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2025:Program/Activating Africa: Wiki In Africa

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Session title: Activating Africa: Wiki In Africa

Session type: Poster
Track: Wild Ideas
Language: en

This poster is a celebration of the continent-wide projects that have built the African community through the projects initiated and managed by Wiki In Africa. The poster will show the development and impact of our strategies to both build community, activate contributors and find fun ways to close content gaps relating to representation, gender and access.

Description

Building on the 2011-launched WikiAfrica movement, Wiki In Africa has, since its launch in 2016, continued the collective activation of Africa’s Wikimedia communities and content through a rich mix of seminal projects. As part of larger Wikimedia volunteer work, these groundbreaking projects - Wiki Loves Africa, Wiki Loves Women, WikiChallenge African Schools, SheSaid, and many others – continue to build to build and formalise the Wikimedia volunteer groups across Africa into cohesive usergroups; whilst also making an impressive contribution to closing the glaring representation and gender content gaps relating to Africa on the Wikimedia projects. This poster gives us a chance to chart that journey and celebrate the many Wikimedians who have been part of building a continent-wide community.

Links:

How does your session relate to the event theme, Wikimania@20 – Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability?

The poster shares the great strides that Africa’s Wikimedia community has made to close representation gaps relating to contribution and content by opening Wikimedia up to different and unexpected audiences (inclusivity). This was done through a cohesive long term strategy and has been particularly effective. The poster aims to show both the impact of these strategies and offers a lens through which to view the future of participation across the continent.

The poster (and my presence in front during the poster session) will ensure that a richer discussion about the future of Africa’s Wikimedia work.

What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?

Everyone can participate in this session

Resources

Speakers

  • Florence Devouard
Username:Anthere (She/her). French. Languages : FR N; EN-4.
* Co-Executive Director of Wiki in Africa
* Wikipedian-in-Residence at World Intellectual Property Rights (WIPO)
* Former chairwoman of Wikimedia Foundation board of trustees
* Co-founder, former Vice-Chair and currently member of Wikimédia France Chapter
* Wikipedian since 2002.
As well as
* Financial auditor an member of Les sans pagEs UserGroup
* Member of m:Wikimedians for offline wikis UserGroup (contact member for the affiliate)
* Member of the Wikimedians in Residence Exchange Network UserGroup
* Formerly treasurer of WikiFranca (hub-to-be for French speaking wikimedia groups)
* Board member of Open Food Facts
* Vice-Chair of Ynternet.org
Key words : Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Africa, IP rights, Open Movement, Community Building, Open Source, Creative Commons, Life-long learning, accountability, Gender Gap, Equity
  • islahaddow
Isla has been working as a Wikipedian since 2011, activating Africa’s collective voice and experiences on the Wikimedia and Open movements. She co-leads ground-breaking Africa-focused projects such as Wiki Loves Africa, Wiki Loves Women, WikiAfrica Hour, African Environment WikiFocus, ISA Tool, WikiFundi, and WikiChallenge Écoles d’Afrique. She also works part-time as Director of Communications for Open Education Global.
Isla is a project and communications strategist, a Zimbabwean by birth and a Capetonian (South Africa) by adoption. She is passionate about open access to Africa’s knowledge and facilitating the growth of previously under-represented or ‘invisible’ communities to share their stories, experiences, creativity, and heritage with the world. Prior to her involvement in Wikimedia, she worked to promote Africa’s filmmakers, writers, poets, musicians, and artists.
In 2019, Isla was a member of the Advocacy Working Group for the completed Wikimedia Movement Strategy 2030. In 2020, she researched, wrote, and published an analytical report on the motivations, needs, expectations, and philosophical intentions of Creative Commons’ Global Network members. The report is compiled from the thoughts and experiences of 188 Creative Commoners members.
Prior to working within the WikiAfrica movement, she was the Marketing and Communications Manager for the Africa Centre, raising the brand and national profile of event-based arts brands. Prior to that, she worked as a writer to accelerate and support the growth of Africa’s film industry both as a skilled destination and a burgeoning creative force.
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