Մասնակից:Mari Avetisyan WMAM/Ավազարկղ

Վիքիպեդիայից՝ ազատ հանրագիտարանից
Caption text
Revenue source Currency Anticipated Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Cumulative Anticipated ($US)* Cumulative ($US)* Explanation of variances from plan
Wikimedia Foudation AMD 13,027,100 9,294,696 6,633,700 15,928,396 $32,980 $40,325
Donations for Wikiclubs and other projects AMD 7,200,000 1,850,337 1,850,337 3,700,674 $18,277.8 $9,368.8
TOTAL AMD 20,227,100 13,751,122 10,518,335 19,629,070 $51,257.8 $49,639.8

* USD 1=AMD 395

Կաղապար:FDC progress report form/1/Table/2/Header |- | Operations || AMD || n/a || 1384099 || 1,104,715 || n/a || n/a || 2,488,814 || n/a|| $6,301 || || |- | Quality Content || AMD ||n/a || 3,262,822 || 205,000 || n/a || n/a || 3,467,822 || n/a|| $8,779 || || |- | Community || AMD || n/a || 191,350|| n/a || n/a || n/a || 191,350 ||n/a || $484 || || |- | Education || AMD || n/a || n/a || 1439350 || n/a || n/a || 1,439,350||n/a || $3,644 || || |- | Staff expanses || AMD || n/a || 4,456,425 || 3,884,635 || n/a || n/a || 8,341,060 || n/a|| $21,117|| || |- | TOTAL || AMD || n/a || 9,294,696|| 6,633,700 ||n/a || n/a || 15,928,396|| n/a|| $40,325 || || Կաղապար:FDC progress report form/1/Table/2/End * USD 1=AMD 395


Participants Newly registered Content pages Wikipedia Content pages Wikisource/Wiktionary/Wikicommons
Quality Content
Wiki practice for specialists in medical and pharmacological areas 31 31 22
Medical Wiki Gathering 35 23 170
Collaborations with scientific institutions 12 12 16 25 Commons
Financial-Economic month + training 54 34 311
Presence of Museums in wiki projects + training 49 31 152
Wiki Loves Earth 37 10 3039 Commons
Subtotal 218 141 671 3064 Commons
Community Program
CEE Spring 2023 34 5 412
Wikipedia birthday community edit-a-thon 55 2 222
Subtotal 89 7 634
Education Program
Collaboration with universities 65 65 267
Teachers’ Wiki Gathering + training 36 26 285
WikiClubs 143 58 1860 422 WIkisource / 2706 Wikidata edits
Subtotal 244 149 2412 422 WIkisource / 2706 Wikidata edits
TOTAL FOR ALL PROGRAMS 551 297 3717 3064 Commons / 422 Wikisource / 2706 Wikidata edits

  New Beginning

After a long period of inactivity, suspension and recovery efforts, Wikimedia Armenia resumed the successful experience of focusing on three major directions - quality, education, and community. In this reporting period the plan was to restart all projects which were left in the middle and restore the Armenian wiki community. For this purpose, Wikimedia Armenia started its activities with a community gathering on the occasion of Wikipedia Day.

  Quality Content

Wikimedia Armenia has always put an emphasis on the quality of created and improved articles or uploaded files. For this reason, several activities and collaborations were envisaged and implemented during this reporting period.

  Medical Wiki Gathering

As a continuation of the medical wiki projects, which started in 2018, and proved to be very successful, leading to the creation of medical articles - a gap that Armenian Wikipedia faced then, Wikimedia Armenia decided not only to work with specialists in medical but also pharmaceutical areas. As a result, training was organized for these specialists, which actually had a high demand - around 100 people showed interest in the training, and most importantly, 75 out of them were newcomers.

Due to this new approach which enabled newcomers to get to know about the wiki movement, Wikimedia projects, Wikipedia, its rules and principles, editing tools, etc., participants of the next Wiki Gathering, which concentrated on medical topics, were selected from the best and outstanding newcomers. Consequently, 23 newcomers joined 12 experienced editors for the Medical Wiki Gathering and the outcome was impressive - in total, 170 quality medical and pharmaceutical articles were created with a volume of 5,463,166 bytes. Considering the results of the gathering, we understood that the new approach of training newcomers before letting them join major activities was succeeding.


  Lesson learned

One of the lessons learned during this period is that the newcomers should be trained (both offline or online training are suggested) before participating in major events and activities in order to provide higher quality.

