Global Open Initiative/News
Newsletter
edit- Volume 02 (2020)
- Volume 01 (2019)
Selected press mentions
edit- 2020
Ordered by date
- Sarpong, Gideon. "Global Open Initiative launches 2020 ‘Parliament of Ghana Challenge’ in Ghana - News Ghana". News Ghana/ (in en-US). Retrieved 2020-07-10.
- ...
- 2019
Ordered by date
- Sarpong, Gideon. "Meet Sadat and Sadik, 2019 WikidataCon Scholars From Ghana - News Ghana". News Ghana (in en-US). Retrieved 2019-11-09.
- Sarpong, Gideon. "GOI Foundation Donates Machine Learning textbooks to Madina Institute of Science and Technology - News Ghana". News Ghana (in en-US). Retrieved 2019-09-05.
- "Global Open Initiative Co-founders, Sadat and Sadik to attend the 2019 Civil Servant research summit in Stockholm". Modern Ghana. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
- News, Ghana. "Global Open Initiative Co-founders, Sadat & Sadik to attend the 2019 Civil Servant research summit in Stockholm - News Ghana". News Ghana (in en-US). Retrieved 2019-08-15.
- "Meet Ursula Zage, the host of the @DigiAfricanLang Twitter account for April 10-16". Rising Voices (in en-US). 2019-04-09. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
- "Wikipedia is being translated into Twi by some young Ghanaian volunteers". JBKlutse (in en-GB). 2019-04-04. Retrieved 2019-04-05.
- "Young Ghanaians translate Wikipedia pages into local Akan language". Ghana Web. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
- News, Ghana. "Two Ghanaians Translate Wikipedia Pages into Local Dialect Akan - News Ghana". https://www.newsghana.com.gh/ (in en-US). Retrieved 2019-04-01.
- Deutsche, Welle. "Translating Wikipedia pages into a local language in Ghana | DW | 03.04.2019". Deutsche Welle (DW.COM) (in en-GB). Retrieved 2019-04-27.
- Editor (2019-03-31). "Young Ghanaians translate Wikipedia pages into local Akan language". Daily Mail Gh (in en-US). Retrieved 2019-03-31.
- "Ghana: Young people translate Wikipedia pages into 'Akan'". Africa Feeds (in en-US). 2019-03-31. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
Blog
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Global Open Initiative Foundation (GOIF) Continues to Empower Communities Through Wikimedia Projects
edit- By Mwintirew | May 3, 2023
If you’ve been wondering what the Global Open Initiative Foundation (GOIF) has been up to, we have exciting news for you! In March and April, GOIF has been actively partnering with communities to promote the use of Wikimedia Commons and other Wikimedia projects.
Training Ghanaian Students and Capturing Ghana’s Culture Through Photography: GOIF Wiki Highlights for February.
edit- By Mwintirew | March 3, 2023
The month of February, the month of love and friendship, was a busy one for the Global Open Initiative Foundation (GOIF) as far as Wiki activities were concerned. It entailed workshops, training, collaborations, presentations, and research. Let’s take a look at three of our highlights of the month.
What is happening with GOIF?
edit- By Mwintirew | February 6, 2023
2022 was a good year, and 2023 promises to be an even better one. For the start of the year, the Global Open Initiative Foundation (GOIF) met with its volunteers and team members to discuss the various projects to be embarked on in 2023. Outstanding members were recognised and given the necessary accolades. There was also a discussion on the ways in which volunteers can be motivated; highlights included the need for personal contact beyond social media pages. That means reaching out to participants via personal messages and calls.
Global Open Initiative launches 2020 ‘Parliament of Ghana Challenge’ in Ghana
edit- By Gideon Sarpong | July 10, 2019
Global Open Initiative, GOIF, on July 4, 2020, launched the second edition of the ‘Parliament of Ghana Challenge’, A Wikipedia and Wikidata edit-a-thon contest that seeks is to create and improve Wikipedia and Wikidata articles of Ghanaian parliamentarians from the 1st republic to date. The online contest, according to the founders, Zita Ursula Zage and Sadik Shahadu is a year-long program with a total of six contests.
Meet Sadat and Sadik, 2019 WikidataCon Scholars From Ghana
edit- By GOI Foundation | October 20, 2019
Two co-founders of Global Open Initiative (GOI Foundation), Mohammed Sadat Abdulai (Director) and Sadik Shahadu (Director, Communications) were awarded full scholarships by the Wikimedia Deutschland to attend the conference in Berlin, Germany, from October 24 to 28. Wikidata is a collaboratively edited open knowledge base that acts as central storage for the structured data of Wikipedia and its sister projects.
GOI Foundation Donates Machine Learning textbooks to Madina Institute of Science and Technology
edit- By Nana yaa series | August 29, 2019
Global Open Initiative Foundation (GOI Foundation) on Tuesday made a book donation to the MIST Library at Madina Institute of Science and Technology (MIST). The books include reference material in Data Mining, Machine Learning, and Algorithms. Presenting the books on behalf of the GOI Foundation team, Mohammed Sadat Abdulai said that “in the ever-increasing need to make data-intensive decisions in all fields including business, engineering, and healthcare”, he hoped that the books “will help foster interests in academic research in the emerging discipline of Data Science and Big Data Analytics”.
