WikiFranca

WikiFranca logo. Writing feathers. The five colors of Francophonie.

WikiFranca is a partnership between francophone Wikimedia chapters and affiliated working groups. The objective is to encourage activities in the French Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia and its sister projects, both on the Web and on the ground. It not only allows local user groups with no chapters in their countries to organize activities and events in their communities and in their language, but also to build a bridge between the countries participating in the Wikimedia projects in French language.

Background

Wikimedia stand at the Forum mondial de la langue française (Global Forum of the French language)

International Francophone Contribution Month

Edit-a-thon in Strasbourg

The idea of a partnership between francophone chapters was first discussed in 2011, at the Forum mondial de la langue française (Global Forum of the French language), where several members of Wikimédia France, Wikimedia Canada and the Quebec Committee joined forces to be present at the Forum which as held in Quebec city. The discussions were going well because creating "Francocoop", based on the model Iberocoop, was in the air.

In 2012, a first francophone chapters meeting was held at Wikimania Washington to discuss, to present projects and to exchange innovative ideas. Among the countries represented at this meeting, there were Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Switzerland and Tunisia. It was during this meeting that a collaboration between francophone chapters became evident.

At Wikimania Hong Kong in 2013, francophone chapters had a second meeting, where a coordinator has been elected and formalizing WikiFranca. A first global project was organized in October 2013, called Mois international de la contribution francophone (International Francophone Contribution Month) where 26 workshops were organized in 21 cities around the world. The event had a worldwide media coverage, which has encouraged the organizers worldwide.

Observation

The model of national chapters is effective for countries where language and culture are homogeneous, but the reality is quite different for countries where French cohabits with another language and is a minority language, or where only small groups of French-speaking Wikipedians are limited by the chronic lack of active and involved participants. It appears important that collaboration between francophone countries is in place to meet the needs of these groups.

One of the challenges of multilingual chapters is that their members work on various Wikimedia projects. This may seem insignificant, but it is clear that this create a difficulty of creating a cohesive group working since users contribute in different versions of Wikipedia, Wikisource, etc. An association of francophone chapters and user groups coordinates the efforts of those who have the desire to contribute to French Wikimedia projects.

In addition some countries do not have the possibility of forming a chapter, and it may not be a viable option, such as the countries of Francophone Africa. Quebec is another example of a francophone nation enclosed by a majority language and Quebec contributors have little difficulty to thrive in a chapter where anglophone contributors are majority. Belgium and Tunisia are experiencing similar situations.

Mission

• A collaboration between chapters and working groups of the Francophonie.
  • Chapters : France, Switzerland, Canada, etc.
  • Working groups: the Quebec Committee, Wikimedia TN User Group, etc.
  • Other non Wikimedia groups: Open Street Map France / Quebec / Montreal, FabLabs, etc.
• Support for Francophones who wish to organize projects related to Wikimedia.
• A framework for countries who have no national chapter and do not need such structure to organize activities.

Participating chapters and user groups

Country	Name	Status	Representative(s)	Website	Mailing list	IRC channel
Chapters
Belgium	Wikimedia Belgium	Chapter	M0tty, Dimi	be.wikimedia.org	wikimediabe-llists.wikimedia.org	#wikimedia-beconnecter
Canada	Wikimedia Canada	Chapter	Benoit Rochon	ca.wikimedia.org	google.com/group/wmca-public	#wikimedia-caconnecter
France	Wikimédia France	Chapter	Rémy Gerbet	www.wikimedia.fr	remy.gerbetwikimedia.fr	#wikimedia-frconnecter
Switzerland	Wikimedia CH	Chapter	Flor WMCH	www.wikimedia.ch	wikimediach-llists.wikimedia.org	#wikimedia-chconnecter
User groups
Algeria	Algeria Wikimedians User Group AKA WikiDZ	Wikimedia User Group	Bachounda Med Reda Kerbouche	wikimedia-dz.org	[email protected]	#wikimedia-dzconnecter
Quebec	Quebec Committee	User group	Benoit Rochon		google.com/d/forum/comqc	#wikimedia-qcconnecter
Tunisia	Wikimedia TN User Group	Wikimedia User Group	Habib M’henni, Yamen Bousrih	www.wikimedia.tn	wikimedia-tnlists.wikimedia.org	#wikimedia-tnconnecter
Other groups unaffiliated to the Wikimedia Foundation.

Meetings

• 2012-07-14 : Report of the French-speakers meeting at Wikimania 2012 in Washington DC.
• 2013-08-09 : Report of the French-speakers meeting at Wikimania 2013 in Hong Kong
• 2014-08-08 : Report of the French-speakers meeting at Wikimania 2014 in London
• 2015-02-20 : Report of an online meeting between people from WMFR and WMCA
• 2015-05-15 : Wikimedia Conference 2015 Berlin
• 2015-07-17 : Rencontre de WikiFranca à Wikimania 2015 à Mexico

Projects and activities

This list doesn't intend to list all projects from the participating chapters, but rather the projects concerning the Francophonie globally.

• Afripedia
• Kiwix
• Global forum of the French language (on French Wikipedia)
• Insights on news about Wikimedia (on French Wikipedia)
• Contribution month (on French Wikipedia)
• The Wikipedia Library (on French Wikipedia)

Calendar of WikiFranca actions (local and international actions)

Action	Last Event	Next Event	Venue	Contact	Countries	Actions
SOIMA conference		3/4-Sept-2015	Bruxelles	Romaine (WMBE)	Belgium	Financial support, translation of flyers, material support (equipment, ect.)
International Contribution Month	1/30-Oct-2014	1/31-Mar-2016		Jean-Philippe Béland	All
Wiki loves Africa	1/30-Oct/Nov-2014	2017		Florence Devouard	All	Communication support (Press Release), Mediation support (Photography kit)
WikNic
MedinaWiki
Wikipedia training in French-speaking Africa	15/16-Jun-2015		Dakar		Senegal + France	financial support, technical support
WikiCamp	6/21-Jul-2014 + 12/26-Aug-2014		Venadzor, Armenia	Susanna Mkrtchyan	Armenia

Gallery

• 
  At SOIMA 2015
• 
  At Wikimania 2015
• 
  Training to Wikipedia in Dakar, Senegal, 2015
• 
  Meeting with Ker Thiossane FabLab in Dakar, 2015
• 
  Lecture for International Francophone Contribution Month in Tunis, 2014
• 
  Edit-A-Thon during International Francophone Contribution Month in Montreal, 2014
• 
  Wikifranca Meet-up at Wikimania 2014
• 
  Edit-A-Thon in Strasbourg during International Francophone Contribution Month in Strasbourg, 2013
• 
  French Language World Forum, 2012

How to participate

Here is a todo list that wikimedians can work on (requires French skills).

Easiest way to begin is to join and discuss on the francophone Wikimedia mailing list: [email protected].