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Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Workshops for College Teachers and Students to facilitate content improvement of articles in Tamil Wikipedia (ID: 22160660)

From Meta, a Wikimedia project coordination wiki
statusWithdrawn
Workshops for College Teachers and Students to facilitate content improvement of articles in Tamil Wikipedia
proposed start date2023-07-01
proposed end date2023-09-30
budget (local currency)237600 INR
budget (USD)2906.7 USD
grant typeIndividual
funding regionSA
decision fiscal year2023-24
applicant• Selvasivagurunathan m
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.

Selvasivagurunathan m

Please provide the Usernames of people related to this proposal.

சத்திரத்தான், Sridhar G, Balu1967, TNSE Mahalingam VNR

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.

No

Grant Proposal

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

Workshops for College Teachers and Students to facilitate content improvement of articles in Tamil Wikipedia

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.

Tamil Wikipedia community is one of the strongest among other language communities in India. It was started in 2003 and had gradual and consistent growth over the years. But, the fact is that at any point of time, only 10-15 members are more active in contribution. Hence, members of active participants have decided to conduct series of workshops for college teachers and students in the state of Tamil Nadu. We feel that we can bring new users and make them regular contributors through this initiative.

Due to recent pandemic (COVID-19), the community refrained from any in-person events. Since the pandemic is under control now in India, we have decided that this is right time to conduct offline workshops and to bring new users.

We have quite a number of identified improvement tasks, but we need trained resources to execute. We are driving these tasks through online events with the support from available resources. We strongly believe that we can add more active users through offline workshops.

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

We have considered below indicated approach / strategy to derive the project plan:-

1. Introduction about Wikipedia & sister projects to new users. Provide basic training on -

   (A) Navigation as an end user and 
   (B) Editing as a contributor in Tamil Wikipedia.

2. After the completion of basic training, involve them in curation of existing articles.

We have designed the workshop as indicated below:-

1. The workshop will be conducted in two successive days. 2. Introduction about Wikipedia & sister projects will be done in the first half of Day 1. 3. Basic training (navigation and editing) will be provided in the second half of Day 1. 4. Editing / curation of articles will be done by every participant during entire of Day 2. Coordinators and trainers will guide each participant in-person.

The reason why we are going with 2 days workshop is that we want to provide more hands-on for the new users. They can get clarified their doubts in the event itself.

2 days workshop is a first attempt in our community, we expect good results out of it. We have planned 10 trainers and 50 participants for each workshop. Hence, trainer - trainees ratio will be 1:5 here.

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

1) We have planned one workshop in a month, so that 3 workshops can be conducted in the quarter 'July-August-September 2023'.

(a) July 2023 - First workshop will be conducted for teachers of Sadakathullah Appa College, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India. Postal Code: 627011

(b) August 2023 - Second workshop will be conducted for students of Government College of Education, Komarapalayam, Tamil Nadu, India, Postal Code: 638183

(c) September 2023 - Third workshop will be conducted for students of Sadakathullah Appa College, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India. Postal Code: 627011

2) 10 trainers and 50 new users will participate in each workshop. Men, Women ratio will be 50:50 for new users

3) On the first day, each participant will complete curation for 1 article. Hence, 50 articles in total, will get improvement.

4) On the second day, each participant will complete curation of 4 articles. Hence, 200 articles in total, will get improvement.

5) Each workshop will end with improvement of 250 articles.

6) The organizers / trainers will go to each workshop with a selected list of 1,000 articles. New users can choose articles which are interested to them and edit the articles for improvements.

7) It has been planned to cover articles related to Science & Arts: a) Mathematics b) Physics c) Chemistry d) Botany e) Zoology f) Biochemistry g) Biotechnology h) Microbiology i) Computer Science j) Geography k) Commerce l) Economics m) History n) Sociology

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?

The core team consists of 5 members including me. Other 7 members will involve themselves as trainers / coordinators / facilitators at workshop events. All 12 members are Tamil Wikipedia contributors (volunteers), most of them are administrators in Tamil Wikipedia.

Team List:

1. Selvasivagurunathan Madasamy (User:Selvasivagurunathan m) 2. Pitchaimuthu Mariappan (User:சத்திரத்தான்) 3. Sridhar G (User:Sridhar G) 4. S. Balasubramanian (User:Balu1967) 5. N. R. Mahalingam (User:TNSE Mahalingam VNR) 6. K. Murthy (User:கி.மூர்த்தி) 7. Arularasan. G (User:Arularasan. G) 8. BALA. R (User:Balurbala) 9. LOGANATHAN.R (User:Info-farmer) 10. Parvathisri (User:Parvathisri) 11. Abirami Narayanan (User:அபிராமி நாராயணன்) 12. Neechalkaran (User:Neechalkaran)

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.

