Wikimedia Armenia/Reports/2020-07

2020
July

Online Summer WikiCamp 2020 (July 20-25)

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The results of the WikiCamp

Online Summer WikiCamp 2020, designed for experienced editors aged 9-14, took place on July 20-25. In total 96 participants applied for the camp, but due to the strict selection process, only 41 editors had the chance to participate in the camp. During the selection process, both contribution size and quality were taken into account.

WikiCamps have certain features that differentiate them from other camps, such as special camping hoodies/T-shirts and badges. In order not to continue the tradition, all the participants and members of the organizing team were sent T-shirts, badges, and other necessary items in advance via the post office, and if necessary, the participants were also provided with computers.

The Wikicamp’s organizing team consisted of 4 team leaders and 12 Wiki team members. Both with all participants of the camp and within separate groups (there were 4 groups this time) the meetings were organized through the Zoom video communications service.

As during the usual Wikicamps editing workshops were one of the most important activities, this online Wikicamp was not different: there were several editing hours during the five days of the camp. Workshops were generally held three times a day for overall 4 hours (with breaks): ending at 18:00 PM. During the breaks, the campers had a rest hour, after which they played various games and participated in educational activities.

In total, 26 editors contributed to Wikipedia and 14 editors to Wikisource [1]. At Wikipedia, editors were given a list of 50,000 vital articles from which they could choose the articles they were interested in. For those editors who worked on Wikisource works of Armenian famous poets and writers were prepared: Petros Duryan and Shirvanzade's Collection of Works.

In addition to editing hours, many games and events were organized for the campers to make their daily life more interesting and entertaining. The campers had morning gymnastics, Brain Ring intellectual games, puzzle gathering, song lessons, all of which were successfully organized online. The campers also watched instructional videos made especially for them and prepared their own versions of famous songs (covers).

Continuing the traditional collaboration with the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Armenia, educational videos on fires have been made. In addition, an online meeting was organized with Hovhannes Khachatryan, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Rescue Operations of the Crisis Management State Academy, Aram Zakaryan, journalist of the "MES 911" online newspaper, Liliana Margaryan, Head of the Information Department of the Information and Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. During the meeting, the representatives of the Ministry of Emergency Situations discussed various emergency situations with the campers and presented the means to protect themselves from such possible situations.

Online Wikipedia courses

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After successfully launching the “Online Wikipedia course for teachers”, many people have applied to Wikimedia Armenia to participate in the course. So it was decided to start an online Wikipedia course, this time for people of all ages and professions. More than 320 people applied for the training. The majority of the applicants are again teachers. During the conference organized by the Paradigma Educational Foundation, a lot of teachers Influenced by the speech of the President of Wikimedia Armenia and the coordinator of Alaverdi Wikiclub, expressed a great desire to participate in the course. In addition to teachers, pupils, students, and people of other professions applied to participate in the course.

In contrast to the teacher’s course, both beginners and experienced editors are enrolled in this course. In order to increase the effectiveness of the course, the training of experienced editors was conducted in a different format and in separate groups from newcomers. There are 25 experienced participants in the course. The aim of the experienced editors’ course is to deepen their knowledge of Wikipedia and other wiki platforms, especially Wikidata.

More than 190 people confirmed their participation in the training. Like the previous course, this one is also conducted online. 19 groups of 10 people were formed. As in the case of the teachers' training, 11 editors have been selected from the wiki community, who have taken on the task of introducing groups to Wikipedia and other Wiki platforms. Before starting the course, these 11 trainers have had training sessions. Each trainer has two groups, the courses are held twice a week for two hours. As in the case of the teachers’ course, a list of 25,000 vital articles was offered to the participants. We also created a Wikipedia page where participants add the articles they created or improved. So far, 327 articles have been created and improved within the framework of the course.

In order to coordinate the work of the trainers, a meeting is organized once a week, during which issues related to the trainings and possible shortcomings and ommissions are discussed. As a result of the exchange of experience, the trainers present the methods by which they conduct their courses. The trainers record the courses, which helps both the trainers and us to get an idea of the training methods and possible problems, as well as for the participants who can return to the recordings and strengthen their knowledge.

