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Wiki World Heritage User Group

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Wiki World Heritage User Group is a Wikimedia user group initiated by Wikimedians interested in the documentation of UNESCO World Heritage around the world through Wikimedia projects.

Wiki World Heritage User Group
Wiki World Heritage User Group

The Group

Governance

Meetings

Capacity building

Projects

Wiki Heritage Hour


Scope

This user group is a thematic group aiming to cover the world heritage around the world. Currently, there are 1121 World Heritage Sites located in 167 States, and while some of these states have already existing affiliates with which we aim to collaborate; many other states are without affiliates and we aim to reach their local communities and ensure that no one is left behind.

Background

World Heritage on Wikimedia projects

Content about World Heritage sites is still poor on Wikimedia projects, and sometimes, information is inaccurate.

Please see the Tasks subpage for more tasks and notes.

On Wikidata

While there are 1,121 World Heritage sites in the World, Wikidata indicates the existence of 1,474 sites.

Furthermore, +200 items do not have a French label, +700 items do not have an Arabic label, +500 items do not have a Spanish label, +600 items do not have a Russian label, +500 items do not have a Chinese label.

On Wikipedia

By the end of June 2020 :

  • 496 sites don't have an article in English (44%).
  • 560 sites don't have an article in French (50%).
  • 965 sites don't have an article in Arabic (86%).
  • 506 sites don't have an article in Spanish (45%).
  • 693 sites don't have an article in Chinese (61%).
  • 714 sites don't have an article in Russian (64%).

Why it is crucial to have a user group for World Heritage

World Heritage sites are interconnected and can be grouped into several categories, not only following their geographic region, but also regarding their nature and conditions. So in order to ensure a thorough documentation of World Heritage around the world, a thematic approach is important.

However, when thematic projects are supported only by regional affiliates, the following challenges hinder their successful implementation:

  • Many countries with WH sites but with no affiliates: there are many countries in the world and in different regions with WH sites but with no affiliates (c.f. maps below).
  • Huge disparities: A thematic project covers several countries in the same time, and while it can be implemented and evolve in countries with affiliates, countries with no affiliates are left behind.
  • Affiliates priorities & choices: Huge disparities are witnessed also between countries with affiliates : Being multidimensional, many affiliates can have other priorities and fields of interest (sometimes for several years) and thus they may not implement the project quickly (or at all).
  • Emergency: Unlike many other thematics, the scope of World Heritage is quickly changing : Many parts of World Heritage sites are endangered and many are lost every year before being documented (mainly for the 2 reasons above). Hence, The existence of an affiliate devoted to World Heritage will help tackle this problem.
  •  
    African countries with World Heritage sites but without Wikimedia Affiliates
  •  
    Middle East countries with World Heritage sites but without Wikimedia Affiliates
  •  
    Central Asia countries with World Heritage sites but without Wikimedia Affiliates

Goals

Ensuring the full coverage of World Heritage sites on Wikimedia projects

Target Wikimedia projects

  • Wikipedia
  • Wikimedia Commons
  • Wikidata
  • Wikisource

Details

  • Ensuring the full coverage of World Heritage sites on Wikipedia, at least in the 6 UNESCO official languages.
  • Prioritizing the World Heritage sites in danger, especially on Wikimedia Commons, to ensure their urgent documentation before a major part of them is lost, and also to contribute in raising awareness.
  • Ensuring complete documentation of all the components of composite World Heritage sites. (e.g : in May 2020, out of 1000 monuments and significant buildings, part of the 25 World Heritage African cities, 70% do not have a Wikipedia article in English, and 59% do not have any article in any language.)
  • Documenting the future World Heritage sites listed on the UNESCO tentative list, especially on Wikidata :The World Heritage list is constantly growing. In June 2020 for instance, there are 1735 sites from 178 countries on the tentative list. Identifying the sites at this stage will ensure an early documentation, and allow an efficient tracking of their evolution.
  • Enhancing content about World Heritage on Wikisource.

Catalyzing dynamic synergies around World Heritage

With global institutions

Building strong partnerships with relevant international and regional institutions, such as UNESCO World Heritage Center and ICOMOS, to ensure reliable sources and updates, and collaborate to disseminate knowledge of relevant Wikimedia tools (Petscan, wikidata query service, etc.) among World Heritage professionals and activists.

With the existing Affiliates

Identifying the missing elements and coordinating with local affiliates to fill the gaps.

