Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Wikimedians of Kerala Anniversary Programme (ID: 22762361)/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)
Our primary objective is to establish strategic collaborations with organizations aligned with Wikimedia mission, specifically within Kerala's robust Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) ecosystem. This includes FOSS User Groups, OpenStreetMap Communities, Biodiversity communities and other relevant entities. We aim to achieve this through joint projects, knowledge sharing workshops, and collaborative content creation initiatives. By combining our expertise and resources, we are trying to amplify our impact and contribute to the growth of open knowledge ecosystem in Kerala.
- Activity: A wikidata workshop and birthday celebration activity organized with Kochi FOSS in their monthly meetup. The workshop focused on introducing Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons to participants. A cake cutting ceremony organized as a part of the 12th birthday of Wikidata.
- Results: This is a very good opportunity to introduce Wikidata into the technical community in Infopark, Kochi. 80 People participated in the event. User:Subins2000 showcased his tool to analyse place names in Kerala based on Wikidata.
- Approaches: Wikimedians of Kerala UG directly contacted KochiFOSS organizers to conduct this event. KochiFOSS is keen in promoting FOSS and open knowledge projects. Wikidata directly aligns with the goals of KochiFOSS.
- Activity: A Wikidata workshop and birthday celebration activity organized with the State of the Map Kerala 2024 conference. This workshop focused on introducing Wikidata to participants from the Openstreetmap community. Open Data Kerala facilitated a strong collaboration with the Openstreetmap community in Kerala. A cake cutting ceremony organized as a part of the 12th birthday of Wikidata.
- Results: This is a very good opportunity to connect with the Openstreetmap community in Kerala with Wikimedia projects. 200 People participated in the conference. Arun Ganesh, the logo designer of Wikidata cut the birthday cake in the conference. 13 Students from Kerala Digital University participated in the Wikidata training. Wikidata Poster basics is included in the Conference Swag.
- Approaches: Open Data Kerala played a key role in organizing the first-ever State of the Map Kerala conference. Wikimedians of Kerala User Group in collaboration with Open Data Kerala participated in State of the Map Kerala 2024. This collaboration resulted in a successful opportunity to establish a robust partnership with the OpenStreetMap community in Kerala.
- Activity: Organized a two-day technical workshop for students in Amal Jyothi College of Engineering, Kanjirappally. The workshop focused on introducing students to various Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and other sister projects. The main goal of this workshop was to introduce the mediawiki ecosystem and train students to develop tools around wikimedia projects.
- Results: 30 Students from Amal Jyothi College of Engineering participated in the 2 day workshop. 8 new software projects created based on Wikimedia APIs. This event was organized in collaboration with FOSS Club in Amal Jyothi College of Engineering. 30 new users created and contributed to Wikimedia projects. This event help to build a strong collaboration with Computer Science department in Amal Jyothi College of Engineering.
- Approaches: We got connected to the FOSS Club in Amal Jyothi College of Engineering from previous Wikimedia events. We also discussed the possibility of conducting a Hackathon with Computer science students in Amal Jyothi College of Engineering. We got connected with the management and organized this event.
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- Activity: A dedicated edit-a-thon was organized in Malayalam Wikipedia from Dec 2ndt to Dec 31st, focusing on enhancing and updating contents related to Villages of Kerala.
- Results: During this period, 114 articles were created and 23 articles were updated. and 6 editors signed up for the event.
- Approaches: The edit-a-thon fostered discussions on how Wikimedia projects can be used as a tool for enhancing and sharing geographical information of Kerala particularly in connections with Birthday celebration of Malayalam Wikipedia. During the workshop participants were encouraged to use wiki tools like hotcat to categorize the newly created articles. A comprehensive dashboard was built to track this edit-a-thon.
- Activity: Organized a photography campaign aimed at celebrating and documenting the remarkable bird diversity across India. This campaign was organized by Sahya Digital conservation foundation in collaboration with Salim Ali Foundation. India is home to approximately 1,350 bird species. The aim of this campaign is to enrich Wikimedia Commons with free-licensed, high-quality images of Indian birds, creating and improving ornithology related articles in Indian language Wikipedias.
- Results: During the photography campaign, over 50 volunteers contributed more than 6000 photographs. 13 different bird walks were organized all over India as a part of this campaign.
- Approaches: Outreach through social media, community channels, mailing lists and collaboration with organizations helped spread awareness and participation. This campaign is a revamp of the original Wiki Loves Birds campaign initiated by the Nepal community. This campaign was organized by Sahya Digital conservation foundation in collaboration with Salim Ali Foundation. Wikimedians of Kerala User Group partnered with these organizations to conduct this event. Sahya Digital conservation foundation organized a number of bird walks connected with this event.
- Activity: In association with the Department of Wildlife Sciences in Kerala Agricultural University and Sahya digital conservation foundation we organized a bird count event at Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur from 6 - 8 December 2024.
