Scholarships
| Scholarship applications are now closed. All applicants were notified on 20 March 2013 about whether their application had passed phase one of the review process - 670 applicants have passed, out of 1,219 applications. All phase two applicants were notified on 7 April 2013. Thank you for all the great applications! |
Wikimania 2013 Scholarships Programme
Wikimania 2013, the 9th annual international conference, is being held on 7–11 August, 2013. The venue is in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The Wikimedia Foundation is offering a limited number of scholarships to offset the cost of selected individuals' attendance at Wikimania.
Important dates
The anticipated timeline for the scholarship programme is as follows:
Scholarship applications open: 22 January 2013Deadline for applying for scholarships: 22 February 2013 23:59 UTCScholarship committee reviews applications: January–April, 2013Applicants are notified about final decisions: April 2013 or earlier
Goals of the programme
- To make Wikimania 2013 a successful and productive international conference
- To support the Wikimedia projects by encouraging participation
- To enrich the conference with attendance by a diverse group of participants in the Wikimedia movement
About application for scholarship
Eligibility (who can apply for a scholarship): Any active contributor to a Wikimedia project and/or Wikimedia volunteer in any other capacity, from anywhere in the world, is considered eligible. Participants in other free knowledge, free software, collaborative and/or educational initiatives are also encouraged to apply.
Selection: All applications for scholarship are reviewed by the scholarship committee. Criteria for selecting scholarship recipients were determined by the scholarship committee in accordance with the goals and focus areas of Wikimania and Wikimedia. See “Scholarship Selection” below for more detail on the selection criteria and process.
Scholarship selection process
The scholarship committee rates scholarships applicants based on a standardized set of criteria. The number of recipients of WMF Scholarships will be roughly allocated across the different regions of the world in the following manner:
| Asia Pacific | 30% |
| East Europe & Central Asia | 10% |
| Rest of Europe | 10% |
| North Africa & West Asia | 10% |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 10% |
| North America | 10% |
| Central & South America | 20% |
The same selection criteria (see below) will be used in rating all scholarship applications, but the applications will be compared against the applicants within the region – those receiving the highest scores will be given that region's quota of scholarships. The scholarship committee reserves the right to deviate from the above benchmarks, pending a lack of qualified applicants.
The number of qualified applicants always far outstrips the number of scholarships available to attend Wikimania. As a result, in the event that multiple applicants from the same region receive identical or very similar scores, the applicants which have not previously received a scholarship will be favoured. Furthermore, how long ago the scholarship was given and the amount of resources it used may also be taken into account – for example, a recipient of a partial scholarship for the 2011 Wikimania would be favoured over a recipient of a full scholarship for the 2012 Wikimania.
Types of scholarships
Both partial and full scholarships will be available for Wikimania 2013.
- Full scholarships will award round trip travel, dorms accommodations, and registration
- Partial Scholarships: a lump-sum award for travel expenses to Wikimania, capped at 50% of the estimated air fare from your nearest international airport according to Getting to Hong Kong. If your nearest international airport is not on the list, you are encouraged to contact the scholarship committee before applying for a partial scholarship.
The same selection criteria will be used for both types of recipients. On the scholarship application, please indicate your willingness to accept a partial scholarship. As we are not screening applications for financial ability, we are assuming that all who check partial scholarship would be willing to take the partial scholarship in order to provide those with less resources the opportunity to attend Wikimania.
Selection criteria
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Activity in Wikimedia movement (on-wiki and off-wiki) (50%) |
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Activity outside of Wikimedia and other free knowledge/software projects (15%) |
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Interest in Wikimania and the Wikimedia movement (25%) |
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Fluency of English language (10%) |
Applicants will be rated on the following four dimensions:
Activity within Wikimedia (50% of total score)
Applicants active within Wikimedia are those highly engaged participants in the Wikimedia Projects: editors, Wikimedians, and community members who will add value to Wikimania through their experience, knowledge, and dedication in online and/or offline activities, like involvement with chapter activities, meetups, etc. To highlight this, applicants could write about their experiences participating in online Wikimedia project activities (such as editing) and offline Wikimedia project activities (such as meet-ups, GLAM, and Campus Ambassador programmes).
- 4 = Very high level participant, defined by continued involvement and high impact in two or more projects, chapter or Wikimedia initiative (or as the reviewers judge "very high level")
- 3 = High level participant, defined by continued involvement and high impact in one or more projects, chapter or Wikimedia initiative (or as the reviewer judge "high level")
- 2 = Mid level participant, defined by continued involvement and average impact in one or more projects, chapter or Wikimedia initiative (or as the reviewer judge "mid level")
- 1 = Low level participant, defined by relatively new account, few edits, and little or no involvement in any Wikimedia project or initiative.
- 0 = Not a participant, defined by a brand new account, or almost no edits, and no involvement in any Wikimedia project or initiative.
Activity outside Wikimedia (15% of total score)
Activity outside of Wikimedia measures applicants relevant activity outside of the Wikimedia movement. This includes activity in other activities relating to ICT4D, Free Software, education institutions, etc. These participants may exhibit qualities of innovation, participation in other aspects of the free culture/open source movement. It is a measure for those who have shown potential to add value to the Wikimedia projects and movement, who can enhance and build on this potential at/by Wikimania, and who can disseminate what they learn at Wikimania to their respective communities. If applicable, applicants could write about their experiences with other comparable organizations.
- 4 = High level participant, defined by involvement in other free knowledge, free software, collaborative or educational initiative with very high potential to benefit Wikimedia.
