Wikimedia Armenia/Reports/2019-06

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2019

June

Collaboration with American University of Armenia

This year Wikimedia Armenia began a large scale collaboration with the American University of Armenia. The collaboration with all the lecturers of Armenian language and literature allowed us to hold 7 introductory workshops for the 2nd year students of the University. The students were represented Wikimedia ideology, Wikimedia Movement and Wikimedia projects. They were encouraged to have their contribution in the Armenian Wikimedia projects within the frames of their classroom projects, thus contributing to the creation and dissemination of free knowledge. Judging by the active discussions and arosen questions the students showed their interest in writing articles on Literature.

As a result of the coordinated work of Wikimedia Armenia staff and the AUA lecturers, 34 students contributed in Armenian Wikipedia and Wikisource. 12 students proofread the Armenian literary, scientific, social-political magazine “Gorts” published in 1917. The other students translated 20 articles from English Wikipedia on literary genres, works and writers.

The collaboration with the AUA is one of the major and interesting collaborations of WMAM Education program the continuation of which will help us enrich Armenian Wikipedia and Wikisource with high quality content on Literature.

01 March 2019
01 March 2019
11 March 2019
19 March 2019

Finalizing the Collaboration with Armenian Education Foundation

Workshop with Armenian Education Foundation's scholarship recipients, 19 December 2018

Since 2018 December, 53 scholarship recipients from Armenian Education Foundation expressed a wish to volunteer for Wikimedia Armenia NGO enriching Armenian Wikimedia projects with quality content. It was a new and interesting experience for the organization. After an introductory workshop 25 students continued volunteering for WMAM until July 1.

The students have translated articles from Russian and English Wikipedias. Those students who did not have translation skills had proofread works of Armenian classic writers in Armenian Wikisource. The working process was coordinated mostly online via emails. The students have worked in their Sandboxes and after checking the translation quality, the articles were created in the Main Space.

As a result of the collaboration 104 articles were created or improved in Armenian Wikipedia and 150+ pages proofread in Armenian Wikisource. The most active 15 students have been awarded with Certificates.

Wikimedia Armenia gave feedback to the Armenian Education Foundation summarizing the results of our collaboration and received a positive reply from our partners who emphasized their highly appreciation of our educational-scientific activities which was closely related to their ideaology. Both parties have expressed willingness to have a continuous collaboration.

Wikicommunity Meetup

On June 7-9, 2019, Wikimedia Armenia organized its regular Community Meetup in Aghveran, Armenia. The meetup had 22 editors from different regions of Armenia with different backgrounds. At the event the editors created 45 articles, improved 183. The list of created and improved articles includes articles from the vital and most viewed articles of the Armenian Wikipedia.

	Wikicommunity Meetup (June 7-9)
	Number of participants	Wikipedia
participants	22
created/improved articles/entries		45/183
edits		492
bytes (net sum)		735000

7 June 2019
Group photo, 9 June 2019

Armenian National Academy of Sciences

Within the framework of WMAM Education Program, the Institute of Economics of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences has initiated cooperation with Wikimedia Armenia since July 2018. The students of the Institute of Economics create and edit Wikipedia articles instead of their intermediate exams. About 10 articles have been created within the first phase of cooperation. This year we continued our partnership with the Institute. Throughout collaboration, students have created three articles on various aspects of economics.

Bodil Biorn photo book

“In the footsteps of Bodil Biørn from Norway to Armenia” photo book on Wikimedia Commons

The Bodil Biørn project started after Wikimedia Armenia, Wikimedia Norge and The National Archives organised a cross-national online editing contest on Wikipedia. When working with text and written articles about Armenia and Norway on Armenian and Norwegian Wikipedias, the idea came from User:Gardmanahay to expand our international collaboration and work with Bodil Biørn’s photographic collection and making the photographs and photo descriptions accessible online and in multiple languages. The photographic collection depict a part of both country's history that is not well documented. The photographs were well suited for uploading to Wikimedia Commons because they could be shared under a free license. According to Norwegian copyright law the duration of copyright for photographic images expires 15 years after the creator dies.

