CIS-A2K/Work plan July 2021 - June 2022

OverviewEdit

We are presenting the annual workplan of Access to Knowledge (A2K) for the period 1 July 2021 — 30 June 2022. At the time of writing the proposal in April 2021, India is facing the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a grim public health situation. Challenges of remote working and dealing with the public health crisis have impacted coordination and meta work on the proposal and posed difficulties in planning events and program activities well in advance in these unforeseeable conditions.

The Access to Knowledge or A2K program has been working with the communities in India for several years now, in planning, conducting, and supporting different types of Wikimedia activities. In this program year, we will continue to be a steward to the movement in India. We will build on the work we have done so far, with an attempt to further improve their quality, outreach and impact. We will also invest in new ideas and initiatives and align our work with the global movement.

  • Wikisource: Wikisource will continue to be a focused project for the A2K program. We will work proactively with all Indian Wikisource communities to identify areas of a new engagement, as well as provide support towards organising events and activities, including on technical or logistical aspects as per the needs of communities.
  • Institutional partnerships: We will collaborate with like-minded institutional partners who share our vision on Wikimedia and the free knowledge movement, in order to improve and expand Wikimedia-related content and the reach of projects. We will continue to work with our existing institutional partners such as Vigyan Ashram, National Digital Library of India etc. We will also build new institutional partnerships that will add value to the movement.
  • Technological Infrastructure: In the current program year we have worked to develop a couple of tools book2scrollv2 (Wikisource) and bodh (Wikidata). Building on this work, we will develop tools/gadgets that directly help Indian Wikimedia communities. We will request for support from relevant Wikimedia Foundation teams, and also solicit inputs from expert volunteers and resource persons during this process.
  • Online events: Over the current year, we have been focusing on online/remote events and in the form of events like Wikimedia Wikimeet India 2021, Wikidata Eighth Birthday (India). This year also we will conduct and support online Wiki-events and programs. We will also work towards building our capacities to enhance the quality of online events, in keeping with the needs of the evolving work environment in light of the pandemic.
  • Content Enrichment: We will conduct and support content enrichment-related activities such as Wikipedia edit-a-thons, Wikidata label-a-thons, Wikimedia Commons photo upload contest, Wikisource proofread contest etc.
  • Wiki legal support in India: This year, we wish to start working on an initiative that will provide legal guidance to Wikimedians and the Wikimedia communities in India on issues like registration of a society/trust (applicable for user groups), content licenses and IPR, statutory compliance and regulation related to foreign funding etc. This will provide support to Wikimedians facing possible legal difficulties related to their work on Wikimedia projects. As this is the first time we will attempt setting up such a support mechanism, we will take guidance from the Wikimedia Foundation, and also utilise the organisation's (CIS) institutional experience.
  • Wikimedia Strategy 2030: This is an important phase of Wikimedia Strategy 2030, as the implementation phase is beginning. In coordination with Wikimedia Foundation's strategy team, we will provide support to Indian Wikimedia communities to implement the strategy recommendations. Working on the Wikimedia Strategy recommendation implementation will be one of the most important areas of our work this year.
  • Request Page: CIS-A2K runs a request page that is open to Indian Wikimedia communities for general service and support (both financial and non-financial). We will continue to provide this service.
  • Learning and Evaluation/Knowledge Sharing: A2K has been serving the Wikimedia movement for several years now. This year, we wish to produce a series of writings capturing the program and institutional knowledge on different aspects and areas of the movement (please see also the fourth metric below).
  • Bridging Gender Gap: Bridging the gender gap in Wikipedia communities will continue to be an area of focus. In all our events, programs, and activities, we will undertake relevant efforts to address and attempt to bridge the gender gap on Indian Wikimedia projects.
  • Knowledge Dissemination strategy: The delivery of knowledge is as crucial as creation of knowledge. In the era of internet, it should reach anyone instantly when they need it. To achieve this effectively - methods of knowledge creation, nature of target audience, channels of delivery - are some of the work areas to design the broader strategy and process. CIS-A2K will work on the 'Knowledge Dissemination Strategy' with reputed organisations like Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL) working for more than 30 years in the knowledge sector (please see also the fifth metric below).

Metrics and EvaluationEdit

Shared metrics

  • Participants: The number of people who attend your events, programmes or activities, either in person or virtually. This definition does not include people organizing activities, social media followers, donors, or others not participating directly.
  • Newly registered: The number of participants that create new accounts on a Wikimedia project. These include users who register up to two weeks before the start of the event.
  • Content pages: A content page is an article on Wikipedia, an item on Wikidata, a content page on Wikisource, an entry on Wiktionary, and a media file on Commons, etc. This metric captures the total number of content pages created or improved across all Wikimedia projects.

