CEE/Newsletter/Newsroom/CEE Newsletter Serbia/October - December 2023

October - December 2023

By: Ivana Madžarević

Wikimedia Serbia celebrated 18 years in December 2023, when it organized the thirtieth General Assembly. Two new members of the Board were voted in, and Miroslav Loci was re-appointed as president. As part of the Education Program, cooperation was established with Wikimedia Mexico, and joint edit-a-thon on education was organized.

In addition, two new collaborations were established and five accredited seminars were held. GLAM brought the completion of two Wikipedian in residence programs, as well as the campaign Wiki Loves Living Heritage. As part of Diversity Program, the focus was placed on content about women, which is why a Wikipedia competition on the topic of notable women was organized, as well as the #SheSaid campaign. Also, Nikolina Šepić won the first prize in the competition Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos at the global level with 5051 edit.

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Education Program

Wikimedia Serbia in cooperation with Wikimedia Mexico and the National Autonomous University of Mexico held an edit-a-thon about education. This edit-a-thon is important example of the global networking in the Wikimedia movement because it was initiated with the idea of bringing together two cultures in a field that connects us all. The #WikiUNAM edit-a-thon has been organized every year since 2020 and this is its fourth edition.
New collaborations were established within the Education Program. The first cooperation was achieved with the Faculty of Chemistry in Belgrade. It involved a Wikipedia editing workshop on the Biotechnology in the Environment subject. The whole project is supported by the Science Fund. The second cooperation was made with "Vuk Karadžić" Primary School in Lebane. For the first time, the students of this school had the opportunity to participate in a Wikipedia editing workshop.
Five accredited seminars for teachers were held. Three of them were realized in Vranje, in "Branko Radičević", "Radoje Domanović" and "Vuk Karadžić" elementary schools, one in the Medical School in Čačak and the last one in the "Bora Radić" elementary school in Bavanište.
A meeting with Wiki ambassadors was held during which upcoming activities, plans and delegation of responsibilities in the first semester of the current school year were discussed.
The promotion of the Wikidata about old Serbian novels project and Wikidata workshop (input, visualization and analysis) was organized by the Society for Language Resources and Technologies JeRTeh and Wikimedia Serbia at the Faculty of Mining and Geology in Belgrade.

GLAM Program

Regarding the global campaign Wiki Loves Living Heritage, a thematic activity of writing articles was held on Serbian Wikipedia. During this activity, 9 editors wrote 99 new articles, and the most diligent editors of the campaign, Gzanag, Nikolina Šepić and Sadko, were awarded with vouchers for books.
The three-month long Wikipedian in residence project at the National Museum of Kraljevo has come to an end. During this project, 87 new articles were written, 73 articles were improved, and 43 were illustrated. A total of 519 files containing numerous documents, historical photos, photos of exhibitions and current events of the Kraljevo were uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons.
The Wikipedian in residence project at the Association of Fine Artists of Serbia was also realised for three months. As many as 338 new articles were written during this project, making it the WiR project with by far the most written articles. A total of 189 catalogs of the Association with over 2,500 pages of digitized content have been uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons.

Diversity Program

The results of the Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos competition at the global level have been published. Serbian Wikipedia community achieved great results: 7 editors improved 6151 page with multimedia content, winning the first place. Nikolina Šepić won the first prize in the competition at the global level with 5051 edit.
The competition on Wikipedia in writing articles on the topic of song selection has also ended, and during the contest, 132 articles were written and improved.
The fourth edit-a-thon was organized on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which lasted from December 3 to 10. During this event, 4 editors wrote 14 new articles.
Wikimedia Serbia supported the initiative of Wikipedia editors to organize a competition on notable women, which was organized from November 5 to December 5. During this period, eight editors participated in the competition and 159 new articles were written and 55 articles were improved. In addition, six editors participated in the review part of the competition and wrote 38 new articles.
Wikimedia Serbia joined the global #SheSaid campaign for the third time, which lasted from November 20 to December 20 on Wikiquote. During the campaign, 6 editors created or improved 89 pages, and added as many as 780 citations.

Organizational

Wikimedia Serbia celebrated 18 years of work. The event was organized in the premises of the organization, and was attended by volunteers and collaborators. Within the agenda, the best projects were announced in the following categories: best project, best photo project and best newcomer project.
In addition to the strategy, a strategic plan for the next three years was developed and adopted in this period. The strategic plan follows the strategy that will be implemented from the beginning of 2024.
In December, the thirtieth General Assembly was held, during which decisions were adopted regarding the change of membership status, the extension of mandates for two members of the Board, the decision regarding two new members of the Board, as well as the appointment of Miroslav Loti as the President of chapter for a new two-year term. On our website official notes are available, reduced in accordance with the Rulebook on Personal Data Protection.