- Results: 48 people participated in the event. The survey was conducted by 10 teams across 10 designated locations within the Kerala Agricultural University campus and documented a total of 133 bird species, with 288 checklists uploaded to the eBird platform.
- Approaches: The event was planned in collaboration with Department of Wildlife Sciences, College of Forestry and Tatva Students Union in association with BATS (Biodiversity Assessment Team of Students), Kole Birders Collective, Wikimedians of Kerala User Group, Sahya digital conservation foundation, Traverse Tour Planners and Gnome Systems.
- Activity: A dedicated photo walk was organized by Wikimedians of Kerala User Group and Sahya Digital Conservation Foundation to document birds in Western Ghat.
- Results: A 5 member team covered 9 different locations in Western Ghat that spread across Kerala and Tamilnadu.
- Approaches: Participants of this bird walk tries to document the diverse ornithology of Western Ghat. This photowalk was planned in perfect alignment with the campaign running in Wikimedia commons. This created great awareness about preservation and enrichment of ornithology data. A popular news media covered the campaign and the photowalk.
- Activity: WikiConference Kerala is a conference aimed at bolstering the Wikimedia ecosystem in the state of Kerala, India, particularly focusing on the Malayalam language with support of similar goal sharing Communities and Organizations. The conference is strategically timed to coincide with the birthday of the Malayalam Wikipedia, celebrated in December.
- Results: 100 people participated in the conference. The main theme of the conference was language diversity in Kerala. 10 talks about language diversity happened in the conference. There is a presentation about building community around accessibility. There was a panel discussion about bridging the gender gap in the wikimedia ecosystem. Malayalam Wikipedia birthday celebration was also part of the conference.
- Approaches: Wikiconference Kerala 2024 was the 2nd edition of the conference. We conducted several activities before the conference in Kerala Agricultural University. We built a strong collaboration with various departments in the university before organizing the conference. The director of the College of Climate Change and Environmental Science agreed to proceed further with activities related to the Wikimedia movement.
- Activity: Annual General Body Meeting of the Wikimedians of Kerala User Group 2024 is being organized on 29th December 2024 at Kerala Agricultural University, Mannuthy, Thrissur. This event is planned in association with Wiki Conference Kerala 2024. This event is a good opportunity for the members of the user group to discuss the group's accomplishments, future plans, and collaborative opportunities. This meeting serves as a platform for members to engage in meaningful discussions about enhancing Wikimedia projects, particularly those that focus on the Malayalam language and culture.
- Results: 15 people participated in the meeting. This meeting highlights the importance of community engagement and the role of local contributors in enriching Wikimedia's resources. By gathering insights and feedback from participants, the AGBM aims to strengthen the user group's mission and enhance its impact within the broader Wikimedia movement. Activities related to upcoming Wiki Conference India 2025, which is happening in Kochi are also part of main discussions.
- Approaches: We planned the Annual Meetup in connection with Malayalam Wikipedia Birthday. This meetup will bring more clarity about the current ongoing user group activities and our future plans.
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- Activity: Organized a two-day workshop for students and Wikimedians. The workshop focused on categorizing files uploaded in the Wikimedia Commons and enriching structured data in Wikimedia Commons. Students from Sir Syed college Taliparamba participated in this workshop. Introducing participants to various Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons are also part of this workshop.
- Results: 11 People including faculties from Syed college Taliparamba participated in the workshop. The categorization of images was done and also improved the structured data in Commons. Participants used ISA tool, SDC tool, ACDC tool to handle structured data. Also hotcat and cat-a-lot are used to manage categories.
- Approaches: Wikimedians of Kerala User group partnered with the Forestry department in Sir Syed college Taliparamba to organize this event.
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
- Documentation: A Page on Wikidata created to document the activities in the event.
- Images: Images uploaded into Wikimedia Commons
- Presentations: Presentation uploaded into Wikimedia Commons
- Tool: Tool built over Wikidata by Subins
- Documentation: A page is created on Meta wiki to document the activities in the event.
- Images: Images uploaded into Wikimedia Commons.
- Presentations: Presentation uploaded into Wikimedia Commons.
- Poster: A poster about Wikidata made to distribute.
- Game: Everything Is Connected - Wikidata game revamped in association with this event.
- Stats: 12 New accounts created in Wikidata during the workshop
- Documentation: A documentation page and an event page created on Meta wiki to document the activities in the event.
- Images: Images uploaded into Wikimedia Commons.
- Presentations: Presentation uploaded into Wikimedia Commons.
- Hackathon Projects: The projects are hosted on Github.
- Etherpad: An Etherpad is created to track various links. Another Etherpad is created to track the group progress.
