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CEE/Newsletter/July 2024

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Editorial
Welcome to the summer edition of the CEE Newsletter! This issue once again captures the vibrant activities and achievements of the Wikimedia communities across Central and Eastern Europe, showcasing the collective efforts of volunteers, user groups, and affiliates in promoting free knowledge and fostering collaboration.

CEE Newsletter
Volume 4 • Issue 4 • July 2024
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International Updates

Stay informed with the "Wikimedia International Update Corner," where staff member Toni Ristovski provide an overview of the exciting events and initiatives happening in the international Wikimedia space throughout 2024. From global conferences to regional collaborations, there's a lot to look forward to this year.

CEE in the News

Our communities continue to make headlines! Toni Ristovski summarizes notable mentions of CEE region activities in "This month in Education" and "This month in GLAM" newsletters. Discover how our initiatives are making an impact beyond our borders.

Reader’s Digest

Catch up on the latest insights and stories from around the globe with the "Reader’s Digest". This section highlights key articles from the Diff blog, ensuring you're up-to-date with the broader Wikimedia movement.

Open Calls and Consultations

Your voice matters! Check out the "Open Calls and Consultations", where you can contribute your opinions and feedback on various Wikimedia topics currently open for discussion.

Updates from Communities

Read about Wikimedia MKD's successful second quarter in 2024, new memorandum of understanding, edit-a-thons, expeditions, and many more activities.

You can read more for the Third Ionian Wikithon 2024, which this year was supported by the CEE Hub Microgrant programme, and it was first microgrant in our programme.

Wikimedia Serbia Activities: Ivana Madžarević reports on the extensive collaborations and events organized by Wikimedia Serbia, separated by their three main programs: Education, GLAM and Diversity.

SofiaCh, new part-time employee dedicated for the Greek and Cypriot communities, wrote a report about the follow-up event held in the Buffer Zone on Cyprus, as a continuation of the HERitage Amplified event previously held in February, in Nicosia.

You can find a brief glimpse of Wikimedia Ukraine’s work for the first half of the 2024.

Wikimedia Polska is starting activities in a new area of focus: Open Science. Read more in their article about this.

North-West Wiki-Historians are actively continuing their efforts, which not only benefit various Wikimedia projects but also delight and inspire the members of the user group themselves. You can read about their actions connected with photographs, archives and competitions.

In this issue we have quite a lot of coverage from the activities of Wikimedians of Albanian Language User Group, so you can find more about their Albania - Georgia Wikimedia Cooperation 2024, Empowering Youth Council in Bulqiza through editathons, and about their participation in CEE Spring 2024, as well as Wiki Loves Earth 2024 and Wiki loves living heritage project.

We hope you enjoy this issue and find inspiration in the diverse and impactful stories from our CEE communities. Thank you for being a part of this journey toward promoting free knowledge and collaboration.

Happy reading!

Toni Ristovski
supporting staff member of the CEE Newsleter


International updates
Wikimedia International Update Corner July 2024
By: TRistovski-CEEhub

What will be going on in the international Wikimedia Space for the rest of the year? Let's have a look at the news and events that will happen in 2024!

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Global news
Individual vote:
Out of 2,451 individuals who voted as of July 9 23:59 (UTC), 2,446 have been accepted as valid votes. Among these, 1,710 voted “yes”; 623 voted “no”; and 113 selected “–” (neutral). Because the neutral votes don’t count towards the total number of votes cast, 73.30% voted to approve the Charter (1710/2333), while 26.70% voted to reject the Charter (623/2333).
Affiliates vote:
Out of 129 Affiliates designated voters who voted as of July 9 23:59 (UTC), 129 votes are confirmed as valid votes. Among these, 93 voted “yes”; 18 voted “no”; and 18 selected “–” (neutral). Because the neutral votes don’t count towards the total number of votes cast, 83.78% voted to approve the Charter (93/111), while 16.22% voted to reject the Charter (18/111).
Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation:
The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees voted not to ratify the proposed Charter during their special Board meeting on July 8, 2024. The Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, Nataliia Tymkiv, shared the result of the vote, the resolution, meeting minutes and proposed next steps.  
With this, the Wikimedia Movement Charter in its current revision is not ratified.
Current contests
  • Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos 2024 (1 July-31 August 2024) - an annual international campaign where Wikipedia editors across the world, Wikipedia language projects and communities add photos to Wikipedia articles lacking photos. You can check the Meta page how to participate, and/or your local Wikipedia language edition.
Upcoming meetings & conferences in 2024
  • Wikimania 2024 (7–11 August 2024) - the annual global conference of Wikimedia in Katowice, Poland. Second Wikimania in the CEE region, after 2010 in Gdańsk, Poland. Program is published and if you want to be virtually present at Wikimania, you can still register yourself.
  • CEE Meeting 2024 (20–22 September 2024) – a yearly meeting of the Central and Eastern European Wikimedians. This year organised in Istanbul, Turkey by Wikimedia UG Türkiye. Registrations for self-funded participants are still open until the July 31st (register).
CEE in the news
News from the CEE Region in other newsletters (June-July 2024)
By: TRistovski-CEEhub

