Wikimania 2022/Individual Reports/Cn22760

Welcome back from Wikimania 2022! Please write your report here. Once you have completed the application, please email the link to wikimaniawikimedia.org (by 20 September 2022). If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to email us.

Username

How did you attend Wikimania (virtually or in-person)?

I attended Wikimania 2022 virtually, on Pheedloop and YouTube. It was my 2nd Wikimania.

What did you spend the scholarship funds on?

I spent the scholarship funds on mostly data (internet) and meals.

Takeaways – choose 3 specific Wikimania sessions you attended and describe your key take-aways per session.

1.DIGITAL SECURITY BASICS - Konstantin Urbanec Digital Security is a collective term for the tools that one uses to protect themselves in the digital space. It’s essentially applying these tools in the digital space. How to protect yourself online Create strong passwords/user secure passwords; Protect your passwords or use strong unique passwords and multi-factor authentication; When creating wiki usernames, always maintain anonymity or pseudonymity; Always assess digital tools; Be mindful especially when using VPNs. Avoid free VPNs; Think about digital spaces in terms of security; Always keep your software updated; Protect yourself from doxxing, by taking a look at the information that is already publicly available about you on-line; Reduce the amount of material there is about you on-line; Browse safely by adding an install-and-forget tracker blocking tool; Protect your on-line activities from prying eyes by encrypting your connections to the websites you visit (https as opposed to http); Spot malicious sites and phishing attempts. (think before clicking on links and opening attachments, report suspicious emails, always verify the source of your emails/messages.); Have separate accounts for your work and for your personal life. For example, create a work-only email account instead of having one email for everything.

2.DON’T CITE IT, WRITE IT! WHAT PROFESSORS THINK ABOUT WIKIPEDIA – Naniette Coleman, Shira Klein, Heather Sharkey, Delia Steverson, and Ian Ramjohn This session was very interesting to say the least. The professors were basically sharing their experiences with teaching students about Wikipedia in their classrooms, and the overall impact it has on knowledge creation. I found this session interesting because, while these Professors are advocating and encouraging students to use Wikipedia, its different where I come from. Professors in my country discourage students from using Wikipedia, citing that it’s not a “credible” source of information. Here’s what I picked up from this session:

Why you should teach with Wikipedia

a)It is a type of service learning, a way in which students can help the world. When students have the privilege of accessing information that is behind paywalls and taking classes with great professors, they have so much to give. By having them edit, and incorporate scholarship into Wikipedia, it gives them an opportunity to do something for their communities. b)People are reading Wikipedia even if they don’t cite it, in scholarly articles. c)When you google something, Wikipedia is either the first hit or the second or third. d)Writing for Wikipedia improves students writing skills, partly because it allows them to look at articles critically. It also gets them working in teams where they can edit each other’s writing. Thus, bringing those skills back to other forms of writing.

Students Perceptions on Wikipedia (Before and After they take the class) a)There are two extremes, some students think that Wikipedia is a go-to source for everything, and they can trust it because it’s out there. While others think it’s a dodgy source and they shouldn’t trust it at all. b)When students learn how to edit Wikipedia, they become more aware of the meticulous sourcing that is required. c)A lot of students seem to think that everything important is on Wikipedia. After writing certain articles, many can’t imagine that these articles weren’t there before. They become more keenly aware of the gaps that exist in Wikipedia. d)When students edit Wikipedia, they realize it’s a process. And that through constant additions and revisions, there’s potential for improvement. Because it benefits their own research, they gain a lot of respect for it. Especially with regards to the rigorous sourcing and copyright requirements for images. e)Students have been trained from high school to not cite Wikipedia. However, by the end of the project, they learn that Wikipedia is actually the first-place people go to, for information. Because the sources are fact-checked, and the information comes from several types of sources. There’s also a sense of community when students realize there’s literally someone out there, watching their pages, they notice when you add something to this page, like *wow I am a part of this knowledge community and am putting knowledge out there that is often times behind this paywall, that people will be allowed to have for free*. It is easy to see the overall impact that Wikipedia has on knowledge production.

