GLAM/Newsletter/January 2016/Contents/Africa report
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#OpenAfrica15
The English journalist Daniel Metcalfe wrote about his travels in Angola: “Like most museums in Luanda, this one wasn’t open…”[1] Lack of funds, unskilled coverage and handling of cultural artifacts and disinterest may cause that parts of the cultural heritage are destroyed or even forgotten. But how can the heritage be preserved, how can everyone learn about the rich art and history of a region when it is not accessible? How can we create access for everyone without big funds, even better, without any funds?
A solution for this problem might be found in the Wikimedia projects: Wikipedia for articles, Wikimedia Commons for photographies, videos and sound files, Wiktionaries for small African languages, Wikisource for documents, GLAM activities for creating the contacts between institutions and active Wikimedians and finally Wikimedians in Residence to help the institutions on site.
It is essential that more Women editors share the knowledge of the World from a female perspective. And it is imperative that Africans tell the story of Africa from an African perspective. One way of finding African Wikimedians in Residence is to invite interested African Wikimedians and invite them to a workshop.
WikiAfrica, a project to increase the quality and quantity of African content on Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects, conceptualised a workshop in partnership with the Goethe-Institut Johannesburg and supported by Creative Commons South Africa.
From 30th of November to 4th of December 2015 the Goethe-Institut Johannesburg offered space, technology and funding in their spacious rooms in Johannesburgs leafy suburb Parkwood. The project was coordinated and managed by Isla Haddow-Flood, Project Manager at WikiAfrica and Brigitte Doellgast, Head of Library & Information Services sub Saharan Africa of the Goethe-Institut. An experienced Wikipedian was recruited as trainer: Gereon Kalkuhl from Germany. Participants came from Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and South Africa.
The pre-course-tasks that were given to delegates were to write at least one article on Wikipedia relevant to an African country, to research the state of the Open Movement in their country, to research possible content partners and to upload photos to Commons.
It is no easy task to make Wikipedians fit for being Wikimedians in Residence in only five days. Many topics have to be addressed. The programme looked like this:
See: #OpenAfrica15
Monday, 30th of November 2015
Introductions, Open Africa and Playing Field
| Time | Subject | Who | Format | Specifics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09:00–10:30 | Introductions | Isla, Gereon, Delegates | Presentation | Why WikiAfrica – danger of a single story What WIRs are. What to expect. Introductions. |
| 10:30–11:00 | Coffee break | |||
| 11:00–12:30 | Wikimedia and Wikipedia | Gereon | Presentation | Wikipedia: what it is, what it is not; consensus, community, registration. Discussion among delegates of experience on Wikipedia. Run down of the Wikimedia projects - and their relevance to WIRs (to include case studies of usage). The Foundation and Chapters • Wikipedia (Five Pillars) • Wiktionary (Accuracy) • Wikibooks and Wikijunior • Wikinews (newsagent, interviews) • Wikiquote • Wikisource (Digital library, sources, translations) • Wikiversity (tutorial and courses) • Wikivoyage (travel guide) • Wikimedia Commons (pictures, videos, sound files) • Incubator (new language versions) • Meta-Wiki • Wikispecies • Wikidata • Wikimania • outreach.wikimedia.org |
| 12:30–13:30 | Lunch break | |||
| 13:30–15:00 | Wikimedia and Wikipedia | Gereon | Presentation | Part II of 11:00–12:30 |
| 15:00–15:15 | Coffee break | |||
| 15:15–16:00 | Open Africa – Introduction | Isla, Delegates | Workshop / participatory |
Presentations by each delegate of the open movement in their country. |
Tuesday, 1st of December 2015
Working on Wikimedia projects and going GLAM
| Time | Subject | Who | Format | Specifics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09:00–10:30 | Editing | Gereon | Workshop / participatory |
Review of Wikipedia articles created by delegates. Look at editorial oversight and control, control systems, namespaces • Structure and Format of an article • Templates • Info Boxes • References • External links • Where to find help. |
| 10:30–11:00 | Coffee break | |||
| 11:30–12:30 | Citations and research | Gereon, Delegates | Workshop / participatory |
Weblinks, sources, citations. How to quote, how to format citations. Overview of citation tools. Demonstration of Zotero. |
| 12:30–13:30 | Lunch break | |||
| 13:30–16:30 | Outing to Origins Centre | All | Participatory | Tour and visit of a museum. Discussing possible collaborations with the museum. Taking pictures for further uploading on Commons. |
Wednesday, 2nd of December 2015
Content Contribution and Collabortion with Partners
| Time | Subject | Who | Format | Specifics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09:00–10:00 | Editing | Gereon | Workshop / participatory |
Review of Wikipedia articles created by delegates. |
