CEE/Newsletter/April 2018/Contents/Cyprus report
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Cyprus report: WikiGap editathon inside the UN Buffer Zone
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Over 40 Swedish embassies took an initiative called #WikiGap during which people around the world gathered on International Women's Day to add more content to Wikipedia about women profiles, experts and role models in various fields.
The Swedish Embassy of Cyprus contacted Marios Magioladitis, a member of Wikimedia Community User Group of Greece, to organise an editathon inside the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus, the Green line, demilitarized zone, patrolled by the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus.
The organizers dedicated this year's International Women's Day, in Wikipedia, articles of distinguished Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot women, who have an important contribution to peace and politics. The goal was to publish 20-30 new or translated articles in Greek and Turkish. The event also aimed to show participants how easy it is to contribute to Wikipedia and thus encourage the continued involvement of women after that day.
The event had the support of Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS) and the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus.
Most of the attendees to the event had their laptops with them, as the organizers had suggested and started creating articles.
The participants were members of women's and non-governmental organizations from both communities, including Salpy Eskidjian Weiderud, Executive Coordinator of The Religious Track of the Cyprus Peace Process of the Swedish Embassy in Nicosia. There were participants from both sides of the island.
Unfortunatelly, creating content in Turkish Wikipedia was not possible during the event since Wikipedia has been blocked in Turkey for more than a year now.
Before the editathon Marios Magioladitis gave a talk titled "Gender online and on Wikipedia" where he focused on the participation of women online and in Wikipedia in particular.
The event had media coverage.