WikiPodcast Morocco is an audio podcast produced by Wikimedia Morocco User Group. It aims to advocate and raise awareness about the Wikimedia movement in general, with specific deep dives on subjects of interest. Its main audience is Wikimedians from the MENA region, with episodes recorded in different languages including: Arabic, Moroccan Darija and Tachelhit.
The podcast is hosted by Loubna Ait Oumasste, the communications responsible at Wikimedia Morocco UG. For every episode, she is inviting different guests for an online discussion on their area of expertise.
In this first episode, two user group co-founders, Anass Sedrati and Reda Benkhadra, together with Rachid Ourkia, the group coordinator introduce the UG background, goals and activities.
The second episode of the Podcast features two experienced editors, one from Algeria (Mohamed Bachounda), and another from Morocco (Mounir Afifi). They present to the listener the diversity of Wikimedia projects, that go beyond Wikipedia, such as Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons.
The third episode of Wikipodcast Morocco hosts Mohamed Mokhtari, an experienced editor in the Arabic Wikipedia. Mokhtari relates several aspects of his works, as well as the different challenges and opportunities that he saw during his Wiki time. One of the interesting subjects that he notes, is the complexity of writing about mathematics in Arabic, especially with the different words that Arabic speaking countries decided to use, and the process of coordination and agreement about used symbols and alphabets.
In the fourth episode of the WikiPodcast, Loubna hosts Omar Belghiti Alaoui and Hayat Ahlamine, two members of the user group. Omar and Hayat share their experience as active participants in the Moroccan plastic arts project on Wikipedia. The team's work begins first by searching for reliable sources in specialized books and museums, before writing them to an encyclopedic format and sharing roles to create and develop articles about Moroccan artists in multiple languages.
In the fifth episode of the WikiPodcast, Loubna Ait Oumasste hosts University Professor Rachida Roky, member of the Wikimedia Morocco user group, and executive director of the Reading Network in Morocco. Through this discussion, Ms. Roky shares with the audience several parts of her work in literature, and the interdependence of the latter with Wikimedia projects, which motivated her and the reading network to establish a close partnership with the Moroccan User Group, and to collaborate and organize several joint projects, such as the project "Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom", and "I Volunteer and introduce my country", which aims to encourage university students to write and edit more about Morocco in various languages.
In the sixth episode of the Wikimedia Morocco podcast, Loubna Ait Oumasste hosts Mounir Afifi, an administrator in the Moroccan Darija Wikipedia project. Through answering various questions, Mounir talks about the history of the Darija and its structure, in addition to challenges that linguists and Wikimedians are working on, about the different ways of writing the language, and the available options. After that, Mounir takes a deep dive in the Darija Wikipedia project, the ways the team is working in it, as well as the challenges related to it as a small Wikipedia, especially in the Moroccan context, which is characterized by multilingualism and the different use of languages according to the situation.
During the seventh episode of the Wikimedia Morocco podcast, Loubna Ait Oumasste hosts Mr. Lhoussine Bentayfaste and Mr. Brahim Essaidi, members of the Wikimedia Morocco Users Group, to talk about Wikipedia projects in Berber (Amazigh) languages. Through the discussion, the listener learns about the methodology, ways of working, the choice of alphabet used for writing, as well as the grounds on which the volunteers base their selection of words in light of the linguistic diversity witnessed by the Amazigh language in Morocco.
In the eighth episode of the WikiPodcast, Loubna Ait Oumasste hosts both Mr. Mounir Neddi, one of the certified trainers of Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom in Morocco, and professor Hayat Ahlamine, a teacher who benefited from this program. During the episode, Mounir explains the objectives of the project and the methodology of working in it, while Hayat shares with us her experience and knowledge gained a year after completing the training.
During the ninth episode of the WikiPodcast, Loubna Ait Oumasste hosts Ms. Fatima Zahra, who is an administrator on the Arabic Wikipedia. Fatima Zahra is the only Moroccan female administrator on the Arabic Wikipedia. In this episode, she narrates to the listener her journey from being a passive reader of the encyclopedia to an administrator, detailing the several stages from which she went. Fatima Zahra explains also the policies and guidelines of the Arabic Wikipedia, and the most important points that contributors must pay attention to in order to develop the encyclopedia in a proper manner.
