Training Ghanaian Students and Capturing Ghana’s Culture Through Photography: GOIF Wiki Highlights for February.

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The month of February, the month of love and friendship, was a busy one for the Global Open Initiative Foundation (GOIF) as far as Wiki activities were concerned. It entailed workshops, training, collaborations, presentations, and research. Let’s take a look at three of our highlights of the month.

Training at the University of Ghana

Wikipedia, as a repository of information and a knowledge base for all fields of study, has been of utmost importance to all and sundry. It has grown to be a source for fact-checking, a place for research, and a tool for accessing new information. In view of this, our team held a meeting with over 400 students from the Computer Science Department who are studying academic writing as part of their studies at the University of Ghana on Monday, February 6, 2023. The meeting entailed an introduction to Wikipedia, a discussion of its pillars, sister projects, and, most importantly, how Wikipedia can be leveraged to improve the academic writing skills of students. Conducting research, citing sources, paraphrasing, and grammar are a few of the skills. The reception was encouraging, and we intend to continue next month by assigning articles to each student. We were also told by their lecturer that their contributions to Wikipedia this semester would be used as part of their assessments for grading.

Naa2Darkoa introducing students to the pillars of Wikipedia By Mwintirew – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,

Photography Workshop and Photowalk

In our bid to contribute quality images to Wikimedia Commons through the Wiki Loves Folklore Contest, we organised a workshop to teach our community members how to take great pictures and also how to upload these pictures to Wikimedia Commons under the appropriate licence and the various commons licences that exist. We would be embarking on a photowalk during Ghana Month to enable participants to put into practise what was learned during our session and ultimately contribute content about Ghana’s culture on Wikimedia Commons. 

Ghanaian Fabric Project

So far, in this project, close to 100 Akan fabrics have been documented, each with its own unique name and backstory. These names often come with a proverb or a story. For example, the fabric named “Sika w) ataban” is inspired by the Ghanaian proverb “Money has wings,” while “Aboa bi bɛka wo a” conveys the feeling of betrayal through the phrase “If an animal will bite you.” Similarly, the fabric named “Wo ne yƐn anni nkra” embodies the grief and sense of loss felt by the bereaved, as its literal meaning is “You never said goodbye.” Overall, these fabrics showcase the richness of Akan culture and language. As next steps, the team has begun article creation.

Are you interested in participating in our activities or collaborating with us? Kindly reach out via our social media pages at @Global Open Initiative.

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