  Collaborations with Scientific Institutions

Photo uploaded within the framework of collaboration

Collaborating and working closely with scientific institutions and communities ensures that the articles created on Armenian Wikipedia are trustworthy, created by experts, valid sources are used, and the quality is guaranteed. For this purpose, Wikimedia Armenia continued its practice of communicating with such institutions to start a long-term cooperation. Within this framework, Wikimedia Armenia worked with the Fundamental Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences.

In the first case, the idea was to create pages for all Armenian translators on their website and then create articles on Armenian Wikipedia. The staff of the library was introduced to Wikipedia editing tools, after which they created quality articles. Most importantly, the Library’s website became a valid source for information added to Wikipedia and vice versa. The difficulties of adding citations from one source to another were eliminated by joint forces.

In the second case, special training was organized for ten employees of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography. The training included not only topics on Wikipedia but also WikiData and WikiCommons. There is a gap in archaeological content on Armenian Wikipedia, thus, this was a vital collaboration as a result of which information obtained during the excavations was added to Wikidata, and photos of the excavated archaeological items were uploaded to WikiCommons and were added to Wikipedia articles.

Wikimedia Armenia envisages such collaborations to be continuous because they enable scientists and experts to be a part of the wiki community and create quality, trustworthy, and up-to-date content on Armenian Wikipedia and other wiki projects.

  Financial-Economic Month 2023

Wikimedia Armenia started a collaboration on creating and developing financial-economic topics on Armenian Wikipedia with the Central Bank of Armenia in 2019. It started as a small project with only 10 articles created and grew to one of the biggest annual projects of WMAM. Continuing this success, Wikimedia Armenia decided to bring this collaboration to a new level.

This year, as decided, before the annual competition "Financial Economic Month 2023" organized along with the Central Bank of Armenia, WMAM organized special training sessions for beginners providing a chance to participate in the competition with an equal starting point. This year co-organizers adopted a new approach - the active participants of the Financial-Economic Month spent the final days of the wikimonth (a two-day meetup) together in Tsaghkadzor. The idea was to provide the participants with a friendly, cooperative and competitive environment where they can get to know each other, share their knowledge and experience and compete fairly. The most important achievement of this year’s competition was the beginners, who not only learned all principles and tools of Wikimedia projects in just a month but also accomplished outstanding results. Mainly, one of the beginners won the competition, bypassing several experienced editors.

It should also be noted that the meet-up organized in Tsaghkadzor also had a critical impact. Only in those two days, around 95 articles were created by 15 participants making a contribution of 1,560,000 bytes to Armenian Wikipedia. To show the significance of the meetup, it is vital to compare it with previous years’ results: in 2021, 120 articles were created in a month; in 2022, 185 articles were created in two months.

The co-organizers from the Central Bank were astonished by the results and decided to not only continue the collaboration with this new approach but also to come up with new ideas and formats to make the project even bigger. Here is a quote from one of the employees of the Central Bank regarding the results of the project:

“I still don’t get the phenomenon of the success of this project. What motivates these people to spend hours in front of a computer? I don’t understand, but it inspires me.”

  Lesson learned

Gathering project participants in one place has a multiplier effect on the project's overall outcome and quality.

  Presence of Museums in Wiki Projects 2023

Wikimedia Armenia has always been determined to work closely with GLAM institutions. Even though WMAM had various initiatives with museums, libraries, etc. “Presence of Museums in Wiki Projects” has become an annual edit-a-thon competition that is organized along with the ICOM National Committee of Armenian Museums. This collaboration started in 2021 in line with International Museum Day and has become a tradition. This initiative, as in the case of collaborations with scientific institutions, ensures the creation of quality content by museums’ employees about their museums or exhibits. Before the edit-a-thon, special training was organized for the beginners, after which only they had the chance to participate. This year around 25 beginners took part in the training, and overall, there were six representatives from museums.

  Wiki Loves Earth 2023

Participation in international contests is one of the most exciting events for the Armenian wiki community. Wikimedia Armenia joined the Wiki Loves Earth photo contest in 2014, however, it did not participate in the next several years, returning to the contest only in 2020. This year WMAM joined the contest in order to upload quality photos of Armenia’s natural monuments to WikiCommons. We have learned from the past that photo walks are very effective in “Wiki Loves…” projects because the participants spend a whole day taking photos of natural monuments and then they upload them to WikiCommons. Keeping this practice in mind, this year as well a photo walk to Aragatsotn region was organized. There were 37 participants in the contest, out of which 10 or 27% were newly registered participants. Also, with the number of uploaded photos Armenian wiki community finished in the 4th place among 50 participating countries.

