In 2017 (August 9-13), the ACASA Art Council of the African Studies Association is having its triennial meeting in Ghana. it is the first time in Africa. http://www.acasaonline.org
1. It is a very relevant conference for Wikimedia issues. it is an event attended by: researchers from Africa and focussed on Africa, people involved in art and cultural heritage, and representatives of international institutions (museums from the continent and outside, i.e. many South African institutions are normally present at the conference, and there are also very well-known names such as US museums and universities like Smithsonian, Brooklyn, Harvard). 2. the association ACASA is already working on the logistics and the board is composed of very nice people 3. the event is in 2017 - time to plan fundraising for scholarships, communication and involvement of people from the continent also related to Wikimedia 4. Ghana has a group of people already active on the Wikimedia projects. 5. wikimedia events can be training for all participants, presentations, and it is also possible to create a pre-event or post-event just for Wikimedia volunteers if relevant.
I wanted to launch the idea for an African gathering in another country (as suggested by Wikimedia ZA) but with a light management work. what do you think? all the best iolanda/iopensa
On Wednesday, December 3, 2014, Iolanda Pensa iolanda@pensa.it wrote:
In 2017 (August 9-13), the ACASA Art Council of the African Studies Association is having its triennial meeting in Ghana. it is the first time in Africa. http://www.acasaonline.org
Great!
I wanted to launch the idea for an African gathering in another country (as suggested by Wikimedia ZA) but with a light management work. what do you think?
During the Afripedia session this week the idea came up to organize something like a "Francophone Wikimania" somewhere in Africa at some point in the future.
Kasper
Hi Kasper
In June, Wikimedia ZA held Wiki Indaba. It was for wikipedians from Africa and wikipedians working on Africa from outside, as well as those from the aligned movement across Africa. We had delegates from all over Africa, including Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire and Tunisia, and France. Afripedia was invited, I know, because I made a special effort to make sure they knew about it. I believe Florence also mentioned it to them. But there was some change happening at Afripedia too.
I think another Wiki Indaba will definitely happen, but for when and where you will have to check with Douglas at Wikimedia ZA the original organizers (and aiming for Ghana for 2017 is a great idea, hopefully having had others in 2015-6).
I really don't see any point in spitting the conference and having a francophone one separate from the rest. It means we are going backwards, but with Afripedia on board, perhaps the weighting of the conference can become more balanced. You can find out more about the conference at WikiIndaba.net ... And on meta: http://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Indaba
Most of the people on this list were at the last one.
Warmest Isla
Isla on the move. Excuse the brevity.
On 4 Dec 2014, at 00:38, Kasper Souren kasper.souren@gmail.com wrote:
On Wednesday, December 3, 2014, Iolanda Pensa iolanda@pensa.it wrote: In 2017 (August 9-13), the ACASA Art Council of the African Studies Association is having its triennial meeting in Ghana. it is the first time in Africa. http://www.acasaonline.org
Great!
I wanted to launch the idea for an African gathering in another country (as suggested by Wikimedia ZA) but with a light management work. what do you think?
During the Afripedia session this week the idea came up to organize something like a "Francophone Wikimania" somewhere in Africa at some point in the future.
Kasper _______________________________________________ African-Wikimedians mailing list African-Wikimedians@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/african-wikimedians
Hello,
At the moment, and Dumi please correct me if I am wrong, we are planing to possibly have a WikiIndaba every second year. This means that we will likely have the next event in 2016.
I agree with Isla in that it makes little sense to have a separate Francophone event as we are more than happy to combine the two linguistic communities at this event but that is ultimately for the French speaking community to decide on. WikiIndaba is not an exclusively English event at all.
Cheers,
Douglas.
On Thursday, December 4, 2014, Isla Haddow-Flood islahf@africacentre.net wrote:
Hi Kasper
In June, Wikimedia ZA held Wiki Indaba. It was for wikipedians from Africa and wikipedians working on Africa from outside, as well as those from the aligned movement across Africa. We had delegates from all over Africa, including Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire and Tunisia, and France. Afripedia was invited, I know, because I made a special effort to make sure they knew about it. I believe Florence also mentioned it to them. But there was some change happening at Afripedia too.
I think another Wiki Indaba will definitely happen, but for when and where you will have to check with Douglas at Wikimedia ZA the original organizers (and aiming for Ghana for 2017 is a great idea, hopefully having had others in 2015-6).
I really don't see any point in spitting the conference and having a francophone one separate from the rest. It means we are going backwards, but with Afripedia on board, perhaps the weighting of the conference can become more balanced. You can find out more about the conference at WikiIndaba.net ... And on meta: http://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Indaba
Most of the people on this list were at the last one.
Warmest Isla
Isla on the move. Excuse the brevity.
