Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/WikiSami:Sum of All Manuscripts Bali

Follow-up question on your application

Hello Team Wiki Sami,

Thank you for putting in your first grant application. I'm also including a few key meta page links for background context to your application: Wikimedian of the year (newcomer)/ 2021; Balinese Wikisource (WikiPustaka).

Observations/ Recommendations / Notes

Below, you will find the consolidated feedback and observations from the review team (i.e. ESEAP regional funds committee and programme officer). Do take time to read and respond (i.e. provide more details) to the sharing(s) as necessary. Note: The review team may not have the same lived experience or understanding of the local context as you/your team. Hence, providing further insights will be very helpful in building on our collective wisdom and shared learnings.

1) Understanding the process of documenting, cataloging and building an online resource of Balinese lontar:

a) Could you explain in more detail what is the process of documenting, cataloging and linking/using the data across wikiprojects? If you have an example of a single lontor (or lontor collection, if it's easier) that has already completed metadata -> proofread -> content created and re-used/linked in other wikiproject. Would you able to use that as an example to share that end to end process of accessing the collection to content contribution on wikiprojects? And how long can this process take (hours/ days so we can understand the nature of time contribution to each stage); Are there tools (e.g. AI-driven handwriting recognition tool - Transkribus) that can support your work?

b) What type of content is captured on Balinese lontar? Could you provide some examples of content that you have come across so that we can understand the extent of what it means about "Lontar's life lessons and wealth of information are still applicable to various activities in Bali".

c) Based on your knowledge, how extensive is the lontar collection globally? Is there published information on these?

2) Related to question 11/ implementation team: Thank you for listing down the core team and their roles and budgeting for their contribution in your budget. Given the team is deepening their knowledge in many areas and this Wikisami project is building on their past experiences, what do you think would be the key areas where the learning curve is the steepest and what areas would you/the team need the most support in implementing the proposed activities? What type of support (do you think) would be most helpful? Are there existing networks of support that you can lean into, could you share more?

3) Related to metrics: a) On working with institutions, could you share how do you plan to gain access to the lontar collection in the proposed institutions? What would the process look like?; b) Apart from documenting learnings in your final report, are there plans to share them on project or community pages? Will you be using different tools to track your contribution etc? Here are some links that may be useful resource: Wikimedian Resident and Scholar Programme; Types of project dashboard; We'll also recommend putting up a Diff post for your project.

4) Related to budget: Would it be possible to provide 2 additional scenarios to your budget plan? Scenario 1: USD 25,000 and Scenario 2: USD 30,000. You can use the existing budget file (if preferred) and add additional tabs. It would also be helpful to provide a brief description to accompany the scenarios so that we are better able to understand the implications behind each proposed scenario. Some ways to think about budget scenarios can be through scaling (i.e. focusing on 1-2 institutions); scope/ depth of coverage; re-looking at costing assumptions etc.

• On merchandises, are you aware that you are able to request for wikimedia swag? Here's a link that you can read about - Grants:Project/Rapid/Requesting swag

Note to applicant: During the review process, the ESEAP Funds Committee meets 3-4 times (2-2.5 hours/ session) during the review cycle to discuss the grant applications submitted for the cycle. Thereafter additional time is dedicated for individual review (i.e. one review form is submitted for each application - estimated time spend can be 1-1.5 hours/application/person). We would like to highlight that the review team spends a significant amount of time on each application reviewing and providing their perspectives. We hope you will also participate fully in the process by setting aside dedicated time and mind space to provide thoughtful responses to the feedback. During the discussion rounds, we have also captured the verbatim feedback below. Some of which may be on a similar topic. If you notice the trend, it would mean that the question/ observation was raised by several members of the review team and we encourage you to dig deeper to provide more information. If you require support in understanding the context to the feedback and/or in crafting a response. Please know that you can reach out the programme officer for support.

Observations/ Questions

5) It is unclear how feedback will be obtained for the activities, and what the wider context is that makes this activity the best to meet the challenges;

6) Is 7 days enough to clear the lontar for each institution? What is the metric for success? Some of the budget assumptions, particularly inter-Europe travel and Bali internet, may need to be re-looked at;

7) What existing communications have taken place with these institutions?;

8) It would be good to get more details on how the results interact with different Wikimedia projects. There are only 100 new and 50 edited Wikisource from all these institutions?

9) Why is another person needed to go to Berlin? What is the activity that will happen in Germany? Can we just do some workshop at Wikisource Conference? Would it be helpful if the applicant speaks to affiliates with a strong Wikimedian in Residence programme to better understand how to work with large institutions?

Thank you and we look forward to receiving your responses by 15 November 2024.

Regards, Jacqueline on behalf of the ESEAP Funds Committee JChen (WMF) (talk) 07:00, 11 November 2024 (UTC)

Thank you so much for all of feedbacks and questions.