Grantee-defined metrics

  • Learning-Evaluation/Knowledge Sharing (LEKS): CIS-A2K has been working in the movement for several years now. We'll document our learning, program experience in a series of writings mostly to be published on Diff. These will be detailed writing (mostly text-based, however, we'll include other media formats as well). These writing pieces will document the institutional experience and knowledge that may help readers to prepare a work plan or protocol.
  • New Partnerships: CIS-A2K has been putting consistent efforts to build partnerships with various institutions. We plan to consolidate the partnerships in a structured way in this year. New Partnership is formed when we share the same vision, goal and specific objectives towards action program evolved jointly. It includes roles and responsibilities of both the parties and a set of deliverables within some timeframe. An institution will be counted as a 'New Partnership' if one event per year is conducted in collaboration, Quarterly reviews are held around the action plan and the institution shows interest in working with us for the next two years.
Programme Participants Newly registered Content pages Learning-Evaluation/Knowledge Sharing (LEKS) New Partnerships
Content Enrichment 400 330 15,800 3 6
Skill Development 500 35 3,200 3
Partnerships 1,200 550 18,200 2
Leadership 800 85 2,800 2
Total 2,900 1,000 40,000 10 6

Content EnrichmentEdit

Re-licensing movementEdit

Background
CIS-A2K is focusing on re-licensing for the last three years. The process has gained momentum in the state of Maharashtra. A multi-faceted approach was taken to achieve re-licensing of more than 220 reference value works. The simple manual in Marathi was developed to execute the OTRS process by copyright holders smoothly. The content donation was done by authors, copyright holders and various organisations. The works were digitised and uploaded in category on Wikimedia Commons.

Why
There is a need to make hidden, forgotten reference value works free, accessible and searchable. The readers like to read recent content relevant to current affairs which suits their interests. For this one can not wait for the expiry of the copyright of works. Therefore re-licensing drives are in need of an hour for every language community.

How
To achieve this systematically, we plan to build a database of authors and copyright holders. The tutorials for the process will be created. Special efforts will be taken to build thematic content galleries in collaboration with organisations. These will be helpful in the online capacity building of the community. The focus will also be on collaborations with Government agencies to open their collections. To facilitate and promote this process, liaison with media houses and publishers will be done.

Outcome

  • The re-licensing process will be replicated in three states. A total of 200 works will be released and 20 community members will be involved in the process.

Digitisation set-upsEdit

Background
CIS-A2K has collaborated with the organisation like Vigyan Ashram, Pabal to set-up a scanning and processing facility in the campus. The scanner and training was provided by CIS-A2K to the rural girls' team. In the last three years, more than 40,000 pages have been scanned and uploaded. The team has also completed a rare books' digitisation project with public library.

What
It is proposed to set up De-centralised scanning centres at various places which are easily accessible to community and content donors.

 
Scanning set-up in Vigyan Ashram

Why
It is very much necessary to carry out the digitisation of decaying, delicate material on-site or near to the collection. This facility is also helpful in promoting the digitisation of personal creative work collections. Through this initiative we also engage these centres in skill building of youths in digitisation sector.

How
After looking at the work of Vigyan Ashram documented in the short film - Savitri's online daughters, few organisations have approached us for support. We shall select such institutions where the consistency and quality of the work would be maintained. The accessibility for community will also be taken into account. On the job training will be done for the first three months. This will include proper communication with the community, record keeping, scanning and post processing. They will also be introduced to Wikimedia projects where the content would be uploaded.

Outcome

  • We shall set-up five scanning centres in India. About 50,000 pages will be scanned in these centres.

ProofreadthonEdit

Background
Two Proofreadthons Will continue in the coming year as per RFC‎ decision. The events will be conducted as per community wishes.

Why
Indic Wikisource proofreadthon is now a flagship online event for Indic Wikisource Community.

How
A series of discussion will be done with the Wikisource community to understand their situation and availability. Later proofread-a-thon will be planned. We are planning to do one in November 2021 and the other needs to be planned.

Outcome
Minimum 100 participants and 5000 pages will be proofread and also approximately 21 community members will be involved in the planning and implementation process.

Mini Edit-a-thonsEdit

Background
CIS-A2K conducted 4 mini edit-a-thons in the current grand year, Such as Mahatma Gandhi 2020 edit-a-thon, Festive Season 2020 edit-a-thon, Wikipedia 20th anniversary celebration edit-a-thon and Label-a-thon. In this event, a total of 178 Wikimedians took part in the event.

Why
CIS-A2K believes conducting Thematic online Wikiactivites will help to generate more content, The moto of the mini edit-a-thon/Thematics edit-a-thon is to encourage the community members. Also, a good amount of content will be created.

