Wikimedia Armenia/Reports/2021-03

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

2021

March

Brusov State University students' internship at WMAM

Wikimedia Armenia has been collaborating with Yerevan Brusov State University for three years. In these frames the students in their senior year of Bachelor’s and Master’s degree do their internship in Wikimedia Armenia.

The third stage of this annual project started on February 8, 2021. Unlike the last two years, the students besides from the English Department of the Faculty of Translation and Intercultural Communication students from the Department of Asian Languages of the same faculty and from the Department of Linguistics of the Faculty of Russian and Foreign Languages also participated.

60 students participated in the internship: 59 female and a male. It should also be mentioned that within the framework of this program, as in the previous times, this time also female representatives predominated: 59 females out of 60 participants. Some of the Master’s degree students were doing their internship in Wikimedia Armenia for the second time after completing their internship in Wikimedia Armenia during their Bachelor's degree. The internship lasted 6 weeks.

The students were divided into several groups, so the training was more effective and faster. There were 13-18 participants in each group. Several students from different groups were selected as “reviewers” (those who should check the articles) according to the list of the best students provided by the university. Besides creating articles, the latter had to check the translations of the articles published by the other students, thus ensuring the high quality content on the Armenian Wikipedia.

The training was divided into two stages. In the first stage the students were given the basic knowledge for editing and creating articles on Wikipedia. The stage lasted two weeks. The students were introduced to the first steps in Wikipedia - creating an account, signing on the pre-created page for the project (the groups and article lists were separated), selection of the article from the lists, signature, structure of the article, order of translation, work in the draft, etc. Right after the first course everyone had already chosen an article; the vital thing here is that they worked on these articles only in their drafts. Students were introduced to other wiki projects (Wikidata, Wikipedia, etc.) as well.

The translations were mainly from English, some from Chinese and Korean, and some from Russian. The topics were presented to all groups in a pre-arranged sequence, with the same steps, only with a slight difference of days and hours so that everyone would be on the same level of preparation. The first task was only translation of articles without wikification, without using any Wikipedia tools, not even sources. The purpose of this method was to use the ready-made translated texts during the next two-three training to introduce the Wikipedia tools in corresponding order. Due to this method, the participants easily understand the process of editing and all the tools by using them in their own articles. As experience has shown, this method is very effective for quick perception and learning. After the two-week course, the students have already received all the necessary knowledge to work on Wikipedia.

Immediately after the end of the first stage, the second stage began, which already included the creation of articles and editing process. Throughout the second stage, each group met with the trainers once a week, during which they addressed their concerns and questions. The internship ended on March 22.

Six of the 60 students who took part in the internship translated from Asian languages: 5 from Korean and and one from Chinese. The articles of these participants were checked by their own lecturers (specialists in the given language) before moving the articles from the drafts to the main namespace. The articles were published on the main namespace only after the students, the staff and the lecturers checked the articles and the participants made corrections in the sandboxes. The purpose of this method was to provide a very high quality of articles. Sixteen interns created articles on the topic of linguistics on the Armenian Wikipedia, which were reviewed by both students and the faculty. The other participants translated from English on various topics.

After summarizing the results of the internship, 60 students created 225 new articles and improved 14 articles by making a contribution of 8,036,132 bytes to Armenian Wikipedia. During the internship, a campaign entitled "Women about Women" was launched, during which 16 articles about women were created, in total 508 766 bytes. 21 articles were translated from Asian languages, 9 of which were about people’s biography and 5 of them were about women. The biggest article created as a result of the whole internship was "Women's Health", in total 150,479 bytes.

Open Edit-a-thon on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

The logo of the edit-a-thon

"Wikimedia Armenia" Scientific-Educational NGO and Public Awareness and Monitoring Center organized an open edit-a-thon dedicated to Energy efficiency and renewable energy from March 1 to 25 within the framework of the #EnergyAwareness initiative. The aim of the edit-a-thon was to increase the number of quality articles on Armenian Wikipedia, as well as to raise public interest towards Wikipedia and awareness about energy efficiency.

Before the edit-a-thon, from March 1 to 10, four online classes were organized for the new editors, during which inexperienced participants were introduced to the tools of Wikipedia, the editing process, and also they were introduced to the basic terms and concepts concerned with energy. At the end of the training, an online meeting was organized with an energy saving specialist, who told the participants about energy saving, its potential and the experience of its application in other countries.

An English-Armenian dictionary of energy-saving terms has been created in the Armenian Wikipedia to facilitate translation on the new topic.

