[Labs-l] Grants for tools development - your input requested by April 20

[Siko Bouterse]

Hi all,
Several technical projects that may be of interest to folks on this list
are currently proposed for Individual Engagement Grants (IEG).  Input from
technical contributors is very welcome to help us decide which projects to
fund.

Please come share any comments, suggestions, endorsements or other feedback
you have, directly on the proposal discussion pages on meta-wiki, by April
20, 2014.

There are 7 tools proposals:
* https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Finish_Pronunciation_Recording
*
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Tools_for_Armenian_Wikisource_and_beyond
* https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/WikiTrack
* https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/The_Wikiquiz
*
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Stepwise_Disclosure_Edition:_Wikipedia_for_shy_people
* https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Open_Access_Reader
* https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Global_Economic_Map

All IEG proposals can be found here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG#ieg-join

Some background about these grants:

IEGrants fund Wikimedians to work on projects that meet a community need
and aim to have online impact.  We're happy to experiment with new ideas,
provided they attempt to solve a useful problem and we can learn something
valuable even from those that don't succeed.

For tools projects in particular, we consider things like:

* Can the project be accomplished independently by the grantee team?  If it
needs code review, integration, or something else from WMF engineering
staff, it isn't eligible for funding. (This is to avoid accumulating large
review/integration debt.) So, new MediaWiki core features or extensions
aren't good fits for these grants, but gadgets and stand alone applications
are welcome.
* Does the project have a hosting dependency? If WMF is expected to provide
servers (i.e. hosting beyond what any volunteer has access to via Wikimedia
Labs), it isn't eligible for funding. We like to see hosting plans that can
last beyond a 6-month grant, so we try to avoid short-term funding for
servers via these grants as well.
* Does the project have a community engagement plan? We want to fund tools
that will be useful to real people, so we try to avoid funding projects
that take a "build it and they will come" approach to development.

Hope to see your input on proposals on meta!

Best wishes,
Siko

-- 
Siko Bouterse
Head of Individual Grants
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

sbouterse at wikimedia.org

*Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge. *
*Donate <https://donate.wikimedia.org> or click the "edit" button today,
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