On 4 Dec 2014, at 00:38, Kasper Souren <kasper.souren@gmail.com javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','kasper.souren@gmail.com');> wrote:
On Wednesday, December 3, 2014, Iolanda Pensa <iolanda@pensa.it javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','iolanda@pensa.it');> wrote:
In 2017 (August 9-13), the ACASA Art Council of the African Studies Association is having its triennial meeting in Ghana. it is the first time in Africa. http://www.acasaonline.org
Great!
I wanted to launch the idea for an African gathering in another country (as suggested by Wikimedia ZA) but with a light management work. what do you think?
During the Afripedia session this week the idea came up to organize something like a "Francophone Wikimania" somewhere in Africa at some point in the future.
Kasper
African-Wikimedians mailing list African-Wikimedians@lists.wikimedia.org javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','African-Wikimedians@lists.wikimedia.org'); https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/african-wikimedians
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 11:59 AM, Isla Haddow-Flood islahf@africacentre.net wrote:
In June, Wikimedia ZA held Wiki Indaba. It was for wikipedians from Africa and wikipedians working on Africa from outside, as well as those from the aligned movement across Africa. We had delegates from all over Africa, including Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire and Tunisia, and France. Afripedia was invited, I know, because I made a special effort to make sure they knew about it. I believe Florence also mentioned it to them. But there was some change happening at Afripedia too.
That's participants from 3 Francophone countries in Africa, the relevant Wikipedia mentions 24 and 31 countries. Last week I asked and none of the 14 Africans who attended the Douala session knew about WikiIndaba. Same for the participants in Madagascar if I remember correctly. Also on wikiindaba.net I don't see *any* French language content (I googled "français site:wikiindaba.net" ). That makes it pretty hard for people who don't speak English to attend.
I think another Wiki Indaba will definitely happen, but for when and where you will have to check with Douglas at Wikimedia ZA the original organizers (and aiming for Ghana for 2017 is a great idea, hopefully having had others in 2015-6).
That's great!
I really don't see any point in spitting the conference and having a francophone one separate from the rest. It means we are going backwards, but with Afripedia on board, perhaps the weighting of the conference can become more balanced. You can find out more about the conference at WikiIndaba.net ... And on meta: http://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Indaba
It's not really splitting if there was no French language part to begin with, right? ;)
With a separate it would be much easier to convince French language organisations such as La Francophonie to support the event. But I guess a separate track with a big effort to attract Francophone participants could also suffice for that.
Also note I can't speak for Afripedia, I'm merely a contractor who did 2 Afripedia training sessions. I do have some connections now though that can help a lot to build afro-anglo-francophone bridges.
Moreover don't get me wrong, I agree it's better to create one multilingual event, ideally also include Arabic and Portuguese and at least 2 African languages spoken in different countries (e.g. Swahili, Mande languages, Peul). But this requires a lot more effort than from what I can see from last WikiIndaba - and I'm happy to help make with that to assure the next WikiIndaba will be a real polyglot conference!
Cheers, Kasper
On 07.12.2014 15:52, Kasper Souren wrote:
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 11:59 AM, Isla Haddow-Flood islahf@africacentre.net wrote:
In June, Wikimedia ZA held Wiki Indaba. It was for wikipedians from Africa and wikipedians working on Africa from outside, as well as those from the aligned movement across Africa. We had delegates from all over Africa, including Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire and Tunisia, and France. Afripedia was invited, I know, because I made a special effort to make sure they knew about it. I believe Florence also mentioned it to them. But there was some change happening at Afripedia too.
That's participants from 3 Francophone countries in Africa, the relevant Wikipedia mentions 24 and 31 countries. Last week I asked and none of the 14 Africans who attended the Douala session knew about WikiIndaba. Same for the participants in Madagascar if I remember correctly. Also on wikiindaba.net I don't see *any* French language content (I googled "français site:wikiindaba.net" ). That makes it pretty hard for people who don't speak English to attend.
If Wikiindaba.org integrates the MLEB package (for French), do we have French speaking volunteers to translate the most important pages?
Emmanuel
Hi Kasper
There's a French speaking part in Cameroon, if its not their official language. Cote d'Ivoire has French as national language. Egypt and Tunisians were present. English speaking countries like Ghana was there.
So speaking of French representations, I think for the first ever conference of wikiindaba, it was okay. In subsequent events, more countries can be included.
I may be wrong, but I don't think drawing language lines in this conference is of any importance. Whatever the different countries that come, the default language to be used will be English. The conference is for Africans, not anglophone or 'portophone' or whatever. Of course, attendees are free to speak language they are comfortable in when they attend.
I also must say that, I've hardly known Douala if not for my WiR in za. However, I cannot say for sure that, because myself or one or two of people I know doesn't know Douala, for that reasons, Douala isn't reaching out to many or Douala is making poor country-based representations.
