 Now, oh yeah, I hear myself. It is good Hello everyone. I will say it also Marhaba because I speak Arabic I'm glad that you are here. It's nice actually. We are kind of a small group because this session is Is about collaboration and I wanted to have this session as kind of a discussion and Finding out what everyone is doing and To have an idea how we can connect and work on the same sometimes ideas a lot of time I we found ourself in the foundation working with affiliates and different affiliates working on the same idea and Everyone have a different approach and every approach is good, but people don't know about it So I will start from the beginning. My name is Manar. I am from movement com foundation and I work in as a regional specialist for the Middle East and North Africa and This session is about collaboration And I would like to start it that everyone introduce themselves here where they come from and After we can start discussing the work that we are doing I will start with women first The right on the right sit on your right Yes, I'm proo from wicca media Australia. I just finished on the board there being involved with the ECAP region as it's developed and Definitely agree that lots of people across the world are doing the same thing at the same time And we're not learning and I'm a teacher. I like to learn and a librarian. So like Us to learn from each other and to document things in a way that others can find it Thank you. Hi, I'm Belinda. I'm also from wicca media Australia I'm a little newer to the movement. I know proo has extensive experience So I've been trying to learn from her, but I'm here to learn from other people and hear What's happening? What are you doing? Where are you doing similar things at the same time? I'm also have been on the ECAP interim hub Committee for the last eight nine months. So yeah, really interested in looking at what we can do regionally But also more globally as well. So thank you Hey y'all my name is Eric and I'm based in the United States New to the movement first wicca mania. So it's been really great and I work for a Profit in the United States we focus on Latinos in the US And we're looking to figure we did some research last year that showed that wicca pedia Not surprisingly is like the number one source for Latinos in the US But not many are involved in the movement. So we're very curious to you know Learn from others see what we can do and be part of the movement Yeah Thank you Cess loves and from wikimedia Nigeria project manager at wiki in Africa and Also the wikimedia and the residents for Africa knowledge initiative and Currently, I'm particularly interested in this discussion because I'm currently on the co-organizing team for the upcoming wikimedia youth conference So we actually need to know how to roping as many young people as possible To be able to join us. I was heartbroken when I met the guys from wikimedia ispania and They told me that They were or they are the last line of Wikimedia's in Spain They went up to five Just maybe three persons So of course, we'll be having the wikimedia youth conference in Spain To give them a lifeline, you know, because it would be depressing to know that a country like Spain with all that Heritage spread across doesn't have a wikimedia. So yeah, I'm glad to be here. Thanks Hello My name is Kosi. I'm from Indonesia My role in the movement is regional Grand Committee for Asia-Pregion Currently, I'm involving in Balinas wikimedia community, which is like why where I live now and I Also involved in wiki data Indonesia community. So Yes, this is also my first wikimedia. It's having great And I want to learn a lot from the other region because you know, I will Back to where I live and then share the knowledge from here. So yeah, thank you Thank you. So I'm Malton. I'm co-founder of being in user group. So right now I have two hats My volunteer heart and also working at the foundations and the movement communication. Yeah So I think we are doing a lot of things in our regions in our communities and we used to say don't reinvent the wheel So it's important that we share and see how we can, you know together Thank you That's a great if you didn't understand I can say she comes from Senegal and in Senegal They don't have a user group yet But this year they have done two activities and they are hoping with wiki mania to actually evolve their Activities and what they are doing. This is ensure. Yeah, I speak French as well. That's why So that's a great actually because we have is yeah, we have from United States. We have from the Middle East we have Africa and I think one of the things that is Significant in our work now is how to attract youth in our work And I think this is one of the issues that everyone in every region are Working on how to have more youth in the movement more involved When we see that the wiki median of the year actually is a so young it give us hope That was great to see so young Congratulations Indonesia for the work But I would like to see a Lot of user groups and affiliates working in different projects and there's education Glam and other projects and I would like to hear from you Everyone very short as well What are projects are you working on like a one main project and perhaps we can see here some Maybe with people working in the same project or the same idea or the same Frame of work and And experience it as I said this discussion is more about working together talking and I have Not bringing I'm bringing like facilitating this work together to learn because I think the needs No matter where in each region almost the same is we have young people to have more people involved in the movement and how to Convert people to be actually wiki medians Not just reading Wikipedia And also I think to attract people to other projects in wiki media and not just wikipedia, which is like the most famous one In a quick if we can say one project that main one you are working on and Perhaps we can find some share Ideas or projects together Please feel free to ask question each other if you have anything to ask if you