The volume of Biørn’s photo albums is quite modest: four relatively thin photo albums with a total of 110 pages containing photographs and handwritten descriptions and about 200 lantern slides, most of them from The Ottoman Empire and Syria. At the beginning of the project period in January 2018 photographers from The National Archive photographed both the album pages and lantern slides, using a Phase One camera and a light box.

Bodil Biørn (1871–1960) was a Norwegian missionary and nurse. In 1905 she was sent to the Ottoman empire by a missionary organisation called Women Missionary Workers to work among the Christian Armenian people. The mission organisation Biørn worked for had provided her with a camera to take with her on her journey. The photos of Biørn preserved in The National Archives of Norway are essential documentations of Armenia and Armenian History as they demonstrate the life, culture, and customs of Armenian people living in the Ottoman Empire. Among these documents there are photos of the Armenian Genocide - the atrocities committed against the Armenian people of the Ottoman Empire during W.W.I, which will be valuable in the further recognition of the Armenian Genocide by different states and communities all over the world.

For the first years she lived in the Mezereh region in Eastern Anatolia. In addition to the city of Harput, Mezereh was an important centre for Christian protestant missionary activities as early as the 1850s. Biørn worked as a nurse at the Danish orphanage in Mezereh together with three Danish missionaries. In 1907 Biørn moved to Mush (Muş), a mountain area in Eastern Anatolia. In 1915 the Ottoman government started a systematic extermination of Armenians. Biørn prepared the orphanage to face a war situation. And later the Turkish nationalist regime refused missionaries entrance. Biørn now decided to go to the newly independent Armenian Republic as the need in this country was enormous; the tiny, war-torn country was experiencing a devastating famine.

After being expelled by Soviet authorities, Biørn worked with aid among Armenian refugees in Syria.

Wikimedia Norge and National Archive in Oslo with the endorsements and support from Wikimedia Armenia, Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute applied and successfully received the Arts council project grant to transcribe descriptions of Bodil Biørn’s photos taken in 1905-1920 and digitized by The National Archive in Oslo. After funding was secured by Wikimedia Norge from The Arts Council of Norway in December 2017, the project was completed in three stages during a time period from January 2018 to August 2018. The National Archives did the digitization of the photographs and uploaded them to Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Norge organised the transcription of the photo descriptions and translation to English. In the third phase, Wikimedia Armenia translated the photo descriptions from English to Armenian. Throughout the project period all project partners involved shared updates about the project on social media and in press coverage in Norway in Armenia.

Having the photos and photo descriptions available on Wikimedia Commons and in order to increase to reach and dissemination of the documents, Wikimedia Armenia decided to create a photo book. Most of the photographs have been published in the trilingual publication “In the footsteps of Bodil Biørn from Norway to Armenia”. The handwritten Norwegian descriptions on the photographs are also presented in three languages - Armenian, Norwegian, and English. This book is published under a CC BY-SA license, which means that anyone can copy, redistribute, remix, transform, and build upon the content for any purpose, even commercially, as long as you give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.

The National Archives and Wikimedia Norge plan to continue the project in collaboration with Wikimedia Armenia. Wikimedia Norge has received another funding to continue the project. The next phase is to digitise, transcribe in Norwegian and translate to English and Armenian extracts of the letters Biørn wrote for publication in Women Missionary Workers member journal, and also an unpublished 10 page recap Biørn wrote in 1944 about her experiences. The letters and recap will complement the photographs made available in this first phase of the project.