What do they write about us? A summary of the articles from This month in Education and This month in GLAM.

full article...
Reader’s digest
Important topics from the Diff Blog
By: TRistovski-CEEhub

What's going on around the globe? Check out those Diff articles to stay in the loop!

full article...

Have you ever tried explaining the free knowledge movement to your cousin? Or maybe you’ve struggled to describe to your neighbor how misinformation is addressed on Wikipedia? Or perhaps all of your friends ask you about the Fundraising messages on Wikipedia?

> Read more about this on the blog post.

Recently, I, a user researcher at the Wikimedia Foundation, embarked on a research project in partnership with the Structured Content team, to learn how users are interacting with and interpreting the upload interface, and how they understand the rules for uploading images to Wikipedia. The team has been focused on decreasing the number of ineligible files on Wikimedia Commons, and learned that there is a disproportionate number of image deletions originating from Wikipedia as compared to Wikimedia Commons. We hypothesized that the upload interface in the Visual Editor on Wikipedia may either encourage or fail to prevent ineligible file uploads.

> Read more about this on the blog post.

The Core Organizing Team (COT) for 2025 is delighted to announce that the 20th Wikimania will be hosted in Nairobi, Kenya.

> Read more about this on the blog post.

The Wikimedia Foundation’s Research team is excited to announce the recipients of the 2023 Wikimedia Foundation Research Fund! This year’s round of funding continues our commitment to expanding and strengthening the global network of Wikimedia researchers. We aim to support projects that support the technology and policy needs of the Wikimedia projects and advance our understanding of the Wikimedia projects.

> Read more about this on the blog post.

The Foundation recently opened a new data center in São Paulo, Brazil. It is the latest to open among the Wikimedia Foundation’s seven data centers across the world and is the first center in South America. As a result of the new center, the average time it takes a reader in Brazil to load Wikipedia dropped by one-third of a second. That’s important, because for every moment it takes to load a page, someone may get frustrated and become less likely to use Wikipedia in the future.

> Read more about this on the blog post.
Open calls and consultations
Open calls and consultations
By: Toni Ristovski

Voice your opinion! These topics are open to discussion. Also, please take a look at the open calls and apply!

full article...
Updates from communities
2024 Wikimedia MKD's successful second quarter
By: Velkovski.b

Wikimedia MKD began the year with a lot of activities and events and it promised to be a very busy year for the Macedonian community. This proved to be true. The events and activities, along with the projects that needed to be executed, gave wonderful results and the outreach was more than pleasing. The second quarter of the year was a busy one and the success of the various activities marked the dedication of the Macedonian community to follow and meet the Movement’s goals and results. Among the numerous events, the most important ones during this quarter were the Shtip Wikiexpeditions, Climate Changes Edit-a-thon with Josip Bros High School, Memorandum for collaboration with 'Goce Delchev' University and Teachers' Conference at the 'Strašo Pindžur' – Skopje.

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Shtip Wikiexpedition team photo.
Group photo of the participants on Climate Changes Edit-a-thon.

The first Wikiexpedition for 2024 was organized on 26 April and ended on 28 April 2024. The location of this Wikiexpedition was the surrounding area of Shtip, which was mostly previously not visited by any Wikiexpedition.In general, the Wikiexpedition proved to be a very successful and productive one. The team documented 30 new villages, 2 historical villages and spent 600 km on the road.

Wikiexperiments

Since 2015 Wikiexperiments is a project that proves to be very valuable for Wikipedia users and the general public interested in science. The success of the project keeps this programme running for more than 9 years, in collaboration with various different scientific institutions in Macedonia.The second filming on wikiexperiments for 2024 took place on 30-05-2024 at the Institute of Chemistry, University of St. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje. Like the last year's programme, this year the staff of the Institute started doing chemistry experiments while cameraman recorded the experiments in High Definition Video Format.

