Is agriculture must have Wikipedia Zero content for Africa?

Submitted by Gerard Meijssen on 29 April, 2012 - 00:12

FarmAfripedia is a project about the best farming practices in Africa. Great information that needs to find its way to African farmers. The project is using the same collaboration model as Wikipedia.

 

The project did get the attention of the FAO in one of its newsletters. One of the issues for content for Africa is getting it to the people who have use for it. They do not all speak English and increasingly they have a mobile.

 

 

When there is a demand for agricultural information, when people spend time creating projects like FarmAfripedia, it would be great to have much of this information within the Wikimedia Foundation, particularly in Wikipedia. An important consideration will be that many Africans may receive this information free of charge thanks to Wikipedia Zero.

 

Providing agricultural knowledge in an encyclopaedic setting in one of the native languages of Africa is an ambition that can easily be realised. People with such an ambition will find that it is not that hard to get a Wikipedia in new languages approved. As there is not that much information in native languages available, such an initiative has great potential.

Thanks,

       GerardM

 

PS this was first published on my blog.

The Story of Kamusi Project's New Logo

Submitted by Martin Benjamin on 13 April, 2010 - 16:52

I am enormously pleased to officially unveil the new logo for the Kamusi Project.

Kamusi Project LogoThis logo has been a very long time in the making. Ideas have been floating around for at least two years, while we've also been busy arranging the future of the Kamusi Project as an independent organization dedicated to African language resources. (If you like the logo, you can support Kamusi's future by purchasing gear featuring the new artwork.)

We did not start out with a firm idea of what we wanted in a logo, other than the main requirements that the logo should:
1) convey the notion of language
2) convey a positive image related to Africa, without resorting to archaic stereotypes
3) be scalable, from a very small graphic all the way to something that would look good on a t-shirt or poster
4) contain "kamusi project" or "kamusi.org" within the graphic design

African language locales: Call for Volunteers

Submitted by Tobias Eigen on 28 October, 2008 - 23:19

I received this message from Don Osborn via the AFRIK-IT list. If you are interested in making computers work in your own African language and have a few hours of time to spare, then get involved in the 100 African Languages Locales initiative!  (Wondering what a locale is? Click here for wikipedia description.)

100 African Language Locales
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: african language)

Aseto World Languages Project: PEOPLES, THEIR LANGUAGES AND THEIR LANDS

Submitted by Jare Ajayi on 24 October, 2008 - 04:29

(French, Yoruba, Hausa versions below) Beside the physique, Language is the most outstanding of the features that distinguishes homo sapiens from other creatures.

Through language, human beings communicate with one another - and even with their creator. Through it, they bring meaning into their life and beautify their environment.

The phrase, In the Beginning there was Word, God was the Word expressed in diverse ways by various scriptures underlines the primacy of the tongue as far as existence is concerned. Words, needless to reiterate are bricks with which a language is structured, expressed and made meaningful.

Call to Africans: Take possession of Wikipedia

Submitted by Tobias Eigen on 13 May, 2008 - 17:42

I received the following appeal to Kabissa members to take ownership of the "African Wikipedia" from Gerard Meijssen, via the AfrophoneWikis discussion list. In it, Gerard provides a useful background explanation of the Wikipedia project, the free and open source software it runs on and how it is (and could be) utilized in Africa. In particular, note there is a bounty available for localisation of the Wikimedia software platform into African languages. There are many opportunities for Africans to take ownership of Wikipedia by building up content in their own languages as well as knowledge from their local communities that they know best.

TalkaSoft - Keeping Nigerian languages alive online

Submitted by Sokari Ekine on 5 May, 2008 - 19:32

Africa is blessed with hundreds of languages (Nigeria alone has about 300 - not dialects but languages).  With the ever expanding use of the internet and other media and use of Western languages, many of our indigenous languages are in danger of being lost forever.  

TalkaSoft - Soro is a Nigerian initiative consisting of software which simultaneously translates from English into Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa.

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