Dear HIFA colleagues, I learned about this article thanks to the HIFA X team, led by Esther Nakkazi (Uganda) https://www.hifa.org/support/members/esther
Full text: https://www.scidev.net/global/news/african-science-and-tech-missing-from...
SPEED READ
- Africa risks invisibility on Wikipedia with less than one per cent of science coverage
- Only two per cent of Wikipedia editors are African
- Experts warn AI will replicate Africa’s absence if science data stays missing
EXTRACT
'Africa’s diversity offers an opportunity to democratise knowledge through local languages.
Wikipedia already hosts 18 African-language editions, with Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Somali, and Zulu among the largest.
Alikhan says African researchers could harness these editions to reach local communities.'
COMMENT (NPW): It's impressive that Wikipedia has several African-language editions and I would be interested to learn more about these. What are the benefits and challenges? How can local-language editions be harnessed to meet the needs of local-language speakers? On a related subject, to what extent are local-language speakers using tools like Google translate?
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org