Talk:Wikimedia Kenya/Project for Kenyan Schools

Languages

I'm curious what languages are useful to this project and how people from outside of Kenya could be useful in terms of supporting those languages in terms of content development (something that Wikimedia projects are particularly useful and good at doing). The Wikipedia article about Kenya lists both English and Swahili as "official languages", but what is taught in the school system? What kind of local support for learning in English should be supported and should some effort to help put together materials in other languages also be supported? Are there other "tribal languages" that need to be supported as well?

I'm not trying to inject politics into this, but rather trying to simply offer help and to find some way for the greater Wikimedia community to get involved that would be supported by those who need to use these materials. Knowing what language is needed can be a crucial first step, and there certainly are some significant resources in both English and Swahili on the various Wikimedia projects. --Roberth 17:39, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

Hi Roberth,

Thanks for your interest. While Swahili is widely spoken in Kenya, the education curriculum in Kenya is such that all subjects (like Chemistry, Biology, etc) except Swahili itself as a subject are taught in English. Therefore, it will be helpful for the students if we installed an offline version of english wikipedia. I wouldn't mind, ofcourse, also installing the swahili version - but again, the en.wiki is the one that will help them more in their studies.

There are many tribal languages in Kenya, the major ones being Kikuyu and Luo - but none of them are taught in primary and secondary schools.

Secondary schools and universities usually learn Swahili Grammar and Swahili Literature, so perhaps getting Swahili literary classics on Wikibooks might be a good start. What are your thoughts? Thanks once again for your support. I'm Abbas Mahmoud (I couldn't sign of using the four tildes as I had a problem logging in to my account.) --Abbas Mahmoud

That sounds great. Re literary classics -- that is an excellent goal, but you probably meant Wikisource and not Wikibooks as the platform for that. Ijon 10:52, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

As far as I am aware, the tribal languages - w:Kikuyu language, w:Maasai language, w:Kamba language and w:Luo language - are written in the latin script. — Nearly Headless Nick {C} 18:18, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

Actually, Kenyan vernacular languages are used in primary education, especially Sabaot and Tharaka in Standard 1-3 and probably other mother tongues as well. Just for your information :) --Baba Tabita 05:57, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Oh, I didn't know that! What I meant was that in the 8-4-4 system, all subjects are examined in English (apart from Swahili itself). --Abbas Mahmoud

Kiwix

Hi, I strongly suggest you to use the openZIM/Kiwix platform for an offline version. --Nemo 19:10, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks Nemo, we are actually going to use Kiwix:-) --Abbas Mahmoud

Hello, I have positive experiences with Wikitaxi. Look here. --Ziko 20:26, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll look at it. --Abbas Mahmoud

Only two details. WikiTaxi seems to run only in Windows, and it is free for personal use. Emijrp 20:47, 14 November 2010 (UTC)

Bonna Basome!?

Being geographically close, I thought it was worth mentioning that there was a proposal on the strategy wiki about a year ago about something similar in Uganda: http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposal:Supporting_Third_world_education

From the signature "Primary Education in Uganda Asentuwa 12:46, 27 August 2009 (UTC)" at the bottom of the page I get the feeling that it not was a proposal from an independent individual, but rather from someone representing something more official. If someone knows about "Bonna Basome!" that is mentioned in the proposal, or about the individual who wrote the proposal, it might be possible to get some support there. Just a thought.--Dafer45 12:02, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

I now find it very likely that the user Asentuwa is the same as this person [1], who seems to be working within IT and Telecomunication.

I also found him mentioned as a refference in a report [2] from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). All this made me a little more hopeful that the proposal on the strategy wiki not was from some random user, but from someone that already is at least somewhat involved in similar projects.

In addition. I found this [3] newsletter that discussed "Bona Basome" (which seems to be a current or proposed policy for free education for all in Uganda) in connection with what I find to be some larger initiative for transformation of the educational system in East Africa. A transfomration that seems to involve distance and e-learning.

So maybe there are some actors connected to this that are interested in providing help and guidance.--Dafer45 17:02, 27 October 2010 (UTC)

Article selection

I am interested in hearing which collection of articles will be used to comprise the Offline materials to be distributed. A few questions:

• Will there be different collections of articles to be used for primary and secondary schools?
• Will the project leverage Wikipedia 1.0 or creating a different subset of articles?
• Does the government have to approve all content before it is distributed/selected?