1a).The main purpose of The wikisami project is to increase availability and open accessibility of balinese manuscripts (Lontar). The first step is to communicate with institutions that have Balinese manuscripts. There are several institutions in Europe that will be approached.

The first stage of wikisami project is to ensure each lontar is properly documented, cataloged and linked across Wikimedia project. The first step is to input all of information about lontar manuscripts in Wikidata, such as title of the manuscripts, physical characteristics such as height, width, number of folio, line per page, author, condition, genre (subject matter) for instance, one lontar identification from Wikilontar project Geguritan Dyah Arini

After we input all of metadata information, we will making information detailed and read the content in Wikisource completing with infobox Geguritan Dyah Arini

And make the article in wikipedia Geguritan Dyah Arini

As far as my experiences, for each stage we need 45 minutes to input all of information in wikidata for one lontar, the process include indentifie the title (because tot all lontar contain titles and most are multi-text.) to create infobox and read first and last pages of lontar in wikisource we need around 30-45 minute and to make article in wikipedia we should read the manuscript and make summary and sources, we need 45 minutes.

The tool such as transkribus may help but I am not sure about the accuracy.

1b) What type of content is captured on Balinese lontar? Could you provide some examples of content that you have come across so that we can understand the extent of what it means about "Lontar's life lessons and wealth of information are still applicable to various activities in Bali".

Lontar manuscripts contain a wide range of topics that are central to Balinese culture and heritage. For instance:

Religious Teachings: Manuscripts often contain Hindu religious texts, prayers, and rituals that still be guidelines for rituals in Bali.

Traditional Medicine: Many lontar detail Balinese medicinal knowledge, including herbal treatments and healing practices such as lontar usada

Agriculture and Astronomy: Guides on agricultural practices and astrological insights, which were used for planting and determining the good dates to do activities.

Literatures: Some lontars contain stories or folklore, such as Geguritan; those lontars are usually used as reading material in school for learning Balinese.

1c)The information that I can provide is website of institution.

**Balinese Lontar Manuscript Collections in Various Institutions**

Name of Institutions/Projects	Number of Balinese Lontar Manuscripts	Link information
Leiden University	400	Leiden University Southeast Asian Special Collections
The British Library	29	British Library Endangered Archives Programme
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin	151	Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Manuscripts Catalog
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek	2500	I visited Munich recently; the institution has not an online catalog yet.
Muséum quai Branly	60	Information from my colleague; the catalog is not currently available.
The Asia and Pacific Museum	8	Europeana - Asia and Pacific Museum
Ethnography Museum	2	Europeana - Ethnography Museum
Library of Congress	317	Library of Congress Southeast Asian Rare Books and Manuscripts
Sydney University	25	Information from my colleague; no catalog is currently available.

2) To make this project successful, we need many supports, such as:

Access to International Collections: Navigating permissions and establishing agreements with international institutions may be challenging. I have communicated with Sakti Pramudya and Satdeep Gill who kindly help us bridge communication and partnership with institutions in Europe.

Technical Skills in Metadata: While the team has experience, learning from Wikidata experts to streamline the metadata creation process for manuscripts would improve efficiency and accuracy.

Digitization Techniques: We aim to preserve lontar digitally while minimizing handling. Learning about best practices in digital preservation would help us optimize our approach.

3a) For cooperation with the institution, I will ask for assistance from the Senior Partnerships Manager, East South East Asia and Pacific (ESEAP) Wikimedia Foundation, to help communicate with the related institutions. In addition, I will also communicate with the institutions via email and the university where I study to establish cooperation with associated institutions.

3b) Yes, of course, I will make documentation of activities in diff and make Instagram and Facebook for WikiSami project activities.

4) Yes, that would be possible to arrange the budget and priorities of institutions in the Wikisami project. I will fix the budget soon and thank you for give information about Grants:Project/Rapid/Requesting swag

5) To ensure we continuously improve the project, we will gather feedback from participants, partners, and contributors throughout the project. For community feedback, we plan to distribute surveys after each event, such as edit-a-thons or workshops, to understand participants’ experiences and gather suggestions for improvement. Institutional partners will also provide feedback through regular meetings and progress reports, helping us refine our approach to cataloging and digitization based on their insights. We will review all feedback regularly to make adjustments to our activities

6) Based on our initial planning, we believe that 7 days should be enough to complete the necessary activities at each institution. Our process involves preparing in advance by coordinating with each institution to identify priority manuscripts and ensure smooth access to the collections. As our experiences, one person will identify and input 5 lontar per day and all of team can upload 20 metadata lontar per day. For 7 days, we can reach 140 lontar. However, we are prepared to make adjustments, such as extending the duration if needed, and because of carma citrawati stay in Germany, she will ensure that all essential work is completed thoroughly.

