Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Recovering the collective memory of Spain 2022-2023

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statusnot funded
Recovering the collective memory of Spain 2022-2023
a) Carry out exhaustive research and mapping in Spanish Wikipedia and Wikidata about the situation of Historical Memory in Spain to identify gaps in knowledge and content, with a focus on the gender gap and other minority communities, working in coordination with field experts and other specialized advisors.

b) A website to register the evolution of the project.

c) A Wikiproject which will be solidified in year 2 with the community through different activities.
start date1-Feb-2022
end date31-Jan-2023
budget (local currency)260800 EUR
amount requested (USD)299920 USD
grant typeWikimedia Affiliate (chapter, thematic org., or user group)
applicant and people related to proposaluser:PatriHorrillo, user:Lalviarez, user:Raystorm, user:Zapipedia
organization (if applicable)Wikiesfera Grupo de Usuarixs


This is an automatically generated page based on the applicant's application on the Wikimedia Foundation's Grantee Portal on Fluxx.

Overview[edit]

What is the main objective of your proposal?

  • a) Carry out exhaustive research and mapping in Spanish Wikipedia and Wikidata about the situation of Historical Memory in Spain to identify gaps in knowledge and content, with a focus on the gender gap and other minority communities, working in coordination with field experts and other specialized advisors.
  • b) A website to register the evolution of the project.
  • c) A Wikiproject which will be solidified in year 2 with the community through different activities.

What are the main challenges you are trying to solve and your proposed solution?

After a cruel civil war, Spain was oppressed for over three decades under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1939-1975), during which a multitude of human rights crimes were committed and an estimated 140,000 people were forcibly disappeared. This places Spain as the country with the second highest number of disappeared people in the world, only behind Pol Pot's regime in Cambodia. Other sources place Spain as the fourth country in the world, behind Cambodia, Vietnam and Iraq.

These 40 years of fascist repression and human rights violations have been buried. The Democratic Transition was built on a policy of forgetfulness led by the elites that continues to this day. As a result, Spain is the only democracy in the world that has yet to carry out any investigation into the state terrorism exercised during the dictatorship, despite repeated requests from the UN to investigate both the crimes of Franco's regime and the thousands of people who disappeared during the dictatorship.

The process of Recovery of Historical Memory is becoming increasingly complex, given the scattering of documentation of the period in a multitude of archives and the progressive death of witnesses of that time. It is therefore necessary to act urgently to close the gaps in knowledge as well as to visibilise and recognise the victims.

In Wikiesfera we aim to develop a long-term project to identify and repair the omissions and knowledge gaps that exist in Wikipedia related to the Franco dictatorship, in line with the Wikimedia Movement's 2030 strategy. There are several investigations inside and outside the academic world on Historical Memory in Spain, there are even government pages with data on missing persons that are available for public consultation. However, despite attempts by projects such as that of the Innovation and Human Rights association to centralize all this information, which is scattered in both face-to-face and virtual places, there is still no single place for consultation and/or dissemination.

We intend to unify this search space to make visible the extent of the repression and oppression on a universally accessible platform such as Wikipedia. We want to develop a collective and open space for the exchange, systematization and updating of information that visibilises the human rights violations in Spain during the Civil War and Franco's dictatorship, so this knowledge is not lost forever and serves even if in a small way to help prevent repeating the past.

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.

Identify Topics for Impact, Innovate in Free Knowledge

Where will this proposal be implemented?

Spain

Do you want to apply for multi-year funding?

Yes

Project Proposal[edit]

Describe your main strategies to achieve the objective and the activities you will be developing as part of these strategies.

1) Mapping

With experts and specialized researchers, we will map the situation Historical Memory of Spain (HMS) in Wikipedia with a focus on the gender gap, sexual identity and other underrepresented groups. We will also analyze within this mapping the situation of the HMS in Wikidata to identify knowledge and content gaps. All this will facilitate the compilation and centralization on Wikipedia of all the information to make it more accessible.

  • Interviews: with experts and researchers in HMS that will be the basis for creating the mapping
  • Documentation research
  • Category tree analysis
  • Wikidata Queries
  • Identification of missing articles and to be improved

2) Content

It is important to bear in mind that in year 1, the main objective will be to carry out the mapping. In years 2 and 3, content generation will become the main objective. 2022 activities aimed at generating content will be:

  • Wikiproject: Spanish Historical Memory
  • Edith-a-thon to cover content gaps: gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, heritage...
  • Photowalks: For the graphic documentation of relevant sites as mass graves, concentration camps...
  • Photo-thon: train people in Commons
  • Data-thon: uploading databases to Wikidata

3) Building community

Given the vast gap of HMS-related knowledge and content, the long-term creation and consolidation of a community interested in the subject will be key to achieving significant results.

  • Long-term strategy will be to consolidate a network of contributors and editors, seeking to incorporate underrepresented profiles in Wikiesfera, which since 2015 has succeeded in creating and growing a stable community of female editors mainly
  • Alliances with other communities

4) Raising awareness

The Recovery of HMS is an issue of general interest for Spanish society. Therefore, we will carry out a series of actions to promote awareness of the project beyond the Wikimedia community.

