Wikimedia Community Ireland/Reports/Report 2023

2023 was a year of growth and challenges for Wikimedia Community Ireland. Our longtime Programme Manager moved on, we hired a replacement Project Coordinator as well as our first Irish Language Officer. We continued our work with the Erasmus+ Wiki Women Project, hosting the first student editing week in Monaghan in March.

Events and outreach

General outreach

Rebecca O’Neill (Programme Manager) and Shannon Eichelberger (Volunteer Chair) participated in a Let’s Connect Learning Clinic on Capacities and Principles Needed for Effectively Running a Small Affiliate in March.

Rebecca O’Neill attended the Wikimedia Education Conference in Belgrade in May.

Amy O’Riordan (Irish Language Officer) held a Culture Night event as part of Octocon, the Irish National Science Fiction Convention in September.

Online outreach

We held several online edit-a-thons in 2023 including a Women in Red edit-a-thon for International Women’s Day, an edit-a-thon to coincide with Science Week, an edit-a-thon for Library Week, and an online Pride event.

Irish Language outreach

Amy O’Riordan attended Oireachtas na Samhna Irish Language Conference in Killarney, Co Kerry. She made many contacts and promoted the Wiki Women Project.

Amy O’Riordan attended Aerach Aiteach Gaelach AGM, an Irish Language group of LGBT+ artists and content creators.

Outreach events held with third level institutions

University College Dublin

October to December-We continued our collaboration with the Information Studies department with Dr Crystal Fulton. We worked with undergraduate and graduate students on expanding and creating articles on female artists and former Directors of the National Library of Ireland.

Dublin City University

January to May-for the 2nd year we ran a Simulated Translation Bureau with DCU Masters in Translation students.

University of Limerick

October to December-The students of the Public History MA | created and updated articles on historical events, people, and places.

Training and workshops undertaken

July-November-Amy O’Riordan attended a remedial Irish Language course
September-Sophie Fitzpatrick (Project Coordinator) attended an online digital heritage training day
November-December-Sophie Fitzpatrick attended Train the Trainer training provided by WMUK

WikiWomen Erasmus+ Project

First student event in Monaghan

WCI is a fully funded partner in the WikiWomen Erasmus+ Project with partners from Friesland and the Basque Country. In March 2023, we welcomed 14 students along with their teachers and project partners to a week-long trip to the partner school Coláiste Oiriall in Monaghan. The students refreshed their wikipedia editing skills, learned research skills with a visit to a local library, shared their completed articles, and translated other student articles into their minority languages. They were also able to experience Irish culture through visits to local heritage sites, participation in a ceili, and viewing an Irish language film.

In October 2023, the partners were welcomed to Dublin for a partner meeting. Review took place of the pilot programme in Monaghan, and revisions were started on the toolkits for schools, teachers, students, and GLAMs

Contests

Wiki Science

Wiki Science was held in November and December 2023. There were 63 images submitted for the contest. Winners to be announced in early 2024

Wiki Loves Folklore

Wiki Loves Folklore was held in February and March 2023. We had 112 images submitted for the contest, down on last year’s participation.

Ireland's winning images:

Wiki Loves Earth

Special Nominaion Winner in Human Rights and Environment Category

Wiki loves Earth was held in June and July 2023. We had 477 images submitted by 64 participants. One Irish image was also selected as a winner in the International contest.

Ireland's winning images:

Wiki Loves Monuments

Wiki Loves Monuments celebrated 10 years in Ireland in 2023. The contest was run in September. We had 1241 images submitted by 25 participants. To celebrate our 10th year, we also held an exhibition of some of the winning images over the last 10 years in County Carlow.

Ireland's winning images: