User:Frank Schulenburg/WikiConference USA 2016
Goal[edit]
WikiConference USA 2016 will be the third annual conference of Wikimedians in the United States.
Primary goals of the event will be to
- Provide opportunities for face-to-face rapport-building connections between existing Wikimedia volunteers and community members across the country, strengthening personal relationships between the participants in order to improve community health on the English Wikipedia.
- Increase the number of Wikimedia user groups in the United States by encouraging and empowering event participants to create their own local user group.
- Increase the frequency and value of local wiki meetups and user group activities across the United States, with shared lessons learned and recommended best practices.
- Provide opportunities for participants to learn about ongoing and planned programmatic activities in the United States by offering participants a venue to share their learnings about what worked and what didn't work, and by having an open discussion about how to improve the impact of Wikimedia activities across the country.
Secondary goal of the event will be to
- Explore long-term networking and partnering opportunities with organizations from the cultural and educational sector (e.g. GLAM, universities, etc.) in the Southern California region in order to build on the existing momentum and to achieve sustainability beyond the conference.
Plan[edit]
WikiConference USA 2016 will create a forum for US-based Wikipedians and non-Wikipedians, including academics, professionals, students, and activists, to participate in meaningful Wikimedia-related discussions and activities. The conference will nurture grassroots Wikimedia communities, address long-standing online and local community issues, spur creation of new content, and facilitate partnerships with cultural and educational institutions.
Activities[edit]
Outreach[edit]
Building on the extensive number of US-based Wikimedians, partners and allies, the conference organizers will invite participation from
- Wikimedia community members in the United States
- Instructors, librarians, and university administrators participating in Wikipedia-related activities at higher education institutions in the U.S.
- Free culture, and open access groups and individuals involved in free information and free culture movement
- Local museums, cultural heritage institutions, historical societies, and other public service institutions
Travel scholarships[edit]
The conference organizers will be awarding travel scholarships to bring in attendees from throughout the United States. Most Americans live in a part of the country without a chapter or regular Wikimedia-oriented events. We will provide these Wikimedians (and prospective Wikimedians) with an opportunity to network with other Wikimedians, learn what they can do to reach out to people and institutions at home, and get inspired to start their own local Wikimedia user group.
Conference program[edit]
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WikiConference USA 2016 will take place over four days of keynotes, presentations, panels, workshops, lightning talks, and a number of different hands-on activities. The first day (Friday) will offer participants an opportunity to engage in hands-on activities (like edit-a-thons, photo excursions, etc.), whereas the main conference will span over three days (Saturday – Monday, with the latter being a national holiday – Columbus Day – in the United States). The sessions will mainly be filled through an open submission process that has been working very well in past iterations of WikiConference USA.
The conference will feature a variety of different session formats:
- Keynotes: The conference organizers will invite luminaries in the Wikimedia movement to inspire and inform attendees.
- Presentations: The Program Committee will select presentations based on the proposals submitted through the open submission process.
- Panels and Workshops: The Program Committee will work with participants to organize panels and workshops on select topics.
- Lightning Talks: Attendees will be given opportunities to sign up to give 5–10 minute talks on a topic of their choice.
- Hands-on activities: Attending long-time Wikimedia contributors will be invited to engage in hands-on editing and image creation activities.
High-level timeline:
- Pre-conference: Friday morning – Saturday noon
- Excursion of Commons Photographers
- Exploration of Balboa Park Museums (e.g. Hall of Champions Sports Museum, Air- and Space Museum, Automotive Museum, Natural History Museum)
- Field trip to Mexico as a potential way of connecting with Spanish-speaking Wikimedians
- Conference: Saturday noon – Monday 5 p.m.
We envision a number of different tracks, e.g.
- Community, e.g. Women & Wikipedia, Inter-community relationships (Conflict Resolution, Harassment, Engagement with new contributors), WikiProjects, local User Groups, Chapters, Community Meetups
- Outreach, e.g. GLAM activities and partnerships, Outreach to like-minded organizations and institutions, Wikipedians in Residence
- Education, e.g. Partnerships with educational institutions, Case study presentations, Panel of instructors and students who engage in "Teaching with Wikipedia", Tools (Wiki Education Foundation dashboard), WikiStudies (a new journal investigating the intersection of Wikipedia and higher education)
- Others (to be determined by the Program Committee)
Impact[edit]
Target readership[edit]
WikiConference USA 2016 will most directly affect the English Wikipedia, a large proportion of whose contributors (~40%) reside in the United States. However, the intention is to provide a forum for all Wikimedia online projects, and to also support language projects for the minority languages of the United States.
The conference will make an extra effort to reach out to Wikimedians in the United States who do not have regular access to Wikimedia chapter or user group activities. This project will primarily benefit English Wikipedia by bringing together editors from all across the United States and engaging with various institutions that incorporate Wikipedia into their work.
Fit with strategy[edit]
In relation to their geographic size, the United States have a significantly lower number of local Wikimedia groups than smaller countries. Lack of appropriate opportunities for in-person communication and trust-building activities have created an atmosphere of disconnectedness among community members. Many long-time Wikimedians in the U.S. are working in solitude and have never met fellow contributors. As a result, programmatic activities have been geographically concentrated in a small number of hotspots like New York and D.C. while the potential for building grassroots community groups in other parts of the country has not been fully explored.
To date, WikiConference USA is the only opportunity for Wikimedians across the country to meet, to share ideas and learnings, and to connect with like-minded professionals, activists, and academics on a national level. The upcoming event aligns with the strategic priority of the Wikimedia Foundation to increase community health by ensuring the local Wikimedia communities are thriving and prepared to engage in meaningful programmatic activities.
