Wikipedia:WikiAfrica/Workshops
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In conjunction with the Festivaletteratura of Mantua, the lettera27 Foundation is organizing a series of workshops that will contribute new African entries to Wikipedia, providing a concrete and fully visible view of the operation of the Internet's best known encyclopedia: meetings and discussions involving various authors will create, on-site and in real time, new online articles in WikiAfrica.
The workshops will produce new Wikipedia content through a collaborative writing process that will take place both on- and off-line. Two keynote speakers will introduce a topic, the participants will contribute to the fine-tuning and improvement of the various entries, and a Wikipedia administrator will provide information concerning the formatting and rules of Wiki projects; the lettera27 editors will upload the contents, putting them online in real time, while a camerman will film the event as it unfolds.
WikiAfrica Mantua is intended as a space in which to explore in depth the themes and narrative forms of Africa's cultural production (focusing on literature, the visual arts, boundaries, and the oral tradition) as well as a forum, naturally enough, for a discussion of Wikipedia's controversial encyclopedism.
The workshops will be held in Mantua from September 7th to 9th, 2007, and will be part of WikiAfrica, a project intended to help "Africanize" Wikipedia.
Location[edit]
The workshop will take place in the city centre of Mantua, via Fernelli. The building can host around 50 people.
Duration and Days[edit]
Each workshop will last around 2 hours. The workshops will take place from Friday the 7th to Sunday the 9th of September.
- Friday the 7th, 15.00-17.00h: Wikiafrica:Mantova 2007/Letteratura e Oralità
- Saturday the 8th, 11.00-13.00h: Wikiafrica:Mantova 2007/Arte
- Saturday the 8th, 17:30-19.30h: Wikiafrica:Mantova 2007/Connessioni
- Sunday the 9th, 11.00-13.00h: Wikiafrica:Mantova 2007/Confini
- Sunday the 9th, 15.00-17.00h: Wikiafrica:Mantova 2007/Progetto Confini
Thematic Working Groups[edit]
According to the people we contacted, we started organising the workshops in 5 thematic working groups:
- literature and oral narratives in Africa
- art literature writing
- Wikipedia, Africa, WikiAfrica
- boundaries: article and project
The idea is to link the participants in one or more thematic groups according to their interests. Each thematic group will produce a workshop, or eventually more if the working groups don't give rise to the same interest among the people contacted.
Structure of the Workshops[edit]
Each workshop will be implemented by a working group made of:
- keynote speaker 1: He/she selects the article or the articles of wikipedia which will become the focus of the workshop. He/she introduces the topic and gives the first impulse to the workshop. The keynote speaker will be asked to deliver a short paper before the workshop: the paper will be the starting point for the debate.
- keynote speaker 2: He/she works with the keynote speaker 1; he/she facilitates and supports the work and point of view of the keynote speaker 1.
- discussants: the active participants of the workshop contribute to the fine-tuning and improvement of the articles. They integrate/criticise/confirm the documentation and the arguments presented by the keynote speaker 1/2.
- Wikipedia administrator: he/she provides information concerning the formatting and rules of Wiki projects and he/she improves the editing of the articles.
- Co-ordinator L27: a promoter or expert of lettera27 Foundation. He/she introduces the workshop and the participants. He/she facilitates/stimulates the discussion and the debate
- Three Editors: three editors uploads the contents on Wikipedia, putting them online in real time. One editor uploads the contents of the keynote speakers; one the contents of the discussants; and one the contents of the Wikipedia administrator.
- A cameraman films the event as it unfolds.
Script[edit]
How the WikiAfrica Workshops work