Wikimedia MKD and the Macedonian Ecological Society (MES) continue their well-established productive collaboration on various different topics related to our environment. The event with edit a thon took place on 30 May 2024 at the premises of the Museum of Macedonian Struggle in Skopje. The edit-a-thon started at 12:00 local time and it was organized with students of Josip Broz Tito High School in Skopje. The total number of students that took part was 10 led by the coordinator Irena Trajkovska Sterjoska.

Nikolche Stojanoski giving a lecture at the Elementary School 'Strašo Pindžur'

Wikimedia MKD continues to establish partnerships and signing memorandums for collaboration with various GLAM and education institutions in Macedonia. The newest established collaboration is the signing of Memorandum for Collaboration with the University of Goce Delchev in Shtip. The Memorandum was signed on 4 June 2024 at the University's offices, where Wikimedia MKD's delegation was received by the University's leading personnel. This memorandum formalizes the longer collaboration that existed between the University and Wikimedia MKD.

On 09-07-2024 Wikimedia MKD organized a seminar for teachers at the Elementary School 'Strašo Pindžur' in Skopje. The seminar was attended by 15 teachers from this school who expressed high interest for Wikipedia and its benefits. The seminar or conference started at 09:00 AM and it was made of 2 parts; the first part was a theoretical one where lectures were held, while the second one was practical one which was actual training on how to use Wikipedia and basic editing guide.

Wikimedia MKD continues with implementation of its projects in the next quarters of the year and its activists strive to achieve even greater results.

3rd Ionian Wikithon 2024 - A successful and timeless collaboration between the Department of Informatics of Ionian University and the Greek Wikipedia Community.
By: SofiaCh

For the third consecutive year, the Network, Multimedia, and Systems Security Laboratory of the Department of Informatics at Ionian University, in collaboration with the Wikimedia Community User Group Greece, hosted Ionian Wikithon 2024. This event continues the success of previous editions in 2022 and 2023, with this year's event solidifying its status as an annual event. The event this year took place with funding from the Wikimedia CEE Hub and as part of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Department of Informatics.

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The Ionian Wikithon is an open event designed to welcome not only the entire Ionian University community but also professionals, amateurs, and young individuals interested in being introduced to Wikipedia and collaborative projects. The primary goals of the event include encouraging the community to get in touch with technology, increasing women's involvement in tech-related activities and promoting gender equality in the field, embracing multiculturalism, sharing and receiving knowledge and trusting their creative abilities by participating in content contribution. Through this event, participants had the opportunity to enhance their skills, collaborate with like-minded individuals, and learn about technologies such as Wikimedia and Wikidata.

The event was meticulously planned and executed by a dedicated team of organizers and volunteers. Key organizers included Eleni Christopoulou, Dimitrios Ringas , and Marios Magioladitis. Adhering to the Friendly Space Policy and the Code of Conduct, the event ensured a welcoming and inclusive environment for all participants.

The activities began on May 9, 2024, with the organizing team meeting to finalize the event's details. On May 11, volunteers gathered for preparation sessions to ensure everything was set for the main events. On May 14, Eleni Christopoulou and Dimitrios Ringas presented on the topic "Promotion of Cultural and Tourism Product using Wikidata" to postgraduate students in the master’s program "Digital Technologies in Hospitality and Tourism Management".

The main event day, May 15, was packed with engaging activities, starting with an open welcome session, followed by a presentation from Eleni Christopoulou on the goals of the Ionian Wikithon and the Friendly Space Policy. Experiences from previous Wikithons and Wikimedia Hackathons were shared by Eleni Christopoulou, Dimitrios Ringas, and Marios Magioladitis. Marios Magioladitis then introduced participants to the Wikimedia world, explaining what Wikipedia and Wikidata are and how they function. Dimitrios Ringas guided participants through the process of creating and setting up new accounts, and Eleni Christopoulou presented the Ionian WikiSprint - Challenge, which involved the WikiShootMe activity in Corfu. Participants spent the afternoon engaging in the challenge, capturing photos, and adding data to Wikimedia projects. The day concluded with a discussion of the results, a group photo, and a communal dinner.

The Ionian Wikithon was also showcased during the 20th-anniversary celebrations of the Department of Informatics on May 16 and 17, highlighting the event's significance within the academic community. Following the main event, volunteers met on May 29 to discuss the outcomes and plan future activities, and the organizing team convened on May 31 to review the event's success and discuss future plans.