With new local partners

The coverage of World Heritage sites belonging to countries with no affiliates is poor and many sites do not even any Wikipedia article in any language. Through collaborating with local entities, we will ensure that the communities that are not yet part of Wikimedia movement are involved in the process of documenting their own heritage.

Approach

In order to achieve our goals, we are designing thematic projects. Each project covers several countries and can be replicated in different geographic regions. Projects implementation will be through collaboration and assistance. Although the group will be open to any potential collaboration with existing affiliates, the top priority for the group is to focus on the WH sites in countries without affiliates.

In countries with no affiliates

Our approach is to build communities of volunteers in countries with no affiliates, through the following process:

  1. Engaging with local partners in the target countries (UNESCO field offices, local NGOs working on heritage, etc.).
  2. Launching calls for volunteers through our local partners.
  3. Ensuring online training sessions to volunteers (trainings of trainers) about editing on Wikimedia projects, relevant Wikimedia tools, necessary skills for running edit-a-thons and photo contests, etc., as well as in-person training sessions when possible.
  4. Launching edit-a-thons / contests in these countries, hosted by our local partners and conducted by the trained volunteers.
  5. Providing continuous online follow-up and capacity building to the trained volunteers.

Please note that several countries have World Heritage sites but have no Wikimedia Affiliates. For example in regions like the middle east, central Asia and the African continent we counted more than 30 countries with WH sites but with no affiliates (c.f. maps above).

In countries with existing affiliates

Our approach is not to bypass the local affiliates, but to provide them with help and necessary tools and skills in order to ensure a successful implementation of projects, through:

 

NB: The group aims to work globally through its network of future members and supporters and won't focus on a specific region or countries e.g. Morocco or Tunisia . The country origin of the founding members won't define the priorities of the group which remains focused on countries without affiliates.

Activities

Thematic projects

To date, we have two pilot projects: WikiKsour and Told Cities.

WikiKsour

Status: Advanced

Idea: WikiKsour is a project aiming to document traditional villages (called Ksour) of the Maghreb region on Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata. Its territorial scope includes 5 countries: Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya and Mauritania.

Development: The project is currently implemented in 3 countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria) through a collaboration with 3 affiliates: Wikimedia MA User Group, Wikimedia TN User Group, Wikimedians of Tamazight User Group. We have also received financial support from Wikimedia France.
Currently, we are in the process of identifying active editors and local partners in Mauritania and Libya in order to ensure the project implementation in these countries.

Replicability: This project can be replicated in other geographic regions, such as Central Asia (for Kishlak villages).

Told Cities

Status: Started

Idea : Told cities is a project aiming to document the urban fabrics listed as World Heritage (monuments, history, traditions) on Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons. The project started as an online edit-a-thon in 4 languages, launched on the African World Heritage Day 05/05/2020, to document +1000 monuments belonging to 25 African WH cities in 15 countries. To organize the edit-a-thon, we have added +500 items to Wikidata and prepared a repository of +1000 monuments with links to references.

Development: 53% of the target countries in Africa (8 out of 15) do not have local affiliates. As a result, less than 2% of the edited articles during the edit-a-thon were about monuments in these countries. For this reason, we are aspiring to shift from the online edit-a-thon to the organization of edit-a-thons and photo contests in the 15 countries, so local communities can be involved in the documentation of their own heritage.

Replicability: The project can be replicable in other geographic regions, such us the Middle East (where we have identified 5 WH urban fabrics belonging to countries with no affiliates) and Central Asia (where all countries are without affiliates).

Events and Workshops

Capacity building

A successful documentation of World Heritage requires a good mastery of several Wikimedia projects (mainly Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata), and tools (such as Petscan, Quick Statements, Wikidata Query Service and Pattypan).

For this reason, training sessions about the target projects and tools will be organized for:

UG members Collaborating Affiliates World Heritage activists and professionals
Ensuring that the members of our UG have the necessary skills to contribute and coordinate activities. Equipping the local affiliates collaborating with us with the necessary skills to implement the projects in their countries. Equipping interested Heritage professionals and activists with new skills allowing them to collaborate with us and encouraging them to join the movement.

