Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Creating free knowledge in Israel through educational and GLAM projects, and enhancement of gender, age and ability diversity in the Hebrew and Arabic Wikipedias.

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Feedback on proposal[edit]

Dear Wikimedia Israel,

Thank you so much for the time and effort that has gone into your bid so far, the NWE group are really impressed with it, particularly your focus on evaluation. However the committee would like some further information or clarification on the following points:

1) Please could Wikimedia Israel clarify how you will scale the dashboard for international use?

2) Please could you clarify how the Arabic language aspect of the bid fits with the needs of the wider Arabic Wikipedia community? We are especially interested in the online course you mention, since there is already an Arabic MOOC and how what you propose will differ?

3) Please could you provide further detail on how you will target the recruitment of women to your programmes?

4) Please could you share what consideration you have made about the differences between online and offline recruitment sessions, and what your plans might be going forwards?

5) Please could you provide further detail on editor retention, post university course attendance?

Sending you our very best wishes, Lajmmoore (talk) 20:54, 20 December 2021 (UTC) on behalf of the NWE Grants Committee[reply]

Answers to comments[edit]

Thank you very much for your message. I will get back to you as soon as possible with all the answers. All the best RevitalP-WMIL (talk) 07:09, 22 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Please see below our replies to the questions above

Question 1

Wikimedia Israel sees great importance in expanding the use of the dashboard by other GLAM institutions in Israel and around the world. Making it accessible to as many such institutions as possible is certainly one of our major missions. As of today (and within a period of about 15 months since the initiation of the development) 30 institutions from 7 different countries are already using the dashboard ( including the Metropolitan Museum, NY). We continue to receive requests from such institutions on an ongoing basis, and right now, there are 5 more institutions from 3 countries in the process of being uploaded to the tool. In order to scale the use of the dashboard, we plan to hold two main activity tracks:

Local track - target oriented to Israeli GLAM institutions, cultural organizations, etc.

Global / international track that includes two main components:

Bring the project to the attention of the movement's members through the existing digital assets, mailing lists, office hours, etc., as well as, through direct contact with chapters, user groups, Wikipedians in Residence, etc., that are involved and interested in the field of GLAM (as we have already started to do in practice, and continue even more as the dashboard develops)

Direct approach to a selected list of leading GLAM institutions, presenting the dashboard to the relevant parties while offering them to consider using it. It is important for me to note that the Dashboard scaling is also the result of an ongoing "threading" process , that is - the institutions that use it today, as well as the chapters themselves with which we have already established contact, recommend other GLAM institutions to join it based on their own good experience. We would of course be happy to consider additional scaling methods and constantly explore additional ideas.

Question 2

Wikimedia Israel has extensive experience in developing educational skills and fostering instructional infrastructures, tools and learning materials. This is true for our activities in Hebrew as well as for those in Arabic. An important component of this process is our ability to identify needs and challenges with an emphasis on new users, in particular, and to develop for them effective, accessible and applicable solutions that also contribute to a better user experience.

During the Corona Year, we initiated an in-depth digital transformation process of our Hebrew editing course. The move was very significant and had a sweeping and very positive effect on the range of learning processes that we carry out, in the various frameworks: the editing course for senior citizens, activities in schools and academia, etc. The results are proved to be of high quality and very practical.

This also led us to the understanding of the need to produce parallel solutions for our activities in the Arabic language, tailored of course to the uniqueness and requirements of the Ar- Wikipedia.

This new learning tool will not be the first one developed by Wikimedia Israel for the AR-Wikipedia editors use. About two years ago, the chapter developed a unique tutorial for self learning Arabic editing (Wiki-Warsha), which is known and used among the Ar-Wikipedia editors around the world . The course we are currently developing is a significant upgrade of this tutorial, in the format of an online course and open to all.

The development process will be accompanied by professional techno-pedagogical consulting specializing in the Arabic language and the development of online courses.

