Wikimedia Armenia/Reports/2020-03

2020
March

“Monuments of Armenia” project

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Lately, a lot of members of Wikimedia Armenia have been organizing various thematical projects and collaborations in Armenian Wikipedia. One of them is the project called “Monuments of Armenia”. The project was organized by Soghomon Matevosyan who is an active member of Wikimedia Armenia. During this project, a lot of articles about various historical and cultural monuments in Armenia were created and improved.

Monuments of Armenia
Participants 21 including beginners
Created articles 125
Improved articles 40
Bytes 1,759,679

A Training with the Scholarship Holders of Armenian Educational Foundation

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From March 1, 2020, Wikimedia Armenia started a Wikipedia training with the volunteers of the Armenian Educational Foundation. The purpose of the training to teach the volunteers how to edit in Wikipedia and introduce them to various tools of Wikipedia. The training will last 4 months. During the month of March, we had four trainings, three of which took place at the office of Wikimedia Armenia and one was carried out online because of the quarantine in the country. During the first training the volunteers gained knowledge about Wikipedia, Wikimedia Armenia generally, and Wiki movement. The other three trainings were dedicated to editing in Wikipedia and creating articles there.

Taking into account the state of emergency in Armenia, Wikimedia Armenia decided to change the format of the training introducing an online platform to the participants. The online courses were implemented with a pre-designed offline curriculum and continued with the same enthusiasm. Overall, during this month, 9 participants created 32 new articles, in total 1,262,228 bytes. The training will continue in the online platform until the end of the quarantine.

Students from Brusov State University did their Internship at Wikimedia Armenia

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On 11 February 2020, Wikimedia Armenia started a collaboration with the students of Yerevan Brusov State University of Languages and Social Sciences. The students from the Department of Translations and Intercultural Communication successfully completed their internship in Wikimedia Armenia. The internship and the training lasted 6 weeks and finished on March 23. During these 6 weeks, the students learned how to edit Wikipedia, how to create and improve articles in Wikipedia. As a result, 30 participants created 153 new articles, improved 7 articles, in total 5,198,252 bytes.

During the first week of the training students learned all the tools that are necessary for editing. During the third week, the students had the chance to get acquainted with other Wiki platforms like Wikimedia Commons, WikiData; they learned how to work on these platforms. Also, the students were introduced to the operation and activities of Wikimedia Armenia. Another two weeks were dedicated to editing and creating articles. Finally, in the fifth week, the students focused on checking and proofreading their articles. The participants were divided into groups consisting of two people in each, they chose articles randomly and started checking them. As a result, only in one day students checked around 40 articles. The sixth week coincided with the announcement of the state of emergency in Armenia, so the students continued their work online. Students had the chance to ask questions during the video calls that we organized for them. Overall, the collaboration was very successful and it will be continuous.

Art in the WikiClubs

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On 15 March 2020 an edit-a-thon dedicated to art resumed in the Wikiclubs. The purpose of the edit-a-thon was to increase the interest of the participants towards arts and introduce them to various branches of art.

Since the start of the edit-a-thon, the club members have begun to actively edit and create numerous articles on various art areas. The two-week edit-a-thon ended on March 30, with the participation of 76 club members who created 369 articles in total, with a total contribution of 3,131,325 bytes.

After summarizing the results, the best editors of each Wikiclub were selected, as well as the best editor of the edit-a-thon. The number of articles and the active participation of the Wikiclub members display the success of the project.

Results of "Arts in the Wikiclubs" initiative

WikiGap campaign in Armenia

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The WikiGap campaign in Armenia has become possible thanks to the cooperation between the Swedish Embassy in Armenia and Wikimedia Armenia. The campaign provides a wide and varied opportunity for both experienced and beginner wiki editors. During the campaign, wiki editors participate in the edit-a-thon by creating or improving articles about women.

Currently, 80 percent of biographies on Wikipedia are about men. The goal of the campaign is to fill the gap in the wiki domain about women.

The campaign started on March 7 with the "Women in Politics, Science, Technology and Culture" edit-a-thon which was organized in the office of Wikimedia Armenia. The campaign then continued through online editing and lasted until March 14.

A total of 63 people took part in the campaign, overall creating 460 articles.

WikiClubs' report

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In March 2020, Wikiclubs actively participated in the development of the Armenian Wikipedia. From March 1 to 30, the 27 Wikiclubs altogether proofread 769 pages, in total 1,694,777 bytes. In Armenian Wikipedia, they did 11,655 edits, created 1,559 articles with a total size of 14,276,172 bytes. During this month, the clubs participated in many projects of the Armenian Wikipedia, including "WikiGap", "CEE spring 2020", "Art + Feminism 2020", and "Art in the WikiClubs".

The Wikiclubs took an active part in the edit-a-thon called “Art in the WikiClubs” organized specifically for them, during which they showed a good result both in the number of participants and in the created articles. Since March 12, Wikiclubs carried out their activities online and conducted their workshops through various platforms.

On March 3, Lernapat Wikiclub celebrated its 5th anniversary. An edit-a-thon dedicated to this occasion was organized, during which eight articles were created. On March 12, the Wikiclassroom presented the article “Healthy Lifestyle” during the biology class, which was improved by the Wikiclub members, and the seventh graders presented their article “History of Agriculture” during the geography class.

On March 21, the Alaverdi Wikiclub celebrated two important holidays - International Poetry Day and Forest Days. During the online workshop dedicated to these holidays, joint articles were created about the holidays (World Poetry Day, International Forest Day). The World Poetry Day was also celebrated in the Goris Wikiclub, where the participants recited the works of various writers, videotaped them and posted them on the club's Facebook page.

