Activity Report for the Second Quarter of Fiscal Year 2014–15

Editing events

Wikimedia DC held ten edit-a-thons in this quarter, including three with the Smithsonian Institution and seven with other organizations. These events included:

The National Museum of American History Edit-a-Thon on February 10;
The Howard University Black History Edit-a-Thon on February 19;
The American Art Edit-a-Thon on February 24;
A Black History-themed First Edit event at NPR on February 24;
The African Americans in STEM edit-a-thon with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on February 24;
Our third annual Women in the Arts edit-a-thon on March 8 (as part of the broader Art+Feminism initiative);
A Women's History Month Edit-a-Thon with the National Institutes of Health on March 13;
The Women in STEM Edit-a-Thon with the DC Public Library on March 21;
She Blinded Me With Science Edit-a-Thon with the Smithsonian Institution Archives on March 27; and
WikiTurgy with the University of Maryland on March 30.

The National Museum of American History Edit-a-Thon, was held with Professor Andrew Lih's class at American University and featured 21 participants made 80 edits to 15 articles, including Japanese American Nisei Congressional Gold Medal, Internment of Japanese Americans, and Borinqueneers Congressional Gold Medal. Participants also uploaded six files to Wikimedia Commons, including photos of the Nisei Soldiers medals. Professor Lih's class also participated in the American Art Edit-a-Thon on February 24, where 17 participants made 61 edits to 13 articles on various artists, with 13 photographs of artwork uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. In total, 36,723 bytes of content were added or removed between the two events.

February is Black History Month, and we held three events on the subject in February. During the Howard University Black History Edit-a-Thon, nine participants made 13 edits to five articles, including Charles Henry Thompson, Farish Street Neighborhood Historic District, and List of Howard University people. Significantly, a list of 13 missing articles was generated during the event; this list can be used to support future events and editing activity on Wikipedia around Black History. We also held an event with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where nine participants made 36 edits to 11 articles, and with NPR as part of our "first edit" event series, where ten people made nine edits to six articles. Between the three events, 29,222 bytes of content were added or removed.

Our third annual Women in the Arts event was part of the worldwide Art+Feminism initiative, for which Wikimedia DC was the fiscal sponsor. At this event, held in the main foyer of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, 16 participants made 117 edits to 39 articles, including Marguerite_Gérard, Judy Pfaff, Ximena Zomosa, and A.L. Steiner. In total, 37,124 bytes of content were added or removed.

The first-ever edit-a-thon at the National Institutes of Health was themed on women in science, and was one of our most productive events ever. Thirty participants made 225 edits to 44 articles, and 37 pictures of women scientists were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. 130,926 bytes of textual content were added or removed during the event.

In total for this quarter:

100 people participating in editing events, including 22 people participating in two or more this quarter (including Professor Lih's students).
Of the 100 participants, 50 were newcomers at Wikimedia DC events, of which two went to one or more editing events.
762 edits were made to 218 articles.
60 files were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.
326,505 bytes were added or removed on Wikipedia.

Hacking events

Wikimedia DC participated in the ArtBytes hackathon on February 6–8, where we promoted Wikidata in the use of hacking projects.

Social events

Wikimedia DC implemented a meetup schedule for WikiSalons and social meetups for calendar year 2015, with WikiSalons on the second Wednesday of each month and dinner meetups on the last Saturday. The WikiSalons for this quarter were held on January 14, February 11, and March 11, and the dinner meetups were held on January 31, February 28, and March 28.

Grants

Wikimedia DC funded four grant projects in this quarter. Four grantees requested $2,012.41, and a total of $1,438.12 was disbursed. Projects funded include:

Wiki Loves Small Museums, a workshop held at the Small Museum Association Conference in Ocean City, Maryland, on February 15. Eight conference participants went to the workshop, with nine people volunteering on-site and two people volunteering remotely. This one-to-one ratio allowed for a highly productive event. A total of 24 articles were created or improved, and 76 images and documents were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.
The She Blinded Me With Science Edit-a-Thon with the Smithsonian Institution Archives, which was reported above.
Startup funding for the Cascadia Wikimedians User Group.
The "I Love To You" Critical Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon in Seattle, Washington, an event with around 30 participants that encouraged people to read Wikipedia with a critical lens.

Governance

The Board of Directors met on February 15. During the meeting, it enacted a safe space policy, including rules of conduct for events and procedures for addressing safety issues. We also enacted an amended version of the Movement Accountability Policy and refocused the program committees toward outreach and reviewing grant proposals.