| 10:00–10:30 | Wikimedians/-pedians in Residence | Tim Moritz Hector (User:Bücherwürmlein) | via Skype from Münster, Germany | Tim was a Wikimedian in Residence with Germany’s biggest TV station. He shares his experience of being a Wikimedian in Residence. |
| 10:30–11:00 | Wikimedians/-pedians in Residence | Liam Wyatt (User:Wittylama) | via Skype from Bologna, Italy | Liam was the very first Wikipedian in Residence. He shares his experience of being a Wikipedian in Residence. |
| 11:00–11:30 | Coffee break | |||
| 11:30–13:00 | Wikimedians/-pedians in Residence | Gereon | Presentation | Introduction of the Wikimedian in Residence programme with examples of successful collaborations (Consumer Reports, Swiss Federal Archives). History since Liam Wyatt. Duties. Compensation. Outreach. Impact and Influence. Reception. Core Characteristics of a Wikipedian in Residence. |
| 13:00–14:00 | Lunch break | |||
| 14:00–15:00 | Community Building | Mignon via Skype from Cape Town | presentation via Skype from Cape Town |
A short intro to community engagement based on FunDza strategies with their communities two sets of writers. Then an interactive exercise for the workshop participants - 1. What were their main motivators for becoming involved with Wikipedia; 2. What keeps them involved with Wikipedia; 3. Why would others want to be contributors to Wikipedia; 4. What strategies could they put in place to keep people involved. |
| 15:00–15:15 | Coffee break | |||
| 15:15–16:00 | Wikimedia communities + GLAM communities |
Mignon, Isla, Gereon | Discussion | Application of Mignon's workshop to GLAM partners and build local Wikimedia communities - analysing motivations, barriers and ways of overcoming the barriers. |
| 16:00–18:00 | Review of photographs | Delegates, Gereon | Discussion | Reviewing photographs that have been uploaded by the delegates to Commons. |
Thursday, 3d of December 2015
Open Licenses and Creative Commons in Action
| Time | Subject | Who | Format | Specifics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09:00–10:30 | GLAM partners | Delegates | Workshop | Present possible GLAM partners and map out the possibilites. Mapping potential WIR activity in Africa. |
| 10:30–11:00 | Coffee break | |||
| 11:00–12:30 | GLAM tools, resources and Wiki Metrics | Gereon | Presentation | How to use tracking tools, how to track success, how to report findings. http://stats.grok.se/ for page views. Baglama2 for categories of WiR projects. How to contact Magnus Manske through bitbucket. |
| 12:30–13:30 | Lunch break | |||
| 13:30–14:15 | Intro to Open Licenses | Kelsey Wiens | Presentation | |
| 14:15–15:00 | CC Licenses in Action | Adam Oxford, HTXT Magazine |
Presentation | Open licenses in business. How open licenses help to keep business afloat in a challenging and competitive environment. |
| 15:00–15:15 | Coffee break | |||
| 15:15–16:00 | CC Licenses in Action | Tessa Welch | Presentation | The African Storybook project. Discussion of how the open licence was essential to the growth of the project, especially with regards to translation and distribution. |
| 16:00–16:45 | CC Licenses in Action | Tarryn-Anne Anderson | Presentation | bookdash. Discussion of how the open licence was integral to Bookdash’s model, allowing creatives to donate their talent and helping in the wider distribution of the books via other channels. |
| 18:00–20:00 | Dinner | All | Lucky Bean Restaurant, Melville |
Friday, 4th of December 2015
Consolidation and Action Plan
| Time | Subject | Who | Format | Specifics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09:00–11:00 | Open Business Model Planning | Kelsey Wiens | Workshop | Participatory workshop. Attendants are working on their action plan. |
| 11:00–11:30 | Coffee break | |||
| 11:30–12:30 | Open Data | Gereon | Presentation | Showing the increasing importance of Wikidata. History of Wikidata. First steps. The example of the showcase item Douglas Adams (Q42). The Reasonator. Creating new items. Tools for data access and statistics. Interactive Wikidata Tour. |
| 12:30–13:30 | Lunch break | |||
| 13:30–14:00 | Wikimedians/-pedians in Residence | John Cummings (User:John Cummings) | via Skype from Paris, France | Sharing his current experience of being a Wikpedian in Residence at UNESCO. |
| 14:00–15:00 | Wikipedians in Residence Engagement | All | Discussion / Document Creation | Present action plan for the next six months. Feedback. |
| 15:00–15:15 | Coffee break | |||
| 15:15–16:00 | Wikipedians in Residence Engagement | All | Discussion / Document Creation | Present action plan for the next six months. Mapping potential WIR activity in Africa. |
Outcome
The training component of the #OpenAfrica15 project was an overwhelming success. It achieved the overarching aims of the project, which was to provide skills, and outline the possibilities and potentialities, to Wikipedians from across Africa in order to create effective and supported partnerships with content partners in their own countries. Additionally, the Wikipedians were able to acknowledge core challenges which helped to overcome the barriers to contribution and community building that they face in their home countries.
