Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Wiki Loves Museums (ID: 22272310)

Endorsment from Sneharshidasgupta (talk)

This is a remarkable opportunity to make knowledge open and accessible, for researchers to connect and collaborate, and work towards fulfilling the vision of Wikimedia—the democratisation of knowledge. The chosen area of research is the postcolonial history of India, with a particular focus on the South and Northeast regions. I believe this is very important as it offers the possibility of making various kinds of lesser-known histories accessible—be it by illustrating the works undertaken by museum initiatives or as part of cinema and other arts-based scholarship. As a Wiki Loves Museums India Fellow (2022), I fully endorse this fellowship project knowing first-hand the exposure it offers to researchers and its impact on the public domain. Moreover, the logic of colonialism was deeply rooted in the notion of a 'civilising mission' if one keeps the idea of expansion of trade and commerce aside. Therefore, as various historians have shown, individuals and collectives in colonial India were forced to negotiate between tradition(s) and colonial modernity. This resulted in the loss of self and the emergence of a new kind of culture—neither fully local nor English. With the emergence of the postcolonial Indian nation-state, there have been various attempts to recover and/or retrieve a self which had already undergone significant transformations throughout many generations. How did, then, the diverse collectives—across the Indian subcontinent—negotiate with the newfound independence? The public domain needs to act as a repository of information that can offer the younger generations the history of this complex social, cultural, and political transformation. I believe in focusing on the postcolonial years following the independence of India, the Wiki Loves Museums India project is attempting to look back and see how we got here. I believe this proposal has much to contribute to and bring forward the histories of underrepresented groups in South and North East India, their arts and culture, and the transformations they had undergone to reach where they are today.

--Sneharshidasgupta (talk) 03:51, 11 September 2023 (UTC)

Endorsment from Natasha Khaitan (talk)

Open Knowledge Fellowship under Wiki Loves Museum, was a very fruitful experience which opened new avenues of research and provided insight into the wealth of open source data available on cultural heritage of India.

--Natasha Khaitan (talk) 07:53, 14 September 2023 (UTC)

Endorsment from Neek-Theri (talk)

--Neek-Theri (talk) 09:52, 21 September 2023 (UTC) The proposal will create an important resource of showcasing knowledge and regional aspects. The focus on local resources like musuems, archives, photos, videos shall be a great resource for researchers as well. The use of community voices and bringing to light less explored regions like north-east shall enrich the content of wikipedia immensely. The training sessions are an important way for capacity building in the long run. It shall be very helpful in adding important historical dimensions around wiki projects like wiki loves musuems and regional cinema of India. It is a well planned proposal in terms of a good coherence between its objectives, startegies and final outcomes. The team already has a great track record in steering group projects efficiently. With my own experience with them as a fellow, I can vouch for their commitment and dedication to creating open access resources. It is particular;y appreciable to have mentors and trainers to steer the fellows and young reserchers. The decade of 1950's, right after India's independence, is an important historical epoch and shall enrich the resources.

Feedback from the South Asia regional funds review team

Hello Medhavigandhi, thanks for submitting this Rapid Fund request. The South Asia funds regional team has reviewed your application and we have the following comments and requests:

• We appreciate this detailed and considered proposal. We thank you for building a proposal based on the past learning and experience. We believe that the proposal is viable with clear impact.
• You mentioned in the proposal that you would focus on research. Could you please provide more information on what kind of research this is? How would you work with the reference material? What information would be used on the Wikimedia projects? Could you please bring some examples of reference materials and Wikimedia pages to be created or improved? (question 7)
• Your plan is to offer stipends or remuneration to fellows, mentors, and editors. Per Rapid Fund guidelines, we do not support paid editing and encourage volunteer contributions to Wikimedia projects. In your project, it should be clear why you are offering stipends or remuneration to these participants. What activities will be covered by stipends or remuneration? This is particularly important because most of the budget is allocated to stipends or remuneration. If these are roles similar to Wikimedian in Residence role, it should be clear from your proposal, also, if possible, with a relevant policy. (question 8)
• Did you discuss the proposal with your community members or groups on wiki? We request that relevant communities are aware, discuss, and endorse the projects before you organize them. (question 11)

We have sent the application back to you to add your responses to the corresponding questions on the original application in Grantee Portal (Fluxx). You have received an automated email with instructions. Please complete this by October 10, 2023. Thanks again for your contribution and time. Let us know if you need any support.

On behalf of the South Asia regional funds review team. DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 15:07, 5 October 2023 (UTC)

Thank you @DSaroyan (WMF) and the South Asia Grants Team. I have tried to answer all the questions below as clearly as possible. I am happy to engage further in case something is unclear.

