Talk:Scholarships

Please leave a message here or contact wikimania-scholarshipswikimedia.org.

Editing after submission

After submitting my application, can I do some edits in it?Diako1971 (talk) 23:29, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

I'm afraid not. If there is some additional information you want the committee to consider in addition to what is in your submitted application, then please send that information to wikimania-scholarshipswikimedia.org for us to review. However, I would recommend avoiding such a situation in the first place by carefully drafting your application before submission and ensure you say everything you want to say – when I last submitted an application in 2012, I drafted it as a word document first and only copied it all into the application form for submission when I was happy with it. CT Cooper · talk 02:11, 11 January 2014 (UTC)

Translating

Hi, folks! I would like to translate this and other pages to Spanish. How should I proceed? --NaBUru38 (talk) 14:09, 11 January 2014 (UTC)

I have marked this page for translation. Please go here & here. Regards -- KTC (talk) 18:56, 11 January 2014 (UTC)

@KTC: I've tagged /FAQ subpage. Could you update it or confirm that it is up-to-date? I'll mark it then and start translation. --Base (talk) 20:51, 14 January 2014 (UTC)

Should be fine to translate. No intention for existing Q&A changing. Obviously may have extra questions in the future. -- KTC (talk) 00:25, 15 January 2014 (UTC)

Need?

I do not see any consideration of need in the review process. Is selection really based entirely on contributions to Wikimedia and other free culture projects? Sj (talk) 03:06, 13 January 2014 (UTC)

The scholarships committee, or the funding body (i.e. Wikimedia Foundation) does not have, and does not ask for an applicant financial information to be able to take someone needs into account. As with previous years, we ask that applicants to "please carefully consider [their] financial needs before applying for a scholarship to attend Wikimania. There are limited funds available and many applicants do not have the financial means to attend Wikimania without this opportunity." -- KTC (talk) 03:46, 13 January 2014 (UTC)

"Today, there is a gap between the developing world and the developed world"

Unbeleavable. So people think, development has something to do with money, skyscraper or expensive cars? Is Egypt underdeveloped? Or Brazil? China? What an arrogant colonial view of the world. And so we want to find new authors? Really? We tell them outsite the "Global north" they are not developed? And now Wikipedia comes and heals the world? Are we so arrogant? Do we really belive this? Marcus Cyron (talk) 01:23, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

You are quoting a previous recipient of a scholarship. I must make the standard remark that the decision to include comments from previous recipients is to give inspiration and guidance to future applications – it does not mean that their views have necessarily been given the endorsement of the Wikimedia Foundation, any Wikimedia chapter, the Scholarship Committee, or the organizers of this conference. This is not an appropriate place to engage in a political or cultural debate, and I will not be getting into one here, but I will point out that the full quote is as follows: "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." CT Cooper · talk 07:29, 24 January 2014 (UTC)

Selection criteria

Befor the section "Selection criteria" there is an extra linefeed:
<p>Following the completion of phase three, ... ... rate of successful applicants and whether resource use by scholarship recipients is as estimated.</p>

<p><br></p>

<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Selection_criteria">Selection criteria</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Scholarships&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Selection criteria">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>

• Please delete it! — or is this space somehow intended?

Jaybear (talk) 14:14, 26 January 2014 (UTC)

There were an extra carriage return in the markups, removed & no harm done. -- KTC (talk) 19:47, 26 January 2014 (UTC)

Affiliate scholarships

Please add in section "The following affiliates will collect scholarship applications from those submitted for a Wikimedia Foundation scholarship – there will be no need for applicants to submit a separate application to the affiliate."

• Wikimedia Deutschland: 35 scholarships á 700 €
• Wikimedia Österreich: 8 scholarships

Thanks, Stepro (talk) 09:53, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

Done KTC (talk) 11:16, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

File:Wikimania 2014 - Scholarships distribution.svg

Moved from File talk:Wikimania 2014 - Scholarships distribution.svg

Why are you still dividing Europe in blocks? --FoxR (talk) 02:23, 26 January 2014 (UTC)

The purpose of regions is explained at Scholarships#Selection process. Regions will not necessarily match continental boundaries, as there is no need for them to do so. It would also be impractical since many countries have territory in multiple continents and a country can only be in one region. For example, both Russia and Turkey are partly in Europe and partly in Asia; Egypt is mostly in Africa but part of it is in Asia and so on. Changes have been made since last year though. For example, Poland has moved from the North/West/South Europe region to the East Europe and Central Asia region. CT Cooper · talk 20:03, 31 January 2014 (UTC)

FOOD PROVIDED

Some of the food are provided during the conference, right? How about the halal status of the food for Muslims applicants? Fareez Yusran (talk) 04:29, 12 February 2014 (UTC)

Yes, some meals are provided during the conference to all attendees, regardless of whether they have received a scholarship. The only difference is that scholarship recipients will have registration fees paid for them, while all other attendees will have to pay for this themselves. Which meals will be provided will be dependent on the Programme that is developed, though at past Wikimanias it has usually included all lunches on conference days, and occasionally breakfast and evening meals. Meals obtained outside the conference are not covered by scholarships.

