Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Wikimedia Thailand 2022

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Applicant details[edit]

Wikimedia username(s):

Athikhun Suwannakha

Username: Athikhun.suw

Prangmilint Montriwat Username: 2ndoct

Taweethem Limpanuparb Username: taweetham

Organization:

Wikimedia Thailand

G. Have you received grants from the Wikimedia Foundation before?

Applied previously and did receive a grant

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

Yes

H.1 Which organization(s) did you receive grants from?

Thailand Research Funds

M. Do you have a fiscal sponsor?

No

M1. Fiscal organization name.

N/A

Additional information[edit]

R. Where will this proposal be implemented?

Thailand

S. Please indicate whether your work will be focused on one country (local), more than one or several countries in your region (regional) or has a cross-regional (global) scope:

Local

S1. If you have answered regional or international, please write the country names and any other information that is useful for understanding your proposal.

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

N/A

M. Do you have a fiscal sponsor?

No

M1. Fiscal organization name.

N/A

Proposal[edit]

1. What is the overall vision of your organization and how does this proposal contribute to this? How does this proposal connect to past work and learning?

Wimedia Thailand is a recognized Wikimedia chapter in Thailand. We have organized a number of outreach activities to promote the creation and access to free knowledge in collaboration with both local and international partners. It was founded in 2008 as a user group and approved as a Wikimedia chapter in 2019. Our aims are to support creation, development and maintenance of Thai Wikimedia projects, to conduct supportive roles in aforementioned activities, as well as to promote public knowledge.

2. What is the change that you are trying to bring about and why is this important?

There are three main challenges that the Wikimedia community in Thailand are facing including retention of new editors, diversity, content quality and recognition.

Editor retention is one of the challenges faced by the Thai community. It was found in 2010 that the proportion of surviving new editors was approximately 0.1, in other words, one out of ten new editors remained after the beginning of their journey. Coupled with a continual decline of editors over the years, it is highly probable that the number of retained newcomers would be increasing. On the Thai Wikipedia, there are only 1,059 ecditors out of 413,637 registered users (2.5%) that are still active. This is related to community health. New editors are constantly monitored by veteran editors, who can be very harsh. As a result, newcomers tend to lose their motivation which eventually leads to them leaving the community. Because of this, additional measures are needed to increase the number of new users and retain them in the long term.

The second issue experienced by the Thai community is diversity. Diversity in our case refers to both gender and age diversity. In a 2018 survey, it was reported that 90% of users reported their gender as male, 8.8% as female, and 1% as other. It is well known that most editors on the Thai Wikipedia are males and are mostly of high school age, causing a gender and age gap. As a trend, this may subsequently affect the topics edited and new articles created. Therefore, measures are necessary to increase the age and gender diversity to ensure unbiased information and diversity of the content.

The third problem we are facing is content quality. On the Thai Wikipedia, the most common topics are usually related to entertainment or history. More technical information such as on science or social science are limited. Although the quality of the content has been questioned, it was found that 87.5 of university students relied on Wikipedia anyway. Therefore, necessary actions must be in place to ensure that high quality content is added. Also, Wikipedia content must be evaluated to determine its appropriateness as a learning resource.

Finally, to receive recognition and comply with the Wikimedia Foundation’s requirements as a Wikimedia Chapter, we will incorporate as a foundation and subsequently as association. Having a legal status would allow us to establish formal partnerships and enhance visibility of our organization among the general public.

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

The main strategies are listed below in line with each objective:

1. Following the success of photo competitions such as Wiki Loves Earth and Wiki Loves Monument in bringing new contributors, in 2021-2022 we will continue to organize these competitions. We are holding this competition in order to keep the existing participants engaged as well as getting new participations. In addition, this competition would be a good chance to establish collaborations with external organizations. To retain more new editors, we plan to host meetings consisting of representatives from the WMTH affiliate and the Wikipedia community to create a model of conduct to promote better community health.

