FESPACO
edit-a-thon
May 18th - June 17th, 2024
The Africa Narrative (TAN) is teaming up with FESPACO, Africa’s largest film festival, and the Wikimedia Foundation in a pan-African edit-a-thon campaign to enhance African film and television content and visibility on Wikipedia.
The campaign is an initiative of the AfroCreatives WikiProject (ACWP), whose aim is to support and mobilize creatives, professionals, and experts from the African cultural and creative industries, as well as African cultural enthusiasts, to contribute and enhance knowledge on Wikipedia about Africa’s creative economy.
The film sector is ACWP’s initial area of focus. ACWP is powered by The Africa Narrative (TAN), a non-profit dedicated to championing African creatives and amplifying the global visibility of African cultural soft power.
Filling the gap.
Though Wikipedia is the world’s most popular online reference, edited by volunteer contributors from around the world, those who are the most knowledgeable about African film, are vastly underrepresented.
Just 1.5% of Wikipedia contributors are based in Africa, and only 15% of contributions originate from the continent.
This translates into big gaps in information about African film and TV on Wikipedia.
Participating in the Edit-a-thon
18th May - 17 June, 2024
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The history of African cinema
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Biographies of notable African creatives and professionals that span the industry
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Notable African movies and television series
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African studios, streaming platforms, awards, festivals, guilds, film schools, and other institutions that form the industry ecosystem
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Developments in animation, AR, VR, and other technologies shaping the African film industry
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Film financing, government policies, skills development, and other key industry issues
There are numerous ways to contribute to Wikipedia, and contributors should play to their strengths.
Some may like to write to extensively, while others may prefer to expand articles in a more limted way. Some editors are better at copy editing or may prefer to contribute missing citations, categories, filmography, or biographical data; organize content into various TV and film-related infoboxes and tables; or add images—all important contributions in creating quality film and television articles that people want to read.
Before Joining the Edit-a-thon
When registering for the campaign, participants new to the Wikimedia space are encouraged to join online or in-person* training sessions (in select locations on the continent) that will equip them with the essentials on on how to contribute to Wikipedia with a focus on film and television. For those already familliar with contributing, this is a opportunity to brush up on their skills.
Registrants can choose from one of three online Wikipedia sessions—each of the three scheduled sessions will be conducted in English (for English Wikipedia), French (for French Wikipedia) and Arabic (for Arabic Wikipedia). The agendas are the same for each session.
Participants can also sign up for an online session to learn how to make film and TV-related contributions on Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata, affiliated projects within the Wikimedia family.
*A number of in-person sessions will take place in August.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR AN AUGUST WORKSHOP.
The Golden Screen Prize:
1 year Netflix subscription
Awarded to the editor who has contributed the most bytes in the creation and/or expansion of Wikipedia articles about African film and television.
Newbie Screen Prize:
6 months Netflix subscription
Awarded to a first-time Wikipedia editor who has contributed the most bytes in the creation and/or expansion of Wikipedia articles about African film and television.
Screen Prize
for Translation:
6 months Netflix subscription
Awarded to the editor who has contributed the most quality translations on Wikipedia on the topic of African film and TV.
The Silver Screen Prize:
6 months Netflix subscription
Awarded to the editor who has contributed the second highest amount of bytes in the creation and/or expansion of Wikipedia articles about African film and television.
The Tahar Cheriaa Prize:
1 year Netflix subscription
Named after the pioneering Tunisian film critic and founder of the Carthage Film Festival, awarded to the editor who has contributed the most substantive and well-written text-based contributions to new or existing Wikipedia articles on the subject of African film and television.
Wikimedia Commons Prizes:
6, 4 and 2 months Netflix subscription respectively
1st, 2nd, and 3rd prizes awarded to participants who have uploaded the most African film and television-related images/videos/audios to Wikimedia Commons.
The Bronze Screen Prize:
4 months Netflix subscription
Awarded to the editor who has contributed the third highest amount of bytes in the creation and/or expansion of Wikipedia articles about African film and television.
Thérèse Sita-Bella Prize:
1 year Netflix subscription
Named after the Cameroonian director and one of Africa’s first female filmmakers, awarded to the editor who has made the most Wikipedia contributions centered on women in African film and television.
Wikidata Prizes: 6, 4 and 2 months Netflix subscription respectively
1st, 2nd, and 3rd prizes awarded to participants who have documented the most African film and television-related entries to Wikidata.
Prizes
In addition to the international prizes awarded by The Africa Narrative, participating local Wikipedia organizers are awarding national prizes.
The FESPACO edit-a-thon allows participants many ways to contribute and compete for prizes.
In addition to Wikipedia, contributions can be made to Wikidata as well as Wikimedia Commons.
On Wikipedia, contributions to create and expand new articles include:
copy editing; adding images; adding or editing references, film-related infoboxes, filmography tables, wikilinks, and links to external film databases; and categorizing articles, among other contributions.
The primary contribution on Wikimedia Commons is uploading images, audio, and video.
On Wikidata, which is used to store structured data, such as information about people, places, and things, editors focus on making data-related entries and edits.
