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How many searches have you conducted and been lead to a Wikipedia website in order to learn more and to get more of the story? There is a story behind that…in fact, there are several stories. Wikipedia is not comprised of only 1 person, but thousands who contribute their time and energy in order to share the full story.
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is an American 501 charitable organization. Wikimedia is a global movement whose mission is to bring free educational content to the world.
Through various projects, chapters, and the support structure of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia strives to bring about a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge.
The open nature of Wikipedia has led to various concerns, such as the quality of writing, the amount of vandalism, and the accuracy of information. But I have been a Facebook friend of a fellow Wiki for a while now. She recently traveled to Hong Kong for Wikimania 2013.
Sandister allowed me to interview her via Facebook chat and here she shares about her time with Wiki and setting up a Ghanaian Wiki chapter.
Questions:
What made you begin with Wiki Ghana?
Are you a part of the Wiki Women too? If so, tell more about that part and what made you join them.
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I have always been interested in writing and also social media. Wikis allowed me the best of both worlds. So when a friend invited me to help him create a group that uses and contributes to wikis of the Wikimedia Foundation, I instantly agreed. We founded Planning Wikimedia Ghana. So we could focus on Ghanaian content on Wikipedia and any other Wikimedia wiki that applied.
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Questions:
What about the Wiki Women portion? Any comments? Also, what benefits does one gain by doing Wiki?
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So much to apply! I met the people I have been interacting with online physically. Which is important for networking. Some groups like ours have grown to become Non profits. That is the ultimate status so I learnt these: -Ghana has unique issues because of underdeveloped digital technology so we are going to need a lot of creativity to gather a big community here. -I gathered resources both digital and print to bring home for our campaigns -Network with other African groups, it makes things easier -Strive for excellence, Wikimedia is looking for “world domination” aka worldwide access and contribution to our wikis. Therefore make more contributors/members!
I haven’t been able to join Wiki Women fully. I have an on going outreach in Ghana that I needed to focus on. But after the conference, I realized synergy is key. I met some of the team and I will work towards some collaboration for female members that may come. -
Benefits — some people have full time jobs in WMF -the next is engagement. It has the same kind of leverage Twitter and Facebook can give you.
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Questions:
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How do you make it a fulltime paid job?Did you meet other Wikis (is that a real name? lol) of whom you aspire to be like?
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Sandister Tei
There are so many opportunities. Once you are in the community you will most def hear something that you may qualify for and you apply. I met other Wikimedians. But as to what I want to do in the community, getting Ghana chaptered is my main concern.
Questions:
What is a step towards getting Ghana chaptered? When do you foresee that happening?
- Sandister Tei
- Getting more people contributing info about Ghana to the wikis is the way to chapter-ship
Questions:
How many people would that amount to? Or, is there a certain # of contributions that must be made monthly/
weekly?
- Sandister Tei
It is different for everyone what the participation is so I can’t say.
Read more about Sandister’s trip to Hong Kong and to learn more about what Wikis speak about when they get together.
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If your brain isn’t already buzzing with ideas on how to best utilize WikiPedia for your business and online marketing campaigns, here are some suggestions:
Presenting a point of view that is objective is key. This can be helpful in many cases and especially those where some damage control is necessary.
Verifiable information must also be presented. If you have information that has been shared before, then this is the perfect medium to present your business, name, or brand.
As per Sandister, Wiki is not the easiest to load information to because of it’s verification process, but to assist PR professionals along the way they also have a handy guide.
Sandister Tei is the mastermind behind Tei Ink Press , a magazine on business and technology and also the Community Manager of Planning Wikimedia Ghana.
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