Wikipedia:Meetup/NYC/AfroCrowd/About

Afro Free Culture Crowdsourcing Wikimedia (AfroCROWD) is an initiative which seeks to increase awareness and the number of people of African descent who actively partake in the Wikimedia and free knowledge, culture and software movements. Since its launch during Black Wiki History Month in 2015, AfroCROWD has sensitized thousands in its target audience about free culture crowdsourcing and the need to close the multicultural and gender gaps in Wikipedia. AfroCROWD has also held monthly multilingual editathons in partnership with cultural institutions such as the Brooklyn Public Library, the Studio Museum in Harlem, Museum of Modern Art, the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) and Haiti Cultural Exchange. AfroCROWD has also trained future trainers in the target community.

The editathon events will take into account that many Afrodescendant groups in the United States might find that access to Wikipedia’s multilingual crowdsourcing platform can help them transfer free knowledge to populations of African descent outside of the United States that they are connected to through origin or direct familial bonds. Multilingual Afrodescendants may also want to use such platforms to develop and maintain online bodies of relevant knowledge in native languages such as Garifuna, Haitian Kreyòl, Igbo, Bozal Spanish, Twi or Yoruba, thereby contributing to the survival of -- and increasing their proficiency in -- those languages while also feeling more culturally grounded.

AfroCROWD

 * AfroCROWD website
 * AfroCROWD on Facebook
 * AfroCROWD on Twitter
 * AfroCROWD on YouTube

AfroCROWD contacts

 * AfroCROWD Founder: Alice Backer – Wikipedia User Name: ; Email: alice AT afrocrowd.org
 * AfroCROWD Project Manager: Sherry Antoine – Email: sherry AT afrocrowd.org

General metrics

 * Number of events to date: 9
 * Additional events participated in: 8
 * Gender imbalance: 50% female (so no imbalance)
 * Number of participants: TBD
 * Number of articles improved: TBD
 * Number of articles created: TBD
 * Courses: 3
 * Race, Ethnicity, Class in Media @ WikiEdu - The New School
 * Haitian Creole in Context @ WikiEdu - New York University
 * HipHop Music Culture @ WikiEdu - University at Albany, SUNY

Outreach partners

 * Afridiaspora
 * Afrolatin@ Project / Proyecto Afrolatin@
 * Black, Brown & Digital
 * Black Lunch Table
 * Brooklyn Public Library
 * Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI)
 * DAWN (Diaspora African Women's Network)
 * Garifuna Nation - Teofilo Colón Jr.
 * Haiti Cultural Exchange
 * The Haitian Creole Language Institute of New York
 * Queens Public Library
 * Museum of Modern Art
 * Negra Cubana Tenía Que Ser - Sandra Abd´Allah-Alvarez Ramírez
 * Port Académie
 * Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
 * Studio Museum in Harlem
 * TrendyTripping.com
 * Yoruba Cultural Institute
 * Wiki Education Foundation
 * Wikimedia NYC

Other resources

 * KiskeáCity
 * #HaitianBloggers
 * Internet Sans Frontières

Funding
Wikimedia Project and Event Grants (PEG)
 * Outreach to Afrodescendant community in US (February 1, 2015-June 30, 2015)
 * Empowering Afrodescendant women in Wikipedia (July 1, 2015-December 31, 2015)

Technical assistance
Thanks to Milos Rancic and Wikipedia: Meetup/Serbia for assistance with the AfroCROWD website!

WikiProjects

 * WikiAfrica
 * WikiProject African Diaspora
 * Afripédia (French)
 * WikiProject Haiti
 * Haïti Portail (French)

Other initiatives

 * World Afropedia
 * Afropedea