Wikimedia MKD/Reports/2024-04
International Roma Day 2024
editDiversity and promotion of equality and inclusivity has always been among the top priorities of the organization. As in the past, through its activities, the organization tries to promote the values of respecting others, appreciating the diversity and the differences that make us stronger and more compact as a community.
This year, as it was the case in the past years, Wikimedia MKD organized an edit-a-thon on the topic 'International Roma Day'. The event is actually made of two separate activities whose aim was improving the content on Wikipedia on topics related to the Roma people, their culture and values. The first activity that was organized was the editing weekend that took place on 6 April 2024 and 7 April 2024. During these two days the Macedonian Wiki community was called to give their contribution and improve the content on the Macedonian Wikipedia on this topic. The second activity with similar nature and same goal was the editing day on 9 April 2024. Both activities, covered as a single event, proved to be very successful and reached a larger Macedonian Wiki Community.
Cumulatively, the Macedonian Wikipedia got 18 new articles on different topics related to the Roma people. During these two activities 14 Macedonian Wikipedia users took part in and gave their contribution to the celebration of diversity and promotion of the values of the minorities and their rich culture.
Climate Changes Workshop in Veles
editWikimedia MKD ideas and goals of long-term partnership with other organizations and institutions is among the top priorities of the organization. Therefore, Wikimedia MKD's members and activities try to establish new partnership and collaborations with various different organizations in the country and abroad. Therefore, Wikimedia MKD and the NGO Vila Zora from Veles joint their forces and organized a successful workshop in Veles, Macedonia.
The workshop was held in the city library Goce Delcev in Veles on 18-04-2024. The workshop started at 10:30 local time and lasted more than 3 hours. Members of the Wiki Club Veles, members of the club Wiki Senior and other members and supporters of both organizations took part in - or in total 27 people. led by the coordinator Lili Arsova. As it is the case with the whole GLAM Programme of Wikipedia MKD, this workshop was also dedicated to the Climate and Climate Changes.
The first part of the workshop was made of three speeches or lectures. The first lecture was held by Olgica Naumoska, an employee of Vila Zora. She was talking about the climate changes in general and introduced the participants of the climate changes and their impact over the eco-systems. Moreover, she was talking about the ways of protecting the environment and natural habitat. Next lecturer was the president of Vila Zora, Sashka Kocevska. She was talking about Vila Zora and its activities channeled towards the protection of the environment. At the end of this part of the workshop Lili Arsova was taking about Wikimedia MKD's activities and especially its GLAM Programme.
The second part of the workshop was actual editing on Wikipedia. The participants had an opportunity to enrich or create new articles on the Macedonian Wikipedia on the topic 'Climate and Climate Changes' . In total, 14 participants created 36 new articles on the Macedonian Wikipedia. You can see the full gallery of the event on Commons, but also some of the photos are bellow:
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Sashka Kocevska is giving a lecture -
The participants are listening a lecture -
Olgica Naumoska is giving a lecture -
Lili Arsova is helping the participants to write an article
MYLA Collaboration
editWikimedia MKD is always trying to improve its connections and collaborations with other organizations and institutions in order to reach more people and inform them on the principles and goals of Wikimedia Movement. The newest collaboration of Wikimedia MKD, as an addition to the large number of already established ones, is with the Macedonian Young Lawyers Association (MYLA).
Both organizations agreed that a training and editing event shall be held on 23 April 2024 at the Macedonian Young Lawyers Association offices in Skopje.
The event took started at 10:00 local time at the MYLA offices. Having in mind the nature of the event and reaching optimal effect, the number of participants that took part in the event was 9 – all MYLA members or employees. The first part of the event was a theoretical presentation or lecture of on Wikipedia and its basic editing and using principles. This lecture was held by the Executive Director Snežana Štrkovska. The second part of the event was actual working on Wikipedia and training the participles on how to contribute Wikipedia.
At the initial stage of the practical part of the event, the participant created new accounts on Wikipedia. As soon as this was completed, they were trained on the basics on how to edit and contribute Wikipedia. Wikimedia MKD employees played a good role in training these new members. By the end of the event, all participants managed to create one article, or in total new 9 law-related articles were created.
Part of the working atmosphere can be seen from the photographic material taken by Wikimedia MKD employee.
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Editing on Wikipedia -
Lecturing the participants on the basics of Wikipedia -
Editing on Wikipedia -
Training new users -
Training new users
Editing Days
editEditing days is an activity that lasts for the whole year in organization of Wikimedia MKD. Each Tuesday and Thursday different topics are given and the participants create or improve existing articles. In April 2024 there were in total 9 editing days, where participants edited on different topics in order to enrich the content of Wikipedia. The editing days and the topics were:
- 2.4.2024 - Sailing
- 4.4.2024 - International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
- 9.4.2024 - Romani people
- 11.4.2024 - Vaccines
- 16.4.2024 - Dance
- 18.4.2024 - Churches in Croatia
- 23.4.2024 - Coffee
- 25.4.2024 - Government ministries of Poland
- 30.4.2024 - History books
Cumulatively, 5 different users took part in these calls and edited. In total, 45 new articles were created during the editing days in April 2024.