Exciting project! Jwild 21:26, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

While it is of course up to the Kenyan activists to decide, previous experience suggests that selection is a relatively difficult technical problem, best left for later, when the other aspects of offline outreach (logistics, contacts, programs, lectures, training and instructional material) are relatively solved. So my recommendation would be to use an existing selection -- either the (somewhat out of date) SOS selection, or some draft WP1.0 selection. Ijon 01:03, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

As it is now, we are going to use the articles that are incorporated in the SOS version of the OpenZim (Kiwix)offline wikimedia for schools. Of course it is not so much up to date, but it is the most recent. This mainly covers articles meant for secondary schools, which is where the project starts (Maybe it can extend to primary schools after being confirmed viable and relevant). As for the Government approval, the team has to present a demo of what we are going to distribute to the schools, which has to be approved by the Ministry of Education and a letter of approval will be issued to the team. Of course the Ministry can only approve the project if wikimedia foundation has approved it.

Given the content is open-source, it won't be a big task to approve the articles in it. Furthermore, the articles contain the latest knowledge that may not be found in books and they can be good for reference and research.

Thanks. Coolsam726 17:29, 1 December 2010 (UTC) I think the articles will serve to compliment and supplement what is tought in schools.Whereas all the articles may not be realy related to the main stream subjects like Geography,Physics,Bilogy and so forth,I think they'll serve a great deal in empowering the students to greater levels of thinking.Limoke oscar 10:28, 2 December 2010 (UTC)

According to the Wikipedia 1.0 team, Wikipedia 0.8 will be available in just a matter of weeks. If this comes out in time, I think using this version is probably the best option - be on the look-out! Jwild 19:30, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Small EWB Gothenburg project in Kisumu

I was notified that Engineers without borders Gothenburg is arranging a small pilot project where they hope to collect about 25-30 laptops which they will distribute in Kisumu through Friends Pioneer in February. I told them about this project, and I thought the active team here might have some opinions on how to best distribute these. I think they where very interested in installing an offline version of Wikipedia on these machines before shiping. Is this interesting to you, or do you have any recommendations for this project? --Dafer45 13:45, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

Hi Dafer45, sounds like an exciting project, indeed:-) Could you please give me a contact email address so that I could liaise with them? Thanks, --Abbasjnr 17:39, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

Sent you a mail at the address you listed on your English Wikipedia profile.--Dafer45 18:02, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

That is a brilliant idea!!! Being part of the active team, it would be a great honor and boost if they worked together with the team in the effort to try and increase knowledge through schools. Having the offline Wikipedia for schools installed before distribution. Other team members probably need to hear about this and debate on it. Thanks!!!

Coolsam726 18:30, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

Hey! Hannes from Engineers Without Borders Gothenburg here. Would be a great collaboration I believe! Wikipedia is today a great source of knowledge and bringing it in an offline version to these computers would be truly great. There are a lot of ideas on how to best utilize these computers but I believe that having Wikipedia on them would be one of the most - if not the most - prominent. This page is not that well suited for further discussions from our part (because I won't check it that often) so please contact us! computers4s@ingenjorerutangranser.se

Seeking Kenyan Wikipedians

Hello! My name is Aaron Muszalski and I am a Storyteller at the Wikimedia Foundation.

I will be visiting Kenya next month, where I hope to speak with as many Wikipedians as possible. I am especially looking to meet active editors, either from Kenya or other African countries, or anyone who has an interesting and compelling story to share, either about their use of Wikipedia, the role that Wikipedia plays in their country, or why Wikipedia is important to them. The Project for Kenyan Schools is of special interest to me, because of the manner in which it directly benefits Kenyan children.

If you are involved in this project, and would be interested in speaking with me (either by email, telephone, or in person), please email me at amuszalski@wikimedia.org. You may also email me if you would like to suggest any Wikipedians to whom you think that I should speak, either in Kenya, or throughout Africa.

Thank you! Aaron 03:43, 21 October 2011 (UTC)

Hallo Aaron (WMF), it would be nice to meet up. Heather from Ushahidi is in Kenya as I write with similar intentions of interviewing as much Wikipedians as possible. I will be having an interview with her on the 22nd October. I just returned from Botswana where I was involved in teaching locals on how to edit and all about Wikipedia for the Setswana Wikipedia Challenge and so if you like I could give you some contacts for the Local Wikipedians although they are mostly Newbies.Mpmayenge 07:52, 21 October 2011 (UTC)