikipedians.
Financial proposal
[edit]- 21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)
- 22. and 22.1. What is the amount you are requesting for this proposal? Please provide the amount in your local currency. (required)
191000 TRY
- 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.
4964 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).