Wikimedia Armenia/Reports/2020-03

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2020

March

“Monuments of Armenia” project

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Stay home, edit Wikipedia frames used in Facebook

Newsletter articles

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

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.