Grants talk:Project/Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation Inc./Grassroot Language Documentation in Nigerian for Wikipedia and its sister projects

Proposal Clinics

Hello,

Thanks for beginning to draft your proposal for the Project Grants open call! I wanted to make sure you are aware that we are hosting proposal clinics for applicants to ask questions and get feedback. If you would like to attend, you can find the dates, times, and videoconference links posted on this page meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project. These are optional opportunities to get support improving your proposal. Let me know if you have any questions! Good luck with finishing your proposal for the February 10 deadline!

Warm regards,

--MCasoValdes (WMF) (talk) 23:36, 9 February 2021 (UTC)

Reminder: Change status to proposed to submit

IMPORTANT: Please note that you must change your proposal status from "draft" to "proposed" by the submission deadline in order for your proposal to be reviewed in the current round. When your proposal has been successfully submitted, it will show up in the "Open proposals" list (it may take several minutes for the list to update after you submit it). Applications that are not completely filled out and correctly submitted by the deadline will not be reviewed. To submit your proposal, you must complete all fields of the application and then:

1. Click on "edit source"

2. Change "|status=DRAFT" to "|status=PROPOSED"

3. Click the "Publish changes" button.

Thank you,

--MCasoValdes (WMF) (talk) 23:42, 9 February 2021 (UTC)

Comment from Wikimedia Foundation GLAM & Culture team

Hello! Can you clarify what genre of audio-visual content will be produced and the role of scriptwriter? It would be helpful if you could share sample scripts or files.

What metadata will be captured and shared around the content produced?

The project is very ambitious, with a lot of content being created in a short amount of time. Can you explain how you will manage unexpected difficulties related to the pandemic, since the project requires travel and contact with people in several different locations?

Do you have a plan for maintaining the new digital files in perpetuity? Wikimedia Commons is not a platform for digital preservation because files can be deleted or removed by the community. Institutional repositories or the Internet Archive are more durable platforms for the preservation of these materials.

Thanks, -- GFontenelle (WMF) (talk) 23:46, 3 March 2021 (UTC)

Response to Wikimedia Foundation GLAM and Culture Team

Hello GFontenelle (WMF) and thanks for your questions and feedback. Please see our responses below.

1. We will be recording oral history videos and audios, which will not be scripted but elicited through structured conversations that encourage the speakers to use different grammatical tenses in their language and share culturally relevant knowledge. We will be developing this elicitation protocol alongside field linguists from Wikitongues (@Bogreudell:)
2. For each oral history video, we will capture descriptive metadata about the language featured as well as technical metadata to facilitate the file's long-term preservation. See "Oral Histories" on page 5 of the Wikitogues archival policy for a full metadata template: https://wikitongues.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/wikitongues_archival_manual_v1-0-0.pdf. In addition, we will capture social-linguistic metadata about each speaker that describes their language proficiency, education level, and status in their community. 
3. We are creating a total of 99 oral history videos and audios in six(6) months. This is feasible based on our assessment and recommendations from Tunde Oladimeji, an expert indigenous documentary filmmaker. There is currently no travel restrictions or lockdown resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic in any part of Nigeria and we will deal with any unexpected difficulties relating to the COVID-19 on a case-by-case basis using the most suitable approach for each case. During the fieldwork (travel), we will follow all established COVID-19 protocols and guidelines including social distancing, uses of facemask, hand-washing  etc.
4. In addition to Wikimedia Commons, Wikitongues, the U.S. Library of Congress, and the Internet Archives will host our documented materials in perpetuity.

Please let us know if you have additional questions. Wikimedia Nigeria (talk) 14:03, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

Hi Wikimedia Nigeria! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our comments.

1. We are really glad to learn that you are planning to record oral history material in a structured way and, especially, encouraging speakers to really reproduce their language in a more representative way. This is very important (and interesting!). It is also good to know you will have field linguists from Wikitongues.
2. Thank you for clarifying which metadata you are planning to use and for providing the link. It is good that you plan to record metadata in different levels (descriptive, technical, and social-linguistic).
3. We are also glad to learn this number is feasible, according to an expert on the subject. It is also good (great, actually!) to know there are no travel restrictions or lockdown resulting from the pandemic in Nigeria and that you are prepared, with protocols, in case any unexpected difficulties occur.
4. Thank you for providing clarification about this topic. We are relieved to learn the materials will be saved in perpetuity.