This year’s event demonstrated the power of community and collaboration, with notable outcomes including the creation of five new articles, the editing of 121 existing ones, a total of 227 edits, and the uploading of 40 new files to Wikimedia Commons. The Ionian Wikithon 2024 has not only enriched the Wikimedia projects but also provided valuable experiences and skills to all participants, further encouraging their involvement in future events.

May - June 2024
By: Ivana Madžarević

Between May and June, Wikimedia Serbia had numerous activities. The most important event was the eighth local conference of Wikipedians from Serbia - WikiLive, and next to it, the CEE Spring competition, the Wikipedia competition on the occasion of International Museum Day, as well as the Wiki For Human Rights and World Refugee Day edit-a-thons were organized. Knowledge dissemination took place at the Wiki Education Speaker Series webinar organized by Wiki Education, as well as at the 5th Encuentro WikiEducación event, organized by Wikimedia Mexico. Also, research on the motivation of the new Serbian-language Wikipedia editors was completed, which can be read in the prepared report.

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Education Program

  • The research project on the motivation of new Wikipedia editors in the Serbian language has been completed. Project was financed by the Wikimedia Foundation Research Fund, and lasted from May 2023 to April 2024. The report based on the findings was published in Serbian, English and Russian.
  • An accredited seminar for teachers was held in the Elementary School "Borivoje Ž. Milojević" in Krupanj. The participants of the seminar had the opportunity to get acquainted with the use of Wiki tools in teaching and to learn how to edit Wikipedia.
  • Examples of good practice were presented at the Wiki Education Speaker Series webinar, organized by WikiEducation, as well as at the 5to Encuentro WikiEducación event, organized by Wikimedia Mexico. The promotion of Wiki Senior was also held in "Božidarac" (Belgrade), where permanent training is planned.
  • Wikipedia editing workshops were held at the Ninth High School in Belgrade, at the Pedagogical Society of Serbia, as well as at the Elementary School "Jovan Sterija Popović".
  • Registrations for the Edu Wiki camp, which will take place in Banja Koviljača from July 22 to 25, have ended. The camp is intended primarily for students and high school students who are motivated to learn more about Wiki projects. Wiki ambassadors are chosen from among the camp participants.

GLAM Program

  • As part of the Wikipedia in Residence project, which is realized in collaboration with the Little Theater Duško Radović, during the first two months, 54 articles were written, 15 were improved, and 12 were illustrated. 336 files have been uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, four of which are monographs. The WiR was extended for another month.
  • As part of the global initiative to increase content on Wiki projects on the occasion of International Museum Day, a competition was organized on Wikidata. The competition lasted from May 18 to 26, 2024, and almost four thousand changes were made to 465 items, while 8 items were created.
  • 34 articles were written by 8 editors, within edit-a-thon called Women who left a mark. This event was organized by Wiki librarians. In addition to that, Wiki librarians organized one accredited seminar.

Diversity Program

  • The eighth WikiLive conference (local Wikipedian conference) was held on May 18 and 19. The event was realized under the slogan United in Knowledge and gathered around 70 Wikipedia editors, as well as collaborators on the project. The program included a variety of topics - from technical news, through discussions about content quality, motivational factors, panel discussions with partners from educational and cultural institutions, to discussions about how generative artificial intelligence tools can influence the project. The blog post is prepared and published, while the photos are uploaded on Wikimedia Commons.
  • Wikimedia Serbia has joined the Wiki For Human Rights global campaign for the fifth time, which aims to increase the visibility of human rights content, and this year the focus was on environmental sustainability. As part of the campaign, an edit-a-thon was organized, which lasted from May 27 to June 2. 8 editors participated in Wikipedia in the Serbian language and 20 new articles were written.
  • Wikimedia Serbia organized the tenth jubilee CEE Spring competition. The competition was realized in collaboration with Wikimedians of Republic of Srpska. As part of the competition, 566 new articles were written, while 102 were improved. 93,300,058 bytes were uploaded within this competition.
  • Wikimedia Serbia and the Wikimedians of Republic of Srpska, in collaboration with the Center for Research and Development of Society - IDEAS, for the third time organized an edit-a-thon on the occasion of World Refugee Day, which lasted from June 20 to 27. This event aimed to raise awareness of the refugee crisis and xenophobia by writing Wikipedia articles, and was followed by organized editing workshop. 8 editors participated in the marathon and a total of 19 articles were written.
HERitage Follow-Up Event in the Buffer Zone
By: SofiaCh

The HERitage Follow-Up Event in the Buffer Zone, organized by the Wikimedia Community User Group Cyprus, was a remarkable continuation of our mission to amplify the voices of Cypriot women on Wikipedia. Despite the high temperatures affecting attendance, the event was a big success in bringing people together and sharing knowledge

full article...

