Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Wiki Week September 2025 at UIC (ID: 23452226)/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)
This was a series of events across an entire week so the answer to this question varies. For outreach to higher ups at UIC it was very effective, as well as connecting with some professors and librarians. The editathon was also effective, given its timing during the middle of the day.
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
September 15: Information (and) Justice: How Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation shape Knowledge Equity This plenary session featured four speakers: (host) Zachary McDowell, Associate Professor, Department of Communication Costanza Sciubba Caniglia, Anti-Disinformation Strategy Lead, Wikimedia Foundation Stan Adams, Lead Public Policy Specialist Wikimedia Foundation, Frank Schulenburg, Executive Director, Wiki Education Foundation
Provost Karen Colley and Dean Lisa Freeman made comments, as did the Director of the Institute for Humanities, Ellen McClure.
Around 50 additional people attended Talks were recorded, but for privacy and safety of speakers and discussants, the video is kept unlisted. Here.
September 16: Teaching With Wikipedia: Engaging Students and Increasing Representation Presenter: Ian Ramjohn, PhD., Senior Wikipedia Expert, Wiki Education Foundation
16 people signed up, but only 11 people attended List here Sept 16 Teaching with Wikipedia (Responses)
September 17: Wikipedia and Wikidata for Libraries and Information Scientists Presenters: Jamie Flood, Butler University Dominic Byrd-McDevitt, Digital Public Library of America
10 people signed up and attended. List here - Sept 17 Wikipedia and Libraries (Responses)
September 18: Combatting Information Bias in Chicago: A Wikipedia Editathon Leaders: Jamie Flood and Dominic Byrd-McDevitt
Also attending - members from Wikimedians of Chicago
Breakdown: Articles Created: 4 Articles Edited: 26 Total Edits: 112 Editors: 11 Words Added: 6.92K References Added: 67 Article Views: 44.5K Commons Uploads: 2
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
There were multiple slide decks across multiple speakers. Slides for advertising events: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1vX4BFsfjQ18WbnmWrm6IEEuOH876RM5nRkxxkToKgaE/edit?slide=id.g37e6f19ca87_0_1584#slide=id.g37e6f19ca87_0_1584
Introduction to plenary, short talk by Zachary McDowell, and events: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1g7l6H9ZMOH-XUC1F31x27GP0sFIpjLyUC_HSl6GpHvo/edit?slide=id.g37e6f19ca87_0_1584#slide=id.g37e6f19ca87_0_1584
Stan Adams talk: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1q_JXNf6uV2cUydgX22HiInstaTFQXtV2gS9ekCksq6w/edit
Costanza's talk - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1enyII0KX6hngVbvC28iun7ZjN_XJoTCA/edit?slide=id.g2ce2cb5d632_2_2304#slide=id.g2ce2cb5d632_2_2304
Frank's slides (they have been converted so they do not look great in slide form as they were a pdf) - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/18XqfrVKiw2jThW04okJ3mTWN8Pylh4Hpl7u0knRRFAc/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 | Agree |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | Agree |
| F. Encourage the retention of organizers | Strongly agree |
| G. Increased participants' feelings of belonging and connection to the movement | Strongly 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: We are hoping to learn more about ways we can connect academics with Wikimedia projects more readily. In particular, the meetings and dinner with WMF staff and academics will be of particular use to help gauge excitement and interest in different projects. We will follow up with different participants to discuss ways in which we can connect participants with knowledge equity and representation concerns, learning more about how to encourage University members with Wikimedia.
We learned that, as usual, connecting with academics is difficult as schedules vary significantly. However, the meetings, dinners, and one-on-ones we had with leaders at UIC were very helpful to convey the type of work that is being done and how they can get involved in multiple ways. Additionally, the Dean of LAS and the Provost were incredibly impressed with the work and I can imagine there will be more support for additional work together.
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)
Personal connections with local groups allowed me to reach out and ask for photos to be donated to the commons about a local topic as the nonprofit did not know this was the way to share with Wikipedia, which is lovely. Definitely the timing of "during the day" events on campus is difficult as people have many conflicting schedules. It seems that lately people are scheduling things late, and even though we advertised for months, schedules were still crossed. However, I think that people have taken notice and now will prioritize attendance to these thigns more. And, as a reminder, never try to combine slide decks in google slides.
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)
One of these things I have already done is speak with Kelly from Wikimedians of Chicago about how these things work and how to be successful in organizing them. I have already spoken with members of WMF that spoke at this event and will follow up with them about more ways to connect. In the future I am considering creating a presentation for Edu Wiki group.
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 | 150 | 92 | Google forms for sign up, head count for large speaking event, and counting editors on dashboard. There were a few more people that attended, but listened to the presentation without editing. |
| Number of editors | 50 | 11 | The editathon was far less attended than I had hoped. I had many excited emails that people were sending their classes to the editathon, but few showed up. The ones that did, stayed for a while (if they stayed at all). Dashboard collected these. |
| Number of organizers | 6 | 7 | Myself, Ian, Jamie, Dominic, Kelly from WM Chicago, and the Institute's organizer, Katie Corby and the Institute's Director Ellen McClure |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 5 | 5 | 26 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 2 | 0 | |
| Wikidata | 5 | ||
| 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)
4941.05
11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
4941.05
12. Report the funds spent in the currency of your fund. (required)
Provide the link to the financial report https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1R6Yj7Ms-2ZnXAwgtAuIIBAm5DQ13mytakLQ6PInkWKM/edit?usp=sharing
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)
Per discussion with Chris Schilling, we took the leftover funds from the original proposal and spent it to bring Wikipedia trainers for librarians out for a Digital Humanities symposium, particularly to train librarians on Wikidata
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.
$1,182.58
Explanations for differences are noted in the final budget, comparing original estimates to final expenditures. Overall differences were due mostly to lowered food costs due to less attendance.
13.2. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
B. Propose to use them to partially or fully fund a new/future request with PO approval
13.3. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
I'd like to use these funds for an additional editathon and/or training program for librarians in Spring 2026, I was approached by a librarian who would also like an additional Wikidata training issue. I have posted this to the
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)