Other global topics for impact (topics considered to be of global importance)

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.

There are important articles, which are related to science and arts subject, needed improvements in their content. The deficiency may be in the form of no references, no categories, stubs. Since we are planning to bring new users from college teachers and students community, we thought of focusing articles related to science and arts subject .

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, Diversity

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

Not applicable

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?

Below are the details about target participants:-

1. College teachers (they teach subjects in science and arts) - We will train them for the contribution. We will also motivate them to create awareness among their students about Wikipedia and its sister projects.

2. College students (their college teaches education to them) - These students will be the teachers once they are graduated. They can contribute and can create awareness among their students about Wikipedia and its sister projects in long-term.

3. College students (their college teaches subjects in science and arts) - We will train them and will motivate them to continue their contribution during their higher study or beyond that.

Engaging participants before the workshop:-

We will have a online meeting just one week prior to the scheduled workshop. This to provide a brief introduction about the initiative so that the participants will have an idea.

Follow-up with participants after the workshop:-

1. We will connect with the participants through online meetings to address their queries and provide support wherever required

2. We will motive them to participate in online events / drives which are regularly happening in Tamil Wikipedia.

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

1. Necessary announcements will be made to make sure that all participants can understand 'Friendly space policies' and 'Universal Code of Conduct' 2. Event conference hall, computer lab space, computer and internet facilities will be provided by respective college authorities. Our team will check the safety environment of the workshop. 3. All participants will be given equal importance and everyone will be guided / supported by the trainers / coordinators

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.

1. We had started a Project Page with a draft. In parallel, Talk Page was created and all proposals were discussed there. Based on the discussion points, Project Page has been updated as a finalized proposal. Refer the Talk Page here: https://ta.wikipedia.org/s/bvbj

2. The information about raising Rapid Fund request also posted in idea lab section of Village pump (In Tamil Wikipedia, it is 'விக்கிப்பீடியா:ஆலமரத்தடி (புதிய கருத்துக்கள்)'. Refer: https://ta.wikipedia.org/s/585p

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?

Yes

If yes:

12.1 Did you explore the possibility of doing a joint proposal with other leaders in your group?
No
12.2 How will this joint proposal allow you to have better results?
I yet to explore the possibility of this option; I will study on this.

As per my understanding, this is the first time we are applying from our community for Rapid Fund to conduct workshops.

13. Will you be working with other external, non-Wikimedia partners to implement this proposal? Required.

No

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.


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, Improve User Experience, Ensure Equity in Decision-making, Invest in Skills and Leadership Development, Identify Topics for Impact, Coordinate Across Stakeholders, Manage Internal Knowledge

Learning, Sharing, and Evaluation

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

1. How innovative this 2-days workshop and what will be the impact in the growth of Tamil Wikipedia in next 1 year of time? 2. How the response from teachers community and how from students community? 3. Does asking 'curation of articles' instead of 'creation of new articles' retain new users?

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
Contribution by all participants Track and monitor the contribution by all participants for a year. Need to identify how many are regularly contributing. 30
Contribution by teachers Track and monitor the contribution by all teachers for a year. Need to identify how many are regularly contributing. 10
Contribution by students Track and monitor the contribution by all students for a year. Need to identify how many are regularly contributing. 20
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 150
Number of editors 150
Number of organizers 12
Number of new content contributions per Wikimedia project
Wikimedia Project Description Target
Wikipedia Target: Content improvement for 750 articles in Tamil Wikipedia.

We have the target of 5 articles each for every participant. (150 participants x 5 articles = 750 articles total)

750
N/A N/A N/A
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.

We have planned to focus on Tamil Wikipedia project through this series of workshops. Hence I have not provided target for Project # 2 to 5.

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.

At this moment, we have not planned any automated tool to measure the metrics. We have experts in our community to help us on our request. We will get their help on this.

However, we have below plan to track contributions by the participants: 1. We will go to each workshop with a list of identified 1,000 articles 2. Participants will be asked to choose the article from the list and they have to record their user name against each title 3. Trainers / Organizers will track the list

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.

237600 INR

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

2906.7 USD

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


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