The course was designed to provide the skills required to transfer content about Africa from existing content owners onto Wikipedia. It was also designed to help activate, energise, support and build local Wikimedia groups around a focal point.
The 6 participants in the #OpenAfrica course all had the opportunity to deepen their skills. With each having a background or strength in different areas, the participants were given the tools and skills to effectively communicate the different aspects of the Open community to others, to work effectively with a content partner to release their knowledge onto Wikipedia.
References
- ↑ Daniel Metcalfe: ‘’Blue Dahlia, Black Gold: A Journey into Angola”. Huthinson, London 2013, p. 57.
Overwhelming?
The training component of the #OpenAfrica15 project was an overwhelming success. Ist das nicht etwas dick aufgetragen, ich sehe leider kein entsprechendes Feedback der Teilnehmer. Allein, dass ein strukturiertes Training angeboten wurde, kann nicht ein Success sein. Wichtig wäre es für mich, wenn die Teilnehmer selbst über ihr Land, ihre Bedingungen, die speziellen Probleme auch an uns Nichtwissende berichten; Bedingungen, denen sie ausgesetzt sind und die wir uns wahrscheinlich auch nicht ansatzweise vorstellen können, die aber sie dann in Folge auch zu bewältigen haben. Auch wenn du, Gereon, schreibst, dass Afrika von Afrikanern beschrieben werden soll (dem ich absolut zustimme), so finde ich keine Information darüber, was Afrikaner darunter verstehen. Kann man davon ausgehen, dass bei den Teilnehmern dieses Workshops dieses Bewusstsein tatsächlich vorhanden ist? Denn es darf wohl nicht vergessen werden: Anerkannt als Bildungsstandard ist, was westlich geprägt ist. Präservation afrikanischer Kultur ist westliches Denken. Auch und gerade in Afrika. Wie sieht es aus mit genuin Afrikanischem, soferne das überhaupt in einen enzyklopädischen Rahmen gepresst werden kann? Ich erinnere mich, dir von namibischen Ideen geschrieben zu haben, das Sehen, Wahrnehmen und Weitergeben von Wissen aus einer Herrero-Sicht in Wikipedia umzusetzen. Leider habe ich auf mein ausführliches Mail im November bis heute keine Antwort bekommen. --Hubertl (talk) 13:36, 13 February 2016 (UTC)
- Hallo Hubertl. Über Deine E-Mail aus November hatte ich mich sehr gefreut. Ich habe sie auch mit Isla diskutiert und mir schon einige Gedanken zu dem von Dir gesagtem gemacht. Die Teilnehmer sind mitten in Projekten, die durch den Workshop angestossen wurden, die sie selber in ihren Ländern recherchiert und angestossen haben. Im Juni 2016 werde ich einen ausführlichen Report zu den Ergebnissen des Workshops schreiben. Du wirst noch vorher eine Antwort bekommen. Wir sehen uns ja schon Freitag in Berlin. Gruß, --Gereon K. (talk) 20:00, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
- Ich bin auch gespannt auf den response, denn es sind schon viele an die Grenzen der Denkweise mancher Kollegen aus afrikanischen Ländern - schon alleine aus den unterschiedlichen ökonomischen Bedingengen heraus. Das kann man positiv und negativ gleichermaßen sehen, aber in Folge selten mit unseren Bedingungen und den damit verbundenen Denkweisen vergleichen und bewerten. --Hubertl (talk) 15:52, 15 February 2016 (UTC)
- An answer was sent by e-mail. --Gereon K. (talk) 23:54, 30 October 2016 (UTC)
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