Global Open Initiative Co-founders, Sadat and Sadik to participate at the 2019 Civil Servant research summit in Stockholm, Sweden
edit- By Nana yaa series | August 14, 2019
Co-founders of Global Open Initiative (GOI foundation), Sadik and Sadat have been selected to participate in the 2019 CivilServant research summit on August 19, 2019. The English-language research summit, which will be held in Stockholm the day after Wikimania, will be an opportunity for them to learn about designing studies to test features and innovations in their Wikipedia projects. It will comprise a day of training and workshops with staff from CivilServant, a project of Global voices, and Wikipedians from over a dozen Wikipedia communities to discuss how Wikipedia can test their ideas and help their communities thrive.
Accra indieweb homebrew website club meeting by Global Open Initiative Foundation (Wednesday, June 26, 2019)
edit- By Sadik Shahadu | August 5, 2019
The Global Open Initiative Foundation hosted its monthly #Indieweb homebrew website meeting to discuss how they can extend their #Known #OER network to more students in Ghana. The Known OER network is an initiative of the Foundation with seed funding from the Southern Connecticut state university. The project helps the Accra indieweb homebrew website club to build free websites for university students. These websites allow students to own customized websites on the goifnetwork.org. The purpose of this initiative is to help students to create their own OER by publishing their own learning materials. Out of 15 university students, 5 students have already received their own websites!
Addressing Capacity Building and Community Health as part of the goal to achieve the Wikimedia Agenda 2030
edit- By Nana yaa series | August 5, 2019
The wiki strategy salon which was organized to tackle some goals under the Wikimedia agenda 2030 took place at the Goethe Insitute in Accra, Ghana. The event organized by Open Foundation West Africa (OFWA), had experienced and new Wikimedians to discuss solutions that work best for Africa when it comes to attaining the Capacity Building and Community Health goals. here were 6 members (Mohammed Sadat Abdulai, Sadik Shahadu, Ursula Zage, Gabriel Amuzu, Faisal and myself, Nana Yaa) of Global Open Initiative Foundation (GOIF) out of 27 participants. Participants were grouped into two groups, this made the discussion much effective as each group focused on a particular goal. I made it to the second group and our task was to give solutions to the questions under community health.
2019 Parliament of Ghana Wikipedia and Wikidata edit-a-thons
edit- By Sadik Shahadu | August 5, 2019
Who updates or creates new profiles for the parliamentarians on Wikipedia and Wikidata? As part of our mission to answer these questions, the Global Open Initiative Foundation was awarded a grant by the Wikimedia Foundation to organize a series of Wikipedia and Wikidata edit-a-thons to create and improve biographies of Ghanaian parliamentarians. This was yet another exciting project following the successful completion of English-Twi Wikipedia translate-a-thon.
Accra indieweb homebrew website club meeting by Global Open Initiative Foundation
edit- By Sadik Shahadu | June 26, 2019
The Global Open Initiative Foundation hosted its monthly #Indieweb homebrew website meeting to discuss how they can extend their #Known #OER network to more students in Ghana. The Known OER network is an initiative of the Foundation with seed funding from the Southern Connecticut state university. The project helps the Accra indieweb homebrew website club to build free websites for university students.
Global Open Initiative Is Presenting 4 Scholars To Attend Wikimania 2019 In Stockholm, Sweden
edit- By Sadik Shahadu | June 11, 2019
It’s the time of the year when advocates of free knowledge across the globe are gearing up to attend Wikimania; the annual conference of the Wikimedia Foundation where volunteers of Wikipedia and other sister projects gather to brainstorm ideas around the future of free knowledge. Drawing from a pool of thousands of applications, Wikimedia Foundation and affiliates tend to sponsor outstanding members of the Wikimedia community to attend Wikimania on full or partial scholarships. This year, four (4) members of the Global Open Initiative Foundation passed the rigorous selection process to receive full scholarships to attend the conference.
An interview with a participant of the final English-Twi Wikipedia translation workshop organized by Global Open Initiative Foundation
edit- By Sadik Shahadu | June 11, 2019
Eunice: For me, the first thing that came to my mind was how much of the language I can speak and to even think of writing or translating it. It looked like an impossible task but all the same, I decided to give it a try after a little encouragement from you. I did not attend alone, I came along with two of my little nieces; Christabel, age 11, and Peggy, age 6. I was told this particular event was the third English-Twi translation event organized by the group but this was our first event ( myself and the kids). It is a great experience. I got to understand Wikipedia a lot more: the “dos”, the “donts” and the perks from Ursula (The facilitator for the event). Harriet took me through my Wikipedia account creation.
Global Open Initiative Foundation shortlisted for final stage of the maiden edition of Wikimedia Education Greenhouse
edit- By Sadik Shahadu | June 8, 2019
Global Open Initiative Foundation has been shortlisted for the final selection stage of the Wikimedia education greenhouse project. We are among the 4 teams to be selected out of 15 team applications.