Measures of success[edit]
At different points during and after the conference, we will be asking participants to fill out comment forms and surveys. We will compile participant comments as a quantifiable measure of participant engagement, as well as a measure of effectiveness of the conference sessions.
Following the conference, we will obtain the following datasets. The results will be published in a formal conference report which will also include a comprehensive financial report:
- Conference attendance
- Geographic representation
- Organizational and institutional representation
- New projects and partnerships started by attendees following the conference
- Reports from scholarship recipients post-conference
With the conference seeking to encourage the creation of new local groups across the United States, we will also measure the amount of new successfully established and officially recognized Wikimedia user groups.
Resources and risks[edit]
Resources[edit]
List of team members[edit]
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Conference Director | Melissa Ganus |
| Finance Director | t.b.d. |
| Communications Director | t.b.d. |
| Program Chair | t.b.d. |
| Fundraising Coordinator | t.b.d. |
| Scholarship Chair | Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight |
| Volunteer Coordinator | t.b.d. |
| Technical Supervisor | t.b.d. |
Venue[edit]
Our first major partner who will support WikiConference USA 2016 is the City of San Diego Public Libraries. Erwin Magbanua, Special Events Coordinator for the downtown library, has enthusiastically agreed that the library can host, co-sponsor, help plan and market ongoing Wikipedia events, including this year's WikiConference USA. The library will make their most spacious and beautiful meeting rooms available during the 3-day holiday weekend Oct 8–10, and Erwin has now reserved them for us, with no fees. The value of the library’s in kind donations exceed $26,000.
We have also successfully connected with leadership in Balboa Park and the massive GLAM community there (Galleries, Libraries, Archives & Museums). Nik Honeysett, CEO of the Balboa Park Online Collaborative (bpoc.org), is interested in partnering for multiple events and building a more active group of Wikipedians within our GLAM communities. BPOC handles supporting any technology-related projects member organizations of Balboa Park want to do.
Evidence of past success in executing similar projects[edit]
- Wikimedia New York successfully organized WikiConference USA 2014 in New York City.
- Wikimedia DC, supported by Wiki Education Foundation, successfully organized WikiConference USA 2015 in Washington, D.C.
Risks[edit]
There are two main risks for WikiConference USA 2016:
- Attendance is below expectations: we invest and organize and yet the event only attracts a few Wikimedians. Based on the number of local groups involved in supporting the event (Wikimedia New York, Wikimedia DC, Cascadia Wikimedians, Wiki Education Foundation, local community members from California) and also based on the number of past conference attendees, we assume this risk is low. Prior conferences of this kind have indicated that the biggest factor keeping Wikimedians from different parts of the United States from attending the conference is the amount of money available for scholarships (with significantly more people applying than scholarships being available).
- We are not able to raise additional funds: we will seek additional funding through non-Wikimedia sources in order to pay the main event organizer a honorarium. If we fail in attracting additional funders, we will run the risk of our Conference Director not being able to put in the hours that are necessary to guarantee a successful event. However, given the many opportunities to get additional funding through local foundations and possible corporate sponsors, we are confident that this risk is low.
Budget[edit]
Project budget table[edit]
| Number | Category | Item description | Unit | Number of units | Cost per unit | Total cost | Currency | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Venue | Room rent | Days | 4 | 0 | USD | Will be donated by Balboa Park (Friday – Saturday noon) and the San Diego Public Library (Saturday noon – Monday) | |
| 2 | Equipment and services | Technical (A/V, wireless access, etc.) | Days | 4 | 0 | USD | Will be donated by Balboa Park and the San Diego Public Library | |
| 3 | Catering | Coffee and lunch breaks | Days x persons | 150 | 90 | 13,500 | USD | Light lunches, snacks, and refreshments served on all three days of the conference @ USD 30 per person per day |
| 4 | Scholarships | Full or partial scholarships | People | 30+ | 25,000 | USD | Full or partial scholarships to attend WikiConference 2016 USA for approximately 30 or more individuals. We're currently working on securing group deals for affordable hostel accommodations and cheap travel fare. | |
| 5 | Conference Director | Event management and oversight | Hours | 300 | 30 | 9,000 | USD | To be funded independently, through third party sponsorship (non-Wikimedia). |
| 6 | Conference material | Give-aways, bags, program | Person | 150 | 20 | 3,000 | USD | The usual give-aways at conferences of this type. |
| 7 | Contingency | 2,075 | USD | 5% of the total cost of the event, excluding honorarium for Conference Director (which we'll seek additional funding for through third parties) |
Total cost of project[edit]
USD 52,575 (not including volunteer hours)
Total amount requested[edit]
USD 43,575
Additional sources of revenue[edit]
Additional sources of revenue, other than the Project and Event Grants Program, that may fund part of this project, and amounts funded.
We are working on raising additional funds and in-kind donations through:
- The City of San Diego
- Local grantmaking institutions
- Corporate sponsors
Non-financial requirements[edit]
We'd like to run a geo-targeted banners on select Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia, Commons) prior to the conference in order to attract attention from Wikimedians across the United States.
Discussion[edit]
Community notification[edit]
We have started a list of Wikimedians interested in attending WikiConference USA and will widely advertise the event through mailing lists and geo-targeted banners. On May 28, the English Wikipedia community newspaper Signpost reported that the conference will take place October in San Diego.
Endorsements[edit]
Do you think this project should be selected for a Project and Event Grant? Please add your name and rationale for endorsing this project in the list below. Other feedback, questions or concerns from community members are also highly valued, but please post them on the talk page of this proposal.
- Please add you name here