WikiIndaba conference 2019/Submissions/Public Policy for Wikimedia in Africa: Who, what, where, and how?
 | This is an  Accepted submission for WikiIndaba conference 2019 that has been reviewed by the members of the Program Committee and accepted into the conference program |
- Submission no. 033
- Title of the submission
Public Policy for Wikimedia in Africa: Who, what, where, and how?
- Type of submission (lecture, panel, tutorial/workshop, roundtable discussion, lightning talk, birds of a feather discussion)
lecture (with extended discussion)
- Author of the submission
Jan Gerlach (Wikimedia Foundation)
- Language of presentation
English
- E-mail address
jgerlach
wikimedia.org
- Username
JGerlach (WMF)
- Country of origin
Switzerland
- Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.)
Wikimedia Foundation
- Personal homepage or blog
- Abstract (up to 300 words to describe your proposal)
The Wikimedia Foundation’s Policy team works on public policy issues across the globe, advocating for laws and regulations that promote the open internet and improve access to knowledge. Wikipedia flourishes when public policy allows editors to freely research and contribute. In the context of the African continent, we are observing an increasingly active policy landscape for the Wikimedia movement. Opportunities and challenges present themselves across many fields of public policy. For instance, copyright reform is on the agenda in several African countries. At the same time, there are worrisome signs of growing censorship efforts in the region and legislative initiatives that would make it harder to access information online.
In the first part of this lecture (20 minutes), we will briefly outline the main policy areas for Wikimedia, including: access to knowledge, privacy, intermediary liability, censorship, and copyright. Within these areas, we will discuss examples of advocacy efforts we’ve made in other regions. These examples will serve several purposes:
- -To help illustrate the types of laws which can affect the Wikimedia movement (both positively and adversely!)
- -To illustrate the types of activities that individuals, user groups, and chapters can engage in to influence policy in their own countries and regions
- -To show how the Wikimedia Foundation policy team can assist those efforts
The second part of the session (35 minutes) will be an extended discussion with the participants in which they Policy Team will answer questions about the Foundation’s public policy work and - with the audience - identify policy priorities in Africa. We seek to learn from Wikipedians about the public policy issues they most care about, any they are currently working on, and any trends they see happening in their country/region.
- What will attendees take away from this session?
Attendees should be able to walk away from this session with:
- -A grasp of the policy priorities for the Wikimedia movement and Foundation policy team
- -Examples of how the policy team can help individuals, user groups, or chapters with their policy goals
- -Contact methods for the public policy team
- -Connections with other Wikimedians interested and engaged in policy
- -Greater confidence in identifying and engaging with policy topics related to the Wikimedia movement
- Theme of presentation
Legal & Free Culture
- For workshops and discussions, what level is the intended audience?
- Length of session (if other than 25 minutes, specify how long)
55 minutes
- Will you attend WikiIndaba if your submission is not accepted?
yes
- Slides or further information (optional)
We publish blog posts about our public policy efforts for Wikimedia at https://wikimediafoundation.org/category/foundation/legal/
- Special requests
- Is this Submission a Draft or Final?
final
Interested attendees[edit]
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