I'm afraid I don't know if halal food will be provided at the conference. The lead coordinator, User:EdSaperia, might know though. CT Cooper · talk 17:47, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

Hi Fareez, there will be at least one halal option for all meals we provide, and London has a very large population of Muslims so it should be easy to find nearby places to eat that serve halal food for any other meals. There's one halal option already on the travelguide, perhaps we can find some volunteers to add some more. EdSaperia (talk) 21:01, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

User:Fareez Yusran, like WM-HK (2013), I guess it will be some large buffet, so you could pick whatever suit your needs. Yug (talk) 12:12, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

Applications are now closed

To confirm, applications are no longer being accepted. The deadline of 23:59 UTC on 17 February 2014 has now passed. For those interested, the total number of applications submitted this year was 1,168 (excluding two test applications). For comparison, 1,219 applications were submitted last year. The Committee is now going to be very busy reviewing all the applications; we are aiming to announce phase one decisions in early March and final decisions in early April. Thank you for the many great applications that have been submitted! CT Cooper · talk 00:17, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Dear CT Cooper, what's the progress so far? --NaBUru38 15:48, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

Hello, NaBUru38. We're making good progress on the whole. We're almost finished with phase one and we're about to get started on phase two. Applicants will be notified about phase one decisions as soon as practical. At the moment, we still think we can release final decisions for early April, but if there is any delay, we will post an update on the Scholarships page. CT Cooper · talk 17:53, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

Phase one decisions released

E-mails were sent out yesterday to all applicants informing them on whether their application had passed phase one or not. If you applied and have not received a decision, then please e-mail wikimania-scholarshipswikimedia.org as soon as possible. The Scholarship Committee is now into phase two of the review process and hopes to release final decisions in early April. CT Cooper · talk 12:18, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

Consideration of the applicants' submission to the programme

Will the applicants' submission to the programme of Wikimania 2014 be considered in the scholarship selection process? Thanks a lot. Universehk (talk) 16:41, 15 March 2014 (UTC)

Yes, this is considered under the third criterion during phase two, the phase that is currently in progress. If an applicant has made a submission on this wiki or described a plan for one within their application, then reviewers will notice it and in most cases give a higher score as making a submission is in itself showing interest in Wikimania and the Wikimedia movement. Note however that decisions over submissions are made by the Programme Committee, which operates independently of the Scholarship Committee. CT Cooper · talk 19:44, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

EYoung (WMF) (talk) 00:24, 1 May 2014 (UTC)

Final decisions will now be released in...

While the committee is doing it's best to get final decisions released as soon as possible, regretfully, phase two of the review process is taking longer to complete than had been anticipated. As a result, the expected period for the release of final decisions will now be mid April (sometime after the 10th April), rather than early April. Our apologies for the inconvenience this will cause. CT Cooper · talk 18:35, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for the update! :) --NaBUru38 16:07, 11 April 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for the update. Though there are attempts to improve the situation but it seems that delay is inevitable in our community driven by volunteers. BTW, can you please give us your definition of early, mid and late. Are they the 1st to the 10th, the 11th to the 20th and the 21st to the last day of the month? I see that there is a template update here but it seems that you need to update it here too. I still see 'early April' at the the top of the page in English. --Taweetham (talk) 01:05, 17 April 2014 (UTC)

Hello, Taweetham. I would define early, middle, and late as you have above. Given that Easter will probably delay any further progress, at least until next week, I have updated the release date to late April. Phase 2 is now finished and Phase 3 is currently in progress. Unfortunately I haven't found a way to update the page you have linked. I would guess a bot should do it automatically, but it hasn't done so. CT Cooper · talk 04:47, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

Hi CT, the latter page is automatically updated when the main template is marked for translation, which I have now done. Thehelpfulone 13:26, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

Thanks you for your assistance. CT Cooper · talk 18:07, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