The day began with a welcome from Anna Prodromou, followed by a presentation on Wikipedia principles by ZahHera. Participants engaged in dynamic discussions and a collaborative edit-a-thon led by ToprakM, creating new accounts and editing articles. The creation of a Telegram group facilitated ongoing collaboration and future project planning.

The event was a wonderful opportunity for participants to work closely together, sharing ideas and experiences. The activities throughout the day helped build a stronger community and encouraged everyone to get involved. We also took photos, which you can view on Wikimedia Commons. It created a welcoming atmosphere where everyone felt comfortable contributing and learning from each other.

The event not only promoted diversity within the Wikimedia community but also made strides in mitigating gender bias. Here are some thoughts from the participants about their experience:

Mariam: "My expectations for the event were met perfectly. I learned a lot and got to see how editing works on Wikipedia. It was an amazing event with amazing people."

Mehmet : "I have never been to any Wikimedia event so I was very eager to meet like-minded people. That expectation was met very easily! I even learned a few things too. It was also my first time meeting Toprak. One thing that made me very pleased was how everybody was invested in the event. I am thrilled to meet you all again!"

Hale: "I found the workshop exceptionally productive. It has instilled in me a newfound confidence in my ability to create content for Wikipedia. More importantly, I am now equipped to contribute towards mitigating the gender disparity on the platform, focusing on underrepresented women in Cyprus."

The HERitage Follow-Up Event was a truly enriching experience that strengthened our commitment to diversity and gender equality in the Wikimedia community. We loved connecting with everyone and we are excited to keep working together to make a positive impact.

Wikimedia Ukraine’s mid-year update in 8 figures
By: Anton Protsiuk

As we are halfway into 2024, let’s look back at Wikimedia Ukraine’s activities from January to June. Here’s a brief glimpse of our work – just a snapshot, not the full story – in eight figures.

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  1. 15 years of Wikimedia Ukraine! In May we've celebrated Wikimedia Ukraine's 15-year anniversary. Read this article on Diff for a list of some of our achievements over the years – and to hear from people who’ve made this possible.
  2. 47 events held for Ukrainian Wikipedia birthday in January and February. Every year we use Ukrainian Wikipedia’s birthdays an opportunity to organize Wikimarathon, a campaign that aims to recruit as many new volunteers as possible with an online marathon and a series of offline events. This year we had 36 events in Ukraine and 11 in other European countries, which gathered 900+ participants. (Read more on Diff).
  3. 1685 articles about Ukraine in 66 languages created and improved within the annual Ukraine's Cultural Diplomacy Month, which we held in March in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ukrainian Institute.
  4. 700 educators passed a course about Wikipedia. In February we published a course on Wikipedia for Ukrainian educators on Prometheus, Ukraine’s biggest MOOC platform. For now, over 1600 people enrolled in the course, and over 700 educators finished it and received certificates. (Read more on Diff).
  5. 1300 articles on Ukrainian Wikipedia were created & improved across 3 campaigns for librarians. Throughout the spring of 2024, Wikimedia Ukraine has supported three campaigns on Wikipedia & Wikimedia projects aimed at librarians: #1Lib1Ref, #EveryBookItsReader, and “Cultural heritage and prominent figures”. (Read more in the GLAM newsletter).
  6. 15 people graduated from the first online course for Wikipedia trainers. In December and January Wikimedia Ukraine held our first-ever online course for Wikipedia trainers. 21 people joined and 15 successfully graduated. (Read more on Diff).
  7. We developed 8 new video tutorials about Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects. Brief guides (3 to 7 minutes each) include topics like introduction to Wikidata, Wikipedia notability guidelines, and an explainer on whether you can trust Wikipedia. (Read more on Diff).
  8. Last but definitely not least – we gave out 31 condensed milk awards for most active Wikipedia contributors from January to May. (Read more about the program on Diff + watch a Wikimania lightning talk).
Open Science: New area of focus in Poland
By: Kasia Makowska (WMPL)

Wikimedia Polska is starting activities in a new area of focus: Open Science.

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WMPL’s strategy is to make Wikimedia projects a recognised source of information and knowledge, and to gather and effectively use the knowledge about the projects. To achieve this, Wikimedia Polska partners with research institutions and universities to source content and engage in initiatives to combat disinformation. This work has already been happening under the Open Education workstream, and after hearing suggestions from the community, Wikimedia Polska has now arranged it in a more intentional, systematic way.