7) All new communication is in the early stages; if this proposal is approved, we will push for deeper communication. Because there has been discussion about cooperation regarding manuscripts, the Wikimedia Foundation partnership will aid communication with Leiden University and the British Library. My colleague will help the museum in Paris to spread the word about this project's strategy. I am approaching Stabi Berlin to access the Balinese lontar collection because as far as I know there is one ongoing project, namely Qalamos, a website that lists collections in Germany.

8) The minimum target in Wikisource is 100 because we have to ensure the willingness of the institution to grant permission to digitize at least the front and back pages of Lontar. The process of proof reading and creating infoboxes and lontar summaries also takes more time.

9) The team will go to Berlin to identify lontar in institutions in Berlin that number more than 100 lontar. The activities include measuring lontar, identifying the title, explaining the condition of the lontar then inputting it into wikidata. Carma citrawati (talk) 14:17, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

Your grant application has been approved

Hello WikiSami team,

Thank you for your responses to the follow-ups questions.

Congratulations! Your grant application has been approved in the amount of USD 25,000 (inclusive of 10% fiscal sponsor fee to Kiwix) from 25 February 2025 to 24 February 2026.

Here are some comments from the review team that were captured from the final deliberation round

• 10) I suggest that the proponent gets sufficient experience first in established institutions (in Europe via third party sponsorship) before applying lessons to the local community. I recommend cutting travel expenses and carry out their first year GSF funded activities in their city/ town.
• 11) I think there is a need to demonstrate that the larger Balinese community was engaged and their feedback was solicited. If not done yet, there needs to be a needs assessment with the larger community and a process to share regular updates both on-wiki and during offline activities.
• 12) I think in terms of idea, it is a great proposal. This can really set a lot of precedence for future projects focused on growing languages online.
• 13) In terms of implementation, given that relationships will be established with multiple Culture and Heritage institutions, I think it would be great for the team to have regular meetings with the WMF Partnerships team for their support and to help build on existing relationships. Partnerships team can help navigate challenging around working in different contexts and also provide official letters for partnerships.
• 14) The model looks similar to the Wikimedian at Large model that was initiated by Mike Dickinson in New Zealand. So, I think a meeting with him could help the Balinese team to understand best practices and things to keep in mind.
• 15) What are their plans to engage the most active editors on Balinese Wikisource?

Recommendations

• On this talkpage, we would like to flag questions/ responses for (2), (3) for inclusion into your implementation plan and take into consideration the comments from the review team marked (5),  (7 - 9), (10 - 15). We also suggest that you provide regular updates on this talkpage when you have made progress in these areas with links to other relevant pages for further details.

• For (4), please provide the link to a revised budget based on the final approved funding amount while also taking into consideration the feedback that has been provided to date. You can use your current budget file -> add a tab and name it “revised budget” -> share the link here.

For the review of your next grant application, we will take into account your new application AND progress that you have made in the areas of the recommendations captured on this talkpage. Hence we would encourage you to be proactive in sharing key updates here on a regular basis. If there are recommendations that you have considered and have assessed that it is not the right fit for now, please also provide an update to share your learnings/thought process as well.

Disbursement of Funds

To facilitate the funds disbursement process, we seek your prompt response on Fluxx and via emails with the WMF Grants Administrator team (grantsadmin@wikimedia.org). We highly encourage you to submit all supporting documents and endorse the grant agreements within the stipulated time frame. When in doubt, proactively reach out to the WMF Grants Administration team and copy your programme officer.

Change in implementation plan

We know even the best thought through plans may change.

In the event that there are changes to your implementation schedule, you can reach out to request for a grant extension (i.e. extend end date). Similarly, if there is a surplus budget or changes to your planned budget, you can reach out to me about reallocation (via email and on this talkpage). There is also the option to have the unspent funds deducted against a future grant. More details here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Return_unused_funds_to_WMF

Additional resources which may be useful

• The reporting requirements and templates for the grant can be found here. All reports are to be completed and submitted via Fluxx.
• Timelines for reporting can be found in your grant agreement or on Fluxx.
• Instructions for post award: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Processing/Grantee_Portal/Post_award
• Documenting project expenses: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Documenting_project_expenses

We thank you for your participation in the grant application process and hope to continue to journey with you as you embark on the implementation phase. Good luck!

Regards, Jacqueline on behalf of ESEAP Funds Committee JChen (WMF) (talk) 15:53, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

Project extension - APPROVED

Hello WikiSami team,

Thank you for taking time to connect for our midpoint conversation.

Your request for a project extension has been approved.

The end date for the project will be 30 April 2025 and the final report will be due (via Fluxx) on 31 May 2025.

We are also noting your preference to apply for Round 2 (instead of Round 1) for the General Support Fund. More details of the round timelines can be found here.

Thank you.

Regards, Jacqueline JChen (WMF) (talk) 06:53, 11 August 2025 (UTC)