Wiki-Indaba 2014, Johannesburg, June 2014
Challenges, Successes and Future Opportunities of Wikipedia in Nigeria
Nigeria?
Courtesy: AFP
Successes of Wikipedia in Nigeria?
• Its easy to use;
• The phrase ‘According to Wikipedia’;
• Nigerian mobile networks and Wikipedia;
• Constant updating of Wikipedia pages.
One of the successes of Wikipedia in Nigeria
An Etisalat Nigeria advert indicating that Wikipedia will be offered to students for free
Courtesy: Punch Newspapers
Challenges?
• The word spreading about ‘Wikipedia' being unreliable;
• Localization of articles;
Challenges? • No viable local community
Courtesy: www.wikipedia.com
Challenges?
• Collaboration with corporate organizations who can sponsor the community’s activities.
Future Opportunities
• Nigeria is becoming a beehive of news;
• More people are getting online;
• More people are willing to create articles;
• There is a young team of volunteers who are ready to work on this.
• Distribution of offline version of Wikipedia to schools;
• Activation of GLAM;
• Collaborations with other communities in West Africa and Africa.
Future Opportunities
Thank you for listening
Kayode Yussuf Tech Lead, Creative Commons Nigeria