From March 10 to 25, 23 new and experienced editors created and improved 45 articles, in total, 984,291 bytes, on energy efficiency and energy saving from a suggested list of articles.

The Public Awareness and Monitoring Center will award certificates to the participants, and prizes to the authors of outstanding articles in terms of quality and size.

Wikiclubs' report

In March, the clubs continued their work with the same intensity, participating in various wiki projects, organizing in-club edit-a-thons and competitions. In March, many club members participated in the "An Article Per Week", "CEE Spring 2021", edit-a-thon dedicated to "Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy", "WikiGap 2021" projects. During the month the clubs had 15 new participants.

The Hatsik Wikiclub organized an edit-a-thon dedicated to the Women's Month on March 15-31, as a result of which about 30 articles about women of different professions were created. During the month the club members tried to keep a connection with nature by creating articles; as a result, they created 6 articles about the types of snowdrops: Queen Olga's snowdrop, Elwes's snowdrop, Woronow's snowdrop, common snowdrop, Flat-leaved snowdrop, Amaryllidaceae.

Koghb Wikiclub members continue to work on Wiktionary and Wikisource, as well as actively participate in projects organized on Armenian Wikipedia.

Lernapat Wikiclub celebrated the club's sixth anniversary on March 5 ․ During the anniversary, the participants summarized the work done in the club in the past years and the contributions of the best editors; they also discussed the further activities of the Wikiclub. On March 9, the club launched an edit-a-thon dedicated to International Women's Day, which was scheduled to last two weeks, but at the initiative of the participants it lasted three weeks, during which more than 70 articles were created.

During the month, the Goris Wikiclub contacted the students of the secondary school in the village of Darpas, Lori region, via video call, during which the club members shared their experience and knowledge, organized a course during which the participants acquired the necessary knowledge to work on Wikipedia. At Ddmashen Wikiclub, 8th graders organized reading classes at the club to understand each new topic in Russian literature and to get more detailed information about those topics. After each reading class, the participants created articles on relevant topics. As a result of the initiative, the club members created articles about the heroes from the famous Russian bylinas: Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich, and Alyosha Popovich.

Within the framework of the Women's Month, the Alaverdi Wikiclub invited the grandmothers of the club members as guests in their meeting. During the meeting Wikiclub members introduced their Wikiclub, their activities and the purpose of the club. The grandmothers, in their turn, told about their professions, and they taught the girls how to knit. Then the participants of the meeting had an interesting video meeting with Wikitatik (Susanna Mkrtchyan). On the occasion of World Sleep Day on March 19, the club members improved the article of the topic, and they jointly created two other thematic articles: Paul Kern and Sleeping while on duty. In March, the club members celebrated two other international days, about which they wrote articles - World Puppetry Day and World Meteorological Day.

Wikiclubs' statistics

Wikiclubs	Participants	Community population	Bytes+ (Wikipedia)	Articles	Bytes+ (Wiktionary)	Articles	Bytes+ (Wikisource)	Created	Proofread	Confirmed
Alaverdi Wikiclub	40	13000	617968	58	316	0	0	0	0	0
Arevstsag Wikiclub	66	960	194194	29	0	0	0	0	0	0
Goris Wikiclub	44	20300	276692	40	9	0	0	0	0	0
Ddmashen Wikiclub	25	2876	552013	30	0	0	270167	93	145	4
Lernapat Wikiclub	107	2279	1820039	187	0	0	104453	18	27	0
Kogh Wikiclub	60	5300	191966	18	1699	2	72995	21	4	18
Hatsik Wikiclub	17	1044	734300	89	0	0	0	0	0	0
Spitak Wikiclub	48	13000	27485	1	0	0	27713	11	12	0
Stepanakert Wikiclub	23	55200	112903	14	0	0	0	0	0	0
Karvachar Wikiclub	25	500	727008	78	0	0	0	0	0	0
Archis Wikiclub	11	1109	32809	5	0	0	1987	1	1	0
Berd Wikiclub	25	7800	0	0	0	0	19094	0	8	0
Gandzakar Wikiclub	6	3656	8665	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Gosh Wikiclub	14	1218	14441	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Noyemberyan Wikiclub (high school)	16	5000	27449	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Verin Karmiraghbyur Wikiclub	8	1837	551389	21	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kirants Wikiclub	12	298	101	0	0	0	25620	8	9	0
Mrgavan Wikiclub	61	1725	32719	3	0	0	444	0	0	13
Total	683	268329	5922219	580	2024	2	522473	152	206	35