On September 2023, the first Wikipedia workshop in Ethiopia took place in Addis Ababa. The workshop’s focus was on empowering participants with the skills needed to contribute to Wikipedia with a theme centered on improving the coverage of Ethiopia’s natural parks on Wikipedia.
During the workshop, volunteers were introduced to the basics of editing on Wikipedia, learning essential skills such as creating new articles, adding references, and improving existing content. Participants also encountered technical challenges, including IP block issues, which temporarily hindered their contributions. However, these obstacles were addressed by the organizers and the admins of Wikipedia, ensuring that all participants could continue their valuable work without interruption. This experience provided valuable lessons in navigating Wikipedia’s guidelines and technical aspects, further empowering the volunteers to contribute effectively.
The success of the workshop was bolstered by the support of the Open West Africa Foundation. Their expertise was invaluable in promoting best practices for content creation and editing, setting a groundwork for future workshops and nurturing the growing Wikipedia community in Ethiopia. Additionally, the venue for the workshop was generously provided by the National ID Program Ethiopia, a strong advocate for open-source platforms through its use of MOSIP, an open-source identity management platform aimed at providing foundational digital identification in Ethiopia.
As Ethiopia’s first event of this nature, the Wikipedia Workshop is a beacon for future collaborative knowledge initiatives. It is the budding of the movement in a nation in the nascent stages of forming dedicated user groups. The momentum from this event is expected to inspire future Wikimedia initiatives across Ethiopia, contributing to the broader goals of free and open access to knowledge.
Learn more about the Wikimedians of Ethiopia User Group on Meta-Wiki.
Can you help us translate this article?
In order for this article to reach as many people as possible we would like your help. Can you translate this article to get the message out?
Start translation