African-Wikimedians December 2016

african-wikimedians@lists.wikimedia.org

20 participants
30 discussions

TED, XYZ and other riddles
by Ingo Koll 10 Dec '16

10 Dec '16

Dear Isla, PLEASE be kind also to the intellectually challenged (dumb ones) amongst us like me: do not flood us with abbreviations without saying what it means. Took me 5 minutes to search what "TED" might be (not so easy because they love their abbreviaton). I hope I got it. But if you know, tell us when you post (if not, don't) Cheers Ingo - Kipala 1. Fwd: [ccAfrica] TED Africa Idea Search (Isla Haddow Flood)

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Indaba Calls Open for submission
by Raphael Berchie 10 Dec '16

10 Dec '16

Hello all, We wish to inform you that we have opened calls for submissions for Wiki Indaba.2017 Please visit the link here <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdzVqKzYMLi2tJfU14tCMZ0257duLy0Qhf…> to send your submissions. Please be informed that the deadline for the submissions is *31st December, 2016*. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Raphael on behalf of Indaba 2016 Team *Raphael Berchie* Co Founder Open Foundation, West Africa, Wikipedian-in-Residence (Wiki Loves Women) <http://www.wikiloveswomen.org/about-the-project/who/> Wikimedian <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Ghana>,Open Advocate, Climate Change Activist,Blogger <http://rberchie.blogspot.com/> P.O Box CT 10469 Cantoments Accra Ghana +233243882047 Twitter@berchie4gh <https://twitter.com/berchie4gh> Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/berchie> Linkedin <https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphael-berchie-32705822?trk=nav_responsive_tab…>

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Fwd: [ccAfrica] TED Africa Idea Search
by Isla Haddow Flood 10 Dec '16

10 Dec '16

Hello All This was from Kelsey on the CC Africa list. I think it is just as relevant to everybody working within the Wiki/media sphere. Check it out - I hope some of you apply!! warmest Isla > Begin forwarded message: > > From: Kelsey Wiens <kelseywiens(a)gmail.com> > Subject: [ccAfrica] TED Africa Idea Search > Date: 09 December 2016 at 2:25:39 AM SAST > To: CC Africa mailing list <ccAfrica(a)lists.ibiblio.org> > Cc: Ryan Merkley <ryan(a)creativecommons.org> > > From Ryan (pulled from the Slack Channel) > > > > Hey CC Africa, I’m a former TED speaker, so they sent me this — specifically for TEDLagos and TEDNairobi. If a CC affiliate gets accepted to speak at TED about CC/open education or another issue we work on, I will gladly cover the cost of your plane ticket: > > Dear TEDster, > > It's time for the TED Africa Idea Search -- a talent search for the next great TEDGlobal speaker. Could it be you, or someone you know? Applications are open now for two new events in Africa: TEDLagos and TEDNairobi 2017 Idea Search, and we'd love you to apply -- and to share this news in your network far and wide. > > Here are just a few speakers who were discovered during TED talent searches in Africa and around the world: > Richard Turere: My invention that made peace with the lions (Richard auditioned at our 2013 Nairobi talent search) > Saki Mafundikwa: Ingenuity and elegance in ancient African alphabets (auditioned in Nairobi) > Faith Jegede: What I’ve learned from my autistic brothers (auditioned in London) > Dong Woo Jang: The art of bow-making (auditioned in Seoul; 2.1m views) > Zak Ebrahim: I am the son of a terrorist. Here's how I chose peace (auditioned in New York, has 3.75m views and a TED Book) > > Here's how to enter the TED Africa Idea Search: Complete the entry form and make a 1-minute video. Your 1-minute video can and should be very simple: Just explain your idea in a few sentences, and give us a flavor of how you'd present it. > > Would you like to get an email of tips for making a great audition video? Sign up here. > > Applications will close on Friday, Dec. 16, 2016, at 6pm Lagos time / 8pm Nairobi time. We encourage local applicants to Lagos and Nairobi; we can’t pay for travel to either city. Please choose only one event to apply to -- applying to both events will not increase your chances of being selected to speak. > > We can't wait to hear your idea! > > Sincerely, > > The TED Africa Idea Search team > > http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=07487d1456302a286cf9c4ccc&id=025b303a55… <http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=07487d1456302a286cf9c4ccc&id=025b303a55…> > -- > Kelsey Wiens > Open Textbooks 4 Africa > Creative Commons Public Lead > Cape Town, South Africa > > +27 (72) 438 5095 > Twitter: bella_velo <https://twitter.com/bella_velo> > Web: bellavelo.me <http://www.bellavelo.ca/> > Web: ot4a.org <http://ot4a.org/>_______________________________________________ > ccAfrica mailing list > ccAfrica(a)lists.ibiblio.org > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ccafrica Isla Haddow-Flood Co-project Manager Username: Islahaddow

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Re: [African Wikimedians] African-Wikimedians Digest, Vol 8, Issue 142
by Olushola Olaniyan 08 Dec '16

