Dear Wikimedia Community Members,
We have been so hard at work that we are just now peeking our heads out of
our computer screens! However, we have some exciting news to share with you
around Wikimania 2021!
Here are some updates and important information:
1.
Session Submission forms are now live! If you’re looking to lead a
session at Wikimania 2021, please review the following links:
1.
Program Submissions
<https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Submissions>
1.
Session Submission Guidelines
<https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Submission_Guidelines>
2.
FAQ <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania:2021_FAQ>
2.
Wikimania 2021 Wiki Page <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania> is
now LIVE, you can now refer to this page for all information regarding
Wikimania 2021! However, it is a live and under construction page - any
suggestions on how to improve it? Message us!
We look forward to receiving your submissions and suggestions.
Have a great weekend and see you all soon.
Best Wishes,
Winnie Kabintie (User:Ms_Kabintie
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ms_Kabintie>), on behalf of the
Wikimania 2021 Core Organizing Team.
Hello everyone,
As part of the 4th AfLIA Conference & 6th African Library Summit
<https://web.aflia.net/virtual-conference-announcement-2021/>, we have
organised a pre-conference workshop on Monday 24th May 2021 with the
theme "Wikipedia
and Libraries".
We do have a number of practicing librarians and Wikimedians from Africa
speaking on the topics listed on the flyers attached to this email.
*When and how*
The pre-conference workshop will be on Monday 24th May and sessions will
start at 1000GMT/UTC.
The sessions are in both English and French and will run parallel to each
other - we will not have simultaneous translation.
*How can I be a part of this?*
The sessions are free and open to all. However, you need to register
beforehand, follow the following links to do so :
English : https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Qhp890TJTUG6nk-dCzvydA
French :
Session 1 : https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwvd-qrqz8oGdLiqk_nlEyRehsV1FbKVG…
Session 3 :
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAqdeihpzMuHtL_eClFSlFvjU4tIe7QyQ…
*Anything else?*
Please share the attached flyers widely among your friends and network,
Wikimedians and otherwise and encourage them to join us.
Regards and thanks in advance,
Alice Kibombo
WiR, AfLIA
WhatsApp : +256-758-975650
Hello everyone,
As part of the 4th AfLIA Conference & 6th African Library Summit
<https://web.aflia.net/virtual-conference-announcement-2021/>, we have
organised a pre-conference workshop on Monday 24th May 2021 with the
theme "Wikipedia
and Libraries".
We do have a number of practicing librarians and Wikimedians from Africa
speaking on the topics listed on the flyers below :
[image: Pre-conference (EN).jpeg]
[image: Pre-conference (FR).jpeg]
*When and how*
The pre-conference workshop will be on Monday 24th May and sessions will
start at 1000GMT/UTC.
The sessions are in both English and French and will run parallel to each
other - we will not have simultaneous translation.
*How can I be a part of this?*
The sessions are free and open to all. However, you need to register
beforehand, follow the following links to do so :
English : https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Qhp890TJTUG6nk-dCzvydA
French :
Session 1 : https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwvd-qrqz8oGdLiqk_nlEyRehsV1FbKVG…
Session 3 :
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAqdeihpzMuHtL_eClFSlFvjU4tIe7QyQ…
*Anything else?*
Please share the attached flyers widely among your friends and network,
Wikimedians and otherwise and encourage them to join us.
Regards and thanks in advance,
Alice Kibombo
WiR, AfLIA
WhatsApp : +256-758-975650
Dear Wikdiata editors,
I am Kholoud, a researcher at the King’s College London, and I work on a
project as part of my PhD research that develops a personalized
recommendation system to suggest Wikidata items for the editors based on
their interests and preferences. I am collaborating on this project with
Elena Simperl and Miaojing Shi.
I would love to talk with you to know about your current ways to choose the
items you work on in Wikidata and understand the factors that might
influence such a decision. Your cooperation will give us valuable insights
into building a system that can help improve your editing experience.
Participation is completely voluntary. You have the option to withdraw at
any time. Your data will be processed under the terms of UK data protection
law (including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the
Data Protection Act 2018). The information and data that you provide will
remain confidential; it will only be stored on the password-protected
computer of the researchers. We will use the results anonymized (?) to
provide insights into the practices of the editors in item selection
processes for editing and publish the results of the study to a research
venue. If you decide to take part, we will ask you to sign a consent form,
and you will be given a copy of this consent form to keep.
If you’re interested in participating and have 15-20 minutes to chat (I
promise to keep the time!), please either contact me on kholoudsaa(a)gmail.com
with your choice of the times that work for you or use this form
https://forms.gle/Nocj58LvFjjkf6XW6 to provide your preferred time, email
address and Wikidata username.
I’ll follow up with you to figure out what method is the best way for us to
connect.
Please contact me using the email mentioned above if you have any questions
or require more information about this project.
Thank you for reading this information sheet and for considering taking
part in this research.
