Wikimedians of Yemen User Group/History
Our journey with Wikipedia began individually, with our first activities tracing back to 2013. Our founder participated in Wikimania Hong Kong that year, which inspired him to go back to Yemen and use his connection with the Google Developer Group in Sana'a (GDG Sana'a) to raise awareness about the challenges of Arabic content and promote the Arabic Wikipedia. This initiative was integrated into their training program, "Technology Awareness Days - TAD," by dedicating a full session on Arabic Wikipedia held in several universities from 2013 to 2020. [References: Here, Here, Here]
Following this, in December 2013, the "Arabic Web Days" conference was held in Sana'a, Yemen, where three sections were dedicated to discussing: Wikipedia Education Program, Wikipedia Zero, and the overall state of Arabic Wikipedia and the Arabic content. This conference was organized by GDG Sana'a, showcasing our commitment to fostering a vibrant digital community.
Tighe Flanagan, the Arab World Education Program Manager, took part in the Arabic Web Days Conference organized by Rashad Al-Khmisy in Sana’a, Yemen via Google Hangout to talk about the education program in the region. Carolynne Schloeder, Director of Mobile Programs, also took part in via Google Hangout to talk about Wikipedia Zero.
In early 2014, inspired by the Wikimania 2013 experience, our founder was named the Regional Ambassador for the Wikipedia Education Program and Program Leader for the Republic of Yemen.
In mid-2014, we took our first steps towards establishing the “Wikipedia Education Program” in Yemen, which led to our participation in the “Hackathon of Wikipedia Education Program” in May 2014 in Jordan, organized by the Wikipedia Education Program, which aimed to officially launch and activate the program in Yemen. [Ref: Here,]
Unfortunately, the outbreak of conflict in Yemen in late 2014 disrupted our plans to implement the Education Program in universities, as the educational system and the country faced significant challenges. This halted many activities we had hoped to pursue in the following years.
In 2018, we held our first official training workshop on "Editing and Translating Wikipedia," led by one of our founders at a major Yemeni university. This workshop aimed to revive the Wikipedia Education Program in Yemen, organized by GDG Sana'a.
By 2021, our founder successfully completed the "Train of Trainers - ToT" program for "Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom," becoming the first and only certified trainer for this program in Yemen.
In 2022, we officially launched the first phase, the "Pilot Phase," of the "Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom" program in Yemen, supported by the Wikipedia Education Program. The results were highly encouraging: out of 68 registered teachers, 44 actively participated, and 30 completed the training sessions. Notably, one of our founders (Rasheed) is an alumnus of this training program. Ref: Here, Here, Here, Here.
In mid-2023, the founders of the Wikimedia User Group in Yemen held their first meeting, where they agreed, in several discussions, to establish the group on Meta, outlining its mission, goals, and activities, while planning to submit an official recognition request.
In August 2024, our group founder participated in Wikimania Poland, representing the user group. This experience allowed for a deeper reconnection with the Arab and Wikimedia communities, where the idea of forming a user group in Yemen was met with great enthusiasm. Through collaboration with Manar, we identified key steps and updates needed before submitting our registration request.
In August 2024, our founder joined the Grants and Programs Committee of the WikiArabia Conference, whose tasks include selecting those accepted to receive travel grants, in addition to determining the conference agenda and activities.
In October 2024, the three founders of the Wikimedia User Group in Yemen were accepted to participate in the "Wiki Arabia" conference in Oman. However, only one could travel due to visa challenges. This participation enriched our understanding of the Arab community and user groups. Additionally, the group founder, Rashad, gave a training session on the first day of the conference entitled (Professional Internet Search Tools and Skills) which was directed to all conference participants. Moreover, he met with former Affcom board member Reda Kerbush during a side meeting at the conference, discussing the registration process. Reda expressed optimism about establishing the Wikimedia User Group in Yemen and provided valuable feedback on the application, emphasizing the importance of documenting the group's history and activities, even if they were individual efforts, and urged us to submit the application as soon as possible.
The Yemen Wikimedia user group has not yet been officially recognized as a Wikimedia user group.