Grants:Project/Rapid/RachelWex/ALMS Wikipedia Promotion
Please see the sample Travel application before drafting your application.
Project Goal[edit]
Choose one or more of the following goals. You can add or delete goals as needed.
- Expand network of potential partners
- Increase awareness of Wikimedia projects
- Recruit new editors
- Educate librarians, archivists, and museum professionals working in LGBTQ+ libraries, archives, and museums around the world about how they can support LGBTQ+ Wikimedia initiatives
Project Plan[edit]
Activities[edit]
Tell us how you'll carry out your project. Be sure to answer the following questions:
1. What is the purpose of the event you're attending and why is it important that you attend? The Archives, Libraries, Museums, and Special Libraries (ALMS) conference is an international LGBTQ+ information professional conference for individuals working in LGBTQ+ libraries, archives, and museums. The theme of their conference this year is "Queering Memory", and will focus on the collection and preservation of LGBTQ+ history and cultural artifacts, as well as supporting LGBTQ+ individuals engaged in this work. LGBTQ+ Wikimedia initiatives fit under this umbrella of activities, and I (along with two other LGBTQ+ WIkipedians from different countries) have had papers accepted to present on the LGBTQ+ related Wikimedia work that we do, and to speak about how libraries, archives, and museums can support this work. We will also be promoting Wikimedia initiatives throughout the conference. In non-English speaking countries LGBTQ+ libraries, archives, and museums have not been as engaged in LGBTQ+ WIkimedia initiatives as they could be, and during this conference we will be talking with them about how to increase their involvement as well as barriers they may face to supporting LGBTQ+ Wikipedia engagement.
2. Will you be presenting at the event? Yes, I will be presenting at the event. I will also be the chair and moderator for a panel that I have organized for this event with two other LGBTQ+ Wikipedians. Each of us will give a 30 minute presentation at the panel, and will engage in discussion with participants with the audience.
The panel is titled "Queering Wikipedia: LGBTIQ Wikipedia Engagement". My paper is titled "Global LGBTIQ Wikipedia Engagement: A Call to Action". Here is my abstract:
The Wikimedia Foundation supports LGBTIQ+ content creators and the generation, sharing, and preservation of LGBTIQ+ culture and history. Over the past 20 years, this work has resulted in a vast increase of the amount of LGBTIQ+ information that people around the world have at their fingertips. It also has resulted in the building of a global, multicultural, multilingual LGBTIQ+ Wikimedian community that includes academics, librarians, scientists, programmers, artists, and activists. This community not only increases visibility of notable LGBTIQ+ people, events, and cultural artifacts from around the world, it is also a movement that advances LGBTIQ+ visibility, acceptance, and intersectionality. The community also spends a good deal of time defending this work to fellow Wikimedians and non-Wikimedian academics, librarians, archivists, and cultural heritage institution professionals. This presentation will document the history of LGBTIQ+ participation in Wikimedia initiatives, success and impact of the Wiki Loves Pride movement, the challenges that LGBTIQ+ Wikimedians still face in bringing LGBTQ+ culture out of the closet through Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, and how libraries, archives, and cultural heritage institutions can support this work.
My two Wikipedia colleagues will present on their LGBTIQ+ Wikipedia engagement in their countries and its great significance for LGBTIQ+ visibility and cultural heritage in their countries.
3. What kind of outreach activity do you plan to do? The papers that we will present at the conference will stimulate further discussion and interest in global LGBTIQ+ WIkipedia engagement. This will lead to networking with employees and heads of LGBTIQ+ libraries, archives, and museums not only in the US and Canada but Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Australia. People will be concerned about safety, so we will also be distributing information to potential contacts about the Wikimedia Trust and Safety Team, what they do, and how to engage with them if there is ever a problem.
Throughout the conference, I will be informing people about the Wiki Loves Pride initiative and encouraging them to host or organize LGBTIQ+ themed edit-a-thons through the distribution of business cards with a QR code on the back of the cards that lead to a subject guide on how to host / organize an edit-a-thon, in addition to other resources such as the LGBTIQ+ Wikimedia groups, our contact information and social media presence, and the Wikimedia Trust and Safety Team.
Our panel will be a call to action. I want to find out what people will commit to after they listen to our presentation and see faces attached to the Wikipedia work. I will make cards where people can write down one thing, provide their contact information/social media presence, and give the card back to me or one of my co-presenters after our session. My co-presenters and I will divide up the cards and contact the people a week after the conference to find out how they doing with their goal, and how we could help.
