Wikimedia Blog/Drafts/Wikicamp Chattogram 2019

Headline

• Wikicamp Chattogram 2019: a day-long Wikimedia event
• Wikicamp Chattogram 2019: the first event of its kind in Bangladesh
• Wiki Gathering: Wikicamp Chattogram 2019

Summary

Participants of Wikicamp Chattogram 2019. Photo by Wikimedia Bangladesh, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Wikicamp Chattogram 2019 (উইকিক্যাম্প চট্টগ্রাম ২০১৯) the first event of its kind was held this summer in Bangladesh. It is intended to become an annual national flagship event for the country. It was organized by Chattogram Wikipedia Community on behalf of the Wikimedia Bangladesh in order to increase offline activities of Wikimedia Bangladesh in Chattogram, to promote networking, sharing knowledge and develop stronger relationships among experienced and new Wikimedians, and to help spread the best community practices to boost the Wikimedia movement in Bangladesh. On 20th April, a total of 10 volunteers, 9 from the local and 1 from Dhaka gathered at The Gallery, located on the east gallery of M. A. Aziz Stadium. A day-long event has produced collaboration between Wikimedians, 28 Wikidata entries and 28 articles on the Bengali language Wikipedia about topics related to the national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and the other conservation sites alongside and archaeological and protected sites of Bangladesh. All articles are listed here and Photos are available on Commons.

Body

Women are participating on Edit-a-thon. Photo by Wikimedia Bangladesh, CC BY-SA 4.0.

A great community with skilled volunteers helped to face and overcome the risks. We formed different committees and teams such as a Program committee, a Design Team, a Support Team etc. for running smooth workflows and handling the problems occurring during the event. Most of the participants of Wikicamp had not previously worked on Wikipedia or weren’t familiar with the projects of the organization. So it was an opportunity for training newcomers and potential Wikimedians. "We always tried to support and boost diversity in every Wikievent. We are pleased by the number of interested newcomers where 30 per cent are women from the different public universities, that help to close the gender gap on Wikimedia movement." said Moheen Reeyad, executive member and community director from the office of Wikimedia Bangladesh.

Discussion on Wikipedia Education Program. Photo by Wikimedia Bangladesh, CC BY-SA 4.0.

There are different sessions such as contributing helpful technical guidance to Wikipedia, workshops on Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons and edit-a-thon. Total of 10 Wikipedians has participated in this edit-a-thon. Twenty-eight new articles were written on Bangla Wikipedia, and creating entries for those articles on Wikidata, all covering topics related to the national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and the other conservation sites, alongside and archaeological and protected sites of Bangladesh. We have selected Chattogram related articles from the Wiki Loves Earth and Wiki Loves Monuments listed entries. During the edit-a-thon, new Wikipedians were learned how to edit easily on Wikipedia without not being an expert.

We had a segment about Wikidata, where contributors learned how to create an entry on Wikidata. A brief discussion was about Wikimedia Commons and Creative Commons licensing. Some of the contributors are much interested to contribute to Wikimedia Commons rather than writing an article.

Apart from the workshop and edit-a-thon, Mohammed Galib Hasan talked briefly about the Wikipedia Education Program and its essentialities, and how students and expert get involved with this project from there part.

The Wikicamp was almost successful as per our limitations of funding. We learned that all we need effective effort to strengthen the community, increase the interests of existing members and attracting new volunteers. Overall it was our pilot project, and we are making a plan to gather in future with that kind of camping in a long duration. Most of participants are also interested to join the Wikimedia Bangladesh and hope that we can sustain this kind of enthusiasm on the Wikimedia movement.

Author

Moheen Reeyad
Executive Member, Wikimedia Bangladesh
Founder: Chittagong Wikipedia Community
Wikicamp Chattogram 2019 Organizing Team