Grants talk:IdeaLab/"Sapere aude!"

From Meta, a Wikimedia project coordination wiki

Volunteers in Messina[edit]

I will "spam" the proposal to Sicilian users now. If I find more volunteers, I will increase the money requested for the rapid grant. The AICC of Messina should also cooperate, and dealing with three different institution is very time-consuming, that's why I am still fixing the final layout of the proposal. I couldn't go 100% public with the grant request without a strong support, and there are details I can only refine at this step. In Tuscany I could start looking for volunteers and draft a programme, I know the area and the AICC people, but not immediately in Sicily. That's why this aspect will probably be improved in the following days.--Alexmar983 (talk) 01:46, 10 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Ok I think we can request more money for Messina, I have found enough participants and volunteers.--Alexmar983 (talk) 15:22, 12 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]

User:Kaspo and User:Effems[edit]

Since User:Kaspo will be in the area more than I do (he will attend all the lessons, I won't), I ask you some feedbacks about how to manage the money grant. Maybe it is better if he receives them directly? For me it is mainly a formal detail, I welcome any feedback.--Alexmar983 (talk) 01:48, 10 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Similarly, User:Effems or someone else will be in charge in Messina for the main framework of the event, so (s)he also should access the money easily I guess.--Alexmar983 (talk) 02:27, 10 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]
User:Effems told me on skype, he would like to skip the "management part", I have found other possible contacts in the area of Sicily, probably Fabior1984.--Alexmar983 (talk) 11:47, 13 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Additional support[edit]

For the meetings in Pontedera I have for sure support from another itwiki user, and also from another users and member of WMI and working as an archeologist in Rome. --Alexmar983 (talk) 06:43, 6 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Comments from WMF[edit]

Hi Alexmar983. Apologies for the delay in commenting on your proposal. We appreciate your efforts to develop the project! We understand that you would like to develop long-term relationships with a number of cultural institutions across Italy. You hope to utilize their networks to develop a community of people who are aligned around the content those GLAMs hold and interest in contributing to the Wikimedia projects. We have a few questions about the structure of the project and look forward to your responses.

  1. How will the trainings be structured? One day or a series of trainings over several weeks/months? We have found that a series of events is more effective in teaching new skills as well as building up a social atmosphere where people feel connected and motivated to work together. Based on this experience, having the trainers/experienced Wikimedians be all local is essential. Otherwise, travel costs become unsustainable. After the original training day(s) how do you imagine following up with participants or developing the GLAM partnerships?
  2. Who will be the target for the trainings? The GLAM staff and/or their members/patrons?
  3. What is the level of commitment from the GLAMs to this project? Have they already reached out to their members to get a sense of the level of interest in the project?