The girls' school in it's very beginning / Pikeskolen i sin begyndelse / Աղջիկների դպրոցն՝ ամենասկզբում։
Some of our children in Aleppo home / Noen av våre barn i Aleppo hjem / Մեր երեխաներից որոշները Հալեպի տանը։
The boy after the stay 2. / Gutten efter opholdet 2. / Տղան կեցությունից հետո 2։
All the children in Lyskilde / Alle barna i Lyskilde / Բոլոր երեխաները Լուսաղբյուրում։

Media links

Bodil Biørn's photo collection from Armenia, Anette Alsvik, Astrid Carlsen, The National Archives of Norway, Wikimedia Norge
In the footsteps of Bodil Biørn from Norway to Armenia, Aleksander Stave Grønnestad, intern at Wikimedia Norge from Oslo Metropolitan University

Western Armenian Edit-a-thon June 21-23

The third edit-a-thon for 2019 was organized on June 22-23. Taking into consideration that improving the quality օf writing and content of the Western Armenian Wikipedia is of high importance, this edit-a-thon only focused on improving a series of articles. It is worth noting that three more edit-a-thons are planned to be organized throughout 2019.

Collaboration with the Institute of Theatre and Cinematography

Wikimedia Armenia has begun a collaboration with Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography. The collaboration is aimed at enriching Spoken Wikipedia articles in the Armenian Wikipedia. As a result of a close cooperation with Varuzhan Avanesyan, a lecturer of the Institute, 6 students were involved in the recordings of the articles. With the help of the students 50 synopses of 1000 vital articles were recorded which were then uploaded to Wikimedia Commons and used in the corresponding articles. The collaboration will be continuous taking into account the continuousness of the project.

Յոհան Սեբաստիան Բախ / Johann Sebastian Bach
Սուրբ Պետրոսի տաճար / St. Peter's Basilica
Փիլիսոփայություն / Philosophy
Մաթեմատիկա / Mathematics

Meeting with WikiClubs’ coordinators

On June 22-23, Wikimedia Armenia hosted the 4^th meeting of WikiClub Coordinators, with 13 club coordinators participating in this event. This meeting have a purpose to speak out and discuss challenges coordinators face at the WikiClubs during their daily activities.

The agenda of the meeting was designed on the base of the topics proposed by the coordinators. Before discussing the main challenges and WikiClub activities, the WikiClub Impact Assessment Report was presented and discussed with the Coordinators, carried out within the framework of clubs opened last summer. As a result of the discussion it was decided that some of the recommendations of the report should be introduced and implemented in the clubs.

Together with the coordinators, the details of the article review, the WikiClub partnership with educational institutions, as well as the exchange of experience were presented. In this regard, the process of organizing cooperation with GLAM institutions was presented to the club members with the example of "Tumanyan-150" project.

During another discussion, the Coordinators discussed the strategic directions of the activities of the WikiClubs in the coming year to form a plan of annual activities. The WikiClub activities should be aimed at enhancing the editing process and development of personal skills of the WikiClub members. Quality content and personal growth were adopted as the main strategic directions of the WikiClubs.

As a result of the meeting, it was decided to create a unified system of article assessment at the WikicCamps. The meeting participants came to the conclusion that they should involve more active members in the learning process, activate and foster the connection between different WikiClubs. In addition, it was decided to activate collaborations between the WikiClubs and the GLAM institutions which will involve WikiClub participants. WikiClub coordinators of the urban areas highlighted the importance to collaborate with the local universities.

Group photo

WikiClubs activity report

Ashot Ghulyan, the speaker of the Artsakh parliament with Stepanakert Wikiclubers

Karvachar Wikiclubers at Zouar gallery

On June 1, the Coordinator of Alaverdi WikiClub, Narine Muradyan, talked with the WikiClub members about the fundamental children's rights and their protection in connection with the International Children's Day. After the discussion the WikiClub participants created the page about Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child on Armenian Wikipedia. On June 29, Alaverdi WikiClub organized a community event entitled "The Most Intelligent Wikipedian" on the occasion of the 1st anniversary of the WikiClub. All the quiz questions were based on the articles edited by the WikiClub throughout the year.

Arpine Dinunts, a lecturer at Goris State University, visited Goris WikiClub on June 9. She got acquainted with WikiClub participants and spoke about physico-mathematical terms often encountered in educational articles. On June 20, the WikiClub members, on the day of the 120^th anniversary of Aksel Bakunts, organized an edit-a-thon in the yard of the Aksel Bakunts Home-Museum, editing articles about the author’s famous works.