Sincerely
Kholoud
Dear All,
We are pleased to invite you to attend the first virtual office hours for
the Africa Wiki Challenge <http://awc.ofwafrica.org/> (AWC).
The virtual office hours are periods dedicated to attend to the needs of
anyone participating or interested to learn more about the AWC campaign.
The office hours will be hosted via Google Meet once every week on Fridays
as listed below.
Why is it important to attend?
The virtual office hours provide you the opportunity to connect with others
across different time zones to share ideas and have your questions
addressed. It also provides a unique opportunity for you to learn and
increase your knowledge about Wikipedia and its sister projects.
Who is eligible to attend?
Participants, organizers, partners, editors, as well as anyone who is
interested to learn more about the AWC campaign.
Virtual Office Hours via Google Meet
Kindly join any of the virtual office hours by clicking any of the meeting
link below:
- Friday 21st May, 2021 5pm-6pm UTC
<https://meet.google.com/gnv-zjau-eiy>
-
Friday 28th May, 2021 3pm - 4pm UTC
<https://meet.google.com/ntg-tdgh-znw>
-
Friday 3rd June, 2021 3pm - 4pm UTC
<https://meet.google.com/njh-vrrs-hup>
-
Friday 11th June, 2021 3pm - 4pm UTC
<https://meet.google.com/dbi-rzdv-piw>
-
Friday 18th June, 2021 3pm - 4pm UTC
<https://meet.google.com/zkh-qmwc-omu>
-
Friday 25th June, 2021 3pm - 4pm UTC
<https://meet.google.com/vwb-xdao-okf>
What the Africa Wiki Challenge (AWC) is about!
The Africa Wiki Challenge <http://awc.ofwafrica.org/> is an online writing
campaign that is aimed at generating African-related content on Wikipedia
by Africans, people of African descent and Africans in the diaspora. The
campaign invites content creation along different selected topics/themes
annually, this year focuses on “Landmarks in Africa'' and runs from 23rd
May to June 30th 2021.
The theme, Landmarks in Africa, solicits written content on the many
landmarks that cover historical, cultural, geographical and places of
national or continental significance. The campaign will also encourage
visualisation of these articles by adding/uploading photos, audios or
videos. Such items or landmarks of interest include:
-
Monuments - Statues, Memorials, Historic buildings, Archaeological
sites, etc.
-
National Demarcations - Districts, Municipalities, Metropolitan,
Regions, States, etc.
-
Geographical Endowments - Mountains, Valleys, Forests, Waterfalls,
Wildlife Reserves, Beaches, etc.
-
Infrastructural Developments - Roads, Hospitals, Churches, Mosques,
Schools, Rails, Water parks, Hotels, Theme parks, etc.
Africa is the second (2nd) largest continent on the planet, and very little
information about it means the lack of visibility for a substantive chunk
of human knowledge and history. We are convinced that Africa deserves to be
substantially covered and definitely has a lot to showcase to the world.
Visit the Africa Wiki Challenge <http://awc.ofwafrica.org/> website for
more information.
Thank you.
Regards,
Ruby
--
Ruby D-Brown
Administrative Executive
Open Foundation West Africa
ofwafrica.org
Dear Wikimedia Community Members,
As promised, here we are providing more updates around the development of
Wikimania 2021!
With only 2 months and 26 days left, we are walking steadfast into the
first-ever virtual development for the biggest Wikimedia community event of
the year!
Without further ado, here are a few updates to kick start the week:
-
Session submissions:
-
Program submissions will open on May 21st. Proposals can be submitted
as a Movement Group, Affiliate, Individual or as a Collective of
individuals.
-
More details will be coming later this week, so please be on the
lookout for updates.
-
Scheduling Principles:
-
We are taking into consideration all time zones for Wikimania and
will have a broad mix of UTC start and end times.
-
We plan to have a more elaborate programme on the weekend, less heavy
program on weekdays to accommodate diverse individual schedules.
-
There will be a combination of live and on-demand content.
-
The first day of the five days of Wikimania is dedicated to the
Hackathon.
-
There is a two-hour break each day.
-
On-demand content will be available during the event.
-
Programming principles:
-
Unconference and Networking activities run concurrently during all
five days.
-
The Collective & Individual Submissions tracks are running
concurrently.
-
Level of participation and expertise level will be taken into
consideration (Three levels of content for: newcomers, intermediates, and
experts).
-
There will be on-demand content and support dedicated to newcomers.
-
Wikimania registration
-
Since this year will be our first-ever virtual experiment for
Wikimania, and we want to maximize attendance; there will be no
registration costs for event participants! Registering for the 2021
virtual Wikimania will be free of charge!
-
We are opening up an additional Call for volunteers: Fill out the survey
here. <https://survey.wikimedia.it/index.php/778836?lang=en>
-
Trust and Safety tasks (Session Moderation, Help Desk Support and
enforcing Trust and Safety Policy)
-
Session Submissions Peer Review (Reviewing Session Submissions and
logistics)
This is all folks! We’ll be back with more news next Monday and on Friday
the 21st with details around session submissions!