2. Several initiatives will be launched to bridge the gender and age gap. An edit-a-thon and a seminar will be hosted as part of the international women’s day. The strategy is to increase awareness and participation of diverse participants.

3. Wikimedia Thailand will continue to evaluate the quality of scientific content on the English Wikipedia. Our protocol was previously used to evaluate anatomy articles on the English Wikipedia. The results of our work was published in one of the top academic journals in the field. In the upcoming grant period, we will continue to evaluate more content in wider fields of study.

4. We are launching an open-source initiative in collaboration with the Faculty of Science, Mahidol University in Bangkok. This project aims to increase the amount of high quality 3D medical models on Wikimedia Commons. Although 3D models could be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, we notice that the quality is fairly low and the amount of these models is still limited. Our project will create life-like electronic learning materials with a high degree of resemblance to the real specimens. Two methods will be used to create 3D models including 3D scanner and 3D reconstruction from CT scans. The resulting models could also be 3D-printed to create physical models for classroom use, particularly for the institutions that do not have access to real specimens.

5. We plan to incorporate as a foundation and association according to Thai law. Having a legal status allows us to be better recognized by the public, enhance our credibility and comply with Wikimedia Foundation’s requirements.

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

1. To increase the number of new editors and the retention ratio

2. To promote age and gender diversity

3. To evaluate the quality of technical information in a specific field of study

4. To increase the amount of high quality and technical content

5. To become a legal entity by incorporating as a foundation and association

5. Do you want to apply for multi-year funding?

No

5.1 If yes, provide a brief overview of Year 2 and Year 3 of the proposed plan and how this relates to the current proposal and your strategic plan?

N/A

6. Please include a timeline (operational calendar) for your proposal.

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

Dr. Taweethem Limpanuparb Username: taweetham Role: Technical and legal advisor

Ms. Prangmilint Montriwat Username: 2ndoct Role: Administrative advisor

Ms. Piyathida Tawornparcha Role: Campaign coordinator

Mr. Ganchai Siriwatcharapaibool Role: Competition coordinator

Open position Role: Affiliate liaison

8. 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.

Content Gender gap, Important Topics (topics considered to be of impact or important in the specific context)

8.1 In a few sentences, explain how your work is specifically addressing this content gap (or Knowledge inequity) to ensure a greater representation of knowledge.

9. 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, Culture, heritage or GLAM , Open Technology, Diversity

10. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Please note, we had previously asked about inclusion and diversity in terms of CONTENTS, in this question we are asking about the diversity of PARTICIPANTS. Select up to THREE that most apply to your work.

Sexual Orientation, Geographic

11. What are your strategies for engaging participants, particularly those that currently are non-Wikimedia?

There is no specific target participants for most of our activities as we plan to diversify our participants as much as possible. For content evaluation, however, we require three experts with relevant background on a specific field of study including a PhD, teaching and research experience on the subject. For creation and uploading of 3D models to Wikimedia Commons, participants must be technology oriented and have moderate to advance knowledge of human anatomy. Targeted participants of this project include, but not limited to, graduate and medical students.

12. In what ways are you actively seeking to contribute towards creating a safer, supportive, more equitable environment for participants and promoting the UCOC and Friendly Space Policy, and/or equivalent local policies and processes?

We will strictly adhere to the Friendly Space Policy according to Wikimedia Foundation's policies. https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Friendly_space_policy

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

No

13.1 If yes, please tell us about these connections online and offline and how you have let Wikimedia communities know about this proposal.

N/A

14. Will you be working with other external, non-Wikimedian partners to implement this proposal?

Yes

14.1 Please describe these partnerships and what motivates the potential partner to be part of the proposal and how they add value to your work.

We have established partnership with a number of local organizations including Mahidol University, The Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology, National Science and Technology Development Agency. These organizations provide us with expertise needed, help us advertise activities and expand our reach.

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

In addition to implementation, we will ensure there is effective follow up for each activity. The results of our activities will be communicated to other affiliate through regional meetings. Impact of the activities will be promoted by having presentations at national or International conferences.