In June, WMPL welcomed Kasia Makowska, Open Science Manager, to their team. Kasia will be responsible for building relationships with the research and expert community, as well as coordinating Open Science and Open Education projects.

What does Open Science mean to us at Wikimedia Polska? Open Science is striving to make scientific resources (including scientific research and its results, research data, educational resources) as open as possible: accessible, transparent and verifiable. This allows, among other things, to increase accessibility to knowledge and to redress inequalities. Making research resources available is therefore a natural direction for us.

Through the implementation of Open Science and the development of Research and Development area, Wikimedia Polska plans to increase its credibility, promote transparency and access to knowledge on a global level.

North-West Wiki-Historians: photographs, archives and competitions
By: Екатерина Борисова, Красный

Вики-краеведы Северо-Запада России активно продолжают свою деятельность, которая не только приносит пользу различным проектам Викимедиа, но и радует и вдохновляет самих участников юзер-группы.

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Краеведы Северо-Запада: фотографии, архивы и конкурсы

В конце весны и в первой половине лета по-прежнему писались и улучшались статьи об истории и культуре северо-западного региона (самой активной была и остается участница Lvova, создавшая за указанный период 73 новые статьи, в основном посвящённых архитектуре Санкт-Петербурга и его пригородов), но с началом тёплого сезона к онлайновой деятельности, как обычно, добавились офлайн-встречи и фотопрогулки. За отчётный период участники юзер-группы неоднократно встречались с целью изучить и сфотографировать малоизвестные локации и объекты, не представленные до сих пор на Викискладе. Стоит отдельно отметить посещение обычно закрытого фондохранилища Выборгского музея-заповедника, где участники экскурсии получили уникальную возможность изучить и отснять редкие документы и артефакты и глубже погрузиться в историю Выборга.

По-прежнему много внимания уделяется не только количеству, но и качеству сделанного. Вместе и по отдельности участники ЮГ фотографируют ту инфраструктуру Санкт-Петербурга и окрестностей (улицы, мосты, путепроводы, общественные здания и пр.), которая мало и/или плохо представлена в Вики-проектах, немедленно иллюстрируют этими снимками соответствующие статьи и не забывают регулярно номинировать снимки на статус качественных. В период с 1 мая по 20 июня статус QI получило более 250 снимков. У некоторых участников ЮГ появилось также новое хобби — фотографирование люков, особенно редких исторических; по инициативе этих участников соответствующая тема была выбрана в июне для международного проекта Фотоконкурс.

Одним из значимых событий стало участие юзер-группы в организации международного конкурса по написанию статей CEE Spring. Особую благодарность вики-краеведы выражают тем, кто посвятил свои работы северо-западному региону. Конкурс помог привлечь внимание к историческому и культурному наследию этой части России и поощрил исследователей к написанию новых статей. С гордостью сообщаем также, что победителем CEE Spring в России стал наш товарищ Mark Ekimov.

Не обошлось и без международного сотрудничества. Группа помогала в организации локальных этапов фотоконкурса «Вики любит Землю» в центральноазиатских странах (Казахстан, Кыргызстан, Таджикистан, Узбекистан). Конкурс, направленный на популяризацию знаний о природном наследии, прошел с большим успехом и способствовал укреплению связей викимедийцев Центральной Азии как между собой, так и с викимедийцами Северо-Запада России. Несмотря на то, что количество фотографий, загружаемых на конкурс, в целом неуклонно падает, стоит отметить, что количество фотографий, получающих статус качественных, остаётся примерно одинаковым (работа по выдвижению снимков на статус ещё продолжается), что показывает положительную тенденцию по увеличению среднего качества снимков, участвующих в конкурсе. Дальнейшие планы по сотрудничеству с сообществами Центральной Азии включают в себя проведение узбекистанского этапа конкурса «Вики любит памятники» и расширение образовательной программы вики-фотошкол, начатой этой весной в Ташкенте.

North-West Wiki-Historians are actively continuing their efforts, which not only benefit various Wikimedia projects but also delight and inspire the members of the user group themselves.

At the end of spring and in the first half of summer, we continued to write and improve articles about the history and culture of the Northwest region. The most active participant remains Lvova, who created 73 new articles during this period, primarily dedicated to the architecture of Saint Petersburg and its suburbs. With the onset of the warm season, online activities were complemented by offline meetings and photo walks. During the reporting period, user group members repeatedly met to explore and photograph little-known locations and objects not yet represented on Wikimedia Commons. Notably, they visited the usually closed storage facility of the Vyborg Museum Reserve, where participants had the unique opportunity to study and photograph rare documents and artifacts, delving deeper into Vyborg's history.

