Wikimedia Armenia/Reports/2020-09
Summarizing Online Wikipedia Courses
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The "Online Teacher Course" was launched in June 2020, and the "Wikipedia Online Courses" was launched on July 15. Both courses lasted three months. The aim of the courses is to introduce the participants to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, to spread the idea of free knowledge, to provide the participants with the opportunities of innovative education through various Wiki platforms.
The courses consist of two stages. In the first stage, the participants learned to edit Wikipedia with the help of trainers and were introduced to the Wikipedia tools. The course led by the trainers lasted from two to four weeks, after which the participants continued to edit Wikipedia for a month. The editorial work within the framework of the “Teachers' training” continued until August, and the work of the second online courses lasted until August, inclusive.
The participants who successfully completed the first round passed to the second round. In the second phase, the participants got acquainted with other Wikimedia projects, studied them in depth, and contributed to Wikidata. At the same time, they continued to actively contribute to Wikipedia. Certificates were awarded to the participants with active contributions within the framework of the courses.
T-shirts were given as an encouraging gift to the participants who created the most articles and were the most active in terms of performance during the teachers’ online training. T-shirts and certificates were handed to the trainers, as well. 72 teachers and 10 trainers participated in the teachers’ online training. Certificates were awarded to 58 participants.
An online awards ceremony was held on September 9. Within the framework of the event, interesting information was presented on the statistics of the course, according to which the participants created more articles in the beginning of the course, but the number of bytes was not so big. From the second month of the course, there has been a sharp increase in bytes and a decrease in the number of articles. From this we can conclude that if in the beginning preference was given to the number of articles, then later the participants started to create more substantial articles, to work more thoroughly and productively, ensuring high quality of articles. In the chart below, you can see the number of bytes of articles created in three months. During the online ceremony, the names of the participants receiving certificates were read, there were new suggestions and opinions and words of gratitude were said. Because of the pandemic, the certificates and gifts were sent to their owners via post office in order to avoid unnecessary visits to the Wikimedia office.
Around 124 participants of different ages and professions took part in the second online Wikipedia course and 113 participants passed to the second stage. The second online Wikipedia courses were completed in late September. Certificates and encouraging gifts prepared for the participants will be sent by the post.
| Participants | Months | Articles | Bytes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 69 beginner/3 experienced | June | 354 | 4,606,721 |
| July | 351 | 5,412,936 | |
| August | 267 | 3,979,767 | |
| Total | 972 | 13, 999,424 |
Wiki Loves Monuments
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Wiki Loves Monuments is an international photo contest that aims to collect and preserve the photos of historical monuments, cultural heritage sites on Wikimedia Commons, to use them on Wikipedia, and other projects of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Wikimedia Armenia has been participating in this contest since 2013, always being in the top three in terms of the number of uploaded photos. Wikimedia Armenia posted online explanations on wiki platforms and social media platforms and organized workshops about the preservation of state monuments of Armenia, the importance of their coverage, the nuances of photographing monuments, and uploading photos to WikiCommons.
Wikimedia Armenia, taking the conditions of caution dictated by the COVID-19 into consideration, organized tours of 2-3 people to take pictures of the monuments in different settlements of the Republic of Armenia.
During the "Wiki Loves Monuments" contest, 83 participants from Armenia uploaded 20,217 photos to WikiCommons. One of the participants uploaded more than 11,000 photos, two participants - more than 1,000, and 19 people uploaded 100-700 photos each. There were 15 new participants who registered and joined the Wiki movement during this contest. It is commendable that in the Armenian wiki movement, as well as the majority of the participants in the WLM contest are women.
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World War II․․․ 75 Years After
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World War II․․․ 75 Years After
75 years have passed since one of the most difficult episodes in the history of mankind - World War II. Wikimedia Armenia joined the project “World War II… 75 Years After” and suggested the editors of the Armenian Wikipedia to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in September by creating and improving articles on famous war veterans, battles, fronts, special weapons used during the war, monuments dedicated to victims or heroes.
