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Wikimedia user groups/Reports/Wikimedians of Republic of Srpska/Annual 2015

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During 2015. Wikimedia community of the Republic of Srpska went through a very challenging period. January brought the first seminar held in Republic of Srpska and official commitment on gathering of users and editors in one cohesive and constructive group. Thus formed community was by October recognized as an official user group in the Republic of Srpska. Official group title is Wikimedia Community of the Republic of Srpska and, as such, was recognized on 6th of October 2015.

Annual 2015
Report

Wikimedians of Republic of Srpska
Serbian version

Edit-a-thon

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Edit-a-thon in Primary School “Vuk Karadžić”, Višegrad

The edit-a-thon was organized with aim of creation and edition of articles about natural and cultural goods and sites on the territory of the Republic of Srpska. Edit-a-thon was announced on Wikipeda in Serbian language. 22 individuals participated in it and 20 of them edited already existing articles while creating new ones as well. 78050.0 bytes of content was created, 72591.0 positive and 5459.0 negative. 10 of the participants were women while 10 were men. 15 new articles were written while 21 already existing were either edited or supplemented.

Photo projects

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July 2015 saw the first photo-competition organized in the Republic of Srpska by Wikimedia community named “Traces of Soul”. Competition organization was modeled upon the already existing competitions Wiki loves Earth and Wiki loves Monuments. “Traces of Soul” included both the cultural heritage and natural heritage sites and lasted for two months. During this project, 1952 photographs of cultural and natural heritage sites from the Republic of Srpska were collected. Project itself was recognized as a positive undertaking which helped in promoting Wikimedia community of the Republic of Srpska, but helped in promotion of Wikimedia and its others projects as well. More information of competition itself on Reporte page.

Top 10: Natural heritage
Top 10: Cultural heritage

Educational projects

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Seminars

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Aiming to establish cooperation with educational institutions of all levels in Republic of Srpska, Wikimedia community of Republic of Srpska initiated educational activities in Republic of Srpska in 2015. During January, community, in cooperation with Wikimedia of Serbia, held a seminar in Višegrad with participants from educational and cultural institutions from the city itself. Those attending were introduced to Wikimedia projects with special emphasis on Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. Attending the seminar were representatives from the elementary school “Vuk Karadžić”, elementary school “Ivo Andrić”, Višegrad City Library, Touristic organization of Višegrad City, Serbian cultural and educational society “Prosvjeta” and Serbian hawk society “Soko”.

Workshops

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EduWiki Workshop, Visegrad - May 2015

In cooperation with Primary School “Vuk Karadžić” from Višegrad community organized in May EduWiki workshop with students from the higher classes of the “Vuk Karadžić”. Workshop was titled “Wiki-schoolboy/girl in the Republic of Srpska”. Thanks to the good organization and quality of lectures and workshop work, 19 new articles, in accordance with Wikipedia quality standards, was created. Through this project community established good communication with Primary School of “Vuk Karadžić” and set healthy foundations for further cooperation on education projects. Students and several professors expressed their wish for more often organization of similar events and creation of “Wiki section” in school through which students could contribute to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.

 
EduWiki Workshop, Trebinje

At the same time, during May and June of 2015 four different faculties in the Republic of Srpska hosted similar workshops. During these workshops cooperation was established with educational institutions listed below:

  • Faculty of Philosophy in East Sarajevo,
  • Faculty of Political Sciences in Banja Luka,
  • Faculty for production and management in Trebinje,
  • Faculty of Pedagogy in Bijeljina

Through single day workshops, students and employees had the chance to gain knowledge on Wikimedia, its projects, work in Wikipedia environment and Wikimedia Commons. Willingness for participation in similar events in the future was expressed and further cooperation on educational projects. For educational projects requisites, special page was created on the official page of the Wikimedia community of the Republic of Srpska:

Edit-a-thon was held in September of 2015 in Primary School “Vuk Karadžić” which was one of the planned activities for realization of the “Traces of Soul” project. Besides this technical aspect, edit-a-thon had its educational dimension given that students from “Vuk Karadžić” school once again gave their contribution to Wikipedia through creation of new articles on natural and cultural goods of the Republic of Srpska.

Community

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Wikimedia community of the Republic of Srpska significantly increased number of its members during 2015 and especially during the official constitution period. At the end on December community had 26 wikimedians, 16 male and 10 female, belonging to different age groups. Besides that, 8 more members who are not wikimedians was the part of local community. In total, the local group consisted of 34 members. Given it’s a still very young community in phase of development, number of members is commendable and supports the fact that activities of the Wikimedia community of the Republic of Srpska, during 2015, were recognized as positive. Activities so far have been met with understanding from individuals, organized groups and different institutions alike. Through activities community initiated in 2015 current and new editors of the Wikimedia projects were motivated to join the community so Wikimedia goals in Republic of Srpska could be accomplished. Thanks to the enthusiasm and work of the community members who initiated the idea of founding the Wikimedia community of the Republic of Srpska new members accepted with enthusiasm the idea of joining in and giving their own contribution. Wikipedia in Serbian language has the current list of editors and members of the Wikimedia community from the Republic of Srpska:

Meetings

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Given the fact that community members constituting Wikimedia community of the Republic of Srpska are geographically dispersed, majority of meetings is handled online communication through use of mailing list, Skype and other social networks. When it comes to the projects realized in one city then there is opportunity for the meeting in person with community members from that city. Meetings between members are usually thematically defined and agreed upon earlier. In regard of communication between members, community functions very well. Meetings are held at regular intervals, but giving the situation and project realization progression, communication becomes more often or even on a daily basis. In 2015, there was 21 meeting, 7 in-live in two cities and 14 online,

“My knowledge is the measure of my worth!”

