Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2021–22

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This report describes the activities of Wikimedia District of Columbia during Fiscal Year 2021–22, covering the period from October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022.

Programs

Institutional partnerships and public editing events

A rare in-person edit-a-thon at the National Gallery of Art

Wikimedia DC continues to hold collaborative editing events (edit-a-thons), which is our main institutional partnership program activity. Most of these are public events organized by our staff, and we present Wikipedia training. Often the partner organization also makes a presentation at the event. This year, most of these events remained online rather than in-person.

During the 2021–22 fiscal year, Wikimedia DC ran or supported 24 events in partnership with 24 institutional partners and one for-profit company seeking a rewarding volunteer experience. These events, which included a broad spectrum of cultural, academic, and government institutions, and non-governmental organizations are listed below:

• American Statistical Association
• ART library deco
• Charles Sumner School Museum and Archive
• City of Fairfax Regional Library
• Delaware Art Museum
• House of Sweden
• Mastercard
• National Gallery of Art
• National Museum of African Art
• National Trust for Historic Preservation
• NewsQ
• The Peale Museum
• Progressive Policy Institute's Mosaic Project
• Protect Democracy
• Smithsonian American Art Museum
• Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative
• Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
• Smithsonian Institution Libraries and Archives
• Smithsonian National American History Museum
• Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
• USDA's National Agricultural Library
• University of Nebraska
• Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library

One event we had in person was at the National Gallery of Art. With our partners there we uploaded images, edited articles, did research in their beautiful library, and took a tour guided by the curator of the Called to Create exhibition.

Research projects

Wikimedia DC has been invited to participate in research and development efforts, and research-related grants now form a sizable part of our activity. We are working with Hacks/Hackers to develop software that will help evaluate the reliability and quality of English Wikipedia articles related to vaccines, and then to use information on reliable sources generally to support good information on social media. We have had past success in software development, having co-sponsored the effort to create the Wiki Art Depiction Explorer. We expect this line of activity to continue in the future and to represent a sizable portion of our funding.

Conferences and workshops

A selection of U.S. winners of the 2021 Wiki Science Competition

Wikimedia DC partnered with other WMF affiliates to run WikiConference North America 2021 in October, 2021. Over 200 people attended online, and many sessions were broadcast in both English and Spanish. Wikimedia DC was the fiscal sponsor of the event and wrote most of the final report. We planned a similar conference for late 2022. The event was funded mainly by a grant from the WMF.

Wikimedia DC organized judges and sponsored prizes in the 2021 Wiki Science Competition in the United States. Participants uploaded their submissions during November and December 2021. The U.S. competition received 391 contributions across seven categories. These included 142 images of wildlife, 34 microscopy images, 24 non-photographic and video submissions, 7 images of people in science, 90 general category images, and 52 images as part of sets. The jury selected up to seven winners in each category to represent the United States at the international level. Of the 33 awardees, only 7 had previous contributions to Wikimedia Commons. In addition, the panels selected five submissions as "Jury's Choice" awards, each of which receives a $200 prize from Wikimedia District of Columbia.

We helped arrange Wikimedia Hackathon days (around May 21) and a Pittsburgh Wikimania meetup in person (circa Aug 11).

Organizational development

Wikimedia DC had a change of officers in January, after last fall's Board elections. Longtime president Kirill Lokshin has moved on. Peter Meyer is now the president, John Sadowski vice president, Diane Shaw secretary, and Sara Snyder treasurer. The new officers have been learning their roles and systems. Our Institutional Partnership Manger, Ariel Cetrone, continues in her position. The Wikimedia DC Board of Directors held six meetings during the 2021–22 fiscal year, on November 15, 2021; January 23, 2022; February 7, 2022; May 16, 2022; July 18, 2022; and September 26, 2022.

The chapter had fallen behind on tax filings, and has now caught back up. The annual tax forms (Form 990-EZs) are on our web site. The chapter had to re-file for tax-deductible status, and has regained it. This "reinstatement" is retroactive, meaning member donations throughout the period remain tax-deductible from U.S. federal taxes as before.