Project Launch: Integrating Wikimedia projects into African Libraries’ Ecosystem

21 October 2024

We are happy to invite you to the formal launch of the Integrating Wikimedia projects into African Libraries’ Ecosystem (IWIPALE) project. Under the Knowledge Equity Fund of the Wikimedia Foundation and working with Wikimedia Deutschland, AfLIA is running this project to address two main questions or problems;

1. Why are African content/topics in Wikipedia and Wikidata are not linked to African libraries and databases and how can this be resolved?
2. Why and how can the erratic use of Wiki projects and tools be transformed into routine library services of African libraries for the benefit of African patrons?

The launch will take place on Friday, 1st November, 2024 at 10.30am UTC and will involve a panel discussion that will throw more light on Authority Control and why knowledge equity is a critical aspect of opening up knowledge. The project has two main components and we’d like to share snippets of planned activities outlined for implementation. More details will be provided during the launch so do not miss it.

Zoom Meeting Details
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85396529105?pwd=w2nNCrmCTuwu6GI4zhqOazJz2b0k2P.1

Meeting ID: 853 9652 9105
Passcode: 261738

Component 1

A virtual conversation between the African Library sector and the Wikimedia movement in Africa to create a rapprochement that will see both entities understand how they can better work together – space-wise, resources-wise, skill-wise and policy advocacy-wise, in order to drive the visibility of African knowledge among other things. Importantly, these conversations would attempt to answer the question, ‘how do we think that Wikimedia projects can be integrated into library routines in Africa?’

The virtual conversations will be held for the five regions of Africa in English and French speaking countries would have a session. This component of the project would also encompass a survey (English and French) that seeks to understand the dynamics (present and future) of engagements between the African Library sector and the Wikimedia movement in Africa. These conversations would be anchored by the following seasoned African Wikimedians;

S/N	Region	Moderator	Date
1	West Africa (English speaking)	Olusola Olaniyan President, Nigeria Wikimedia User Group	Thursday, 7th November, 2024 REGISTER HERE
2	Central Africa	Georges Fodoup Co-founder, Cameroon Wikimedia User Group, Chairman, WikiFranca	Thursday, 14th November, 2024 REGISTER HERE
3	North Africa	Afek Ben Chahed General Secretary, WIkiFranca and Community Facilitor, Wiki in Africa	Tuesday, 19th November, 2024 REGISTER HERE
4	East Africa	Alice Kibombo Senior Program Officer (Libraries), WMF	Tuesday, 26th November, 2024 REGISTER HERE
4	West Africa (French Speaking)	Kangah Donatien KOFFI Digital Media Expert-Consultant in Information Integrity and Co-founder, Wikimedia Côte d’Ivoire User Group	Wednesday, 27th November, 2024 REGISTER HERE
5	Southern Africa	Bobby Shabangu President, Wikimedia South Africa Chapter	Thursday, 28th November. 2024 REGISTER HERE

All the information from virtual conversations will be consolidated with the data from the survey and further analysed to create a White paper that provides a framework to guide interactions between the Wikimedia movement and library and information professionals in Africa and beyond. Prior to finalizing the White paper, the project will organize a Validation session to share preliminary outcomes and invite stakeholders to collaboratively review, assess, and confirm the accuracy and relevance of findings and recommendations.

Component 2

Using the National Library of Nigeria as a model, and working with Wikimedia Deutschland, the project will create semantic authority control files for resources in the library through Wikibase for linking up with Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. This would enable the creation of a database of information resources in the National Library of Nigeria (especially the legal deposit collections) on Wikibase which would then be linked up to content on Wikipedia and Wikidata that match. A Train the Trainers workshop would be done virtually in November, 2024 and this would be followed by a physical workshop in Abuja, Nigeria in the first quarter of 2025. The training resources from these activities would be transformed into a course that AfLIA would use go on to use in training other National libraries all over the continent to first ensure that their resources are visible and then linkable to Wikipedia and Wikidata through Wikibase . 

So join us this Friday 1st November, 2024 by 10.30am UTC, as we launch this project.

Zoom Meeting Details
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85396529105?pwd=w2nNCrmCTuwu6GI4zhqOazJz2b0k2P.1

Meeting ID: 853 9652 9105
Passcode: 261738