The new course differs from the existing model (mooc) inter alia in its pedagogical approach, and in its applied and practical concept. As such it is a unique learning tool for new users, built upon the understanding of the challenges that new editors face and addresses them.

For example - we will use screencast and cursors and other accessible tools that indicate where to go and what to do and lead the trainee in the maze of the Wikipedia editing process while offering him/her a positive experience and confidence building measures. In addition, each study unit will include learning materials (written instructions, presentations, etc.) as well as exercise(s) for self-experience and implementation of the knowledge learned.

Emphasis will also be placed on the wording of the content itself so that it will be presented in an accessible language to a wide range of users, with a clear explanation of the professional terms and the "Wikipedian" terminology that not familiar to a new user's ear and may deter him/her. The videos will carry captions to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities. The course will be uploaded to a special YouTube channel accessible and open to all, which allows the trainee to go back and watch videos and materials as many times as required.

Another important advantage of this format is that the videos and training materials will be available for use by both trainers of the trainees, as well as the trainees themselves, for additional educational activities and projects within the school system and the academia. Our experience shows that teachers need such information both for the purpose of reinforcing their own knowledge, and also to use it as a learning material in the classroom combining synchronous and asynchronous sessions. They can choose a specific unit or all of them, as much as they need.

Question 3

Recruitment of women to our programs is done in a targeted manner for these audiences, using first of all - meticulously gender-adjusted grammar. This is not a purely linguistic matter, but rather an expression of respect for the female gender, which is not always practiced in everyday Hebrew, despite the linguistic distinction between male and female.

This approach is also reflected in the marketing materials, the texts and messages, the grammar - all adapted to the female gender. Similarly, all training materials have undergone gender adjustment in language and wording.

The information is distributed to women's organizations, relevant professional groups, Facebook groups dealing with gender and women, departments in academia dealing with relevant fields, women who have previously participated in our activities, etc. This approach has proved to be successful.

Question 4

To begin with, most of our activities over the past two years have been conducted online. The main characteristic of an online activity - whether it's an editing course, a webinar, or anything else, is that it's not geographically limited. That is to say, that our outreach and recruiting efforts are directed, by definition, to the public at large -throughout the entire geographical space in which we operate

In offline activities, however, the vast majority of our participants come from a limited geographical range, focused mostly on the area where the activity will take place. Accordingly - and as was the case, for example, until two years ago in the marketing of the editing course for senior citizens - we held activities in several places (course in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Beer Sheva) in order to enable audiences in different areas to participate as well. All this is irrelevant when it comes to online activity, where North and South can meet in "the same place" (in front of the screen)

When it comes to an activity with a specific partner, the question of online or offline, is often irrelevant, as the target audience is defined and limited.

Our recruitment efforts, therefore, are tailored to the circumstances (online or offline activity), the characterization of the partner (specific or open to the public), and the type of activity in question (course, lecture, editing workshop, schools, academia etc.)

The marketing message is also tailored to these characteristics and the marketing tools are chosen according to their relevance to the activity and the audience (for example, we will not use social networks to recruit schools for the "students write Wikipedia" activity, because the specific audience is not there, and the marketing messages should focus on a precise pedagogical parameters, and sometimes even more precisely on the type of educational institution in question, all of which are not relevant to the general public). In this case, for example, it does not matter whether the activity will take place online or not, since it takes place in a specific, defined audience as circumstances allow, or as mutually agreed.

Question 5

Our experience shows that editor retention is, in many ways, the result of the motivation that brought the new editor to learn the secrets of editing at Wikipedia

Most of the effort we invest in retaining new editors is made among graduates of the Senior Citizens' Editing Course, who voluntarily choose to participate in these activities. This proves itself to a significant extent, of close to 50% preservation and continuity in editing.

Accordingly we have developed an extensive and intensive support and enrichment system for this target group, and the results are significant on every scale. (For example, in the first half of 2021 the graduates edited or expanded about 4000 entries). This target group also shows great interest in integrating into the community and taking part in the chapter’s activities, Some of them even become our volunteers in a variety of education and training activities.

