Comments on: Wikimania 2012 Scholarships

By: clement segun

clement segun — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:34:01 +0000

leaders is not a mere status but ability the ability to withstand challenges

By: Jessie Wild

Jessie Wild — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:10:10 +0000

Hi Abbas – good questions!
1) All the current members have come on board in few different ways: (a) an open call to volunteer happened in 2009[1]; (b) each year, there is a Wikimania team representative to help manage the process – that individual has the option of staying on in future years if they so desire; (c) a few people ask to be on the committee if spots are open; (d) as numbers were short this year, we specifically asked a few individuals who could help last minute.

The committee is up for renewal, though, so we’re going to open a discussion on the best way to form a sustainable committee structure.

2) Yes – that is correct. The rankings of the committee are invaluable in helping to determine the outcome of the scholarships. However, the reviewers tend to know more about EN:WP folks, resulting in some upward bias in the scoring. While respecting the scores of the committee as much as possible, WMF helps balance the representation of the scholars in terms of geography and projects as well as takes into account to whom funds have been distributed in the past. This isn’t a perfect setup, but it helps us improve diversity at Wikimania

3) This was a new distribution process decided this year after lots of discussions regarding transparency and fairness (e.g., we have seen that individuals from the “global north” seem more familiar with scholarship applications). We introduced this way of allocating scholarships so that applications were competing against other individuals in their region alone – making it easier to compare applications. The allocations were determined this year by looking at the regional breakdowns of applications, acceptance rates, and funds distribution from 2010. We also took into account the regions chapter scholarships were channeled into in 2010.

[1] http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2009-January/095104.html

By: samantha mpofu

samantha mpofu — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:20:33 +0000

I want a scholarship so how can I apply please help desperate for a scholarship

By: Abbas Mahmood

Abbas Mahmood — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:07:53 +0000

Thanks for the blog, Jessie. I have 3 questions:
1.) How is the scholarships committee formed? Is there a public call for volunteers to join it, as is the case with other Wikimedia committees?
2.) Does it mean that the Committee doesn’t have the final say in selecting the recipients? I had initially thought that it was the committee that selected the recipients and WMF disburse the funds to those who were successful. If I understood you correctly, it is the WMF that has the final say on who gets a scholarship.
3.) On what basis do you determine which region gets x% of total scholarships?

By: saed‏ ‏hassan

saed‏ ‏hassan — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:54:34 +0000

l am somalian student who need tocomplet his education so ask you can get any free scholarships
l was finished my high school education before year and so l came in sudan to get an education but dosn.t happened that
and now l live in khartoum with out education so if you cant to give free scholarship l am ready to study any possible country even sudan
so l wait you the answer my dear muslim than may allah reward you that