Grants talk:Conference/Innocentbunny/Wikisammelan Kolkata 2019

Support remarks

आशीष भटनागर

•  Support This event is supported by me for following reasons:
  • An yearly conference of the members is always expected to meet and discuss the ongoing issues, strategies to meet those shortcomings, etc.
  • Discussion and framing of rules for the numeral issue is to settlled once and for all this time.
  • Many other issues ongoing may, can and must be discussed there.
  • Conference organisation is volunteered by newcomers this time, which must be encouraged, not only to meet the issues and causes, but to encourage the efforts put up.
  • An outreach/ photography programme event is suggested, so as to cover the Commons aspect also for the place and nearbys. Till now the eventvise programme list is not released, so this suggestion may find place there is possible.
  • Do we have any workshop also attached to this programme, and is it involving any University or college also? - just a query - so that we can plan and prepare the programme accordingly. This sort of coordination and connection is also suggested, if possible and if the confrence involves workshop also.
  • Can we invite someone having good repo from Bangla wikipedia, as this wiki is a good and leading acheiver. So that we can have a lecture on how they managed to achieve the level and other guidance. Care may be taken to call someone fluent in Hindi also.

I think thats enough. Best wishes for a milestone programme.--Ashish Bhatnagartalk 02:24, 6 September 2018 (UTC)

Comments from I JethroBT (WMF)

Hi Innocentbunny, and thanks for this proposal for Wikisammelan Kolkata 2019. I'm Chris Schilling, a program officer for Conference Grants. I've had a chance to review the proposal, and have the following comments and question to offer as a part of staff review:

General comments

• The rationale of the conference -- while also being a gathering for contributors to Hindi Wikimedia projects -- appears to be focused on addressing multiple, very specific matters. For instance, you mentioned in the proposal that there are some important, extant issues related to scripting/characters on Hindi Wikipedia that could be resolved through this event. Furthermore, you hope to be able to facilitate some strategic discussions around approaches to article development on the Hindi Wikipedia. These and the other goals described are very well defined, and it's also good to see that there is some community backing to focus on these matters.
• It's also good to see that you are planning to make a more structured program compared to the last conference, and that dedicated staff will be charged with making sure sessions run smoothly, which was an articulated problem from the last event.
• Finally, I wanted to highlight your decision to have staff who are dedicated to conduct follow-up engagement after the conference. These follow-ups are important and typically result in sustained work and promote good relations amongst a community.

Questions and requests

• Estimated conference attendance for this event is about 20 persons-- this is not a problem on its own, but I did want to ask whether you are confident that you can achieve all the goals you've mentioned in the Event Overview section. It also sounds like there are other goals in addition to the ones mentioned here, and I am a concerned there may be too much to do and not enough time over the three-day period.
• I'd like to hear a little more about how this event is related to other recent Hindi Wikimedian activities. While it's good that you mentioned that this is a follow-up to last conference in January, are there other recent or past activities that are informing this event?
• I'm not familiar with the last conference from January 2018 that is mentioned in this report. Is there a link available for this conference, or perhaps a report available detailing outcomes and activities? It would be very helpful to have this to more effectively review this proposal.
• Have you decided on a venue for this event? If so, have you held an event at this venue before?
• What are the specific skill gaps amongst the organizing team? The proposal notes that there are some experienced members of the team, but what is the plan for supporting others on the team who have less experience? Will they be able to meet and advise in preparation for the event, or at the event itself?
• Please link to the Friendly Space Policy you will be using for the event. You may use the Wikimedia Foundation policy or adapt it for your needs (and translate it as well). Here is a great resource for how to prepare and implement a Friendly Space Policy. If you have any questions, please let us know.
• 20 participants is a relatively small group. How will you decide the criteria for awarding scholarships to ensure a fair and diverse group of participants?

When you're able, please respond to the questions above and revise the proposal as needed. These revisions will be due by 21 September 2018, after which the Conference Grant Committee will begin formal review of the proposal. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 19:00, 12 September 2018 (UTC)

Reply

Hello Chris, Thank you for reviewing my Application. I'm glad that you liked our plan. as for your questions:

• Estimated conference attendance for this event is about 20 persons-- this is not a problem on its own, but I did want to ask whether you are confident that you can achieve all the goals you've mentioned in the Event Overview section. It also sounds like there are other goals in addition to the ones mentioned here, and I am a concerned there may be too much to do and not enough time over the three-day period.

