Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Creating free knowledge through educational, GLAM & capacity building projects & collaborations while enhancing diversity & social representation in He-WP & AR-WP

Feedback from the Northern and Western Europe (NWE) Regional Funding Committee on your proposal

Hi User:RevitalP-WMIL, User:Shai-WMIL, User:Ruti-WMIL, User:Abeer-WMIL, User:OphirT-WMIL and User:Hanna-WMIL

Thank you for taking the time to submit the grant proposal! The Northern and Western Europe Regional Committee has done an initial review, and here is our feedback:

• This is only an initial review, and before we make the final decision, we would like to get more details on the following points:

We appreciate your well-written application, showing you are a mature and well-working organization. We are pleased to see the chapter work focusing on equal bilingual treatment and recognizing Israel's diversity (Arabic and Hebrew). Not only that, but we consider a positive effort to increase Israel content in Arabic WP. Likewise, we also like your focus on diversity and gender gaps. You are good at strategic planning and how that can bring in strong partnerships, donations, and media attention. We encourage your idea of contributing to the global movement GlamWikiData and at a regional level with the Arab editing communities.

We know you are strong in partnering and support what you write in question 14.1, but we would like to see a more concrete list of partners and partnering activities. We also would like to read more about your cooperation with Arabic speaking:- do you have explicit cooperation with Arabic communities? How are the editing courses in Arabic organized? Is there an Israeli/Palestinian collaboration in content development? We also would like more explicit writing on how you plan to increase the sense of safety and security among Wikipedia.

We approve of your goals, as you state in p3 and 4, but find some of them to be very basic: to increase the number of editors and grow awareness of free content. We also are not certain we understand why you have included “Enriching our instructional capabilities with at least two new means” which seems to be an internal goal to transfer one leaving employee skill to a new employee, very normal. Could you please elaborate more on the goals and separate them into what is really a continuation of existing goals and what are new goals.

Thank you very much and we look forward to hearing from you.

On behalf of the NWE Regional Committee — Anders Wennersten (talk) 13:34, 25 January 2023 (UTC)

Thank you for your interesting feedback that helped us understand which aspects of the plan were not clear enough. I am happy for the opportunity to offer clarifications, based on the questions you raised, and hope they will shed more light on Wikimedia Israel’s 2023 working plan.

Regarding the question about our partners and partnerships - Our list of partners and partnerships for this year is long and diverse. It includes collaborations with GLAM institutes for encouraging the release of free content, such as images and data. Among these institutes: The Israel Film Archive, the PikiWiki project, the Association of Israeli Archivists, and the IDF Archive.

We also cooperate with academic institutes, especially in the framework of the “Students Write Wikipedia” program. We implement the program with the following institutes: Tel Aviv University’s youth program, the Technion in Haifa, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Ben Gurion University of the Negev (non-exhaustive list). There are also extensive activities with senior citizens. The investment in this particular audience yields long-lasting fruits, as the participants tend to continue their activity as editor and, no less importantly, as potential volunteers. The senior-citizen editing courses are the result of cooperation with the following organizations: “Ne’emanei Torah Va’Avodah” (the Modern Orthodox Movement), “Meteg” (national project for senior citizens), “Motke” (an online community of senior citizens), the Association of Israeli Archivists, the Maritime Heritage Watch, “Shalhevet”, the Council for Conservation of Heritage Sites, and the IBM company.

In addition to the aforementioned organizations, we have a close collaboration with the National Library of Israel, with an emphasis on Wikidata editing, and also as a means to reach out to the East Jerusalem educational system.

Another focal point of extensive fruitful work is our cooperation with the Hebrew- and Arabic-speaking education systems. I would like to emphasize that our work with the Arabic-speaking education system is encouraged by the highest ranking officials at the Ministry of Education, and the chief MOE supervisor attends the closing events of every editing initiative to present certificates of appreciation to the students.

The demand for Arabic-speaking editing courses is increasing daily since the beginning of the current school year.