Hi. It seems that the *delay* for sending the final Scholarship results is rather unusual, as compared to the previous Wikimanias. It's now 100 days before Wikimania 2014 is to kick in, and given today is the last day of April, and yet the results are still has to be received by the applicants. May I know how's going on and what's taking so long? I'm also concerned, that if the results are not to be send out early enough, then those which do require will be running into trouble when it comes to their visa applications. Thanks. Chitetskoy (talk) 04:07, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

It's not that unusual. They came out very late in 2012. However, I think making the process more efficient or starting it earlier will need to be looked at for future years. The good news is that the process is now finished and the notification e-mails should be going out today. We have been mindful of visa issues throughout which is why we have worked very hard to wrap this up before the end of April. CT Cooper · talk 05:16, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

For your reference, the email with the subject "Wikimania 2012 scholarship decision" was sent out on Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:41:46 -0700 (PDT). --Taweetham (talk) 14:53, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

If you're trying to say I'm mistaken, the Wikimania 2012 conference was much earlier than this one, being mid-July rather than mid-August, so that's not comparing like to like. CT Cooper · talk 18:55, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

I am not trying to blame any processes or upset anyone. Just for transparency/reference purpose, here are some raw data:

1. "Wikimania 2011 Scholarship Decision" was received on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 12:54:05 -0700 (PDT)
2. "Wikimania 2012 scholarship decision" was received on Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:41:46 -0700 (PDT)
3. "Partial Scholarship Acceptance letter" was received on Sun, 7 Apr 2013 06:06:30 -0700 (PDT)

The raw data has to be read inconjunction with other information e.g. when the application is open, how long the announcement is away from the actual conference date, how many times the committe postpones its announcement. The process/criteria for each year could be different too.

I believe that we have good intention and we are doing our best. However, delay is inevitable in our community driven by volunteers. This is not the first nor last time. To mitigate the effect of delays, I think affected people should be informed asap. The two-stage application approach has reduced the number of affected people significantly and that's a quite impressive improvement. --Taweetham (talk) 22:44, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

The notifications will be going out May 1st FOR SURE!!! EYoung (WMF) (talk) 00:24, 1 May 2014 (UTC)

• I've heard from a number of other people that they received either acceptances or rejections today, but don't seem to have received a letter one way or the other (I previously received a phase 2 confirmation email.) As a heads up, if all emails are intended to have gone out, something got buggy somewhere :) Kevin Gorman (talk) 22:18, 1 May 2014 (UTC)

For your information, "Wikimania Scholarship Recipients Acceptance Letter" was received on Thu, 1 May 2014 12:00:41 -0700 (PDT). --Taweetham (talk) 22:46, 1 May 2014 (UTC)

Same here, I haven't received an answer yet. Akdkiller (talk) 23:23, 1 May 2014 (UTC)

I'm making enquiries into the distribution of e-mails, which is out of my control, to see how it's going. I do know that they're not all sent out at the same time though. CT Cooper · talk 15:45, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

I can now confirm all e-mails have gone out. See below. CT Cooper · talk 18:27, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

Financial circumstances

• I got a rejection letter shortly after I posted this, and sincerely hope that need is a more considered factor in future years than it was this year. Although I don't know anyone who has gotten accepted who I don't think rightfully belongs at Wikimania, it is a bit disturbing to me that I know of at least a couple people who have gotten scholarships who hold fulltime jobs related to the movement, make more than I do in a year in a month related to the movement, and still wound up with scholarships. People in such positions could pretty easily go to Wikimania on their own dime if they decided it was important enough to: I simply can't. Kevin Gorman (talk) 05:04, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

I empathize as I've been in the same boat myself. There was a clear note in the FAQ, as well as as on the application form, stating to be considerate to others needs before applying for a scholarship, and we hope the vast majority of applicants did so. Taking into account financial circumstances is a route we could go down in future years, but it will open up a big can of worms, which is why we haven't gone in that direction before now.

I could go into elaborate detail on the potential problems, but I don't think this is the time and place. The WMF will be holding a public discussion on the future of scholarships once the dust has settled, and I would encourage everyone involved in scholarships this year to participate. This issue would be a good topic to discuss along with many others, and I will add it to an existing list of issues which need review for next year. CT Cooper · talk 18:59, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

All phase two applicants notified of final decisions

All phase two applicants for Wikimania scholarships have been notified of final decisions. Thank you for all the great applications and congratulations to all successful applications. If your application was not successful, please don't feel too downhearted – as always there was far greater demand for scholarships than could be supplied and many very worthy people have been turned down.

