Empowering the Youth in Lagos Through Wikimedia Projects

Introduction

The Wikimedians of Lagos User Group is a community of volunteers who are committed to promoting the use of Wikimedia projects in Lagos and environs. Our mission is to empower Lagosians, particularly the youth, with the skills needed to contribute to Wikimedia projects, develop knowledge, and use it to enhance their lives and communities. The change that we are trying to bring about is to empower the youth in Lagos State with the skills and tools to participate in Wikimedia projects. We believe that this is important because it will provide a platform for youth to contribute to the creation and dissemination of knowledge and allow them to develop creative and collaboration skills in the digital space. Additionally, it will support the preservation of Lagosian culture and heritage through the creation of Wikimedia contents. This phase will concentrate on using Wikipedia and Wikidata to empower the youth in Lagos State.

Facilitators

1. Jonywikis
2. Biowikician
3. Opeolade

Youth and Safety Policy

Registration and Attendance

• People of age 17 or younger will not be allowed to register or attend the events.
• The organizers will verify attendees' age during registration using the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA) identity card of attendees.

Mature Content

• Violent or sexually explicit imagery will not be displayed in public areas of a venue.

Safety Plan

• The organizers and attendees must comply with the safety plan of the event centre
• The safety plan includes a contact method displayed at the venue to reach qualified event staff if an attendee is concerned about their own or another young attendee's safety.

Compliance with Local Laws and Regulations

• The organizers must ensure that their events comply with all local laws and regulations of Lagos State that apply to young attendees.

Implementation and Training

• The organizers will implement the youth and safety policy and ensure compliance by all participants.
• The organizers will provide training to staff and volunteers on the requirements of the youth and safety policy.
• The organizers will ensure that all participants are aware of the youth and safety policy and their responsibilities to comply with it.

Event Program

Four-day Wikipedia Program

• Day 1: Registration, Wikipedia Essentials and Editing Basics
  • Introduction to Wikipedia and its mission
  • Overview of the Wikipedia community and editing guidelines
  • Introduction to the Wikipedia editing interface
  • Basic formatting and wiki markup
  • Creating user accounts and user pages
• Day 2: Evaluating Articles and Sources, Sandboxes and Mainspace
  • Best practices for evaluating Wikipedia articles and sources
  • Understanding the importance of reliable sources and citation
  • How to use the sandbox to test edits before publishing to mainspace
  • Guidelines for moving articles from sandbox to mainspace
• Day 3: Sources and Citations, Plagiarism and Copyright Violation
  • Understanding the different types of sources and how to use them
  • Citation templates and best practices
  • Understanding plagiarism and copyright violation on Wikipedia
  • Strategies for avoiding plagiarism and copyright violation
• Day 4: Contributing Images and Media Files, Translating Articles
  • Guidelines for adding images and media files to Wikipedia
  • Best practices for choosing images and media files
  • Introduction to translation tools and resources
  • How to translate articles on Wikipedia

Throughout the program, there will be interactive exercises and workshops to familiarize participants with the concepts and tools discussed. There will also be time for Q&A and open discussion with the instructors and other participants. By the end of the program, participants will have a solid understanding of the fundamentals of editing Wikipedia and how to contribute to the platform.

Three-day Wikidata Program

• Day 1: Introduction to Wikidata and the Wikidata Community
  • What is Wikidata and why is it important?
  • Overview of the Wikidata community and their work
  • Understanding Wikidata's structure and data model
  • Basic concepts and vocabulary of Wikidata
• Day 2: Evaluating Data on Wikidata and Adding to Wikidata
  • Best practices for evaluating data quality on Wikidata
  • Introducing the Wikidata quality assessment framework
  • Understanding the role of references and external sources in data quality
  • Guidelines for adding data to Wikidata
• Day 3: Querying Wikidata – SPARQL
  • Understanding the basics of SPARQL and querying Wikidata
  • Building complex queries and understanding query results
  • Practical examples of querying Wikidata with SPARQL

Throughout the program, there will be interactive exercises and workshops to familiarize participants with the concepts and tools discussed. There will also be time for Q&A and open discussion with the instructors and other participants. By the end of the program, participants will have a solid understanding of the fundamental concepts of Wikidata and how to evaluate, add to, and query the platform.

How to participate

• Sign in or Create a New Account on Wikipedia.
• Sign up in the participants section on this page.
• Join the Outreach dashboard to join and track your contributions.

Participants

To participate you need to sign up as participants by simply typing four tildes (~), like this: ~~~~ to the bottom of the list, then publish changes.