4. How will you let other participants know about your outreach activity? Our panel presentation will be on the ALMS conference schedule in May. My co-presenters and I have already begun to promote the conference and our presentations to our professional, academic, and activist circles. Once our papers are on the schedule I will promote our presentations again through the Wikimedia LGBT+ Twitter account and other relevant Wikimedia social media channels, the International Federation of Libraries & Archives (IFLA) Special Interest Group social media channels, and other relevant library, archive, and museum social media channels. I also tweet heavily before, during, and after conferences so we will give people a "heads up" as to when and where we will be presenting. I will also do my best to livestream our conference panel presentation through an app on my phone that could get streamed through the Wikimedia LGBT+ Twitter account and other social media accounts.
5. Do you have a specific networking plan? (e.g. specific people, organizations, groups you would like to develop partnerships with) Based on the Wiki Loves Pride activities that have been recorded, I will know what entities have not hosted LGBTQ+ Wikipedia edit-a-thons. I will reach out to those organizations during the conference and talk to them about barriers they may face in doing this work, and how we could possibly help. Low hanging fruit could include the Tretter Archives at the University of Minnesota, plus the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives, and the multiple German LGBTQ+ institutions who will be present at this conference since it is located in Berlin. I will also connect them with the other LGBTQ+ Wikipedians who are there, some of whom also work as librarians as archivists, who engage in this work.
6. What is your plan to follow-up with new contacts? Our panel will be a call to action. I want to find out what people will commit to after they listen to our presentation and see faces attached to the Wikipedia work. I will make cards where people can write down one thing, provide their contact information/social media presence, and give the card back to me or one of my co-presenters after our session. My co-presenters and I will divide up the cards and contact the people a week after the conference to find out how they doing with their goal, and how we could help.
I will collect peoples' business cards and social media addresses, and add them to a list of folx to engage in Wikimedia LGBTQ+ Zoom discussions and initiatives. Wikimedia LGBTQ+ leaders as we speak are working on organizing a Zoom conference where LGBTQ+ Wikipedians from around the world would be able to have an informal conference.
Impact[edit]
How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets as applicable:
- Number of presentation attendees: There will be at least 400 people attending this conference; all attendees follow the same conference schedule.
- Number of new potential partners: At least 5 new potential partners, ideally 4 out of 5 from outside the United States.
- Number of outreach activity participants: If approximately 400 people attend the conference, if we receive 200 cards with a defined call to action are returned to us, that would be great.
- Number of new editors: If we receive a minimum of 10 cards from librarians, archivists, and museum professionals from non-English speaking countries who state in their call to action that they want to learn how to edit Wikipedia, that would be great.
Resources[edit]
What resources do you have? Include in-kind donations or additional funding.
Aside from a small honorarium that I will receive as a presenter that would cover part of the conference registration fee, I have no other sources of funding to attend this conference.
What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense and include a total amount.
- Round trip flight: $832.98 (already booked)
- Lodging: $273.97 (243.10 EURO booked)
- Registration: $169.04 (150 EURO not paid yet)
- TOTAL: $1275.99
Endorsements[edit]
Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!
- Rachel will participate in a panel where she will present a very important aspect of our work to guarantee equity and diversity in Wikipedia. She needs this support not only for her, but for the movement as well. Kawayashu (talk) 20:48, 11 April 2019 (UTC)
- this conference needs Wikimedia representation and Rachel is prefect for that --Sparrow (麻雀) 🐧 04:41, 12 April 2019 (UTC)
- Both LGBTQ+ and non-English speaking initiatives are important. Jetam2 (talk) 16:54, 12 April 2019 (UTC)
- Rachel is great at doing the activities listed, and this grant will help reach the listed goals & build community. I am happy to endorse. = paul2520 (talk) 03:49, 13 April 2019 (UTC)
- Support RachelWex is a key supporter and coordinator of Wikimedia LGBT+ and highly visible as a communicator for LGBT+ issues. She also is a librarian with the professional skill set for this conference. She has what this event needs - expertise at the intersection of Wiki, LGBT+, library, and also standing at a university. Yes please we need representation in this. Blue Rasberry (talk) 14:01, 15 April 2019 (UTC)
- Support This work will help raise awareness as well as help validate the legitimacy of the important work that librarians and archivists are doing with Wikipedia and related projects. The need for increased involvement of queer archives is also increasingly dire, Rachel has helped these efforts tremendously. Mozucat (talk) 16:24, 15 April 2019 (UTC)
- Support I believe RachelWex will be an excellent contributor in this, and as Rachel actively seeks to disseminate information and encourage ongoing involvement, I believe whatever is learned or shared at the event will make its way back to the LGBT+ User Group and further help expand and unite our community. I strongly support this Rapid Grant proposal. --- FULBERT (talk) 01:45, 16 April 2019 (UTC)
- Support Rachel has put a great deal of energy into our WMLGBT+ communications over the past couple of years, and has a wealth of experience and learning points to share. Fæ (talk) 10:39, 16 April 2019 (UTC)
- Support Looking forward to Rachel's talk here in Berlin. --Shikeishu (talk) 15:29, 17 April 2019 (UTC)