Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Promoting Nigerian Books and Authors 2023 (ID: 22062011)

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Applicant Details[edit]

Please provide your main Wikimedia Username.

James Rhoda

Please provide the Usernames of people related to this proposal.

Ridzaina BJ 77

Organization

N/A

Are you a member of any Wikimedia affiliate or group, including informal groups like Wiki Fan Clubs, emerging language communities, not recognized Wikimedia groups etc.? Please list them all.

Wikimedia Nigeria User Group

Grant Proposal[edit]

M. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.

Promoting Nigerian Books and Authors 2023

Q. Indicate if it is a local, international, or regional proposal and if it involves several countries? (optional)

Local

Q2. If you have answered regional or international, please write the country names and any other information that is useful for understanding your proposal.

R. If you would like, please share any websites or social media accounts that your group or organization has.

1. What is the change that you are trying to bring about and why is this important.

In recent years, there has been an increased focus on promoting diverse voices and perspectives in literature, which has led to a greater interest in novels from Nigerian authors. Nigerian Authors and their books not only serve as a form of Education, Entertainment, Cultural Preservation, and Language development but also brings about a significant impact on African literature, culture, and society. A lot of Authors from the Nigerian geographic location are missing from the Wikidata and Wikipedia databases due to lack of visibility, Nigerian books often face difficulties in gaining visibility on a global scale due to a lack of representation and promotion within the international literary community. One of the major issues is that Nigerian authors and stories are often overlooked and underrepresented. This lack of representation makes it harder for Nigerian books to gain visibility and reach a global audience. This project aims to put the subject of Nigerian books and their Authors in the forefront thereby promoting not only Nigerian books but also the cultural background embedded in the books. In the year 2022 my team and I carried out Wikidata for Nigerian Novelist and Novel and we were able to increase awareness for Nigerian Novelists and their Novels on Wikidata, over 400 items were created on Wikidata The metric can be found on the Dashboard , 57 Nigerian Novelists using Wikidata Query Builder, and 449 Novels in Nigeria using Wikidata Query Builder. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Rapid/James_Rhoda/Wikidata_for_Nigerian_Novelist_and_Novel/Report While there is an increase in Wikidata items about novelist and their novel, there still exist content and data gaps about Nigerian literature

This project seeks to go a step further and promote Nigerian Literature and the Authors on Wikidata and Wikipedia and also improve existing Wikidata items and Wikipedia articles.

2. Describe your main approaches or strategies to achieve these changes and why you think they will be effective.

1. Training and recruitment of 30 participants of which 10 will be new editors and 20 will be existing editors. This training will enable them to create items and edit articles to the best of their capability.

2. Provide the new editors and the existing editors with the necessary tool needed to improve Wikidata and Wikipedia. we will be providing them with all the necessary information they need to participate.

3. Training participants on how to contribute to the various Wikimedia projects that the training focuses on;

Creating a Wikidata/Wikipedia account.
Understanding the core content policies and the general editing principles.
Creating new items on Wikidata and improving articles on Wikipedia.

4. The outreach dashboard will be used to keep track of all contributions made by the editors during the edit-a-thon.

5. Giving out prizes to the Top 4 contributors as incentives to motivate them at the end of the campaign.

3. What are the activities you will be developing and delivering as part of these approaches or strategies?

1. Mobilizing and sensitizing participants on the various uses of the Wikimedia project and changing their perception of Wikidata, Wikipedia and other sister projects: With the help of the Association of Nigerian Authors, Imodoye Writers Enclave, Book Clubs, and Libraries among others, the project will engage students passionate about Nigerian Literature, Authors in my Locality and other participants. It is hoped that the trained participants will go on to create more awareness and promote Nigerian books on the various Wikimedia projects.

2. Recruit 30 participants (both new and existing)

3. Giving out prizes to the top 4 contributors in each Wikimedia Fan Club as incentives to motivate them at the end of the campaign.

4. Generating diverse contents

Data-a-thons: This activity will be a series of Wikidata training/data-a-thon to raise awareness about the available data on Literature-related topics in Nigeria to identify the gaps by introducing the participants to Wikidata query service and how to use it to track items. We will also increase awareness of the importance of creating these data as a worklist that will guide participants on how to create /improve items identified. Furthermore, participants will be trained to run queries to know the existing data gap and create and improve items on Wikidata.

Edit-a-thons: We will carry out edit-a-thons to train 30 participants to perform minor edits (adding citations, Wikilinks, Category, Infoboxes, and descriptions, among others) on Wikipedia articles related to Literature topics in the Nigerian context.

4. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign or event? If so, please select the relevant campaign below. If so, please select all the relevant campaigns from the list below. If "other", please state which.

Wiki Loves Africa

5. Do you have the team that is needed to implement this proposal?

James Rhoda - (Project Lead) She is an experienced Wikimedian, She was the project lead for Wikidata for Nigerian Novelist and Novel, She facilitated the Wikidata for Libraries and Librarians in Nigeria, WikiGlam Awareness in Kwara State and unofficially facilitated other projects. She has participated in a series of contests such as WPWP 2020, Wikidata SDG's Contest 2021, Wiki Loves Africa 2021, WPWP2021, Wikidata(Media personalities in Nigeria) 2021, etc.

Ridzaina: (Facilitator) She is an experienced Wikimedian, She facilitated the Wikidata for Nigerian Novelists and Novels, she was a co-facilitator for Reading Wikipedia in the classroom program for Teachers in Nigeria and the project lead for the Let’s connect peer learning program Kwara. She has participated in various Wikimedia projects and won several wikidata contests such as Wikidata SDG's Contest 2021, Wikidata for Libraries and Librarians in Nigeria, etc.

