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Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Wiki Capacity Building Program for Rivers State Lecturers (ID: 22114075)

From Meta, a Wikimedia project coordination wiki
statusNot funded
Wiki Capacity Building Program for Rivers State Lecturers
proposed start date2023-05-20
proposed end date2023-07-31
budget (local currency)2133000 NGN
budget (USD)4640.68 USD
grant typeIndividual
funding regionSSA
decision fiscal year2022-23
applicant• Ugwulebo
organization (if applicable)• N/A

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 application. 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.

Applicant Details

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Please provide your main Wikimedia Username.

Ugwulebo

Please provide the Usernames of people related to this proposal.

1. User: Ugwulebo

2. User: Omorodion1
3. User: Nosakhare Okuons
4. User: Doris Ihiasonwu
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.

Yes. I am a member of: Wikimedia User Group Nigeria Wikimedia+Libraries User Group Port Harcourt Wikimedia Hub Nigerian Wikibrarian Community

Grant Proposal

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

Wiki Capacity Building Program for Rivers State Lecturers

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.

Wikipedia has gradually become the first point of research for many students and information seekers, as it contains a high volume of free crowd-sourced content, which are easily retrieved through a simple online search query. A notable advantage of the use of Wikipedia by students and researchers is the ease with which information is retrieved.


Sadly, most lecturers in tertiary institutions in Rivers State still discourage students from using content from Wikipedia for their assignments, term papers and final year research projects. More often than not, students are not allowed to cite sources from Wikipedia. A common notion among the lecturers is that Wikipedia lacks authoritative source(s) and accurate content, given that anyone on the internet can easily add content to it. Most lecturers in Rivers State have continued to act on this notion even when they lack understanding of the guidelines and policies guiding the contribution and use of content in Wikipedia.


By collaborating with the Nigerian Library Association, Rivers State Chapter; we aim to sensitize and educate the lecturers about the guidelines and policies in Wikipedia, including how they can use Wikipedia to promote scholarship, digital literacy skills and fact-checking skills among their students. Through the Wikipedia workshop for lecturers in Rivers State, we aim to bring about a mindset shift among lecturers in tertiary institutions, from not accepting Wikipedia sources as reliable, to allowing students to use and cite sources in Wikipedia. The workshop will also include training lecturers to contribute local expert content in Wikipedia.

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

The main strategy that will be used in this project is to build the capacity of lecturers in three higher institutions in Rivers State, Nigeria, so they can better understand the structure in Wikipedia and how best they can contribute to the project. The capacity building will include training the lecturers on the guidelines and policies in Wikipedia as well as how to contribute quality content to Wikipedia. This will ultimately help the lecturers understand that contents in Wikipedia are not only reliable but can also be verified. Moreso, this strategy will better prepare the lecturers to contribute quality local expert knowledge on their subject of interest in Wikipedia.

Another strategy that will be adopted in this study is to generate local content that will help improve the content gap around the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It is hoped that the trained lecturers will be able to contribute to Wikipedia by improving existing Niger Delta related articles in Wikipedia. Overall, these strategies will help improve the lecturers' understanding of Wikipedia and ultimately result in a mindset shift leading to the acceptance of Wikipedia sources for academic research.

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

In line with the above identified strategies, the following activities will be delivered in the course of this project.


Wikipedia Training: We will have two online trainings and one in-person training for fifty selected lecturers in each of the three selected tertiary institutions in Rivers State namely; Rivers State University, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education and Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic all in Port Harcourt, Rivers State Nigeria. The lecturers will be trained on Wikipedia Policies and guidelines, including the five pillars of Wikipedia, open/creative common license, basic Wikipedia editing, how to verify content in Wikipedia, and how to improve accessibility to scholarly research using Wikipedia amongst others.


Edit-a-thon: We will have one day in-person edit-a-thon after the in-person training to enable the lecturers practice the knowledge gained and also to improve access to local expert knowledge in Wikipedia. It is hoped that at least 50 lecturers in each of the three selected tertiary institutions in Rivers State will contribute quality content to Wikipedia after the training, while also encouraging their students to do same.

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.

Not applicable

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

Yes, I have the team needed to implement this proposal. They include:

User: Ugwulebo (Volunteer Project Coordinator) - User Ugwulebo is an experienced Wikimedian and co-founder of the Port Harcourt Wikimedia Hub. He has coordinated several Wikimedia projects in Nigeria. Being an academic staff member of one of the tertiary institutions in Rivers State, User Ugwulebo will coordinate the project.


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. User Omorodion1 will bring his rich experience as a Librarian and Wikimedian into this project and will be the lead facilitator for this project.

