Announcing AfroCROWD Intro to Wikimedia and How to Edit Wikipedia
workshops at New York's Brooklyn Public Library. Please email me if
you would like to discuss bringing one of these to your city. Please
also excuse cross-posting to various lists as we try to network across
the United States.
WHEN:
Saturday, February 7th 12:30 -3PM
Sunday February 8th 1-3:30PM
EVENTBRITE (better reading format):
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/afrocrowd-intro-to-wikimedia-how-to-edit-wikip…
If you plan to view via Livestream from a different city, please let
me know of your interest at alice.backer(a)gmail.com.
PROPOSAL:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/AFROcroWd_and_Interglider.ORG/Ou…)
BACKGROUND:
Against the backdrop of Black History Month, the workshops seek to
further the International Decade for People of African Descent’s
development and education goals and Wikimedia’s goal of increasing its
reach. Technology companies Facebook, LinkedIn, Yahoo and Twitter have
recently reported that their workforce is 2% Black, a figure
non-proportionate to the 13% of Blacks living in the United States.
The Black Twitter phenomenon shows that Afrodescendants have
successfully taken to social media as an organizing tool. Exposing
more Afrodescendants to Wikimedia has the potential to take this foray
a step further and transfer skills that might deepen Afrodescendant
exploration of online technology. But beyond it all, editing Wikipedia
alone or as a group is a constructive and rewarding way to spend time
online.
The workshops will be the first in a series of activities by Afro Free
Culture Crowdsourcing Wikimedia (AfroCROWD), a new initiative which
seeks to increase the number of people of African Descent who actively
partake in the Wikimedia and free knowledge, culture and software
movements. The workshops are open to all Afrodescendants including but
not limited to individuals who self-identify as African,
African-American, Afro-Latino, Biracial, Black, Black-American,
Caribbean, Garifuna, Haitian or West Indian.
Although the February workshops will be held in English, they will
take into account that many Afrodescendant groups in the United States
might find that access to Wikipedia’s multilingual crowdsourcing
platform can help them transfer free knowledge to populations of
African descent outside of the United States that they are connected
to through origin or direct familial bonds. Multilingual
Afrodescendants may also want to use such platforms to develop and
maintain online bodies of relevant knowledge in native languages such
as Garifuna, Haitian Kreyòl, Igbo, Spanish, Twi or Yoruba, thereby
contributing to the survival of and increasing their proficiency in
those languages while also feeling more culturally grounded.
WHERE:
Brooklyn Public Library
Main Branch
10 Grand Army Plaza
Brooklyn. NY
http://www.bklynlibrary.org/
(Subway: 2,3, 4 to Grand Army Plaza)
FOUNDERS:
AfroCROWD founders are Alice Backer, founder of www.kiskeacity.com,
www.haitianbloggers.com, and Global Voices Lingua, a Brooklyn-based
lawyer, blogger and free knowledge and culture enthusiast who has been
aggregating and disseminating Haitian online expression since 2005 and
has launched citizen media campaigns in Haiti, the Caribbean, Africa
and the United States and Milos Rancic, founder of Anarchopedia,
veteran Wikimedian with over 10 years in the movement, Wikimedia
Language Committee member and chair of Interglider.ORG. Milica
Gudovic, Interglider.ORG's CEO, participant to the process of
localization of Creative Commons Licenses for Serbia and experienced
feminist activist of 20 years, has lended considerable time and
expertise to our grant proposal and will help us with training in the
coming months.
OUTREACH PARTNERS (evolving list):
Afrolatin@ Project
Brooklyn Public Library
Haiti Cultural Exchange
Haitian Creole Language Institute of New York
STAY UPDATED VIA FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/afroCROWD
Best,
Alice
A L I C E B A C K E R
Haitian Blog Aggregator: http://haitianbloggers.com
LOF1804 Podcast: http://www.kiskeacity.com
Blog: http://www.kiskeacity.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/kiskeacity
Newsletter: Kiskeácity Daily
skype: alicebacker