Visibility Project/Women in Media

Visibility Project

Background

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Women are underrepresented on the internet and in the media. This is not because they do not have the capacity but because many of them needs to be adequately supported in their career. Building capacity for these women are the priorities of the Africa Women in Media and the Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation Inc.. This year we want to train women in media across Africa on how to effectively write contents from a neutral point of view, understand the basic of copyright in reporting, and how to collaborate with peers. Participants will be trained on how to contribute to Wikipedia, the world's largest online encyclopedia, and Wikimedia Commons, one of the largest repository of media files.

Wikipedia is a multilingual, web-based, free-content encyclopedia project supported by the Wikimedia Foundation and based on a model of openly editable content. It is the world's largest online encyclopedia, written collaboratively by anonymous volunteers. It was created in 2001 and as of 2015, it had recorded over 375 million visitors to the website. Wikipedia exists in over 310 languages.

Objectives

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The overarching aim of this collaborative project is to increase the number of African women profiled on Wikipedia by adding an average of 330 profiles per quarter.

The objectives therefore are:

  1. To showcase the lives of remarkable African women who have demonstrated expertise relating to our three thematic areas. Showcasing them to a global audience in order to reflect the realities and lived experiences of the African women behind these successes.
  2. To inspire others by disrupting the gendered stereotyping of African women and demonstrating their contributions to key African issues and agendas.
  3. To train female journalists and wikipedia contributors on encyclopedic approaches to writing that contribute in-depth background reporting on the women behind the stories, thus making it easier for Wikipedians worldwide to create profiles for African women.

Concept note

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The problems

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  1. Of the approx. 90 million Nigerian women, only 1,500 (0.002 per cent) of these women are profiled on Wikipedia;
  2. Less than 20% of this 0.002% have their photographs on Wikipedia under Creative Commons. This impacts the work of journalists, issues around trust and creative license. The project seeks to explore ways of encouraging the release of photos;
  3. Only 1 in 10 Wikipedia contributors in Nigeria is a woman.

The solutions

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  1. Increasing the number of African women visible on Wikipedia;
  2. Encourage journalists to do more in-depth reporting on African women, telling the story of the person behind the story;
  3. Train female contributors and journalists on writing in an encyclopedic tone, and especially on women working in the following fields:
    • Security in Africa; Technology, particularly the fourth industrial revolution; and
    • Media.

Approach

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  1. We will work in partnership with a selected number of media, and women focused organisations, from which a selection of Wikipedians and journalists will be participants.
  2. Training events will be organised in central locations to facilitate participation from neighbouring such as Ethiopia, Somalia, Rwanda and Burundi states;
  3. Monthly editathons will be held following each zoned training, during which wikipedia profiles will be created;
  4. An award system will serve as an incentive for Wikipedian and journalistic contributors. Articles submitted to Wikipedia by participants will be reviewed by a jury monthly.

Scope of work

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Webinar Session
Five (5) online Wikipedia hands-on training will focus on different areas of the Wikipedia module. Details of focused areas are listed in the table above.
Virtual Mentoring Class
The mentoring class will be hosted via a communication platform e.g. WhatsApp, Telegram, or any other popular communication platform. The class will coordinate the engagement of activities between mentors and mentees.
Edit-a-thon
We plan a 5-day writing competition on Labor Migration in Africa. The competition will focus on African Women in the Workforce in Africa and Diaspora.

