Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Showing networks of civil society organizations in Wikidata on Wikispore (ID: 21983366)/Final Report
Report Status: Under review
Due date: 2023-01-30T00:00:00Z
Funding program: Rapid Fund, Wikimedia Community Fund
Report type: Final
This is an automatically generated Meta-Wiki page. The page was copied from Fluxx, the grantmaking web service of Wikimedia Foundation where the user has submitted their midpoint report. Please do not make any changes to this page because all changes will be removed after the next update. Use the discussion page for your feedback. The page was created by CR-FluxxBot.General information[edit]
- Title of Proposal: Showing networks of civil society organizations in Wikidata on Wikispore
- Username of Applicant: econterms
- Name of Organization: N/A
- Amount awarded: 3520
- Amount spent: 2550 USD, 2550 USD
Part 1 Understanding your work[edit]
1. Briefly describe how your proposed activities and strategies were implemented
- We held several open global meetings for anyone to discussed Wikispore site. (Seven of these, from 5 Dec 2022 to 16 Jan 2023). We had technical experts and community leaders at each of them.
- We succeeded in pulling in some data from Wikidata to Wikispore infoboxes -- Sam Wilson implemented this with his new extension UnlinkedWikibase. This was a major achievement from my point of view because it has not been clear how other sites can draw in Wikidata information. The architecture is apparently not burdensome on Wikidata; I confirmed this with to Lydia Pintscher.
- We did install the Cargo extension, and used it on many pages. See the page "wikispore.wmflabs.org/wiki/Special:CargoTables for examples.
- Our event was to related to Wikidata's 10th birthday, celebrated in Nov 2022. We had a birthday cake at the Washington DC meetup for the WCNA conference. WMNY also had an celebration of the 10th birthday, not billed to this grant.
- ZBlace was successful in holding a Croatian class with colleagues at the University of Zagreb's Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. The class was delayed by circumstances long after the intended completion of the grant-funded activities. These circumstances included a participant/leader's heart attack. Three people prepared for the presentation. In the session they showed students how to edit Wikidata though not mainly through Wikispore. 7 of the 12 students did edit Wikidata. We plan to give gift coupons to the students.
2. Were there any strategies or approaches that you felt were effective in achieving your goals? Please describe these strategies and approaches.
We were happy with the open meetings. We didn't know who exactly would come, but overall we got a large and diverse attendance from four continents, and discussed a range of issues. The meetings were friendly. Attendance was 5-10 at each one. It was helpful to have technical experts present so we could really discuss improving the site. (Yaron Koren attended almost all of the meetings, and Sam Wilson and Gergo Tisza attended a couple of them.)
We kept notes on etherpads, e.g. https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/wikispore-open-hour-4 (and replace the 4 by numbers 3-7 for various meetings). That practice really seems to work well.
We announced meetings on Telegram in the Wikispore group, and eventually on a new kind of wiki calendar at http://wikispore.wmflabs.org/wiki/Coming_events. I (Peter) think we should adopt that kind of calendar for many wiki announcements.
3. Please use this space to upload media and other files that help tell your story and impact.
Field to type in URLs.
Cargo tables on Wikispore: wikispore.wmflabs.org/wiki/Special:CargoTables Calendar: wikispore.wmflabs.org/wiki/Coming_events Example meeting notes: https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/wikispore-open-hour-4
4. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out with the support of this Fund? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals.
| A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups | Agree |
| B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community | Strongly agree |
| C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups | Neither agree nor disagree |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Disagree |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | Neither agree nor disagree |
| F. Encourage the retention of organizers | Agree |
5. Is there anything else you would like to share about how your efforts helped to bring in participants and/or build out content, particularly for underrepresented groups?
We did discuss oral history and how to cite it at an open meeting. This can indirectly can support non-western cultures. I got advice from a historian/archivist because of the discussion and posted it on wikispore, in Talk:Oral Knowledge
Part 2: Your main learning[edit]
6. In your application, you outlined your learning priorities. What did you learn about these areas during this period?
We wanted to show that we can understand and display information about networks of Wikimedia and cultural organizations better using information already available on Wikidata, adding value to our secondary site Wikispore and perhaps updating and adapting some of the curated information on Wikidata. However we made only perhaps half the progress I was hoping for. We created many pages about Wikimedia activities and organizations based on meta and a table reported from the affiliates meeting in Berlin 2022, and a few are linked together, but the desired full picture did not emerge -- we did not implement enough reports of the Cargo type, and there was some trickery necessary because Wikispore projects are in separate name spaces, which is not the usual Cargo environment. (This is manageable, but I did not figure out how in the project period.). And, we meant to have cultural networks shown in multiple report formats and multiple languages; little of this was done.
We did learn and implement the dynamic updating of certain data on Wikispore from Wikidata, and that is a really powerful step to build on. It had not been clear that or how this would work when we started.
7. 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?
A broad variety of people attended our open meetings, broader than expected, and unexpected topics came up -- oral history, how to implement Wikidata-related extensions, how to deal with many name spaces, Cargo extension, and how to program in Lua modules.
8. How do you hope to use this learning? For instance, do you have any new priorities, ideas for activities, or goals for the future?
1. One important take-away is that we can bring in data from Wikidata with the UnlinkedWikibase extension and Lua code on the client side to interpret it. The method is very reusable on many MediaWikis including those not run by the WMF. It does not allow arbitrary variables yet; Sam was able to bring in certain kinds of URLs however into infoboxes.
