Grants:Project/MSIG/A Metrics Based System Attracting and Retaining Newcomers from Diverse Regions and Underrepresented Backgrounds

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OWFA/A Metrics Based System Attracting and Retaining Newcomers from Diverse Regions and Underrepresented Backgrounds
Attracting and retaining newcomers is an essential component of any open production community's sustained success. Through our work on the Linux Foundation's CHAOSS project, in partnership with UNICEF, open-source developers in the global south, the Asia-Pacific, Albania, Africa, Russia, Europe, and Ukraine, we have established a substantial and advancing understanding of how to attract and retain newcomers from a diverse group of traditionally Underrepresented regions, and groups. Our aim is the apply our insights, tools, and models for attracting and retaining newcomers to Wikimedia.
targetRS/UA/UK/ALB/ACD/BLR/GEO/GHA/LGBT/ROU-MDA/SVN/UBA/RU-SPU
start date0615
start year2022
end date0630
end year2023
budget (local currency)2000
budget (USD)2000
grant typeOrganization
granteesgoggins
contact(s)• sean(_AT_)chaoss.community• elizabeth@chaoss.community
organization (if applicable)• The University of Missouri-Columbia and the Linux Foundation CHAOSS Project
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Applications are not required to be in English. Please complete the application in your preferred language.

Project Goal[edit]

What will be the outputs of your project and how will those outputs contribute to advancing a specific Movement Strategy Initiative

What specific Movement Strategy Initiative does your project focus on and why? Please select one of the initiatives described here
Invest in Skills and Leadership Development

Project Background[edit]

When do you intend to begin this project and when will it be completed?
Our project is already underway and has been for five years in the open-source software community
Where will your project activities be happening?
We will identify contributors throughout the global south, and North America, following our existing diversity, equity, and inclusion accomplishments, funded by the Ford Foundation, the Sloan Foundation, and the National Science Foundation in the US
Are you collaborating with other communities or affiliates on this project? Please provide details of how partners intend to work together to achieve the project goal.
The CHAOSS Community is a thriving open-source software community focused on developing tools, models, and software with the aim of advancing community health, and increasing the representation of traditionally underrepresented groups in open production communities.
What specific challenge will your project be aiming to solve? And what opportunities do you plan to take advantage of to solve the problem?
Newcomer retention, especially newcomer retention from traditionally underrepresented groups and regions.
Does this project aim to apply one of the examples shared in the call for grants and if so which one?
Evaluate, Iterate, and Adapt

Project Activities[edit]

What specific activities will be carried out during this project? Please describe the specific activities that will be carried out during this project.
First we will work with Aaron Halfaker to identify and map the technical challenges associated the applying metrics, models, and software for newcomer retention developed and operational in Open-Source software to Wikimedia Technologies. The principle difference is how people, actions, and content are syntactically made available. Second, and likely in parallel, we will work with content leaders within Wikimedia to understand the most urgent challenges they face when attracting and retaining new contributors from underrepresented backgrounds to become sustained Wikimedia contributors. Finally, we will implement 3-5 prototypes of our approach, seeking feedback from a wide range of Wikimedia stakeholders.
How do you intend to keep communities updated on the progress and outcomes of the project? Please add the names or usernames of these individuals responsible for updating the community
Our community manager, Elizabeth Barron, and our co-director/co-founder/metrics-models/software maintainer Sean Goggins will play an active role in updating.
Who will be responsible for delivering on this project and what are their roles and responsibilities?
Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion team, including Georgia Bullen, Selene Yang, Sean Goggins, Matt Germonprez, Michael Brennan, Elizabeth Barron, Justin Florey, Kristi Progri, and others will ensure the delivery of a quality product/process. Elizabeth Barron and San Goggins will take the lead.