Wikimedia Armenia has decided some nominations for editorial and photo contributions to Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons. Special nominations have been established for articles about Armenian women participants in World War II. We highly appreciated those who uploaded photos of the monuments to the victims of the Second World War and entered the information about them in the Wikidata.
During the month of September, 34 participants created 157 articles about famous participants of World War II, battles, monuments dedicated to its victims or heroes. Eleven articles about women who took part in the Second World War were created.
The participants of the project uploaded 477 photos of monuments dedicated to the victims of World War II to WikiCommons.
Talking Wikipedia
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In order to increase the reputation of the Wikimedia Movement and Wikipedia brand, as well as to ensure the availability of free information, Wikimedia Armenia has organised and implemented a program called "Talking Wikipedia". It is the preparation and installation of multilingual voice information boards containing QR codes in different settlements of Armenia.
The first 3 panels were posted on the entrance of Lernapat village in Lori region, and also on the walls of the village municipality and school on September 27. The panels represent the logo of Wikipedia and the words "Talking Wikipedia". From now on, visitors to Lernapat will get information about the foundation of the settlement, geographical location, history, historical monuments, population due to the boards, taken from the relevant article of the Armenian Wikipedia.
The project is sponsored by one of the donors of Wikimedia Armenia, and the recording of the texts is organized by "Grqaser" NGO.
Information boards about these 8 settlements are already ready which will be placed in after the Armenian-Azerbaijani war is over.
A Meeting with the Participants of the ArmSIG4 Armenian School on Internet Governance Training
editOn September 24, 2020 the training of ArmSIG4 Armenian school on internet governance took place in which Wikimedia Armenia also participated.
The training was conducted both online and offline. Wikimedia Armenia joined the online training via Zoom. Two staff members of WMAM - Mher Bekaryan and Violla Mosikyan - were the speakers who presented the goals, objectives and activities of the WMAM in detail. Specifically Wikiclubs, Wikicamps, and other Wikimedia projects were discussed.
As an ongoing project the speakers presented the Wiki Loves Monuments photo competition, the rules for participation were explained to the participants.
At the end of the speech, the participants posed questions about the projects they were interested in. The speakers also encouraged the participants of ArmSIG4 to register for the online Wikipedia courses which were planned to start in October.
A Meeting with Diaspora Teachers
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The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports organized training courses for Diaspora teachers. The project was implemented by “Feature” organization, at the invitation of which the President of Wikimedia Armenia, Susanna Mkrtchyan, introduced the organization's activities and main projects: Wikiclubs, Wikicamps, Wikisource and other Wikimedia projects to Diaspora Armenian teachers.
The teachers were from all over the world presenting Diaspora communities of different countries: Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, USA and so on. We introduced the online Wikipedia courses which have started since June to the Diaspora Armenian teachers. The teachers were interested in the details of the course and expressed a desire to participate in them․ So, we provided them with a link to register for the online Wikipedia course starting in October, which is open to people of all ages and professions.
An Online Meeting with WikiClubs' Coordinators
editOn September 11 and 14, Wikimedia Armenia organized two online meetings with Wikiclub coordinators. During the first meeting, Susanna Mkrtchyan, the president of the organization, and Arthur Khumaryan - manager of Wikiclubs - had a video call with the coordinators of 11 WikiClubs opened in cooperation with the Tavush Regional Administration. During the second meeting, there was a conversation with the coordinators of 12 Wikiclubs previously opened by the organization.
The purpose of the meetings is to revitalize the activities of Wikiclubs and to make them more systematic. During the meetings the coordinators presented their work, discussed the problems caused by the pandemic, possible solutions to them and the upcoming plans. Such meetings are held regularly.
Discussion of WMAM's 2021 Annual Plan
editOn September 18, an online discussion of Wikimedia Armenia's 2021 annual plan was organized, with the participation of 3 members of the organization's Board, 2 members of the Supervisory Committee, members of the organization, employees, and WikiClub coordinators. The purpose of the meeting was to observe the programmatic proposals of the participants, to hear their suggestions about the projects that would be included in Wikimedia Armenia's 2021 annual plan.