16. What kind of risks do you anticipate and how would you mitigate these. This can include factors such as external/contextual issues that may affect implementation, as well as internal issues, such as governance/leadership changes.

n/a (this question may have been added to this form after this grant was approved)

17. 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, Provide for Safety and Inclusion, Innovate in Free Knowledge

18. 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.

No

Learning, Sharing, and Evaluation[edit]

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

Is Wikipedia a reliable source of information for higher education students?

Even though Wikipedia has been criticized by numerous academics regarding the quality of its entries, its popularity among university level students remains inevitable. Therefore, this research is needed to evaluate the content of the English Wikipedia across various fields of study. Once the content is evaluated, we then determine its appropriateness as educational materials. We may also be looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the content. Weaknesses are not necessarily seen as a factor that refrains students from using Wikipedia as learning material, but rather as room for improvement to Wikipedia suitable for education in the long term. We hope that our study will be reproduced by researchers in the future and serve as a model for content evaluation in the future. We also hope that Wikipedia would one day be accepted by the academic community as suitable learning material and become a leading platform for knowledge sharing.

Would Wikimedia Commons become a platform for sharing open-license three-dimensional models?

Although the utility of 3D models in education is increasingly popular, the quantity of these models available on Wikimedia Commons are scarce. If our implementation were successful and set a new trends among 3D artists, Wikimedia Commons could one day become a platform for sharing free-license 3D models, particularly in education.

20. 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 space provided.


Main Metrics	Description	Target
N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A

Here are some additional metrics that you can use if they are relevant to your work. Please note that this is just an optional list, mostly of quantitative metrics. They may complement the qualitative metrics you have defined in the previous boxes.


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

21. Additional core quantitative metrics. These core metrics will not tell the whole story about your work, but they are important for measuring some Movement-wide changes. Please try to include these core metrics if they are relevant to your work. If they are not, please use the space provided to explain why they are not relevant or why you can not capture this data. Your explanation will help us review our core metrics and make sure we are using the best ones for the movement as a whole.

Core Metrics Summary
Core metrics	Description	Target
Number of participants	We expect five experts to participate in content evaluation and five participants to participate in 3D scanning. All of these participants are expected to be new to the Wikimedia movement.	10
Number of editors	Based on our previous experience, the ratio between the new editors and returning editors is around 7:3. With this assumption and given there are around 100 participants all year around, we estimate that there will be 70 new editors and 30 returning editors. That brings the tentative number of participants to around 100.	100
Number of organizers	There are five organizers. Their names are stated in the team members' list above. In addition, we plan to hire an affiliate liaison. The objective is to increase the efficiency of the current administrative work and also to response queries on social media channels in a timely manner. This person is also expected to serve as competition and campaign manager. Due to the growing of the community, these demanding tasks are difficult to manage in a volunteer capacity.	5

**Number of new content contributions per Wikimedia project**
Wikimedia Project	Description	Target
Wikimedia Commons	Based on the previous years' results, we expect there will be around 2000 uploads to the WLX campaign and other contests. Number of high-quality 3D models uploaded to Wikimedia Commons are expect to be 30. However, given the small number of 3D models relative to the expected overall value, the target number of contents remains to be 2000.	2000
N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A

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

N/A

22. What tools would you use to measure each metric selected?

No tools are needed to measure these metrics because they are already qualitative or nominal values.

Financial Proposal[edit]

23. & 23.1 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.

510400 THB

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

15196 USD

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

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SWeZn2CfOEt4XsBOV_VuLLoGIXxut3CMEwQAqaoWB7Q/edit?usp=sharing

23.4 Please include any additional observations or comments you would like to include about your budget.

N/A

Please use this optional space to upload any documents that you feel are important for further understanding your proposal.

Final Message[edit]

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.

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

Yes

Feedback[edit]

Please add any feedback to the grant discussion page only. Any feedback added here will be removed.