BJ 77: (Communication expert) He is an experienced Wikimedian who has participated in various Wikidata, and Wikipedia (Wikimedia) projects. He is an educator and he is very good at communicating with other people.

6. Please state if your proposal aims to work to bridge any of the identified CONTENT knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select up to THREE that most apply to your work.

Geography

6.1 In a few sentences, explain how your work is specifically addressing this content gap (or Knowledge inequity) to ensure a greater representation of knowledge.

Due to the content gap that exist still regarding to Nigerian Author, this project will be focused on improving Nigerian Literature thereby improving the books and Authors on Wikidata and Wikipedia.

7. Please state if your proposal includes any of these areas or THEMATIC focus. Select up to THREE that most apply to your work and explain the rationale for identifying these themes.

Education, Culture, heritage or GLAM

8. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities?

Geographic , Linguistic / Language, Digital Access

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?

Our target participants are:

1. Students

2. Nigerian Authors

3. Librarians

4. Book Enthusiast/Bibliophile

Before the activities commence we aim to engage the participants through e-posters and constant jingles through various online platform, invite Authors in our locality to share their knowledge and experience with the participants and also we aim to help the participants identify the content gap and educate them on how to bridge the gap,

During the project, I and the team members will be actively involved in facilitating the training online and offline to make sure that the participants get the act and art of contributing to Wikidata, Wikipedia and sister projects. Also, we will monitor the activities of the new editors to make sure that Wikidata, Wikipedia and the other sister projects is not vandalized out of ignorance.

We will create a WhatsApp platform to monitor the participants and also attend to any questions they might have.

We will share the Dashboard count weekly to motivate the participants to participate actively

10. In what ways are you actively seeking to contribute towards creating a safer, supportive, more equitable environment for participants?

The General friendly space policy for Wikimedia events will be summarized and read at the beginning of each event to remind the participants and the organizers of the importance of a friendly space policy and also the facilitators will be on the lookout to maintain order.

11. Please tell us about how you have let your Wikimedia communities know about the planned activities and this proposal. Use this space to describe the processes you carried out to make the community more involved in planning this proposal. Please link the on-wiki community discussion(s) around the proposals.

I have informed them at the Wikimedia User Group Nigeria for their suggestions and inputs. The link can be found here https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_User_Group_Nigeria#Promoting_Nigerian_Books_and_Authors_2023

12. Are you aware of other Rapid Fund proposals in your local group, community, or region that are being submitted and that align with your proposed project?

No

If yes:

12.1 Did you explore the possibility of doing a joint proposal with other leaders in your group?

N/A

12.2 How will this joint proposal allow you to have better results?

N/A

13. Will you be working with other external, non-Wikimedia partners to implement this proposal? Required.

Yes

13.1 Please describe these partnerships and what motivates the potential partner to be part of the proposal and how they add value to your work.

There will be a partnership with the Association of Nigerian Authors, Imodoye Writers Enclave, Book Clubs and Libraries to help recruit new editors, and these partners will help publicize the project and its objectives to the participants from their establishment, which will boost their interest in participating in this project. These partners are passionate about Nigerian Literature and will further promote the cause of this project.

14. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select a maximum of THREE options that most apply.

Improve User Experience, Provide for Safety and Inclusion, Identify Topics for Impact, Innovate in Free Knowledge

Learning, Sharing, and Evaluation[edit]

15. What do you hope to learn from your work in this fund proposal?

The main questions that we hope to have answered after completing the project are: Are they aware of Wikidata? What is their perspective regarding Wikidata separately from Wikipedia? What is their perception about Wikipedia? What are the best strategies to retain editors in the Wikimedia community? What are the best metrics to be used in measuring Wikimedia projects? What are the best techniques used to encourage students to participate and contribute to Wikimedia projects? Did the program answer the expectations of the editors?

16. Based on these learning questions, what is the information or data you need to collect to answer these questions? Please register this information (as metric description) in the following spaces provided.

Main Open Metrics Data
Main Open Metrics	Description	Target
Number of event	We will have a total number of 2 physical events and 2 online training. The events will include Wikidata and Wikipedia training ( Adding Citation, Wiki Links and creating Wikidata Items).	4
Number of Newly Recruited Wikimedians	10 new editors will be recruited	10
Total number of items/articles improved	The total number of items created is expected to be 200 and the expected articles improved is 100	300
N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A

17. Core quantitative metrics.

Core Metrics Summary
Core metrics	Description	Target
Number of participants	We will be working with 30 participants, 10 newly recruited and 20 existing participants including 3 organizers	33
Number of editors	We will be working with a total of 30 editors	30
Number of organizers	There will be 3 Wikimedia volunteers (including the project lead) but we will be working with other experienced Wikimedians and Authors.	3

Number of new content contributions per Wikimedia project
Wikimedia Project	Description	Target
Wikidata	Wikidata being the main focus of this project will have a total number of 300 items created and edited	200
Wikipedia	citations, links and articles improved/created	100
N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A

17.1 If for some reason your proposal will not measure these core metrics please provide an explanation.

18. What tools would you use to measure each metric selected? Please refer to the guide for a list of tools. You can also write that you are not sure and need support.

Summary x Sigma Hashtags x WMFLabs, Outreach Dashboard Pages Created - XTools and Global account information

Financial Proposal[edit]

19. & 19.1 What is the amount you are requesting from Wikimedia Foundation? Please provide this amount in your local currency.

1018500 NGN

19.2 What is this amount in US Currency (to the best of your knowledge)?

2214.92 USD

20. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MfXdzY5evK3ujnXUOwAoaZ-iXdwCHMQqUeOdLM3OhIo/edit#gid=0

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).

Endorse