What students get out of the Wikipedia assignment a)There’s a privilege that comes with being a student at a prestigious university and therefore having access to all these databases, that other people have to pay for. Students see themselves as gatekeepers to this knowledge and they feel like it’s important for everyone to get access to it. Having this mindset really motivates students to fish for more information and to actually put more effort into improving and creating Wikipedia articles. Students also understand a different type of writing as well, because writing Wikipedia allows you to use your mind in a different way. b)Students have a role in producing public facing scholarship. Instead of having them write papers that they’ll hand in a class and never look at again. By writing through Wikipedia, they put something that can benefit the public for years to come. c)Digital citizenship, participating in communities of knowledge in the world. d)Don’t cite it, write it – the idea that students can be original producers of knowledge and scholarship, and not only consumers.

How students contribute towards advancing knowledge equity a)Students represent exceptional diversity (women, people of color) and they are often excited about learning digital literacy and finding a way to live up to their expectations of doing something to change the world. b)Some students come from countries where Wikipedia no longer exists, so when they edit and write articles, they are making sure their voices are heard whether Wikipedia exists or not. c)10% of Wikipedia editors are people of color and women. d)In writing biographical articles, Professors try to enhance equity by featuring many women and people from all over the world. e)Emphasizing the idea of having accessible articles- is a form of equity too. f)Writing clear pros that non-experts can understand, is also a very important aspect of promoting equity through Wikipedia.

Hindrances that students face when editing Wikipedia a)Some articles can’t be edited unless you’re an experienced editor. However, the community does a good job of guiding folks in writing things as they should be, which is great lesson for students. Sometimes you don’t get it right the first time and that is okay. b)Students say that the difficulty in writing Wikipedia includes the fact that they can’t use these lengthy quotes which forces them to treat sources differently, because if they have to put things into their own words, they have to understand what they are saying. Which really improves their writing. c)Editing Wikipedia sometimes induces unbelievable anxiety for some students to the point that sometimes Professors need to modify assignments. Perhaps, its partly the idea that thousands of people are going to read what they write or hundreds of thousands depending on the visibility of the article, and partly just the idea that the article is going to stay out there forever. On the other hand, it’s a good thing for some students, because it makes them more attuned to the quality of their writing, if they write a sloppy paper just for the teacher, they’d be sure to write a clean paper for Wikipedia.

3.MAKING A MOVIE WITH WIKIMEDIA COMMONS – Zachary McCune

Did you know that you can create films and documentaries using Wikimedia commons?

In this session, Zachary McCune described how he made a short film, almost entirely from archival material in Wikimedia Commons. The story was about a Barbary Lion (which has an article on Wikipedia), a sad story about a lion sub-species that has gone extinct in the wild. Apart from the Barbary Lion, Zach has created other films. They include: The careless ski trooper, Spot stands up, and CLAWS. He’s been lucky to get these films in 7 film festivals in 11 countries.

Here’s what I picked up from this session:

a)Wikimedians can create films and documentaries using Wikimedia Commons. b)At 87,000,000 free to use files, Wikimedia Commons is the world’s largest free to use collection, of audio and visual materials. It’s an incredible resource and every day, people put more and more stuff into it. Incredible images, great archival material, incredible videos, and audio files. c)This material maybe in the public domain or released by government agencies, or it might be work that had a copyright expire, and fundamentally this is fun work to make movies from because it’s kind of forgotten. People have failed to remember the stories that are imbedded in all this old footage. d)Wikimedia commons is mostly used for Wikimedia projects, things like Wikipedia, Wikivoyage and Wikidata, it’s used mostly within our own system. But it can also be an extraordinary resource for film makers. e)It's basically about crafting a story, putting the material together and finding someone to create some music for the story. So that they have incredible soundtracks.

How did you connect with other people during Wikimania 2022? How did you celebrate at Wikimania 2022?

At the start of the celebration, I connected with Sharon Kusasira. Sharon was new to Wikimania, unfortunately she’d failed to join a couple of sessions because she couldn't access the program. I immediately reached out to her, and shared the link to the program. Sharon was able to have a much smoother experience. I also connected with members from my community user-group in Uganda.

God, I love those entertainment sessions at Wikimania! I think there’s no better way to connect and celebrate with other people, than to actively participate in these sessions. It was absolute fun participating in the trivia game with Natalia Szafran-Kozakowska. It was absolute fun singing during WikiKaraoke, the Dance Off. I almost forgot to include the “Laughing meditation” session.

I encourage all Wikimedians around the world, and most importantly the newcomers to register for Wikimania 2023. It will be held in Singapore. Please register, as volunteers/speakers/participants etc., and apply for scholarship grants (Thank you Wikimedia Foundation for the scholarship). Hope to see y’all soon.

Cheers.

(Optional) Please share link(s) to your social media post(s) about Wikimania