2019:Languages/Luganda Wikipedia
 | This is an Accepted submission for the Languages space at Wikimania 2019. |
Description
editThe Luganda Wikipedia project was created in 2014 as a collaborative project with WWF and Wikimedia Sweden, together with our contacts in Uganda who made it all possible. Two Wikipedia ambassadors, me Paulina and Caroline, were educated to be able to teach students, farmers, journalists and teachers in and around Uganda's capital Kampala how to write articles and use Wikipedia for gaining knowledge on sustainable development. Further, we developed the already existing however very tiny Luganda Wikipedia, where a few articles could be found. Luganda is a language in the Buganda kingdom in Uganda, spoken by over 6 million people. It's a Bantu language. We also created and developed the first known "Wikipedia centre" in Uganda (perhaps maybe in the whole of Africa) in the small village Mbazzi with solar computers, solar energy and a sponsored Wifi router from the network com pany Orange.
Relationship to the theme
editThis session will address the conference theme — Wikimedia, Free Knowledge and the Sustainable Development Goals — in the following manner:
In this submission you can relate a handful of the 17 SDGs to our project, such as goal 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13. The submission relates especially to "4. Quality education" and "9. Industry, innovation and infrastructure" as the Luganda Wikipedia project is an outcome of an idea about sharing quality education through the local language Luganda in major and small communities and channels, as well as it stands for creativity and innovation. Without creativity this project wouldn't be reality. We believe that Wikipedia might be one of the best channels to gain and share knowledge today. If we want to use Wikipedia in that consent, we need to start focusing on the minor, and sometimes larger, languages around the globe. In the village of Mbazzi many, to not say all, villagers did not speak any English, but only Luganda. Their only way to share their knowledge to the rest of the Wikipedia community was therefore to learn and start writing articles in their own language.
Session outcomes
editAt the end of the session, the following will have been achieved: A bigger understanding for how to use Wikipedia as a tool to share knowledge among small and minor languages around the world on knowledge about sustainable development. Further discussions on how to continue the project in other countries and communities.
Session leader(s)
editPaulina Bäckström
Caroline Gunnarsson
Dan Frendin
Paul Kiguba
Session type
editEach Space at Wikimania 2019 will have specific format requests. The program design prioritises submissions which are future-oriented and directly engage the audience. The format of this submission is a: Lecture
- Lightning talk
- Computer-based training
- Discussion-based training
- Workshop to identify and try to solve problem
- Roundtable discussion forum
- Panel with audience Question & Answer session
- Lecture
- Other
Requirements
editThe session will work best with these conditions:
- Room: A big room with a projector and an opportunity to connect a laptop.
- Audience: Anyone interested is welcome!
- Recording: Sharable on the internet