Grants:Project/Rapid/Niccolò Caranti (OBC)/Wiki4MediaFreedom edit-a-thons - II and III editions

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statusFunded
Wiki4MediaFreedom edit-a-thons - II and III editions
We are organising two edit-a-thons about media freedom, one in Madrid and one in Berlin, both in January 2019
targetEnglish, German, Italian and Spanish Wikipedia
start dateDecember 1 January 16
end dateJanuary 31
budget (local currency)1,760.00 EUR
budget (USD)1,988.64 USD
grant typeorganization
non-profit statusYes
contact(s)• caranti(_AT_)balcanicaucaso.org• vignola(_AT_)balcanicaucaso.org
organization (if applicable)• Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa
website (if applicable)balcanicaucaso.org


Review your report

Please see the sample Editathon/Training application before drafting your application.

Project Goal[edit]

Choose one or more of the following goals. You can add or delete goals as needed.

  1. Recruit new editors
  2. Add or improve content
  3. Socialize with the community members

Project Plan[edit]

Activities[edit]

Tell us how you'll carry out your project. Be sure to answer the following questions:

1. Are you doing one editathon or training or a series of editathons or trainings?

We are doing two edit-a-thons, one in Madrid and one in Berlin. This is part of a broader initiative called Wiki4MediaFreedom edit-a-thon Series, initiated with a first edition in 2016 in Belgrade (Serbia), then in Sofia (Bulgaria) for the second edition in 2017. Participants, trained and assisted by a group of experienced Wikipedians will work together to improve, update, and translate Wikipedia articles concerning media freedom and pluralism, access to information and transparency and journalism in Europe.
The event is organised by Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (Italy) in cooperation with Wikimedia Germany and Wikimedia Spain, and with the support of other partners, such as the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (Germany), Access-Info (Spain).

2. How will you let your community know about the event? Please paste links below to where relevant communities have been notified of your proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions.

We have created a Meta page for the Madrid event and one for the Berlin event. We are partnering with Wikimedia Deutschland and Wikimedia España. We are asking the German community when (working days, week ends) would be better for them (Redaktion Film und Fernsehen, Portal Medienwissenschaft, Portal Recht, Portal Hörfunk, Kurier).

3. Do you have experienced Wikimedia editors to lead the event?

Yes, Niccolò "Jaqen" Caranti and Rossella Vignola will lead both the events. Niccolò Caranti is (as Jaqen) a Wikipedian since 2006, a sysop on Italian Wikipedia since 2007 and on Commons since 2013. He has organised several edit-a-thons (including a "Wiki Weekend" which was funded by WMF), a meeting of the international project WikiAlpenforum, and the first itWikiCon in 2017. He has been a contractor for Wikimedia Italia and WMF. Rossella Vignola is a Wikipedian since March 2015; she has been trained by a Wikipedian in Residence hosted at Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa in the frame of a GLAM project implemented in cooperation with Wikimedia Italia. Since then, she has been continuing to engage in curating contents on media freedom and pluralism in Wikipedia. She has participated to several Wikimedia's events, including Wikimania 2016 and many edit-a-thons. She is -with Niccolò- among the creators of the project Wikipedia 4 Refugees, a project aimed at involving a group of asylum seekers/refugees in translating relevant entries from the Italian linguistic edition of Wikipedia into the languages of the participants, mainly African and Asian languages.
Additional Wikimedia editors from the local communities will be present.

4. Do participants have the equipment or skills needed to participate and contribute high quality content? If not, how will you support them?

We will ask participants to bring their own laptops. The edit-a-thon will be hosted in venues that are fully equipped, including stable Internet connection, a full space setting, projectors and sound system (in Madrid at MediaLab-Prado; in Berlin in a community space of Wikimedia Germany).
The Wiki4Mediafreedom edit-a-thon aims at gathering media freedom activists, journalists, media experts and a group of experienced Wikipedia volunteers: experts and Wikipedians will therefore work together and complement each other’s expertise to ensure the quality of contents that will be created. This will grant that content will be high quality both with respect of the subject-matter than from a strictly wikipedian point of view.
Participants will be provided in advance with the list of entries to be created / improved / translated along with a selection of relevant quality sources to be used as reference. Both lists will be prepared by the curators of the Media Freedom Resource Centre, a curation digital platform on media freedom and pluralism in Europe, in cooperation with German and Spanish Wikipedians.

5. How will you engage participants after the event(s)?

Posts reporting about the edit-a-thon will be proposed to community blogs (including the blog of the Wikimedia Foundation), newsletter, mailing lists and Facebook groups. Participants will also be notified on every relevant initiative that will be carried out in the frame of Wiki4MediaFreedom project (in the social networks, for instance, by using the hashtag #Wiki4MediaFreedom which is already used).

6. Is there anything else you want to tell us about this project?

The event aims at fostering new alliances between the Wikipedia and the open knowledge communities on one side, journalists and media experts on the other. Freedom of expression and information is a fundamental right which is relevant for both these communities. The edit-a-thons are a follow up to a GLAM project implemented in 2015-16 by OBC Transeuropa in cooperation with Wikimedia Italia  as a part of the action European Centre for Press and Media Freedom. The GLAM Wiki4MediaFreedom's aim is to enrich and systematize the articles on media freedom and pluralism in Europe in several linguistic versions in Wikipedia and training / assisting OBC Transeuropa’s staff to allow them to contribute autonomously beyond the end of the Residence.
The edit-a-thon will be transnational and multilingual. Participants from different nationalities are expected to attend and content will be edited in English, Spanish, German, Italian and any other language participants will choose.
We plan to make the Wiki4MediaFreedom edit-a-thon a replicable event, to be run across Europe. The I edition of Wiki4MediaFreedom edit-a-thon was held in Belgrade, Serbia in 2016 (report). The II edition was held in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2017 (report). For facilitating the replicability of the event in other European cities, we plan to invite 2-4 Wikipedians from across Europe to join the two edit-a-thons.
Finally, within the Wiki4MediaFreedom initiative will have also run two editions of the Wiki4MediaFreedom contest (see here and here).

Impact[edit]

How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets:

  1. Number of events: 2
  2. Number of participants: 40 (20 for each edit-a-thon)
  3. Number of new editors: 15
  4. Number of articles created or improved: 20
  5. Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events): 2

Resources[edit]

What resources do you have? Include information on who is organizing the project, what they will do, and if you will receive support from anywhere else (in-kind donations or additional funding).

The events are being organised by Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa, with a leading role of Rossella Vignola and Niccolò Caranti and support from other members of the staff. Wikimedia Deutschland will support the event in Berlin providing the venue and covering the expenses. Thanks to Wikimedia España we will have the venue for free (Medialab-Prado) in Madrid.

What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense and include a total amount.

Madrid
  • Food and drink for participants: 400.00 €
  • Travel expenses for participants coming from outside Madrid (Spain or abroad): 660.00 €
  • Accommodation for international participants: 200.00 €
Berlin
  • Travel expenses for participants coming from outside Germany: 500.00 €

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