AfLibWk 4.0 webinar series: African knowledge to the world

MARCH 20, 2023

A growing global body of knowledge exists for different fields and disciplines. Ensuring that knowledge from Africa is added to this global body is the task of every African, especially our scholars, researchers, scientists, and academicians. However, some of the knowledge produced by Africans about African realities appears to be ‘hidden’ while the narratives about Africa by others are more visible. Also, the information infrastructure scaffolding that drives the organization and categorization of knowledge does not fully provide room for the robustness and elasticity of knowledge that emanates from Africa or about Africa.

The open knowledge ecosystem offers new hope for Africa that can be leveraged upon by librarians in the continent to make our ways, our history, our culture, our meanings, our ethos and our realities more visible and easily grafted into the global body of knowledge. This has become more critical as development challenges which can be resolved through access to knowledge for innovative solutions continue to multiply in the continent. The question has been;

• How the needed information can become more accessible, available, shareable, usable and actionable in driving the attainment of the global and regional development goals?
• How can Africa achieve quality, equitable and inclusive education that speaks to our practical realities when learners at different levels of education do not have the ability to access educational materials that are created from the current best practices that integrate our development challenges?
• How can the cultural identity of the teeming Africa youth be established and boosted when most of the knowledge about them reinforces the stereotyping and labeling created by knowledge from outside the continent?

Open knowledge creates the pathway for creation, access, availability, and participatory co-creation, usability, sharing and scaling of multifaceted, multi-perspective ideas, concepts and best practices that drive development in all sectors. AfLIA as a pan-African organization that serves as the umbrella body and voice of the African Library sector understands that the larger picture about the adoption of open knowledge in the continent must of a necessity include a better understanding of the different components of the ‘Open’ ecosystem by librarians in all library types and allied institutions so that they can drive the practices as knowledge managers in their various user communities.

AfLIA’s relationship with the Wikimedia Foundation is solely geared towards assisting librarians explore how to use all the Wikimedia projects to serve their users better with open knowledge, and to teach these professionals how to open up knowledge about their communities and train their user communities to do same.

It is an ongoing partnership that AfLIA will continue to leverage on to open up knowledge about Africa. This informs the theme of the 2023 African Librarians Week – African Knowledge to the World. Since 2020, #AfLibWk which is an integral part of the global 1Librarian 1Reference campaign has brought African library and information workers together every last week of May.

This year’s campaign will take place between 14-26 May, 2023.

The African Librarians Week provides a great opportunity to use the information resources in African libraries to ensure that the knowledge about Africa on Wikipedia is accurate and current. The African Librarians Week which usually happens around the African Day will be used to vigorously drive up the opening up of African knowledge to the world through Wikipedia and Wikidata.

The following trainings and webinars will be held to broaden the understanding of African librarians and other professionals in allied institutions (archives and museums) about African knowledge and how to open it up to the world through Wikimedia projects.

AfLibWk 4.0 Webinar Series Schedule

TOPIC	DATE/TIME (GMT)	RESOURCE PERSON	INFO
Open knowledge, Wikimedia projects and the African library sector	Monday, 17th April, 2023 @ 1pm GMT	Silvia Gutiérrez, WMF	This webinar will examine the role of Wikimedia projects in opening up knowledge through the prisms of critical librarianship. It will also seek to throw more light on the power structures behind the creation and dissemination of knowledge as well as how the global schemes for organization and categorization of knowledge contribute to the near invisibility of African knowledge. The webinar will also proffer pathways for macro changes in the organization of knowledge and the role of African national libraries in driving the change.
Collaborative digital skills for opening up African knowledge through Wikimedia projects – Pt 1	Tuesday, 2nd May, 2023 @ 9.30am GMT	Alice Kibombo	This will be a hands-on training on how to create articles on Wikipedia and items on Wikidata. It will include the fundamentals for newbies as well as dives into the deep end for those who want to understand more how these platforms can be professionally used in libraries to better open up African knowledge stored in library books to the world.
Compétences numériques collaboratives pour l’ouverture des connaissances africaines à travers des projets Wikimédia pour les pays francophones -Pt 1	Wednesday, 3rd May, 2023 @9.30am GMT	Abel Mbula	Il s’agira d’une formation pratique sur la façon de créer des articles sur Wikipédia et des éléments sur Wikidata. Il comprendra les bases pour les débutants ainsi que des plongées dans les profondeurs pour ceux qui veulent mieux comprendre comment ces plateformes peuvent être utilisées professionnellement dans les bibliothèques pour mieux ouvrir au monde les connaissances africaines stockées dans les livres de bibliothèque.
Collaborative digital skills for opening up African knowledge through Wikimedia projects – Pt 2	Tuesday, 9th May, 2023 @ 9.30am GMT	Alice Kibombo	This session will be a continuation of the hands-on training, introduction of the dashboard for the 2023 African Librarians Week and possible prizes to be won.
Compétences numériques collaboratives pour l’ouverture des connaissances africaines à travers des projets Wikimédia pour les pays francophones -Pt 2	Wednesday, 10th May, 2023 @ 9:30am GMT	Abel Mbula	Cette session s’inscrira dans la continuité de la formation pratique, de la présentation du tableau de bord de la Semaine Africaine des Bibliothécaires 2023 et des éventuels lots à gagner.

Registration

This is a free webinar. After completing the registration form, you will receive notification via email with details of how to join the webinar. Please note that your registration grants you access to all webinars in the series!

Carefully read the section on Technical Requirements to help you prepare adequately for this webinar.

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Technical requirements

Upon registration, reminders will be sent to all registrants periodically. This webinar will be hosted on Zoom Conferencing Platform. Participants, who do not have Zoom on their mobile devices and or computers, need to download, install and create an account on Zoom ahead of time (CLICK TO DOWNLOAD). Webinar attendees are encouraged to join early, preferably 15 minutes before the start of the webinar, as one may need time launch the application. The speaker will use a webcam to connect with attendees. Audio and video for the session will be streamed over computer speakers. Attendees are therefore encouraged to connect with a headset or earpiece for maximum utility. Please note that this webinar does not involve certificate of participation.

Webinar materials

A list of resources and further information will made be available at the end of the webinar, to enable thorough engagement with the webinar content. All registrants will have access to the presentation slides. The webinar recording will be uploaded on AfLIA Youtube Channel soon after the webinar to facilitate continuous engagement with the webinar content by webinar attendees and non-attendees.

Queries

For further enquiries and any assistance relating to the webinar, contact us at afliacomm@aflia.net.