  Community Program

After the suspension period that Wikimedia Armenia went through during the second half of 2022, the Armenian wiki community was mainly inactive and unmotivated. In order to motivate the community and make them become engaged in the wiki movement as vigorously as before, Wikimedia Armenia decided to restart its activities with a small community gathering on Wikipedia’s 22nd anniversary to reflect the past events and to make plans for the future. As part of a tradition, there is a special edit-a-thon before the birthday in which community members actively participate and make their prize contributions to Wikipedia. This year the Armenian wiki community made an interesting contribution of 222 articles for Wikipedia’s 22nd birthday.

  Collaboration with Youth Organization

Wikimedia Armenia, as an organization that is associated with the youth, appreciates close collaborations and communication with youth organizations. Such opportunities make it possible not only to expand the movement and engage more young people from various backgrounds but also to enlarge the network of acquaintances/organizations for further cooperation. Considering the above-mentioned, Wikimedia Armenia’s team was invited to the city of Jermuk in the Vayots Dzor region in order to participate in the "Towards Jermuk" interregional event and to give a speech about the active involvement of the youth in wiki movement, dissemination of free knowledge, and development of Wikipedia. As a result of this event, the idea of opening a Wikiclub in Jermuk emerged and bilateral agreements were reached to make Jermuk Wikiclub a reality (this is covered in the “Education” section).

  Wikiexcursion

Community gatherings in any format are vital for the Armenian wiki community. For this reason, as in recent years, now as well Wikimedia Armenia is awarding the winners of different major projects an excursion to different destinations. This time the winners of the Medical Wiki Gathering organized in January chose the destination to Vayots Dzor. Such trips have multifold impacts:

  • The participants spend time with each other and get to know each other better,
  • They learn about new places and write articles about them,
  • They take pictures of natural monuments, as well as surrounding historical-cultural monuments and have the opportunity to upload them during the WLM or WLE photo contests,
  • During the long trip they also discuss various topics related to Wikipedia, wiki movement and sometimes suggest interesting new ideas.

  CEE Spring 2023

Wikimedia Armenia has always been actively engaged in collaboration between Central and Eastern European countries - CEE Spring - aiming to create articles about different CEE countries, their history, culture, language, traditions, etc. in Armenian. This year 34 participants joined the annual contest and altogether created 412 articles; moreover, participants also created articles about women - in total 67 articles.


  Education Program

  Collaborations with Universities

In spreading the notion of free knowledge, collaborations with educational institutions play a crucial role. Accordingly, Wikimedia Armenia continues to find common ground with different universities in Armenia, suggesting various formats of collaboration. In this reporting period, Wikimedia Armenia continued its productive work with the students of Brusov State University and the Ijevan Branch of Yerevan State University. Currently, the main format of working with university students is a graded internship.

  • Brusov State University - the students do their internship at Wikimedia Armenia and learn about the wiki movement, its principles, projects, and tools. During their internship, senior students from the Faculty of Translation and Intercultural Communication and the Faculty of Russian and Foreign Languages of Brusov State University pass special intensive training, after which they start translating articles. The students are graded for their internship, so they are encouraged to create quality articles corresponding to Wikipedia principles.
Brusov State University Internship Statistics 2019-2023
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Number of interns 35 30 60 32 50
Number of articles - 153 225 113 175
Contributed bytes - 5,198,252 8,036,132 4,167,70 8,229,95
  • Ijevan Branch of Yerevan State University - having the efficient experience of Brusov State University, in 2022, Wikimedia Armenia started its collaboration with the Ijevan Branch of YSU within the framework of “Wiki Loves History” edit-a-thon, which grew to become an internship for students. In contrast to Brusov State University, students of the Ijevan Branch of YSU do not have the chance to visit Wikimedia Armenia’s office because of the distance between the city of Ijevan and Yerevan. Nevertheless, the students were introduced to Wikipedia and sister projects with online classes. During the whole period, the students had the chance to ask questions in case they faced any issues while writing or publishing their articles. Closer to the end of their internship, the employees of Wikimedia Armenia organized an offline meeting in the Ijevan Branch of YSU, where the students presented their articles and WMAM staff discussed the common mistakes that new contributors make. This year not only students of the Faculty of History joined the internship, but also students from the Faculty of Armenian Literature - in total, 15 students created 50 and improved 42 articles making a contribution of 710,572 bytes.

Along with the above-mentioned successful collaborations, Wikimedia Armenia always continues setting the ground for new projects with other universities and educational institutions in Armenia. This time, the American University of Armenia was interested in the Wikimedia movement. The Quality Content Coordinator had an introductory meeting with a group of students from the American University of Armenia, presenting the movement, Wikipedia and other projects, editing tools, etc. Interested students decided to create articles in their sandboxes and, after that, wikify them with the help of WMAM employees. We hope that this collaboration will continue and expand to reach a new level.