We have made best attempts to make sure goals are not only coherent, inclusive to the community but also adhere to time. Some goals are under the primary focus areas where we intend to devote more time as can be found in the Event Overview while several others also remain important but they are incidental so we wish to also address them through this conference.

Elaborating with an example:

A large part of the program has already been pre-scheduled by the Conference Program Team. The three prime issues of discussion which require community participation (digits, characters and 12-month planning) have been planned to be held on the second day of the conference. The third day is reserved for Wikisource, Workshops and Outreach amongst others. As for the discussion on World Hindi Conference, since most of it is the concern of the small group of members in its organising team, hence, a large part of the discussion will take place on the sidelines of the conference. The first day would be focused on community building, involving more of community engagement drills such as expanding articles on Wikipedia/generating labels for Wikidata, story-telling by Wikipedians on their edits for motivational objectives such as bridging the gender gap by creating more women articles on Hindi Wikipedia and introducing new members to the community.

All other discussions such as those relating to a particular project like Wikiproject India, WikiProject Sports or any other project can happen privately among participants to streamline and unite them further at the sidelines of the conference. This schedule has been planned based on the schedule of the past conference and we are confident to achieve these goals.

• I'd like to hear a little more about how this event is related to other recent Hindi Wikimedian activities. While it's good that you mentioned that this is a follow-up to last conference in January,

The last Hindi Wikipedia Conference was held in Delhi on January 2018. It was held after a long period of dormancy in offline and online activities in the community. The reasons for dormancy had been the spread of the Hindi Community on a large geographical area, leading to very less interaction among the Hindi wikimedians. Hindi isn’t restricted to any region of India but largely written and spoken all across the country. Hindi is also the world’s fourth most spoken language and has a large population base. Had it been restricted to a small or limited geographical region like many other Indian languages it would have been easy to organise frequent meetups in cities where editors could have met. Although this is not to say, conferences are the only intervention, we recognise the growth of technology and internet and frequently communicate via video calls besides whatsapp and social media. Yet, for strategic planning, community growth and involving participation of all significant members of the community, the old school in-person meeting is much more effective and has a different appeal in enhancing bonds amongst editors. Nevertheless, after the Delhi conference we saw a revival in online activities in the community and also renewed interest in offline activities.

At the Delhi conference it was decided to organise conferences annually to discuss issues and plan strategies on an annual basis and hence save the community from dormancy once again and help organise the Hindi community and help it grow and develop. This conference is hence a follow-up to the last conference. The idea for Hindi Wikisource and that of World Hindi Conference, both had come up in the last conference. Further planning and follow up activities regarding these two projects will be held in this conference.

• I'm not familiar with the last conference from January 2018 that is mentioned in this report. Is there a link available for this conference, or perhaps a report available detailing outcomes and activities? It would be very helpful to have this to more effectively review this proposal.

• Delhi Wikisammelan Grant Application: Grants:Conference/Hindi Wikimedians/Hindi Wikipedia Conference 2018
• Report:Grants:Conference/Hindi Wikimedians/Hindi Wikipedia Conference 2018/Report
• WMF blog on Hindi WikiConferences (2015): [1]

• Have you decided on a venue for this event? If so, have you held an event at this venue before?

After discussions regarding possible venues for the conference, the logistics team has decided onto a particular venue. One of the members in the logistics team is familiar with the proposed venue. Although formal engagement is yet to take place because they can only be made after we release a token amount. But those are not any major concern for us. Few members of the logistic team reside in Kolkata and having already done tentative ground work we are confident to do this smoothly.

• What are the specific skill gaps amongst the organizing team? The proposal notes that there are some experienced members of the team, but what is the plan for supporting others on the team who have less experience? Will they be able to meet and advise in preparation for the event, or at the event itself?

We have individuals having varied levels of experience in organising wiki events. Some of the members of our team were among the organisers of the last conference in Delhi, while others are new to the organising team. The experienced members and those involved in the previous organising team are:

• Raju Jangid, अजीत कुमार तिवारी, आशीष भटनागर and Anamdas
• Abhishek Suryawanshi: Organizer of Hindi Wikipedia Conference 2015, One of co-organizer of WikiConference North America, Director, Wikipedia Summit Pune and logistic manager - WikiConference India 2011.
• Abhinav Srivastava : Volunteer at WikiConference India 2011, Mumbai. Organizing Committee Wiki Conference India 2016, Chandigarh. Organized Hindi Wiki Sammelan 2015, Delhi. Previous EC member at Wikimedia India.