- 2. Open meetings are often an effective approach for Wikispore development and for our global movement. We can just announce an open house with some expert who will be there, and invite questions. Discussion often blossoms.
9. Documentation of resources: Use this space to upload any documents that would be useful to share with others (e.g. communications material, training material, presentations).
Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
N/A
Part 3: Metrics[edit]
10a. Open Metrics reporting
In your application, you defined some open metrics and targets (goals). You will see a table like the one below with your metric in the title and the target you set in your proposal automatically filled in. Use the tables to report the result. Use the comments column to describe any aspects of this result that you find relevant. If the results were different from the initial target (goals) then you can explain why and what you learned from this. You can also provide any qualitative analysis regarding these results. In the last column please describe the tools and methodology used to collect this data and any difficulties you might have had.
| Open Metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data records filled in from Wikidata about Croatian cultural institutions | Number of such records | 60 | 15 | They are not highly integrated together as we had hoped | Search Wikispore for "Croatia" and click "Everything" to find them ; they are sprinkled into different name spaces. There are some relevant pages which do not use this exact word. |
| Data records filled in from Wikidata about Wikimedia organizations | Number of such records | 60 | 100 | They are scattered across name spaces and do not appear in fully unified reports. | Almost any page on wikispore in Category:Activity or Category:Wikimedia activities, or which uses the term "Movement Strategy" is in this target set. |
| Count of projects associated with Croatian cultural institutions | Number | 100 | 5 | See open metrics (1). These are a subset of the pages described there. | See open metrics (1). These are a subset of the pages described there. |
| Count of Wikimedia projects, notably Movement Strategy efforts | Number | 50 | 50 | See open metrics (2). These are a subset of the pages described there, generally the ones associated with the Template:Wikimedia activity | See open metrics (2). These are a subset of the pages described there. |
| Count of locations associated with either kind of organization | Number | 100 | 10 | Locations ended up not being central to the discussion of organizations, some of which were mainly online. Independent of the locations associated with this project, see the Geo Spore on Wikispore, where some nice dynamic maps and location coordinates were used effectively. The Template:Infobox place template was used to create infoboxes for places with some success. | [[1]] shows a nice map which shows locations mapped on Wikispore.
For this particular project however, see Civil Society:Critical Upgrade as an example of a Croation one identifying its location. Wikimedia chapters have locations, and this is clearly stated on their pages on wikispore, but they are not stored with map coordinates. |
10b. Core Metrics reporting
In your application, you defined targets for some core metrics and targets (goals). You will see a table like the one below with each core metric in the title and the target you set in your proposal automatically filled in. Use the tables to report the result. Use the comments column to describe any aspects of this result that you find relevant. If the results were different from the initial target (goals) then you can explain why and what you learned from this. You can also provide any qualitative analysis regarding these results. In the last column please describe the tools and methodology used to collect this data and any difficulties you might have had. Note: a table will appear for each Wikimedia project content contribution you defined in your proposal.
| Core metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 30 | We did not commit to offering this core metric. | Estimated counts of attendees at meetings or classes. | ||
| Number of editors | We did not commit to offering this core metric. | ||||
| Number of organizers | We did not commit to offering this core metric. |
| Wikimedia Project | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | We did not commit to offering this core metric. | 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 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
12. Did you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results? This could include things like a lack of time or resources, or the expertise in your team to collect this data. It could also include difficulties with particular data collection tools.
No
12a. State what difficulties you had.
N/A
12b. 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?
N/A
13. Use this space to upload any documents and provide links to any tools you have used that would be useful to understand your data collection (e.g., surveys you have carried out, communications material, training material, program and event dashboard link, project page on Meta).
Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
N/A
14. Have you shared these results with other Wikimedian communities (either affiliates, user groups, volunteers, etc., different to yours)? This can include things such as data and direct outcomes, lessons you have learned, or information on how to run or recreate your programs.
Partially
14a. If yes or partially, please describe how you have already shared them and if you would like to do more sharing, and if so how.
Our activity on Wikispore itself is visible to a community, and we did discuss it at open meetings.
Part 4: Financial reporting and compliance[edit]
15. & 14a. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency.
2550 USD
16. Please state the total amount spent in USD.
2550 USD
17. Please report the funds received and spending in the currency of your fund.
17a. Upload a financial report file.
17b. Please provide a link to your financial reporting document.
As required in the fund agreement, please report any deviations from your fund proposal here. Note that, among other things, any changes must be consistent with our WMF mission, must be for charitable purposes as defined in the grant agreement, and must otherwise comply with the grant agreement.
17c. If you have not already done so in your budget report, please provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal.
Our activities were only partly planned at the time we submitted the grant, and we did not do all the ones we imagined.
18. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?
Yes
18a. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.
970 USD. Our activities were only partly planned at the time we submitted the grant, and we did not do all the ones we imagined.
18b. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
C. I am planning to send them back to the WMF
18c. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
N/A
19. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement?
Yes
20. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?
Yes
21. 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
22. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here.
I ask to be allowed to transfer this money to WMDC in place of funds the chapter is waiting for from the WMF. That speeds the chapter's capacity to spend it, and doesn't cost the WMF anything, and saves us $30 in unnecessary bank fees for me to "wire" it back to WMF.
If I must wire it to WMF, I believe I can send it within a few days. I did try to 'wire' it and got some kind of error from my bank. I can try again. Let's see if the report is otherwise acceptable and I will ask for help about the "wire" from WMF and/or my bank.
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