If you were a phase two candidate and you believe you haven't received an e-mail notifying you of the final decision on your application, please firstly re-check your inbox and junk e-mail folder. Failing that, leave a message below or e-mail wikimania-scholarshipswikimedia.org. Thank you. CT Cooper · talk 18:26, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

Hi. I haven't received an email notification. Thanks, Abbas Mahmood.

Hi Abbas. I have made an enquiry into the status of your application. We will e-mail you with the result as soon as possible. CT Cooper · talk 20:27, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

Hi. I received the second phase notification before, but did not have it anymore for this final round. Please check it. Thank you. SpartacksCompatriot (talk) 22:53, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

A number of e-mails apparently came back as undeliverable. They are being re-sent this afternoon San Francisco time. CT Cooper · talk 02:01, 3 May 2014 (UTC)

I'd like to echo that I also still have not received any notificaton email. It is already evening in San Francisco. (I really appreciate the effort put here by the Scholarship Committee and it is often thankless work. But I hope they understand that the applicants are understandably anxious about the situation and their results.) —seav (talk) 04:10, 4 May 2014 (UTC)

My colleague at the Foundation has informed me that all e-mails have now gone out for final decisions, and I presume that those that didn't deliver were re-sent as planned. However, some may still have not got through so I will make enquiries on what has happened with your e-mail. CT Cooper · talk 12:44, 4 May 2014 (UTC)

Just wondering: why they don't announce names of those who get the scholarships right here? It would be very efficient and make this event much more transparent. SpartacksCompatriot (talk) 13:18, 4 May 2014 (UTC)

I believe that will be done at a later date on an opt-in basis. At the moment scholarship applications and their results are treated as private data which cannot be released to the public without the applicant's permission. In any case, e-mails are still needed in order to give applicants the specific information they need, and in any case I know many would not be happy at finding out their result in a public forum. CT Cooper · talk 14:34, 4 May 2014 (UTC)

Okay, the people on my list as not getting e-mails for final decisions are as follows:

1. User:Abbasjnr (Stricken: 15:37, 5 May 2014 (UTC))
2. User:Kevin Gorman (Stricken: 18:08, 6 May 2014 (UTC))
3. User:Akdkiller (Stricken: 21:16, 6 May 2014 (UTC))
4. User:SpartacksCompatriot (Strikcen: 16:44, 8 May 2014 (UTC))
5. User:Seav (Stricken: 16:19, 13 May 2014 (UTC))
6. User:燃玉 (Stricken: 18:10, 6 May 2014 (UTC))
7. User:AddisWang (Added: 18:28, 4 May 2014 (UTC))
8. User:វ័ណថារិទ្ធ (Added: 15:37, 5 May 2014 (UTC) / Stricken: 18:07, 6 May 2014 (UTC))

If any of the above users have now gotten their e-mails or have found it, then please let me know below and I will strike you from the list. Alternatively, if you have not gotten an e-mail and you are not on the above list, then please let me know as soon as possible so I can add you, or e-mail wikimania-scholarshipswikimedia.org. Many thanks. CT Cooper · talk 16:08, 4 May 2014 (UTC)

@CT Cooper:Did not receive anything, and did not get response after Email the "wikimania-scholarships".--AddisWang (talk) 16:40, 4 May 2014 (UTC)

Unfortunately I don't have access to the inbox for that e-mail address and those that do obviously haven't had a chance to answer yet. I've added you to the list in the meantime. CT Cooper · talk 18:28, 4 May 2014 (UTC)

Hi CT Cooper, I've gotten the email. Thanks. Abbas.

Okay, I have stricken you from the list. CT Cooper · talk 15:37, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

@CT Cooper: Greetings from Cambodia! This is Vantharith of Khmer Wikipedia. I received no email regarding the final announcement. So I sent an email to wikimania-scholarships@wikimedia.org on May 3; so far no response yet. Thank you. --វ័ណថារិទ្ធ (talk) 02:40, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

Okay I have added you to the list. CT Cooper · talk 15:37, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

I received the email. Thank you!--វ័ណថារិទ្ធ (talk) 01:55, 6 May 2014 (UTC)

Okay, I have removed you. CT Cooper · talk 18:07, 6 May 2014 (UTC)

Further e-mails are going out today for all of the above users plus a few more. If you're on my list, please let me know if you get your e-mail. CT Cooper · talk 15:49, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