want to ask more to learn more this is interactive session as I said and I'll be happy to give the mic to the person who would like to share An idea that are working on or maybe a problem they want to solve and maybe other regions already have faced this problem and they solved it so The other hat I wear is You know partnerships lead for Igbo wiki medians user group in Nigeria Currently in Nigeria we we are struggling with Policies so that's sort of Work us up about advocacy and how to go about it as of March 17th this year There is no more freedom of panorama in Nigeria Nobody was consulted Whereas we have a national orientation agency that should have done serious conversations with stakeholders But no, they didn't do that. They just you know Went to bed woke up the next morning made the announcement. We even you know acts around to know maybe some Copyright members of Nigerian bar association were Contacted us nobody had anything and then the lawmaker has just poof out of the blue Removed the freedom of panorama So for us we have decided To go, you know the other way like to circumnavigate because in in Nigeria It's not somewhere you could easily, you know engage the government heads on, you know, it could lose your head So we with that That we we became more creative. How do I mean? So I started working out a plan for my user group which we have also on proposed to other user groups in the region we go through partnerships with universities and Public educational institutions So the idea is to at least for us in Igbo which means is a group is to make sure we have a wiki fan club in any institution where Igbo language is being taught so That has worked so far. I've been able to secure about three partnerships this year with three public universities Each of them they give us a space with their Computers and all that maybe sometimes we get in internet by ourselves And sometimes we will buy diesel for the generator because we don't have constant electricity so But they they are open to you know help us engage their students and all that So but we've not told them our main objective yet, you know, you can't just tell them because it could throw them off Why because in somewhere like Africa they see the wiki as maybe it too You know that is against a lot of things governance this stands for But then they also appreciate its offering in terms of education and open knowledge So we going through these partnerships with the universities is for a long-term impact of being able To influence policies through these institutions Instead of let's say calling the lawmaker of my scenario district who might never give me an audience But these universities, they are the ones responsible for research that the government needs They are the ones responsible for making recommendations around education, for instance to the government and whatnot So we found out that it's easier Engaging them the last one we had at one of the a new federal universities in eastern Nigeria the vice chancellor was there and I I milked the opportunity I milked the opportunity to you know, tell him what we are about and They gave us a host a whole gallery for editing and now when they are working on making sure we have stable internet there So this is how we hope to you know climb that wall to where we can have Our say around policies through these public institutions and it's working so far. Thank you That's a great. I think One of the things most of user groups work with as the universities and I would like to hear from others If you are working with universities and how is that experience for you? I can tell in the Middle East is working very successfully for example in Palestine most of the activities are happening in universities because there we can find the public to Attract young people as there is no other frames also for young people to be in no centers or other things like that So I would love to hear if someone else have an experience with universities and how did started in Australia We have pretty much just completed a project. In fact, it's my colleagues Project so I'm going to steal his ideas and explain them here. Hopefully he doesn't mind he found I Think we fought especially linking back to youth and young people It needs to be something that appeals to their interests. So James did a music project Which he pretty much started on his own and did an internship At the Australian performing arts centre and has done some Wikipedia page like me but that has slowly grown over 18 months or so and just recently we were contacted by a university in Sydney who University of Sydney and the University of Technology Sydney Who have seen the results of his work and the music project and they wanted to Create a club for students that we haven't quite created the club yet, but we did do one edit-a-thon They also had the idea that to appeal to people edit-a-thon is not a great word It makes people think they're sitting typing for 24 hours and they wanted to challenge misinformation and have something where they could say we have Made an impact so they changed the name to the music correct-a-thon And had some lecturers come in and some a few students, but we're hoping that in time this will grow So they we ran a workshop taught how to edit Wikipedia pages Talked about uploading images talked about copyright And we're hoping that this will slowly now grow into They're going to call it. I think the record correctors Club so we think we're hoping that the lecturers have also said they have many students who'll be interested in this And we're hoping that that will be one way we can gather all sort of gain interest from younger people To join but it is something that we are looking at in Australia. I feel like we also have an issue with editor retention It's strange we have seen some stats recently where Australia has very high editor rate But they don't really engage as a community and not teaching young people not Passing on the information to future generations. So if we want a sustainable movement We need to be training more young people to come through Otherwise