The situation differs when it comes to new editors of the school educational system or the academy, who are integrated into the editing mission due to the decision of the school, teacher, or lecturer, and not necessarily out of their own choice. This is a completely different relationship, whose focus - in the vision of the education system - is the acquisition of skills with an emphasis on identifying reliable sources, and experiencing encyclopedic writing for which they receive a grade. The retention, in this case is lower, and sometimes occurs only after a period of time, once the former student chooses of his own free will to become engaged in entries editing and not as a “compulsory” school task. RevitalP-WMIL (talk) 05:34, 23 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Additional question[edit]

@RevitalP-WMIL: It looks like you're increasing your budget by around $90k this year, at least compared with Grants:APG/Proposals/2019-2020_round_1/Wikimedia_Israel/Proposal_form#Budget, but it's not clear where that extra funding is going - please could you elaborate on this? Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 20:14, 23 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]


Thank you for your question, please see below the relevant information and details:

2019-2020 budget proposal: 1,823,801 IL = US 523,540 ....Exchange rate... 1 IL = $0.27060 USD

2020-2021 budget proposal: 1,833,701 IL = US 539,324 .... exchange rate... 1 IL =$0.29718 USD

2021-2022 budget proposal: 1,967,605 IL = US 621,547 ....Exchange rate... 1 IL = $0.31589 USD

The chapter budget is built and executed in ILS, since this is the currency in which we work here. Accordingly, once it is defined, it is converted into US$ dollar for the grant proposal requirement, and the specific date indicated to us by the Foundation.

During 2021 the dollar suffered a significant devaluation vis-a- a-vis the Israeli currency, compared to 2020, which means more dollars are currently required for the same level of ILS.

Difference between the 2022 budget request to 2020 one - stands at 143,804 ILS. This sum corresponds to $45,426 - according to the current exchange rate (0.31589)

Specifically, the request for budget increase is focused on the two projects (The Educational Program in Arabic and the GLAM WikiDashboard). Both programs are highly globally strategic, supporting not only our vision here, but also that of the entire Movement), as explained in our Budget document sent to you with the application as well as in my correspondence with Marti, prior to this application.

During 2020 the GLAM Dashboard budget was 26,000ILS while on 2022 it will be 120,000 ILS.

The program in Arabic budget on 2020 was 226,985, while on 2022 it will be 240,200 ILS

Total A+ B on 2020 was 252,985 ILS equal to $72,622 (according to 2020 exchange rate)

Total A+B on 2022 proposal is 360,200 ILS equal to $113,784 (according to current exchange rate)

Our request for 2022 budget increase stands on 143,804 ILS - that are equal to $45,426 - according to the current exchange rate (0.31589)

I hope it provides you with the necessary explanation to your question.RevitalP-WMIL (talk) 09:34, 26 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@RevitalP-WMIL: Thank you, that's very helpful. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 10:28, 26 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Final recommendation[edit]

Thank you again for your proposal and your answers!

Congratulations! Your grant is approved in the amount of 402,128.000 USD for your first year, with a grant term starting 1 january 2022 and ending 31 December 2023.

The NWE Committee appreciated the detailed answers to our questions, with strong analysis of the challenges and evaluation, which alleviated certain concerns and were very helpful in our discussions. We that this was a well thought out application which showed detailed knowledge of WM Israel’s audiences. We liked the focus on work with the elderly and the approaches taken for different languages.

Thank you again for your proposal and for your involvement and we wish you a successful and impactful work! Lajmmoore (talk) 14:41, 12 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

On behalf of Wikimedia Israel, I would like to thank each and every one of you -  members of the regional committee, together with Tanveer, who coordinated the operation. I really appreciate the approach and the fruitful and practical dialogue you held with us throughout the process. Thank you!! RevitalP-WMIL (talk) 15:19, 12 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]