- 3 = Mid to high level participant, defined by involvement in other free knowledge, free software, collaborative or educational initiative with high potential to benefit Wikimedia.
- 2 = Mid level participant, defined by involvement in other free knowledge, free software, collaborative or educational initiative with some potential to benefit Wikimedia.
- 1 = Low level new participant, defined by involvement in other free knowledge, free software, collaborative or educational initiative with low potential to benefit Wikimedia.
- 0 = Not a participant, defined by no involvement in other free knowledge, free software, collaborative or educational initiatives.
Interest in Wikimania and the Wikimedia movement (25% of total score)
Applicants are expected to have a well developed interest in the Wikimedia movement and should be able to express concrete and valid justifications for attending Wikimania.
- 4 = Very strong interest in the Wikimedia movement; specific, concrete justifications as to why the applicant is interested in attending Wikimania
- 3 = Strong interest in the Wikimedia movement; a few less developed justifications as to why the applicant is interested in attending Wikimania
- 2 = Some interest in the Wikimedia movement; vague and under-developed justifications as to why the applicant is interested in attending Wikimania
- 1 = Low or unclear interest in the Wikimedia movement; unclear and non-thoughtful justifications as to why the applicant is interested in attending Wikimania
- 0 = No expressed interest in the Wikimedia movement; no relevant justifications as to why the applicant is interested in attending Wikimania
Fluency of English language (10% of total score)
We hope that scholarship recipients will be able to enjoy Wikimania as much as possible by talking to Wikimania attendees from around the world. This will not be possible unless the applicant has a reasonable command of English, which will be the main language of the conference. An applicant is not expected to be able to write or speak at a native or native level in order to receive a top score, but are expected to be able to hold productive conversations with other English speakers.
- 4 = A reasonable understanding of the English language, with no significant difficulties in the command of non-technical language
- 3 = An above elementary understanding of the English language, with some significant difficulties in the command of non-technical language
- 2 = An elementary understanding of the English language, with many significant difficulties in the command of non-technical language
- 1 = A very limited understanding of the English language, with extreme difficulties in the command of non-technical language
- 0 = No understanding of the English language, or unable to write comprehensibly
Questions
For more information about the Wikimania 2013 Scholarships Programme, please visit the Questions & Answers page.
Apply
To apply for a “scholarship” to aid in covering expenses for Wikimania 2013 in Hong Kong, please submit a completed application form by 22 February 2013 23:59 UTC.
Meet previous scholarship grantees
We have applicants from all over the world. Meet some here, learn about their experiences, and tell us how you fit in with previous applicants.
I taught math for 33 years. My students kept me feeling young, and reminded me how much I love my country.
When I retired, my son was worried I would get rusty. So he introduced me to Wikipedia. He explained that anyone can contribute, and showed me how.
Since then, I've created articles on quadratic functions, probability, charts, graphs and more. I've made 7,000 edits in all.
I write in Tamil: my favorite language and my mother tongue, spoken by 85 million people across the world. I've also uploaded more than 6,000 audio files to Wiktionary, demonstrating proper pronunciations for common Tamil words. Now, more people can share in this beautiful language.
As a teacher and a mother, I was always busy. But now that I'm retired and my children are grown, my time is my own — all 24 hours of it! And I spend every day on Wikipedia.
I'm a volunteer. No one pays me. But helping edit Wikipedia has become my life's work. Even though I'm not in the classroom, I'm still doing what I care about most: helping a new generation of students learn, in the language I love.
Today, there is a gap between the developing world and the developed world. It's not about money, and it's not about power. It's about knowledge.
If you follow the news, you probably remember reading about the Arab Spring. For young people like me and my friends, it was the beginning of a new era. As momentous events happened, we were obsessed with the news, following up second by second. We were checking our phones, Facebook, Twitter.
And I was writing on Wikipedia. I love Wikipedia because it's impartial; it's the best source for up-to-date information from a neutral point of view. I looked at CNN, Al Jazeera and the BBC, searching for the most reliable sources. Then I added updates in real time.
It's incredible. Everyone could know what was happening, as it happened. We could share the truth with people across the world.
We want a world that is more open, more educated, and more free. We want a world where knowledge is available to anyone that seeks it.
It's time for us to change our world. Will you help?
My wife and I have a friendly competition. You see, my wife speaks Zulu, I speak Xitsonga, and our children are going to have a tough time choosing which language to use.
As you can imagine, each of us hopes our children will choose our own language. But I have a secret weapon: Wikipedia.
I believe a language should be able to break the cyber barrier. If it's not on the internet, it's a dying language. By contributing to Xitsonga Wikipedia, I help keep my language alive.
In the 1900s, a Swiss missionary began cataloging the culture and artifacts of the Xitsonga-speaking people. His two-volume book is now in the public domain. I am translating this text into Xitsonga, supplemented with my own knowledge.
Every language is part of the human feeling. All the languages that have ever been in the world, they define us as humans. When a language dies, it takes something with it.
Whether my children choose my language or my wife’s language, the important thing is that they have the choice. And as long as we keep our languages alive through Wikipedia, they will.
Chapter's scholarships
Other than WMF, the following Wikimedia chapters will also collect scholarship applications through the central scholarship application form:
- Wikimedia Austria
- Wikimedia CH
- Wikimedia Deutschland – 26 full scholarships (1500 Euro) for applicants who are residents of Germany
- Wikimedia Hungary
- Wikimedia Israel
- Wikimedia Russia
- Wikimedia UK
The following chapters will offer scholarships, but not through the central application form. Wikimedians who are affiliated to these chapters are invited to apply to the chapter directly: