WikiIndaba conference 2018/Submissions/Knowledge for everyone: supporting access to Wikipedia

Submission no. 056
Title of the submission

Knowledge for everyone: supporting access to Wikipedia

Type of submission (lecture, panel, tutorial/workshop, roundtable discussion, lightning talk, birds of a feather discussion)

Panel

Author of the submission

Anne Gomez

Language of presentation

English

E-mail address

agomez(_AT_)wikimedia.org

Username

AGomez (WMF) (talk) 21:49, 16 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Country of origin

USA

Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.)

Wikimedia Foundation

Personal homepage or blog
Abstract (up to 300 words to describe your proposal)

Many internet users don’t think twice before looking up a fact or editing content on Wikipedia - it’s their go-to to understand and learn more about what is around them. But for just as many people around the world, the cost of data means that they can’t easily turn to online resources, including the Wikimedia projects, as easily. For example, in Nigeria, the cost of data would need to decrease as much as 97% to achieve widespread affordability. And, over a quarter of people surveyed in Nigeria who are interested in reading Wikipedia reported that they weren’t able to due to the cost of data.

How can we support people globally in their right to freely access knowledge?

People across the movement have been working on addressing access to Wikipedia since it began. Where are these projects now? What is the future for offline access? What about other forms of access? The panel will include people from Kiwix, Wikifundi, and others who have been doing this type of work.

We hosted a similar session at Wikimania, which was a fruitful discussion, and would love to connect with the African community members who were not able to attend.

What will attendees take away from this session?

Attendees will learn what has been happening to support access to Wikipedia. They'll also contribute to a discussion about what else we could do, which will hopefully start some collaborations.

Theme of presentation
  • Technology, Interface & Infrastructure
For workshops and discussions, what level is the intended audience?
Length of session (if other than 25 minutes, specify how long)
25 minutes
Will you attend WikiIndaba if your submission is not accepted?

Unknown - depends on staff attendance.

Slides or further information (optional)
Special requests
Is this Submission a Draft or Final?

Final

Interested attendees edit

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Committee decision edit

  Accepted