Hi all,

In the latest round of Project Grants, 26 proposals were submitted for review. The committee has recommended 11 projects for a total of $321,010 in funding. WMF has now approved all 11 grants. Here’s what we’re funding. [1]

Software: seven projects funded

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Nigerian keyboard project https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Nigerian_keyboard_project: At present, Wikimedian editors working in Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo have to cut and paste vowels simply to write sentences in their own languages. This project will support new keyboard layout software to improve editing experience, allow for searches of Wikipedia articles, and contribute to the development of an internet culture in these languages. [2]

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Feature improvements to Wikimedia Programs & Events Dashboard https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Feature_improvements_to_Wikimedia_Programs_%26_Events_Dashboard: The Programs and Events Dashboard is the global Wikimedian community’s platform to organize projects like edit-a-thons and education programs, tracking all contributions by participants. This grant project will build specific new features and improve known shortcomings of the tool. Among other improvements, it will extend access to the Dashboard by enhancing usability on mobile devices. [3]

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Wikipedia Cultural Diversity Observatory (WCDO) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Wikipedia_Cultural_Diversity_Observatory_(WCDO): The content of each language edition of Wikipedia is skewed toward the cultural and geographic context associated with its own language. WCDO aims to correct this underrepresentation, providing focused data and strategic recommendations for cross-language collaboration so that each language edition will have a truly international representation of the world’s knowledge. [4]

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WikiInAfrica/WikiFundi https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/WikiInAfrica/WikiFundi: Wikifundi expands the Kiwix offline reader experience to include an offline editing platform and a suite of training tools that allow educators to adopt the Wikipedia in the classroom program in schools without reliable internet access. These improvements greatly expand the territory of this important educational initiative which teaches critical skills like research, digital and information literacy, and collaboration while training a new generation of Wikipedia readers and editors. [5] -

Kiwix/User Experience https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Kiwix/User_Experience: Though Kiwix is a widely used tool for bringing Wikimedia projects to areas with limited or nonexistent internet access, its desktop version has become increasingly buggy as the software has deprecated. This project will revamp the user experience and architecture so that Kiwix can continue to serve users around the world for years to come. [6]

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Soweego https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Hjfocs/soweego: Based out of the University of Trento, the highly trained soweego team will create a fully automatic robot that syncs giant volumes of external information with Wikidata. This robot will directly connect Wikidata with a variety of large, reliable knowledge databases, so that Wikidata can serve as centralized, structured repository of open data. [7]

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LinguaLibre https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/0x010C/LinguaLibre: For the past two years, LinguaLibre has been facilitating recordings of pronunciation audio files and encourage contributions in minority languages into Wikimedia projects. This project will extend the impact of this successful project by improving user experience and storing rich and linguistically useful metadata using the Wikibase software. [8]

Online organizing: one project funded

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Community toolkit for Greater Diversity https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Chinmayisk/Community_toolkit_for_Greater_Diversity: A team of experienced Wikimedians will develop tailored online and offline training modules to equip veteran volunteers to create a more inclusive, diverse editing community on Indic language Wikipedias. The project aims to design and develop a community toolkit for recruiting, onboarding and retaining editors from underrepresented demographics. [9]

Offline outreach: three projects funded

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Les Classes Wikipedia (Wikipedia Classroom) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/UG_CI/Les_Classes_Wikipedia_(Wikipedia_Classroom): This project will continue a successful pilot program in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Teens and young adults will be trained to create and improve Wikipedia articles, focusing on the 100 most notable Ivorian writers. [10]

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Les sans pagEs https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Les_sans_pagEs: The “Les sans pages” groups will expand both its online and offline presence in Europe, engaging the francophone community to collaborate on reducing the gender gap on the French Wikipedia. [11]

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WikiDonne roadmap https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Camelia.boban/WikiDonne_roadmap: The WikiDonne team will continue to organize event coordinators across Italy to help promote more gender diversity in Italian Wikipedia. The group aims to increase female biographies by writing at least 250 new articles. [12]

You can read more about this round on the Wikimedia Foundation blog https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/12/18/project-grants-awarded/.[13]

The open call for Project Grants 2018 Round One https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project will launch on January 1, 2018, with applications due January 30, 2018. [14]

We are seeking new Project Grants Committee Members. January 15 is the deadline to submit candidacy for the next round. If you or someone you know might be interested in serving on the committee, please contact projectgrants {{at}} wikimedia.org with questions or see our committee eligibility page on Meta https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Quarterly/Committee#committee-criteria. In particular, we are seeking reviewers at this time who are qualified to help us to develop a stronger process for evaluating research proposals. [15]

A new Inspire Campaign https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Inspire focused on bringing in new readers—especially in countries where Wikimedia projects are not well known—will begin in January 2018. [16]

1.

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Browse_applications 2.

<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Nigerian_keyboard_project

3.

< https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Feature_improvements_to_Wikim...

4.

< https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Wikipedia_Cultural_Diversity_...)

5.

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/WikiInAfrica/WikiFundi 6.

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Kiwix/User_Experience 7.

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Hjfocs/soweego 8.

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/0x010C/LinguaLibre 9.

< https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Chinmayisk/Community_toolkit_...

10.

< https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/UG_CI/Les_Classes_Wikipedia_(...)

11.

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Les_sans_pagEs 12.

< https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Camelia.boban/WikiDonne_roadm...

13.

https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/12/18/project-grants-awarded/ 14.

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project 15.

< https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Quarterly/Committee#committee...

16.

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Inspire

*Marti JohnsonProgram Officer* *Individual Grants* *Wikimedia Foundation http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home* +1 415-839-6885 Skype: Mjohnson_WMF

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share http://youtu.be/ci0Pihl2zXY in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! Support Wikimedia https://donate.wikimedia.org/