Wikipedia:WikiAfrica/Workshops

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
The workshop will take place in the city centre of Mantua, via Fernelli. The building can host around 50 people.

Duration and Days
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
According to the people we contacted, we started organising the workshops in 5 thematic working groups:
 * 1) literature and oral narratives in Africa
 * 2) art literature writing
 * 3) Wikipedia, Africa, WikiAfrica
 * 4) 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
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
How the WikiAfrica Workshops work

Photos

 * Photos by Lucio Lazzara, Zetalab
 * The archives of lettera27 on Flickr

Related articles

 * WikiAfrica Workshop