Again, thank you so much for your feedback. Best, GFontenelle (WMF) (talk) 22:56, 15 March 2021 (UTC).

Eligibility confirmed, Round 1 2021 - Community Organizing proposal

This Project Grants proposal is under review!

We've confirmed your proposal is eligible for review in Round 1 2021 for Community Organizing projects. This decision is contingent upon compliance with our COVID-19 guidelines. Proposals that include travel and/or offline events must ensure that all of the following are true:

• You must review and can comply with the guidelines linked above.
• If necessary because of COVID-19 safety risks, you must be able to complete the core components of your proposed work plan _without_ offline events or travel.
• You must be able to postpone any planned offline events or travel until the Wikimedia Foundation’s guidelines allow for them, without significant harm to the goals of your project.
• You must include a COVID-19 planning section in your activities plan. In this section, you should provide a brief summary of how your project plan will meet COVID-19 guidelines, and how it would impact your project if travel and offline events prove unfeasible throughout the entire life of your project. If you have not already included this in your proposal, you have until March 15 to add it.

The Community review period is now underway, from February 20-March 4. We encourage you to make sure that stakeholders, volunteers, and/or communities impacted by your proposed project are aware of your proposal and invite them to give feedback on your talkpage. This is a great way to make sure that you are meeting the needs of the people you plan to work with and it can help you improve your project.

• If you are applying for funds in a region where there is a Wikimedia Affiliate working, we encourage you to let them know about your project, too.
• If you _are_ a Wikimedia Affiliate applying for a Project Grant: A special reminder that our guidelines and criteria require you to announce your Project Grant requests on your official user group page on Meta and a local language forum that is recognized by your group, to allow adequate space for objections and support to be voiced).

Please feel free to ask questions and make changes to this proposal as discussions continue during the community review period. By March 15, make sure that your proposal has incorporated any revisions you want to make and complies with all of our guidelines. If you have not already done so, you can make use of our project planning resources to improve your proposal further, too.

The Project Grant committee's formal review for round 1 2020 will occur March 5 through March 20, 2021. We ask that you refrain from making any further changes to your proposal after March 15, so we can be sure that all committee members are scoring the same version of the proposal.

Grantees will be announced Friday, April 22, 2021. Sometimes we have to make some changes to the round schedule. If that happens, it will be reflected on the round schedule on the Project Grants start page.

We look forward to engaging with you in this Round!

Questions? Contact us at projectgrants wikimedia  · org.

--Mercedes Caso (platícame) 23:01, 12 March 2021 (UTC)

Aggregated feedback from the committee for Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation Inc./Grassroot Language Documentation in Nigerian for Wikipedia and its sister projects

Scoring rubric	Score
(A) Impact potential Does it have the potential to increase gender diversity in Wikimedia projects, either in terms of content, contributors, or both? Does it have the potential for online impact? Can it be sustained, scaled, or adapted elsewhere after the grant ends?	6.0
(B) Community engagement Does it have a specific target community and plan to engage it often? Does it have community support?	6.2
(C) Ability to execute Can the scope be accomplished in the proposed timeframe? Is the budget realistic/efficient ? Do the participants have the necessary skills/experience?	4.7
(D) Measures of success Are there both quantitative and qualitative measures of success? Are they realistic? Can they be measured?	5.8
Additional comments from the Committee: Project aligns with the strategic direction of knowledge equity by focusing on opportunities to increase content around undocumented/underdocumented Indigenous languages of Nigeria. The project is not clear. There is to produce audio of what exactly? Why is a videomaker required while the main issue is to save languages? An ambitious project that fits with Wikimedia's strategic priorities and an output that can be adapted after the grant ends. There is potential for learning for the movement through collaboration with Wikitongues. The idea is interesting but not supported by project planning. large potential for impact with clear targets It is unclear to me whether this is a language documentation project, a linguistic research project, or an oral history project. For example, is the goal to create recordings of undocumented/underdocumented languages? Or to contribute historical information about these languages to different Wikipedias? Or to collect oral histories that provide insight into the culture and local knowledge of the language communities? I think all of the above activities have their value but require different considerations and approaches (and to attempt to do all three at the same time is likely unsustainable). Although it's very ambitious, the project team confirmed that it can be accomplished in 12 months. Participants have the necessary skills. The project will involve collaboration with the Yoruba Wikipedia community and user group, as well as Wikitongues. Would be useful to have more information about how speakers from all 99 target languages will be identified and engaged. The project support diversity and have the support of the community. As mentioned in my review, it is unclear to me whether this project is envisioned as a language documentation project, a linguistic research project, or an oral history project. I can’t tell if this is an issue of project scoping or just confusion on my part about how the pieces fit together and/or my ignorance regarding what approaches are required in this specific context. However, if the goal is to contribute historical information about target languages, I would think research and involvement of linguistics/historians would be more appropriate than native speakers (though I acknowledge there may be a role for both). The project is interesting but the budget needs to be reviewed. Briefly there is to understand why there should be a director (director of the project?) and a project manager to produce 200 media files? Why is the video is required? The car hire costs are high -- approaching the cost of a new car. This should be reviewed. I would suggest scaling down the project as it is the first time. The deliverables seem too ambitious, and given the restrictions of COVID-19, travel and recording in-person might not quite easy. Production of a 10 min video from scratch to finish can take 3-5 hours (if we are highly optimistic), and target metrics are way too high to be completed within the budgeted staff time - there is a great risk. Funding suggested by scaling down the project by 50%, learn what' working and what's not, and document workflows. These learning can be used to scale up in the future. I think since there is a clear salary for the project team, the food costs should be included in the salary.