  • Website
  • Wikiesfera UG channels (website, Facebook, Twitter and Telegram)
  • Activities chronicles
  • Public relations: to visibilise the project in the media and other spaces
  • Press kit

5) Replicability

In year 3, we will expand to other Wikipedias and/or countries where the Recovery of Historical Memory is a necessity.

  • Translation of the Wikiproject into different language Wikipedias spoken in Spain
  • Meetups: to train other Wikimedia communities about the project, supporting them in its implementation

What is your organization or group's mission?

Wikiesfera Grupo de Usuarixs is a recognised Wikimedia user group (since 2018) in good standing that aims to identify and correct the gaps in knowledge representation (gender, historical memory,...), and also seeks to increase the number of editors who belong to minorities, underrepresented groups, or other social groups who have not had access to information technologies. It is based in Spain but has done work with international affiliates.

Indicate if it is a local, international, or regional proposal and if it involves several countries?

Regional
Spain

Please state if you will be carrying out any of these activities within your programs? Select all that apply.

Organizing Meet-up online, Organizing Meet-up offline, Workshops, Edit-A-Thons, Photowalk, Media outreach campaign

Are you running any in-person events or activities?

Yes
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1slEZQW4No9XBjjaLMSxPYjszrTjvrZkhruDPDlM_k2A/edit?usp=sharing

Please state if your proposal aims to work to bridge any of the identified content knowledge gaps?

Content Gender gap, Age (regency), Sexual Orientation, Important Topics (topics considered to be of impact or important in the specific context), Cultural background, ethnicity, religion, racial

Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select all categories that apply.

Gender Identity

Please state if your proposal includes any of these areas or thematic focus.

Education, Human Rights, Diversity

Please tell us more about your target participants.

  • The first year will be focused on the analysis of the current situation and establishing the mapping with the collaboration of experts and specialized researchers, and we will move forward with some activities of collaborative editing in Wikipedia promoted by Wikiesfera and which are open to anyone interested in topics related to Historical Memory of Spain and collaborative documentation can participate without previous knowledge.
    • Gender: Wikiesfera has been fighting for years against the gender gap in Wikipedia, training more than 500 new editors so far. With this project, we will continue that work, having parity in the experts with whom we will work.
  • In the second and third year we will focus, thanks to strategic alliances with cultural and educational institutions in Spain, on generating a new, growing and stable community of editors on this topic in which there will be no prerequisites to participate in the activities we organize, thus ensuring that no one will be excluded because of their lack of knowledge of the editing tool of Wikipedia.
  • For all stages and duration of the project we will be in direct contact with associations and groups that are sensitive to issues of memory and people who disappeared during the Spanish Civil War and Franco's dictatorship, so that they can be part of the project, contributing with their knowledge and verifying our research. We will offer them to participate in all the activities to be trained as wikipedians, and to continue participating in the movement.

To make our project known we will use several strategies and promotion channels:

  • We will develop our own website with a blog where we will publish the progress of the research we are doing.
  • We will publish on our personal social networks and those of the project aspects of the mapping and research, as well as the calls for activities to achieve greater impact and dissemination.
  • We will contact local and national media to promote the project, as well as related activities (editathons, talks, workshops...).

Do you have plans to work with other Wikimedia communities, groups or affiliates in your country, or in other countries, to implement this proposal?

No

Please tell us about these connections online and offline and how you have let Wikimedia communities know about this proposal.

We have informed the Chair of Wikimedia España in person so she is in the loop, and understand this is not a topic they will be working on in the nearby future. We intend to inform our local communities once the grant is published, although we would appreciate guidance from the committee on how to navigate possible resistance or dismissal regarding such a potentially controversial topic.

Will you be working with other external, non-Wikimedian partners to implement this proposal? Please describe these partnerships.

Yes
We will work with municipal institutions such as Medialab Matadero (previously Medialab Prado), which will provide us with space for activities. In addition, it will support us in the dissemination of the project, with its communication team linked to the Madrid City Council. We will establish a working relationship with the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica) that will guide us in the mapping and research and will help us in the documentation work. We will also contact the organizations La Liminal and Herstóricas that specialize in Historical Memory and women.

How do you hope to sustain or expand the work carried out in this proposal after the grant?

The first year will be focused on research, mapping what critical content is missing. The second year will be focused on creating strategic alliances with organizations - such as cultural and educational institutions - to start tackling the gaps. This will include trying to create residencies in these institutions to have dedicated people focusing on this work. The third year will be focused on international alliances, trying to cover the gaps in other language Wikimedia projects.

Have you received grants from the Wikimedia Foundation before?

Did not apply previously

Have you received grants from any non-wiki organization before?

No

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

Name: Patricia Horrillo (user:PatriHorrillo)

  • Rol: Project Lead (contractor)
  • Responsibilities: Lead the project, hold status meetings with the team, participate in activities, track metrics, ensure project goals are met on Wikimedia projects.

