Wikimedia user groups/Reports/Wikimedians of Republic of Srpska/Annual 2023
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Annual 2023 |
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Edu Wiki
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In October 2022, the Wiki Semester project was launched for the first time in the Republic of Srpska, based on the Memorandum on Cooperation with the University of East Sarajevo. In the period related to the time frame of this report, 6 editing workshops were held at three faculties - Faculty of Philosophy East Sarajevo, Faculty of Economics East Sarajevo, Faculty of Law East Sarajevo - two at each. The goal of the project was to train students to work on Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects. The workshops are organized in cooperation with the teaching staff of the mentioned faculties and in mandatory correlation with the curriculum and work program of the specific study group. A total of 55 students took part in the activities, who created 78 articles. The motivation and interest of the students was great, so the project was continued in October 2023, and will include a series of workshops and editing activities with other faculties that were not covered during 2022/2023.
In the period from April 20 to May 20, 2023, an article writing competition was held for students who received training within the Wiki Semester project. A total of 35 students actively participated in this competition, contributing to the creation of 150 new, and 31 supplemented articles on Wikipedia. The competition was an exceptional opportunity for students to apply the knowledge gained during the Wiki semester and contribute to the spread of quality content on Wikipedia. Writing articles involved research and proper citation of sources, which developed students' research and academic writing skills. After a careful evaluation of all the contributions, the three best students were awarded with symbolic merchandise prizes. This award is a recognition for exceptional effort and engagement in creating quality content on Wikipedia. The competition contributed to the strengthening of unity among students, encouraged them to further improve their skills in working on Wikipedia, and at the same time contributed to the enrichment of the digital space with relevant and verified information. It is expected that such initiatives will continue to encourage active participation of students in the dissemination of knowledge on Wikipedia and digital platforms in the future.
In April, the Wikimedia community of Republic of Srpska organized an Edu Wiki seminar intended for professors from the region. A total of 20 professors attended this event, including 10 university professors and 10 secondary school teachers. The central part of the seminar included the presentation of the Edu Wiki program, both global and local, implemented by Wikimedia. Professors had the opportunity to learn about the goals and benefits of this program in an educational context. A special part of the seminar is devoted to training for working on Wikipedia. Through interactive workshops, professors acquired skills that will enable them to effectively contribute and edit content on Wikipedia. This training is designed to encourage teachers to integrate digital resources and Wikipedia into their teaching, thereby allowing students to more directly access relevant information and develop research skills. The seminar was an excellent opportunity for networking and exchange of experiences between university professors and secondary school teachers. It is expected that such initiatives will contribute to the strengthening of cooperation between educational institutions and the Wikimedia community, while encouraging the use of Wikipedia as a teaching resource.
GLAM
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The Wikimedia community of Republic of Srpska, in cooperation with Wikimedia Serbia, once again actively participated in the organization of the #1Lib1Ref project, joining the global campaign for the third time. Libraries in Republika Srpska and Serbia also contributed to this year's competition, as in previous years:
- Svetozar Marković University Library
- Main Library East Sarajevo
- JU National Library "Dr Ljubo Mihić" Ljubinje
- JU National Library "Vojislav Lubarda" Rogatica
- Pale National Library
A total of 38 editors who participated in the competition edited 5,461 articles and added 12,689 references. Their result this year also surpassed the editors of other Wikipedias, which made the Serbian-language Wikipedia the third winner in a row in this competition. The second place went to the Polish language Wikipedia with 4,254 entered references, while the third was the French language Wikipedia whose editors added 1,871 references.
In the period from September 10, 2022 to April 15, 2023. in the organization of the Wikimedia community of Republic of Srpska, the project Wiki Ambassador in Republic of Srpska was implemented, which entailed the stay of delegated Wiki ambassadors from the community in partner institutions with the aim of expanding Wikimedia projects with relevant free content.
