Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Wikivoyage article contest 2024 (ID: 22760166)/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 project, Wikivoyage Article Contest, started on 1 October 2024 and ended on 30 October 2024. We received outstanding responses from participants. Our initial target was to create 50 articles, but the final output exceeded our expectations, with 1,000+ articles contributed—an achievement beyond our imagination.
The primary objective was to build an editing community by attracting new contributors. To achieve this, we:
- Published numerous posts on various Telegram channels,
- Created YouTube videos,
- Posted on multiple Facebook pages and personal profiles of organizers, and
- Launched a Central Notice campaign.
The results were remarkable, attracting a significant number of newcomers. Moving forward, our next target is to sustain this newly-built community.
- Project Outcomes and Statistics
To provide better insight into the outcomes, here are some key statistics:
- Article Count: Before the project, Bangla Wikivoyage had only 940 articles in over five years. By the end of the project, the article count had risen to 2,054.
- Participants': A total of 355 people signed up for the contest, with around 80 users actively contributing as part of the project—85% of whom were newcomers.
- Content Growth: Before the project, the word count was 0.471 million, which skyrocketed to 41 million words by the end of the contest.
- Feedback and Effective Approaches
We conducted a small survey after the contest, which revealed the following:
- Most newcomers learned about the project through the Central Notice or social media.
- A smaller portion learned about it through friends or family.
- YouTube videos played a key role in familiarizing newcomers with the contest.
- Our prompt communication and Telegram support group were instrumental in resolving issues and providing guidance.
Based on these insights, the most effective approaches were the Central Notice banner and social media communications. These methods significantly contributed to the project's success.
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
- Project page: https://w.wiki/BK7E
- Tools used:
- Fountain: https://fountain.toolforge.org/editathons/voy24
- To count added words we used: https://ytools.toolforge.org/wc/
- Photos of award giving event:
- Graphic material: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Bangla_Wikivoyage_Article_Contest
- Infographics (a poster showed at Bangla Wikiconference 2024): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bangla_Wikivoyage_Article_Contest_2024_Poster_for_Bangla_WikiConference_2024.pdf
- Social media posts:
- Survey result: https://w.wiki/CARm
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
- Tutorial for mobile users: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBv8q-bGoAI
- A playlist of basic to advanced tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlc1wNTIeZ4bZ5S79FjCQx1TxAq8_o8Sc
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 | Agree |
| B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community | Strongly agree |
| C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups | Strongly agree |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Strongly agree |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | Strongly 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: From this project, we hope to gain several important insights that will contribute to the success of future initiatives. Specifically, we aim to evaluate how well similar contests advance smaller projects and introduce newcomers to the workflows and editing practices of these platforms. We seek to refine our strategies for managing and designing competitions, learning what works best and identifying potential challenges. By discovering these challenges and developing effective solutions, we can improve our approach to future small-scale projects within the community. Additionally, the knowledge gained from this experience will be applied to enhance similar endeavours in other contexts, ensuring broader impact and increased community engagement.
In the implementation of the Bangla Wikivoyage Article Contest 2024, we learnt that focused contests can really enhance smaller projects and attract newcomers effectively. This contest outperformed our expectations: articles increased from 940 to over 2,000, and Bangla Wikivoyage moved up in the global ranking from 19th to 13th place. Since 71 out of 76 contributors were newcomers, we confirmed once again that these types of initiatives are successful at introducing new users to the habits of editing. We also recognized the importance of early planning and resource allocation, as funding approvals at the last minute proved difficult. Support tools, such as tutorial videos and real-time support through Telegram, were helpful to support participants and mobile users in particular. The Fountain tool made it difficult to review nearly 1,000 articles and prepare results, so we felt compelled to create a new tool with improved performance and new features. We are in the process of creating such tools by collaborating with a volunteer developer. In the future, we will organize more events to retain community involvement, produce more educational materials, and offer tools for contributors. We will apply these findings to other similar projects, increasing community involvement elsewhere. The contest proved that with proper preparation and backing, smaller Wikimedia projects can also achieve outstanding growth, and we will use those lessons drawn to enhance our future activities and help the real development of communities.
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)
One of the most unexpected things in the contest was that, toward the end of it, some contestants began to do a mass translation of articles from English Wikivoyage using ChatGPT. While the content was generally good, the formatting and manual of style suffered, and the article deviated from the Bangla Wikivoyage guidelines. This complicated our work because we needed to rush and train the participants on how to improve the formatting and meet the platform's standards. It left the jury with the onerous job of going through over 1,000 articles in record time, which was only possible with extraordinary commitment from dedicated persons. Funding approval was granted only one day before the start of the contest, resulting in a rushed start and rapid adjustments by the organizing team. From this we learned lessons that were valuable in advance specification of guidelines about using AI, proactive support regarding formatting and tool usage, scalable planning of article reviews, and finalization of funding logistics well in advance. These insights will help us in better preparation for future initiatives.
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 will be sharing the learning and outcome of the Bangla Wikivoyage Article Contest 2024 through various effective channels with the larger community. First, we have published a survey report on the Bangla Wikivoyage wiki page regarding the result of the contest, key metrics of the contest, and lessons learnt from this contest. Then we presented a poster at the Bangla Wikiconference detailing the contest's outcome, metrics, and lessons learned. We also disseminated our success story along with the key findings through the Diff blog of the Wikimedia Foundation and Bangla Wikivoyage and Wikipedia social media platforms which are read by thousands of people. We submitted an article to Wikibarta, a magazine published by the Wikimedia Bangladesh chapter, for its upcoming issue. These will be supplemented by tutorial resources and best practice documents based on the experiences that will be shared with other Wikimedia projects undertaking similar activities. In using these various channels, we ensure that our learnings will be widely accessible and usable to serve as an inspiration for future collaborations across the Wikimedia ecosystem.
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 | 100 | 355 | |
| Number of editors | 40 | 76 | |
| Number of organizers | 3 | 3 |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | |||
| Wikimedia Commons | |||
| Wikidata | |||
| Wiktionary | |||
| Wikisource | |||
| Wikimedia Incubator | |||
| Translatewiki | |||
| MediaWiki | |||
| Wikiquote | |||
| Wikivoyage | 50 | 1000 | 0 |
| 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)
65135
11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
539.35
12. Report the funds spent in the currency of your fund. (required)
Upload the financial report
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)
Review notes
[edit]Review notes from Program Officer:
N/A
Applicant's response to the review feedback.
N/A