Wikimedia Armenia-Birthright Armenia collaboration

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The Birthright Armenia Foundation provides volunteer opportunities for young Diaspora Armenians who come to Armenia and are hosted by Armenian families. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Diaspora Armenian volunteers do not have the opportunity to arrive in Armenia; they have to do their volunteer work remotely. Knowing several languages, many young Diaspora Armenians have expressed a desire to do translations as a part of their volunteering.

Accepting the Birthright Armenia’s offer of collaboration, Wikimedia Armenia “hosted” four Armenian volunteers from Russia, Canada, Lebanon, and France. These volunteers translate and contribute to foreign language Wikipedias, specifically enriching and creating information about Armenia, Armenian history, and culture. A wiki editor was attached to each volunteer to introduce them to Wikipedia its tools and features. The wiki editor’s job is to teach the volunteer how to create an account and to work on Wikipedia. At the same time, as the volunteers work, the wiki editors have to make sure that the volunteers published the translated articles correctly on Wikipedia, warn them in case if their articles are labeled, and help them with any issues.

At present, two of the four volunteers translate various articles on Armenia from English to French, contributing to the French Wikipedia, and one volunteer translates from Armenian to Russian, contributing to the Russian Wikipedia. The Lebanese-Armenian volunteer translates from English to Western Armenian, enriching the Western Armenian Wikipedia with articles on biology.

The contribution of Armenian volunteers in foreign language Wikipedias plays a significant role. They enrich the Armenian topic, which is rarely presented in foreign language Wikipedias, being native speakers of those languages. At the moment, the volunteers have created more than 14 articles: Gevork Vartanian, Khosrovidukht, Aram Pachyan, Sarmen, etc. Even after two of the volunteers have finished their volunteering, one of them still continues having contributions to Russian Wikipedia on Armenian topics.

Saturday workshops

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In July 2020, Wikimedia Armenia continued to conduct online Saturday workshops every week, which were of great interest to editors, as in previous months.

Remote Saturday workshops took place four times on July 4, 11, 18, and 25. As always, the workshops took place with two separate groups, the first one was organized for experienced editors and the second one for beginner editors.

For the first group of participants, we provided more information on relevant and important topics for the period. During the workshop on July 4, the project "One article per week" was presented: its importance, how to participate in the project, what are the rules of the project. At the end of the workshop, the results of the previous 6 months were summarized, the names of the participants who created a new article each week within the framework of the "One article per week" project were announced. During the month, the mentioned participants received their awards via the post office. During the month, the participants were introduced to the tree of categories on Wikipedia and other projects, their structure, purpose, how to use them, and how to create categories. Another topic was about regulation on Wikipedia, what labels there are, what to do when articles are labeled, what gadgets there are on Wikipedia, how to find and use them. Fifty-eight people participated in the first group workshop during the month.

The second part of the workshop is intended for new editors, during which Wikipedia and other wiki projects are introduced, information about Wikimedia movement and Wikimedia Armenia is provided. The purpose of the workshop is to introduce the organization, the projects, the opportunities to participate in them in a short period of time (two hours). At the same time, it gives a brief overview of how to register on Wikipedia, addresses the structure of the article, and the rules and regulations that the beginners need at the beginning. During the month of July, 22 newcomers participated in the workshops of this group.

In total, 80 experienced and new editors participated in Saturday workshops in July.

WikiClubs' report

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The results of the WikiClubs in July 2020

In July 2020, Wikiclubs participated in many ongoing projects on the Armenian Wikipedia, including the "Online Wikicamp 2020" for the age group of 9-14. The clubs continue their work online.

On July 8, the Hatsik Wikiclub launched the "Nations and Traditions" project, in the framework of which articles are created about the traditions of different nations. During the video call, the articles are divided into parts and due to the teamwork one or two articles are translated until the end of the video call, depending on the size of the article. Immediately after the video call, the articles are checked, and the participants publish the article in the main namespace. One of the positive aspects of the project is that during the following video call, each of the participants tells about the part they translated, after which everyone discusses and compares it with Armenian national traditions.

