Wikimedia MA User Group/2020

2020 Annual Report

Wiki Loves Monuments 2020 in Morocco, (01 - 30 November)

• Theme: Classified national monuments of Morocco
• 51 Participants - 431 pictures uploaded
• More detailed information about participation and pictures can be found in the contest final report
• Pictures from Wiki Loves Monuments 2020 in Morocco

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  Tazouda Castle, one of the Top 10 pictures of Wiki Loves Monuments 2020 in Morocco.
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  Ruins of Challah, one of the Top 10 pictures of Wiki Loves Monuments 2020 in Morocco.
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  Bahia Palace, one of the Top 10 pictures of Wiki Loves Monuments 2020 in Morocco.
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  Alburjeen Castle, one of the Top 10 pictures of Wiki Loves Monuments 2020 in Morocco.

Celtic Knot Conference, (9 - 10 July) - (Online)

For the second participation of the user group in the conference related to minority languages, Anass Sedrati presented “digitally” a session entitled “Developing Wikis in local languages - From Offline to Online”, relating the experience of Moroccan Arabic Wikipedia, and the collaboration made at the group level to support it.

A full recording of the session can be found on Youtube.

WikiGap 2020, March - (Online)

Originally, and similar to previous years (2018-2019), WikiGap was intended to be held in-person at the Swedish Embassy in Rabat. However, and even before deciding on the event date, the news of different restrictions coming with the pandemic obliged the group to change the plans.

After a careful consideration, the setup was radically changed for this year, and instead of having a physical one-day edit-a-thon and presentation, the event was switched instead to an online edit-a-thon held for a full month (march 2020). Even Though this setup was new and challenging, many people did participate in the event, and 31 new articles were created in several languages, about different Moroccan women. More details and figures about the virtual 2020 WikiGap in Morocco, can be found at this link.

Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom - Pilot Project

Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom booket in Arabic, translated by the user group members

Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom is pilot project launched by the Education team at the Wikimedia Foundation, in collaboration with local user groups, to help teachers understand and leverage Wikipedia’s educational value. Through a localized set of tools and professional training opportunities, the project helps both educators and students to develop vital media and information literacy skills for the 21st century. Wikimedia Morocco was chosen as one of the three affiliates worldwide to collaborate in this project (alongside groups from Philippines and Bolivia).

Across all of Morocco, one hundred teachers received 36 hours of training led by two members of Wikimedia MA UG (Brahim Faraji and Soukaina Abelhad). The high level of participation in the pilot program is particularly notable given the unique and stressful demands teachers faced amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through 12 weeks of training, teachers participated in live webinars and asynchronous discussions as they explored how Wikipedia works, the importance of teaching information literacy across the curriculum, and how the Wikimedia community is working to close knowledge gaps. By the end of the training, teachers’ perception of the educational value of Wikipedia evolved, and they were able to incorporate it into their lesson plans.

Many user group members participated to support this project by answering the teachers questions about Wikipedia (either in Zoom training, or at the project Facebook group), in addition to the continuous support of the local coordinators. The material was highly appreciated by the teachers based on their answers on the post program survey (63% rated the course material as Excellent, 31% as good, and 6% average). Moreover, all of the participants in the Moroccan pilot project (100%) expressed the readiness to participate in any future training programs provided by the Wikimedia Foundation.

Wiki Loves Africa 2020 in Morocco (15 February - 31 March, extended to 15 April due to Covid-19)

• Theme: Transportation (Africa on the move)
• 109 participants - 825 pictures taken.
• Pictures from Wiki Loves Africa 2020 in Morocco

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  Winning Picture of WLA 2020 in Morocco.
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  Second Placed Picture at WLA 2020 in Morocco.
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  Third Placed Picture at WLA 2020 in Morocco.

Strategy Salon 2020, (8 February) - Rabat (Morocco)

To continue the Strategic discussion started in 2019, Wikimedia Morocco User Group organized a second Strategy related event, where 9 people met in Rabat to discuss the 13 draft recommendations that were open for community conversation so that they could give their input about them.

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  Strategy Meeting in Rabat
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  Session Presentation