Sub-saharan Africa Strategic Talk

Thank you all for your valuable contribution to this conversation so far.

@Timmylegend with all these challenges you have mentioned I am curious to know the kind of experiences or outcomes you get from your edit-a-thon or meetups. Can you share more of your experiences during edit-a-thons or meetups? Are they productive? Are contributors from your region able to make contributions on Wikimedia projects despite all these challenges? @Tochiprecious @Shahadusadik @Em-mustapha @Ruby_D-Brown @Oby_Ezeilo @Atibrarian @Alhassan_Mohammed_Awal @Gilbert_Ndihokubwayo1 @RebeccaRwanda does your community identify with any of these challenges too? I would love to hear the experiences from your communities as well.

100%. We have student communities as well and even without the student communities, I can relate with 100% of all that has been mentioned by @Timmylegend. The high cost of internet, the IP blocks. Even though we try to make provisions for data reimbursements during trainings, it’s not been easy.

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Edit-a-thons and meetups are productive especially because we are able to introduce new participants to wiki projects, the movement, our community and possibly create and improve at articles. I have come to the understanding that no matter how well you prepare, there is going to be a hitch in internet connection or an IP block and therefore you might not get everyone to create or improve an article. The problem is editing after an event. I have observed that not many volunteers edit after our meetups. The very few who edit are either provided with data allowance or have to be reminded to work on an article (kind of pressured). A sure way to ensure editing outside our meet ups is the introduction of contests. With this, volunteers could edit almost everyday. However if there is no contest, there is little motivation to edit outside meetups or edit-a-thons.

I would like to highlight the issue of partnership. It’s not easy to establish partnership with institutions or organizations.

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Edit-a-thons are very productive from my region. There are always challenges that we face in meetups but when the community works as a team these challenges are minimized. From my region new editors always get help from the experienced ones and having different sources of internet from different internet providers helps to reduce the challenge of internet connectivity. There is lack of motivation to contribute to Wikimedia projects after meetups but having edit-a-thons more frequently minimizes this challenge.

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@Em-mustapha Oh right! It was mentioned here that you have been awarded a movement strategy grant for this research. Congratulations! I am looking forward to learning about the progress and outcomes of your work. Would you use this space to share some of the challenges and your progress while embarking on this research?

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Nhyiamudie a yɛhyia mu twetwe nkɔmɔ fa Wiki dwumadie ne nsɛm a yɛde gu hɔ no yɛ adeɛ a ɛho hia paa yie. Efiri sɛ ɛboa ma yɛ nya nnipa afoforɔ a wɔn ani gye dwumadie no ho ma wɔn bɛka yɛn ho. Afei nso ɛboa ma yɛtumi de nsɛm pii gu Wikipedia so, nanso nokwrɛ no ne sɛ ɛnfa ho ne sɛdeɛ yɛ bɛ boa yɛn ho afa, yɛ kɔ biaa a yɛ nya ɔhaw, ɔhaw no bi a yɛfa mu ne IP block, intanɛt kɔnɛkhyen nso yɛ ɔhaw baako, ɛba no saa a nnyɛ nnipa no nyinaa na etumi yɛ wɔn nsɛmfua no, saa adeɛ no ha adwen bebree firi sɛ mo botaeɛ a ɛno nti mo wɔ hɔ no bɛsesa.

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Thank you so much
Our interest is to discover our strength as well as to work to our weakness
The majors skills our community member need is skills on editing and and effective translation to our local language .

Ikindi nuko birgufasha ururimi gakondo rwacu mu kwandikaho ndetse no guteza imbere inyandiko nyarwanda , na abantu bakaba babona ibyo twandi mu rurimi rwacu .

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Sure!

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15 posts were split to a new topic: How to resolve the problem of IP and user blocks in African editathons

Thank you @Zuz_WMF, I will try to update it here. Regards

By the way, has anyone noticed any changes on their local language wiki? @Oby_Ezeilo @Em-mustapha @CaliBen @Din-nani1 @Alhassan_Mohammed_Awal @Tochiprecious @Jemima2019 Do you like the new look of your wiki? what are some new features you see and like? I see Twi Wikipedia interface looks different and nicer compared to the previous interface both on mobile and desktop.

Yes :heart_eyes::heart_eyes::heart_eyes: it was posted in our user group. It looks more beautiful and interesting to compare to what it was before but their is still room for more Adjustments .

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oh zirahari impinduka nyishi kuri meta page za wikipedia kinyarwanda ,
ndashimira buri umwe wese ushyiramo imbaraga ngo impinduka nziza zigerweho .

Murakoze

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Kuruhande rwajye nta mbogamizi zihari gusa imwe ndibaza niba ziriya partials reseach zizakoreshwa kuko umuntu ashobora kuba yaratanze amakuru meza kurundi ruhande ntuyuze ubushakashatsi haburi nko gusibiza ikibazo kimwe .
bizagenda gute ?

Murakoze !, iyo initiative izatangira ryari ?

Ibyo uvuga ni ukuru cyane ikindi tutakwibagirwa nuko birikuba worse cyane kuri young community.
aho usanga ubumenyi kuri editing bufite bake kandi abakenewe kwigishwa na ababishaka ari benshi cyane .
ikifuzo : nuko habaho exchange of expertise muri buri region kugirango bafashe young community gukura no kugera kure .

murakoze cyane

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Yeah, we’ve been working to improve it and it’s more beautiful now and attractive now.

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@Tochiprecious I saw the recent post you made on Linkedin about the Wiki Mentor Africa program, great initiative! Do you want to share some information about this program here? What is it about, who is eligible to apply and how does one apply?

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@Mwintirew @Kinvidia @Owula_kpakpo @Joris_Darlington_Quarshie @UWIMPUHWE_Va @Oby_Ezeilo @Em-mustapha @Timmylegend @Ruby_D-Brown have you read this? The reflections on funding from the Middle East and Africa

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