Editing Weekends
editEditing weekends is another project that is organized during the whole year. During weekends (Saturday and Sunday) user are welcomed to take part in this project activity and improve or enrich Macedonian Wikipedia content. During these weekends, the participants are expected to edit articles on given topics. In April 2024 the following editing weekends were organized:
- 6-7 April 2024 - Romani culture
- 13-14 April 2024 - South America
- 20-21 April 2024 - Astronomy
- 27-28 April 2024 - Medicine
In total, during these weekends there were 14 different users editing on the given topics and they created 25 new articles on the Macedonian Wikipedia
International Jazz Day
editWikimedia MKD's dedication for diversifying its programmes and offering activities of various types continues to be implemented. This time, Wikimedia MKD celebrated the International Jazz Day - 30 April. This is the first celebration or marking of this quite important music date and one of the major music-oriented life event organized by the Organization.
Wikimedia MKD's plan for proper celebration of the day was made of two major components. The first part of the International Jazz Day celebration was the organization's call for editing, improving and publishing new articles and content on Wikipedia in Macedonian on jazz topics. All members of the organization, Wikipedia users and jazz admirers were invited to publish an article related to the jazz. This call was one-day edit-a-thon, where a project page on the Macedonian Wikipedia was also prepared for better evidence of the contribution.
The second part of the celebration was actually a life event held at the 'Taftalidže Buffet' in Skopje. The event started at 5 pm local time, where all Wikimedia MKD members, Wikipedia users and jazz lovers were invited and expected to have fun and spend some quality time listening to jazz and learning new things about this music genre. Besides the fun and enjoyment in music, the event had an editing part as well. Wikimedia MKD provided the needed technical equipment at the event and the participants of the event had an opportunity to create new articles about jazz-related topics and to get informed in details about this type of music. This event was visited by 25 people - fans of the jazz and its magic.
During this edit-a-thon, 29 new articles were created on the Macedonian Wikipedia on topics related to jazz music. Photographic material about the well-organized and well-accepted event by the guests can be seen here.
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The bar with Wikipedia users and jazz lovers -
Wikipedia users writing an article -
Young members of Wikimedia MKD singing -
Wikipedia users and jazz lovers chilling -
Wikipedia users and jazz lovers enjoying in the music
Wikiexpeditions: Shtip Region
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Wikimedia MKD continues to organize a successful, productive and informative Wikiexpeditions. Since 2015, the Macedonian community has a great insight of known and little known places, villages and areas in Macedonia, while providing a qualitative knowledge to the users of the Macedonian Wikipedia and its related projects.
The first Wikiexpedition for 2024 was organized on 26 April and ended on 28 April 2024. The location of this Wikiexpedition was the surrounding area of Shtip, which was mostly previously not visited by any Wikiexpedition.
The team made of 5 Wikipedians and members of Wikimedia MKD found an accommodation in Sveti Nikole, which is a neighboring town of Shtip. The first day started by visiting the city of Shtip and continued by a visit to the most remote village in the area, Brest. While on to road to Brest, the local monastery, the locality of Pilav Tepe and the historical village of Novo Selo were visited and documented. The next stop was the village of Gorachino, where this village and the village of Tanatarci were recorded by a drone. After this part of the trip, the team visited the villages of Patrik, a historical village, and the village of Piperevo on the Serta Mountains. Following these, were the villages of Leskovica, Suvo Grlo, Stepanci, Baltalija, Lakavica, Puhche, Selce, Dragoevo, Penush and at the end of the day the village of Sofilari.
The next day the team targeted the villages on Plachkovica Mountains. The first village that was documented was the village of Shashavarlija, followed by the village of Nikoman, Kalapetrovci, Koshevo, the Kamnik Canyon, then the villages of Pochivalo, Star Karaorman, Chardaklija, Sudik, Vrsakovo, Sarchievo, the historical village of Krnjevci, Dolani, Ljuboten, Chiflik and Lipov Dol.
In general, the Wikiexpedition proved to be very successful and productive one. The team documented 30 new villages, 2 historical villages and spent 600 km on the road.
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Group Photo -
Areal view of Selce -
Topolnica Lake -
Crops around the village of Ljuboten -
Damaged object in Koshevo -
Pilav Tepe
Editing competition "CEE Spring"
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Organizing edit-a-thons and editing competitions are seen as one of the crucial factors for improving the content on the Macedonian Wikipedia and its related project. Wikimedia MKD is an organization that dedicates its efforts for content improvement and offering people more free knowledge.
In the period from 1 April to 30 April 2024, the edit-a-thon "CEE Spring" was held. The competition called all Wikipedia users to take part in the competition by creating new and improving the existing content on the given topic. The competitors were expected to create new articles about the Central and Eastern Europe as well as parts of Southern Europe, its history, culture, traditions, and more , or improve the existing ones. The organizers planned awards for the most productive and most successful editors that met the criteria for awarding. The three-member jury went through the articles of all editors that took part in the competition and it graded them as per the rules of the competition.
After the end of the competition, Wikipedia in Macedonian got 650 new articles and in total 14 different users participated in this February competition.
The final results revealed the awarded users, as follows:
- I Award - Тиверполник with total 1463 points,
- II Award - Dandarmkd with total 1030 points,
- III Award -Emilija Dobreva with total 790 points.
Besides these three awards, the competition gave the following awards as well:
- Award for best article - Тиверполник for the article Ukrainian refugee crisis
- Award for best existing user-Dandarmkd
Wikimedia MKD is proud to announce that the success of the competition significantly improved Macedonian Wikipedia content on the given topic.