Wikipedia Ghana Celebrates 15th Anniversary at Shaping Davos in Accra

On January 15th 2001, two young men, in represent of Jimmy Wales and
Larry Sanger embarked on a digital revolutionary trajectory and it
paid off. Through a dint of hard work and dedication, they succeeded
in creating one of the ever best gift to mankind, Wikipedia, the free
internet based encyclopedia.


Fifteen years down the line, it now stands as a global product worth
celebrating with lot of activities being undertaken around the world
to mark its anniversary by cherished users and benefactors.


In Accra, leaders of Edit Ghana, a Ghanaian based Wikimedia User Group
Felix Nartey and Raphael Berchie were supported by Prince Akpah and
Felix Gborglah to talk about the anniversary and other Wikipedia
activities being undertaken in Ghana at Shaping Davos hosted at the
Impact Hub Accra.


Shaping Davos, a global event organised and led by young change makers
recognised by the World Economic Forum as Global Shapers was hosted by
the Global Shapers Accra Hub with support from various hubs across the
country and attended by various young leaders in Ghana.


The Discussion which was based on “Creating 75 Million Entrepreneurs:
Is this Possible?” was a prior event to the annual gathering of World
Leaders and Entrepreneurs in Davos for the annual World Economic
Forum.


From the discourse, the most important component implicated in the
prospect of creating 75 million Entrepreneurs was ‘Education’ which
falls precisely on the very tangent that Wikipedia stands.

The Edit Ghana team was given the opportunity to share the Wikipedia
story and the various activities Wikipedia has been engaging in across
Ghana where participants were also encouraged to contribute to the
online celebration by sharing the best moments Wikipedia came to their
rescues during their research and other activities.


The words that especially hit home were those of Mr. Raphael Berchie
were he drew the whole of Africa’s attention to a very worrying fact.
“It pains me and rightly so that Antarctica, the less inhabited
continent in the world has more images on the internet than that of
the whole of Africa, the world’s largest continent”, he decried.


The resonating message of the exhilarating evening was that Africans
need to chronicle their own stories else we shall remain anonymous to
the world.


Also, globally, the Wikipedia article on the former US president
George W. Bush attracted a record attention with 45,862 edits since
its creation.


By: Felix Gborglah & Prince Akpah