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.
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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.
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* 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