The next wikiindaba will invite more from different countries. More countries will be represented. I don't think any special preference will be given to francophone countries whatsoever. Its a conference for Africans, not English speaking or Portuguese or French.
rexford | google.com/+Nkansahrexford On Dec 7, 2014 3:52 PM, "Kasper Souren" kasper.souren@gmail.com wrote:
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 11:59 AM, Isla Haddow-Flood islahf@africacentre.net wrote:
In June, Wikimedia ZA held Wiki Indaba. It was for wikipedians from
Africa and wikipedians working on Africa from outside, as well as those from the aligned movement across Africa. We had delegates from all over Africa, including Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire and Tunisia, and France. Afripedia was
invited, I know, because I made a special effort to make sure they knew about it. I believe Florence also mentioned it to them. But there was
some
change happening at Afripedia too.
That's participants from 3 Francophone countries in Africa, the relevant Wikipedia mentions 24 and 31 countries. Last week I asked and none of the 14 Africans who attended the Douala session knew about WikiIndaba. Same for the participants in Madagascar if I remember correctly. Also on wikiindaba.net I don't see *any* French language content (I googled "français site:wikiindaba.net" ). That makes it pretty hard for people who don't speak English to attend.
I think another Wiki Indaba will definitely happen, but for when and
where
you will have to check with Douglas at Wikimedia ZA the original
organizers
(and aiming for Ghana for 2017 is a great idea, hopefully having had
others
in 2015-6).
That's great!
I really don't see any point in spitting the conference and having a francophone one separate from the rest. It means we are going backwards,
but
with Afripedia on board, perhaps the weighting of the conference can
become
more balanced. You can find out more about the conference at
WikiIndaba.net
... And on meta: http://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Indaba
It's not really splitting if there was no French language part to begin with, right? ;)
With a separate it would be much easier to convince French language organisations such as La Francophonie to support the event. But I guess a separate track with a big effort to attract Francophone participants could also suffice for that.
Also note I can't speak for Afripedia, I'm merely a contractor who did 2 Afripedia training sessions. I do have some connections now though that can help a lot to build afro-anglo-francophone bridges.
Moreover don't get me wrong, I agree it's better to create one multilingual event, ideally also include Arabic and Portuguese and at least 2 African languages spoken in different countries (e.g. Swahili, Mande languages, Peul). But this requires a lot more effort than from what I can see from last WikiIndaba - and I'm happy to help make with that to assure the next WikiIndaba will be a real polyglot conference!
Cheers, Kasper
African-Wikimedians mailing list African-Wikimedians@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/african-wikimedians
I may be wrong, but I don't think drawing language lines in this conference is of any importance. Whatever the different countries that come, the default language to be used will be English. The conference is for Africans, not anglophone or 'portophone' or whatever. Of course, attendees are free to speak language they are comfortable in when they attend.
Sure, English as default makes complete sense but there should be tracks (sessions) in languages other than English. Not everyone in Africa speaks English, not even everyone in Africa involved in Wikipedia speaks English ;) and this should be acknowledged. If all sessions are in English there's no point for people who only speak French, Arabic, Portuguese and a bunch of other African languages but no English to go to that conference.
To make it a conference for all Africans a lot of effort should be put into making WikiIndaba accessible to Africans who don't speak English. As far as I know most Africans don't speak English: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_populati...
I also must say that, I've hardly known Douala if not for my WiR in za. However, I cannot say for sure that, because myself or one or two of people I know doesn't know Douala, for that reasons, Douala isn't reaching out to many or Douala is making poor country-based representations.
Douala was just a session with 15 people (including me and other trainer) as part of the Afripedia training sessions.
"If all sessions are in English there's no point for people who only speak French, Arabic, Portuguese and a bunch of other African languages but no English to go to that conference."
I don't get this part. How can I, an English speaking person, organize a session and speak Original Arabic? How?
Sessions are open for application. Whoever applies, and is picked, speaks the language he/she is comfortable with. At the end of the day, its not up to the WikiIndaba organizers to generate Arabic or English sessions. The speaker of the session's language is what determine the language to be used. Of which many who came from Tunisia and Egypt who are damn fluent in French and Arabic, but speak little in English, all decided to speak English, as they spoke to people from other parts of Africa.
There are no grammar ninjas at the conference to patrol what mistakes others make.
Samuel Guebo, ABir, Habib and Ouda, all had wonderful stories to share at wiki indaba. English is not their first language. These guys, for the benefit of all, decided to use a language that we all could hear. They could have spoken their various local languages, of which I think no one could have questioned them why, but they shared with all their lovely stories in a way all could benefit equally, of which I really appreciated.
So yes, the session language is dependent on the speaker of that session, however, many decide to use English.