Here is a partial list of Arabic-speaking high schools that participate in our activities: Kawkab Comprehensive School, Jdeideh Comprehensive School, Deir al-Assad High School, Mazraa Elementary School, Abu Shihab Neighborhood Comprehensive School, Ibn Khaldun Middle School, Terra Santa, Shibli High School, Mashhad Comprehensive School, Gernata College of Education, Al-Musrarah Middle School, Atef Khatib Middle School, Franciscan Sisters School in Nazareth, Al-Reineh School, and the Latin Patriarchal School of Reineh.

The articles written in this program are uploaded to ar-wp and are thus available to all Arabic speakers in and outside Israel.

Regarding the question about the way in which we organize the teacher training courses in Arabic - We are happy to announce that following the success of previous courses, we decided to continue our cooperation with the MOE, while perfecting and fine-tuning our modus operandi. As part of this move, we decided that this time, the teachers who take part in the training course will lead their students during the course, i.e. in parallel to their own training rather than after its completion. In this way, they will learn the theory and its practical implementation at the same time, with their colleagues as well as their students. This modus operandi will increase their interest in the course and its implementation. The article topics are selected in cooperation with the Arabic-speaking education system and WMIL’s coordinator.

To increase and perfect the accessibility of our training materials about ar-wp editing, we are working these days on the development of an online editing course in Arabic, to be available to the Arabic-speaking community in Israel and throughout the world.

As for the Hebrew-speaking education system, WMIL’s coordinator works directly with its teachers in their respective schools. In this sector, we see returning schools, namely schools that wish to repeat the success of previous editing projects with new students. New schools have also joined in, as in every year. Here is a partial list of Hebrew-speaking schools that take part in the program: Brener High School, IASA Jerusalem, Leo Baeck, Sharett Middle School in Kfar Saba, Western Galilee High School, Sullam Tzor, Ofek (Evron), Ulpanat Noga, and the Ben Gurion School in Ness Ziona.

Regarding how to provide a sense of security while writing on the net, the students in both the Hebrew- and Arabic-speaking education systems were instructed not to use aliases rather than their real names. In the Arabic-speaking education system, logging in to Wikipedia is done only through the school’s computers. If a conversation is initiated between a Wikipedian and one of the students, WMIL’s coordinator follows it and guides the students throughout the conversation. These steps are taken to ensure a sense of security and protection.

Further steps are taken in Wikipedia-editing courses to ensure personal safety throughout the process of learning and editing:

Providing human guidance and direction -

Participants receive structured guidance about Wikipedia’s working environment, so they can begin their activity with a sense of safety and orientation.

Participants also receive live guidance (from real people, to allow a dialog) from expert editors. The purpose is to put a face on the process, and to provide a real person with whom they can consult and ask for guidance, thus to increase their sense of safety on Wikipedia.

Participants may have live guidance also after the completion of the course, to make the sense of safety stable and ongoing.

Preemptive measures – Minimizing the risk of conflicts –

Incorporating instructional contents dealing with the WP’s editing rules, its collaborative aspect, and possible scenarios of disagreements and deletions. The incorporation of these contents minimizes the risk of conflict between the course participants and WP’s community members.

Providing quick and constructive feedback by the course team about the participants’ edits. This step increases the participants’ ability to become part of the WP community and minimizes the risk of conflict.

Support, when a conflict occurs –

Providing personal guidance to the course participants when disagreements, conflicts, or article deletion occur. When such scenarios come to pass despite the aforementioned preemptive measures, the course team guides the affected participants through both the technical and the emotional aspects, to improve their experience and empower them as much as possible.

Regarding the question about the development of instructional tools – This goal addresses WMIL’s need to become more professionalized and expert in its field. WMIL’s education team examines constantly the development requirements of instructional materials, according to actual experience and progress of the educational activity as a whole, in order to improve the instructional tools provided to our target audiences: school students, teachers, lecturers, university students, senior citizens, and others. In this respect, we evaluate our needs, possibilities, and solutions (including techno-pedagogical tools and platforms), and prioritize our development activity accordingly, i.e. which activity should be deemed urgent, which can become a systematic solution, which promotes our activity and improves the sum of our capacities, which can offer a solution to more than one type of activity, etc. This goal of developing instructional tools is a continuous goal that goes back to the previous year and continues till present time. Nevertheless, its implementation changes. For example, following our understanding of the team’s and audience’s needs, we learned that we had to strengthen our instructional skills through peer learning, consulting experts, enrichment workshops, etc.