- Phabricator: A workboard is created in phabricator to track the tasks
- Stats: 30 New users were signed up for this workshop
- Documentation: An event page is created on Wikimedia Commons. A page in Meta wiki to document the events.
- Campaign: A campaign page is created in Wikimedia Commons to track the files.
- Images: Categories are created in Wikimedia Commons to track files.
- Outreach Dashboard: A campaign in outreach dashboard is created to track the campaign.
- Queries:Participants in the Campaign, Files in the Campaign, Wikidata IDs of the Files.
- Photowalks: A page in Wikimedia Commons to documents photowalks related to this campaign
- Stats: 13 Photowalks, 6000+ Images, 50+ Volunteers
- Documentation: An Event page is created in Meta Wiki.
- Images: A category is created in Wikimedia Commons.
- Stats: 124 participants, including students from the College of Forestry and the College of Climate Change and Environmental Studies, as well as bird watchers, took part in the event.
- Documentation: A page in Meta wiki created to document the activities.
- Images: Category is created in Wikimedia Commons.
- Stats: 4 Wikimedia Users participated in this event.
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- Documentation: A Template and pages are created in Meta wiki to track the conference.
- Images: A category is created in Wikimedia Commons.
- Design: All of the design files are uploaded into Wikimedia Commons
- Stats: 100 people participated in the conference, 15 Presentations.
- Documentation: A page on Meta wiki created to document the activities.
- Etherpad: An etherpad created to document the minutes
- Report: A report is created on Meta wiki.
- Documentation: A coordination page is created on Malayalam Wikipedia.
- Template: A template is created in Malayalam wikipedia to track progress.
- Tool: A statistics page created in tool forge to track the progress.
- Stats: 114 Articles created, 23 Articles expanded, 4 Users, 560 Edits.
- Documentation: A page is created in Meta wiki to document the activities.
- Images: A category in Wikimedia Commons is created.
- Stats: 11 new users created.
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
- Wikidata Presentation
- Wikidata Leaflet
- Wikidata Banner
- Wiki Conference Kerala Designs
- Wiki Conference Kerala Swag Designs
- Bottle Print Patterns
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 | 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 | Agree |
| G. Increased participants' feelings of belonging and connection to the movement | 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 want to learn how to make our community stronger and more impactful on Wikimedia projects. Specifically: Increasing Participation: What motivates active contribution? Enhancing Influence: How can we better represent our community's needs? Building Partnerships: What types of partnerships benefit us most? Measuring Impact: How do we measure our success and ensure lasting change? Welcome Newpeople: How to engage new people into the wikimedia ecosystem? These insights will guide our community's sustainable growth and development.
1. Increasing Participation: What motivates active contribution?
- Refined Insight:
- "Continuous programs are essential for sustained contributions, but they must be strategically designed to foster a sense of progression, skill development, and community. Regularly showcasing contributions and their impact provides tangible recognition and reinforces the value of individual effort."
- Actionable Strategies:
- Structured Programs:
- Implement thematic campaigns, edit-a-thons, and workshops with clear learning outcomes and progression paths.
- Establish a calendar of recurring events to create a consistent engagement rhythm.
- Recognition and Showcase:
- Organize regular virtual or in-person showcases of contributions,
- Produce "impact reports" that show statistics and stories of the changes that the contributors made.
- Feedback Loops:
- Establish regular feedback mechanisms to understand contributors' needs and preferences.
- Structured Programs:
2. Enhancing Influence: How can we better represent our community's needs?
- Refined Insight:
- "Effective representation requires a clear understanding of the community's needs, proactive communication with Wikimedia platforms, and strategic advocacy for policy changes that support local language and cultural content."
- Actionable Strategies:
- Needs Assessment:
- Conduct regular surveys and focus groups to gather community feedback on priorities and challenges.
- Create a community roadmap that outlines key goals and strategies.
- Representation at Events:
- Ensure active participation in regional and global Wikimedia events, such as Wikimania and regional conferences, to raise awareness of community priorities.
- Building Alliances:
- Find other communities that have similar needs, goals and create coalitions to increase influence.
- Needs Assessment:
3. Building Partnerships: What types of partnerships benefit us most?
- Refined Insight:
- "Strategic partnerships with educational institutions, cultural organizations, and local government bodies can provide access to resources, expertise, and wider audiences, enhancing the reach and impact of Wikimedia projects."
- Actionable Strategies:
- Educational Institutions:
- Collaborate with universities and schools to organize programmes which can support education.
- Organize workshops and training sessions for students and faculty.
- Cross-Community Partnerships:
- Partner with other language communities to share best practices and resources.
- Educational Institutions:
4. Measuring Impact: How do we measure our success and ensure lasting change?
- Refined Insight:
- "Effective impact measurement requires a combination of quantitative and qualitative data, focusing on both project outcomes and community development. Sustainable change is achieved through continuous evaluation, adaptation, and knowledge sharing."
