Wikimedia Armenia/Reports/2020-06

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2020

June

Online Wikipedia course for teachers

Wikimedia Armenia, successfully and purposefully using the situation caused by the coronavirus epidemic, organizes online Wikipedia courses for teachers. The aim of the courses is to introduce teachers to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia platforms, as well as introduce to the opportunities of using these platforms for innovative education.

The courses consist of two stages. In the first stage, teachers learn to edit Wikipedia, get acquainted with Wikipedia tools and features. This phase lasts from two to four weeks, depending on the progress of the groups. Then the teachers have to continue the editorial work until the middle of August. Those who successfully complete this stage will participate in the second stage, during which they will deepen their knowledge of Wikipedia and other platforms, in particular, Wikisource, Wiktionary, Wikidata. During this stage, participants will also learn about one of the best practices - Wikiclassroom - that uses these platforms in the learning process.

More than 250 teachers have registered for the first online Wikipedia course, about 190 have been participating in the course for a month now. 18 groups of ten to eleven people were formed. The courses are conducted by wiki trainers selected from active Wikipedia editors. Each coach works with two groups. Each of the wiki trainers uses their own unique methods to conduct online training. Classes are held twice a week through the Zoom app for two hours.

In order to coordinate the work of Wikitrainers, group meetings are organized from time to time, during which the trainers exchange their experience with each other and improve their work with teachers, discuss various issues related to the course, and try to find solutions to various problems.

A special list of articles (generally biographies) has been created for the teachers' course, from which the participants select the articles they are interested in and translate them from various languages. Around 362 articles were created during the month within the framework of the teachers' training.

Wikipedia for Peace: No More War

Service Civil International Switzerland, in partnership with Wikimedia Switzerland, launched the "Wikipedia for Peace" online Wikicamp on June 12-19, with the aim of adding more articles on violence, hostilities, war, and militant activists on Wikipedia. The main topics of the project were anti-militarism, the fight against nuclear weapons, violence, disarmament. Garry Davtyan and Mariam Karapetyan participated in the online Wikicamp from Wikimedia Armenia.

Garry Davtyan

In general, the purpose of the camp was to get acquainted with the social movements, famous representatives of anti-militaristic and anti-war activities. The participants of the camp were from different countries which made the whole process even more interesting. Before participating in this camp, I thought that the online format would not work properly but in reality, it was quite successful.

The camp had an educational component. In the form of short lectures and presentations, anti-militarism was presented as an ideology, we discussed what is peace, what are its positive and negative characteristics. We also had "guests", they were members of a community or organization who were active in anti-militarism, they even told about their personal experience and activist past, which was quite interesting.

It was especially interesting for me to communicate with the campers. Being from different countries, getting acquainted with each other, introducing ourselves, our country, our culture, we had quite an interesting time. The online camp also had an entertaining part. From the first day, we were divided into groups of two; in the daily assignment, each group was given the task of organizing a section. Each group took turns organizing a game or a task. All this contributed, even more, to become friends.

During the 7 days of the camp, I created two articles - Anti-militarism and David Dellinger - in Armenian Wikipedia. I am very happy that I was lucky enough to translate the cornerstone article Anti-militarism, as it was absent in the Armenian Wikipedia. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to gain new knowledge and to communicate with interesting people.

Mariam Karapetyan

In terms of educational, entertainment, and Wikipedia-related components, a comprehensive format was developed to make the program as successful as possible, which we all believe was fully justified both during and after the program.

In addition to interpersonal communication and improving our knowledge about Wikimedia, I greatly appreciated our multi-layered discussions on anti-militarism, in which guests from different countries joined us. One of the guests, by the way, was married to an Armenian woman, which, surprising as it may seem, made the discussion of the topic more substantial from the point of view of Armenia.

Wikiclubs' report

In June 2020, Wikiclubs participated in many ongoing projects on the Armenian Wikipedia. The club members took part in "World Heritage", "Update Wikipedia", "An article per week" and other projects. Wikiclubs continue their work online, workshops are done via video calls.

A distance learning course was organized with the participants of the Arevatsag Wikiclub during which such topics were discussed as categories, uploading non-free images, and how to do a correct translation.

At the beginning of June, the members of Karvachar Wikiclub have created groups of two and worked together on one article. The club has started cooperating with Karvachar "Armat" laboratory, during which the club members attending "Armat" have written articles about the programming languages and games they work with. As a result of the cooperation, 5 articles have already been written but the work still continues.

Hatsik Wikiclub organized a 5-hour video call-workshop on June 1, during which 4 articles dedicated to Children's Day were created as a result of joint editing.

Koghb Wikiclub held 2 edit-a-thons dedicated to the International Bloggers' Day (14.06.2020) during which the article Blog was improved. The other edit-a-thon was dedicated to the International Olympic Day within the framework of which various articles were created about the Olympic champions. On June 11, the club had a video meeting with Karvachar club members. During the video call, the club members got acquainted and each told about their preferences, after which they translated two pre-selected articles, one was "St. Hieronymus" (Leonardo da Vinci), translated by Koghb Wikiclub members, and the portrait of Suzanne Bloch which was translated by Karvachar Wikiclub.