The team also has highly experienced people like:

• Satdeep Gill: Program leader in WikiConference India 2016. Member of the Affiliations Committee and the Language committee since January 2017. and...
• अनिरुद्ध!.

We also have other Wikipedians in our team, who don't have any experience of organizing any conference before. Our team includes a balance of experienced and new Wikipedians in the organising team to train new wikipedians to host such events in future. New organisers will work together in close coordination with experienced ones, to learn from them and eventually be able to host similar events in future, themselves.
Example: I was new during the last Delhi Wikisammelan and I was in touch with the main conference organizers (who are also part of this team). I observed and learned from them and now I am taking the lead and they are helping me. We hope we will inspire and create new leaders throughout this process too.

• Please link to the Friendly Space Policy you will be using for the event. You may use the Wikimedia Foundation policy or adapt it for your needs (and translate it as well). Here is a great resource for how to prepare and implement a Friendly Space Policy. If you have any questions, please let us know.

Friendly space policy has been updated on the event page and I have provided the link in the application. you can check it over here: मित्रवत स्थान नीति (Friendly space policy)

• 20 participants is a relatively small group. How will you decide the criteria for awarding scholarships to ensure a fair and diverse group of participants?

Scholarship committee will award scholarships based on merit as well as what resources the scholarship applicant can bring to the movement. The scholarship team is fully committed to maintaining diversity and other gender-gap issues. We have used similar pattern for last Delhi conference and it was pretty successful.

Thankyou once again, do ask any additional questions and queries as necessary.

@I JethroBT (WMF):
 Innocentbunny    TALK  08:04, 19 September 2018 (UTC)

Funding decision for Wikisammelan Kolkata 2019

@Innocentbunny:

Congratulations! Your proposal has been selected for a Conference Grant.

The committee has recommended this proposal and WMF has approved funding for the full amount of your request, $8,431 USD

Comments regarding this decision:
Full funding is recommended for this proposal. Overall, there is a good rationale for this event summarized in the proposal, including multiple, well-defined and problematic technical issues the Hindi Wikimedia faces in addition to practical needs around increasing skills in Mediawiki usage and contribution and beginning strategic conversations around article development. The committee appreciates the thoughtful responses provided on the discussion page regarding the program, scholarships, and how this event is related to other activities involving Hindi Wikimedians.

Because this is a smaller event that involves some important conversations for Hindi Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, it will be important for the organizing team to be thoughtful about who is represented at this conference from the Hindi community, and how those who cannot attend can otherwise participate. On this basis, the committee recommends finding resources to provide a video recordings of some or all conference proceedings. These recordings can be further used to publicize the event further, such as on the Wikimedia Blog or social media channels relevant to the Hindi community.

Good luck in preparing for Wikisammelan Kolkata 2019, and we look forward to seeing the outcomes and stories from the event in Kolkata.

Next steps:

1. You will be contacted to sign a grant agreement and setup regular check-ins.
2. Review the conference planning resources.
3. Start work on your project!

Questions? Contact cschillingwikimedia.org

I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 20:56, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

Reporting Due Deadline

Dear WMF Grants Team, We request you to kindly provide us a reporting time of 6 months from the date of event for us to complete the report. We are occupied in several other initiatives at the moment, Hindi Wikisource, Movement Strategy 2030 etc. Some time in this regard would be helpful for us.--Abhinav619 (talk) 06:18, 5 April 2019 (UTC)

Hi Abhinav619. Usually, for all Conference and Event Grants, a final report is due by 60 days after the grant end date. So a 6 mounts deadline is pretty far from the event date and it could affect our ability to apply some of the lessons you have probably learned towards other upcoming community events. Do you think another 30 days will be enough? It means by May 6th. Let my know what you think. Best CAlmog (WMF) (talk) 11:40, 6 April 2019 (UTC)

Dear WMF grant team, after a brief discussion, conference organising team has agreed to submit the report on or before 6th May. Thanks for granting us due time as we all are occupied in several other initiatives as mentioned by Abhinav. --अजीत कुमार तिवारी (talk) 05:36, 7 April 2019 (UTC)