Jenga Wikipedia ya Kiswahili/Report 24 — 2025

This page outlines activities conducted by the Jenga Wikipedia ya Kiswahili affiliate in 2024 and 2025. The affiliate was founded on June 3, 2018, and has since carried out various projects in Tanzania. Visit our main page for more events at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Jenga_Wikipedia_ya_Kiswahili#Kurasa_za_ziada_\_addional_pages

KarimJee Female Scientists Edithathon V2

The year 2024 to 2025 has been too good year for us, full of Wikimedia activities. Likewise, as Jenga Wikipedia ya Kiswahili Affiliate, we were able to collaborate with the Kareem Jee institution once again, and they collaborated with us together with the Wikimedia Community User Group Tanzania.

The Editathon of August 24, 2024, we consider it an important step in the cooperation with external institutions apart from Wikimedia itself...

Event Summary

Antoni involved JWK from the very beginning to the end. During the event preparations, we first had to conduct a participant survey. We created a form with questions related to Wikipedia activities. You can find the form here.

The target was only 20 participants, but we ended up getting nearly 31. See the responses here.

The event was hybrid, both in-person and online. Toni took the lead in introducing participants to knowledge about Wikimedia activities. This was before we had our morning breakfast.

Additionally, this was my first time attending an editathon since 2017, when the late Kipala invited me to be there for an introduction to other Wikipedia participants. Here, I met many people. Most notably, I met Toni, with whom I have been working closely to this day. Kipala did a great job of connecting us with Toni.

Training Session

At exactly 10:00 AM, the Wikipedia editing training began. Toni focused on explaining what Wikipedia is while also touching on various Wikimedia sister projects. Finally, we reached the hands-on session—a favorite part for almost everyone.

By 11:00 AM, Toni set up the network so that participants who were not physically present could join. He continued giving various instructions while answering participants’ questions.

As this was going on, I had to create a list of articles to be written to minimize confusion regarding topic selection. Otherwise, participants might have chosen subjects that were not suitable for the theme. The theme of the event was Women in Technology and Science from Africa. I categorized articles based on specific regions: East Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa, and others.

Anwari Rajabu later added links from the English Wikipedia to make them easily accessible during editing. This was very helpful. You can view the written list here.

The list was later improved by User:Said Mfaume, whom I requested to finalize it. Although he did not complete it, he did a great job in drafting those articles.

Conclusion

Our meeting ended around 1:00 PM, and we had lunch. However, when we returned at 2:00 PM, it was already time for the office to close. Additionally, it was a Saturday, which meant a half-day schedule.

To accomplish all this, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to Madam Elsie Ceasarianne, who shares our vision of spreading Wikimedia activities. She has been at the forefront of ensuring that her colleagues at Karim Jee understand what Wikipedia is.

After we completed this event, Elsie requested a special training session for Karim Jee’s marketing team—a 45-minute session covering an overview of the Wikimedia Foundation and its goals regarding free knowledge. Toni carried out this task with great expertise.

Gallery

MUM Editathon

On November 1st, 2024, we conducted an in-person training session at the Muslim University of Morogoro. The training aimed to introduce participants to Wikipedia, basically on how it works through the whole editing process. We began by providing the general overview by telling them that Wikipedia is a platform that is known globally for sharing its knowledge with the world. Subsequently, participants were guided through the process of creating Wikipedia accounts and joining the dashboard to track their progress. The training session extended from morning around 0900HRS to 1230HRS, followed by a resumption at 1400HRS to initiate practical Wikipedia editing.

Well, the anticipated outcomes were not fully realized, we observed notable progress. Despite the fact that they were university students, but turns out they were so unfamiliar with digital literacy beyond social media. They were heavily involved on social media lifestyle. With Wikipedia introduced before their eyes, they've shown some expressed surprise and admiration on discovering the vast knowledge available on Wikipedia. However, a noticeable fear of making errors or inadvertently damaging articles was evident. To alleviate this concern, we emphasized Wikipedia's collaborative nature and the reversibility of mistakes. By the end of the session, most participants had acquired a fundamental understanding of Wikipedia and its editing principles.

To ease the fear of editing and encourage a conducive learning environment, we employed a supportive and meaningful approach. We reassured participants that their contributions were valued and that any errors could be easily corrected by the community. To further motivate participants, we introduced a friendly competition with rewards for top performers and ensured everyone received a participation certificate. This approach accelerated a positive and collaborative learning atmosphere.

Karimjee Foundation Editathon V3

Dr. Aneth with participants during hands on practice.

Facilitators LR: Muddyb, Dr. Aneth and Antoni Mtavangu at Karimjee Foundation.

In-person-participants working on articles that need infoboxes.

On March 22, 2025, a special Wikipedia training workshop was held at the Karimjee Hall, Posta, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. This event marked the third consecutive sponsorship of workshops by one of Tanzania's major corporate families, Karimjee.

Prior to the event, we created a survey to track participants interested in learning about Wikipedia. The survey attracted 30 participants. See the results here: Survey Results.

From this point, we set the foundation for our workshop. Unlike the previous two workshops, this session focused primarily on adding infoboxes to articles. This direction was guided by research conducted by Dr. Aneth David (User:Asterlegorch367). After discussions among facilitators, we agreed to provide instructions on embedding infoboxes.

Workshop Commencement

The event post indicated that the workshop would begin at 10:00 AM. However, due to a few logistical challenges, all facilitators arrived slightly late. Upon arrival, we found that everything had already been arranged by the chief workshop coordinator from Karimjee, Madam Elsie Ceasarianne Eyakuze, who has been instrumental in organizing these sessions.

Before proceeding with our activities, Aneth insisted that participants have breakfast. This was done after introductions of all attendees, including those joining online. Yes, this was a hybrid workshop—both in-person and virtual.

Aneth humorously suggested sending pictures of the snacks to online participants while those present enjoyed the actual food. However, none of us facilitators (Antoni Mtavangu, Aneth, and I) managed to send the pictures—perhaps due to our own hunger!

Following a short tea break, Dr. Aneth began explaining Wikipedia infoboxes. The PowerPoint presentation can be accessed here: Presentation.

She provided a detailed and simple explanation for beginners unfamiliar with Wikipedia, covering step-by-step instructions on Wikipedia's purpose and functions. At the end of the session, she allowed both in-person and online participants to ask questions.

It was truly a great day, as participants were eager and filled with questions. If time were not a constraint, we could have spent several more hours addressing their inquiries. We were delighted by the engagement of our participants.

Outcomes

Every event is followed by outcomes, and all activities must be recorded on the Wikipedia Outreach Dashboard. For this event, we used the following link: Outreach Dashboard. The event was also officially registered on Swahili Wikipedia: Event Registration.

Key results from the dashboard:

Articles edited: 21

Total edits: 36

Bytes added: 5.76K

References added: 0

Article views: 178

Commons uploads: 4

You may wonder why we included Commons uploads. There was a case regarding infoboxes requiring images. It became necessary to either find or upload suitable images. Toni took on the task of explaining image licensing and its benefits. Although he covered the basics, he suggested a separate session dedicated to discussing image use on Wikipedia.

To support this, four sample images were uploaded.

Additionally, the Outreach Dashboard tracks activity for a month. Our training did not provide enough knowledge for some participants, who requested an online follow-up session. As Jenga Wikipedia ya Kiswahili (JWK), we consider this event a success because it sparked interest among new participants who now wish to join our affiliate communities.

We documented both recognized and unrecognized affiliates working towards Wikimedia movements. Moreover, we continue engaging participants through a dedicated WhatsApp group specific to this editathon. We will keep updating them on progress until April 22, 2025.

On behalf of the entire Jenga Wikipedia ya Kiswahili team, in collaboration with Wikimedia Tanzania, I sincerely say THANK YOU ALL.

Muddyb.

30-03-2025,Chanika, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.