Decolonise the Internet/Report

Decolonise the Internet

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Decolonizing the Internet, an initiatives to bridge the gender gap on the Internet

Scope & Summary

The Decolonise the Internet is a gender-focus initiative in partnership with the Goethe Institut to promote the participation of women in bridging the content gap about women on the internet and to increase the quality of women-related contents on Wikipedia. "During its inception, the internet was seen as a vital instrument for democracy and equality. In 2020, amidst a global pandemic and racial inequalities that are very much still alive, it is time to ask: Whose stories are told and who is telling these stories on the internet? And how do Artificial Intelligence, Algorithms and Bots shape our view of the world and perpetuate racisms? This is where the new Goethe-Institut project “Decolonise The Internet” sees its core. The Goethe-Institut’s “Decolonise the Internet” focuses on bridging the unequal representation of voices from the Global South on the internet and aims to increase awareness on how AI and algorithms might perpetuate racisms".

The project facilitated by the Goethe Institut, Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation Inc. in collaboration with the Yoruba Wikimedians User Group, Igbo Wikimedians User Group & Hausa Wikimedians User Group started on the 5th of September 2020. More than 100 females were trained on how to contribute to Wikipedia. The logistics supports were provided by the Goethe Institut. This was followed by a contest that resulted in the creation of over 1,500+ articles in English, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba language.

Organizing team and facilitators

SN	Name(s)	Designation	Role(s)
1.	Olaniyan Olushola	Chair, Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation Inc.	Project manager & volunteers coordinator
2.	Katja Katja Kellerer	Leitung Information und Bibliothek	Co-project manager (Administrative)
3.	Sam Oyeyele	Outreach coordinator, Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation Inc.	Community liaison, English Wikipedia Community
4.	Precious Tochi	Co-founder, Igbo Wikimedians User Group	Community liaison, Igbo Wikipedia Community
5.	Ammar	Co-Founder, Hausa Wikimedians User Group.	Community liaison, Hausa Wikipedia Community
6.	Dansu Peter Zuntepo	Co-Founder, Yoruba Wikimedians User Group.	Community liaison, Yoruba Wikipedia Community
7.	Ms. Olayinka Maja	Interim community liaison, Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation Inc.	Co-manager, Social media campaign
8.	Ayokanmi Oyeyemi	Head of photography, Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation	Database Manager
9.	Isaac Olatunde	Secretary, Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation Inc.	Juror (Yoruba Wikipedia)
10.	Oby Ezeilo	Co-Founder, Igbo Wikimedians User Group	Juror (Igbo)
11.	M. M ALiu	Co-founder, Hausa Wikimedians User Group	Juror (Hausa Wikipedia)
12.	Omolayo Ogunsiji	Executive director, Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation Inc.	Jury coordinator
13.	Medi Ashioma	Coordinator, Wikimedia Fan Club, Ekiti	Juror (English Wikipedia)
14.	Marvellous Osuolale	Former President, Wikimedia Fan Club, Lagos State University	Juror (English Wikipedia)

Project goal and measures of success

Project goal

Our specific goals for the project are to:

1. Improve the feasibility of Nigerian women
2. Bridge the gender gap on the internet and Wikipedia
3. Capacity building
4. Recruitment of female editora for Wikipedia

The secondary goals of the project are:

1. Build long-term networking, relationship and partnering opportunities with aligned organizations

We believed we achieved our project goals based on our reflections during and after the project, and the feedback from participants (see our evaluation feedback), facilitators, and partners.

General overview of activities

Area	Task (summarized)	end outcome
Project management	Project design	Complied
	action plan design, timeline design, management and milestones,
	Strategic and Wikimedia movement alignment evaluation
	Budget and actual cost overview
	Feasibility assessment & contigency plans
Volunteers management	Volunteers recruitment	Complied
	Communication
	Engagement
	Retention
	Tracking
Training mangement	Moderation strategy"	Complied
	Training material developent
	Training patform set up (Zoom pro)
	logistics and resources
	Participants confirmation and email reminder
	Communicating with participants
	Contents uploading
	Training delivery
	Tracking and assessing learner performance
Communication Management	Creation and maintenance of meta page	Complied
	Sending information and updates via mail to participants
	Creation and administration of communication platforms
	Respond to individual needs and requirements of participants and other stakeholders

Training sessions

Participants were trained by experienced Wikipedia editors from Nigeria. At least five (5) training were conducted from 28th of September 2020 - 27th of October 2020 and the following important topics and concept were covered;

1. Copyrights & Free license(s): Facilitated by User:Samatics & Isaac Olatunde, an experienced license reviewer at the Wikimedia Commons
2. Cheat Sheet of Wikipedia Editing: The session was facilitated by User:Jamie Tubers, an experienced Wikipedia editor at the English Wikipedia
3. Basic Wikipedia Editing and How to Cite a Wikipedia Article: Facilitated by User:Uzoma Ozurumba, an experienced editor from the Igbo Wikimedia Community
4. Work-Flow of Creating Wikipedia Page: Facilitated by Ayokanmi Oyeyemi, the regional Ambassador, 1L1B1REF Project
5. Translation to local language Wikipedia: Facilitated by User:Macdanpets & User:Olaniyan Olushola,

The sessions were moderated by Yinka Maja, and managed by Olaniyan Olushola.

Learning

• What worked well

1. Diversity of participants and trainers

Participants were selected following a call for participation. Over 300 people applied and over 70% of the selected participants were females from different language communities. This diversity of participants makes the training very interesting and also provide a platform for networking.

2. Diversity of trainers

The trainers were selected from four (4) language communities, Nigeria, English, Yoruba, Hausa & Igbo. The trainers were experienced members of the Wikimedia community with a track record of leading similar training in their respective communities. Many of the trainees are native speakers of the targeted languages (except English were the trainers speaks English near native level). This diversity of trainers really worked well during the training.

3. WhatsApp group for coordination

Identifying the easiest and cost-efficient means of coordination was challenging but the use of WhatsApp really worked well. It is easily accessible, cheap, and popular among the participants and trainers. It was easy for mentors to timely respond to questions from the participants and provide feedback on performance.

• What did not work so well

1. Internet connection

The Internet is a major problem in Africa. But we manage to provide at least two different internet network and that worked a bit fine for us.

2. Communication

The Wikimedia Nigeria Foundation Inc has partnered with the Goethe Instut on several projects that have solidified our relationship. Although, for this projects, there were lots of communication gap which really affected the project in some ways. Including inadequate communication about the judging criteria for the contest. We also had some misunderstanding around the social media campaign aspect of this project. This really worked well for the project but many thanks to Katja for her versatility and understanding.

• What we plan to do better in the future

When working on a similar project in the future, we will ensure to improve on our communication. We will ensure that important details are published or noted on the project page.

List of articles created by participants

Over 1500 biographies of notable women were created by the participants. Although, some of them need some improvement. The lists are published here

English

• 1st Place: Omoriodion1
• 2nd Place: SinatuOjikutu

Hausa

• 1st Place: Musa Vacho77
• 2nd Place:AbubakarGwanki

Yoruba

• 1st Place:Osenibabalola
• 2nd Place:Sowoleyin

Igbo

• 1st Place:Ceslause
• 2nd Place:Africanlibraraian