• You mentioned in the proposal that you would focus on research. Could you please provide more information on what kind of research this is? How would you work with the reference material? What information would be used on the Wikimedia projects? Could you please bring some examples of reference materials and Wikimedia pages to be created or improved? (question 7) We expect the Fellows to undertake research on their chosen theme to create a resource. The idea is that when a Fellow is researching, they use their readings / findings to add to articles during our fortnightly editathons. - Example, if a Fellow is creating a resource on post-partition art-movements and collectives, their research can help expand articles about Satish Gujral, B.C Sanyal, and others - including photographing murals by Satish Gujral. Further, important partition-era art movements and groups like the Delhi Shilpi Chakra or artists like S.L Parasher don't have a page on Wiki and those can be created. - if a Fellow were to work on Architecture or Urban development post partition- the page about Faridabad has no mention on the post-partition community(refugee) led creation of the Township. Neither is their information on the Chhatarpur township. Social history scholarship however has extensive resources, and there are also images (from the Government of India's Photo Division) in the Public domain that are not on Wiki Commons. - The city of Chandigarh has a section on history but not on its architecture -- which is what the city is known for. The designs of LeCorbusier are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Architecture Museum in Chandigarh & the Museum Library for instance can be used by Fellows to not only add to this page, but also to create a photo essay by documenting pictures and buildings with an architectural focus. Similarly, in the 1950s architecture of India, the international Bauhaus movement is often ignored. An example of an architect's page that can be improved. - there is a vast archive of AIR (All India Radio) that is yet to be uploaded to Wiki; the study of this archive can result in stories about dancers, musicians, literature and theatre of the 1950s. Given our experience of the previous fellowship, and the diverse applicant pool, one cannot say for sure as to which particular sub-theme or pages would be improved / created. As examples though, the above has been shared.
• Your plan is to offer stipends or remuneration to fellows, mentors, and editors. Per Rapid Fund guidelines, we do not support paid editing and encourage volunteer contributions to Wikimedia projects. In your project, it should be clear why you are offering stipends or remuneration to these participants. What activities will be covered by stipends or remuneration? This is particularly important because most of the budget is allocated to stipends or remuneration. If these are roles similar to Wikimedian in Residence role, it should be clear from your proposal, also, if possible, with a relevant policy. (question 8) Indeed, our fellowship is an adaptation of the Wikimedian in Residence program; but with short term partnerships with museums / libraries and keeping the challenges of the Indian museum sector in mind. We conduct the partnership with the museum / library to help them understand the WiR model so they may independently pursue the same. For example, if a fellow would like to create a 1950s resource with cinema as the theme, we would like them to work with the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) and during the 4-month fellowship, improve relevant articles using the archive. Later, the fellow would conceptualise a Wiki event in collaboration with the NFAI (editathon / photowalk, etc). We can make sure that the Fellows add the same to their User page. I will appreciate any further guidance on a policy. The stipend for Fellows is meant to encourage researchers from all economic backgrounds and enable them to do their work with all resources they might need. Since their work will result in Open Educational Resources that can be distributed among schools / educational institutions and translated, I feel a fair stipend is required for the time and effort. Our project manager Arunesh already contributes voluntarily to a range of Wiki projects, and this work involves a lot of trainings for Fellows and associated work, for which we feel it is important to acknowledge their work; I am aware that Arunesh is a regular participant in other Wiki project (Marathi, for example) and uses the honorarium for accessing books / professional development activities. To keep our work sustainable for long, we have roped in an Editorial manager -- we noticed that last year though the research and articles that were expanded / created were substantial, there was a need for an editorial eye which has a history / art background and who can re-adapt the Wiki content for video or other shareable formats (like quizzes based on the articles). With the remaining work for the Fellowship, Arunesh and I were left with limited capacity for the same.
• Did you discuss the proposal with your community members or groups on wiki? We request that relevant communities are aware, discuss, and endorse the projects before you organize them. (question 11) The idea behind this fellowship is to help history and art-history researchers (different stages) to add research to Wiki through the resources at museums and through their own independent access. This is also why this time we are inviting mentors. I have discussed the Fellowship with museums (who might host Fellows), our ex cohort of Fellows (who are now part of the Wiki following their contributions and would like to further their engagement) . From the Wiki community I have been able to discuss this with Tanveer (CIS - with who we plan to partner for the next phase of the Fellowship) and Satdeep Gill (GLAM Team). If you have any suggestions on who else I may discuss this with, I'd be open to doing the same. Thank you for your questions, and I look forward to engaging further if something is still not clear.

Medhavigandhi (talk) 21:25, 5 October 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Loves Museums

Dear Medhavigandhi, thanks so much for your response. We are glad to inform you that we made a decision to fund your Rapid Fund request in the amount of 4982.24 USD. We are making this decision with the following recommendations:

• As discussed above, please make sure to follow the Wikimedian in Residence related policies on the target Wikimedia project. These policies can be slightly different on Wikimedia projects, so please make sure to acknowledge them in advance. Here is the related policy for the English Wikiedia for your reference. Additionally, please make sure that fellows disclose their engagement and role on their user pages.
• We encourage you to think about how fellows can support engaging editors or transferring their knowledge to their colleagues. One recommendation is to ask fellows to organize editathons at the museums, train the staff of the museum, and raise awareness of the Wikimedia movement.
• Since this is the second iteration of the Wiki Loves Museums fellowship, we also suggest thinking about the extension of the program. It would be great if museums from other Indic communities could also be engaged in this program.
• We also highlight the importance of transferring the knowledge about this project to other interested communities. Please consider using the community learning spaces, for example, the Let's Connect peer learning program, to share your experience and knowledge with other community members.

Thanks again for your engagement in the review process. Wishing you all the best with your project. On behalf of the South Asia regional funds review team. DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 12:40, 13 October 2023 (UTC)

Dear @DSaroyan (WMF),

Very excited to have the support and for another year of the fellowship.

- yes, we will ensure fellows disclose their engagement and role on their User page.

- indeed, "organizing editathons at the museums, training the staff of the museum, and raising awareness of the Wikimedia movement" is a planned output for this year's Fellowship. We piloted the approach last year to understand the challenges around the same; we have already an agreement with museums on this year's approach to include time for trainings.

- will surely incorporate the other suggestions about engaging with the Indic communities; last year the Wiki Loves Museums project had two components (fellowship and a photo contest) -- we are now replacing the photo contest with another initiative to connect Wiki communities and user groups and GLAMs through "Museum Weekends"; we hope to pilot this with CIS's support as we could not include it in this grant request. So of course, we are hopeful of finding ways to engage other Indic communities.

- Happy to share our learnings with other community members -- so we will hope to deepen our commitment on this part.

Once again, thank you for your understanding and support! Medhavigandhi (talk) 09:13, 14 October 2023 (UTC)