This month, Koghb WikiClub hosted the Eurasia Partnership Foundation representatives. They got acquainted with the activities of the WikiClub, as well as presented the fund's activities and programs. It was agreed to organize an event titled "The role of the book in the community" in collaboration with the Eurasia Partnership Foundation.

On June 15, members of Hatsik WikiClub hiked to the surrounding fields, where they photographed plant photos and later uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. In addition to editing on Wikimedia projects, Hatsik WikiClub members often have courses on media literacy and electronic tools. Thus, this month, with the help of the WikiClub coordinator, the members opened their own emails and learned how to maintain electronic communication.

Ashot Ghulyan, the speaker of the Artsakh parliament, visited the Stepanakert WikiClub on June 15. Ghulyan discussed youth activities, youth opportunities in Artsakh with WikiCub members. He donated one air conditioner and six new chairs to the Stepanakert WikiClub.

This month, Karvachar WikiClub continued the translation of articles in groups. The Coordinator notes that in this way, the WikiClub members are more interested to participate, since group work eases the process of quality translation and provides more opportunities to learn new words. On June 16, the Karvachar WikiClub members visited the gallery of Zouar village, Shahumyan region. During the visit the children got acquainted with the gallery's exhibits, and photographed some of them. In the gallery, the coordinator Tamara Grigoryan presented the life and work of Armenian artist Vardges Sureniants.

New participants, June 2019
Active participants, June 2019

	Community population	New users	Active users	male/female ratio	Edits on Wikipedia and Wiktionary	Proofread pages in Wikisource	Uploaded files	Average daily views of created and improved pages
Alaverdi WikiClub	13100	2	31	52/24	13133	18	1	13152
Arevatsag WikiClub	821	1	29	72/54	851	123	0	974
Gyumri WikiClub (KASA)	121976				121976		0	121976
Goris WikiClub	20300	3	20	48/15	20323	300	2	20625
Ddmashen WikiClub	2806	1	28	47/38	2835	123	0	2958
Lernapat WikiClub	1661	0	29	133/147	1690	243	20	1953
Koghb WikiClub	4530	2	17	48/24	4549	12	5	4566
Hatsik WikiClub	1044	4	24	25/19	1072	450	0	1522
Mrgavan WikiClub	1606			30/28	1606		4	1610
Spitak WikiClub	13100	0	21	49/38	13121	160	0	13281
Stepanakert WikiClub	55309	6	23	175/63	55338	5	0	55343
Vanashen WikiClub	2364	0	15	34/10	2379	30	0	2409
Vardenik WikiClub	9880	2	28	44/21	9910	60	0	9970
Togh WikiClub	700	0	15	45/31	715	52	0	767
Karvachar WikiClub	500	1	25	52/52	526	90	12	628
NET sum	249697	22	305		250024	1666	44	251734

Media coverage

Dato Abuladze, the Communications Coordinator and Davit Sargsyan, the Event Coordinator of Wikimedia Armenia were hosted by the Armenian Public Radio's "Alarm Clock" program, where they talked about the WikiCamps.

This month we published an article in the Wikimedia Foundation Education Newsletter titled "An effective collaboration of WikiClubs and schools". The article tells about an example of the effective collaboration between Karvachar WikiClub with the local school teacher who uses Wikipedia as an educational tool.

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.

	Saturday workshops
	June 1	June 8	June 15	June 29
participants	4	3	11	12
created/improved articles	1/1	0/1	1/4	4/3
edits	2	1	14	16
bytes (net sum)	3900	25600	35600	44800

1 June 2019
29 June 2019

This month in numbers


50	12181	2491	250	69	306
articles recorded for the Spoken Wikipedia project	pages digitized for the Digitization project	words pronounced for the Wiktionary project	vital articles improved for the I create a vital article campaign	new editors involved in all projects	I create a medical article campaign