WikiIndaba conference 2018/Report/Reem Al-Kashif
Event Name
editMy Input
editThis was my first WikiIndaba. I attended in my capacity as a co-founder of EG UG, editor, researcher, WEP leader. I wanted to share not only our Wikimedia activity in Egypt, but also the Egyptian context. This gave people a sneak peak about what we need and could work for us since unfortunately, although Egypt is in Afirca, it is not well-connected to it. I also managed to talk to more people about my Wiki Research and spread the information I have so far about language and content bias.
Participant Connections
editIn two other Wikimedia events, I have met with African contributors. However, what's unique about WikiIndaba is that it has a theme that supports discussing African matters and context. ِI was happy to get to know Erina Muktua. Talking with her about Wikimedia and life in Uganada was such a great experience. It gave me an idea about what do people in Africa generally need or expect from a collaboration. Mahuton Possoupe was such an incredible help with in bot creation workshop. I honestly think he should give the same workshop again in different Wikimedia events because it is needed. Thanks to his clear explanation, I have an idea about what is needed to be done to get a bot up and working. Another person I was happy to meet was Alex Stinson. He gave the best Wikidata workshop yet, no exaggeration. I have attended several online and offline wikidata sessions, none were as good as his. He also gave out one-page help guide that is just super useful and to-the-point. Another unique session was given by Zack McCune. Not only he gave a very helpful workshop how to use social media to promote our Wiki activity, but also he assisted me in a couple of things related to our needs in the Education Program. I also got to talk to Isla about the possibility of getting Goethe Institute in Egypt to collaborate with us in the WEP. Antoni Mtavangu and I had a very good conversation about the possibility of having a pilot program with him as the ambassador. I was very happy to catch up with Marc Miquel-Ribé; conversations with him on Wiki research and Catalan Wiki matters were eye-opening and interesting. WikiIndaba was a great opportunity to meet Woubzena Jifar and talk about funding and reporting. It was a pleasure to meet Gereon Kalkuhl and talk about Wikimedia activity in Germany. The conference was a great opportunity to meet Houcemeddine Turki who is a Wiki researcher and know a bit about the projects he is working on. It is always great to see Kacie Harold; she always has new things to share about Wiki.
Outcomes
editI participated in different session and workshops and got a lot of new information about Wikiresearch, Wikidata, the use and effect of social media in Wiki activities. Additionally, one of my main goals was getting to know the Wikimedian activity in the African continent. Although Egypt is an African country, our knowledge about the context in rest of the continent, especially Subsahran Africa, is so little. In the conference, I got to know about the activity there and also the context which would help me find an opportunity for collaboration. I also talked with Antoni Mtavangu about an initiative (refer to the previous section. Also, I'm in contact with Isla as mentioned above. I am also very happy to have made many new connections in different African countries. It is always nice and helpful for Wiki opportunities that come up. It was also great to meet the old & new Tunisian friends again :)