Action plan

Short-term

Activity Tasks Goals
WikiKsour project
  • Continuing the implementation of the project in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria through edit-a-thons and photo tours in collaboration with local affiliates.
  • Accelerating the implementation in Mauritania and Libya through providing help and assistance to local active editors and strengthening collaboration with local partners.
 Project completion by December 2021.
Told Cities Project
  • Enriching the repository of items and references
  • Building teams of trained volunteers in 8 target African countries without Wikimedia Affiliates to coordinate activities in their countries ( through online call for volunteers and online training sessions in collaboration with local partners).
  • Capacity building for existing Affiliates in target countries.
 Organizing edit-a-thons in all the target countries on the African World Heritage Day 05/05/2021.
Partnerships
  • Catalyzing and fostering collaboration with other Affiliates ( local Affiliates of countries with World Heritage sites, thematic Affiliates that can collaborate with us, Affiliates that can provide support)
  • Initiating partnerships with global institutions
  • Building partnerships with local partners in the target countries of our thematic projects that have no Wikimedia Affiliates
 Starting a network of partners within and outside Wikimedia movement
Capacity Building
  • Skills assessment for our User Group members and programming online training sessions.
  • Skills assessment for collaborating affiliates and programming online training sessions.
 Ensuring that all the UG members and Affiliates collaborating on WikiKsour and Told Cities have the necessary skills to implement these projects successfully.

Medium-term

  • Replication of the projects in other regions and design of new thematic projects.
  • Strengthening and expanding the partnerships network.
  • Designing a capacity building programme for Heritage professionals and activists about Wikimedia projects and tools (learning material in several languages, training sessions, etc.)
  • Organizing thematic photo contests.

Long-term

  • Ensuring the full coverage of the current World Heritage sites on the target Wikimedia projects.
  • Sustaining partnerships with global institutions and becoming an active actor in the implementation of the Article 27 of the World Heritage Convention.
  • Reaching out to all communities in countries with World Heritage sites and no Wikimedia affiliates through collaboration with local partners.
  • Ensuring an early documentation of the future World Heritage sites and an efficient tracking of their evolution.
  • Fostering the production of new creative content about World Heritage: infographics, videos, etc.
  • Encouraging more Heritage professionals and activists to join the movement.

Members

Founders

Participants

This User Group is open to everyone interested in World Heritage.

If you are interested in being part of this user group, or you support it, please sign up below!

Please note If you would like to take part of the voting process you need to fill out the membership form. Please refer to the bylaws of the group (tab Governance, section Membership) for more details.