User: Nosakhare Okuons (Volunteer Facilitator) - User: Nosakhare Okuons is an experienced Wikimedia and Trainer. He has facilitated several Wikimedia events in Nigeria. He will bring his experience into this project as a facilitator

User: Doris Ihiasonwu (Volunteer Publicity Coordinator) - User Doris Ihiasonwu is a member of the Port Harcourt Wikimedia Hub. She will handle the publicity relating to this project.

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.

Content Gender gap, Age (regency), 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.

This project seek to address knowledge gaps in Wikipedia, especially as it relate to contributor, content and readership gaps, by training and recruiting lecturers into the Wikimedia community in Port Harcourt, thereby helping to address the systemic bias in 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, Advocacy, Open Technology

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

Geographic , Socioeconomic status, Age

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?

The target participants for this project are lecturers in three tertiary institutions in Rivers State. At least 50 lecturers will be trained each from Rivers State University, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education and Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, all in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. It is hoped that through this project, members of the academic community in Rivers State will be heavily involved in the creation of freely licensed content in Wikipedia. The trained lecturers will be added to the Port Harcourt Wikimedia Hub as part of the strategy to retain them in the Wikimedia community. Engagement with the participants before, during and after the event will be through WhatsApp group. Lecturers will be selected from the different faculty/departments in each of the three institutions.

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

The Wikimedia friendly space policy and universal code of conduct will be implemented in our in-person and online events. In the event of unacceptable behaviour by any of the participants, corrective actions such as warning (in the first instance) will be enforced. The event organizers will equally make efforts to provide participants with contacts of the local law enforcement, event venue security and event organizers.

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.

The Executives of the Nigerian Library Association, Rivers State Chapter and team members of the project have discussed with the Vice Chancellors and Management team of the three institutions about this project and they are excited about this capacity building initiative for the academic staff. We have also informed members of the Port Harcourt Wikimedia Hub and the general Wikimedia Community in Nigeria. An announcement of this proposal have been made in the discussion page of the Port Harcourt Wikimedia Hub and the Wikimedia User Group Nigeria.

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_User_Group_Nigeria#Wiki_Capacity_Building_Program_for_Rivers_State_Lecturers


https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_User_Group_Nigeria/_Port_Harcourt_Wikimedia_Hub#Wiki_Capacity_Building_Program_for_Rivers_State_Lecturers

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.

The project will be implemented in partnership with the Nigerian Library Association, Rivers State Chapter; Rivers State University, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education and Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Port Harcourt. An initial discussion has been held with the Vice Chancellors and Management team of the respective institutions and they are excited about the project. While the Nigerian Library Association, Rivers State Chapter will support the project in the area of logistics, advocacy and mobilization, each of the different tertiary institutions will provide training space, communication materials as well as help in recruiting the lecturers for the project. The different institutions will also help to create visibility for the project by announcing/reporting it on their respective institutional websites.

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.

Increase the Sustainability of Our Movement, Coordinate Across Stakeholders, Invest in Skills and Leadership Development

Learning, Sharing, and Evaluation

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

I hope to learn how lecturers feel about Wikipedia after the training, how they can use Wikipedia tools to improve their work and how much support they require to continue to contribute local expert content to Wikipedia. It will also be interesting to know the kind of content the lecturers will be interested in contributing to Wikipedia.

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 events We will have 3 training for the lecturers. The training will comprise two online training and one in-person training. We will also have 1 day in-person edit-a-thon. This therefore implies that there will be two online events and two in-person events. 4
Participating Institutions The Wikimedia events will be held in three tertiary institutions in Rivers State namely; Rivers State University, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education and Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Port Harcourt. 3
N/A N/A N/A
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 The participants for this project will include 150 lecturers across the three tertiary institutions, 4 project organizers and 7 Executive Members of the Nigerian Library Association, Rivers State Chapter. Of which, Atleast 100 will be new participants 161
Number of editors The total editors for this project will include at least 150 lecturers and 4 project team members. Atleast 100 will be new editors 154
Number of organizers This project will have 4 core organizers which will be supported by other members of the Nigerian Library Association, Rivers State Chapter. 4
Number of new content contributions per Wikimedia project
Wikimedia Project Description Target
Wikipedia At least 250 Niger Delta related Wikipedia articles will be improved as a result of this project 250
Wikimedia Commons At least 100 images will be added to the Wikimedia Commons from this project 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.

We would use the Outreach Dashboard to measure the core metrics for the project. Mentimeter, survey and focused group discussion will be used to collect the qualitative data for this project.

Financial Proposal

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

2133000 NGN

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

4640.68 USD

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

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rXf-ltQjBM18TbzjsUSTPXJJXLBYCMu_JS2lZYaasmQ/edit#gid=0

We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.

Yes

Endorsements and Feedback

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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