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With goal of Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons promotion, project of cooperation with local media, called “My knowledge is the measure of my worth!”, was initiated. Two portals have accepted to cooperate and during June 2015, in a time frame of 30 days, these portals published one article from Wikipedia and one picture from Wikimedia Commons marked as “featured article” and “picture of the day”. This project gave an opportunity to the public in the Republic of Srpska to get acquainted with Wikimedia projects, Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. In the future, we plan to continue this project and expand our cooperation with larger number of media.

Participation in international events

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Wikimedia community of the Republic of Srpska participated on international conference CEE 2015 held in Estonia. Representative of the community was Ljubiša Malenica. Conference, lasting from 10th to the 13th Septembre was held in Voore, not far from city of Tartu, second in size in Estonia.

Cooperation with others

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Republic institute for protection of cultural, historical and natural heritage

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During May 2015, in course of “Traces of Soul” project realization, community established positive communication with Republic institute for protection of cultural, historical and natural heritage of the Republic of Srpska. The Institute gave its full support to the project and the organizers. Use of official lists and materials on the categorization of heritage sites was also approved by the Institute which provided official letter of support to the project.

Višegrad city touristic organization

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Višegrad city touristic organization supported the work of the community from the day one. Representatives of Višegrad touristic organization actively participated in activities of the community and one of them joined the Wikimedia community of the Republic of Srpska as a member. Besides article edition on Wikipedia, this organization took part in “Traces of Soul” project as one of the local partners. Within cooperation regarding “Traces of Soul” project, one photo-tour was realized in cooperation with Višegrad touristic organization. Likewise, on this occasion touristic organization representatives helped in organization of editorial marathon, participated in the press conference and gala exhibition. Healthy and sound foundation was built for further cooperation.

SECS “Prosvjeta”

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Cooperation with Serbian educational and cultural society “Prosvjeta” from Višegrad was achieved and during edit-a-thons and workshops this cultural society often provided literature and other citation material. During “Traces of Soul” project realization, Wikimedia community of the Republic of Srpska received official support from “Prosvjeta” as additional assistance in promotion of the project and Wikimedia in the local community. Actors of the Drama studio “Prosvjeta” volunteered and helped in preparations for the gala exhibition of the pictures from the “Traces of Soul”.

DIS theatre

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During July, cooperation was achieved with playhouse from Banja Luka “DIS” theatre. Within their theatre festival one photo-tour was organized in Banja Luka together with lecture and familiarization of the students with Wikimedia and its projects.

Preparations for the Wikimedia Start Republic of Srpska 2016

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Preparations and organization of the “Wikimedia Start Republika Srpska 2016” started in December. This event is comprised from two day activities: celebration of the Wikipedia 15th birthday and first conference dedicated to the Wikimedia and its projects in the Republic of Srpska.

Website

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Aiming to inform the public and Wikimedia community on different activities official website was created and initiated:

Blog

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Aiming to improve information accessible to the wider public and Wikimedia community on the events in the Wikimedia world, community started a blog of the Wikimedia community of the Republic of Srpska. Blog began with work on the 30th December when the first blog, dedicated to the celebration of the Wikipedia 15th birthday and Wikimedia Start conference, was posted.

Social networks

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Wikimedians of Republic of Srpska has official Facebook and Twitter pagest. On Community Facebook page in December there was 256 followers. Project TOS had its own page as well as most major projects and events.

  • FB: WMRepublikaSrpska/ andTragom-du%C5%A1e-1444499179188440/
  • TW: WMRSrpska
  • TPO: users/459

Media about us

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From the moment of constitution of our community and gathering of Wikimedians from the Republic of Srpska around the common idea, every action drew significant media coverage. Wikimedia community from the Republic of Srpska was in 2015 mentioned over 100 media announcements. One press conference was held for the occasion of the “Traces of Soul” project official start. For purposes of educational program “Knowledge squared” on national television segment concerning our work was made. One of our members appeared as a guest on radio show of BiH1Radio. Two appearances in “Morning program” of BN Television, segment done for News1 of the national television for the occasion of gala exhibition which concluded the project “Traces of Soul”. Segment was done for the BN Television as well, concerning the same event. Three articles were written in the one of the best known national papers, “Frontal”. Besides the media listed above, over 100 articles were written in different printed and internet media concerning community activates.

  • 31st January 2015: 5 media wrote on seminar organized in Višegrad, Wiki school-boy/girl in the Republic of Srpska;
  • 25th and 26th May 2015: project Wiki-school boy in the Republic of Srpska, 6 media wrote about it, including two tv stations with national coverage;
  • May/June 2016: news about workshops organized in cooperation with faculties, 1 media wrote about it;
  • May 2015: project “My knowledge is the measure of my worth!”, 2 media wrote about it. In the course of the project, 60 articles from Serbian Wikipedia and 60 pictures from the Wikimedia Commons were presented;
  • June/September 2015: photo-competition “Traces of Soul”, 36 media wrote about it during the course of the project;
  • September 2015: edit-a-thon, 3 media wrote about edition of articles about cultural and natural heritage sites from the Republic of Srpska.
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