As a secondary goal, these products are used as a means of training workers and new volunteers. Furthermore, the development itself of instructional contents is required. Therefore, we are working on further development of the instructional tools themselves, e.g. online editing courses for he-wp and ar-wp.

I hope I was able to clarify those points that were not clear enough. Don’t hesitate to send further questions, if required. Michal-WMIL (talk) 21:09, 1 February 2023 (UTC)

Dear Michal,

First of all, congratulations on your new position within WMIL. We trust it will be a rewarding experience for you and for the chapter in Israel. Thank you for your responses. We appreciate the concrete and to the point answers on what we were looking for more clarity and understanding.

After reading your message, we would like a bit more information regarding your goals in P3 and P4. We would like to have greater understanding about the main changes or new strategies that you are proposing for 2023 compared to previous years. Could you please elaborate on any strategic goals and indicate which ones are a continuation of existing goals and if there are any new goals?

Best regards, Anders Wennersten (talk) 18:33, 4 February 2023 (UTC)

In response to the clarification questions concerning new goals and new actions for 2023, I would like to take advantage of this platform and say that the same strategies continue with us from last year for 2023 as well as all the goals and actions accompanying the realization of these strategies. At the same time, there are also new goals and actions which are introduced here:

This year, for the first time, we have introduced an online course in Hebrew and Arabic, accompanied by informational reporting that is accessible to everyone thus reducing geographic, gender, and national disparities. This is alongside an approach that allows attendance and holding editing courses for organizations that present unique and missing content.

The editing course for teenagers led by a teenager is an expression of an example that promotes the cultivation of community volunteer entrepreneurship on the one hand and, provides editing and writing tools to new and underrepresented target populations on the other hand.

Teacher training at the Arabic-speaking Ministry of Education has changed its face and now, alongside working with specific teachers in schools, we hold teacher training from various schools under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. In this model, the teachers learn to edit and at the same time teach their students to write under the Wikipedia principles. The first training course is in progress and the second will start soon.

Continuing courses: developing continuing courses for graduates of evaluation courses with the understanding that this is the way to strengthen and foster the relationship with the graduates, which is expected to increase the free information alongside, expanding the number of active volunteers in the community throughout the year.

In the field of academia: there has been a perceptual change in this activity so this year we expect a significant increase in the number of volunteers involved in activities in the academy alongside an increase in the number of students taking part in writing entries in Wikipedia.

Training tools and skills development will focus on expanding content creation capabilities, both in training activities for our staff and volunteers. Improving and expanding our volunteer forum, including enriching their training and integrating them into a wider range of activities

A marketing activity centered around the 20th-anniversary celebrations of the Hebrew Wikipedia will be conducted throughout the year 2023 in order to highlight how important and meaningful free and accessible information is to Israeli society as a whole. The marketing activity will be centered around this axis. Michal-WMIL (talk) 18:33, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

Thank you very much and we look forward to hearing from you.

Congratulations! The Northern and Western Europe Regional Funds Committee has recommended your proposal for funding!

Your proposal has been funded for a partial amount 1,400,300 ILS starting 1 January 2023 and ending 31 December 2023.

• Comments regarding this decision:

This funding decision supports the WMIL annual plan, taking into account the review of the plan and the current NWE regional budget for the year. We recognize the continuous consistency of your plans for 2023, aligned with the chapter's long term vision. As well as the inclusion of some exciting new activities. We highlight the valuable work you have been conducting together with the Arabic community.

We value the sound governance of the chapter, which facilitated a smooth executive transition with your arrival as the new Executive Director. Not only that, but we express our support to Michal in her new endeavors, and we look forward to learning more about how your plans develop.

Thank you very much and we look forward to hearing from you.

On behalf of the NWE Regional Committee and WMF staff,

--Mercedes Caso (platícame) 02:22, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

Thank you very much. With Wikimedia Israel's great team and board members, I hope that we can achieve new and developing goals. I would like to thank you very much for your support and confidence. Michal-WMIL (talk) 17:54, 6 April 2023 (UTC)