Wikimedia Fellowships/Proposals/Improving sources in the Global South

Proposal for a Wikimedia Fellowship, where the fellow or fellows would address our geographic bias by digitising Newspaper archives in the Global South

Background

Wikimedia is a project that relies on reliable sources, and those sources are much more readily available in some parts of the world than in others.

As a result Wikipedia articles have a massive geographic skew that neglects large parts of humanity.

This provoked a recent discussion

Product, goals, and metrics

The fellow or fellows would be expected to negotiate access to newspaper and magazine archives in areas of the world where online reliable sources are lacking. Digitising and uploading to Wikisource newspapers and magazines of record.

It may also be necessary for the foundation to acquire online subscriptions for such sources and issue them to active Wikimedians as has happened with the Credo accounts that were donated.

The Fellow or Fellows would need to be able to communicate with the community as to what areas most needed sources and what new sources were now available.

Bonus features

As many of these sources will not be in languages used by many wikimedians, translations or links to translation tools would be helpful.

Logistics

This would be a Community Fellowship or Fellowships, as it would benefit many WMF projects.

The fellow or fellows would probably need to be located in the relevant developing countries.

The Foundation might also need to pay for some subscriptions to online sources for the use of editors who target the areas where we have poor coverage.

Fellow(s) responsible for this proposal

If the proposal has community support, then it would be nice if appropriately qualified people would bid for such fellowships. Location, enthusiasm and an understanding of wikimedia are the main qualifications.

Applicants

This section is for Wikimedians who would like to undertake this project: (Please state whether you need a grant or would do this as a volunteer)

Endorsements

This section is for endorsements by Wikimedia volunteers. Please note that this is not a debate, vote, or poll, but is rather a space for volunteers to describe in detail why they think a fellowship project is or is not of value. If you have concerns or questions rather than an endorsement to make, please do so here. Endorsements by volunteers willing to work in collaboration with a fellowship recipient on a project are highly encouraged.

As proposal initial author, though not sure what support I could give Wikimedians who take this on. WereSpielChequers 14:31, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]