Discussions/Submissions/Reaching new readers in the Global South - a proposal by WMF’s Global Reach team

From Wikimania 2016 • Esino Lario, Italy

Reaching new readers in the Global South - a proposal by WMF’s Global Reach team

Title: Reaching new readers in the Global South - a proposal by WMF’s Global Reach team

Proposed by WMF's Global Reach team. Presented by Jorge Vargas (WMF) & Jack Rabah (WMF)

Description Wikimedia projects are stronger in parts of the world with regular and affordable internet access, large digitally literate population, and existence of significant content in their local languages, among other things. How can we make the Wikimedia projects stronger in parts of the globe where people face complex barriers to access knowledge? How can we raise awareness of the existence of Wikimedia projects in these communities?

This conversation will provide a platform for community members and Wikimedia staff to discuss the best ways to tackle this difficult problem, and to discuss ideas and efforts currently being planned by the WMF's Global Reach team.

Purpose The purpose of this discussion is to present the strategy being lead by the Global Reach team of WMF, to reach new readers in the Global South. Specifically, the presenters will cover the different types of partnerships being explored, planned, and deployed in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. We hope to obtain feedback from the participants, and work together on identifying the best ways to raise awareness and increase readership of WIkimedia projects in these parts of the world.

Targeted participants All are welcome. We encourage participation of Global South representatives.

Preparatory materials None

Questions and Comments 41

  • Hi Jorge & Jack, thank you for your proposal. Please note that this is a discussion so there is no room for any presentations. Do you know of any other Global South-related events at this Wikimania? Also, I would like to disclose a conflict of interest: I am a former colleague and friend of Jorge's. Thanks, --Gnom (talk) 13:17, 17 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This proposal overlaps with the proposal "Wikipedia in the Global South the way forward". --Gnom (talk) 13:17, 17 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • @JVargas (WMF): @JRabah (WMF): I would be in favour of having one good discussion about editing from the global south / systemic bias from the global south, but I'm afraid that a presentation like the one you propose would be out of scope. For now, I would propose not to schedule this particular topic but rather focus on the other one linked by Gnom and making that into an awesome discussion. Effeietsanders (talk) 13:37, 22 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Hi User:Gnom and User:Effeietsanders! Thank you so much for your comments, and apologies for the delay in replying. We would like to provide clarification around our proposal and explain why we would like to keep our discussion, instead of merging it with "Wikipedia in the Global South the way forward".
* Our submission does not overlap with the mentioned proposal. Our focus is on expanding Wikipedia readership at scale by addressing access and awareness, whereas editorship seems to be the focus of the other submission. We understand that readership has an impact on editorship because a subset of new readers will eventually become editors, but our talk doesn’t address specific editorship challenges.
* We believe it is critical for the Wikimedia movement to expand our reach in developing countries and hence our discussion regarding how to do this is an important topic to be addressed with Wikimania participants.
*Our plan is not to make a presentation (although we see why the submission seems to be read that way), but rather start the discussion on readership and awareness. We will be sharing survey results we've been gathering, and discussing the strategies to increase readership in specific emerging countries.
*We also want to highlight that it is important to have more than one discussion regarding developing countries during Wikimania, considering it's a very relevant topic for our movement, and one that requires more attention than what it has received in the past.
We hope we have answered your questions, and that you support our submission! Let us know if we can clarify any further. Regards, --JVargas (WMF) (talk) 04:30, 2 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Jorge, thank you for your comments. We have in fact decided to merge the two discussions and we hope you will find a way to make room for both aspects of the topic in the discussion. The description is still up for changes which you should discuss with User:Anthere. --Gnom (talk) 20:55, 2 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, unfortunately, we have received many proposals and we have only a limited number of slots. Please see here. Two slots is not an option. I think it would be a good idea to discuss with the other "owners" of that slot to see how to best organize the time available. The answer may be to have first a global introduction then to shift into two groups in the same room if that is the best option. Or maybe the other "owners" are interested by your approach and willing to clarify their own input in that direction. Please talk together (=have a drink together before the event ? In any cases, I think we already planned that more or less... ) @Rberchie:, @Islahaddow:, @JVargas (WMF): & @JRabah (WMF):