Our focus remains on both the quantity and quality of user group work. Together and individually, user group members photograph the infrastructure of Saint Petersburg and its surroundings (streets, bridges, overpasses, public buildings, etc.), which is poorly represented in Wiki projects. These photos are immediately used to illustrate relevant articles and are regularly nominated for Quality status. From May 1 to June 20, more than 250 photos received QI status. Some user group members have also developed a new hobby — photographing manhole covers, especially historical and rare ones. Due to their initiative, this topic was chosen for the June international Photo Challenge project.

One of the significant events was the user group's involvement in organizing the international article-writing contest, CEE Spring. North-West Wiki-Historians extend their special thanks to those who dedicated their works to the Northwest region. The contest helped draw attention to the historical and cultural heritage of this part of Russia and encouraged researchers to write new articles. We are also proud to announce that our colleague Mark Ekimov won the CEE Spring in Russia.

There was also one more international cooperation. Our user group assisted in organizing local stages of the "Wiki Loves Earth" photo contest in Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan). The contest, aimed at promoting knowledge about natural heritage, was very successful and helped strengthen various ties between Central Asian Wikimedians and those from Northwest Russia. Despite the declining overall number of photos uploaded to this contest, the number of photos receiving Quality status remains steady, indicating a positive trend in the average quality of contest photos. Future cooperation plans with Central Asian communities include conducting the Uzbek stage of the "Wiki Loves Monuments" contest and expanding the educational program of Wiki photo workshops, which began this spring in Tashkent.

  • Самая красивая парадная Санкт-Петербурга (по мнению портала Собака.ru) / The most beautiful doorway of Saint Petersburg (according to the portal Собака.ru)
    Самая красивая парадная Санкт-Петербурга (по мнению портала Собака.ru) / The most beautiful doorway of Saint Petersburg (according to the portal Собака.ru)
  • И погода в день, когда была сделана фотография / The stormy weather on the day the photo of doorway was taken
    И погода в день, когда была сделана фотография / The stormy weather on the day the photo of doorway was taken
  • Выборг, фонд редкой книги, книжка XVI века / Book of the XVI century in storage facility of the Vyborg Museum Reserve
    Выборг, фонд редкой книги, книжка XVI века / Book of the XVI century in storage facility of the Vyborg Museum Reserve
  • Желчная овсянка, снятая в заповеднике «Тигровая балка» и загруженная на ВЛЗ-2024 в Таджикистане / Red-headed Bunting photograpked in Tigrovaya Balka nature reserve and uploaded for WLE-2024 in Tajikistan
    Желчная овсянка, снятая в заповеднике «Тигровая балка» и загруженная на ВЛЗ-2024 в Таджикистане / Red-headed Bunting photograpked in Tigrovaya Balka nature reserve and uploaded for WLE-2024 in Tajikistan
Albania - Georgia Wikimedia Cooperation 2024
By: Vyolltsa

Promoting Free Knowledge and Cultural Exchange

The Wikimedia Community User Group Georgia and Wikimedians of Albanian Language User Group joined forces to start a collaborative project to support free knowledge and Georgian and Albanian community engagement on Wikipedia.

full article...

This project spanned from March 10th to May 31st, 2024. It brought together students from WikiClubs in both countries to translate and improve articles regarding Georgian and Albanian history, culture, geography, traditions, notable people, literature, language, etc.

The idea of this collaboration started over a conversation at the EduWiki Conference in Belgrade in 2023, and here we are today a year later, with many articles translated from Georgian to Albanian and vice-versa.

Both User Groups wanted to engage WikiClubs to contribute to Wikipedia, increase mutual understanding, and utilize free knowledge sharing.

Some of the key goals for this collaboration were:

  • Article translation

The WikiClubs students learned diverse information about Georgia and Albania through article translation.

  • Quality and quantity

Students enriched the existing content and introduced new, well-researched articles by concentrating on different topics such as history, culture, traditions, and notable people, and increasing the quality and quantity of articles in respective languages.

  • Engagement

It is important that students are accustomed to being engaged and encouraged to contribute; the initiative helps them gain a sense of unity and inclusivity.

Through this collaboration between Wikimedia UG Georgia and Wikimedians of Albanian Language User Group, we highlight the importance of joining forces to work together in today’s digital aspect.