Episode 10: Adel - Wiktionary and management of Arabic Wikipedia
In the tenth episode of the WikiPodcast, Loubna Ait Oumasste hosts Mr.Adel, an administrator of the Arabic Wikipedia, to talk about his experience as an admin, and the way of working in Wikipedia. Mr. Adel also spoke about the Wiktionary project, as one of Wikipedia's sister projects, in order to highlight the importance of participating in all Wikimedia projects, and to explain how highlighting words and definitions relates to the encyclopedia in general.
In the eleventh episode of the WikiPodcast, Loubna Ait Oumasste hosts Ms. Walaa Abdel Menaem, an administrator of the Arabic Wikipedia, and a member of the Egypt Wikimedians User Group. During the episode, the guest touched on the Wikipedia program at the university and the projects related to it in Egypt, which the group has been organizing for many years. Dr. Walaa also encouraged all Arabic speakers to participate in Wikimedia projects in their language, in order to enrich and develop it, so that it becomes one of the best versions and highlights the value, size, and radiance of the Arabic language at the global level.
In the twelfth episode of the WikiPodcast, Loubna Ait Oumasste hosts Mr. Youssef Ben Haj Yahia (Wiki Indaba Steering Committee - WISCOM), Mr. Rachid Baya (General Secretary, Reading Network in Morocco) and Ms. Zeineb Takouti (Wikimedia Tunisia - Wiki Indaba Communications Officer). The episode highlighted the experiences of organizers/participants in the annual African Wiki Indaba 2023 conference, which was organized this year by the Wikimedia Morocco User Group, at the Dunes d'Or Hotel in Agadir, between 3 and 5 November 2023.
For the thirteenth episode of the Wiki Podcast (which is the first episode of the second season), Loubna Ait Oumasste hosted Ms. Mervat Salman and Mr. Farah Jack Mustaklem, two founding members of the Wikimedia Levant User Group, and active users on the Arabic Wikipedia. During this episode, the guests discussed the Palestinian cause through the lenses of Wikipedia, and the importance of sources and narratives in enriching the encyclopedia in different languages. They also stressed the necessity of continuing documentation in all circumstances, given the importance of this work in recording the history and present of the cause.
During the second episode of the second season of the monthly WikiPodcast, Loubna Ait Oumasste hosted Ms. Fatima Yacine, Messrs. Moustapha Mellou, Lhoussine Ait Tayfst, and Elhachem Biselsale to talk about their experiences and participation in the various Wikimedia Morocco projects for the year 2023.
The discussion began by talking about Mr. Moustapha Mellou’s experience in the editing contest related to Morocco, before moving on to Mr. Lhoussine's experience in the documentation project, where he mentioned the importance of documentation on Wikimedia Commons for the longer term. He was then followed by Mrs. Fatima, who told us about the role that editors plays in highlighting the value and fame of books. Finally, Mr. Elhachem introduced us to the technical project of Wikimedia Morocco and the various bots that the group is working on.
In the fifteenth episode of WikiPodast, we discovered the Wikimedians of United Arab Emirates User Group through a discussion with Ms. Serine Ben Brahim, a leading member of the Group, where she shared information that enabled us to better understand how the user group was established, its history, mission, and goals. Ms. Serine talked also about the international events the group organizes, and the different activities and projects the group is involved in.
In the sixteenth episode of the WikiPodcast, Loubna Ait Oumasste hosts Mounir Afifi, a member of the Wikimedia Morocco group, to talk about the role of the community and individuals in building reliable content about Moroccan history and heritage on Wikipedia. The guest answers questions and comments from followers across various social platforms, discusses the challenges facing maintaining the accuracy of historical information, and how to deal with conflicting narratives and misinformation.
Mounir highlights also the efforts of the Wikimedia Morocco User Group in organizing editing workshops to educate participants on how to contribute to Wikipedia, and stresses that the responsibility for developing Moroccan content lies with everyone. Mounir shares advice with people wanting to contribute to enriching Moroccan content on Wikipedia, and focusses on the importance of cooperation and participation in building reliable and comprehensive content.
