Hello, When I proposed this project, I couldn't imagine it would be a success. I was just checking the archives, and I remember that, back in late 2010 i called for a meetup so as to suggest this project but we had to cancel it due to lack of quorum. But then, somehow, the disillusionment faded and people became more and more enthusiastic in participating in this project. i also remember back then when we were only four of us (Oscar, Oliver, Dennis and myself) at our first meetup at Java -- and we wanted to start up a chapter. From the four initial members, we have grown exponentially within 6 months to around 50 members on this list. I am really proud of us! Really!
From a boys' only team to almost a 75%:25% male:female chapter. I really feel that I need to highlight some of these flashbacks so that we (or at least I) can realize and appreciate where we've come from.
I would like to congratulate you all for the success of this project, and most importantly, I would like to congratulate on-the-ground team members who sacrificed their time off work, off internships and off university and went to these schools in order to ensure that students in Nyeri, Kakamega and Mombasa could have free access to Wikipedia. I would also like to send my condolences to those who couldn't make it like Samson Maosa. I extend my condolences to the Nyeri team whose laptops were virus-infected. But, as David hinted in his most recent email, this is not the end. This was just a pilot. For those of you who were with me since the start of this project, you might remember that we had a list of 10 regions. So we still have a lot of work ahead of us. And I think that we all agree that we need to design an offline version of Wikipedia that is custom-made for Kenyan students. I therefore hope that this project will not end here. FYI- One of the Foundation's strategic priorities lies in investing in mobile Wikipedia and offline products. Speaking of offline products, has anyone of you ever heard of WikiReader? It's a device that you could use to access Wikipedia without internet connectivity and which you could update newer articles whenever you connect it to the internet. It goes for just $100 on Amazon. Just thought I'd let you know of this incredible device. BTW -- this might be slightly off-topic, but I'd thought that I'd let you know that I was informed that we arguably have the most multi-national chapter mailing list in the Wikimedia community!!! Warm regards,
------------------------------------- Abbas Mahmood t | +254722215101 f | www.facebook.com/abbasjnr s | abbasjnr Wikimedia Kenya Member
"Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's our commitment."
Please donate: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate/Now/en
I am also really glad to see the speed with which this project has started... congrats to those involved.
On Sun, Apr 3, 2011 at 12:37 PM, Abbas Mahmood abbasjnr@hotmail.com wrote:
FYI- One of the Foundation's strategic priorities lies in investing in mobile Wikipedia and offline products. Speaking of offline products, has anyone of you ever heard of WikiReader? It's a device that you could use to access Wikipedia without internet connectivity and which you could update newer articles whenever you connect it to the internet. It goes for just $100 on Amazon. Just thought I'd let you know of this incredible device.
These are great gifts for someone who is supporting one of your projects.
BTW -- this might be slightly off-topic, but I'd thought that I'd let you know that I was informed that we arguably have the most multi-national chapter mailing list in the Wikimedia community!!!
This may be true...
Sam, USA
Guys, I would like to extend my personal admiration to Abbas. He laid much of the groundwork for us through his personal efforts.Back at our earlier meetings,not even our own skeptism could deter him.HATS OFF FOR ABBAS
FYI, I was so thrilled in Berlin when I was asked to share the secret of how we run our yet to be Chapter. To my amazement,all the Wikimedia Community admired our style and we got a mention to be exemplified by other chapters!:P, it was a great moment...
But then much awaits us and with the zeal and passion we got,I know greater achievents await us.kudos to the whole team for the Pilot well accomplished..,
Regards, sent via my Nokia 1680c :P
On 4/4/11, Samuel Klein meta.sj@gmail.com wrote:
I am also really glad to see the speed with which this project has started... congrats to those involved.
On Sun, Apr 3, 2011 at 12:37 PM, Abbas Mahmood abbasjnr@hotmail.com wrote:
FYI- One of the Foundation's strategic priorities lies in investing in mobile Wikipedia and offline products. Speaking of offline products, has anyone of you ever heard of WikiReader? It's a device that you could use to access Wikipedia without internet connectivity and which you could update newer articles whenever you connect it to the internet. It goes for just $100 on Amazon. Just thought I'd let you know of this incredible device.
These are great gifts for someone who is supporting one of your projects.
BTW -- this might be slightly off-topic, but I'd thought that I'd let you know that I was informed that we arguably have the most multi-national chapter mailing list in the Wikimedia community!!!
This may be true...
Sam, USA
WikimediaKE mailing list WikimediaKE@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediake
this shows that we have the potential to even do greater things.Thanks Abbass for carrying the vision and to my fellow wikimedians,with the commitment and dedication that we have shown so far,we can make wikimedia kenya to be as great as our perception of it reaches.
On Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 1:03 AM, Limoke Oscar oslimoke@gmail.com wrote:
Guys, I would like to extend my personal admiration to Abbas. He laid much of the groundwork for us through his personal efforts.Back at our earlier meetings,not even our own skeptism could deter him.HATS OFF FOR ABBAS
FYI, I was so thrilled in Berlin when I was asked to share the secret of how we run our yet to be Chapter. To my amazement,all the Wikimedia Community admired our style and we got a mention to be exemplified by other chapters!:P, it was a great moment...
