Hubs/Implementation/Hub Research in West Africa/Interview 6

This page is part of the Implementation Report for West Africa Regional Hubs. It regards explicitly Interview 6

Background

Date: September 29th 2022
Duration: 1 hour
Profile: Wikipedia Editor - User Group Leader (active online and offline)
Region: West Africa
Gender: Men (4)
Interview language: French

Questions and answers

1.What is your understanding of regional and thematic hubs?

Male 1 The word hub to me means hub infrastructure, so if there are ideas towards that direction, it's already a good start for our communities in the region. Hubs are like telecentres where people can come together and share ideas.

Male 2 When we talk about hubs, we are talking about the communities we are trying to form in our agglomerations. For example, in Benin, we have small centers called webs in almost all cities. i.e. people who work on a given theme and always help the movement to grow. This new movement strategy is more or less like a catalyst which is bringing equity and development in all areas by spreading knowledge across our country via the creation of hubs .

Male 3 I am seeing a bigger picture of what Male 2 described earlier as a hub. I want to be unrestricted by national borders. That's why we founded Wiki Wake Up and we don't work on the themes of a country but instead on the themes of a subcontinent or continent through one of the mediums of technology that allows us to communicate a lot via the Internet.

2. What do you understand by the recommendations of the regional and thematic hubs?

Male 2: By reading the 10 recommendations of the foundation, it is clear that it militates in one way or another so that each individual can be identified he/herself within the recommendations. One of the major points I like about the recommendation is the equitality. This will finally bridge the gap between the so-called super-developed countries that benefit more from everything we do in terms of contribution. In addition, volunteers from developed countries and from underdeveloped countries are now treated equally without discrimination in terms of grant for example.

3. In your earlier submission, you mentioned one of the recommendations: Can you share with us the remaining recommendations made by the movement?

Male 2: Yes, they talked about equity in decision making , innovation, sustainability, the contribution of affiliations, how to contribute to the hub's development and others.

4..How does the hub contribute to movement strategy and community affiliation?

Male 2: The Hubs contribute to the movement strategy in one way or another by working on specific themes such as environment, sustainability, politics , culture, education and many more. Take the example of LGBT. They contribute a lot to their behaviour, their way of life and others. Also, if we wait for volunteers to contribute on such themes, things won't go very far. These hubs in question, which work on given themes, do a very commendable job.

5. How do you perceive regional or thematic hubs?

Male 2: The thematic hubs have nothing to do with the regional hubs in the sense that those who work on given themes always continue to work, in fact. But when we meet at the regional level, everyone tries, all the same, to bring more to what each thematic hub is trying to do. For example on Wikipedia, when I write an article, Male 3 comes to contribute, Male 1 also comes to contribute, and everyone contributes. All these people who come to contribute form what is called a regional hub

Male 3: Both are good because there are cultures that existed before colonisation, for example, the Bamileke culture, a tribe in the west of Cameroon, the Ibo of Nigeria, the Mossi in Burkina Faso, and the Senoufo have a similar culture to each other. It's all about hubs and they cut across borders, and that's a good thing. Now there are thematic hubs, there are people who can, for example, talk about making a group on the Internet and share their knowledge irrespective of the global location. The last 10 to 15 years, the Internet and smartphones have changed a lot. In conclusion, this is a good thing that should be encouraged and reinforced.

Male 4: Yes, I still agree with the idea of Male 3 who said earlier that combining the two is always better. Because there are people who like to contribute on given themes such as culture, politics, the development of women in society, the environment and others. So having both still gives freedom to those who find themselves in between to always contribute to the development of our communities.

6. Should the hub be a place where we can all meet physically? Or should it be an online space where all these communities with these multiple different languages can meet up, or should it be hybrid? (Both physical and online )

Male 3: Both with a robust online connotation because we are in modern times where we no longer need to be physically present to do things together. The proof is the group we have created on telegram and today's meeting. I am in Belgium, you are in Ghana, some are in Benin, Cameroon, and we are having a discussion as if we were physically in the same room. However, from time to time, we might organise a workshop for beginners at the university or a library to launch the first workshop for the discovery of Wikipedia. In addition, let's also recognise that fact that Wikipedia is an online platform and therefore, more than 90% of our activities can be done directly through the Internet.

Male 4: For me, in terms of the Internet, the realities on the ground especially in our local communities and villages suggest the opposite of what Male 3 just said . The kind of network (Internet) we have in our big cities in Africa is not the same in our villages. It is a fact and I don't think somebody can prove me wrong. Therefore I object entirely to the idea of making Hubs virtual. Physical Hubs are of paramount importance. When we do our activities, we spend time asking for meeting rooms left and right and wasting energy.

So it's good to have a physical hub in the region.

Secondly, the reality of the Internet in our countries and our continent only allows some to have these working tools.

6.Should the hub be managed by the communities in the region themselves or should be run by the Wikimedia Foundation or by both the communities and the Wikimedia Foundation?

Male 2: I think the foundation should handle everything because the socio-cultural realities, especially in Benin here, have proven it to us in the past.

Male 1: To meet the objectives and needs of the hubs we must manage everything related to the hub just because it is not the foundation that is coming to work on our behalf.

Male 3: I prefer the foundation to finance and support the user groups in their activities and also by giving them autonomy for the internet connection, and adequate working tools. It is not because we had a bad experience at the local level in Benin that the hub shouldn't be given the opportunities to be in control of its own affairs . We must not wholly disempower and have the idea that the locals (hub) cannot manage financing or a project. The foundations should no longer treat us like children. They should allow us to manage our activities not necessarily cash but other things.

===7.What are some of the challenges the implementation of hubs can solve?===

Male 4: When you put them together, it allows you to have group strength. I know contributors who could easily change and remove contributions, but when he sees two, three, four, and five contributors on the same article, that works a bit in a group or a hub. The hub can also help us to resolve our inter-community conflicts and dialogue. Another challenge is to distance ourselves from political influences.

8. Kindly share with us the challenges associated with the implementation of hubs?

Male 2: On the thematic level, the associated challenges are to find volunteers who meet the criteria of the hubs. Regionally which volunteer should one take to the detriment of the other? And also, the challenge of technology and the language barrier

Male 1: Think about assigning responsibilities to active contributors.

9.How do you manage these challenges?

Male 1: You have to understand that what's wonderful about our ecosystem is that we can't fight physically but rather with our ideas. Everything is managed through dialogue. Above all, we must emphasise communication between contributors.

10.Have you thought of the pros and cons of the Beninese community being part of two different hubs: West Africa hub and WikiFranca which most of the Beninese community belongs to already?

Male 4: Wikifranca is an existing user group controlled by a few administrators in France who still have this kind of colonial mindset or behavior. My people are obliged to go by their rules to get some grants . My dream is to make WikiWake up a kind giant source of knowledge for african natives where they can fight intellectual fight, they stay together and let the to make people from WikiFranca understand that they are lot of french speaking people in africa who can add value to their continent and get things done.