On June 4 at the upcoming African Literature Association
(ALA) conference at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, Africa in Words will
be hosting a ‘Wikithon’ to improve the ‘African Literature’ Wikipedia page.
During a Wikithon (also often called an Edit-a-thon), people
come together to edit a particular Wikipedia page or topic. The ALA conference
theme this year is African Futures and
Beyond: Visions in Transition and this Wikithon/panel will provide a
unique, hands-on opportunity to create open access resources and to think about
the future of knowledge production in African literary studies.
Wikipedia is the most popular reference website in the world
and often the primary point of departure for student research. However, its
pages vary greatly in their scope and quality. In particular, the Wikipedia
page for African Literature is an extremely limited resource and in need of
scholarly references, expanded author lists, a potential re-framing of its
categories of information, as well as greater attention to literature and
orature in African languages.
The ALA conference is an ideal venue at which to involve a
diverse body of scholars and writers in creating and editing high quality
information about African literature. Most importantly, all of this information
is available open access. During this Wikithon, the organisers will discuss
areas for intervention and improvement, teach basic Wikipedia editing skills,
and begin editing the page collectively.
Key areas for improvement of the African literature page
include: referencing academic work from the continent; greater attention to
literature and orature in African languages; home page acknowledgement of
diversity in what it currently labels as ‘postcolonial’ literature; a need to
challenge the notion of ‘African’ literature vs. literatures; improvement in
the discussion of oral literary forms and their contributions to and
interactions with printed literary forms; greater attention to African women
authors; and the acknowledgement of recent diverse digital contributions.
This roundtable will serve as the first step in an ongoing
effort to improve open access resources like Wikipedia for African literature
and African Studies more broadly. If you have ideas for ways that Wikipedia’s
coverage of African literature could be improved please comment on Facebook or Twitter.
The Wikithon will be held on June 4 from 16h00 -17h30 (GMT +2).
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