Wikimedia MKD/Reports/2024-09
Memorandum for collaboration with Municipality of Demir Hisar
editWikimedia MKD is expanding its network of partnerships and collaborations. The organization aims to get in contact and achieve fruitful cooperation with a large number of institutions and organizational units that have the will and potential to help in the creation of free content and to make access to information free for the entire Macedonian reading and educational-scientific public.
The latest formalized collaboration comes from Demir Hisar. The Municipality of Demir Hisar and Wikimedia MKD signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on 11 September 2024. This memorandum confirms the commitment of the two organizations to cooperate together, and more specifically the Municipality of Demir Hisar with its potential to help Wikimedia MKD in achieving its stated goals - free access to free content and knowledge. Through cultural, scientific, historical, museum and socio-political materials, Demir Hisar will provide significant help and support for the achievement of the organization's goals. The mayor, Mr. Nikola Najdovski, and the executive director of Wikimedia MKD, Mrs. Snezhana Shtrkovska, signed this important document for Wikimedia MKD at the premises of the Municipality of Demir Hisar, which significantly increases the potential for action of Wikimedia MKD.
Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2024
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Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2024, the annual conference centered on Wikimedia projects for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe this year was held in Istanbul from 20-22 September 2024.This conference represents an excellent opportunity for networking, exchange of experiences and presentation of ideas, all with the aim of promoting and developing the concept of free content. Each year, the event brings new opportunities to share success stories and innovative approaches within Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia, Wikidata, Wikisource and many others.
Macedonia was represented by five members, who proudly presented their achievements and ideas, Snezhana Shtrkovska, Bojan Velkovski, Nino Bogdanovski, Kiril Simeonovski and Toni Ristovski. Kiril Simeonovski and Nino Bogdanovski shared their experience from the "Wikiexpeditions" project - an initiative that aims to document cultural and historical landmarks throughout Macedonia. Their presentations aroused great interest among those present, who had the opportunity to learn about the methods and techniques used by Macedonian activists when collecting new data and photos for Wikipedia. In addition, the executive director of Wikimedia MKD, Snezhana Shtrkovska, spoke about the educational program implemented by the association, emphasizing its importance for young generations and the promotion of free educational resources.
Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2024 was a great experience for Wikimedia MKD and for Macedonian Wikipedians who, apart from being fascinated by this event, in the future will be able to pass on experiences that will benefit the Macedonian Wiki community.
Training workshop at Nova International School in Skopje
editWikimedia MKD puts significant efforts for the further development of its educational program, paying particular attention to the inclusion of young people in the process of editing Wikipedia in the Macedonian language.
On 26 September 2024, at the International School "Nova", Wikimedia MKD organized a training for students. This educational event was opened by the Education Program Manager of Wikimedia MKD, Bosa Filipovikj, who introduced the students to the basics of Wikipedia, how it works and the importance of volunteering for the global encyclopedia.
After the introduction, the practical training on editing Wikipedia began, where students, with the support of the organizers, learned how to create user accounts and received detailed instructions on the basic principles of editing. In addition, they were guided through the process of creating, editing and publishing new articles, putting the learned skills into practice. The training started at 14:30 and lasted one hour, during which a total of five new articles were created. The students showed exceptional interest and motivation, with a strong desire to continue editing Wikipedia and beyond, contributing to the increase of quality and free content in Macedonian.
You can see how it went through the photographic material uploaded on Commons, but also some of the photos are bellow:
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Editing articles -
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Editing articles
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 September 2024 there were in total 8 editing days, where participants edited on different topics in order to enrich the content of Wikipedia. The editing days and the topics were:
- 3.9.2024 - Cityscape paintings
- 5.9.2024 - Secular holidays
- 10.9.2024 - Money
- 12.9.2024 - Lemkos
- 17.9.2024 - Stadiums
- 19.9.2024 - Churches in Turkey
- 24.9.2024 - Federal government ministries of Germany
- 26.9.2024 - Newspapers
Cumulatively, 5 different users took part in these calls and edited. In total, 36 new articles were created during the editing days in September 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 September 2024 the following editing weekends were organized:
- 7-8 September 2024 - Linguistics
- 14-15 September 2024 - Luxembourg
- 21-22 September 2024 - Health care
- 28-29 September - Transport
In total, during these weekends there were 7 different users editing on the given topics and they created 30 new articles on the Macedonian Wikipedia.
Wikimedia MKD presentation at the Fair of Organizations at International school "Nova"
editWikimedia MKD constantly makes efforts to expand the circle of volunteers who contribute to the development of Wikipedia in the Macedonian language. Our goal is to involve new generations and inspire them to become active participants in the enrichment of free knowledge. We believe that young people are the future of this initiative, which makes knowledge available to everyone.
On September 30, 2024, Wikimedia MKD Executive Director, Snezhana Štrkovska, and Education Manager, Bosa Filipović, presented Wikimedia MKD at the Fair of Organizations, organized at Nova International School. This fair, which is being held for the second time, is part of the CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service) program, the purpose of which is to encourage students to get out of their comfort zones and get involved in socially responsible activities. These projects aim to create a positive impact in various spheres of society and develop awareness among young people about their role in the community.
The event started at 10:30 a.m. and attracted a lot of attention from the students. They visited the Wikimedia MKD stand with great enthusiasm, where they had the opportunity to learn about various projects of the organization. Many of them have shown interest in volunteering and contributing to the enrichment of Wikipedia content. In addition, the students shared their ideas for future projects, which is of particular importance for our organization. Listening to new ideas from the youngest helps us shape our vision for the future and create projects that are relevant and inspiring to new generations.
Editing Competition 'Stars'
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Wikimedia MKD organized editing competitions to call Wikipedia editors and users to enrich the encyclopedia's content. Projects with editing contests consist of organizing thematic editing contests that aim to help improve existing and create new articles on Wikipedia in Macedonian by registered participants.
The Editing Competition "Stars" was designed to give a contribution to the improvement and creation of new stars-related content. The competition ran from 23 August 2024 to 22 September 2024.
The main topic of the competition was the stars and all the articles related to them. The topic included articles about individual stars, types of stars, and theoretical concepts related to stars. The articles were reviewed by an evaluation board consisting of three experiences Wikipedia users.
All registered users of Wikipedia in the Macedonian language could participate in the competition, except for the members of the evaluation board. A total of 325 articles were written. The best participants were as follows:
- First place - Тиверполник with 1,816 points
- Second place - Dandarmkd, with 1,494 points
- Third place was - Bjankuloski06 with 453 points
The article "Supernova" created by the user Тиверполник was chosen as the best article.