Gun Wikimedians Working Group/2022 Activity Report

Background

The Wikimedia Foundation has actively engaged people around the world and empowered them to collect and develop educational materials that will be shared effectively under a free license. Therefore, Gun Wikimedians Working Group is an organized body designed to develop, preserve, and promote Ogu/Gun language through the Wikimedia project. The group was founded by twelve members who are Ogu/Gun speakers. However, our primary aim is to ensure strong support for documentation, create awareness for the gun language and the Ogu/Gun people on Wikipedia, and develop other Wikimedia projects. We believe this will contribute vigorously to building the world’s giant encyclopedia that everyone can access.

Key Activities

Celtic Knot Conference 2022

On the 1st and 2nd of July 2022, We organized two satellite events as part of the International Celtic Knot Conference 2022. More than 20 participants attended the event and about eight new editors were recruited and retained. The event was held at Ayudos Hotel and Suites, Ajara, Badagry Lagos State. We are happy with the result of the events, because, it boosted our profile, and also gave us a chance to establish the Databox on guw.wikipedia.org. The following activities were organized as part of the conference.

Agenda of the event

Welcoming and introduction of participants to the Celtic Knot Conference including the goals of the conference
Review of the current state of Gungbe Wikipedia
Watching various sessions of the conference
Creation of Wikipedia accounts for participants
Training of participants
Socializing and networking

Wikimania 2022

The Wikimania is an annual conference organized by volunteers and proudly supported by Wikimedia Foundation. However, as a new working group of volunteers, passionate about contributing to Wikipedia to achieve the call to bring free knowledge to all, On august 11th to 14th 2022, our community members joined other wikimedians online for Wikimania 2022 the largest Wikimedia conference.

We appreciate the importance of the event. Yemi Festus/User:Yemi festus project lead of the working group was part of the volunteer moderators of the event. While sharing his experience with the community members, working with other volunteers was a memorable experience for him. The Wikimania 2022 was likewise a great opportunity for us to learn new things about the Wikimedia projects and meet with Wikimedians around the world.

Post-Wikimania

Gun Wikimedians Working Group in collaboration with Be A Boss Africa (BABA) organized a post-Wikimania event on the 27th of August 2022, the idea was to train and recruit new members into the group. The partnership was facilitated through Fagbeji Kehinde/User:Fagbeji kehinde our partnership manager. Be A Boss Africa is an initiative engaging young minds in Africa through capacity building.

The post-Wikimania was held online, with training and meet-up for existing and newbies and it was facilitated by Yemi Festus. Participants were trained on how to contribute to Wikidata, Wikipedia, Wikimedia commons, etc. Also, Yemi festus encouraged existing and new editors to embrace the Wikimedia-friendly space policy to support our work and help maintain a healthy environment for all. He introduced the participants to Wikimedia Universal Code of Conduct.

Part of the challenges we encountered was low attendance because the event was online. Consequently, participants couldn’t contribute as expected due to poor internet connections. However, We plan to host most of our future events onsite.

Important Meetings

In line with our commitment to the growth, promotion, and development of the Gun (Ogu) language through Wikipedia. Sunday 24th of July 2022, We held a meeting with some stakeholders and scholars of the Ogu General Assembly (OGA). The meeting was held on google meet and centered on discussions on creating possible solutions to preserve and promote the Ogu language.

In our meeting, Professor Senayon Olaoluwa of the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, a stakeholder in Ogu General Assembly, in his remarks, said, language is the only means humans have to share ideas and information. When you find two or more people anywhere on earth, they will soon exchange words. However, he expresses his gratitude to Wikipedia for supporting the Gun/Ogu language, and that giving support to the working group is a call to all Ogu people. Professor Senayon confirmed that the Ogu General assembly (OGA) has called on the Nigerian Government to include the History, Language, literature, and culture of Ogu in the educational curriculum. OGA with support from some Pan-African organizations is currently working to standardize the orthography of the Alada dialect which is generally accepted and spoken by the Gun/Ogu people.

Attendance

Professor Jendele Hungbo (President and Convener, OGA)
Elder Akin Gandonu,
Professor Senayon Olaoluwa,
Mr. Gandonu Anthony of (OGTV)
Mrs Pendo Francisco of (Radio Lagos,Nigeria)
Mr. Felix Godonu (The Badagry Prime Newspaper)
Mr. James Yunsunu
Kehinde Fagbeji
Yemi Festus/ user:Yemi festus

Documenting 180 years Christmas in Badagry

Accessing information about the Ogu people has been very difficult to find over time as information about the group has been published mainly in print formats with limited circulations, thus, limiting access to the information. Members of the Gun Wikimedians Working Group have decided to battle for cultural survival through documentation of information about the Ogu/Gun people by closing the content gap of the Ogu people on the internet through Wikipedia projects. From the 24th to the 27th of December 2022, members of the Gun Wikimedian Working Group joined the people of Badagry to document the celebration of 180 years of Christmas in Badagry. The event started with a rally from the Badagry Roundabout with hundreds of people wearing beautiful Christmas outfits.

activities