Project Timelines/ Work Plan

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Activities Specific Activities Timelines Expected Outcomes Remarks
Self Pace

Awareness

  • Collation of Resources Release of content under CC-BY-SA
  • Design and launch of Program dashboard for measuring Project metrics
  • Design of project landing page (Meta)
  • Registration of participants on and off-wiki.
  • Call for participation
  • Social media engagement (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.)
1 November – 10 November, 2021
Live Training
  • Basic Wikipedia Editing and How to Cite a Wikipedia Article
  • Wikimedia Commons: Licenses and the Use of Freely Licensed Images on Wikipedia
  • Work-Flow of Creating Wikipedia page>
  • Cheatsheet of Wikipedia Editing
  • Application of Neutral Point of View (NPOV) on Wikipedia
15 – 19 November, 2021 The Virtual Training will take place concurrently in English, Arabic and French and it will focus on basic modules on Wikipedia (hands-on) Duration (2hrs) per Webinar session. Each session will be recorded and make available before the next session on the landing page
Mentorship Class
  • Attending to feedbacks resulting from the virtual training
  • Allocation of assignment to students
  • Tracking of articles
  • Review and correction of articles before publishing to avoid harassment of newbies on-wiki and speedy deletion of articles
22 – 26 November 2021 The following modules are expected to be covered:
  • Wikipedia Essentials
  • Editing Basic
  • Evaluating Article and Sources
  • Sandbox and Mainspace
  • Sources and Citation
  • Plagiarism + Copyright Violation
  • Editing Journalism Tools
  • Contributing Images and Media Files
Editathon
  • New editors to create their account before the event (if it has not been earlier created)
  • Assign an event creator for the event
  • Participants to sign up to the event dashboard
  • Revision of all submitted names to confirm their notability status.
  • Participants are assigned with names that satisfy Wikipedia's notability guidelines
  • Articles review by a mentor before publication
29 – 3 December 2021
  • At least over 50 articles about African women within the space of women in the media in Africa will be created on Wikipedia
  • At least over 30 participants will become Wikipedian editors

Webinar Sessions

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S/n Agenda Date Time (WAT) Facilitator Video links
1 Five Pillars of Wikipedia, The Cheatsheet of Wikipedia Editing and Wikipedia Notability 15 November 2021 4pm-6pm Ayokanmi Oyeyemi
2 Application of Neutral Point of View in a Wikipedia article (NPOV) and Text Copyright 16 November 2021 4pm-6pm User:Princess of Ara
3 Basic Wikipedia Editing and How to Cite a Wikipedia Article 17 November 2021 4pm-6pm Princess of Ara
4 Work-Flow of Creating Wikipedia page 18 November 2021 4pm-6pm Ayokanmi Oyeyemi
5 Wikimedia Commons: Licenses and the Use of Freely Licensed Images on Wikipedia 19 November 2021 4pm-6pm Isaac Olatunde

Webinar sessions

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Classes

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S/n Description Number
1 Class A
2 Class B


Outcome

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Name/Username Articles Published Articles Improved Words added References added
Arel88 Motunrayo Alaka
Ruth Osime
Morayo Afolabi-Brown
1936 28
Flowerchilde Sandra Ndebele
Candace Mwakalyelye
Rebecca Chisamba 850 4
IamMide Laila Johnson-Salami
Bukola Samuel-Wemimo
Lamide Akintobi
Fade Ogunro
2181 24
Infotrackeronline Amina Yuguda
Hannah Ojo Ajakaiye
Siene-Alwell Brown
Funmi Wakama
Funke Egbemode
Stella Din-Jacob
1562 42
Iniabasialive - - - -
Ini John-Mekwa Olusola Momoh
Angela Emuwa
Stella Din-Jacob
Maupe Ogun
Peace Anyiam-Osigwe
Ijeoma Nwaogwugwu
4356 32
JCJokejournalist Tundun Abiola| Lizzy Evoeme Bimbo Oloyede
Moji Makanjoula
Oluremi Oyo
1406 16
Kay Kayzee Tobore Ovuorie FK Abudu Dayo AmusaNadine Ibrahim 1434 22
Nansubuga madinah Josephine Karungi 8 -
Amanda Ellen Nicola Jojo Yvvone Mangunda
Kudzai Violet Gwara
Haru Mutasa
Tami Moyo
1065 14
Yourmmy Sonia Irabor
Ngozi Alaegbu
Abimbola Adelakun
Helen Ovbiagele
Joke Muyiwa
3049 44

Partners

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