On April 19, 2024, Africa Wiki Women hosted the 2nd Inspire Inclusion 2024 Campaign. The online session continues with “major edits on Wikipedia.” The training session was led by Muib Shefiu, the Founder of Afrodemics, and moderated by Linason Blessing. The session attracted over 35 participants, including project leads and community members from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Tanzania, Rwanda, and the Republic of Congo. Bukola James provided a succinct overview of the campaign, which was followed by a theoretical presentation on performing major edits on Wikipedia.
Key highlights
The session began with Linason Blessing providing a recap of the previous session, the campaign launch, setting the stage for the day’s topic. Muib Shefiu then led the presentation and training on “Major Edits on Wikipedia.” The presentation delved into the essence of major edits, emphasising the significance of going beyond the surface of Wikipedia’s aesthetics to enrich its content with valuable insights.
Muib elaborated that major edits encompass various actions such as creating a new article, adding new sections to existing articles, introducing new headings or subheadings, and modifying narratives. He highlighted essential considerations before undertaking major edits:
- Neutral Point of View: Emphasised the importance of maintaining objectivity by avoiding contentious statements and refraining from presenting opinions as facts.
- Reliable and Verifiable Sources: Muib underscored Wikipedia’s acceptance of references solely from credible sources. He cited examples like national dailies, Peer-Reviewed journals, and published books with ISSN or ISBN as reliable sources suitable for referencing on Wikipedia.
- Notability of Subjects: The trainer elucidated the General Notability Guidelines and Specific Notability Guidelines, providing participants with a comprehensive understanding of the criteria for notable subjects on Wikipedia.
Following this, Muib transitioned to the practical session, demonstrating how to craft a Wikipedia article from inception. He also showcased major edits by adding sections and paragraphs to existing articles. He then guided participants in translating articles from English into other languages, enriching the platform’s multilingual content.
During the transition from the presentation to the practical session, the trainer responded to questions from participants, providing clarifications and insights. He also addressed further inquiries at the conclusion of the practical session.
To conclude the session, Bukola encouraged participants to commence their editing activities and emphasized the importance of completing the attendance form. She also provided a brief overview of the criteria and scoring system, as outlined on the event metapage, to ensure participants’ understanding.
For those who may have missed this session or are interested in revisiting it or previous sessions, recordings are available on our YouTube channel. You can explore more about the project on our meta page and register here to participate in prioritizing Wikipedia articles and Wikidata entries related to the Women’s March in Africa.
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