How WikiAfrica, an international collaboration, is set to change the selective, out-of-context and incomplete information on the Internet about Africa.

Africa, with nearly one-billion people, represents the world's third-largest market after China (1.3 billion) and India (1.1 billion). And yet it has the lowest and least informed profile of any region on the Internet; moreover, what does appear is often selective, lacks context and reinforces outdated stereotypes.

Since its inception in 2001, Wikipedia has become the 5th most popular website on the Internet and should serve as the ideal tool to redress the balance for Africa on the internet.

WikiAfrica is an international collaboration between the lettera27 Foundation in Italy and the Africa Centre to address the often selective, out-of-context and incomplete information on the Internet about Africa.

ReConnect Africa spoke to Isla Haddow-Flood, Marketing and Communications Manager for the Africa Centre, based in Cape Town, about the WikiAfrica project.

ReConnect Africa (RCA): What were the key reasons for setting up the WikiAfrica Project?

Isla Haddow-Flood (IH-F): WikiAfrica was started in October 2006 by the lettera27 Foundation in cooperation with Wikimedia Italy. Their aim was to support the mobilisaton of thousands of "African voices" on Wikipedia through an ever-widening network of new and existing wikipedians (the people who contribute to Wikipedia) in Africa and around the world.

Africa Centre became part of the project in 2011.

Since 2006, Africa Centre has launched several projects that explore contemporary Pan-African cultural practices as catalysts for social change. In addition to the arts, the other cultural field that we work in is knowledge creation and dissemination.

We've always been aware of the disparity between the richness and layers of information held within the continent, and the information written about Africa that is available in the greater world. When Lettera27 approached us to be the Africa partner for this project, it was a natural fit.

RCA: What do you see as the main reasons for the lack of information about Africa on the internet and on Wikipedia?

IH-F: It's the nature of a growing organism like Wikipedia. To access Wikipedia requires access to technology. For this reason those countries and people with unfettered access to the Internet, and broadband, have a more developed culture of interaction and contribution to amazing volunteer-led resources such as Wikipedia.

For this reason it is not surprising that 4 out of 5 contributors to Wikipedia are from the "global north". But this has negative consequences for countries in the "global south", especially Africa: Those who don't know about Africa first-hand, write almost all the articles on Africa and its subjects; and those who do know about and are experiencing contemporary Africa, are not the ones writing about it.

Africa now has the capacity to catch up and rebalance the information about itself. Over the last 10 years, Africa's users of the Internet have increased 9 times faster than in Europe, and 20 times faster than in North America. Africa has 110 million people using the Internet on a regular basis. This is expected to rise by 10 million users each year. With 84million internet-enabled mobile phones in operation on the continent, this has, and will continue to, explode.

African users have now reached a critical mass where they can contribute to the information that is about their reality, but not many have the confidence to do so. This is where WikiAfrica comes in. It intends to launch an ambitious campaign to mobilise organisations and individuals alike to contribute their knowledge of subjects that relate to Africa. They can do this by editing, updating or altering existing articles and filling in the gaps and adding their information.

RCA: What are some of the constraints of editing information on Wikipedia

IH-F: The strength and success of Wikipedia comes from the remarkable fact that it was built by volunteers – thousands of them. As a result of its organic growth and its need for verifiable information, Wikipedia has had to put in many quality control and other technical hurdles that often make it discouraging to those who are entering the community for the first time. Like any vast organism, it can be intimidating; it has its own language, rules, and convoluted processes.

One of the first steps that WikiAfrica has taken is to make it easier for first time users to arrive and contribute to Wikipedia. On the WikiAfrica project page on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiAfrica) we have narrowed down the process to the bare essentials with simple points, tips, links and step-by-step instructions, accompanied by short "how to" videos.

These are designed to give newcomers the best start possible. We are also currently developing the African Incubator, where first time users will be assisted through the process of writing an article, so that facts can be verified, false statements identified, citations added, and more information added, all before an article is launched onto Wikipedia itself.

RCA: How does the Project intend to create more African editors and users of Wikipedia?

IH-F: We have a multi-pronged plan that involves firstly, creating the tools to assist any new users and editors. Secondly, we intend to approach key archival and knowledge institutions (museums, universities, archives, libraries, galleries, etc.) across Africa and encourage them to become project partners by adding the knowledge that is held within their institution. At the same time, we are going to send out a pan-African call to journalists, bloggers, researchers academics, and everyday individuals to share their knowledge and become active wikipedians.

The beauty of the project is that it is self-sustaining. The way the project is structured, it will provide new wikipedians with the skills to be part of the greater Wikipedia community and generate articles far beyond the limits of the project.

The articles, once generated, will be constantly expanded and updated, as and when events arise. The community of contributors that have come through the project will become self-sustaining, and will help others to build, develop and update information on Africa.

RCA: Who are some of the partners that are supporting the WikiAfrica Project?

IH-F: For the moment, the partners for the project have been limited to the Wikimedia Chapters in Africa. We have also compiled an initial list of prominent organisations across Africa that have specialist knowledge that will add significantly to the representation of Africa on Wikipedia. But it's too early to mention their names.

RCA: What are the short-term and longer-term aims and objectives of the Project?

IH-F: The main ambition of WikiAfrica is to Africanise Wikipedia by generating and editing 30,000 articles on Wikipedia over two years. This is obviously a big project.

In the short term, we are focussing on creating tools and activating partners and individuals. In the long-term, once a critical mass of articles has been achieved, we want to expand the project to strengthen and develop the profile of Wikipedia as a teaching tool, and spread Wikipedia's School and University Project to institutions across Africa, via marathon events and competitions at universities and schools, and online WikiAfrica training sessions for teachers so that they to get the best out of their curricula using Wikipedia. But that's all in the future.

RCA: How can Africans, whether in Africa or in the Diaspora, contribute to the project?

IH-F: In the best way possible … by becoming a member of WikiAfrica and sharing their knowledge of Africa. On the WikiAfrica project page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiAfrica ), they can find out how to get started, see which articles need work, and which articles don't exist, but should. They can start their own articles about people, places, stories, and concepts that they are passionate about, and we will help them craft the best encyclopaedia article possible on that subject.

That would be the best way, but there are other ways of actively supporting the project. We're looking for financial support to sponsor original research and creation. Individuals can donate (via https://www.givengain.com/cgi-bin/giga.cgi?cmd=cause_dir_project&project_id=10216&cause_id=2343 ) and corporate companies can sponsor sections of the project.

Together we can celebrate the richness and diversity of Africa's histories, cultures, peoples, thoughts and arts.