An article about the wiki-history of Gayane Margaryan, one of the editors of Karvachar Wikiclub, was published on the Wikimedia Educational Blog.

Ddmashen's Wikiclub worked on Wikimedia Commons by uploading photos related to nature, plants, and flowers.

WikiClubs' statistics

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Wikiclubs Participants Community population Bytes+ (Wikipedia) Bytes- Edits Articles Bytes+ (Wiktionary) Bytes- Edits Articles Bytes+ (Wikisource) Bytes- Edits Created Proofread Confirmed
Gyumri (Khrimyan Hayrik 46) 12 121976 165610 0 21 5 0 0 0 0 15194 0 5 5 5 0
Alaverdi Wikiclub 32 13000 995712 -17170 696 111 1761 -2 43 1 2775 -31 4 1 4 0
Arevatsag Wikiclub 63 960 676339 -7739 788 85 0 0 0 0 37168 -956 21 16 21 0
Gyumri Wikiclub (KASA) 79 121976 55910 -2 6 0 0 0 0 0 4854 0 1 1 1 0
Goris Wikiclub 19 20300 399649 -39780 721 50 0 0 0 0 17501 -236 41 12 23 15
Ddmashen Wikiclub 22 2876 1913516 -28802 2565 202 2 0 1 0 179866 -226 125 65 124 0
Lernapat Wikiclub 68 2279 2317994 -58607 2103 193 0 -60 2 0 96309 -75749 259 28 30 221
Koghb Wikiclub 33 5300 238435 -1114 190 22 7821 0 20 15 19351 -1 8 6 6 0
Hatsik Wikiclub 21 1044 979073 -4423 240 117 19433 -278 113 33 176085 -89 74 59 65 7
Mrgavan Wikiclub 61 1725 1489450 -42980 1608 170 0 0 0 0 7307 -140 4 2 3 0
Spitak Wikiclub 40 13000 78521 -57 49 8 0 0 0 0 608558 -920 522 203 215 287
Stepanakert Wikiclub 243 55200 1027460 -107244 416 84 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Vanashen Wikiclub 49 2573 49527 0 13 7 0 0 0 0 4552 0 2 2 2 0
Vardenik Wikiclub 66 9880 177839 -442325 464 51 803 -4 10 2 69 0 3 1 0 0
Togh Wikiclub 39 700 167296 0 34 25 0 0 0 0 38706 -1082 47 10 17 25
Karvachar Wikiclub 32 500 846799 -4153 216 115 4422 -5178 155 15 8507 -25 9 4 3 4
Aygedzor Wikiclub 15 2608 80732 -6234 70 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Archis Wikiclub 10 1109 331239 -4792 562 48 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Berd Wikiclub 26 7800 32120 -12 9 5 0 0 0 0 71568 -300 158 3 51 72
Gandzakar Wikiclub 7 3656 31819 -150 24 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gosh Wikiclub 14 1218 572858 -2373 148 58 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Lusahovit Wikiclub 14 390 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 68853 -926 56 22 50 5
Kirants Wikiclub 16 298 54093 -454 34 7 0 0 0 0 337554 -2040 159 117 149 0
Noyemberyan Wikiclub (2-nd school) 14 5000 175909 -501 137 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Noyemberyan Wikiclub (high school) 21 5000 778887 -8654 406 86 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Sarigyugh Wikiclub 8 1253 71676 -83 18 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Verin Karmiraghbyur Wikiclub 8 1837 567709 -1949 127 70 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 1032 403458 14276172 -779598 11665 1559 34242 -5522 344 66 1694777 -82721 1498 557 769 636

Stay home, edit Wikipedia

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Due to the pandemic in the world, on March 13, the Wikimedia Foundation demanded to stop all offline public activities and, if possible, to implement them online. Also, due to the state of emergency declared in Armenia at the same time, Wikimedia Armenia has decided to stop all public events which engaged a lot of people in them. As a result, the Wikipedia course for teachers, the two Wiki Loves Science events, as well as the camps and all the courses and workshops held at the Wikimedia Armenia office, have been canceled.

In the current situation, Wikimedia Armenia has started working online, organizing various edit-a-thons, projects, and initiatives aimed at maintaining activity on Wikipedia, on wiki platforms, and enriching them with new articles and content. At the same time, Wikimedia Armenia started actively circulating the slogan "Stay home, edit Wikipedia" on Facebook and the homonymous frame. All the steps carried out by Wikimedia Armenia are aimed at creating opportunities for the Wiki community to stay safe but engaged in various online projects.

Newsletter articles

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This month Wikimedia Armenia has submitted one article in the Educational Newsletter of Wikimedia Foundation. The article “Enhancing Armenian Wikipedia with professional articles” represents a short story about Gayane Margaryan's (Karvachar Wikiclub) experience as a Wiki editor.

Saturday workshops

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Every Saturday Wikimedia Armenia organizes open workshops-edit-a-thons at the WMAM office where new editors are taught how to edit different wiki projects. Anyone interested in wiki projects, Wikipedia, wiki editing and needed assistance, as well as wiki editors who want to edit in pleasant atmosphere participate in these workshops-edit-a-thons. However, because of the pandemic in the world, the state of emergency in Armenia and the demand from the Wikimedia Foundation not to organize any offline public gatherings, Wikimedia Armenia had to cancel all its offline events and activities, including Saturday workshops.