Additional information[edit]

If your activities include community discussions, what is your plan for ensuring that the conversations are productive? Provide a link to a Friendly Space Policy or UCoC that will be implemented to support these discussions.
The CHAOSS project holds regular newcomer meetings, has an active DEI audit team, has a welcoming focused Slack Channel, Signal Channels, Telegram Channels, and will be converting our mailing list to Discourse based "subscribe if you want email" forum over the next 2 months.
If your activities include in-person events or activities, you will need to complete the steps outlined in the Risk Assessment protocol. Please provide a link to your completed copy of the risk assessment tool.
If your activities include the use of paid online tools, please describe what tools these are and how you intend to use them.
The only paid tool we use is Slack, and we are phasing that out in favor of Signal Channels, Telegram Channels, and a Discourse-based "subscribe if you want email" forum over the next 2 months.
Do your activities include the translation of materials, and if so, in what languages will the translation be done? Please include details of those responsible for making the translations.
We currently translate all of our work into Chinese and Spanish. We are seeking experts in other languages to support more comprehensive translations (https://github.com/chaoss/translations)
Are there any other details you would like to share? Consider providing a rationale, research or community discussion outputs, and any other similar information, that will give more context to your proposed project.
Our DEI Related Work Products, rationale, discussion output, and current relate programs are enumerated here: https://chaoss.community/diversity-and-inclusion-badging/

Outcomes[edit]

After your activities are complete, we would like to understand the draft implementation plan for your community. You will be required to prepare a document detailing this plan around a movement strategy initiative. This report can be prepared through Meta-wiki using the Share your results button on this page. The report can be prepared in your language and is not required to be written in English.

In this report, you will be asked to:

  • Provide a link to the draft implementation plan document or Wikimedia page

The technical work will be accomplished through an extension of already existing CHAOSS machine learning approaches aimed at advancing DEI. Our overall summary of the next steps for these machine learning approaches in the general case is here: https://github.com/chaoss/community/blob/main/GSoC-Ideas.md#idea-machine-learning-based-community-health-and-communication and an outline of how we have applied this technology to newcomer retention, and DEI question in open production is here: https://github.com/chaoss/community/files/8247782/augur-oss%2Bdei-overview.pdf

  • Describe what activities supported the development of the plan

A three year commitment to advancing DEI in open production, with 2 years of funding from the Ford Foundation, and a close working relationship with GitHub, and other major corporate sponsors in open-source software.

  • Describe how and where you have communicated your plan to relevant communities.

Our current, and prior plans are enumerated on our (somewhat out of date due to pandemic recovery) events page: https://chaoss.community/workshops/ within our GitHub repositories (https://github.com/chaoss/) and community handbook. https://handbook.chaoss.community/community-handbook/

  • Report on how your funding was spent

TBD

Your draft implementation plan document should address the following questions clearly:


  • What movement strategy initiative or goal are you addressing?
  • What activities will you be doing to address that initiative?
  • What do you expect will happen as a result of your activities? How do those outcomes address the movement strategy initiative?
  • How will you measure or evaluate your activities? What tools or methods will you use to evaluate your activities?

To create a draft implementation plan, we recommend the use of a logic model, which will help you and your team think about goals, activities, outcomes, and other factors in an organized way. Please refer to the following resources to develop a logic model:

Please confirm below that you will be able to prepare a draft implementation plan document by the end of your grant:

  • ...

Optionally, you are welcome to include other information you'd like to share around participation and representation in your activities. Please include any additional outcomes you would like to report on below:

  • ...

Budget[edit]

How you will use the funds you are requesting? List bullet points for each expense. Don’t forget to include a total amount, and update this amount in the Probox at the top of your page too!

  • Research (time needed to review, perform analysis, or investigate any information needed to support implementation ideas or planning):
  • Facilitation (facilitation time including facilitator preparation, meeting facilitation time, and debriefing):
  • Documentation (document preparation time, time spent documenting of discussion, post-meeting work):
  • Translation (translation costs for briefs and global materials):
  • Coordination (coordinator work to manage or support multiple workflows to prepare for meeting):
  • Online tools or services (subscription services for online meeting platforms, social media promotion):
  • Data (internet or mobile costs for organizers or participants to access or participate in activities):
  • Venue or space for meeting (costs of renting a physical meeting space):
  • Transportation costs (costs of supporting organizers or participants to attend the meeting):
  • Meals (costs related to refreshments, lunches, or other meals during in-person activities):
  • Other:

TOTAL AMOUNT REQUESTED USD:

Completing your application[edit]

Once you have completed the application, please do the following:

  • Change the application status from status=draft to status=proposed in the {{Probox}} template.
  • Contact strategy2030(_AT_)wikimedia.org to confirm your submission, as well as to request any support around your application.

Endorsements[edit]

An endorsement from community members (especially from outside your community) will be part of the considerations when reviewing your application. Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!