  1. براء
  2. Reda Kerbouche
  3. Afek Ben Chahed
  4. Tar Lócesilion (support only)
  5. ZAINEB HACHAMI
  6. Sami Mlouhi
  7. Fawaz Taïrou
  8. Antoni Mtavangu
  9. Amqui
  10. Rajeeb  (talk!)
  11. ♠Vami_IV†♠
  12. Avicenno
  13. J ansari
  14. John Cummings, very happy to be involved in this where I can as someone who works at UNESCO
  15. ♥Ainali talkcontributions
  16. Deborahjay
  17. Csisc (talk) 16:25, 6 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  18. Ircpresident (talk) 17:25, 6 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  19. Flixtey (talk) 22:50, 6 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  20. NavinoEvans (talk) 08:58, 7 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  21. Dang Brazal (Talk) 09:12, 7 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  22. Ankan Ghosh Dastider
  23. Abderrahman --Abdeaitali (talk) 11:38, 10 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  24. Mardetanha talk 16:15, 10 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  25. Chafeï
  26. Isaac Kanguya✌ (talk) 18:25, 10 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  27. Hamed Gamaoun (talk) 20:01, 10 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  28. --Erzianj jurnalist (talk) 07:04, 12 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  29. Mahuton (talk) Mah3110 (talk)
  30. Kaizenify (talk) 19:19, 25 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  31. VIGNERON * discut. 10:03, 27 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  32. Aboubacarkhoraa (talk) 13:40, 27 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  33. Ourysow92 (talk) 17:33, 27 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  34. Ahmed Houamel (talk) 01:27, 30 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  35. Daniel Mietchen (talk) 18:51, 11 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  36. Ludo29 (talk) 11:38, 22 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  37. User: Netha Hussain
  38. Benoît Prieur
  39. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits
  40. Millars (talk) 12:19, 22 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  41. Pyb (talk) 13:02, 22 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  42. Pymouss Tchatcher - 18:34, 22 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  43. --Kawayashu (talk) 18:55, 22 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  44. Tifratin (talk) 21:50, 22 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  45. Fuzheado (talk) 23:22, 22 September 2020 (UTC) - A great idea for a project and user group that cuts across so many different cultures, geographies and languages. Lots of great foundational work done already.[reply]
  46. Vahidmasrour (talk) 03:38, 23 September 2020 (UTC) I hope this Affiliate will come to fruition. World Heritage sites deserve a special kind of love and celebration, and deserve to be well represented on all wikis. A group that is explicitly dedicated to systematically generate content around it will enrich the movement.[reply]
  47. I support the mission of this user group. --Frank Schulenburg (talk) 17:46, 23 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  48. Full support (vous êtes magnifiques !) --Wikinade (talk) 11:17, 24 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  49. Supporter for the group and all related initiatives. I would like to help achieving the goals. --Mervat (talk) 09:54, 26 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  50. New Zeus (talk) 16:57, 26 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  51. My full support for this UG. --Sailesh Patnaik 19:28, 26 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  52. Roxyuru
  53. Wonderful initiative. Good luck! Shani Evenstein. 15:02, 27 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  54. I fully support and hope to be involved in this! Islahaddow (talk) 15:04, 28 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  55. Wonderful idea! Full support, and willing to start working on it! --- Darwin Ahoy! 10:42, 30 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  56. Moumou82 (talk) 19:13, 30 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  57. Kayusyussuf (talk) 13:02, 1 October 2020 (UTC) I support the creation of this user group. It will help us consolidate on glam works[reply]
  58. This is a very postive global initiative! Pharos (talk) 17:23, 1 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  59. Camelia (talk) 13:02, 4 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  60. --Discott (talk) 11:34, 6 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  61. Admirable foundation work. Greetings from country with WH sites, but no local UG or Affiliate yet! Zblace (talk) 14:47, 25 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  62. --Papuass (talk) 11:44, 26 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  63. Having worked extensively on the English-language Wikipedia articles about Tyre (Lebanon) and Deim Zubeir (South Sudan) I am excited to join! RomanDeckert (talk) 13:34, 27 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  64. VisbyStar (talk) 19:24, 27 October 2020 (UTC) from Visby, Gotland, Sweden[reply]
  65. Celestinesucess (talk) 12:27, 2 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  66. Ndahiro derrick (talk) 12:49, 14 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  67. Mazuritz (talk) 14:53, 28 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  68. Nehaoua (talk) 22:12, 27 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  69. AKibombo (talk) AKibombo (talk) 00:47, 9 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  70. ولد ببال (ولد ببال)
  71. Alexmar983--Alexmar983 (talk) 21:17, 24 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  72. Kunokuno (talk) 15:16, 29 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  73. Chico Venancio (talk) 21:18, 5 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  74. --Olena Zakharian (talk) 11:56, 12 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  75. إيان
  76. ··· 🌸 Rachmat04 · ☕ 06:18, 24 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  77. Daramlagon (talk) 22:58, 28 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  78. Ralffralff (talk) 15:53, 5 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  79. kyassin75 Kyassin75 (talk) 16:17, 10 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  80. Maffeth.opiana (talk) 10:49, 19 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  81. Richard Nevell (talk) 12:30, 28 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  82. Spinster (talk) 18:55, 4 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  83. ToniSant (talk) 18:09, 6 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  84. NANöR (talk) 08:48, 15 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  85. Nada kareem22 (talk) 17:54, 19 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  86. Bukky658 (talk) 03:22, 22 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  87. Sindiept (talk) 10:08, 2 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  88. DaSupremo (talk) 13:51, 11 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  89. Prithee P (talk) 15:40, 24 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  90. [[Aliyu shaba]]Talk 11:50, 29 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  91. Amyliciouz (talk) 14:16, 29 January 2022 (UTC)Amiliciouz[reply]
  92. بندر
  93. Danbarrameda (talk) 11:10, 13 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  94. Sheanjean (talk) 06:44, 14 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  95. Daphpb (talk) 06:52, 14 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  96. Tris T7 TT me - Kindly count me in! (Meta-Wiki Translator Tech-Ambassador Thai Wikipedia Ambassador, MediaWiki Translator, etc.) *** Respect others like you respect yourself. *** Collabolation requests please kindly inform details in talk page.
  97. Mndetatsin (talk) 17:29, 4 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  98. Susanna Ånäs (Susannaanas) 🦜 17:26, 4 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  99. Amuzujoe I want to be part of this group. I also support.
  100. GiFontenelle (talk) 14:17, 26 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  101. Ola Mahadi
  102. Hassan Hassoon (talk) 21:52, 12 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  103. Rotana Nawwaf Al Hasanat (talk) 7:09, 11 December 2022 (UTC)
  104. Iwuala Lucy (talk) 04:58, 3 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  105. Akwugo (talk) 20:04, 7 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  106. NanaYawBotar (talk) 01:35, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  107. Dnshitobu (talk) 16:45, 25 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  108. Sir Amugi (talk) 21:43, 6 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  109. Kano TCHAPI (talk)
  110. — Osama Eid (talk) 15:29, 8 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  111. Aishik Rehman (talk) 18:58, 11 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  112. --Manojk (talk) 02:56, 18 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  113. -- Bile rene (talk)
  114. ---Adoscam (talk) 15:05, 18 December 2023 (UTC) Pour aider à Révéler les sites historiques du Bénin et d'Afrique reconnus par l'UNESCO[reply]
  115. --Azogbonon (talk) 20:38, 23 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  116. Interested in cultural diversity of Sweden and India. --Netha Hussain (talk) 18:33, 25 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  117. -- Anenome J. Jones (talk)
  118. -- Menna K.R (talk)
  119. --103.165.20.2 13:45, 25 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Collaboration and support