- Actionable Strategies:
- Quantitative Metrics:
- Track key metrics such as article creation, edits, page views, and contributor participation.
- Use Wikimedia tools like Pageviews Analysis and PetScan to gather data.
- Qualitative Metrics:
- Conduct surveys and interviews to gather feedback on community satisfaction and project impact.
- Collect case studies and testimonials to illustrate the impact of contributions.
- Knowledge Sharing:
- Document and share best practices and lessons learned with the wider Wikimedia community.
- Create a repository of resources and tools for community members.
- Quantitative Metrics:
5. Welcoming Newpeople: How to engage new people into the Wikimedia ecosystem?
- Refined Insight:
- "Effective onboarding involves creating a welcoming and supportive environment, providing clear guidance and mentorship, and fostering a sense of belonging. Continuous mentoring is a very important part of this process."
- Actionable Strategies:
- Simplified Onboarding:
- Create user-friendly tutorials and guides for new contributors.
- Host introductory workshops and webinars.
- Mentorship Program:
- Establish a mentorship program to pair new contributors with experienced members.
- Provide ongoing support and guidance.
- Community Building:
- Create online and offline spaces for new contributors to connect and collaborate.
- Organize social events and activities to foster a sense of community.
- Build Confidence:
- Give new users small, manageable tasks to build confidence.
- Provide positive feedback and encouragement.
- Simplified Onboarding:
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)
Wiki Loves Birds photo campaign During the Wiki Loves Birds photo campaign, one of the most unexpected and positive outcomes was the overwhelming participation we have received. More than 6,000 photographs from contributors came, exceeding our initial expectations. The level of community engagement was remarkable, with photographers from various regions of India. Also photowalks related to the Wiki Loves Birds campaign happened all over India. On the other hand, we did face challenges in managing such a number of bird walks in a very short timeline. It is very difficult to identify and categorize and curate photographs in Wikimedia Commons considering the size of the organizing team behind the campaign. Wikimedia technical workshop This is the first wikimedia technical workshop organized by Wikimedians of Kerala UG. We don’t have much idea about how to mentor students and handle all sorts of technical challenges associated with a hackathon. We went through the event and successfully completed some of the projects that started in the hackathon. Wiki Conference Kerala 2024
The primary challenge in organizing Wikiconference Kerala 2024 was the compressed timeline, particularly in securing a venue. Despite the near-impossibility of finding a location in such short order, the exceptional support from Kerala Agricultural University was decisive. Coupled with the remarkable commitment from our speakers, who embraced the conference's theme of language diversity in Kerala, the event overcame its initial hurdles to achieve a resounding success
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)
We have already shared some of our initial learnings during a meetup call with the Wikimedians of Kerala User Group members. We plan to share our final project learnings and results with the broader Wikimedia communities in the following ways: Diff Posts: We will publish detailed posts on Diff, highlighting Wiki Loves Bird India 2024 campaign’s achievements, challenges, and insights. Meta-Wiki Report: A comprehensive report summarizing the campaign, including statistics, key learnings will be added to Meta-Wiki. This report will be made publicly available to other organizers and community members to replicate or improve upon the model. These efforts will ensure that our campaign's outcomes and experiences are accessible and beneficial to the wider Wikimedia community.
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 | 50 | 200 | 100 people participated in Wikiconference Kerala 2025. 30 students in Wikimedia Technical Workshop. 50 People in Wiki Loves Birds India 2024, 80 People participated in Wikidata Birthday celebration |
| Number of editors | 20 | 100 | Quarry tool, Editathon Stat tool, Outreach Dashboard, Petscan |
| Number of organizers | 9 | 15 | Other than the core organizing team for the conference there are organizers for Wikimedia Technical Workshop, Wiki Loves Birds Photowalks, Taxonomy Datathon etc. |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 50 | 114 | 23 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 500 | 6000 | 2000 |
| Wikidata | 5000 | 8000 | 10000 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Partinering Organizations | Number of organizations to partner in the offline events | 5 | 11 | 7 organizations partnered with us in Wiki Conference Kerala 2024. Also KochiFOSS, Openstreetmap Kerala, Amal Jyothi College of Engineering, Sir Syed College Taliparamba are partnered with us in various events. |
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)
437820.64
11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
5009.11
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/1n3XiP9dY-oGlTFfWdwaqUTT4VyXf0UizP4deFeB8AVw/edit?gid=928458698#gid=928458698
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)
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.
N/A
13.2. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
N/A
13.3. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
N/A
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)
If I can make dashboards in Meta Wiki then that will be a very good facility to showcase the impact of programmes. The existing event tool can be improved with these facilities. If we can make a tool that can track daily uploads in Wikimedia commons in a category that is also another great tool.
Review notes
[edit]Review notes from Program Officer:
N/A
Applicant's response to the review feedback.
N/A