During the indicated period, the community achieved partnerships with the following institutions:
- Aachen network
- DIS Theater Banja Luka
- Theater of Tyrrhenian
- Cultural and educational center Šid
- Tuzla Youth Theater
- CEKOM Zrenjanin
- Museum of Herzegovina Trebinje
- National Library "Dr Ljubo Mihić" Ljubinje
- Regional museum in Doboj
- Meridian Sport, Banja Luka.
Wiki ambassador in the National Library "Dr Ljubo Mihić" Ljubinje
In cooperation with the "Dr. Ljubo Mihić" National Library of Ljubinje, the Wiki ambassador made 7 working visits, during which the staff was trained to work on Wikipedia, the Wiki Commons and QR pedia. On that occasion, 62 articles were created and supplemented. Also, the entire permanent exhibition - the museum collection is marked with QR pedia codes.
Museum of Herzegovina Trebinje
During the indicated period, in addition to other partners, cooperation was achieved with one of the most important cultural institutions of the Herzegovina region - the Museum of Old Herzegovina in Trebinje. Wiki ambassadors made 13 working visits to this institution, during which staff were trained to work on Wikimedia projects - Wikipedia, the Wikimedia Commons and QR pedia. On that occasion, 78 articles were written and supplemented, 174 photos of museum exhibits were uploaded to the Wikimedia archive, and exhibits were marked with QR pedia codes. In addition, for the purposes of promoting and presenting the project to the general public, a press conference was held in cooperation with this institution, where the results of the project, the GLAM program, and the advantages of QR codes created through QR Pedia were presented to the general public. As on this occasion ≈30% of the exhibits were marked with codes, the cooperation continued in the following grant period 2023/24, with the aim of marking the entire museum exhibition.
Regional museum in Doboj
As part of the continuation of cooperation with the Doboj Regional Museum, during the indicated period, 11 working visits were carried out in cooperation with this institution. On that occasion, 211 new photos of museum exhibits were uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons, and 100 exhibits were marked with QR codes. 64 articles were written and supplemented.
Meridian Sport, Banja Luka
To mutual satisfaction, during the indicated period, cooperation with the sports news agency Meridian Sport from Banja Luka continued. 6 working visits were carried out and on that occasion, 318 photos of athletes from Republika Srpska were uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons, which were supplemented with 214 articles.
Aachen Network
Also, as part of the project, cooperation with the Aachen Network was realized, which is described in the Report for 2022, because the mentioned activity was realized in the first part of the project, which covered the period 2022/2023. year.
In cooperation with the Main Library of East Sarajevo, a successful one-day seminar for librarians was held on December 15, 2023. The seminar was attended by librarians employed in regional libraries, who had the opportunity to learn about Wikimedia's GLAM program and work on Wikipedia.
The upcoming #1ref1lib project was also presented to the participants of the seminar, which provided them with information about the importance and the way libraries participate in this global initiative. During the seminar, librarians had the opportunity to ask questions, exchange experiences and gain practical knowledge that will help them in their further participation in Wikimedia projects. The seminar represented a successful step in strengthening cooperation between libraries and the Wikimedia community, providing librarians with relevant information and skills for active participation in the digital space. It is expected that such initiatives will contribute to enriching the content on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects with quality sources and information that libraries can offer.
On November 18, 2023. The first photo expedition of the Wikimedia Community of the Republic of Srpska was realized in Tuzla. The Wiki photo expedition is a project of the Wikimedia Community of Republic of Srpska, which aims to collect quality photos of religious buildings on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina that are not represented on Wikimedia projects and on the Internet in general. In addition to creating a database of free photos on Wikimedia Commons, the project plans to create new and supplement existing articles on religious objects on Wikipedia itself — relevant sources of knowledge and information, as well as collected photos. On this occasion, a total of 462 photos were uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons. This is the first activity in a series of 5 planned for the period 2023/2024. year.