Best, Alex Wang (WMF) (talk) 15:39, 13 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Alex Wang (WMF) I did not push your evaluation because I was also very busy in other wikithings, so no worries
  1. the trainings are multiple and scattered according to the needs of the different wikimedians and attendees. I don't live in Italy all the year and I won't be at all of them. I have selected a group of users for different of them, and it is another local user for both Messina and Pontedera who will attend all of them providing continuity. The travel costs are the one specified, not more than 50 euros in some cases but that is only for some of the users. For example there is an archeologist-itwiki user in Rome that uses commons for her work so I prefer her to be there in Pontedera, even if it cost a Rome-Pisa intercity or a Rome-Florence high speed train ticket. That's because the partnership is specifically with the classical culture association so she is much better as a profile than a generic wiki-nerd. The AICC organizes monthly conference with high-level host (Univeristy professor), so I would like to replicate that framework, which is more natural for the AICC members. That's why to show how commons works I would prefer her name on the flyer or in the mail. In the case of Messina, I also have a contact at the University of Palermo who is a librarian and proposed many quality articles in the field of transportation, I want him to teach how the source and the quality selection works on wikipedia. He can also meet with the local university librarian, which is very useful networking. In the end, they are not very far away from both towns, they can come and go in the same day, but we need also that "level" of users. I have no problem to find other local users, I have actually already found them: when I organize wiki events I know how to gather users. The main reason is that I am an expert in local wikimetrics and i know the local networks, but there is some profile I need to come from neighboring regions in this case. I am not gonna use all that money for all the wikimedians travel, but I need it for some of them.
  2. There is no established GLAM perspective, at least not yet. They are cultural association who offer their spaces, their members will attend personally. We will think at the end to organize something in the GLAM framework for the future, some of the people invited amongst wikimedians are involved in GLAM and almost all of the members of these associations works in the school and the academia. For example 18 months ago through the support of AICC we have organized a seminar in one high school because one of the member in the Board of Director of the AICC Pontedera was its principal. She was unfortunately the temporary principal, so we couldn't do more at the time than just one introductory seminar. BTW, AICC paid us to do that, and we gave the money to WMI.
  3. At the end of the cycle of lessons we will make a plan for the future, possibly with a workshop (that's why I don't want to spend to much money, better save them for that). Depending on which members is interested in what, we can start to think about GLAM. Last year we already published an article on "Atene e Roma", the peer-reviewed journal of AICC about the first brief cooperation in Pontedera with the local high school. Pontedera is one of the most important chapter of AICC at a national level (the second one, after Trento, based on the number of members, it has a very strong tradition). As a proof of that, they are also hosting the Italian Classical Culture national conference right this month (end of April). In the end, we will use this experience to boost the interest for wiki platform for all the AICC members and chapters all over Italy. Locally, we will obviously organize other initiatives but these meetings are organized to decide which type of initiatives have the biggest chance to work in the future based on the interests and feedbacks of the attendees. I suspect that we will focus on wikipedia in schools, but if we can enroll new wiki-users we can also organize a future edit-a-thon in the area both about classical or local culture. Also, there is some possibility that thanks to the support of the national AICC, the users I invite from more distant towns will simply replicate the idea where they live next year. I have selected two centers (Pontedera and Messina) because that was the best way to give a "national" perspective with the minimal cost, but I hope we can discuss to make it again in different areas next year. In that case without any additional money from WMF, because they will be all "100% local". But again, this is sort of a shop window, I want it be as best as possible, that's why I ask for some money. --Alexmar983 (talk) 02:01, 14 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Comments on approval[edit]

Hi Alexmar983. Thank you for the detailed responses. The structure of the project is more clear and we understand the rationale for supporting Wikimedians with expertise in certain cultural areas to work with local Wikimedians in training new participants. We also did not fully understand the nature of AICC and realize it is not a GLAM, but an associate of teachers and citizens invested in preserving and promoting classical culture. We are happy to support this grant and excited to see what develops! Best, Alex Wang (WMF) (talk) 22:32, 17 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I have spent the last days sending mail, planning next events and so on. It's a sparse network so it takes some time but you will hear from me.--Alexmar983 (talk) 09:59, 23 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Alex Wang (WMF) sorry for the delay in the reply. The AICC is an "association" of simple citizens, but has strong connections with museums and schools. For example, from the 4th to the 6th of September thanks to AICC we will organize a display of Wiki Loves Monument picture (and present Wiki Loves Monument) in Villa Crastan, which is basically part of "GLAM", a space for cultural events. In May we were given a small talk to an event in the Piaggio Museum. So de facto cooperating with AICC Pontedera is like working also with GLAMs.--Alexmar983 (talk) 07:03, 29 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Quick updates[edit]