This proposal has been recommended for due diligence review.

The Project Grants Committee has conducted a preliminary assessment of your proposal and recommended it for due diligence review. This means that a majority of the committee reviewers favorably assessed this proposal and have requested further investigation by Wikimedia Foundation staff.

Next steps:

1. Aggregated committee comments from the committee are posted above. Note that these comments may vary, or even contradict each other, since they reflect the conclusions of multiple individual committee members who independently reviewed this proposal. We recommend that you review all the feedback and post any responses, clarifications or questions on this talk page.
2. Following due diligence review, a final funding decision will be announced on Friday, April 22, 2021.

Questions? Contact us.

Marti (WMF) (talk) 05:35, 24 March 2021 (UTC)

Response to Project Grant Committee

We want to thank the committee for the review, feedback and comments on our proposal. They are really useful.

1. We will be recording oral history videos and audios, which will not be scripted but elicited through structured conversations that encourage the speakers to use different grammatical tenses in their language and share culturally relevant knowledge. We have updated our proposal with this information.
2. We have scaled the project by 50% to learn what is working and what is not and document workflows as recommended by the committee. We will use our learning to scale up in the future.

Thanks for taking the time to review our proposal.--Wikimedia Nigeria (talk) 05:57, 31 March 2021 (UTC)

Round 1 2021 decision

Congratulations! Your proposal has been selected for a Project Grant.

The committee has recommended this proposal and WMF has approved funding for the full amount of your request, $44,420

Comments regarding this decision:
The committee is pleased to support preservation, documentation and digitization of indigenous languages and oral history in Nigeria, through structured interviews captured through high quality multimedia documentation. They appreciate the value of the local Wikimedia community’s work to organize and promote its use on relevant Wikipedia articles in English, Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo.

NOTE: Funding of any offline activities (e.g. travel and in-person events) is contingent upon compliance with the Wikimedia Foundation's COVID-19 guidelines. We require that you complete the Risk Assessment Tool:

• 14 days before any travel and/or gathering event
• 24 hours before any travel and/or gathering event

Offline events may only proceed if the tool results continue to be green or yellow.

Next steps:

1. You will be contacted to sign a grant agreement and setup a monthly check-in schedule.
2. Review the information for grantees.
3. Use the new buttons on your original proposal to create your project pages.
4. Start work on your project!

Upcoming changes to Wikimedia Foundation Grants

Over the last year, the Wikimedia Foundation has been undergoing a community consultation process to launch a new grants strategy. Our proposed programs are posted on Meta here: Grants Strategy Relaunch 2020-2021. If you have suggestions about how we can improve our programs in the future, you can find information about how to give feedback here: Get involved. We are also currently seeking candidates to serve on regional grants committees and we'd appreciate it if you could help us spread the word to strong candidates--you can find out more here. We will launch our new programs in July 2021. If you are interested in submitting future proposals for funding, stay tuned to learn more about our future programs.

Marti (WMF) (talk) 05:43, 23 April 2021 (UTC)