Talk:Project grants/Hotels and cinema

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Hi Dr. Blofeld, thank you for your application. The members of the Grants Committee will get back to you soon with any comments they may have. -- Katie Chan (WMUK) (talk) 10:57, 14 March 2014 (UTC)

Hello Dr. Blofeld, my initial thoughts on this are that I can see no reason to turn this down. This request is clearly within the scope of the chapter and having at least five more articles up to GA status should justify the cost. I agree that your record means you can be trusted to use the books for their intended purpose and complete the task in hand. I'm not to worried about counting the pennies at the moment as by the time you order the books the price may well have changed. Regardless, I think your being reasonable by ordering used books over new ones and agreeing to return them to the chapter when you've finished with them. From my experience, Amazon usually are cheap for books though I would also check eBay as well, as occasionally they can be cheaper over there. My only concern at the moment is what would the chapter do with the books once they were returned? Perhaps someone from the chapter could answer this. CT Cooper · talk 20:04, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

Just to note on the returning issue: WMUK needs to retain ownership of material purchased by this sort of grant to ensure that there isn't a personal benefit to the member that is receiving the grant, and also so that the materials can be added to the Library and made available to other members in the future. There's notes about this embedded in Project grants. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 20:18, 18 March 2014 (UTC)
Thank you for the information. To be clear, I only brought it up to think ahead for the chapter. If the office starts to overflow with poorly used books, then current practices might have to be reviewed, but that's for a wider discussion, and I don't want Dr. Blofeld to worry about it. CT Cooper · talk 20:04, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

Another alternative could be for me to resell the books on Amazon after completion and use the money to buy more books to assist in articles, although I gather you'd have to trust me to do so and provide some proof of resale and reusing the money to buy others which might be tricky.Dr. Blofeld (talk) 11:42, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

I agree that would be tricky. I think just returning them to the office and letting the chapter worry about it is the easiest option. Alternatively, you could keep hold of the books on behalf of the chapter – they would just be added to the Library as in your possession to presumably be lent out on a "as needed"/"as requested" basis. CT Cooper · talk 20:04, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

Hi, this looks good to me, the only question I'd have is whether some/any of the books could be sourced from a library? With regard to returning the books, etc. I think it might be worth us looking at the best way to get maximum impact from such resources in a general sense but there's no reason to place that burden on you. Sjgknight (talk) 13:05, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, borrowing from libraries is another idea. I would be surprised if the average town library had most of these books, so a visit by Dr. Blofeld to a city/central library would probably be required, and even then, having them all in stock is not guaranteed. If Dr. Blofeld is within a reasonable distance of a major library and is interested, I don't see why not, but otherwise, I'm not going to insist on it. CT Cooper · talk 20:04, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

Just send the books to the Wikimedia UK office when you're done with it. We can either keep it as part of the library linked to by Mike, sell it on Amazon or ebay or wherever, but we can do that over here, you don't have to worry about that. -- Katie Chan (WMUK) (talk) 13:25, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

I'm informed that FREEPOST WIKIPEDIA is all that would be needed on the return.Dr. Blofeld (talk) 10:08, 20 March 2014 (UTC)

Approval

  • Hi Dr. Blofeld, this application has been approved. Can you let me know whether you would like to make any purchases yourself and make a reimbursement claim, or for the chapter to make the purchase and have it sent to you? Thanks -- Katie Chan (WMUK) (talk) 12:49, 26 March 2014 (UTC)
    Thanks, is it OK if you can make the purchase via Amazon and send to my home address. I'll give you my address by email when you ask for it! Dr. Blofeld (talk) 13:50, 26 March 2014 (UTC)
    I have sent you an email. -- Katie Chan (WMUK) (talk) 14:40, 26 March 2014 (UTC)

Thanks Katie. First three books arrived safely today, Althorp, Kubrick films and a biography. Look forward to receiving the others.Dr. Blofeld (talk) 11:36, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