Continuing the traditional discussions, Alaverdi Wikiclub members discussed the psychology of advertising and the manipulation tricks used in advertisements. After the discussion, a contest of video advertising about the club was organized. As a result, 4 interesting advertisements were created. At the beginning of the month, the club was actively preparing for its 2nd birthday. As it was not possible to hold a face-to-face event in the current conditions, the workshop celebrating the birthday was organized online. It started with watching the final congratulatory video made by Mariana, after which the club members checked how attentive the club members are to the club.

Saturday workshops

In June 2020, Wikimedia Armenia continued to conduct online Saturday workshops every week, in which both experienced and newcomers took an active part.

Remote Saturday workshops took place on June 6, 13, 20 and 27. As always, the workshops took place with two groups, the first for experienced editors and the second for beginners.

Discussions and trainings on interesting and very much discussed topics were organized for the first group (experienced editors). During these workshops, we talked about Wikipedia editing tools, wiki markups, labels and all namespaces, the role of photos in Wikipedia, their requirements, the use of images in general, the warnings, blocking, and so on. We also discussed the new project called “Update Wikipedia”. Forty-one participants took part in the workshops organized for the first group.

The second part of the workshop is intended for newcomers, who during the workshop are provided with the necessary knowledge for editing in Wikipedia through theoretical-practical lessons. During the month of June, 20 beginner editors participated in the workshops.

Wikimedia Armenia in EdcampArmenia 2020

Every year Paradigma Educational Foundation organizes the EdcampArmenia educational conference. This year due to the coronavirus pandemic the conference was held online. Wikimedia Armenia also participated in EdcampArmenia 2020 on June 22-27. President of Wikimedia Armenia Susanna Mkrtchyan և Alaverdi Wikiclub Coordinator Narine Muradyan presented activities of Wikimedia Armenia and its educational projects: Wikiclubs, Wikicamps, Wikiclassroom and most importantly the ongoing Online Wikipedia course for teachers which has united teachers from Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh. Narine Muradyan presented the importance of Wikiclubs in education and personal development based on the example of Alaverdi Wikiclub.

Interview with AMGA TV

AMGA TV from Los Angeles "hosted" Susanna Mkrtchyan, the President of Wikimedia Armenia. During the online interview, the president of the organization presented the history and ideology of the organization. During the interview, the main activities of the organization were presented: WikiClubs, Wikicamps, Wikiclassroom, and, of course, the most important educational program- Online Wikipedia course for teachers. The importance of Wikimedia Armenia in preserving the Armenian language and the Western Armenian community around the world was also discussed.

WikiClubs' statistics

Wikiclubs	Participants	Community population	Bytes+ (Wikipedia)	Bytes-	Edits	Articles	Bytes+ (Wiktionary)	Bytes-	Edits	Articles	Bytes+ (Wikisource)	Bytes-	Edits	Created	Proofread	Confirmed
Gyumri (Khrimyan Hayrik 46)	12	121976	97746	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Alaverdi Wikiclub	34	13000	683150	-33188	548	52	6604	-9174	98	7	0	0	0	0	0	0
Arevatsag Wikiclub	67	960	496061	-166515	1378	55	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Gyumri Wikiclub (KASA)	79	121976	37028	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Goris Wikiclub	26	20300	501240	-49784	711	52	3	0	1	0	8121	-32	6	3	2	2
Ddmashen Wikiclub	24	2876	1354814	-62116	2333	79	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Lernapat Wikiclub	77	2279	2472306	-180770	4367	134	4	0	1	0	50744	0	25	18	21	0
Koghb Wikiclub	34	5300	789150	-18412	1681	84	40981	-3142	162	89	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hatsik Wikiclub	21	1044	815606	-18295	297	87	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mrgavan Wikiclub	61	1725	377065	-6981	420	52	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Spitak Wikiclub	42	13000	204588	-187	34	10	0	0	0	0	180359	-70	90	67	86	0
Stepanakert Wikiclub	24	55200	1651496	-21124	794	112	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Vanashen Wikiclub	49	2573	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Vardenik Wikiclub	68	9880	463461	-1469344	5817	8	1959	-4	10	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Togh Wikiclub	39	700	184433	-1115	96	39	0	0	0	0	41702	-129	59	13	27	32
Karvachar Wikiclub	23	500	1084174	-2682	306	147	1477	-2362	79	4	37279	0	20	16	9	0
Aygedzor Wikiclub	7	2608	35559	-3170	39	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Archis Wikiclub	11	1109	576602	-24636	304	44	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Berd Wikiclub	25	7800	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	455	0	1	0	0	0
Gandzakar Wikiclub	6	3656	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Gosh Wikiclub	14	1218	143756	-996	45	16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Lusahovit Wikiclub	13	390	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kirants Wikiclub	12	298	78876	-1335	67	6	0	0	0	0	3276	0	2	1	2	0
Noyemberyan Wikiclub (2-nd school)	15	5000	36995	-5256	51	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Noyemberyan Wikiclub (high school)	16	5000	30347	-6125	199	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sarigyugh Wikiclub	7	1253	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Verin Karmiraghbyur Wikiclub	8	1837	410357	-5048	232	41	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	814	403458	12524810	-2077079	19722	1027	51028	-14682	351	103	321936	-231	204	118	147	35