Where is the transparency??? Please put all name here with Wikimedia username, who have got the scholarship!--Jayantanth (talk) 04:45, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

Please read by above reply to SpartacksCompatriot, who made a similar point. CT Cooper · talk 15:49, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

I just want the user's name zone wish. I think users name is not private data. Jayantanth (talk) 18:40, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

Currently even the usernames of who applied is treated as private data, and so revealing such information is not permissible without the applicants' permission. It is possible that the terms and conditions which applicants agree to when submitting their application could be changed in future years to allow such disclosure without permission, but that is not the case this year. CT Cooper · talk 19:41, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

Hi, CT Cooper. I received my email. Thanks! —119.94.210.132 00:12, 6 May 2014 (UTC)

That's great, but can you please log-in so I know who you are. CT Cooper · talk 18:07, 6 May 2014 (UTC)

I received as well, thank you CT Cooper for your work. Akdkiller (talk) 19:55, 6 May 2014 (UTC)

You're welcome. CT Cooper · talk 21:16, 6 May 2014 (UTC)

I have received the notification. Thank you, Christopher. SpartacksCompatriot (talk) 07:43, 8 May 2014 (UTC)

Excellent. I have struck you from my list. CT Cooper · talk 16:44, 8 May 2014 (UTC)

I'm now making the presumption that everyone who should has received their notifications, unless someone says otherwise. CT Cooper · talk 16:44, 8 May 2014 (UTC)

Will there be any notice to scholarship recipients confirming their acceptance of a scholarship? BD2412 (talk) 14:40, 9 May 2014 (UTC)

As far as I'm aware, yes. According to Scholarship Travel, the travel agents will contact recipients once they have registered. CT Cooper · talk 11:49, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

I'm very sorry for the late response. I've received my email a week ago. —seav (talk) 15:48, 13 May 2014 (UTC)

Don't worry about it. I've removed you from the list. CT Cooper · talk 16:19, 13 May 2014 (UTC)

Feedback

I have started a feedback page where people can leave their comments and thoughts on. -- KTC (talk) 10:37, 6 May 2014 (UTC)

Waiting list recipients

For those of us who received a notification saying "Should any scholarship grantees not be able to accept, you will have a chance to be selected. We will notify you if you have been accepted by the second week in May." - could you confirm here when these offers have been sent out, so that we are clear on our status? -- Chuq (talk) 05:29, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

I think that would be a good idea. @EYoung (WMF): This will interest you. CT Cooper · talk 11:50, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

Hopefully by May 16th everyone will be notified EYoung (WMF) (talk) 01:58, 15 May 2014 (UTC)

AFFILIATE SCHOLARSHIPS & minor fees

Hello, I manage 3 French Wikimedia association scholarships. We basically provide a maximum of 600€ (~£400) refund to our recipients, which *may* not be enough if all registration and hosting fees are to take on for 6 days (hackathon included !) in addition of the plane tickets. So :

Is there some special reduction codes, reductions process, group booking, for AFFILIATE SCHOLARSHIPS ? Especially regarding :

1. Registration: ~£45.00/p
2. Accommodation: ~6*£45.00/n/p or... 6*£80.00/n/p
3. Meals: seems this will be free of charge.

This information would help us to treat our scholarship recipients better :) Yug (talk) 12:21, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

I'm afraid I can't help you with this. @EYoung (WMF):: Could you look into this please? CT Cooper · talk 19:25, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

Karthik Nadar and Pranav Curumsey

Dear Wikimania scholaship commitee,

Could you anybody explain me how Karthik Nadar and Pranav Curumsey from India got scholarship ??14.99.151.124 18:57, 13 July 2014 (UTC)

No. It is totally inappropriate to discuss the merits of individual applicants here or in any other public space. -- KTC (talk) 09:33, 14 July 2014 (UTC)

I will happily give feedback to individual applicants (by e-mail) on how they can improve their application for next year upon request, or answer general questions on how the process and worked and so on, but as Katie says, it is inappropriate to discuss individual applications in a public forum – in fact the committee is not even at liberty at this point to confirm or deny who did or who didn't get a scholarship. CT Cooper · talk 19:12, 14 July 2014 (UTC)

List of scholarship recipients

A list of scholarship recipients has now been published and can be found at meta:Grants:TPS/Wikimania scholars#2014 WMF Scholarship Recipients for Wikimania. Please note that this list only covers scholarships granted by the Wikimedia Foundation, and not those given by chapters or any other affiliate organizations. CT Cooper · talk 20:48, 18 July 2014 (UTC)