By translating and improving articles from WikiClubs in Albania and Georgia helped people understand more about each other’s countries and made Wikipedia and free knowledge much richer. This project proves that different communities can make a big difference in free, diverse, and inclusive information.

Here are statistics from this joint venture.

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Albanian_%E2%80%94_Georgian_Wikimedia_Cooperation

Social media

We invite you to join our public Telegram channel. This is a platform to discuss and share ideas about Wikimedia projects.

If you want to see more about our activities, you can

Albania and Kosovo’s Contribution to the CEE Spring Campaign 2024
By: Vyolltsa

From March to May 2024, Wikimedians of Albanian Language User Group focused on translating and editing articles about the CEE region’s history, culture, people, and traditions to bridge the understanding of communities in this region.

full article...

This year, Wikipedians in Albania and Kosovo contributed to this campaign, translating 42 articles and improving 45.

Contributors focused on translating historical articles, notable women, and cultural traditions.

For detailed statistics on this campaign, please visit the link.


Social media

  • We have a public Telegram channel (language used mostly Albanian) if you want to join and discuss Wikimedia projects.

If you want to see more about our activities, you canː

Empowering Youth Council in Bulqiza through editathons
By: Vyolltsa

On June 1, 2024, Wikimedians of Albanian Language User Group organized an event in Bulqiza Albania where 15 students from the Youth Council participated in a 4-hour Wiki editathon.

full article...

This event introduced high school students to free knowledge platforms of Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons, trying to empower them with research, writing, and media literacy skills.

We collaborated closely with Eva Koltraka, European Union Integration Officer, and Aishe Tufa, Public Relations Officer from the Municipality of Bulqiza. Both officers played an important role in getting the group together and creating a smooth-running editathon on their behalf.

Throughout the event, the students learned the essentials of Wikipedia, including how to create and edit articles and the importance of reliable sourcing and verifiability. They also explored Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons to gain insight into Wikimedia projects.

At the end of the event, we had a short Q&A session that allowed the students to reflect on their experiences. They appreciated the opportunity to learn new skills and discussed what they could do in the future to better improve the content on Wikipedia.

Some statistics from the editathon are:

  • Wikipedia: 17 articles edited
  • Wikimedia Commons: 12 uploads
  • Wikidata: 32 total revisions


Social media

We invite you to join our public Telegram channel. This is a platform to discuss and share ideas about Wikimedia projects.

If you want to see more about our activities, you can

Wiki Loves Earth in Albania & Kosovo, 2024
By: Vyolltsa

Wiki Loves Earth Campaign in Albania and Kosovo 2024

full article...

The Wiki Loves Earth campaign was successfully organized in Albania and Kosovo from May 15th to June 15th, 2024. This year, the Wikimedians of Albanian Language User Group participated in contributing significantly to the campaign's goals to capture the beauty of nature reserves, landscape conservation areas, national parks, and scenic areas.

Throughout the month-long event, Albania and Kosovo participants documented and shared their countries’ natural beauty. A total of 349 photos were uploaded.

Such contributions to Wikimedia Commons play a role in enriching Wikimedia projects and in raising awareness about the importance of natural heritage conservation.

Stay tuned for more updates, and we will soon announce the winners from Albania and Kosovo.

You can see some statistics and the winners shortly here.

Social media

  • We have a public Telegram channel (language used mostly Albanian) if you want to join and discuss Wikimedia projects.

If you want to see more about our activities, you canː

Wiki Loves Living Heritage project essentials in Albania 2024
By: Vyolltsa

Wiki Loves Living Heritage is a project that Wikimedians of Albanian Language User Group joined and launched in June 2023 as part of the Wiki Loves Living Heritage world campaign.

full article...

Over 10 months in collaboration with Kujto.al Foundation in Tirana, Albania, we worked closely to upload recordings of collective memory, testimonies, and real-life situations in Albania, shedding light on people’s experiences during communism.

The 28 testimonies cover many topics, including deportation, arrests, imprisonments, etc.

With many testimonies uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, we are now preserving Albania's collective memory, which serves to illustrate articles on Wikipedia about communism and dictatorship in the future and is now part of the free knowledge-sharing platforms.

Below is the category of videos on Wikimedia Commons.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wiki_Loves_Living_Heritage_in_Albania_%26_Kosovo_2023/en

Stay tuned for an upcoming editathon we want to develop with Kujto. Al Foundation, where we will train our community to write articles on Wikipedia about collective memory and stories in Albania.

Social media

  • We have a public Telegram channel (language used mostly Albanian) if you want to join and discuss Wikimedia projects.

If you want to see more about our activities, you canː

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