Affiliates interested in collaboration are invited to sign up below. 

* [[Special:MyLanguage/Affiliate Name|Affiliate Name]] – [[User:RepresentantUsername|RepresentantUsername]]


  1. Wikimedia Tanzania – Jadnapac- I have signed up after consultation with the user group.
  2. Wikimedia TN User Group – Habib M’henni- I have signed up after consultation with the board of the user group.
  3. On behalf of the Wikimedians of Tamazight User Group we support the creation of this UG. In North Africa we have a lot of heritage to save, and this UG can create events to facilities to do it.--Reda Kerbouche (talk) 19:01, 11 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  4. WikiDonne - Camelia I have signed up after consultation with the user group on Telegram chat
  5. Wikimédiens du Bénin User Group - Mahuton I have signed up after consultation with the board of the group.
  6. Wikimedia Sudan - Olla - On behalf of the group. We support the creation of this User Group. Looking forward to support saving the Sudanese heritage and Africa in general
  7. Wikimedians of Erzya language User Group - Erzianj jurnalist - On behalf of the group, we support the creation of this UG. We believe that the preservation of the world heritage is our common task.
  8. Kiwix - Technically not an affiliate but there's definitely work we could do together here. The other Kiwix guy (talk) 14:58, 22 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  9. Wikimedia Tchad – Abdallahbigboy - On behalf of the group, we support the creation of this UG to support saving the african heritage. Abdallahbigboy (talk) 21:02, 24 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  10. Wikimedia Community Malta – ToniSant - The Wikimedia Community Malta User Group is keen to collaborate with Wiki World Heritage User Group.
  11. Philippine Wikimedia Community User Group – Filipinayzd On behalf of the user group, we are excited about this new user group which focuses on one of our advocacies, heritage and culture.
  12. Wiki Society of the Philippines (WikiSocPH) — While we are not currently an affiliate (we are the former Wikimedia Philippines), one of our ongoing projects is documenting heritage sites of the Philippines, including World Heritage Sites, in Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikidata. As an example of our work, our main end-user project output is the Philippine Heritage Sites Map website which is powered by Wikidata and complemented with info from Wikipedia and photos from Commons. We would like to be able to coordinate best practices in documenting WHS in Wikidata with your user group. —seav (talk) 06:07, 20 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  13. Wiki Advocates Philippines – Kunokuno We have been always supportive with the advocacies of the WWH and we look forward to working closely with the group.
  14. Fulfulde Wikimedians User Group – Musaddam Idriss We look forward to mutual partnership with youMusaddam Idriss (talk) 10:29, 29 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  15. Wikimedia Community User Group Rwanda, We look forward to collaborating with the Wiki World Heritage UG especially on documenting the Sites in Rwanda that are on the UNESCO'S tentative list. ɴᴅᴀʜɪʀᴏ ᴅᴇʀʀɪᴄᴋ 🐎 (talk) 18:04, 26 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  16. Deoband Community Wikimedia, specifically through our Heritage Lens initiative. – ─ Aafi @ DCW (talk) 13:11, 8 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  17. WikiLinguila Community User Group – CapitainAfrika

This User Group will use the standard Affiliates logo.

Contact

See also

 
Wikimedia Commons has more media related to:

Affiliations Committee Resolutions

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