Wikimedia user groups/Reports/Wikimedians of Republic of Srpska/Annual 2021

Annual 2021
Report

Wikimedians of Republic of Srpska

Welcome to the 2021 Annual Report of the Wikimedia Community of Republic of Srpska!

This is the annual report of the work of the Wikimedia Community of the Republic of Srpska for 2021. The report identifies activities implemented in the Republic of Srpska organized by the Wikimedia Community of the Republic of Srpska from January 1st to December 31st, 2021.

Program activities are divided into three categories, namely: Educational activities, GLAM and Community activities.

Edu Wiki

During the designated period within the Edu Wiki program, the planned activities were adjusted to the conditions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The seminar for teachers was not held due to general orders of the Republic Crisis Staff for emergencies and gathering bans, as well as the difficult working conditions in which teachers found themselves due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In accordance with the above, the realization of the seminar for teachers has been postponed for the next year (in agreement with the grant officer).

Despite the difficult working conditions and numerous limitations, the Community managed to contribute to the improvement of the Edu Wiki program in the Republic of Srpska by establishing cooperation with the Theological high school of St. Peter Dabrobosanski from Foča - a special high school for priests. The cooperation was established in correlation with the activities of the Wiki Ambassador project in the Republic of Srpska. The students were trained to work on Wikipedia in Serbian, creating articles about Orthodox churches and monasteries located on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are not sufficiently represented on the Serbian Wikipedia. In addition, this institution provided relevant literature for the purposes of writing articles, which is otherwise inaccessible to the general public, which is one of the causes of poor coverage of this topic on Wikipedia. The community is very satisfied with the establishment of this cooperation because these schools are quite closed and operate in accordance with special rules. In addition to cooperation on this project and participation in 4 workshops, an agreement on the continuation of cooperation was reached, which we are very proud of, and which we will certainly work on in the coming period. 13 students took part in the workshops.

GLAM

1Lib1Ref

For the first time, the Wikimedia community of Republika Srpska took part in the Ref1Lib project. During December, preparations for the beginning of the project were made, which lasted on the Serbian Wikipedia from January 15 to February 5. In addition to local partners - libraries from the Republic of Srpska, cooperation has been agreed with Serbian Wikimedia. The project was realized in cooperation with the mentioned Wiki organization on Wikipedia in Serbian.

Thanks to the joint efforts and cooperation with Wikimedia Serbia, Wikipedia in Serbian was ranked first at the international level in terms of the number of references entered, which this year is: 17,112. In addition to the partnership with Wikimedia Serbia and the University Library Svetozar Marković, the following GLAM institutions from Republic of Srpska also took part in the project: Main Library East Sarajevo, Public Institution National Library "Vojislav Lubarda" Rogatica and Public Institution National Library "Dr. Ljubo Mihić" Ljubinje.

Wikipedian in Residence - Wiki ambassador

The project was realized in cooperation with 3 GLAM and one Edu institution - the Museum of Old Herzegovina Foča, the Library of Novo Goražde, the Main Library of East Sarajevo, and the Theological highschool of Foča.

In the period from March 12 to May 31, 2021, in the Republic of Srpska project, the Wiki Ambassador in the Republic of Srpska was implemented. The project was implemented in cooperation with 3 GLAM and one educational institution.

In cooperation with the Museum of Old Herzegovina, the Main Library of East Sarajevo, the Public Library Božidar Goraždanin from Novo Goražde, and the Theological highschool of St. Peter Dabrobosanski from Foča and their staff, 8 editing workshops were held to train employees to work on Wikimedia projects. - Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons through the creation of content related to Orthodox religious buildings located in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition to the mentioned institutions, the literature and Schematisms for the needs of creating articles were provided by the competent Metropolises with which communication was established during the project planning phase.

A total of 52 new articles were written and 14 articles were supplemented.

Night of museum

In order to promote Wikimedia projects in the wider community, the Wikimedia community of the Republic of Srpska took part in another public event - the international cultural event Museum Night 2021. The event was organized in cooperation with the Museum of Old Herzegovina in Foča. In addition to the presentation of the Wikimedia GLAM program, the main event was an exhibition of photographs of protected natural and cultural-historical monuments of the Republic of Srpska, created during 2019 as a result of collecting photographs within the photo competition Trace of the Soul. The exhibition was exhibited in the gallery of the Museum of Old Herzegovina for 2 months. During that time, the exhibition was seen by several hundred visitors, and their attention was especially attracted by QR codes specially made for that purpose through QR pedia. Thanks to the cooperation with our community, the Museum of Old Herzegovina in Foča is the only GLAM institution in the Republic of Srpska that has included articles on Wikipedia in its permanent exhibitions through a link to a QR code.

In accordance with the recommendations of the Republic Crisis Staff, 30 guests attended the ceremony and the opening of the exhibition, including the most eminent personalities from public, cultural and political life.

Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM)

During the specified period, the Wikimedia community of Republika Srpska took part in the global project Wiki loves monuments for the first time and successfully realized it in the Republic of Srpska. The realization of the project was a real challenge for the organizational team, especially the segments that included live events (photo tour and exhibition where the winners were announced) because the epidemiological situation in the country changed from day to day. Despite everything, the project was realized to the end in accordance with the original plan.

The work on the realization of the project took place in three phases - preparatory, central, and final phase. Each of them required the maximum engagement of volunteers and members of the organizing team.

During the preparatory phase, after the formation of the organizational team and the division of responsibilities, a website for the needs of the competition, follow-up pages on Wikipedia and Wikimedia repository, as well as templates necessary for proper uploading of photos to the photo contest was created. In addition to the above, the most important item was the list of monuments, which was updated and supplemented through communication with the competent institutions. The list includes a total of 766 monuments located on the territory of the Republic of Srpska. The monuments are arranged in a single table, categorized according to municipalities, in alphabetical order, with all the necessary information (ID number, category of the good, coordinate, etc.). Also, during this phase, an expert jury was formed consisting of experts in the field of photography, architecture and long-time editors of Wikipedia, and cooperation was agreed with tourist organizations regarding the organization of photo tours in Herzegovina, as well as local protected temples which were objects of photography.

The second or central phase took place during the photo competition. During that time, the organizing team communicated with the contestants provided the necessary technical support, categorized the photographs, and worked on creating and illustrating relevant articles. In this phase, a photo tour was held in Herzegovina, during which 204 photos of monuments whose photos did not exist on the Wikimedia Commons or on the Internet, in general, were collected. A real treasure for us is the photographs of the Church of St. Petka - the only painted church from the 17th century in Herzegovina, as well as a visit to the cathedral in Trebinje, where we received permission from the clergy to photograph the interior, as well as rare literature, supplementing articles related to Catholic churches in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The final phase included summarizing the results of the competition, judging the photos by the jury, and preparing the exhibition. After the first round of judging, the jury unanimously decided, after reviewing the ranking list, about the ten winning photos. On that occasion, the president of the jury wrote a press release explaining the selection of the jury, which, together with the winning photos, was published on our website, blog, social networks and forwarded to the media via the mailing list. After selecting the ten most beautiful photos, preparations for the ceremony of announcing the winner began. The event was held in the Gallery of the Cultural Center East Sarajevo in East Sarajevo. On that occasion, ten winning photos were presented to the public, and the authors were presented with awards. The event was organized with the strictest respect for current epidemiological measures and orders of the Crisis Staff for Emergency Situations. He also attracted a lot of media attention, both from the Republic of Srpska and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina which covered the event. In general, the community has always had excellent communication with the media through sending press releases, participating in TV and radio shows. The project was presented to the public through 38 media announcements. A total of 18 competitors participated. 1205 photos of protected monuments have been uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.

Winning photos:

Community activities

Meet Srpska 2020 - photo tour

The photo was taken during a photo tour in Doboj.

As part of the project Meet Srpska 2020, in addition to online activities that were realized in the first half of the grant period, a live photo tour is planned, which was not realized during the mentioned period due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In order for the project to be completed, the mentioned activity was realized in April, in cooperation with the photo club Doboj. 207 photographs of religious buildings from the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina were collected. Photographs of these objects did not exist on the Wikimedia Commons, nor on the Internet in general, so for us the photographs are a real treasure, especially due to the fact that most of them (89%) were used to illustrate relevant articles written or supplemented during the realization of the Wiki ambassador project. In addition to this type of correlation, this activity is related to another - the presentation of the GLAM program as part of the cultural event Museum Night, during which photos were presented to the public through video beams and video presentations.

Lokal conference

In the period from 4th to 6th June 2021. in Višegrad the fourth annual conference of the Wikimedia community of the Republic of Srpska was held.

The conference, dedicated to the annual gathering of Wikimedia and Wikipedians, as well as representatives of GLAM and educational institutions, gathered participants from the Republic of Srpska and Montenegro.

In addition to building community capacity, part of the conference activities was dedicated to overcoming the gender and thematic gap in Wikimedia projects. In this regard, within the program part, an editorial marathon was held during which the participants created articles on Wikipedia in Serbian on topics that are not sufficiently represented.

The event was organized in accordance with the current epidemiological situation in the country and in strict compliance with the orders and recommendations of the Republic Crisis Staff for Emergencies, the World Health Organization, and the Wikimedia Foundation's recommendation for the organization of live events during the pandemic.

In addition to the regular planned activities, meetings of the Organizing Team were held on the sidelines of the event in connection with the next activities, as well as mentoring meetings with new members. Also, meetings were held with participants - representatives of GLAM institutions on future cooperation.

