[Wikimedia-l] Afripedia, a project to help the development of Wikipedia in French-speaking Africa

[John Andersson]

Wow! This is such an interesting and cool project and I wish you all the best with it! It would be truly wonderful if Wikipedia finally could get a better coverage about Africa! 

John Andersson
Wikimedia Sweden

> From: adrienne.alix at wikimedia.fr
> Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2012 22:47:14 +0200
> To: wikimedia-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: [Wikimedia-l]  Afripedia, a project to help the development of Wikipedia in French-speaking Africa
> 
> Hello,
> 
> Wikimedia France is very happy to announce a great new project :
> 
> A partnership has been formalized on last Friday between Wikimédia France,
> the Institut Français
> <http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institut_fran%C3%A7ais>(the network of
> the french cultural institutes in the world) and the Agence
> Universitaire de la
> Francophonie<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agence_universitaire_de_la_Francophonie>(Association
> of Universities of the Francophonie) to support a common
> program about the development of Wikipedia in French-speaking Africa: this
> project is called "Afripedia".
> 
> Afripedia is a project to support the "digital development" of Africa.
> While the most part of the contributions and contributors on Wikipedia are
> from the North, we want to make easier the offline reading of Wikipedia and
> the production of content about Africa and made by African contributors.
> The project entails projected workshops to help use the encyclopedia and
> produce content on the Wikimedia projects.
> 
> Based on the offline technologies developped by
> Kiwix<http://www.kiwix.org/index.php/Main_Page/en>(and helped by
> Kiwix), the project will involve several phases:
> 
> 1/ software development to produce offline versions of Wikipedia (and
> probably other Wikimedia projects like Wiktionary) regularly and easily,
> and then a download solution to get these offline versions easier, with no
> technical ability needed.
> 
> 2/ Installation of these offline versions on flash drives, plugged on
> little computers extremely energy-efficient, without screen or keyboard.
> The computer spreads the content of the flash drive (=Wikipedia) with a
> wireless connection without internet (the content of the flash drive is
> available just by connecting to this wifi) [see [[Plug
> computer<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug_computer>
> ]]
> 
> 3/ Installation of the computers and flash drives and training of students
> and professors on the "Digital campus of Francophonie", a network of
> digital points supported by the Association of Universities of the
> Francophonie, to support the dissemination of Wikipedia content without the
> issues of irregular access to internet. One plug (with or without repeater)
> can provide Wikipedia for dozens of students !
> 
> 4/ Training in contribution on Wikipedia (in French and local languages)
> 
> 5/ After a first implementation (autumn 2012) in 20 points in 15 countries
> of West Africa, we will assess the project and extend it over a larger
> scale for 2013, if the results are good.
> 
> 
> As it is one of our missions, we consider producing free knowledge in
> French and in local languages and making it accesible in territories
> developping access to digital technology but having no active Wikimedia
> community yet, to be essential. So we will also support the forming of
> contributors communities in these countries.
> 
> See also (in french) http://www.wikimedia.fr/afripedia
> 
> ==
> 
> The Institut Français is the operator for the French Ministry of Foreign
> Affairs in charge of the cultural action in foreign countries. Through its
> French Language Department, the Institut Français works towards the
> attractivity and spreading of French language across the world. It
> particularly takes care of the development of the teaching of French
> language and culture in secondary school and in universities.
> http://www.institutfrancais.com/
> 
> The Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (Association of Universities of
> the Francophonie) groups 786 higher education and research institutions
> from 98 countries on the five continents, using French language as a
> language for teaching and research. Its mission is to contribute to the
> solidarity between French-speaking higher education establishments and to
> the development of a scientific arena in French, respecting the cultures
> and languages diversity.
> http://www.auf.org/
> 
> 
> -- 
> Adrienne Charmet-Alix
> Directrice des programmes - Wikimedia France
> Twitter : @AdrienneAlix
> adrienne.alix at wikimedia.fr | 07.62.92.42.01
> http://www.wikimedia.fr
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