Name: María Sefidari (user:Raystorm)

  • Rol: Research Coordinator (contractor)
  • Responsibilities: Coordinate the research phases, monitor the progress of the mapping and ensure that the information is available in the wikimedia projects.

Name: Isabel Zapico (user:Zapipedia)

  • Rol: Coordinator of external alliances (contractor)
  • Responsibilities: Coordinate and lead meetings with experts, researchers and associations working with historical memory in Spain to ensure the objectives of the project and include the information collected in the mapping.

Name: Liliana Alviárez (user:Lalviarez)

  • Rol: Communications and events coordinator (contractor)
  • Responsibilities: Coordinate the communication and dissemination plan of the activities, organize events and meetings to meet the project objectives. Document all activities for WMF reporting.

Please state if your organization or group has a Strategic Plan that can help us further understand your proposal. You can also upload it here. (optional)

Yes

Learning, Sharing, and Evaluation[edit]

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

  • What is the real knowledge gap about Historical Memory in Spain on Spanish Wikipedia?
  • Will we receive attacks on social networks from fascist groups that have been denying Franco's brutal repression for decades?
  • Will we be able to create a permanent working group on issues related to Historical Memory?
  • Will we manage to repair part of the damage that the invisibilisation of the disappeared people in ditches and mass graves continues to generate in their families?
  • Will the community be resistant or dismissive to this work?

Core Metrics[edit]

Enter a description of the metric and a number in the target field. If the metric does not apply to you, enter N/A for not applicable.

Core Metrics Summary
Core metrics Description Target
Number of participants
Number of editors
Number of organizers

If for some reason your proposal will not measure these core metrics please provide an explanation.

Our project is different in that we intend to map critical content that is missing, so our core metrics at the end of year 1 will be a) a list of what constitute critical topics on Historical Memory in Spain and b) a list of the critical content that is missing on Spanish Wikipedia. Other secondary metrics will include the creation of a wikiproject to coordinate efforts, a website and a video to report the evolution of the research and findings, and editing activities to start building a community focused on these topics for years 2 and 3.


Additional Metrics[edit]

Enter a description of the metric and a number in the target field. If the metric does not apply to you, enter N/A for not applicable.

Additional Metrics Description Target
Number of editors that continue to participate/retained after activities
Number of organizers that continue to participate/retained after activities
Number of strategic partnerships that contribute to longer term growth, diversity and sustainability
Feedback from participants on effective strategies for attracting and retaining contributors
Diversity of participants brought in by grantees
Number of people reached through social media publications
Number of activities developed
Number of volunteer hours

What other information will you be collecting to learn about the impacts of your activities? (optional)

In order to know the impact we are achieving with the different stages of research and mapping, we will conduct surveys to people linked to Historical Memory organizations. Also, after editing activities, we will contact those who have participated to fill out a form about their treatment and content.

What tools would you use to measure each metric selected?

  • Wikiproject: details of mapped articles and participants
  • Outreach Dashboard: activity measurement

How do you hope to share these results so that others can learn from them?

Create a video of our experience, Make a short presentation of the experience, Share results on social media, Share results with our communities

Financial Proposal[edit]

What is the amount you are requesting from WMF? Please provide this amount in your local currency. If you are thinking about a multi-year fund, please provide the amount for the first year.

260800 EUR

If you have calculated it, please provide an estimate of the year 2 or year 3 request.

It will depend on the funding and findings of the first year, but we expect it to be proportional.

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

299920 USD

Please share your budget for this proposal.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-IDM-BU71C2VKhN0QW6Zt4ZPzwGtScVb/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=110378189649104339545&rtpof=true&sd=true

What do you do to make sure there is a good management of funds?

Once the grant is approved we will avail ourselves of the services of a financial manager (https://patriciaserrano.com/ is the one we have been talking to) to do the accounting. The funds would be received by a Spanish organization in good standing that will serve in a similar way to a fiscal sponsor. We can provide more detailed data about this (beyond the character limit) on request.

Additional links[edit]

If you would like, please share any websites or social media accounts that your group or organization has.


How will you contribute towards creating a supportive environment for participants using the UCOC and Friendly Space Policy?

There will be strict enforcement of the Universal Code of Conduct and the Friendly Space Policy in events with participants. We will be broaching topics that have been taboo or have been intentionally erased from history for a very long time. In order to try to cover the current knowledge vacuum, participants must feel as safe as possible at any in-person events, including removing hostile participants from the venue. The possibility exists that some community members may feel strong resistance towards this kind of work, dismissing the need for it, and target participants and their contributions online, in which case we would proceed with the available onwiki mechanisms. We are very familiar with those since all of us have been doing events related to the gender gap and LGBT people for many years now. We look forward to the new UCOC enforcement system.

By submitting your proposal/funding request you agree that you are in agreement with the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and the Universal Code of Conduct.

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

Yes

Attachments[edit]