Koghb Wikiclub organized a week-long editorial contest among club members on July 13-19. The editors were divided into two teams for the competition. The teams created articles, and the team that created the best quality content and many articles was recognized as the winner. As a result of the competition, the winning team received encouraging gifts.

On July 16, a workshop dedicated to the "Let's Update Wikipedia" project was organized at the Lernapat Wikiclub via video call. More than ten members of the club joined the call. The main principles of the project were presented, the participants together improved the article about Elena Gogoleva.

Alaverdi Wikiclub implemented the "Me and your Wikipedia" project in July. Before the start, experienced club members were selected who had been mentoring new participants for two weeks: teaching the basic rules of editing and reviewing the articles they had created. Immediately after the announcement was posted on social networks, it became very popular. New participants from different communities of Armenia expressed a desire to participate. They chose their mentor, then after the initial joint video call, they started working on an individual schedule. The project was very inspiring for both novice and experienced editors, as during that time they "revitalized their knowledge" and became mature both as an editor and as an individual. The participants shared their experiences during the final video call. At the end of the project, about 20 quality articles were created. Even after the end of the project, the cooperation of the participants and mentors continues. The Alaverdi Wikiclub continues the tradition of writing a joint article on Fridays.

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) 30 121976 1094278 -587 42 10 0 0 0 0 604 0 39 0 0 39
Alaverdi Wikiclub 34 13000 729052 -57354 772 85 190 -465 17 0 40472 -251 69 20 2 56
Arevatsag Wikiclub 67 960 458328 -149927 1078 69 0 0 1 0 316386 -173 234 146 12 187
Gyumri Wikiclub (KASA) 79 121976 172369 -257 9 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Goris Wikiclub 27 20300 772387 -49763 970 108 0 0 0 0 378806 -177 249 161 17 229
Ddmashen Wikiclub 24 2876 1181553 -51192 1887 79 0 0 0 0 234751 -407 166 114 38 126
Lernapat Wikiclub 79 2279 2200348 -128965 2213 140 0 0 0 0 90002 -277 137 41 32 92
Koghb Wikiclub 34 5300 607094 -37705 502 42 16204 -235 69 41 452 -492 92 0 1 91
Hatsik Wikiclub 21 1044 992342 -14949 406 109 0 0 0 0 1542 -754 129 0 1 118
Mrgavan Wikiclub 61 1725 273340 -33061 549 36 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Spitak Wikiclub 42 13000 135875 -1503 164 15 0 0 0 0 602160 -1060 390 234 182 207
Stepanakert Wikiclub 21 55200 584533 -21961 490 43 0 0 0 0 15072 -88 48 6 0 40
Vanashen Wikiclub 49 2573 4908 0 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Vardenik Wikiclub 68 9880 704257 -2251778 5284 19 544 -37 9 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Togh Wikiclub 39 700 316909 -2653 152 58 0 0 0 0 59814 -7402 291 16 20 249
Karvachar Wikiclub 23 500 916939 -17666 336 162 0 -233 3 0 226810 -1494 174 110 2 159
Aygedzor Wikiclub 7 2608 9247 -189 27 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Archis Wikiclub 11 1109 218809 -9907 289 34 0 0 0 0 16587 0 9 7 1 5
Berd Wikiclub 25 7800 11333 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 212903 -3070 346 99 2 327
Gandzakar Wikiclub 6 3656 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gosh Wikiclub 14 1218 36778 -1168 42 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Lusahovit Wikiclub 13 390 15458 -416 19 3 0 0 0 0 15 0 1 0 0 1
Kirants Wikiclub 12 298 52388 -6900 146 4 0 0 0 0 21147 0 7 7 5 0
Noyemberyan Wikiclub (2-nd school) 15 5000 221780 -951 87 26 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Noyemberyan Wikiclub (high school) 16 5000 81184 -4746 119 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Sarigyugh Wikiclub 6 1253 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Verin Karmiraghbyur Wikiclub 8 1837 330785 -13391 240 21 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 831 403458 12122274 -2856989 15834 1075 16938 -970 99 43 2217523 -15645 2381 961 315 1926