Grants:Africa Creates! - (Wiki Loves Africa 2024)

Project summary

The "Africa Creates" project aims to address the significant gap in coverage of African topics on Wikipedia by encouraging individuals to contribute media content showcasing the richness, diversity, and beauty of Africa. While millions of subjects are covered on Wikimedia, African-related topics remain underrepresented, partly due to a lack of awareness about the opportunity to freely contribute contents which includes images, videos, and audio to Wikimedia.

The project seeks to highlight the creative processes and manufacturing activities across the continent through the submission of media representations. Emphasizing the theme of creation rather than the final product, contributors are invited to share photos, audio recordings, and videos that capture the essence of African creativity.

By promoting the visual celebration of Africa on Wikimedia Commons, this initiative aims to enhance the representation of African cultures, traditions, and landscapes while fostering a greater sense of cultural appreciation and understanding worldwide. Through targeted outreach efforts and community engagement, we aim to mobilize individuals to contribute their media assets, thereby enriching the content available on Wikimedia Commons and promoting a more comprehensive and inclusive representation of Africa's heritage and achievements.

Wikimedia Project

Wikimedia Commons

Contact person and Location

• Full name: Baruch Omale Bamiyo
• Email address: omalebb@gmail.com
• Address: Nsukka. Enugu state, Nigeria
• Location of Project: University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Enugu state, Nigeria

Project class

The project is an individual project

Timeline of activities

The campaign will be a two-day physical event slated for the 10thth and 11th of April, 2024, however, follow-up and activity tracking will continue online until the 30th of April, 2024 when the project will come to an end

Project Goal

1. Recruit new editors
2. Add media files (photos, audio, video) to Wikimedia Commons

Project Plan

Activities

1. Are you doing one editathon or training or a series of editathons or trainings?

I will be conducting a field trip to several creative sites within Enugu North senatorial district and organizing a training/practical session on how to make uploads, add proper categories, and convert audio and video files to formats accepted on Wikimedia Commons. The sites to be visited include fashion designers, tie and dye makers, palm oil extraction sites, local pots and basin makers, thatch house makers, basket weavers, local decorators, honey extraction sites, hand weavers, yam barns, carpentry shops, and the Department of Fine and Applied Arts in UNN for creative artwork exploration.

2. How have you let relevant Wikimedia communities know about this proposal? I have posted a notification on the Wikimedia User Group Nigeria talk page. Here is the link: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_User_Group_Nigeria#Africa_Creates!_-_(Wiki_Loves_Africa_2024)

3. How will you let participants know about the edit-a-thon? In what ways will you be communicating with them?

Participants will be notified about the program through the University of Nigeria Wikimedia community forum, WhatsApp messenger and physical meetings/invitations and group invitations to different departments within the University of Nigeria, Nsukka community.

4. Do you have experienced Wikimedia editors to lead the event?
Yes, I do have experienced Wikimedians to help facilitate the event alongside my humble self User:Baruch Omale. They include among others;

User:Ngozi osadebe
User:Ugoji.john
User:Bidemi Bernice
5. Do participants have the equipment or skills needed to participate and contribute high quality content? If not, how will you support them?

The major equipment needed for this project are; laptop computers, wifi routers, power source and projectors. We intend hiring these items from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka ICT centre during the physical event. Most of the participants have personal computers to continue working with after the training days. As regarding skills, the community is endowed with an array of experienced editors who can easily carry the new editors along.

6. How will you engage participants after the event(s)?

Follow-up sessions will be held online via WhatsApp where we will have continuous engagements to provide assistance to participants and also to share vital help tips.

7. Is there anything else you want to tell us about this project?

The "Africa Creates" project offers a unique opportunity to celebrate Africa's cultural richness and diversity on Wikimedia Commons through the contribution of media content showcasing the continent's creativity. By highlighting the theme of creation, this initiative not only enriches Wikimedia's coverage of African topics but also fosters a greater sense of cultural appreciation and understanding worldwide. Through the sharing of photos, audio recordings, and videos, contributors have the chance to promote African heritage, traditions, and landscapes, ultimately creating a more comprehensive and inclusive representation of Africa on one of the world's largest online knowledge platforms.

Impact

How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals?

1. Number of participants - 30
2. Number of new editors - 15
3. Number of media files uploaded - 90

Metrics tracking

How do you plan to track your project metrics? The metrics dashboard will be used to track the activities.

Resources

The project is being organized by User:Baruch Omale with the support of the experienced team at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka led by Dr. Ngozi Osadebe. The team will source for appropriate venue for the project and also facilitate all the logistics involved for the smooth execution of the event. The experienced team of editors in the community will serve as facilitators for the event to help educate participants on how to make uploads, add proper categories, convert audio and video file to formats accepted on Wikimedia Commons.

There is no support from any quarter regarding this project, which is a major reason we are soliciting the support of Wikimedia User Group Nigeria to help fund the project. What resources do you need? The following items will be needed for the smooth execution of the project;

• Hire of 2 Eighteen seater buses for field trip at #54,000 each #108,000
• Event venue rent - # 20,000
• Projector rentage charge - # 10,000
• Generating set rentage - # 20,000
• Fuel (15 litres) - # 10,500
• Data cost (#1,500 for 30 participants) - # 45,000
• Flex banners (2 copies) - # 24,000
• Flex banner design charge - # 5,000
• Lunch for 30 persons at #1,500 per person per day - #90,000
• Bottled water (5 packs at #1,400 each) - #7,000
• Prizes for top participants - #30,000
• Local transportation cost - #5,000
• Total - #374,500

Endorsements

Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!

• As an advocate for cultural diversity and knowledge sharing, I am thrilled to endorse the "Africa Creates" project. This initiative offers a valuable opportunity to celebrate Africa's vibrant heritage and creativity on Wikimedia, ensuring that its rich cultural tapestry is more accurately represented and appreciated worldwide. I am also confident in the ability of User:Baruch Omale to efficiently lead and execute the project with the support of other community members. Bidemi Bernice (talk) 21:03, 9 March 2024 (UTC)
• I approve of this proposal. Baruch has been an active participant in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka Wikimedia community. I am giving my full support to the program. Ugoji.john (talk) 00:54, 15 March 2024 (UTC)

• Full support. This is a poject of Wikimedia Community, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). The community has capable hands to execute the project. The project Leader User: Baruch Omale has been an activite participant and facilitator in UNN Wikimedia projects since 2022..Ngozi osadebe (talk) 18:55, 16 March 2024 (UTC)