Congratulations to us for this great achievement. We hope to finally win the ultimate prize.
The state of Open Data in Ghana
edit- By Sadik Shahadu | April 7, 2019
As a volunteer, a presenter and a participant, I had the opportunity to participate in several unconference sessions which gave me a lot of insights on how the average African perceive open data. One of those encounters was when I interviewed 3 random participants; one from Ghana, another from Algeria and the last person from Nigeria. Both the Nigerian and the Algerian were well positioned in terms of open data. Unlike my Ghanaian colleague who had little knowledge about open data. According to him, there was no need for individuals to open their data for public consumption when compared to the public sector which has a lot of data but doesn’t allow public access. The first example he sighted was the Statistical service in Ghana.
Twi Wikipedia Translatathon Launched at AITI-KACE
edit- By GOI Foundation | April 5, 2019
The initiative to get Wikipedia articles in the Twi language is important in making information accessible in the Twi language since it is spoken by 58% of Ghanaians and 30% of Ivoirians. The co-founder of the Global Open Initiative Foundation and co-coordinator of the training, Zita Ursula Zage said they are hoping to expand the initiative to other regions in the country and also hopes the initiative gains about 50 active contributors of Twi Wikipedia by 2020.
What you need to know about Open Educational Resources (OER)
edit- By Sadik Shahadu | March 22, 2019
OER is any material, tool or resource that uses an open license and is used for teaching and learning. These teaching and learning materials include video/audio tutorials, textbooks, stories, wikis, curriculum, podcasts, full courses, etc. OER's are educational resources or learning materials that are freely and openly accessible to anyone under a license that permits users to remix, use, adapt, improve and redistribute. This can be achieved when people come together to share ideas and collaborate within an open community. Every day, thousands of people collaborate either online or offline to produce these academic tools, resources and learning materials for free. This ensures that students from all over the world can have access to learning material at little or no cost.
What's New with GOI’s Known OER network?
edit- By GOI Foundation | March 22, 2019
The GOI OER platform was built on Known. Every individual that signs up unto the platform, gets their own websites for free. With their individual websites, users will be able to post content, blog post, images, etc. Users can create new pages, mention and update their status. One could conclude that the Known platform is similar to WordPress except that it combines the functionalities on a social media page, static pages and a standard blog. On the GOI network you can decide to give someone access to edit your safe space. All abusive users will be blocked on the platform to prevent harassment and any form of attacks.
Kick Off Meeting of the Global Open Initiative Foundation Advisory Board
edit- By Greg McVerry | March 13, 2019
Global Open Initiative founders; Mohammed, Zita and Sadik, and advisory board member Dr. Greg McVerry kick off discussions about setting up the GOI Foundation OER Network with the mission to "focuses on the spread of OER resources across low connectivity areas of Ghana in order to make knowledge accessible across the Global South while growing digital literacies skills of participants".
GOI Foundation organizes it's second 'Art and Feminism Wikipedia edit-a-thon 2019' at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan center of excellence in ICT, Accra
edit- By Esmeralda Adwoa Mokoa | March 9, 2019
On the 9th of March 2019, over 20 Wikipedia volunteers converged at the Kofi Annan International Training Centre to participate in the 2019 Art + Feminism Wikipedia edit-a-thon. As part of the celebration of the international women´s day, the edit-a-thon was organized to update biographies of female parliamentarians in Ghana. The edit-a-thon follows a series of updates on Corruption scandals that rocked Parliament as well as Profiles of members of Parliament. This edition focused on Women in Governance and Politics, particularly female members of Parliament, as its way of marking the International Women’s Day Celebration.
Reflections from Wikipedia corruption-related edit-a-thon in Ghana - Franklin Oduro
edit- By Nana yaa series | August 23, 2018
"As a beginner, am now learning the Wikipedia way of publishing content on to the platform, the GOI foundation community has been very helpful to me because they have organized some free workshops to train us on how to upload and contribute to Wikipedia and other sister projects.The first workshop I attended was the wiki corruption event held at the Impact Hub in Accra, Ghana. At the event, we created and edited corruption-related articles from Ghana on Wikipedia. I personally had the chance and the help to create a Wikipedia page for Stephen Kwabena Opuni, a former GHANA COCOA board director. He was involved in a corruption scandal some time ago."
GOI Foundations' maiden edition of Wikipedia corruption edit-a-thon at Impact hub, Accra
edit- By Sadik Shahadu | August 19, 2018
For the first time, the Wikimedia community have decided to host an edit-a-thon focused on corruption related incidence in Ghana. The Wiki corruption edit-a-thon project dubbed ‘Project X’ was organized by Mohammed Sadat Abdulai, one of the most experienced Wikimedians from Ghana. Other team members include Sadik Shahadu (Event coordinator), Ursula Zage (Facilitator), Roy Tei (In charge of logistics) and Rexford Nkansa (Facilitator). Interestingly, the entire event was divided into 3 phases; phase one, two and three.
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