The participants were divided into 2 groups; separate discussions took place after which the participants of the discussion made suggestions and presented them to the board of the organization. Some of the proposals presented during the meeting were included in the preliminary version of the 2021 annual plan.
WikiClubs' Report
editAfter receiving the Wikimedia Foundation's guide about organizing public events and gatherings during the pandemic, Wikimedia Armenia created a special guide for Wikiclubs. Strictly following the guidelines, some clubs have gradually returned to their normal public work since September 15. However, the hostilities launched by Azerbaijan at the end of the month had an impact on the activities of the clubs. Some border clubs, particularly those in Artsakh, do not operate due to constant shelling.
This month, the club members took part in a number of projects organized by Wikimedia Armenia: "Wiki Loves Monuments", "World War II... 75 Years After".
Alaverdi Wikiclub continued the "Wednesday in Alaverdi Wikiclub" initiative. The person in charge of the workshop, David, had a very interesting way of wikification of the well-known “Pole Chudes” (The Field of Wonders) game. During the final workshop in September, the best articles of the month created by the club members were selected: French Navy, In God we trust, Prahlad Jani. Using the opportunities of online platforms effectively, the club "hosted" Levon Stepanyan, the founder of MYbookstore online bookstore, MYcorner and MYdelivery.
Hatsik Wikiclub continued the "Nations and Traditions" project, within the framework of which the articles "Etiquette in Japan", "Family nexus", "Sizdah Be-dar" were created. In order not to cause overcrowdedness in the club, it was decided that only 6 people will visit the club every day. Starting at the end of September, three teams from the Hatsik Wikiclub are participating in the Wikiteam 1+3 project: The Bremen Town Musicians, Space, and Cepheus. On September 20, members of the Alaverdi Wikiclub took photos of several monuments in the village within the framework of the "Wiki Loves Monuments" contest and uploaded the photos to WikiCommons.
WikiClubs' Statistics
edit| Wikiclubs | Participants | Community population | Bytes+ (Wikipedia) | Articles | Bytes+ (Wiktionary) | Articles | Bytes+ (Wikisource) | Created | Proofread | Confirmed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaverdi Wikiclub | 35 | 13000 | 248994 | 25 | 532 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Arevatsag Wikiclub | 67 | 960 | 273687 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gyumri (Khrimyan Hayrik 46) | 32 | 121976 | 953757 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Goris Wikiclub | 28 | 20300 | 318612 | 32 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ddmashen Wikiclub | 25 | 2876 | 514861 | 42 | 0 | 0 | 199022 | 82 | 88 | 238 |
| Lernapat Wikiclub | 82 | 2279 | 1154058 | 280 | 0 | 0 | 131806 | 39 | 37 | 3 |
| Koghb Wikiclub | 35 | 5300 | 84340 | 8 | 2415 | 3 | 2752 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Hatsik Wikiclub | 22 | 1044 | 591383 | 52 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Spitak Wikiclub | 43 | 13000 | 101234 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 33517 | 10 | 12 | 0 |
| Stepanakert Wikiclub | 22 | 55200 | 264662 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Karvachar Wikiclub | 25 | 500 | 656874 | 88 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Togh Wikiclub | 40 | 700 | 91801 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 47424 | 19 | 39 | 20 |
| Archis Wikiclub | 11 | 1109 | 100271 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gandzakar Wikiclub | 6 | 3656 | 10940 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Verin Karmiraghbyur Wikiclub | 8 | 1837 | 193028 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kirants Wikiclub | 12 | 298 | 7412 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 120323 | 40 | 43 | 1 |
| Gyumri Wikiclub (KASA) | 79 | 121976 | 118843 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mrgavan Wikiclub | 61 | 1725 | 13083 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vardenik Wikiclub | 68 | 9880 | 161935 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 847 | 403458 | 5860221 | 657 | 2957 | 3 | 534844 | 193 | 219 | 262 |