08 Dec '16

Dear Colleagues, We wish to inform you that Wiki Loves Women Team. (Nigeria) was invited to coordinate the Nigerian version of the event at BBC, office in Abuja. We are live at BBC office in Abuja.... Best Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone. Original Message From: african-wikimedians-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Thursday, 8 December 2016 1:48 PM To: african-wikimedians(a)lists.wikimedia.org Reply To: african-wikimedians(a)lists.wikimedia.org Subject: African-Wikimedians Digest, Vol 8, Issue 142 Send African-Wikimedians mailing list submissions to african-wikimedians(a)lists.wikimedia.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/african-wikimedians or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to african-wikimedians-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org You can reach the person managing the list at african-wikimedians-owner(a)lists.wikimedia.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of African-Wikimedians digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: BBC 100 Women (Raphael Berchie) 2. Re: BBC 100 Women (Sherry Antoine) 3. Re: BBC 100 Women (Florence Devouard) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2016 17:32:00 +0000 From: Raphael Berchie <rberchie(a)gmail.com> To: Sandister Tei <sandistertei(a)gmail.com> Cc: Mailing list for African Wikimedians <african-wikimedians(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, Planning Wikimedia Ghana Chapter <wikimedia-gh(a)lists.wikimedia.org> Subject: Re: [African Wikimedians] BBC 100 Women Message-ID: <CAM7iyspHuRdqzdW6+Gt48irSQDNhNy==Q=bkOHc8i7a1uXXGTg(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" I will likely participate. *Raphael Berchie* Co Founder Open Foundation, West Africa, Wikipedian-in-Residence (Wiki Loves Women) <http://www.wikiloveswomen.org/about-the-project/who/> Wikimedian <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Ghana>,Open Advocate, Climate Change Activist,Blogger <http://rberchie.blogspot.com/> P.O Box CT 10469 Cantoments Accra Ghana +233243882047 Twitter@berchie4gh <https://twitter.com/berchie4gh> Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/berchie> Linkedin <https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphael-berchie-32705822?trk=nav_responsive_tab…> On Tue, Dec 6, 2016 at 1:56 PM, Sandister Tei <sandistertei(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Is anyone participating? > > BBC 100 Women 2016: Who are our forgotten women? > > Join our edit-a-thon: > > http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38219838 > > Regards, > Sandister Tei > > Via mobile >

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BBC 100 Women
by Sandister Tei 08 Dec '16

08 Dec '16

Is anyone participating? BBC 100 Women 2016: Who are our forgotten women? Join our edit-a-thon: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38219838 Regards, Sandister Tei Via mobile

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My account has been hacked!!!
by Ifeanyi Okolue 05 Dec '16

05 Dec '16

Dear Wikimedia Colleague, This is to inform the community that my email accounts were recently hacked by an unknown person suspected to be "Ifeanyi Okolue". Following my response to Ingo's comments now, I discovered that the sender name appears to be Ifeanyi Okolue" instead of "Olatunde Isaac" or "Wikicology". Please, ignore any email from anyone soliciting for money or personal information on my behalf and distant yourself from any related discussion. Best, Isaac

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My account has been hacked!!!
by Ifeanyi Okolue 05 Dec '16

05 Dec '16

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Re: [African Wikimedians] African-Wikimedians Digest, Vol 8, Issue 139 African languages wikipedias
by Ingo Koll 05 Dec '16

