#AfricaGap - Guinea; standing on the shoulders of giants

This map comes courtesy of the UN to Commons. It was downloaded in 2007 by Jeroen, the language on the map is French and Wikidata has much of its data in English. The names in French are mostly the same but that is for someone else to consider.

Many of the articles on "administrative territorial entities" are written by a small group of people. I want to single out Shevon Silva, the user page expresses the amount of work that went into adding stubs for so many African territories. The important thing about data is; once it is there you can change it in any way necessary.

When data gets entered into Wikidata, certain Wikipedia things are not possible; a "human settlement" is not a "administrative territorial entity". Such conflations need to be undone in Wikidata. Obviously the human settlement is located only in that administrative territorial entity and others only by inference. Attributes like "inception date" and links to other human settlements that are part of a sub-perfecture are for someone else to add/get right. Another consideration are historic administrative territorial entities particularly those of historic countries.

At this time it is important to celebrate what we have, morph it into a format that can be used on any and all of our projects. Once it is available in all the Wikipedias, it will generate more and more links and this will put Africa on the map.
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Wikipedia - reaching out for #ebola

When people are not well informed about ebola, they panic. It is therefore ever so important to get the message out and get the message right. The right information is particularly important for the people who live with ebola, who see the effects first hand.

They live in Africa, in countries like Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. A study shows that the most used source for information in these countries about ebola is Wikipedia.

For these people many of the things we take for granted are a dream. When you know about Gapminder, you know things are improving and not as bleak as they seem. People are living longer, getting educated and infrastructure is improving. It is why Wikipedia also thanks to Wikipedia Zero is reaching these parts others do not reach as effectively.

Wikipedia is effective thanks to the dedication of its volunteers, particularly those who ensure the quality of medical articles. Wikipedia comes cheap. It is the best investment in bringing knowledge to a world that is sometimes desperate for great basic and actionable information.
Thanks,
      GerardM