CEE/Newsletter/Newsroom/Celebrating 20 years of Georgian Wikipedia
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Georgian Wikipedia was launched 20 years ago, at the end of 2003. On December 24, 2023, the Wikimedia UG Georgia, together with editors and volunteers of Georgian Wikipedia, celebrated the 20th birthday of Georgian Wikipedia with a traditional anniversary cake and a pleasant atmosphere.
The traditional year's summary conference was also held on the same day. The organization's staff presented the report of the activities carried out throughout the year to those present and introduced the plan for the next year.
Georgian Wikipedia was launched 20 years ago, at the end of 2003. However, the first article in Georgian Wikipedia was created on February 25, 2004, and it was about Eduard Shevardnadze, who at that time was removed from the post of President of Georgia. This is how the long way of Georgian Wikipedia began, which led to today.
By the end of 2005, Georgian Wikipedia already has 4,000 articles. Wikipedia slowly began to develop and establish a place among other languages Wikipedias. The peak of 10 thousand articles reached on August 11, 2006.
In the beginning, adding articles to Wikipedia without sources was chaotic, and the experienced editors were focused on quantity rather than quality. However, after the source was made mandatory, the source was indicated for all articles. At the same time, work continued to increase the number of articles.
On October 13, 2015, the number of articles in Georgian Wikipedia exceeded 100,000. Currently, the number of articles is more than 170,000, and with this number, it ranks 58th among the 326 different languages Wikipedias in the world. Editors of Georgian Wikipedia are currently focused on the quality of articles, and many domestic and international contests are held for this purpose. During the contests, criteria were established to encourage the submission of perfect articles or the expansion and editing of already existing articles.
Wikimedia UG Georgia, which was created in 2015, makes the greatest contribution to the development of Georgian Wikipedia.
Since then, the organization has held many events to develop the Georgian Wikipedia. Among them are article contests, edit-a-thons, marathons, WikiCamps, and Wikipedia workshops for interested communities. WikiClubs were opened at schools in different regions of Georgia, where interested people learn how to contribute to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.
On December 24, 2023, the Wikimedia UG Georgia, together with editors and volunteers of Georgian Wikipedia, celebrated the 20th birthday of Georgian Wikipedia with a traditional anniversary cake and a pleasant atmosphere. The traditional year's summary conference was also held on the same day. The organization's staff presented the report of the activities carried out throughout the year to those present and introduced the plan for the next year.
Our many years of experience show that article contests, workshops, WikiCamps, and WikiClubs are strategically important in developing Georgian Wikipedia. This way, we recruit more and more volunteers to Wikimedia projects every year. At the same time, Wikimedia UG Georgia continues to work on other innovative projects for the Georgian Community, which we will try to implement in the coming years.
We wish Georgian Wikipedia and its editors more articles and volunteers in the project and successful development in the future!