Grants talk:PEG/Need DSLR camera and Tele Lens for Discover the Birds of Sulawesi Photographs

Discussion / Comments

Convince me!

Hey Arief Rahman, I carefully read your proposal.

4000$ is a lot of money, it's a bit sad that the proposal only brief information. What's your involvement in the community, in wild photography? Do you have existing equipment? Your Commons account? Do you have contacts with governmental organisations?

Please try to convince me (us) that you're worth the investment! MADe (talk) 14:18, 8 September 2013 (UTC)

In general this is considered as microgrant, but we have also to say that Commons needs to have photos in high quality but only for displaying on devices. My feeling is that this equipment costs a lot and it's not a benefit for the community, I have in mind that the budget of WLM in Armenia is more or less the same and Armenia is producing more than 3000 photos. In Wikimedia CH, for instance, this material belongs to the chapter and anyone can use it [1], I would be in opposition to give it only to one person. --Ilario (talk) 08:57, 12 September 2013 (UTC)

I did not recieve a reply from AR. Given my remarks, I object to the proposal in its current state. MADe (talk) 13:18, 14 September 2013 (UTC)

Things you can do to improve this request

Hi Arief, I hope the guys above have not scared you off. I had a look at your grant request and I suggest the following enhancements:

1. Please provide a link to your commons account.
2. Please tell us more about yourself.
3. Please tell us of your involvement with your local chapter. ( Have you discussed this request with any local guys?)
4. Do you have a timeline for this project?
5. Are you planning to do more than just taking quality pictures? Could you for example use this project to train some local Wikimedians who may be so inclined on photography?
6. Would you be willing to revise your prospective camera to a lower spec and use a portion of the request to organize an outreach event?

I guess what I am trying to say is, you have a potentially good project. You just need to demonstrate impact and levels of responsibility and accountability. Feel free to mail any of us if you need a sound board.--Thuvack (talk) 19:44, 12 September 2013 (UTC)

comments

In general, I strongly oppose individual equipment grants, for reasons I outline here. There is no way I can support a $4000 grant with a stated goal of taking sixty photos. I would suggest approaching WMIN, having them act as custodian for the equpment, and cutting costs substantially. Even then, unless you have a really well laid out plan about how this would generate uniquely valuable content for Wikimedia projects in a cost-effective way, I'm not sure I would support such a grant. Kevin (talk) 00:03, 14 September 2013 (UTC)

Note: WMIN is Wikimedia India. You meant WMID -- Wikimedia Indonesia. It would indeed be well to learn what, if anything, has been attempted by way of approaching the chapter with this idea. Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 02:16, 14 September 2013 (UTC)

My thoughts

Thanks for the submission. My experience with these grants is that the Wikimedia Foundation is not prone on supporting such requests because of the ownership-related issue that occurs after the end of the project. The amount requested also appears to be high for such purchase, and I'm sure it can be substantially reduced in order to take photographs with high quality. In addition, the application seems to lack more information about the project goals and the measures of success. Best regards.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 13:42, 14 September 2013 (UTC)

Evaluation by the GAC

GAC Members who read the grant request without comments

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GAC Members who approve this grant request

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GAC Members who oppose this grant request

1. MADe (talk) 13:18, 14 September 2013 (UTC)
2. Please see my concerns explained above. Even if the grant application is improved to give a firm basis for carrying out this project, there are other issues that have been previously discussed and support the sentiment to oppose this.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 13:43, 14 September 2013 (UTC)

GAC Members who abstain from voting/comment

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