Grants:Wikimedia UG Nigeria Grants/Wikimedia User Group Nigeria Community Support Fund/WikiSkills: Empowering Youth Editors for a Collaborative Wikipedia Movement

Project summary

Briefly summarize your project proposal.

• In observance of International Youth Skills Day, it is evident that volunteering for Wikipedia is a valuable skill that promotes the development of open knowledge, although numerous edit-a-thons have taken place over the past year, successfully attracting new participants.

However, we are faced with a recurring issue: which is the lack of comprehension of the Wikimedia core content policy among new editors regarding how they can contribute effectively to Wikipedia. Some editors become discouraged by IP-related challenges, and due to the responsibilities of facilitators, they may be unable to promptly address the issues faced by all editors during project implementation. This leads to discouragement among new volunteers, resulting in a small number of active editors who are prone to in-deliberately vandalize Wikipedia due to their uncertainty about contributing to the movement and how they can go about it.

While there are support networks available for new editors, it's important to recognize that there are also editors who are not affiliated with such networks, feeling isolated and unsure about how they can contribute to Wikipedia. In commemoration of International Youth Skills Day, this project aims to enhance the skills of new Wikipedia volunteers by providing comprehensive guidance and encouragement on how they can effectively contribute to the platform.

Wikimedia Project

Please state the Wikimedia project your project will focus majorly on (e.g. Wikipedia, Wikidata, etc). It is advisable to focus on one Wikimedia project, but a maximum of two projects is allowed.

• Wikipedia, Wikidata.

Contact person and Location

Please state the contact details of the contact person(s) for this project including email(s) and location. For more than one contact person, indicate same details for everyone

• Full name: Miracle Abayomi James
• Email address:miraclejames9423@gmail.com
• Location: Kwara state

Project class

Please state if this grant is for individual project or network/club project

• Individual

Timeline of activities

Please state the timeline of your activities, and include the start and end date for your project

• Start- 15th August 2023

End- 5th September 2023

Project Goal

Choose one or more of the following goals. Feel free to add or delete goals as required by your project.

1. Upskill new editors
2. Add or improve content on Wikivoyage and Wikipedia

Project Plan

• Online Jingles
• Orientation of participants
• Online training session
• Personalized support
• Edit-a-thon
• Physical event

Activities

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

Online Jingles: we would take advantage of the previously concluded edit-a-thons and Wikipedia awareness projects to distribute E-posters and invite new participants to be a part of the project.

Orientation: Once the participants have joined the online group, an orientation session will be conducted, allowing them the opportunity to openly discuss the challenges they encounter and identify areas where they require assistance in order to enhance their contributions.

Online training session:Prior to the physical event, a series of online training sessions will be conducted to impart the necessary skills to the participants, enabling them to contribute effectively to both Wikipedia and Wikidata. Moreover, the challenges identified by the participants will be specifically addressed during these training sessions.

Online Personalized Support: We will utilize the dedicated online platform to establish constant communication with the participants, ensuring that they receive round-the-clock support to address their needs effectively.

Edit-a-thon: The edit-a-thon, which follows the online training sessions, will span over a period of two weeks. During this time, participants will actively contribute to Wikipedia and Wikidata under the guidance and supervision of the facilitators.

Physical event: Establishing a network plays a crucial role in ensuring the inclusion of new participants in the movement. It not only helps them feel welcomed but also provides a platform for them to ask additional questions and become acquainted with the policies governing Wikipedia.

Generally the participants will gain skills required to contribute proficiently, in-fact we could call this phase 'the metamorphosis.

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

One edit-a-thon and series of trainings.

2. How have you let relevant Wikimedia communities know about this proposal? You are required to provide links to on-wiki pages to inform these communities about your proposed work. Examples of places where this can be done include community discussion pages, affiliate discussion pages, or relevant project talk pages.
You may also provide information about external social media channels you may be using.

i have informed the Wikimedia Nigeria community about this proposal

wikiskills

3. How will you let participants know about the edit-a-thon? In what ways will you be communicating with them?
For example, these can include on-wiki spaces, social media channels, mailing lists, messaging apps, or physical/online gatherings.

Online jingles using E-posters on various social media platforms and mailing list

4. Do you have experienced Wikimedia editors to lead the event? Please provide links to the usernames of these individuals.
For example: User:Kaizenify

User: James Rhoda

 User:Linason Blessing

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

Prior to the edit-a-thon, we will conduct comprehensive online training sessions to address the skill gaps of the target participants, enabling them to contribute high-quality content to Wikipedia. We will also provide templates and actively address the challenges mentioned by the participants. Additionally, data support will be available to assist the participants.

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

The WhatsApp group established during the project implementation will serve as a reliable communication channel with the participants, ensuring prompt resolution of any issues they encounter and keeping them informed about upcoming Wikipedia-related activities

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

I believe this project is very important and will go a long way in upskilling already recruited volunteers to become better editors.

Impact

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

1. Number of events: online training session (3) follow up session(1) physical event (1) making a total of (5) events
2. Number of participants: newly recruited volunteers within the past year (30) and 10 new participants bringing it to a total of 40participants
3. Number of of articles created or improved: Wikipedia (100) Wikidata (100)
4. Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events) :30
5. Number of new editors: 10

Metrics tracking

How do you plan to track your project metrics? The outreach dashboard will be properly utilized to track the progress of participants

Resources

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).

Organizer: Miracle James

Wikimedia Nigeria is the only platform we intend to receive support from.

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

• Communication materials (E-posters) :N10,000
• Internet (data support for participants and facilitators): 1,000x2= 2,000x43 = N86,000
• Space rental: N60,000
• Refreshment during physical event: N2,000x 30= 60,000
• Prizes and awards: N10,000 for 4 participants = 40,000
• Projector rental: N5,000
• DSLR camera rental: N15,000

Total: N276,000

Endorsements

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