I'm glad everything's going as planned. I wish you the best of luck with the articles and happy editing. CT Cooper · talk 16:18, 30 March 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. A three times expansion of Althorp already and just getting started :-) Dr. Blofeld (talk) 21:14, 30 March 2014 (UTC)

All books have now arrived. The final book, a sizable Kubrick biography arrived yesterday. Some of them contain a lot more info and are more substantial than I had expected. I've certainly got my work cut out! It might take up to a year actually to read them all and have the articles I intend working on all ready. Thankyou very much anyway!Dr. Blofeld (talk) 12:03, 26 April 2014 (BST)

@Katie Chan (WMUK): and co. First objective achieved. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Althorp passed GA 2/6/14.Dr. Blofeld (talk) 21:33, 2 June 2014 (BST)

Great to see. Keep up the good work! :) Katie Chan (WMUK) (talk) 12:22, 3 June 2014 (BST)
  • I've begun on both Streep and the Ritz Hotel. Already added a fair bit to the earlier life and acting style of StreepDr. Blofeld (talk) 10:22, 22 January 2015 (GMT)
    Thank you for the update, much appreciated. Great to see the new GA, hope to see a few more in time. -- Katie Chan (WMUK) (talk) 12:31, 22 January 2015 (GMT)
And another new GA with this, two from one book!Dr. Blofeld (talk) 10:09, 24 January 2015 (GMT)

Steaming ahead now, I've used the Streep Longworth book to add a lot of valuable content here and added a bit to The Deer Hunter and Sophie's Choice. To put things in perspective, in less than 3 months the content used from the book will be read by 1 million people! I've also used the Waldorf book to create two more articles Claude Philippe and Alphonse Salamone so that book has been enormously productive. I will be sending the Waldorf and Streep books back to you tomorrow. I've contacted Rich by email to inform him that a User:Krimuk90 wants to use the Streep book for her filmography, and I've left the last three chapters for him to work on. If you could sort that out and send the Steeep book to him when you get it from me I'd be grateful, I've given Rich his email address. Streep will be brought up to GA status within the next week or two. Will be cracking on now with the Ritz Hotel in a day or two, and then I can focus on the big Kubrick project!Dr. Blofeld (talk) 16:04, 27 January 2015 (GMT)

Update. Two new GAs the 1893-1929 Waldorf Hotel and Claude Philippe . I think after a peer review the 1893 Waldorf might actually be a viable FA candidate, I may have that at FAC within a few weeks. Making good progress with The Ritz London, we've gone from a poor barely start class article under 10 kb up to 60 kb currently. [1] I'm 3/4 through the 1980 book and past half way through the Binney book. User:We hope who collaborated with the Waldorf articles would like to have the books to continue and finish them off. She'd also like the Waldorf book to see if she can glean anything on some of its characters like Oscar of the Waldorf. I've sent an email to Richard on this. I'll likely be sending the Ritz books back in a week or so. I don't know if you want to send her the Waldorf book first as you've got it, Richard hopefully can sort out that. Tim riley, a regular FA contributor I believe is interested in getting the Ritz to FA at some point, but a long way to go on that.

On the Streep front I still have a fair few of her films I need to watch to really improve my understanding, I'll get it up to GA soon enough, the book was a great help on that. Once I send these Ritz books back I only have the Kubrick stuff to focus on then. In a week or two I'll get around to updating the main article with my sandbox version and then resume on it in the mainspace. So we're going well now, just took a lot longer than anticipated. Best to focus on one project with books and then send them back and so on I think. Thankyou all again anyway, the direct impact on wikipedia with these books has been great as you can see! Cheers guys.Dr. Blofeld (talk) 17:46, 26 March 2015 (GMT)