  Teachers' Wikipedia Training

Teachers’ Wikipedia training is one of the most important projects that Wikimedia Armenia has been implementing from the very beginning of its foundation, varying in format or expansion. Teachers’ Wikipedia Training is a special training course for teachers from all around Armenia, providing a chance to teachers to learn about Wikipedia and other projects, create articles, and use wiki projects during their classes. This year, as was already mentioned, all beginners first passed a special training to gain a basic understanding of Wikipedia, wiki projects, and editing tools. Afterward, the best and most outstanding teachers were chosen to participate in the Teachers’ Wiki Gathering.

As always, the interest in the training was very high - a total of 280 teachers applied to participate in the gathering. 91 teachers took part in the special course before the gathering, out of which 30 participants were selected for the gathering, most of which were newcomers. It is important to note that Wikimedia Armenia especially pays close attention to creating a safe space for newcomers in order to feel engaged and not marginalized.

Once again, the training before major events and gatherings proved to be efficient. During the three days of the gathering, 190 articles with a volume of 2,121,101 bytes were translated from English and Russian languages. It is vital to mention that some of these teachers actively participate in WMAM’s other projects and activities, as well as act as ambassadors in spreading the wiki movement in different parts of the country, not only around teachers’ networks but also around their students.

  WikiClubs

Wikiclubs represent the complex idea of youth+volunteering+self-education+community belonging. Wikiclubs are one of the principal initiatives of Wikimedia Armenia, which was adopted by many other affiliates. Previously Wikimedia Armenia had much more Wikiclubs in Armenia, some of which shut down because of financial shortages during COVID-19. Despite that, the functioning Wikiclubs are actively participating in various projects initiated by Wikimedia Armenia and spreading the wiki movement among the teenagers and youth of their respective regions.

In this reporting period and for the future, Wikimedia Armenia decided to expand the network of Wikiclubs in Armenia because of their overall impact both within their local communities and the Armenian wiki community. One such achievement was the opening of Jermuk Wikiclub in the Vayots Dzor region. It should be noted that even during its peak, Wikimedia Armenia did not have any Wikiclubs in Vayots Dzor. As mentioned above, cooperation with various local organizations and initiatives brings new ideas and new interests. The result of one such cooperation became the idea of opening a Wikiclub in Jermuk. The space for the Wikiclub was provided by the Jermuk Youth Center. Hopefully, Jermuk Wikiclub will prove to be a worthy addition to WMAM’s Wikiclub network.

Overall, currently, there are 7 Wikiclubs operating. The club members contribute not only to Wikipedia but also to Wikisource and Wikidata. The Wikiclubs have coordinators who work directly with club members and promote Wikiclubs to engage new members. As of June 2023, there are 143 active members in 7 Wikiclubs. The number of members is gradually increasing considering the fact that Wikimedia Armenia restarted its normal activities and implements various projects, and organizes various events, which keep Wikiclubs motivated and active.

For the latter reason, Wikimedia Armenia organizes Wikiclub members' visits to Wikimedia Armenia’s office. In this reporting period, Mrgavan Wikiclub’s new members visited Wikimedia Armenia to learn about WMAM’s activities, goals, and events. We hope that visits to the Wikimedia Armenia office, as well as Wikiclubs will help the club members to feel themselves a part of a bigger community than their local Wikiclub and share their experience, ideas, and problems they faced.

  Organizational development

Wikimedia Armenia went through a very challenging period (2021-2022), which taught us some good lessons. In this reporting period, Wikimedia Armenia continued addressing various issues regarding its overall activities and communication with the Armenian wiki community and members of the organization. These have become the main focus of the WMAM Board. In several Board meetings that happened from December 2022 to June 2023, some vital decisions were made, and steps were taken.

Mainly, it was decided it is vital to keep the members of the organization and community active and engaged in Wikimedia Armenia's further activities. To organize better communication, it was agreed to keep in touch with members not only by writing emails and sharing information on social media and Wikimedia platforms but also by making phone calls always to keep them informed. Besides that, it was decided to organize an extended Board meeting to discuss the road map for Wikimedia Armenia's further activities. It was also decided to take certain steps to address the problem of passive and uninvolved members in order to make them more involved in WMAM activities.

Furthermore, during this period, another vital question was raised and discussed regarding the development of various regulations and procedures as an extension to the Charter. One of such regulations suggested was "About Membership" which is aimed to define a more regulated procedure of membership because previously it has been a subject to debate.

Overall, a transparent, open, and communicative approach has been adopted, and it will continue.

  Useful links