will be in the same situation as Spain where gradually gradually people are you know leaving or Moving away from the movement and there won't be people coming through to replace them So, yeah, I think I think there's something in is there an aspect that appeals to young people. Is it music? Is it their own culture? Is it language? What is what are the things that interest young people to get their attention? And then slowly build on their interest So that's just a quick snapshot from Australia something. We're still working on but yeah Anyone else would like to share what they're doing with youth So wiki in Africa Of course, it's South African NGO, but then we have this project that we call Wiki challenge a quarter week So currently we run it in about nine francophone countries So what we do on the project is we teach nine to 13 year olds How to contribute to Vicky dear Vicky dear is the kiddies version of Wikipedia So we've been doing this project with foundation orange for some years now and I joined wiki in Africa in 2021 and it's been massive success, but then it got to a stage. I felt like Is this only good for francophone kids? How about anglophone African kids and I was able to convince my boss to you know, see the value and Currently we are trying to curate the projects in the English-speaking region of Africa So What do we aim to achieve with that now those kids Would probably be in their what? 2025 within the next few years but then They already know how the encyclopedia works Because it's a contest, right? It's a writing contest. These kids are being put in groups To write articles about anything that fascinates them just like you mentioned some write about food Local cuisine some culture masquerade dance and all that and we also let them take pictures to attach to the articles and This kid this kids will blow your mind if you go through vikidia for French They will blow your mind You know, they have this wow the imagination, you know, and we we saw that reflected on the winning articles from over the years so By engaging these kids we've engaged a lot of schools you know a lot of secondary schools and This is something I feel that maybe, you know people that are aiming to get young people involved should also think about why because The the the benefit might not be imminent, you know But then within the next five years you already have like for Tunisia for instance those that were involved since 2018 are now showing up To be part of the activities happening across Tunisia Some would join the people going on photo work and all that So it's like an investment for the future Thank you. Okay. Merci donc Moi je suis à la base bibliothécaire et du coup L'os qu'on a appris à contribuer sur wikipedia ou à organiser des événements en cd. Oui Il faut vrai qu'on implique notre environnement le plus proche parfois ils répondent mais après ils ne continuent pas par contribuer alors que nous nous voulons créer une communauté justement avec les professionnels de l'information documentaire parce que justement ils travaillent dans des institutions où ils ont des sources ils ont beaucoup d'informations à mettre sur wiki ou wiki data en particulier donc peut-être que certains parmi vous travaille avec une communauté très proche et qu'ils arrivent à les fidéliser et vous pouvez partager avec nous aussi comment vous le faites pour qu'au retour on puisse Implanter vos stratégies et avoir des résultats aussi Okay, so I will translate So she's a librarian and she said That they used to do many activities and there are a lot of participants but what they observe and I Is that after the workshop people don't continue editing They also try to have partnership with information professionals So that they can put all the references so see they have on wiki project so about Editor retention she want to know what are your tips how do you deal with this in your community so She she expect to to learn from your from your experience and then to implement when she'll be back I think it's great because we started with universities We also touched the nine to thirteen years old kids We also talked about editing retentions, which is are the main things actually that we are facing as a challenges in the movement Eric you would like to add something or you would like to add something in this topic as well before we start tackling actually the question of how we can Succeed to track people and keep the editing retention. How we do that? Okay, I will share the wiki media movement within my country, which is Indonesia Usually we have community based on Where we live the place and then changes community based on language And then wiki data come in wiki source come in and then community based on thematic But now yeah, it is I think it is a trend last year we have like Community based on university. So yeah, it's gonna be For the university people and then I will share What I work in the regional grant committee I think two or three couples mango I review the proposal there's not The the target for the proposal is not really writing in the proposal, but after the feedback they They give me Explanation that this program will be Collaboration with the university. So yeah, I think it is good to know that People is aware for the editor attention and yes, they know how to do it And yes, it is a trend to collaborate with the formal education Can I just finish off ask the question about? The nine to 13 year old so when you went to English speaking is that right or to an African language which The French yes, but now you've broadened So now we want to move Yes, I'll be running both at once It could be anywhere it could be anywhere, but then the aim right is to you know foster digital inclusion in rural areas the the the schools we engage schools in rural areas where there are no electricity and No internet. So exactly. So we use a wiki fund it which is a software developed by wiki in Africa For offline editing and then we support that with power banks, you know I do, you know, it's it's very ideal in someone like Indonesia and Was his name this guy from a wiki