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Community activities
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The project Wiki Women in Republic of Srpska 2023 is an initiative of the Wikimedia community of the Republic of Srpska with the aim of eliminating the gender imbalance in Wikimedia projects. This project includes a series of activities aimed at working on Wikimedia projects, mostly with women as the main participants. As part of the project, two editorial workshops, an editorial marathon and a photo tour were held. In addition, the project's activities are directed towards the processing of less represented topics, primarily women's, but also other relevant areas. The project Wiki women in Republic of Srpska 2023 lasted from February 20 to May 15, 2023. This period was marked by the engagement of participants in various activities, contributing to the improvement of the visibility and representation of women's topics on Wikimedia platforms. The project contributed to the spread of knowledge about women's contribution. A total of 95 was created and 11 articles were added. 29 participants took part in the project. 145 photos have been uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons.
In addition to the aforementioned activities, the Wikimedia community of Republic of Srpska, in cooperation with a local artist-photographer, created and uploaded a series of photographs to Wikimedia Commons on the topic of Women in different life situations. The photos were artistically shaped and aimed to present women in different spheres of life.
In the period from June 23 to 25, 2023, the Wikimedia Community of the Republic of Srpska successfully organized the Sixth Annual Conference in Neum called Wiki Waves 2023. This annual conference had a regional character, gathering participants from the region - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia. During the conference, the participants had the opportunity to present the results of their work in the previous period. In addition, the event was enriched with open discussions and thematic meetings, providing space for the exchange of experiences and the generation of new ideas for future projects. A total of 30 participants actively participated in the conference.
The regional nature of the conference contributed to the strengthening of cooperation between the members of the Wikimedia community of Republika Srpska and the editors of Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, providing an opportunity for diverse perspectives and approaches in the work to improve Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.
This year, the community also participated in the CEE Spring project - an international competition in writing and supplementing articles about the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as about all topics from these countries - history, geography, acting, music, literature, sports, cuisine, etc. It was organized on Wikipedia in the Serbian language by the Wikimedia community of Republika Srpska and Wikimedia Serbia. CEE Spring 2023 was held on Wikipedia in the Serbian language from March 21 to May 31, 2023. In this period, ten editors participated in the competition, while three supported the project by writing articles that were not evaluated. Participants wrote 448 new and supplemented 61 articles. A total of 13,066,083 bytes were entered, which is one million bytes more than last year.
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Striving to contribute to increasing the number of quality articles on Wikipedia in the Serbian language and reducing the thematic gap, the Community organized five article writing competitions and two editing marathons. Topics were chosen based on representation by category, that is, lack of representation and poor coverage. In addition, one competition and both marathons were symbolically connected with the calendar marking of international holidays.
- Competition in writing articles:African continent - 10 participants, 70 new and 30 updated articles;
- Competition in writing articles:Tradition and customs 2023 - 8 participants, 93 new and 5 updated articles;
- Competition in writing articles:Women in politics - 4 participants, 33 new and 9 updated articles;
- Edit-a-thon on the occasion of World Roma Day 2022 - 7 participants, 30 new articles;
- Edit-a-thon marathon on the occasion of World Refugee Day 2022 - 6 participants, 27 new articles.
Wiki Live
Working to achieve strategic goals focused on cooperation with other Wikimedia organizations, the Wikimedia Community of Republic of Srpska this year participated in the annual conference of Wikimedia Serbia - Wiki Live 2023. On that occasion, in addition to participating in the conference, the Community also took part in the lecture, during which presented community activities in the Republic of Srpska in one session with an emphasis on the organization of an article writing competition. In addition to the exchange of experiences, further cooperation was agreed upon in the joint organization of certain competitions in writing articles, as well as editing marathons.
CEE Meeting 2023
In the period from 14 to September 14, the encounter of Editor Wikipedia and Wikimedia from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE Meeting) was held in Tbilisi.
On this occasion, The Wikimedia Community RS took part in the program part within which the participants were presented to the GLAM program in the Republic of Srpska.