05 Dec '16

Hi Isaac, I do not understand any Yoruba but from my point of view I see quality as probable reason for problems you mention including small readership. Yoruba Wikipedia has many extremely short articles even on basic subjects. ( Odò (river), Erékùsù (Island), Omi (water), Òkun Atlántíkì (Atlantic), Odò Niger (Niger River), Samuel Ajayi Crowther (first author of a Yoruba grammar, first African Anglican bishop) are less than one or even a half line of text.) It looks like much was written with an eye on the ranking tables and the aim to have a large number of articles, even if there is hardly content (Sáyẹ́nsì - science has 4 (!) words of text). In 2013 there were 31,000 articles. Only 5,400 had more than 200 characters plus one reference. (cf https://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesArticlesTotalAlt.htm). This is poor quality and not interesting for coming back, recommending it to others by using the text on a blog or linking to it. As for google - I think it IS indexed but it seems not the very short ones. I find that google search shows me the Yoruba wikipedia. I entered the above words in search and got most of them. But very short entries are not visible on top of google search list (at all??). Like I search Sáyẹ́nsì = 4 words = 25 characters and it does NOT show. But I GET the "Sáyẹ́nsì categories" which have more words and I GET "Sáyẹ́nsì aládánidá" which has 16 words. This looks like a major reason for few readers, because we get most visitors on wikipedia thru the search machines. So if you want to boost yo.wikipedia and if you forgive me an advice: forget about facebook, start with the list at https://yo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ẹ̀ka:Oluilu_ipinle_Naijiria (Category:State capitals in Nigeria) and put some content into these 1-liners, many of which until now do not show on google. Once you make them 5-liners, they start to be helpful and will be visible on the search machines. And then go to this list of 100 basic articles for any wikipedia and see that they get 5-liners: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Vital_articles/Level/2 . (General rule: first sweat, then genius!) I add a word for our co-readers in the foundation: for many small and growing wikipedias the ranking list on Meta is a temptation to trick themselves up. We have the situation that everybody has different categories for stubs vs. articles and the rankings: Meta official count, Meta list of 1000 articles every Wikipedia should have, the 10,000-list, the count of stubs on wikistats, and finally the de-stub definition here at african-wikimedians (some or many of the successes are maybe not destubbed by Meta-criteria) . Eric Zachte probably saw the problem in his numbers years ago and so did the "alternative article count" which kept the tiny articles out, but it never was taken up and is not continued. I think it would be helpful to integrate it into the regular statistic count and convince the guys who do lists to agree on common criteria. The state of Yo-wiki looks to me like a result of giving in to the temptation and it had its reward by shooting up in the ranking - but what for? Cheers, Ingo - Kipala Am 02.12.2016 um 19:55 schrieb african-wikimedians-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org: > Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2016 14:48:57 +0000 > From: "Olatunde Isaac"<reachout2isaac(a)gmail.com> > To: "Mailing list for African Wikimedians" > <african-wikimedians(a)lists.wikimedia.org> > Subject: Re: [African Wikimedians] African-Wikimedians Digest, Vol 8, > Issue 136 African languages wikipedias > > > Dear Kipala, > > Thanks for the clarification. I agree with your analysis and I'm sure it would be helpful in moving forward to achieving our goal of making knowledge available in all languages. > Below are the two major problems I have identified with Yoruba Wikipedia: > > 1. Yoruba Wikipedia is not indexed on Google and possibly on other search engines too. I discovered this sometimes in July and I informally discussed the problem with a Steward on facebook. Unfortunately, he has no idea of how to solve the problem. Yoruba Wikipedia like the English Wikipedia is a digital encyclopedia. There is no way its contents could be read if not indexed on Google or other search engines. I believe once this is resolved, there would be a significant difference. I will discuss the problem with our engineering team at the Foundation this week. > > 2. Yoruba is a major language in Nigeria but only 1 of 10 people are aware of its existence. I recently launched the "Yoruba Wikipedia" page on facebook to create awareness about it. In fact, I discovered recently that Yoruba language scholars and students are not even aware of anything called "Yoruba Wikipedia". I believe this can be resolved with outreach to Yoruba language department of academic institutions in Nigeria. > > Furthermore, I would appreciate any advice and recommendation in solving the highlighted problems above. > Best, Isaac

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Re: [African Wikimedians] African-Wikimedians Digest, Vol 8, Issue 139 Wikipack Africa
by Ingo Koll 03 Dec '16

03 Dec '16

Hi Florence, I am interested and will know in January if I really can use them in 2017. If we meet in Accra I can get one there (if still left) Cheers Ingo - Kipala Subject: Re: [African Wikimedians] Wikipack Africa call for application open > Hello > > We have a couple WikiFundi sets still for grab. Feel free to apply if > you are interested. > > If not, we will bring the extra to WikiIndaba anyway in case some > participants change their minds ;) > > Florence > >

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Wikipack Africa call for application open
by Florence Devouard 02 Dec '16

02 Dec '16

/Information sent to African Wikimedians as well as Wikimedia mailing lists. Please do not hesitate to relay to anyone you think could be interested. / ----- *What is Wikipack Africa ? * WikiPack Africa is an action pack containing devices, material and content to facilitate the outreach work done by local Wikimedia chapters, local Wikimedia User Groups and isolated individuals in African countries. The pack allows for ongoing training and contribution even when technology, access and electricity outages fail or are not available at all. It operates thanks to a Raspberry server and an off-line editing environment that mimics the Wikipedia called WikiFundi. WikiFundi, the offline editing environment, is to be used in the training of Wikipedians and the development of articles by groups. In addition to WikiFundi, the Raspberry PI will also be loaded with off-line copies of Wikipedia, select WikiBooks, Wiktionary and a resource pack that will assist with and support contribution to Wikipedia. Other outreach and reading resources will also be part of the packs. All digital resources and the application platform are available under a free licence. When delivered, the Wikipack Africa will also comprise some offline materials (posters, leaflets, pull-up banner, tee-shirts, etc.). The langages implemented are French and English. More information available at * https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipack_Africa * https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiFundi Documentation on meta is available in both langages The current call for application is meant to be a pilot for the Wikipack Africa. We have a limited number of servers available, so please only make a request if you really intend to use the pack and are confronted to connectivity issues. Please note: should your request be granted, there will be an obligation to provide details of its use, and usefulness as a tool for outreach in the form of a survey. This could be requested several times up to 12 months after you have received the unit. This is meant to evaluate the userfulness of the tool as well as identify issues or to help us take into account improvement requests in a future release. *How to apply* Link : http://tinyurl.com/j78yyk3 Answers may be provided in French or English. For any further information, please contact Anthere or Isla. *Who did that ?* The project has been conceptualised and conceived by Florence Devouard and Isla Haddow-Flood. The project is run in partnership with Wikimedia CH and the Orange Foundation and is primarily implemented by Florence, Isla, and Emmanuel Engelhart (the Kiwix master).

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African-Wikimedians December 2016