Wow. This is incredibly interesting. Thanks to Isla and Florence.
All the best,
Isaac
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
-----Original Message-----
From: Alice backer <alice.backer(a)gmail.com>
Sender: "African-Wikimedians"
<african-wikimedians-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org>Datet;Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2016 18:37:19
To: Mailing list for African Wikimedians<african-wikimedians(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Reply-To: Mailing list for African Wikimedians
<african-wikimedians(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Subject: Re: [African Wikimedians] Announcing WikiFundi and the Wikipack
Africa
Truly amazing Florence. This is great news.
Best,
Alice
Sent hurriedly from my iPhone. Please forgive typos.
On Jun 13, 2016, at 6:04 PM, Florence Devouard
<fdevouard(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hello everyone
WikiAfrica has recently started a new project, the Wikipack Africa.
The project amalgamates:
* the coding of a software, WikiFundi, that provides an off-line editing environment that
mimics the Wikipedia environment. The software will be made available in French and
English.
* the creation of action packs for use by local Wikimedia chapters, user groups or
isolated individuals in Africa, and
* a Wikipedia Writing Contest to be run in African Schools, #WikiChallenge African
Schools
It will roll out in two phases :
Phase 1 involves the creation of the WikiPack Africa. WikiPack Africa is a digital kit
located via a local network device (Raspberry PI). The local network device will provide
access to an off-line editing platform that mimics Wikipedia, and provides related
materials and additional OER resources. The WikiPack Africa will both facilitate the
outreach work of Wikimedia chapters, User Group and individuals, and encourage the growth
of digital skills and content contribution by teachers and students across Africa. The
pack allows for ongoing training and contribution even when technology, access and
electricity outages fail or are not available at all.
The WikiPack Africa delivered to users will comprise two Raspberry PIs and some offline
materials (posters, leaflets, pull-up banner, tee-shirts, etc.). The WikiPack will be
delivered to several Wikimedia User Groups located in Africa end of 2016. A Call for
Interest will be made to identify which groups will receive the Packs (8 countries will be
covered as part of the pilot launch).
The project has been conceptualised and conceived by Isla and myself after seeing how
frustrating limited access to internet or even to electricity could be when trying to
participate to Wikipedia.
The WikiPack Africa is primarily meant for individuals and groups wanting to implement
outreach projects and:
* work with galleries, libraries, archives and museums to bring cultural content online;
* work with education partners to get educators and students contribute or better
understand Wikimedia projects;
* more generally, organise edit-a-thons, photo hunts, workshops, press conferences, etc.
to promote Wikimedia projects.
The #WikiChallenge African Schools (Phase 2) will use the WikiPack Africa to facilitate
an entertaining, powerful, collaborative and interactive content creation competition
between schools in Sénégal, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinée, Niger, Tunisia, Madagascar, and
Cameroon (countries may change...). The challenge will run early 2017.
The full project is run in partnership with Wikimedia CH and the Orange Foundation. It
will be primarily implemented by Florence, Isla and Emmanuel Engelhart (Kelson, from
Kiwix) from May 2016 until summer 2017.
The project proposal, its documentation and its outcomes will be under a CC BY SA 4.0
licence.
---------
CALL for SUPPORT
Current next steps include in particular
* working on the WikiFundi software. This shall be lead by Kelson and part of the
development should be done during the Kiwix Hackhaton prior to Wikimania. If you are
interested to help, and simply interested to better understand what is planned, please get
in touch;
* working on the content that will be put on WikiFundi.
We will NOT provide the entirety of Wikipedia on the plateform, but only a mix of
"presentation material", some "help:pages", "showcase of best
articles" and a large % of templates currently available on Wikipedia. If you want to
help or provide insightful input, please get in touch (with me), by email or on the wiki
talk page or during Wikimania.
We start working on the English content first. My current challenge is to identify the
most relevant help pages... and adapt them to this offline editing environnement.
---------
* To read more about Wikifundi:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiFundi
* More information about the wikipack :
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipack_Africa/en and
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipack_Africa/fr
* WikiProject page on the English Wikipedia :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Wikipack_Africa
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