In the seventeenth episode of WikiPodcast, Loubna Ait Oumasste hosts Mr. Brahim Faraji, a member of the Wikimedia Morocco group, to talk about WikiCommons, Wikimedia's open source multimedia repository. Mr. Brahim shares his experience in participating in photography contests, and the reasons behind his success related to his passion for photography. He also provides advice for beginner photographers wishing to contribute to Wikimedia Commons, and discusses challenges and future visions for the project. Join us in this episode to explore the world of Wikimedia Commons and photography!
In the sixth episode of the second season of WikiPodcast, Loubna Ait Oumasste hosts Mr. Lhoussine Ait Tayfst, a member of the Wikimedia Morocco User Group, to talk about the launch of the new Standard Tamazight Wikipedia project. The project’s goals and strategy were discussed, as well as the importance of workshops and meetings to encourage volunteers to write more articles. Mr. Lhoussine spoke also about the important role played by partnerships with cultural institutions to promote and support Wikipedia in Tamazight.
In the 19th episode of WikiPodcast, Loubna Ait Oumasste hosts Ms. Zeineb Takouti, a member of Wikimedia Tunisia, and Ms. Sandra Hanbo, to talk about women’s participation in Arabic Wikimedia projects and the challenges they face. They also shared with us their experiences and various achievements in Wikimedia. Ms. Zeineb talked about the various contests and conferences she participated in organizing, while Ms. Sandra shared with us the campaigns and events she helped organize. Finally, both participants highlighted about the importance of cooperation between all members, no matter their genders.
In the twentieth episode of WikiPodcast, Loubna Ait Oumasste hosts Mr. Houssam Bihi, a member of Wikimedia Morocco User Group, to talk about his experience in reaching ten thousand edits on the Arabic Wikipedia, especially that he uses his mobile phone most of the time for that purpose. Mr. Houssam explained during the meeting that determination and perseverance are the basis for success in solving the various challenges he faced when he started editing on Wikipedia.
In the 21st episode of WikiPodcast, Loubna Ait Oumasste hosts Ms. Farida El Gueretly, Grants program Officer and Wikimedia Foundation Partnerships Manager for the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, to discuss the Foundation’s partnerships, their goals and objectives, as well as the strategies followed to implement them. Moreover, Ms. Farida also touched on the role of these partnerships in raising the quality and accuracy of content available on Wikimedia platforms and how Arabic speaking communities can benefit from them.
In the twenty-second episode of WikiPodcast, Loubna Ait Oumasste hosts Ms. Ola Mahadi, a founding member of Wikimedia Sudan, to talk about the activities of the user group in light of the crisis and challenges facing it. Ms. Ola begins her intervention by talking about the background of the founding of Wikimedia Sudan and the activities that the team worked in before the armed conflict erupted in the country in 2023. Ola informs the listener about the current challenges facing the members, and how they continue to work under these circumstances, before concluding by expressing her optimism and hope for a better tomorrow to continue spreading free knowledge and making it available to everyone around the world.
In the eleventh episode of the second season of WikiPodcast, Loubna Ait Oumasste hosts Mr. Reda Kerbouche, member of Wikimedia Emirates User Group, and one of the organizers of the WikiArabia 2024 conference in Muscat, Oman, to talk about his experience in organizing that conference and the challenges the team faced, especially since it was organized in a country that does not have its own Wikimedia user group. Mr. Reda touched also on the importance of volunteering and youth engagement.
In the final episode of the second season of the WikiPodcast, Loubna Ait Oumasste hosts Mr. Michael Raish, Lead Design Researcher at the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF), to talk about the WMF's research team. During the episode, Mr. Raish details the team’s goals, areas of work, and achievements, before sharing his experience working with the team and the projects he is currently involved in.
We are constantly looking for feedback and suggestions, for improvement, topics, and guests. If you have any ideas or comments, do not hesitate to write us at contact@wikimorocco.org. We will make sure to answer you at the earliest convenience.