How
The group of people who are interested will be identified from mini edit-a-thons. The knowledge gaps in the Wikimedia project or any special occasions will be identified and discuss with the community members to conduct the event.

Outcome

  • Two such events will be planned in the upcoming year.

Skill DevelopmentEdit

Building women's groups for knowledge creationEdit

Background
CIS-A2K is working with various organisations working on women empowerment for the last three years. We were able to explore the potential in women through activities in Lingua Libre, audio books and Lexemes project in the previous year. On the occasion of Women's Day 2021, the women's group has completed uploading of more than 10,000 recordings in Wikimedia Commons through Lingua Libre. The similar methodology would be adopted to activate such women's groups in other places.

Why
There is a lot of hidden potential and expertise in women who could not pursue full time jobs due to home making responsibility. We collaborated with Jnana Prabodhini organisation to mobilise such women to work on Marathi language related projects like Wikisiurce audio books, Lingua Libre & Wikidata Lexeme project. Within three months we were able to mobilise communities of interest around language related projects. This pilot will be strengthened and expanded in other parts of India.

How
The methodology will be developed to build structured knowledge base in Lingua Libre and Wikidata Lexeme projects. The movement resources for the same will be created with experienced editors. The efforts will be taken to collaborate with communities concerned with documentation of vulnerable languages, e.g. Gondi, Korku, Warali, Halbi, dialects in North-east region of India.

Outcome
Total 100 women from 2 places will be involved.

Language specific Wikisource community buildingEdit

Background
Due to constant follow-up and support, in the last two years Assamese community grew up well. Likewise we will work closely with other three language communities.

Why
According to recent analysis of the projects, a most venerable projects are Malayalam and Odia Wikisource. We have to focus on these two projects.

How
In the coming year, CIS-A2K will focus on Odia, Malayalam, and Assamese Wikisource communities.

Outcome
Total 10 community members will be involved in the process for every language ( Assamese, Odia & Malayalam).

Wikisource Technical DrivesEdit

Background
Each year Wikimedia tech team prepares Community Wishlist about the technical issues from the community. The tech team works on the top five voted technical issues. But Wikisource community is very small compared to Wikipedia or Commons. So Wikisource issues were unattended because of a lack of votes, but each task is very essential for the Wikisource communities.

Why
The Wikisource project was our focus program last year and we will continue the same in the coming year. At present, none of the affiliates of Wikimedia Foundation have focused on such a Wikisource project.

How
CIS-A2K will develop the strategy and structure to resolve the issues through technical drives. Total two dedicated technical staff will be involved on contractual basis. India Mediawiki Wikisource Hackathon 2020 was postponed due to COVID-19, it will be conducted in this year.

Indic Wikisource HelpdeskEdit

Background
Indic Wikisource Helpdesk will continue in the coming year. For a complex page layout, sometimes wiki-librarians feel uncomfortable fixing the page and leave the Wikisource just for one page.

Why
Indic Wikisource Helpdesk is a continuous interaction with the community.

How
Indic Wikisource Helpdesk will continue to support in the coming year.

PartnershipEdit

GLAM partnershipsEdit

Background
CIS-A2K has involved in collaborative projects with public libraries and museums in the last two years. The research study on GLAM mapping has opened many avenues of knowledge creation with these institutions. The systematic partnerships would be developed to achieve valuable content generation. Initial discussions with Kashibai Madhavrao Gawand Museum, Satara; Manjusha Museum, Dharmasthala; Kalashram Museum, Adilabad and REWATCH Museum, Arunachal Pradesh have already done.

 
Main building of Kashibai Madhavrao Gawand Museum, Maharashtra

What
The GLAM institutions would be identified through mapping in at least three states. The content will be organised on appropriate Wikimedia projects with the help of experts in relevant fields. The Wikimedian in Residence or similar programs will be effectively implemented.

 
Artifacts in Kashibai Madhavrao Gawand Museum

Why
The knowledge in GLAM institutions is multi-faceted. This content in the form of text, images, audio-visual and objects needs to be integrated with various Wikimedia projects for greater accessibility.

How
The following activities would be taken up with different GLAM's -

  • Digitisation of PD, rare books with 100+ year old libraries
  • Digitisation of museum collections
  • WiR programs with museums and archives
  • Data donation campaigns with research institutions and libraries

Outcome
At least 5 GLAM projects from three states will be completed.

Better visibility of Content related to Gender in Indian languagesEdit

Background
After executing the pilot programme for content generation and re-licensing activities successfully with Lek Ladki Abhiyan, an organisation active in gender issues, CIS-A2K started working on this project in the previous program year. Due to COVID restrictions, the field work could not be done. The literature survey, initial communications with prospective organisations has been done. The mapping of available resources is completed through desk research.

