Scholarship committee

Scholarship committee

Members

Organizers
Committee members
Non-voting members with access to application data

Tasks

The scholarship review committee is an important and diverse group of volunteers who help to run the scholarship program in accordance with the pillars of this Wikimania.

The main duties of the committee members prior to Wikimania 2017 are:

  • Participation in periodic online meetings with scholarships program manager and other committee members.
  • Review and edit communications material (e.g. Scholarship wiki, application questions).
  • Assistance in determination of scholarship applicant requirements.
  • Assurance of due consideration and speedy response time to Wikimania scholarship applications in multiple languages.
  • Work with the local team.

They were selected on the following criteria:

  • fluent in written English and have good communication skills, or can name local community member(s)/ambassadors who help them with English translations.
  • discreet and able to handle confidential applicant information, and objectively assess candidates.
  • willing to review scholarship applications in late 2016/early 2017, estimated time is 30 hours.
  • having either or both:
    • previously attended Wikimania.
    • strong knowledge of the cross-project Wikimedia community.

The committee members will work remotely. The local Wikimania team cannot guarantee financial support for the committee members' travel expenses since scholarship review committee members may not apply for a scholarship themselves.

Timeline

  • Dec 01–Dec 08: Call for Scholarship Committee
  • Dec 08–Jan 06: Preparations of the Scholarship Committee
  • Jan 06–Feb 20: Application time
  • Late Feb: First review round by Wikimedia Foundation and notifications about phase 1 results
  • March: Second review round by Scholarship Committee
  • Late March: Third review round by Wikimedia Foundation
  • Early April: All applicants have been notified at the latest.
  • Late April: Deadline for applicants to respond and accept scholarship
  • May 01: Final list or recipients published

Formal invitation

On behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimania '17 conference organizers, we are now seeking volunteers to serve on the Scholarship Review Committee for Wikimania 2017. Wikimania scholarships are a special type of Travel and Participation Support offering, administered by the WMF in partnership with the Wikimania host team, with the purpose of bringing active Wikimedians from around the world to attend Wikimania. The scholarship review committee is an important and diverse group of volunteers who help promote the program and review/select applicants. We encourage people from all Wikimedia wikis to apply, so that the committee can handle applications in many different languages.

The main duties of the committee members are:

  • Assist​ the WMF​ in determining the requirements ​and criteria ​for scholarship applicants

(​WMF will provide eligibility filtering as well as materials and tools to the Scholarship Committee members​. ​The Committee will only review applicants after initial eligibility has been assessed by WMF​.)​

  • Assure that there is due consideration and a speedy response time to all scholarship applications.
  • Must be fluent in written English​ (or c​​an name local community member(s) ​to help them with English translations).​
  • Good communication skills.
  • Passion, knowledge, and participation in the Wikimedia movement.
  • Discretion and ability to handle confidential applicant information, and objectively assess candidates.
  • Evaluation of eligible applicants and delivering ranked list of potential recipients to WMF (March '17)
  • Evaluate the scholarship process afterward and provide feedback
  • Prior attendance at previous Wikimania conferences and​/or strong knowledge of the cross-project Wikimedia community are a plus!
  • Participation in periodic online meetings with ​committee and WMF staff (You will be working remotely using review system, email, skype, and IRC.​)​

​Estimated amount of time: 30 hrs (mostly in March '17)

If you're interested in serving please send email to eyoung@wikimedia.org

The deadline to apply is December 8.

Projected Timeline for Committee activity:

  • Mid-December: Preparations and on-boarding of Scholarship committee
  • Jan-mid-February: Promotion of program and submission of applications
  • End Feb to mid-March: Review, Evaluation, and Selection of recipients.

Please don't hesitate to contact me directly if you have any questions about the program or what is involved.