At a large university in the United States, it may be difficult to imagine an educational and research environment prior to the popularization of Wikipedia and other online tools. Yet, what happens when the “Global South” also gains access to these tools? Can people from these countries only see themselves as consumers of content produced by the “Global North?” To what extent can people from all over the world become content creators as well as consumers?

Despite all the progress Wikipedia has made to become a free, open access, multilingual, easily comprehensible and editable resource for people around the world to use, Raval seeks to address and challenge the issue of continued Western male dominance of the site editors. Raval indicates that a 2012 study found that “nine out of ten” Wikipedia editors are male, according to the Wikimedia Foundation blog. Further, although the Wikipedia Zero initiative seeks to make content more readily available in Africa and Asia through platforms other than computers, such as cell phones and SMS services, this may only solve the issue of granting more people access to reading Wikipedia content, rather than actually editing or contributing articles.

I’d like to explore how knowledge is being consumed and produced on digital platforms in the non-Western world by specifically considering how national, large-scale hyper-modernization projects in Sub-Saharan African countries are heavily focused on the development of ICT (Information Communication Technology) initiatives that may include the dissemination of Wikipedia content on multiple platforms. In Rwanda, for example, President Kagame has developed a national initiative called “Vision 2020,” which calls for the nation to transform its economy from an agricultural base to a technological one by the year 2020. In his speech to Carnegie Mellon University in 2011, upon his announcement of the new Carnegie Mellon graduate technology program in Rwanda, he claimed that technology was the perfect industry for the Rwandan people to contribute to because, while they do not have the most abundant natural resources, their large population of young people can learn the tools and trade of technology and help to transform Rwanda into the ICT capital, or “Silicon Valley” of Africa.

Rwanda is not the only African country interested in ICT development. In fact, nations like Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, and South Africa (a.k.a. the “Silicon Cape”) are in many ways competing to be the ICT leader of Africa. In addition, they are arguably uniting to overcome past and ongoing national conflicts by rebranding themselves as countries of economic growth and technological innovators in the “Silicon Savannah.” You can read more about the respective economic achievement and competition in Kenya and Rwanda here. This blog also includes numerous articles about ICT development in Africa as a whole and Rwanda in particular, from the perspective of a Carnegie Mellon tech professor teaching at CMU-Rwanda.

Infographic of African tech innovation hubs and labs

With this development plan in mind, I’d like to revisit the question of how information such as Wikipedia articles might be disseminated in places like Rwanda. I think the Wikipedia Zero initiative is helpful because most people in Rwanda, especially outside the capital city, only have regular access to mobile phones (but not smart phones). This is why many Rwandan-based ICT developers are focusing on creating automated tools and content that people can access by listening to prompts and pressing corresponding buttons, rather than touch-screen applications that would only be accessible to a small elite.

I’m curious to know what the form of a Wikipedia article would look like on a mobile device without internet access. According to the Wikipedia Zero plan, articles could be sent to users via text message. This idea could be helpful if people wanted to quickly find out a bit of information about a particular topic, but it seems as though it would be less easy to use if one wanted to do a considerable amount of research or even browse a page for different content. Translations would be available for the content, but it’s unclear as to who would be translating the documents and how many articles could actually be translated into less commonly taught languages such as Kinyarwanda, let alone Swahili.

I also don’t see any indication in the Wikipedia Zero plan that the project will be conducive to people who may want to contribute to Wikipedia in some way. If I look at Wikipedia now, I see very little information about Rwandan arts and culture. Some artists’ names may be listed, but only three of them have at least a paragraph of information about their works. If more Rwandans are able to access Wikipedia articles, will it be common knowledge to them that they have the ability to edit this open access encyclopedia and contribute their own entries, or will they only see it as something they can read?

In short, I find it interesting and productive that projects like Wikipedia Zero are aiming to provide more people from around the world with free access to digital content, yet I remain concerned about how accessible or cumbersome this technology may be, and how more people can see themselves as producers rather than merely consumers. Perhaps these issues may be addressed in later proposals for the project. Many people in urban Rwanda might tell you that technology cannot be pre-packaged and disseminated easily from the U.S. to Africa. If ICT development projects are going to have any sustainable success in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as many other parts of the world, it is important that local innovators who understand particular societal and infrastructural concerns can develop projects that help to enable people, rather than merely aid them.