But then much awaits us and with the zeal and passion we got,I know greater achievents await us.kudos to the whole team for the Pilot well accomplished..,
Regards, sent via my Nokia 1680c :P
On 4/4/11, Samuel Klein meta.sj@gmail.com wrote:
I am also really glad to see the speed with which this project has started... congrats to those involved.
On Sun, Apr 3, 2011 at 12:37 PM, Abbas Mahmood abbasjnr@hotmail.com
wrote:
FYI- One of the Foundation's strategic priorities lies in investing in mobile Wikipedia and offline products. Speaking of offline products, has anyone of you ever heard of WikiReader? It's a device that you could use to access Wikipedia without internet connectivity and which you could
update
newer articles whenever you connect it to the internet. It goes for just $100 on Amazon. Just thought I'd let you know of this incredible device.
These are great gifts for someone who is supporting one of your projects.
BTW -- this might be slightly off-topic, but I'd thought that I'd let
you
know that I was informed that we arguably have the most multi-national chapter mailing list in the Wikimedia community!!!
This may be true...
Sam, USA
WikimediaKE mailing list WikimediaKE@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediake
-- Limoke Oscar, mayenge.blogspot.com Freelancer, GeoInformatics and GIScience Student
WikimediaKE mailing list WikimediaKE@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediake
Indeed, so far we have come, from just a mere suggestions that was made by the google team (Christine Moon, Angie Cantelmi, Dennis Gikunda) and the Wikimedia team that somewhere in Purshottam Place, that later was put under keen consideration by a team led by Abbas, and now it is almost a dream come true that Wikimedia Kenya is fast growing and will hopefully be a chapter soon. Congrats to all the members, and let us not stop or give up here. After South Africa, I believe we are next and that should be enough to encourage us increase our efforts at what we are doing.
FYI,
BTW -- this might be slightly off-topic, but I'd thought that I'd let you know that I was informed that we arguably have the *most multi-national chapter mailing list* in the Wikimedia community!!!
That makes me very proud of Wikimedia Kenya!!! I was even trying to design country-flag templates in Wikimedia Kenya http://www.wikimedia.or.ke and that is when I realized that I had to do more than what I expected!!! I mean Kenya, Tanzania, India, Israel, Switzerland, Germany... Congrats to us.
I was so thrilled in Berlin when I was asked to share the secret of
how we run our yet to be Chapter. To my amazement,all the Wikimedia Community admired our style and we got a mention to be exemplified by other chapters!:P, it was a great moment..
We are a World-Class chapter-to-be ;)
I would also like to send my condolences to those who couldn't make it like Samson Maosa. I extend my condolences to the Nyeri team whose laptops were virus-infected.
Thanks Abbas for your condolences.
I was not part of the initial project but expect a full committment from me and my team at strathmore University IT club.
Oscar Okwero SUITSA chaiperson
--- On Sun, 4/3/11, Abbas Mahmood abbasjnr@hotmail.com wrote:
From: Abbas Mahmood abbasjnr@hotmail.com Subject: [Wikimedia Kenya] Wikipedia for Schools Pilot To: "Wikimedia Kenya" wikimediake@lists.wikimedia.org Date: Sunday, April 3, 2011, 4:37 PM
Hello, When I proposed this project, I couldn't imagine it would be a success. I was just checking the archives, and I remember that, back in late 2010 i called for a meetup so as to suggest this project but we had to cancel it due to lack of quorum. But then, somehow, the disillusionment faded and people became more and more enthusiastic in participating in this project. i also remember back then when we were only four of us (Oscar, Oliver, Dennis and myself) at our first meetup at Java -- and we wanted to start up a chapter. From the four initial members, we have grown exponentially within 6 months to around 50 members on this list. I am really proud of us! Really!
From a boys' only team to almost a 75%:25% male:female chapter. I really feel that I need to highlight some of these flashbacks so that we (or at least I) can realize and appreciate where we've come from.
I would like to congratulate you all for the success of this project, and most importantly, I would like to congratulate on-the-ground team members who sacrificed their time off work, off internships and off university and went to these schools in order to ensure that students in Nyeri, Kakamega and Mombasa could have free access to Wikipedia. I would also like to send my condolences to those who couldn't make it like Samson Maosa. I extend my condolences to the Nyeri team whose laptops were virus-infected. But, as David hinted in his most recent email, this is not the end. This was just a pilot. For those of you who were with me since the start of this project, you might remember that we had a list of 10 regions. So we still have a lot of work ahead of us. And I think that we all agree that we need to design an offline version of Wikipedia that is custom-made for Kenyan students. I therefore hope that this project will not end here. FYI- One of the Foundation's strategic priorities lies in investing in mobile Wikipedia and offline products. Speaking of offline products, has anyone of you ever heard of WikiReader? It's a device that you could use to access Wikipedia without internet connectivity and which you could update newer articles whenever you connect it to the internet. It goes for just $100 on Amazon. Just thought I'd let you know of this incredible device. BTW -- this might be slightly off-topic, but I'd thought that I'd let you know that I was informed that we arguably have the most multi-national chapter mailing list in the Wikimedia community!!! Warm regards,
------------------------------------- Abbas Mahmood t | +254722215101 f | www.facebook.com/abbasjnr s | abbasjnr Wikimedia Kenya Member "Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's our commitment." Please donate: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate/Now/en
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