The Wikitongues User Group was recognized as a Wikimedia user group in May 10, 2018. This report outlines our accomplishments and activities between May 3rd, 2020 and May 2nd, 2021.

Overview

Wikitongues is a not-for-profit organization and volunteer community that educates the public about linguistic diversity and how to sustain it. In particular, we help people around the world create and archive documentation in their languages, especially video oral histories and distribute guides for getting involved with language preservation, revitalization, and sustainability.

Our user group was founded with two objectives:

Facilitate Wikitongues contribution to Wikimedia projects, especially in the form of language content on the Wikimedia Commons.
Promote linguistic diversity in the Wikimedia movement through language-centered events and campaigns.

Content

Wikitongues began contributing to the Wikimedia Commons on June 24th, 2016, about two years before our user group was recognized. As of this report, we have contributed 352 language videos to the Wikimedia Commons, representing 274 unique languages. A lifetime index of videos contributed to the Wikimedia Commons may be found here. Between May 3rd, 2020 and May 2nd, 2021, Wikitongues volunteers recorded 37 CC-by-SA 4.0 videos, representing 34 unique languages. Of these, 7 videos representing 13 unique languages were added to the Wikimedia Commons and in some cases, Wikipedia. The remaining 27 videos were either added after May 2nd, 2020, or have not yet been added.

Languages on Commons

Between May 3rd, 2020 and May 2nd, 2021, Wikitongues contributed videos for 13 unique languages to the Wikimedia Commons.

ISO Code (639-3/6)*	Language Name
tyv	Tuva
hin	Hindi
fra	French
fuf	Pular
quv	Sakapulteko
eng	English
xjb	Minjungbal
jpn	Japanese
rus	Russian
por	Portuguese
arb	Arabic, Modern Standard
spa	Spanish
cmn	Chinese, Mandarin

Videos and Audio on Commons

Between May 3rd, 2020 and May 2nd, 2021, Wikitongues contributed 7 videos representing 13 unique languages to the Wikimedia Commons.

Featured languages by ISO Code (636-3/6)	Featured languages by name	Video File
tyv	Tuva	http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WIKITONGUES-_Aydyn_speaking_Tuvan.webm
hin	Hindi	http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WIKITONGUES-_Krishna_speaking_Hindi.webm
fra, fuf	French, Pular	http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WIKITONUGES-_Leo_speaking_Pular_and_West_African_French.webm
quv	Sakapulteko	http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WIKITONGUES-_Pascual_speaking_Sakapulteko.webm
eng	English	https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WIKITONGUES-_Roanne_speaking_Crow.webm
xjb, eng	Minjungbal, English	https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikitongues_-_Shaun_speaking_Yugambeh_Aboriginal_Australians_and_Torres_Strait_Islanders_.webm
jpn, rus, por, arb, spa, cmn, eng	Japanese, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic, Modern Standard, Spanish, Chinese, Mandarin, English	http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Steve_speaking_English,_Mandarin,_Spanish,_Arabic,_Portuguese,_Russian,_Japanese,_and_French.webm

Events

To promote multilingualism on Wikipedia projects, we organize translate-a-thons and record-a-thons, the latter of which is an event format for contributing oral histories—representing oral and traditional knowledge—to Wikimedia projects.

Translate-a-thons

Wikitongues organized no translate-a-thons during this period.

Record-a-thons

Wikitongues organized no record-a-thons during this period.

Cross-Collaboration

Art+Feminism, Wikimedia Norge, Wikimedia UK, and Wikimedia Deutschland

Wikimedia Norge invited us in 2020 to draft a conference and event grant application for Artic Knot, alongside Artandfeminism, Wikimedia UK, and Wikimedia Deutschland. In April 2021, Wikitongues interns assisted in the planning process by researching online tools, creating video playlists, and other admin needs.

Wikimedia Nigeria

In April 2021 we were invited by Wikimedia Nigeria to advise their new language documentation project. Wikitongues is helping the team develop rigorous elicitation protocols so that each oral history interview surfaces culturally relevant information and a well-rounded representation of the languages featured.

Presentations

Wikitongues did not attend or present at any Wikimedia events during this period.

Gallery

Wikitongues and Wikimedia Nigeria planning call

Finances

Wikitongues is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation registered in the U.S. state of New York since 2014. Our fiscal year runs from January to December. During our User Group's third year, which ran from May 3rd, 2020 to May 2nd, 2021, we allocated our budget exclusively to programs outside Wikimedia and, as such, all Wikitongues contributions to Wikimedia were entirely volunteer-driven without supporting expenses. Our goal for 2022 is to develop an archival budget which would allow us to hire a Wikimedian in Residence and ensure that our Wikimedia user group is part of our funded programming.

Reflections

Due to the realities of COVID and budget cuts, we were unable to be as engaged with Wikimedia over the past year as we would have liked. Our past year focused on our core programming: language documentation and revitalization.

Going forward, we will:

Develop and fund an archival budget, so that we can expand our archival branch into a core Wikitongues program.
Hire a Wikimedian in Residence to continue cultivating our user group and our content curation within the Commons

Wikitongues/Reports/2021

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