Grants:TPS/Pgallert/CaTaC 2016
This Wikimedia Participation Support request was funded in the fiscal year 2014-15. A report is available.
via oanda.com for 29 May 2016, submission date
15,927.46 ZAR
Proposed participation[edit]
I have an accepted full paper titled "Clash of Cultures, Clash of Values: Wikipedia and Indigenous Communities" for the 2016 Culture and Technology and Communication conference in London, hosted by the w:University or West London. As is customary with scientific conferences, the paper will be published only under the condition that one of the authors presents an overview of the results. I am the first author of this paper, meaning that I did the majority of research and writeup.
Goal and expected impact[edit]
The paper and the proposed talk is about cultural differences of a) Wikipedia's editor community and b) the w:OvaHerero, an indigenous community in Southern Africa. We demonstrate that there are certain values in both communities that are fundamentally different, for instance the importance of politeness, the trust towards written and oral knowledge repositories, or the question whether all community members are more or less equal.
The idea is that once Otjiherero Wikipedia exits the Incubator and becomes a stand-alone edition, different cultural expectations would result in different rules, more appropriate to the OvaHerero people, for instance a much stricter civility policy, acceptance or even enforcement of oral citations, and some version of pending changes where knowledge bearers rather than veteran editors approve the content on pages that are deemed crucial to local culture.
Presenting and publishing this new approach will result in a wider discussion about how to implement Wikipedia in a way that fits communities that currently are not participating in our projects.
Budget breakdown[edit]
I need an air ticket, the conference fee, and if possible some support with living expenses, which are astronomical compared to where I live:
- Return ticket Windhoek-London: about 1,000 USD
- Conference fee, Speaker Rate: 140 GBP
- Accommodation, food: unsure, is there a rate for this?
Other instructions[edit]
- I still have WMF money from this grant: Grants:PEG/Pgallert/Indigenous knowledge for Wikipedia workshop/Report
- Booking the flight from Windhoek is often more expensive than doing that from Europe or America. Some assistance from your side would be appreciated.
- I could not find accommodation at a reasonable price, recommendations from the conference web site start at 100 GBP per night. Any suggestions for budget accommodation?
Disclosure[edit]
This paper is part of my PhD work. This means that on top of my interests as Wiki[p|m]edia volunteer I have a private and professional advantage if you approve this. Moreover, the conference chair, Professor van der Velden, will be on the panel that assesses my thesis. Submitting the paper to this conference, and not to any other one, was done with the intention of meeting her.