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Best Wishes,
Winnie Kabintie (User:Ms_Kabintie
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ms_Kabintie>), on behalf of the
Wikimania 2021 Core Organizing Team.
Good day all,
The participation and contribution of African Librarians to #1Lib1Ref under
the first ever African Librarians Week in May 2020 recorded about 84% of
the total edits
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/1Lib1Ref/Lessons/May_…>
attained worldwide for that cycle .
With the theme *"Learning in Africa''*, AfLIA will launch the second
African Librarians Week starting *17th - 24th May*, an exciting period
where African library and information professionals concertedly provide
reliable and factual information to the world through Wikipedia as part of
the global *#1Lib1Ref* campaign which is expected to run from the 15th May
– 5th June, 2021.
The AfLibWk dashboard will remain open to track contributions till 5th
June, 2021. Contributions in AfLIA's working languages (English, French and
Portuguese) are welcome.
To learn more about the African Librarians Week, see:
https://web.aflia.net/aflibwk/ [1].
*How can you be a part of this?*
We invite you to engage in any of the following ways :
*Edit in the challenge!*
Sign-up for the challenge and add citations to Wikipedia.
Alternatively, create and expand articles you have identified under the
given theme with the relevant sources.
Sign up here :
https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/AfLIA/AfLIA_1Lib1Ref_African_…
[2]
*Promote in your community!*
Please share this in your communities and networks where possible; tell
your library, researcher and knowledge-loving friends about this. We need
everyone's help to make Wikipedia more reliable!
Share this as a starting point :
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_in_African_Libraries/African_Libr…
[3]
Our hashtags on social media remain #1Lib1Ref #AfLibWk
Thank you in advance
Alice Kibombo
WiR, AfLIA
[1] https://web.aflia.net/aflibwk/
[2] https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/AfLIA/AfLIA_1Lib1Ref_African_…
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_in_African_Libraries/African_Libr…
Hello everyone
We are inviting the Wikimedia Community User Groups and chapters to
participate in Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos 2021, a global contest
scheduled to run from July 1st through August 31, 2021:
Participants will choose among Wikipedia pages without photo images, and
then add a suitable file from among the many thousands of photos in the
Wikimedia Commons, especially those uploaded from thematic contests
(Wiki Loves Africa, Wiki Loves Earth, Wiki Loves Folklore, etc.) over
the years.
In its first year (2020), 36 Wikimedia communities in 27 countries
joined the campaign. Events relating to the campaign included training
organized by at least 18 Wikimedia communities in 14 countries.
The campaign resulted in the addition of media files (photos, audios and
videos) to more than 90,000 Wikipedia articles in 272 languages.
Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos (WPWP) offers an ideal task for
recruiting and guiding new editors through the steps of adding content
to existing pages. Besides individual participation, the WPWP campaign
can be used by user groups and chapters to organize editing workshops
and edit-a-thons.
The organizing team is looking for a contact person to coordinate WPWP
participation at the Wikimedia user group or chapter level
(geographically or thematically) or for a language WP. We'd be glad for
you to reply to this email, or sign up directly at WPWP Participating
Communities.
You can access the WPWP 2021 main page via
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Pages_Wanting_Photos_2021
Thank you,
Ceslause Ogbonnaya (User: Ceslause / ceslause.o(a)gmail.com)
Regional Ambassador, Francophone Communities
Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos campaign
Hello everyone
We are inviting the Wikimedia Community User Group to participate in
Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos 2021, a global contest scheduled to run
from July first through August 31, 2021:
Participants will choose among Wikipedia pages without photo images,
then add a suitable file from among the many thousands of photos in the
Wikimedia Commons, especially those uploaded from thematic contests
(Wiki Loves Africa, Wiki Loves Earth, Wiki Loves Folklore, etc.) over
the years.
In its first year (2020), 36 Wikimedia communities in 27 countries
joined the campaign. Events relating to the campaign included training
organized by at least 18 Wikimedia communities in 14 countries.
The campaign resulted in the addition of media files (photos, audios and
videos) to more than 90,000 Wikipedia articles in 272 languages.
Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos (WPWP) offers an ideal task for
recruiting and guiding new editors through the steps of adding content
to existing pages. Besides individual participation, the WPWP campaign
can be used by user groups and chapters to organize editing workshops
and edit-a-thons.
The organizing team is looking for a contact person to coordinate WPWP
participation at the Wikimedia user group or chapter level
(geographically or thematically) or for a language WP. We'd be glad for
you to reply to this email, or sign up directly at WPWP Participating
Communities.
Thank you,
Ceslause Ogbonnaya (User: Ceslause / ceslause.o(a)gmail.com)
Regional Ambassador, Francophone Communities
Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos campaign