Thus the next conference, you are free to apply to handle a session, and you're welcome to speak French. No one will penalize you for that.
rexford | google.com/+Nkansahrexford On Dec 7, 2014 4:29 PM, "Kasper Souren" kasper.souren@gmail.com wrote:
I may be wrong, but I don't think drawing language lines in this
conference
is of any importance. Whatever the different countries that come, the default language to be used will be English. The conference is for
Africans,
not anglophone or 'portophone' or whatever. Of course, attendees are
free to
speak language they are comfortable in when they attend.
Sure, English as default makes complete sense but there should be tracks (sessions) in languages other than English. Not everyone in Africa speaks English, not even everyone in Africa involved in Wikipedia speaks English ;) and this should be acknowledged. If all sessions are in English there's no point for people who only speak French, Arabic, Portuguese and a bunch of other African languages but no English to go to that conference.
To make it a conference for all Africans a lot of effort should be put into making WikiIndaba accessible to Africans who don't speak English. As far as I know most Africans don't speak English:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_populati...
I also must say that, I've hardly known Douala if not for my WiR in za. However, I cannot say for sure that, because myself or one or two of
people
I know doesn't know Douala, for that reasons, Douala isn't reaching out
to
many or Douala is making poor country-based representations.
Douala was just a session with 15 people (including me and other trainer) as part of the Afripedia training sessions.
African-Wikimedians mailing list African-Wikimedians@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/african-wikimedians
On Sun, Dec 7, 2014 at 5:48 PM, Nkansah Rexford nkansahrexford@gmail.com wrote:
I don't get this part. How can I, an English speaking person, organize a session and speak Original Arabic? How?
Not expecting that.
Sessions are open for application. Whoever applies, and is picked, speaks the language he/she is comfortable with. At the end of the day, its not up to the WikiIndaba organizers to generate Arabic or English sessions. The speaker of the session's language is what determine the language to be used. Of which many who came from Tunisia and Egypt who are damn fluent in French and Arabic, but speak little in English, all decided to speak English, as they spoke to people from other parts of Africa.
Sure, but there are different ways to approach those other languages. I personally prefer to listen to fluent French than to bad English.
Samuel Guebo, ABir, Habib and Ouda, all had wonderful stories to share at wiki indaba. English is not their first language. These guys, for the benefit of all, decided to use a language that we all could hear. They could have spoken their various local languages, of which I think no one could have questioned them why, but they shared with all their lovely stories in a way all could benefit equally, of which I really appreciated.
Not suggesting to use any small local languages but try at least one session in for example Swahili. Even if it's just for the (further) emancipation of that language. Just have to arrange someone who can translate simultaneously. If the network is good enough there's software to make that happen. Of course the same can be done from English into other languages.
Thus the next conference, you are free to apply to handle a session, and you're welcome to speak French. No one will penalize you for that.
My English is actually a lot better than my French, so I would probably opt for English myself. I just think it makes sense to strongly encourage those who don't speak English to participate as both speakers and visitors, e.g. by at least trying to fill up an entire WikiIndaba track (space) with languages other than English.
Cheers, Kasper
Hello Kasper,
I just wish to point out that Cameroon is a bilingual country (French and English). Most of the Wiki training in Cameroon has been based in Douala -a French speaking zone. I think if you had the training in any English speaking tiwn, they would have told you they knew about WikiIndaba and most of them did apply.
Organising an African Wiki for Francophone country will also not sound well for the part of Cameroon that speaks English.
Thanks
Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
This does sound like a good opportunity! 2017 is a bit in the "science fiction" range in Wikimedian planning terms, I think, so I don't think there's anything concrete to do before, say, late 2015 at the earliest. Let us hope that during that time the Ghana community grows some more, and think about capacity-building steps we can take in the meantime.
A.
On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 10:37 AM, Iolanda Pensa iolanda@pensa.it wrote:
In 2017 (August 9-13), the ACASA Art Council of the African Studies Association is having its triennial meeting in Ghana. it is the first time in Africa. http://www.acasaonline.org
- It is a very relevant conference for Wikimedia issues. it is an event
attended by: researchers from Africa and focussed on Africa, people involved in art and cultural heritage, and representatives of international institutions (museums from the continent and outside, i.e. many South African institutions are normally present at the conference, and there are also very well-known names such as US museums and universities like Smithsonian, Brooklyn, Harvard). 2. the association ACASA is already working on the logistics and the board is composed of very nice people 3. the event is in 2017 - time to plan fundraising for scholarships, communication and involvement of people from the continent also related to Wikimedia 4. Ghana has a group of people already active on the Wikimedia projects. 5. wikimedia events can be training for all participants, presentations, and it is also possible to create a pre-event or post-event just for Wikimedia volunteers if relevant.
I wanted to launch the idea for an African gathering in another country (as suggested by Wikimedia ZA) but with a light management work. what do you think? all the best iolanda/iopensa
African-Wikimedians mailing list African-Wikimedians@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/african-wikimedians
african-wikimedians@lists.wikimedia.org