You'll be pleased to know that Meryl Streep's filmography which the book was used for has just passed FAC. We hope to also bring the main article to FA status over the summer. The Ritz is nearly ready for GA, I'm just waiting for We hope to complete her work on it. I've been busy the past month getting my missing article project up and running but I'll be resuming with the Kubrick stuff this month. I've already done the update so all of my work to date is for show, but still a fair way to go given the complexity of the subject.Dr. Blofeld (talk) 07:27, 1 June 2015 (BST)

Well done, that's great to hear. And thank you for the update Dr. Blofeld. Richard Nevell (WMUK) (talk) 10:59, 2 June 2015 (BST)

Another update, two more GAs from the books, in collaboration with We hope how received the books too and finished it off The Ritz and J.W. Gates. We hope thinks she can glean a bit more from the Waldorf book on Oscar of the Waldorf before sending the books back though, which is another possible GA! I think getting such a prestigious landmark as the Ritz to GA is a considerable achievement, and I think there's a possibility of taking it to FAC later in year if I can get Tim riley interested. I will now resume on Streep's main article for GA which should be brought up to status within the next week or so I think, and Kubrick later in the summer when the weather gets a bit cooler! Anyway, if you tot up the GAs to date this is proving very successful!Dr. Blofeld (talk) 21:01, 1 July 2015 (BST)

@Katie Chan (WMUK): Now Streep main article is GA :-) Mission almost accomplished!Dr. Blofeld (talk) 20:32, 3 July 2015 (BST)

Thankyou Richard for the Steiger book, proved very useful. The article is now a Good Article too and will be headed to FAC within a month or two. I've finished my on Stanley Kubrick, the article is awaiting GA review and will then proceed to FAC after a peer review. I'll keep hold of the books to possibly expand some of his films, but my objectives once Kubrick passes are now all done. I will be making another grant request in a week or so if that's OK.(Blofeld)

Project now complete. Stanley Kubrick is now a Good article. I've achieved all that I wanted to with the books and have got 11 GAs out of them, though I may work on some of his films at some point aside from the bits I've already added. You can close this or archive as a "success" or whatever User:Richard Nevell (WMUK). I'm planning on making a new request in the near future.Dr. Blofeld (talk) 12:06, 25 August 2015 (BST)

User:CT Cooper and User:Sjgknight might also be interested to know.Dr. Blofeld (talk) 12:08, 25 August 2015 (BST)

Thank you for keeping us updated. CT Cooper · talk 20:24, 25 August 2015 (BST)

Reporting

Book bought to GA is under a month is remarkable. I'm glad you've achieved what you set out Dr. Blofeld - and more by the looks of it.

We're trialling out a change in reporting: working out how many bytes of information have been added as a result of the grant? It feeds into the charity's KPIs to show that we're supporting people improving the encyclopedia. I appreciate this wasn't asked for at the start of the grant; it's something we're only really coming to terms with now. I've had a go below.

Article 1 Feb to 31 Jul 2014 1 Aug to 31 Jan 2015 1 Feb to 31 Jul 2015 1 Aug to 31 Jan 2016 Total
Waldorf Astoria New York 30,272 95,936 0 3 126,211
Claude Philippe 0 13,307 0 0 13,307
Waldorf–Astoria (New York, 1893) 0 22,269 6,848 0 29,117
Meryl Streep 0 37,452 19,023 (Dr. Blofeld) 272 (We hope), 5,633 (Krimuk90) 0 62,380
The Ritz Hotel, London 144 0 46,103 (Dr. Blofeld), 19,703 (We hope) 0 65,950
Meryl Streep on screen and stage 0 0 3,384 (Dr. Blofeld), 154 (We hope), 34,572 (Krimuk90) 0 38,110
John Warne Gates 0 0 382 (Dr. Blofeld) 51,696 (We hope) 1,313 53,391
Rod Steiger 0 0 87,172 31,834 (Dr. Blofeld) 2012 (We hope) 121,018
Stanley Kubrick 44,924 5,159 69,647 46,337 (Dr. Blofeld) 932 (We hope) 166,999
Stanley Kubrick bibliography 10965 0 0 0 10,965
Filmography and awards of Stanley Kubrick 10279 0 0 0 10,279
Influence of Stanley Kubrick 24243 0 0 0 24,243
List of books about Stanley Kubrick and his films 58 0 0 0 58
Personal life of Stanley Kubrick 22502 0 0 0 22,502
Althorp 91,705 799 0 0 92,504
April in Paris Ball 0 10,223 (Dr. Blofeld) 1,897 (We hope) 0 370 (We hope) 12,490
Alphonse W. Salomone, Jr. 0 2,509 (Dr. Blofeld) 1,956 (We hope) 0 0 4,465
Arno Schmidt (chef) 0 1,741 0 0 1,741
César Ritz 0 2,514 2,434 0 4,948
Paths of Glory 868 0 0 0 868
Full Metal Jacket 1,461 1,131 0 0 2,592
The Deer Hunter 0 1,285 0 0 1,285
Old White Horse Cellar 0 0 110 (Dr. Blofeld) 464 (We hope) 0 574
Sophie's Choice (film) 0 797 0 0 797
Totals 237,421 198,975 347,597 82,801 866,794