Gender Gap - Wiki Women in Republic of Srpska

In the period from June 5th to June 15th, 2021, in the Republic of Srpska, was the third time Wiki realized the project Wiki women in the Republic of Srpska that is aimed at overcoming gender differences in Wikimedia projects. It covers a range of activities related to working on Wikimedia projects with females in the territory of the Republic of Srpska. In addition, project activities are aimed at processing less represented topics, primarily women's, and then others.

As part of the project, an online editing marathon was held, as well as a live editing workshop. In addition, an online action was organized to collect photos of the beauties of the Republic of Srpska that were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.

A total of 16 participants took part in the project. 60 new articles were written and one article was supplemented. The number of photos uploaded to Wikimedia Commons is 207.

The project is supported by three partners: Serbian Educational and Cultural Association "Prosvjeta", Višegrad, Public Institution National Library "Dr. Ljubo Mihić" Ljubinje, Association of Business Women 16, Višegrad. Through various promotional activities as well as the provision of appropriate literature, they contributed to the successful realization of the project.

CEE Spring

The Wikimedia Community of the Republic of Srpska, in cooperation with Wikimedia Serbia, took part in the organization of the international competition CEE Spring 2021.

Ten editors who responded to the competition added 387 new and 12 supplemented articles with 11,881,187 bytes entered.

Competition on Wikipedia

Due to the deterioration of the epidemiological picture caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in the country and the world, the Community was forced to adjust the planned activities to the existing restrictions, change the plan and relocate the budget in agreement with the superior grant officer. In an effort to maintain continuity in the work so that the community would not experience stagnation and waste of members, among other things, 4 competitions were organized on Wikipedia in the Serbian . The mentioned plan was presented to the grant officer during the meeting, after whose approval the implementation began.

When organizing the competition, in addition to the selection of poorly represented topics, we took into account the engagement of volunteers in the preparations and the realization. Our goal was to hire new members and train them through direct online work.

In the period from March 15 to May 31, 4 competitions in writing articles were organized on the Serbian Wikipedia, thematically focused on less represented topics, in order to contribute to overcoming the gap in the subsequent representation of various contents on Wikipedia. In addition, special attention was certainly paid to overcoming the gender gap through competition related to women's topics.

Competitions:

A total of 24 participants took part in the competitions. 160 new articles were written and 22 articles were supplemented.

Meet Srpska 2021

In the period from October 20th to November 20th, 2021, the project Meet Srpska 2021, which united a competition in writing articles on the Serbian Wikipedia and an editorial marathon was realized. In addition, cooperation with the DIS Theater from Banja Luka, within which the community took part in the public event of the jubilee Twentieth Festival of Youth Theaters of Republika Srpska, supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Srpska was established. In addition to the promotion of the Wikimedia GLAM program, for the needs of the project Meet Srpska, the community received an exclusive permit for the presence of our volunteers in theater performances, as well as for recording and photographing them. Also, the community was provided with material and copies of the annals of the Youth theaters of the Republic of Srpska for the purpose of creating articles on Wikipedia. On that occasion, 54 photos of theater troupes performing various theater plays were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. In parallel with the theater troupes, there was cooperation with the Karate Club Ljubisnja from Foča, which, in addition to numerous successes at European and world competitions, is known for gathering and working with young people with disabilities. They, as well as theater representatives, provided the community with the material needed to create the articles. In addition to local partners, cooperation with international partners - Wikimedia user group GLAM Macedonia has been established, which held an editorial workshop in Macedonia on the topic Meet Srpska.

The results of the project exceeded our expectations. A total of 388 articles were written and 31 articles were supplemented. 13 Wikipedia editors took part in the competition.

Public activities

Participation in public events

In the period from October 20 to 24, 2021, the Wikimedia Community of Republika Srpska took part in a prestigious cultural event - the jubilee Twentieth Festival of Youth Theaters of Republika Srpska, supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Republika Srpska. In addition to enriching the Meet Srpska project by collecting written and visual materials and releasing them, the Community presented both global and local Wikimedia GLAM programs, with a special emphasis on opportunities for cooperation and mutual improvement of work. On that occasion, future cooperation was agreed with three youth theaters on the Living Library project.

Meetings

During the specified period, the community functioned properly and held regular meetings of the Organizing Team and the Board of Directors, as well as online training of new volunteers and editors of Wikipedia. A total of 58 online and 3 live meetings were held. In addition to working meetings related to micro-planning and work on project implementation, the topics of the meetings were proposals and ideas for future projects, as well as work on the framework for the development of the next work strategy.

Cooperation with the media

During the indicated period, the community was present in the media space of Bosnia and Herzegovina 96 times. The community has continued the positive trend of communicating with the public through communication with the media via mailing lists, blog posts, websites as well as social media.