Grants:Project/Rapid/Ugwulebo/Wikipedia Training and Edit-a-thon at the University of Port Harcourt/Report

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Report accepted
This report for a Rapid Grant approved in FY 2020-21 has been reviewed and accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation.

Goals[edit]

Did you meet your goals? Are you happy with how the project went? Yes I surpassed my goals. I am very happy with how the project went because it recorded great successes in many areas. For instance, through this project, We were able to create awareness about the different Wikimedia projects within the University of Port Harcourt. We were also able to train over 50 new Wikimedia editors, engage existing Wikimedia editors, fill content gap about the Niger Delta region of Nigeria by improving 293 Wikipedia articles. Indeed, I am very happy with this project.

Outcome[edit]

Please report on your original project targets. Please be sure to review and provide metrics required for Rapid Grants.


Target outcome Achieved outcome Explanation
One training + One Edit-a-ton One training + One Edit-a-ton We organized one physical training and continued other training and mentorship in the Whatsapp group created for this project. The Whatsapp group is still active and we are using it to engage the recruited editors.
35 participants 79 participants Due to the effective awareness campaign organized prior to the training, we received more participants than we earlier anticipated. In the end,[79] people participated in either or both of the events.
25 New Editors 70 New Editors Majority of the participants for this project were newbies who were recruited to the Wikimedia community. Many of them were surprised to learn that they could actually contribute to Wikipedia. In addition, we made sure over 90% of the participants created their Wikipedia account before the date of the physical training. See the link above
Number of articles created or improved = 50 Number of articles created or improved = 293 The project surpassed the target for the number of articles created or improved. New articles were also created during the course of this project. Details of the project metrics can be accessed [here]
Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events):10 Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events):over 50 Over 50 participants participated in the training and edit-a-thon. See the link above


Learning[edit]

Projects do not always go according to plan. Sharing what you learned can help you and others plan similar projects in the future. Help the movement learn from your experience by answering the following questions:

  • What worked well? The use of members of the university community, especially Library and Information Science (LIS) Undergraduate students, contributed significantly to the success of this project. Majority of the participants already had good ICT skills and this made it easy for them to understand and practice basic Wikipedia editing. More so, as LIS students, they already had a good level of information literacy skills and this made it easy for them to source for quality sources and add citations to unsourced Wikipedia articles. In addition, we had support from some of the staff of the Department of Library and Information Science, University of Port Harcourt. This eased the burden on the organizers of the Wikipedia training and edit-a-thon. Providing food for the participants went a long way to ensure the participants stayed till the end of the training. Finally, the fact that the participants had laptops to work with, and were supported with internet data, ensured the project was a success.
  • What did not work so well? For some strange reasons, some of the participants kept experiencing blocked IPs when trying to create their Wikipedia account. The issue persisted for some participants even after switching network. This prevented some of the participants from having hands-on experience during the training. Also, Due to our budget and capacity, we had to reduce the number of participants for the training as over 100 people had earlier indicated interest. Finally, we experienced unstable network at some point during the training and this disrupted the flow.
  • What would you do differently next time? In order to accommodate everyone for subsequent training, I will make provision for both physical and virtual training (aside Whatsapp group mentoring). This will ensure that interested volunteers are given the opportunity to participate in the training and edit-a-thon.

Finances[edit]

Grant funds spent[edit]

Please describe how much grant money you spent for approved expenses, and tell us what you spent it on. The breakdown of the expense for this project can be accessed [here]

Remaining funds[edit]

Do you have any remaining grant funds?

The funds remaining from this grant in the amount of US$47.42 were deducted from another grant payment for Grants:Project/Rapid/Ugwulebo/Wikiactivate_Ignatius_Ajuru_University_of_Education.

Yes. I have USD 47.42 left. I propose to add the remaining fund to my next project. I intend to submit a grant application for my next project in the coming months.

Anything else[edit]

Anything else you want to share about your project? The project was a great success. Members of the university community were excited to know that they could contribute to Wikipedia. At the end of the training, one of the participant said: "It is a wonderful training that advances our knowledge. Who would have thought that articles in Wikipedia can be edited by me". Thanks to the Wikimedia Foundation for supporting this project.

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