What
There are several organisations in India, which have been actively working in the areas of gender, sexuality, women and LGBTQIA+ rights etc. These include resource centres, publications and research institutions. We will map such resource centres and explore possibilities of collaboration for better visibility and access to this content.

Why
Collaborations with these organisations may offer valuable resources, inputs and expertise for enriching content related to the gender on Wikimedia in Indian languages. It may also help bring these resources into the mainstream to facilitate public discourse around bridging the gender gap.

How
In the pilot phase, a set of institutions will be identified through desk research, community networks and by reaching out to organisations, to develop a good understanding of their work, resources and challenges etc. We will actively work with the centres to explore possible areas of collaboration, including an introduction to Wikimedia and activities such as edit-a-thons, workshops on key areas such as open licenses etc.

Outcome
Around 5 resource centres will be identified and a series of activities ( workshops, training sessions, consultation on research and collaborations etc.) will be conducted to understand the resources, work and content available, and how they may be better access to a wider public in Indian languages through Wikipedia. Movement resources on gender-related content may also be created with the help and expertise of the individuals and organisations involved.

Wikimedia for HighschoolsEdit

What:
To develop the Wikipedia articles in Native languages (at least 3 languages). These articles will have the necessity for the school students to use these articles as reference material.

Why:
The students who are studying science, commerce and any other subjects in their native language, has only the textbooks as they don't have many books to read in their field of study. To fulfil this gap, we will be using Wikipedia as a platform and develop the required articles.

How:
We will be forming a group of community members who are intresed and start the groundwork by creating a list of topics in languages in which community shows the interest. After preparing the list we will check for the existing article on the language Wikipedia and match them. The topics in which articles do not exist on Wikipedia will be created with the help of students, faculty members and community members. After completing the first round of the project the Kiwix will be used and the offline Wikipedia will be shared with the schools located in these languages speaking areas.

Outcome:

  • 15-20 new editors will be thought about editing Wikipedia.
  • 100 new articles will be created
  • Readership and usage of offline Wikipedia will be increased.

WikiClubEdit

What:
WikiClub in schools is a pilot project for CIS-A2K that will be kick-started in 2021-22. The main aim of this project is to promote the use of Wikimedia sister projects within the Educational Institutions to help the students, teachers, and individuals from various Educational Institutions. This project is currently in the planning phase and the iteration will be started at the beginning of the first semester in the 2021 academic year.

How:
Every school has a curriculum and assignments for the students at their level. Which helps the students to understand the subject. Most of the time they write the assignments directly from Wikipedia without any knowledge of it. If you introduce using Wikipedia to these students at this age will help them use it in better ways. Also, develops the personal potential in academics. It way also benefits society by building friendships with those who have similar interests and develop the articles. Under there will be 3 main motos:

  • Know to use:
  1. Get to know about Wikipedia and use them for both studies purpose and to create researching interests among the students.
  2. Will help to understand the pros and cons of using Wikipedia directly in their assignments.
  3. Will teach the terms of copyright and intellectual property and the correct implementation of Wikipedia in their assignments.
  • Know to create:
  1. Help to create interest in the MediaWiki formatting, media insertion, link insertion, and others.
  2. They learn what topics can be written on Wikipedia and what can't be written.
  • Tell and Share
  1. Discuss and share about Wikipedia with other friends and create interest and also increase the use of offline Wikipedia projects.

Outcome:

  • Will start at least 2 Wikiclubs in schools to create awareness among the school students.

LeadershipEdit

CIS-A2K request pageEdit

What:
CIS-A2K provides support to the Indic community to conduct the events and enhance the article on Wikimedia platforms. We have observed the importance of this support in conducting the Wikimedia activities in the past years and we would like to continue this in the upcoming years. These requests can be seen on the CIS-A2K request page.

How:
The requests received on the request page goes through a series of discussion among the team members by considering the following criteria such as event page created a will before the event and informed to the native community, Description of the event, community endorsement, align with the WMF Global Metrics.

Outcome:

  • At least 15 requests will be supported in the upcoming year from 6 different communities.

Meetups for capacity buildingEdit

What:
CIS-A2K conducts and supports Wiki-meetups to strengthen the communities. CIS-A2K will continue to support Punjabi Wiki Community by conducting monthly meetups.
How:
CIS-A2K will have initial discussions over the mailing list and village pump to decide on the agenda, date and time. CIS-A2K will co-organise and facilitate the meetups with the communities and discuss some of the essential points towards community growth.

Outcome

  • We will organize 7 meetups in the upcoming year under this meetup series.
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