In order to reach out to the rural communities, Wikipedia.com launched a Wikipedia Academy in Chennai, India on December 12, 2008. The Academy is a community driven initiative among online users. It will focus on spreading education and supporting Wikipedia by contributing articles to it. The Academy, which will have various chapters in India, is a voluntary organisation among online users to basically promote education through wikipedia.com.
Wikipedia Founder and iCommons Board Member, Jimmy Wales, launched the African Wikipedia Academy series at CIDA City Campus in Johannesburg just over a year before - in November 2007.
Check out this great video of the first Wikipedia Academy in Africa at CIDA City Campus.
It made a lot of sense that the first South African Wikipedia Academy took place at CIDA City Campus. Wikipedia is dubbed ‘the free encyclopedia’ and CIDA the first ‘free university’ in South Africa, but it is not only the “cost” that these two pioneering initiatives share. Both are founded on the concepts of community contribution: Wikipedia is built by thousands of contributors from around the world who share their knowledge with their fellow language speakers; CIDA is maintained by the students who help run the university, teach young people during their holidays and help pay university costs of other students when they graduate. It is this sense of community and community contribution that has made both Wikipedia and CIDA so successful in delivering quality education to the poor.
Here's another video of the South African Wikipedia Academy launch.
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