Recap: #AfLibWk campaign key stats, outcomes and top contributors
25 JUNE 2020
AfLIA in collaboration with the Wikimedia Foundation, organized the African Librarians Week, #AfLibWk from 24 – 30 May 2020, as part of the global #1Lib1Ref campaign. The week-long inaugural event engaged the African library community to help fill key gaps in African content on Wikipedia by adding missing references to articles about Africa on the online encyclopedia. Aside adding missing references, #AfLibWk set in motion a major iterative opportunity for all African librarians to share knowledge, insights and perspectives that represent African voices, cultures, philosophies and other information that are worthy of being open and integrated into the global body of knowledge.
By the end of #AfLibWk (30th May 2020),
- 27,846 edits were made and 3,946 articles were edited
- 10,055 missing references were added
- A whooping 660,539 more words had been added by midnight GMT, 30 May 2020.
- 81 uploads to Wikimedia Commons of which 22 had been used in articles by 30 May 2020.
- Even though the campaign mainly focused on adding citations, 28 new articles were also created, as a result of the ingenuity of some #AfLibWk editors.
- In total, 844 editors were recorded on the AfLibWk dashboard but 241 (28.6%) of them were found to have actively participated in the campaign
- Presently, Wikipedia articles worked on during #AfLibWk have cumulatively garnered over 33.6 million views (reads) and counting, as recorded on the events dashboard.
Editing was concentrated on both English Wikipedia and French Wikipedia however the contributions by AfLibWk editors made on English Wikipedia constituted 96% of the overall contributions made during the Week. Let us see the breakdown:
#AfLibWk contributions by language
| Indicator | English Wikipedia | French Wikipedia |
|---|---|---|
| Number of edits | 26,925 (96.7%) | 993 (3.3%) |
| Number of articles edited | 3,786 (95.9%) | 169 (4.1%) |
| Number of articles created | 25 (89.3%) | 3 (10.7%) |
| % of overall contribution (average) | 94% | 6% |
Participation in #AfLibWk saw representation from all the five regions of Africa; North Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, West Africa and Southern Africa. Majority of participating Librarians (61%) were from Academic Libraries, while 14% and 9% were from Public and Special Libraries respectively. The rest were from School Libraries (8%), Community Libraries (4%) and other institutions (5%).
Though majority (approximately 88%) of the editors did not have prior editing experience on Wikipedia, series of country-based, language based and general online trainings were conducted to expose librarians to the world of Wikipedia and build their capacities on how to makes edits such as identifying and adding credible citations, adding sections, creating hyperlinks (redlinks as well as internal and external links), creating sections and sub-sections, among others. The following are the top 50 contributors as at the end of the campaign.
#AfLibWk Top 50 contributors
| Username | Name | Overall score | Position | Country |
| Acngetich | Allan Cheruiyot Ngetich | 1693 | 1 | Kenya |
| Fagbohunmichael | Fagbohun Michael Opeoluwa | 1355 | 2 | Nigeria |
| Mmaua | Michael Maua | 1314 | 3 | Kenya |
| Habelgmsa | Habel Gregory Amolo | 1246 | 4 | Kenya |
| Omorodion1 | Omorodion Okuonghae | 1180 | 5 | Nigeria |
| MKCheserek | Michael Kiplagat Cheserek | 1060 | 6 | Kenya |
| Attreman | Atteman Kouassi N’guettia Junior Hemeryque | 1001 | 7 | Cote D’Ivoire |
| Hope Nakapite | Hope Nakapite | 910 | 8 | Zambia |
| Chiinobis | Dr. Chinwe Anunobi | 872 | 9 | Nigeria |
| Haumbaeric | Haumba Eric Nelson | 765 | 10 | Uganda |
| Selorm Ankudey | Selorm Anku Ankudey | 605 | 11 | Ghana |
| Comfort Asare | Comfort A. B. Asare | 572 | 12 | Ghana |
| Dbaidoo | Dinah Koteikor Baidoo | 475 | 13 | Ghana |
| Kaumba Chilomba | Kaumba Chilomba | 472 | 14 | Zambia |
| Titilola A. Mafe | Titilola Abigail Mafe | 441 | 15 | Nigeria |
| Bukky658 | James Bukola Olutola | 437 | 16 | Nigeria |
