GLAM/Newsletter/May 2023/Contents/Uganda report
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These last few months in Uganda
The last few months have been a bit more exciting than usual and we are glad to report what we have been up to...
January
Wikisource
We continued with the WikiSource campaign that started in December 2022. This was eventually concluded on 10 January.
It was a time for new things as we experienced the Wikisource Contest board. We later had a community meeting in which we solicited feedback about the viability of WikiSource for us. Volunteers expressed interest in further contributing to the project but would appreciate it more if the contributions were on Uganda-specific content in addition to being in a local language such as Luganda.
The result was a customised WikiSource editing guide and plans to visit information institutions to know more about the digitisation process.
#1Lib1Ref
We could not miss this opportunity to contribute this time round though we had to extend the duration because of a challenge with the dashboard.
At the end of the drive , a total of 20 editors had signed up to the dashboard and collectively contributed 1.54K references in addition to creating 105 articles both on English Wikipedia and Wikidata Link to the meta page is here Link to the dashboard is here
March
Personal Data Protection Community Information Session
As an organisation that collects, creates , consumes and enables the dissemination of a number of resources under a free licence, the Wikimedia Community Group Uganda (WMUGU) is still resgistered and recognised as a legal entity bound by a legal mandate to protect any personal information it may collect. The community we serve and interact with needed further sensitisation on this.
The community information session was facilitated by staff from the PDPO Office and aimed at :
- Introducing attendees to PDPO ;
- Creating awareness for the Data Protection and Privacy Act (2019) , how it concerns both individuals and organisations and how it is being enforced ;
- Addressing the knowledge gap on Data Protection and Privacy hence increasing levels of compliance and citizens’ trust on how their personal data is accessed and shared ;
- Creating awareness on who data collectors, data controllers and data processors are and their respective designations ;
The recording can also be accessed via the day's meta page
#1Lib1Ref/WikiSource celebration
It was celebration time as met and interacted over the end of WikiSource in Uganda 2022 and #1Lib1Ref January 2023. It was also gift time as the volunteers that contributed were not only recognised but rewarded for their efforts
The day's meta page is here;
April
Wikidata for African Librarians - Uganda Meetup
There are a number of participants from Uganda enrolled in the AfLIA-sponsored Wikidata in African Libraries Course.
The usergroup therefore sponsored a local meetup at the Goethe Zentrum Kampala library . This had the varied aims of meeting the participants in person ; introducing them to the local usergroup and community ;interacting with participants to identify their particular challenges with Wikidata and identify solutions and opportunities around this
In the practical session, it was observed that some editors were not able to contribute using the SourceMD tool as the Run functionality was not active and had actually discouraged some from contributing. This is something we have sought help for and we are optimistic that a solution will be found...
The day's meta page can be accessed here
May
AfLibWk 4.0
May, once again presented us with the opportunity to collectively participate in the fourth edition of the African Librarian's Week (also referred to as AfLibWk 4.0) The usergroup was able to facilitate local volunteers to contribute to this campaign and we are glad that at least 3 of our number were among the top 10
ICOM 2023
A usergroup representative was invited to give a talk on digitisation, Wikimedia projects and information access at 2-day training workshop organised by the ICOM-Uganda Chapter between 15-16 May.
The session was designed for museum curators, heritage site caretakers and museum owners and the talk was a demonstration on how they can use open access platforms to showcase their collections.
This was memorable as it was the first time we were able to do a mini QR Code exhibition which further highlighted the gaps in quality information about their institutions on Wikipedia. We were also able to explore further possibilities for collaboration around this.
The near future
Looking at the community response , variety of participation and quality of contribution, we are optimistic about our engagements in the coming months. Activities include but are not limited to an edit-a-thon dedicated to the #EveryBookItsReaderCampaign and as a continuation of our WikiSource journey, our first ever GLAM on Tour at the Kyambogo University Library Digitisation Unit . Most of our events can be located on the Usergroup's meta page as well as the GLAM calendar
- From the team
- Albania report
- Australia report
- Brazil report
- Finland report
- India report
- Indonesia report
- Italy report
- Kosovo report
- New Zealand report
- Philippines report
- Sweden report
- Switzerland report
- Uganda report
- UK report
- USA report
- Special story
- GLAM Wiki conference report
- Wiki Loves Living Heritage report
- WMF GLAM report
- Calendar