Grants:Project/Rapid/Wiki NYC/SXSW 2018 editathon and public media outreach
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.
- Recruit new editors
- present Wikimedia projects as an opportunity to document minority perspectives
- advance reputation of Wikimedia projects as LGBT+ friendly
- partner with public media organization, en:WNYC in anticipation of ongoing relationship
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?
- This project will be an LGBT+-themed Wikipedia and Wikidata editathon to coincide with the SXSW conference presentation by public radio station WNYC. Agenda and more editathon details can be found on the event page.
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.
- The primary outreach method will be recruitment by the WNYC team, including by inviting attendees of the Critical Conversations: Identity in Podcasting to attend the wiki event. The theme in this presentation is using new media to make underrepresented demographics more prominent, and the theme of the wiki event will be the development of LGBT+ topics and considering how Wikimedia projects makes this possible.
3. Do you have experienced Wikimedia editors to lead the event? edits 1 February 2018 Originally this was an individual proposal for a particular person. As of 1 February Wiki NYC plans to talk with its grants officer, Winifred, about either re-allocating its budget to sponsor this from its own funds or get advice about directing one of its trainers to pursue this travel grant. Wiki NYC wants to make this happen but has questions about when it can choose who to send versus when it might support someone through this rapid grants evaluation process.
4. Do participants have the equipment or skills needed to participate and contribute high quality content? If not, how will you support them?
- The venue in which the event will be hosted will have computers. Probably this will be in a public library computer lab. The main preparation for the editathon is curation of expert content and sources to cite, and for that, the event has an additional sponsor: en:NPR affiliate en:WNYC.
5. How will you engage participants after the event(s)?
- The primary objective of this project is a single editathon targeting attendees of the en:South by Southwest ("SXSW") Tech Conference. This is a high profile event and among other previous wiki engagement, WMF board members Jimbo Wales and Guy Kawasaki spoke there in 2016. The event will actually be outside the conference in a public space, perhaps a library, and be open to all. Many attendees of this event will be from out of town. There currently is no established Wiki community in Austin, despite it being a tech hub and being unusual for having communities groups for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Open Street Map, and other free and open media groups. Ongoing engagement might include referrals to local groups, wherever participants may be from, and invitations to participate in related Wikimedia projects about minority perspectives including Wiki LGBT+, Art+Feminism, Women in Red, or whatever matches the participant's interest.
6. Is there anything else you want to tell us about this project?
Impact[edit]
How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets:
- Number of events
- 1
- Number of participants
- 400 people at stage presentation featuring Wikipedia as an outlet for public media fans and LGBT+ activists to engage
- 20+ people at Wiki editathon
- Number of new editors
- 20 (we have potential and capacity for more, but this is a minimal target)
- Number of of articles created or improved
- 20
- Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events)
- 0 (no planned ongoing engagement)
Other outcomes of this project will include the following:
- media records of event
- advanced relationship between en:WNYC / public radio and Wikimedia projects as public media
- ongoing presence of Wikimedia projects at tech events
- opportunity to invite gathering of Wikimedia community in en:Austin, Texas, a city of population ~950,000
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).
- WNYC is providing substantial support for this project.
- ticket to SXSW- $1200
- staff time
- ongoing conversation with Wiki NYC: 30 hours to date from several staff
- securing a venue near SXSW: 15 hours
- recruiting attendees: 15 hours from several staff
- on stage wiki event promotion
- venue (donor TBA): $500 value + food & drinks for participants
What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense and include a total amount.
- 2 nights accommodation during a major conference: 300/night= 600
- flight to event: 300
- travel to and from airport: 30*2=60
- travel within the city: 40
- total 1000
Endorsements[edit]
Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!
- As compared to typical wiki events this project is expensive for having one editing event, but this is an opportunity to reach a highly professional and relevant user base in circumstances that are flattering to the Wikimedia community. Tickets to this event are $1200, so by getting inside and having this wiki event featured, we are reaching influential people who deeply care about public media and the featured theme of "identity" and specifically LGBT+ topics. We have the support, encouragement, and FUNDING of an LGBT+ media spokesperson who wants this wiki event to be a success. Various Wikimedia people have presented at SXSW in the past and building from that base this event could be an opportunity to reach out in a more practical and hands-on way to invite professionals in media to use Wikimedia projects to advance their own media goals. I feel confident in saying that there will be Wikimedia presentations at future SXSW events and this project is a low-cost opportunity to set the precedent for audience engagement there, as well as set a bar for what can be expected from outreach to a high profile event like this. I also like that the main sponsor of this event, WNYC, has been in ongoing conversations with Wiki NYC about local wiki engagement near their office in New York City. Blue Rasberry (talk) 22:02, 30 January 2018 (UTC)