Though the grant has been active since early 2014, I've started from 1 Feb 2015 as that fits with our current reporting year. What I've done is taken away the size of raw text of the latest version edited by one those using the books from the size before the edits started. It's a bit of a crude measure and for something like Kubrick's article the numbers don't convey just how much changed. It's not just a case of what's added, but what was replaced or pruned. That's why the metric is really meant to be 'bytes added or taken away' but I don't know of a way to automate this for one or two people on an article. If anyone is aware of a tool which lets you measure the absolute sum of an editors contributions to an article between two dates that would make this task very simple! A bit like the 'user contributions search' if it added all the bytes together.

Dr Blofeld, could you check whether more pages should be added to the table above? How does this strike you as a way of reporting?

I might also pester you for a short piece for our blog about the project. How would you feel about that? Richard Nevell (WMUK) (talk) 12:13, 27 August 2015 (BST)

We now have a tool which can be used to help measure this. As other editors were involved, the query would need to be run a couple of extra times, but I think this should make reporting easier. Richard Nevell (WMUK) (talk) 13:17, 14 September 2015 (BST)

@Richard Nevell (WMUK): Don't forget the main Waldorf Astoria New York article and Claude Philippe! Sure I'd be happy to write something if you want it. I'm about to make another request for Frank Sinatra.Dr. Blofeld (talk) 17:49, 15 September 2015 (BST)

Rod Steiger BTW will be taken to FAC by the end of the week.Dr. Blofeld (talk) 17:54, 15 September 2015 (BST)

@Dr. Blofeld: I've extended the table back to the start of the grant, rather than just this year so it should capture everything. As the process is automated, it's more rigorous in counting than I was so the figures are different. How do the tables look to you now? Richard Nevell (WMUK) (talk) 16:18, 17 September 2015 (BST)

Very nice @Richard Nevell (WMUK): but don't forget Althorp which was the first one I did haha! Also April in Paris Ball, Alphonse W. Salomone, Jr., Arno Schmidt,Cesar Ritz, Paths Glory, Full Metal Jacket, The Deer Hunter and Old White Horse Cellar, Sophie's Choice . Can you add up how many kb in total. I think you ca see how productive it has been. Plus I'm about to nominate Rod Steiger for Featured Article today!Dr. Blofeld (talk) 11:33, 18 September 2015 (BST)

@Dr. Blofeld: Great, I've added those in and included totals at the bottom. The six-month split fit with out reporting cycles. This project has contributed a whopping 866,794 bytes to Wikipedia! Richard Nevell (WMUK) (talk) 15:42, 21 September 2015 (BST)

Note The article on Rod Steiger is now a Featured Article on the English Wikipedia. Richard Nevell (WMUK) (talk) 12:17, 8 October 2015 (BST)

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