Grants:TPS/Seeris/PanelFreeCulture

User name: User:Seeris (Nathalie Casemajor)
User location (country): Canada
Event name: Conference Panel on "Circulation of Free Culture in the Digital Francophone Sphere: Diversity or Occidentalocentrism?"
Event Web site: http://www.wssf2013.org/
Event date(s): 13 october 2013
Event location (city): Montreal
Amount requested (remember to specify currency!): US$855 ~~US$360~~ ~~$885 USD~~ ; Total cost of the project: 3445 US$ (75% funded by other sources)
Endorsements: Benoit Rochon, project manager Wikimedia Canada

Budget breakdown

Category	Item description	Unit	Total cost	Currency	Notes
Registration	Registration fees for Oumar Kane	1	$425	USD	Scholar rate for Delegates from OECD* member countries - regular rate
Registration	Registration fees for Dieyi Diouf	1	$250	USD	Scholar rate for Delegates from non-OECD* member countries - regular rate
Registration	Registration fees for Seeris	1	$105	USD	Student rate for Delegates from non-OECD member countries - early bird rate
Registration	Registration fees for Émilie Tremblay	1	$105	USD	Student rate for Delegates from non-OECD member countries - early bird rate

* OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Proposed Participation

This section describes what will happen if this project is funded. Who will do what, and when?

List of activities: All presentations and discussions will take place on October 13th, 2013.

Simon Villeneuve (Wikimedia Quebec Committee) will present statistics of non-western contributors, contents and users in the Wikimedia projects. Title: "Quelle place pour les contributeurs et ouvrages non-occidentaux dans les projets libres de la Wikimedia Foundation ?" Abstract
Emilie Tremblay and Jean-Marie Tremblay, founders of the free digital library called Les Classiques des sciences sociales (http://classiques.uqac.ca/) with present statistics of non-western contributors, contents and users in their platform. "Auteurs non-occidentaux dans la bibliothèque numérique francophone Les Classiques des sciences sociales : situation actuelle et défis" Abstract
Émilie Paquin, from the Érudit consortium (www.erudit.org/) will present their open publishing system and partnerships with non-westerns initiatives. "Diffusion de la recherche francophone : mission de la plateforme Érudit et partenariats bilatéraux". Abstract
Prof. Oumar Kane (Université du Québec à Montréal) and Prof. Dieyi Douf (University Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar) will comment on Wikimedia, Les Classiques and Erudit's projects in relation with issues of technological and financial access barriers to digital contents in Africa. Titles: "Enjeux de la visibilité des résultats de recherche à l’Université cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar : un défi à relever". Abstract ; "Dynamiques institutionnelles et sociotechnique de la recherche en sciences sociales. De quelques enjeux récents en Afrique francophone".
Nathalie Casemajor (PhD, researcher at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique, co-founder of the Wikimedia Quebec Committee): will organize the event and animate the panel

Goal and Expected Impact

This discussion panel brings together practioners, activists and scholars to question the conditions of creation of "free content" (from who?) and the conditions of its dissemination (to who?) in the francophone world. Considering the current state of digital networks in so-called developing countries, the goal of sharing complete and unbiased knowledge between "every person in the world" often means sharing "western knowledge within western countries and beyond". To achieve the goal of diversity, we do not only need to ask the question "who are we sharing with", but also "what knowledge" are we sharing. If most of the "free culture" and "open knowledge" contents are produced by the Western world, then we might just reproduce in the digital world the same structures of power that have shaped the relationship between the West and the Third World for the last centuries. The goal of this project is to work towards collective solution to enhance the diversity of free and open francophone contents.

With more than 1000 delegates from around 80 countries, the World Social Science Forum provides a substantial opportunity to reach out for academics and researchers while promoting discussion and collaboration amongst the multiple spheres of social sciences. Expected Impact include:

number of participants in the audience
number of new wikimedia accounts created among participants
long-term partnerships between wikimedians and other participants

Fit to strategy

How will this project support the key organizational objectives of

increasing reach (more people will access or contribute to Wikipedia or our other projects), participation (more people actually contributing), quality (more content, more useful content, or higher-quality content), credibility (more trust in our projects), organizational maturity and effectiveness (how it will move you or the Wikimedia community forward), or financial sustainability (how it will help you achieve more in the long run)?

This statement should address at least one of the strategic priorities listed here specifically. See WMF Grants Program criteria for decisionmaking.: Oriented towards social and technological innovation for the promotion of more diverse free-content educational ressources, this panel will contribute to reach out to non-western educational participants and scholars, build knowledge and action networks between western and non-western partners, and help promote participation in Wikimedia's projects within the academic community.

Benefits

If the project will benefit a specific online community, please tell us.: All francophone communities, Wikimedia Québec Committee, WikiFranca

Please provide a brief statement about how the project is related to other work in the Wikimedia movement. For example, does the project fit into a work area such as GLAM, education, organizational development, editor retention, or outreach?: This project fits into the goal of outreach to the education and academic spheres, and fits more generally into a goal of reflexivity of the movement. It will serve to improve the understanding of gaps regarding the under-representation of non-occidental contents and users. A detailed account of the panel will be published on the Québec Project + WikiFranca pages to link back the discussion with the members of the movement, continue the discussion and raise awareness about this issue.

If successful, will the project have the potential to be replicated successfully by other individuals, groups, or organizations? Please explain how in 1–2 sentences.: If successful, this project will lead to more workshops and panels on the same topic in other contexts, and will lead to partnerships between wikimedians and the other organizations participating in the panel.

Please list other benefits to the movement here.

General Outreach
Educational projects
Academic outreach