Taken from an example project for this grant.
Project idea
What is the problem you're trying to solve?
What problem are you trying to solve by doing this project? This problem should be small enough that you expect it to be completely or mostly resolved by the end of this project.
Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.
Food composition data (FCD) are an essential part of nutrition research. FCD provide nutrient data for both processed (e.g. veggie burger) and unprocessed (e.g. apples) food. These information are often compiled by a governmental agency (e.g. U.S. Department of Agriculture), based on lab measurements by the agency or companies. Many FCDs are available online, although they come in many different formats (e.g. PDF, CSV).
There are vast variations in food that are commonly consumed across regions. Additionally, nutrients of unprocessed food could vary even for the same item, because of the variations in terroir. Area- and time-specific data are key to understanding nutrition and health. Additionally, some countries lack these data or only have data that are out of date, leading to disparities in data and ultimately, in scientific evidence in health research.
Despite several attempts by research institutes and intergovernmental agencies to create a global FCD in the past, none has succeeded in developing a universally accessible, up-to-date, and comprehensive global FCD. The wiki system has a potential to bring a better solution to this problem. We propose WikiFCD to compile nutrition data for unprocessed food that are published and already available online. These existing databases come from diverse settings, which becomes costly and difficult to maintain if the contributors are limited to small sets of researchers and employees in this field. The need for diverse participants is very much in line with the missions of projects supported by Wikimedia Foundation and we hope to show how peer production can contribute to improvement in knowledge disparities in global nutrition.
What is your solution to this problem?
For the problem you identified in the previous section, briefly describe your how you would like to address this problem.
We recognize that there are many ways to solve a problem. We’d like to understand why you chose this particular solution, and why you think it is worth pursuing.
Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.
- We will create a wikibase for food composition data from around the world. We will populate the wikibase with nutrition information. We will write schemas to describe our data model. We will map our properties to Wikidata properties.
- Why is this a good idea?
First, this database can contribute to a significant advancement in nutritional research as this wikibase system will improve usability of FCD from different sources, identify and borrow most appropriate data in places where up-to-date FCD are not readily available, and open up new research questions to explore more nuanced nutrition data (e.g. changes in nutrient content of the same product, depending on the climate conditions of the year).
Secondly, it is important to put this data into Wikibase because this dataset is relevant for people from many language communities. The design of Wikibase will allow us to more easily support additional languages in the data itself, as well as in user interfaces.
Project goals
What are your goals for this project? Your goals should describe the top two or three benefits that will come out of your project. These should be benefits to the Wikimedia projects or Wikimedia communities. They should not be benefits to you individually.
Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.
Goal #1: We will build a wikibase where food composition data from around the world and from different time points can be entered, maintained, and retrieved.
Goal #2: We will involve participants from diverse communities to make sure that all available data are accommodated in this database.
Goal #3: We will translate and link the data into other languages.
Project impact
How will you know if you have met your goals?
For each of your goals, we’d like you to answer the following questions:
- During your project, what will you do to achieve this goal? (These are your outputs.)
- Once your project is over, how will it continue to positively impact the Wikimedia community or projects? (These are your outcomes.)
For each of your answers, think about how you will capture this information. Will you capture it with a survey? With a story? Will you measure it with a number? Remember, if you plan to measure a number, you will need to set a numeric target in your proposal (i.e. 45 people, 10 articles, 100 scanned documents).
Remember to review the tutorial for tips on how to answer this question.
- Proof-of-concept
- We will use 10 databases listed in FAO/INFOODS to test if our schema is appropriate to accommodate various information included in databases from different places.
- Once the project is over, other databases not included on FAO/INFOODS can be entered, following the examples we develop in this project.
- Methodology
- We will develop a tutorial and documentation for editathon participants to follow.
- Once the project is over, these tutorials and documentation can be used by future participants to enter and maintain the database.
Do you have any goals around participation or content?
Are any of your goals related to increasing participation within the Wikimedia movement, or increasing/improving the content on Wikimedia projects? If so, we ask that you look through these three metrics, and include any that are relevant to your project. Please set a numeric target against the metrics, if applicable.
- 10 new data sources
Project plan
Activities
Tell us how you'll carry out your project. What will you and other organizers spend your time doing? What will you have done at the end of your project? How will you follow-up with people that are involved with your project?
- System development
- Description -
- Outputs -
- Editathon (Data entry and translation)
- Description - The proof-of-concept databases will be entered into WikiFCD during five monthly Editathon events hosted in Seattle.
- Outputs - FCD in Wikibase.
- Documentation
- Description - The process of finding datasets, identifying meta-data (e.g. copyright, year of publication), entering data, translating data, and using data for analyses will be documented.
- Outputs - A tutorial for users of the system.
- Communication
- Description - Promotion of project outputs, feedback gathering, presentation at Wikimania and nutrition workshops, tutoring of interested volunteers
- Outputs - Blog posts, feedback reports
- Project management
- Description - We will report our progress twice in 12 months.
- Outputs - Mid-term report (6 months), Final report (12 months).
| WP/Month | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WP1 - System development | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| WP2 - Editathon | X | X | X | X | X | ||||||||
| WP3 - Documentation | X | X | X | X | |||||||||
| WP4 - Communication | x | X | X | X | X | X | |||||||
| WP5 - Project management | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Budget
How you will use the funds you are requesting? List bullet points for each expense. (You can create a table later if needed.) Don’t forget to include a total amount, and update this amount in the Probox at the top of your page too!
| Item | Budget |
|---|---|
| Senior Data scientist (x hours per week for 8 months) | $ |
| Community outreach intern (x hours per week for 8 months) | $ |
| Server hosting | $ |
| Travel (Wikimania 2020, 2 people) | $ 4,000 |
| Total | $ |
Community engagement
How will you let others in your community know about your project? Why are you targeting a specific audience? How will you engage the community you’re aiming to serve at various points during your project? Community input and participation helps make projects successful.
- Facebook?
- Blog post?
- Workshop at Wikimania?
Get involved
Participants
Please use this section to tell us more about who is working on this project. For each member of the team, please describe any project-related skills, experience, or other background you have that might help contribute to making this idea a success.
- Project manager (volunteer) - Mika Matsuzaki
- Data scientist - Kat Thornton
- Advisor -
- Volunteer -
- Volunteer -
Community notification
You are responsible for notifying relevant communities of your proposal, so that they can help you! Depending on your project, notification may be most appropriate on a Village Pump, talk page, mailing list, etc.--> Please paste links below to where relevant communities have been notified of your proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions. Need notification tips?
- Discussions during drafting of the proposal
- email correspondence and phone calls with senior Wikidata editors.
- Feedback on draft proposal from members of Wikimedia Cascadia and WikiPathways.
- Additional notifications
- WikiProject Food
- Open Food Facts
Endorsements
Do you think this project should be selected for a Project Grant? Please add your name and rationale for endorsing this project below! (Other constructive feedback is welcome on the discussion page).