  • May 2017, Pontedera: presentation of grant at Museo Piaggio to AICC members and high school students, brief introductions to Wikimedia Commons. Cost: 0.00 EUR.
  • 6th September 2017, Pontedera: presentation at Villa Crastan of Wikimedia Commons and Wiki Loves Monument 2017, including a formal invitation of the local citizenship, two expert wikimedians as teacher and a council member. More than 120 people attended. Two wiki-excursions in the area for WLM have been organized, with specific additional lesson hosted by their local authorities (main organizer: User:Kaspo). Cost: 330.30 EUR.
  • 24th and 30th September: presentation of WLM and wiki-excursions in Lajatico and Montopoli Val d'Arno, two town close to Pontedera. Cost: 0.00 EUR.
  • 29th September 2017, Messina: first lesson at a local high school. Cost:69.60 EUR (*)
Regional train tickets: 12,80 € (29/09(2017 Palermo-Messina, Trenitalia train n. 3776) + 12,80 € (30/09/2017 Messina-Palermo, Trenitalia train n. 3775)
Hotel Touring, 44.00 €
Total: 69.60 €
(*) Michele Sebastiano Ferulla did not ask for reimbursement for his small trip
  • 14th of December: first lesson at computer in Pontedera, centro poliedro. Cost: 20.00 EUR
  • 15th January 2017, Pisa, Scottish pub: Presentation to the grant during the 17th Wikipedia birthday. Cost: 50.00 EUR
  • 21st April 2018: Meeting in Chiavari with local AICC. I could not attend because of a bad mouth infection, so i did not spend anything. We created some contact for the future in any case
  • 14th may 2018: Unione Valdera, Wikisource.
271.40 EUR room rental the whole day.
I am spending some money for the train tickets but I am happy, we are creating a bridge between users that never interacted before.--Alexmar983 (talk) 14:38, 13 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
2.60*2 EUR for expert wikidata use Epìdosis, 48.50+2.60+34.90+2.60 EUR for Camelia.Boban, expert Wikidonne, 6.90*2 for Susanna Giaccai, expert Wikisource. Cost for travel 107.60 EUR
Cost for lunch: 26.00 EUR, cost for snack 4,29 EUR

I did not spend all the money, I also had a health issue (mouth and teeth infection, two weeks under antibiotics) that forced me to postpone some of the events I was planning in April and May. I can give you back the money or we can go further with another grant to spend the rest. I am making a plan to go on with the future. As soon as you ping me for the final discussion I will show you all the data.

We also agree on

  • future cooperation to take pictures at AICC events. We have a long-term wikipedian and a new users with minimal experience on commons now in Pontedera who can go at every conference with invited professors, academic experts, TV personalities and so on. This will provide a long-term acquisition of frutiful and useful files for wikimedia platforms. Other examples:
  • creation of an user group about classical culture. See User:Epìdosis/Sandbox, it should be ready by December. I have already prepared a list of users to contact.
  • closer relationship with AICC in Basilicata. The group was infomed since February, but no official cooperation occured.
  • possible cooperation with AICC Chiavari with User:Mizardellorsa

Postpone the deadline[edit]

Since I'll back full time in Italy after February and the costs are limited so far, we agreed with User:Kenzia to postopone the deadline, so we can do more stuff.

This will also make possible to add a third group in Potenza with some limited funding or support from WMI (we are discussing about that).

We are therefore requesting approval to extend the project end date to May, the 15th 2018.--Alexmar983 (talk) 03:46, 20 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Alexmar983! This request to extend the project end date has been approved. Please note that the report submission date will be 30 days afterwards, or on 14 June 2018. Thanks for your bringing this to our attention. As always, if there are any further updates about the progress of your project, please continue to post them on this page and ping us at rapidgrants(_AT_)wikimedia.org. Cheers, Morgan Jue (WMF) (talk) 19:38, 20 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Morgan Jue (WMF) thank you for the quick reply. Do you want me to update the infobox?--Alexmar983 (talk) 02:59, 21 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]
I've gone ahead and changed it--I should have remembered to do so in the first place! Thanks once more, Alexmar983. Cheers, Morgan Jue (WMF) (talk) 16:48, 21 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Newly registered users[edit]