| Muleta Mutemwa | Muleta Mutemwa | 432 | 17 | Zambia |
| AKibombo | Alice Kibombo | 429 | 18 | Uganda |
| Cmwaura | Caroline Mwaura | 406 | 19 | Kenya |
| Temitayo Israel Alake | Alake Temitayo Israel | 405 | 20 | Nigeria |
| Ngangaesther | Esther Wangui Wanjiku | 389 | 21 | Kenya |
| Adeola.ipadeola | Ipadeola Deborah Adeola | 374 | 22 | Nigeria |
| Khemistry27 | Modupe Oluwakemi Micah | 353 | 23 | Nigeria |
| Dahiruhaske | Sadisu Dahiru Haske | 335 | 24 | Nigeria |
| Agnes George shauri | Agnes George shauri | 320 | 25 | Tanzania |
| Ugwulebo | Ugwulebo Jeremiah Emeka | 303 | 26 | Nigeria |
| Appiahantonia | Antonia Bernadette Appiah | 292 | 27 | Ghana |
| Ajakaye.bukade | Jesubukade Emmanuel Ajakaye | 291 | 28 | Nigeria |
| Olabisi11 | Olatunji Sunday Olabisi | 270 | 29 | Nigeria |
| Gorretikabura | Mary Nyambura Kariuki | 261 | 30 | Kenya |
| Beatrice Ampadu | Beatrice Ampadu | 251 | 31 | Ghana |
| Mbagwu francisca | Dr. (Mrs.) Francisca C. Mbagwu | 248 | 32 | Nigeria |
| Ngostary2k | Ngozi Perpetua Osuchukwu | 245 | 33 | Nigeria |
| Martin Hipangwa | Martin V. S. Hipangwa | 242 | 34 | Namibia |
| Korebabs | Babalola Najim Akorede | 238 | 35 | Nigeria |
| Payc-Reed | Matete Fortune Lesele | 220 | 36 | South Africa |
| Obuezie | Adaora Chigozie Obuezie | 206 | 37 | Nigeria |
| NarkieJ | Janet Odetsi Twum | 205 | 38 | Ghana |
| MasindeS | Sellah Nanjala Masinde | 204 | 39 | Kenya |
| Mutuajames | James Makau Mutua | 199 | 40 | Kenya |
| AdjoEsse | Adjovi Essenam Fumey | 198 | 41 | Senegal |
| YUMSUKLIB | Rilwanu Adamu | 178 | 42 | Nigeria |
| Daafrane | Daniel Akwasi Afrane | 172 | 43 | Ghana |
| Hasamoah | Hannah Asamoah | 165 | 44 | Ghana |
| Na’angap | Na’angap Daship | 161 | 45 | Nigeria |
| SetaMM | Velenasi Mwale Munsanje | 149 | 46 | Zambia |
| Mercymonde | Monde Mercy Wamunyima | 146 | 47 | Zambia |
| Cybrarianelex | Azeez Elijah Olawale | 145 | 49 | Nigeria |
| Gloryokeagu | Glory Odochi Okeagu | 145 | 48 | Nigeria |
| Nnyambane | Nyakundi James Nyambane | 143 | 50 | Kenya |
It was interesting to find out which articles about Africa on Wikipedia were receiving edits and citations. One of the main broad themes of articles edited during the week were related to biographies of famous Africans (politicians, intellectuals, authors, freedom fighters etc.). This was not much of a surprise as it resonated with the theme of the first edition of AfLibWk: Promoting African Scholars to the World. Editors appeared to be also interested in making edits and contributing to articles related to COVID-19 pandemic (its spread and impact) in their respective countries. In no particular order of importance, here are the major (broad) themes of articles edited on Wikipedia during #AfLibWk.
Major (broad) themes of articles edited on Wikipedia during #AfLibWk
| 1 | Biographies of famous Africans (politicians, intellectuals, authors, freedom fighters etc.) |
| 2 | Locations (countries, provinces, regions, states, cities, towns, villages, landmarks – lakes, parks, museums etc.) |
| 3 | Traditions and Cultures, Tribes, Languages and Cuisines |
| 4 | COVID-19 pandemic (spread and impact by country) |
| 5 | Libraries, Librarians and Librarianship in Africa |
| 6 | Education (including university, colleges, high schools) |
| 7 | History (of countries, tribes, empires/kingdoms etc.) |
| 8 | Women in Africa |
| 9 | Religion (Christianity, Islam, Traditional religions etc.) |
| 10 | Politics (elections, political administrations, parliament etc.) |
For #AfLibWk editors, this was an exciting opportunity for them to gain new digital skills, gaining new knowledge about what information scientist can do and understanding the role of AfLIA in training Librarians. The enthusiasm among participants and the outcome of AfLibWk campaign also confirm a better understanding, by AfLibWk participants, of how Wikipedia works to become important source of fact-based knowledge for researchers and the public. Read more about the experiences of participants here: Wall of Experiences for the first edition of AfLibWk