project made from Canada? I've got his name. So he's doing something in it's called internet in a box. Yes. Thank you. Thank you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. So that's You know a project that could benefit rural areas, you know in Australia, maybe the Aborigines areas and things like that We do but we minimize the travel. So this is how it works we have wiki media networks in Most African countries So what we do is we get the wiki millions to train the teachers Right and then the wiki million and the teachers would you know sort of help the students through the whole thing and then maybe when it's a prize-giving or award-giving we go to the school of Maybe the winners, you know to give the award because we have international winners. We have national winners think National international winners get like 5,000 euros and then that could be given in kind by orange foundation to You know, it's not given to the school principle and anybody if they need to paint or equip a library The money goes straight It serves a need for the school This is really great. I think it's really great to hear this. I know that the wikipedia and Tunisia I already saw some with a Habib and he showed me and I was like Fascinated and I hope it will arrive also one day to Arabic wikipedia Yeah, and but The question of editing retention if someone here Have some magic answer for it So There is something we do Okay Okay Okay, cool just for the interest then to put it ready makes it so When we activate a wiki fan club What we do is to try to make the session as engaging as possible by Perhaps showing them the basics. It could be translations across wikipedia and get them to do it hands-on right after that We of course gather the attendees on a was a platform Or could be telegram anyone you want and then then the following week We already have them Experiencing a new project could be a dictionary Could be wiki code. So the plan is to use the next two months To show them various projects that could be of interest to various persons there You might not retain everybody But you could get five or ten persons who could tell you oh, I love taking pictures I love wiki media commons. Oh, oh, I love You know structured data. I think I love wiki data and someone will tell you oh, I love Wiktionary I love wiki codes. So by you know introducing them to various projects within the shortest time possible It doesn't have to be two months. You can make it three months or four months, but use that time to Spore them with choices That's the word, you know spoil them and by the time you've shown them like three to four or five wiki media projects These guys would naturally Select the ones they love most So we've been doing this and now not only do we have the you know general Igbo wiki media platform Which is more like language based community? We have Igbo wiki medians commons club For those who love what? Photography and videography is offering on wiki media commons. We also have Igbo wiki media librarians club for librarians now we also have wiki data club for Igbo wiki medians and Trust me. We are the only user group in Nigeria where you see those who speak Igbo and Those who don't but they are part and parcel of the community and they contribute one way or the other Take for instance, those who love taking pictures and uploading to commons They perhaps would upload that and tell somebody oh, could you please help me put this caption in Igbo and that works So by the time you span their experience within the next three four months You would have shown them What there is you know beyond let's say wiki pedia and for me when I joined I Thought wiki pedia would be my first love But no, I love Wixionary and wiki code now More than I love wiki pedia. In fact, I've not gone to wiki pedia in a long while So that's it have a program that could show them our Projects within the next three to four months and with that definitely you cannot retain everybody When we had the last activation at the last um, Federal University in Nigeria, we had 84 people in attendance 54 on the WhatsApp platform and Now we've done training two training sessions wiki code wixionary, I think 25 consistently showed up So you see from 84 Down to 25 who are active now, of course, we're helping them out with a micro grant For maybe the next two months. So let's see if out of the 25 maybe What 15 could be much more consistent? So that's how it goes within the shortest span of time show them what the wiki projects have to offer. Thank you So can I just make a comment? We are running out of time already Okay, so let's make a wrap up and continue the discussions during the lunch So everyone you see I think ideas and discussion like that really need more time Thank you everyone for attending. I hope this was a little bit helpful and give you some ideas of things to do and The idea is actually when this session is finished the work starts. So which means like I would appreciate I mean if you talk to each other learn from each other share the ideas what you do I mean we shared a bit here and I think there is more to share that will be great Thanks. Thank you enough for putting this kind of session on because I think it's so important to have discussion and not just listening One thing we can do is have this online ongoing. I know time difference is not time zone is a problem But capacity building for organisers for libraries particularly the user group has not done anything online for two years and we need to change that So the libraries will start but I think for editor attention for Programs with primary school secondary school universities would be great. Thanks That's a good idea. We'll work on it. Maybe we'll have it soon to do something collaboration lab collaboration online once maybe every two months So we can have people from all around maybe to come in and talk about what they are doing and see As we said it's editing retention is collaboration retention. We'll see how many people are learning Exactly that's the whole idea from this is to connect. Thank you everyone. Thank you