WikiIndaba conference 2018/Submissions/Wikimania 2018: knowledge bridges

Submission no. 033

Title of the submission: Wikimania 2018: knowledge bridges

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

Author of the submission: Douglas Scott --Discott (talk) 13:49, 15 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Language of presentation: English

E-mail address: douglas.i.scottgmail · com

Username: Discott (talk)

Country of origin: South Africa

Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.): Wikimedia ZA

Personal homepage or blog: http://wikimedia.org.za/wiki/Main_Page

Abstract (up to 300 words to describe your proposal): Wikimania will be coming to Africa this year. Only the second time ever and the first time in southern Africa. Bridging Knowledge gaps: the Ubuntu way forward is the theme for this year's event. An important aspect of this theme is to explore how Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects can be made more relevant to a greater share of the world population and people in Africa in particular. Currently African topics on Wikipeida are poorly covered in relation to content from other parts of the world. African language Wikipedia's are still quite small relative to other language Wikipedias. There are also still relatively few editors from Africa. This round table discussion seeks to explore:

What exactly are the problems facing Wikipedia and free knowledge projects generally in Africa?
What can Wikimedians in Africa do to promote free knowledge projects like Wikipedia?
How can Wikimania in Cape Town help?

What will attendees take away from this session?: A greater sense of clarity and purpose in how Wikimania in Cape Town can make free knowledge projects like Wikipedia more relevant to Africa and have a stronger and larger African community of editors. An important secondary goal will be to mobilise people to action this at Wikimania and how it should be actioned.

Theme of presentation

WikiCulture & Community

For workshops and discussions, what level is the intended audience?: Intermediate to advanced. A prior understanding of the Wikimedia community is helpful but not necessary.

Length of session (if other than 25 minutes, specify how long): one hour

Will you attend WikiIndaba if your submission is not accepted?: yes

Slides or further information (optional)

Special requests

Is this Submission a Draft or Final? Final

Interested attendees

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Committee decision

Accepted