CEE/Newsletter/October 2017/Contents/Bashkortostan report

Bashkortostan report: News Feed for October

By Рөстәм Нурыев

Translated by Borovi4ok

Bashkortostan 100 Competition Gains Momentum

The Bashkortostan 100 article write-up competition was conceived to mark the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Bashkortostan; it launched in 2016 and consists of 5 stages. Its third stage is running now, dated September 1 - December 9. As of today, 31 Wiki-volunteers are participating in it, representing the Azeri, Bashkir, Erzya, Georgian, Russian, Tuva and Ukrainian Wikipedias.

New Landmark: 40,000th article in Bashkir Wikipedia

On October 6, 2017, the 40,000th article was created in the Bashkir Wikipedia — Baikonur. What makes this small stub article special is that it was written in Bashkir by a Russian-speaking volunteer Yufereff. Here is his own commentary on his contribution:

«Hello! I am an ethnic Russian, however my paternal ancestor was born to a Bashkir family that was later affected during the 1735 —1740 Bashkir Uprising. As a child, he was resigned to the care of a Russian landlord, and baptized. I mostly contribute to the Russian Wikipedia. For some time, I didn't approach the Bashkir Wikipedia, as it is fairly well-developed, and has quite a number of active contributors. I have put some effort into developing the Finno-Ugric projects. However, recently I decided to pay tribute to my ancestry and make some contribution to the Bashkir Wikipedia as well. It was a pleasant surprise to see a very friendly attitude in the Bashkir Wiki-community even toward someone who doesn't have much knowledge of Bashkir: I see that every new article I create gets acknowledged and appreciated. Nowhere else have I encountered such a warm attitude. This is very rewarding.

Bashkir Wiki-Babushkas Take Center Stage at 2017 Wiki Conference in Moscow

October 14—15, 2017, the 11th Wiki-Conference of Russia took place at Nekrasov Library, Moscow. The Wikimedians of Bashkortostan User Group was represented by Wiki volunteers coming from multiple locations across Bashkortostan, as well as from Moscow and the Moscow region. The audience' attention was captivated by the presentation made by the Bashkir Wiki-Babushkas - they conducted their own round table and each told their personal stories of their motivation to contribute. A long-term Wikipedian Pavel Bogomolov was there too, and gave this comment:

«The Bashkir Wiki-Babushkas have debunked the existing popular opinion that Wikipedia is a young male domain. They have demonstrated that literally everybody, with no exemptions, can contribute to Wikipedia.».

Stanislav Kozlovsky, Executive Director of Wikimedia RU, highly appreciated the Bashkir volunteers' role in the movement:

«Wiki-Babushkas are perhaps the best project across the entire movement».

Wiki Goes on Prime Time at Bashkir Television

On 25 October, a popular TV show Telecentr was aired during prime time on BST, the largest Bashkortostan TV station, which featured a group of Bashkir Wiki volunteers - Zaytuna Nigmatyanova, Minibanat Valeeva-Yawbasarova, Minsilu Abdullina, and Zufar Salikhov. For 45 minutes, the Wikipedians talked to the host Zulfiya Rakhmatullina and gave answers to questions coming from the host and from the TV audience. Professor of Linguistics Firdaus Khisametdinova was in the pundit role; she gave a high opinion of the volunteers' work, and expressed her hope that Bashkortostan's Academy of Sciences would assist in developing the Bashkir Wikipedia. During the TV show, a call-in poll was taken - the watchers asked "Do you use Bashkir Wikipedia?". 71% of watchers answered "yes", which is a testimony of the Bashkir online encyclopedia's popularity.

Public Meetings

In October, active volunteers from the Wikimedians of Bashkortostan User Group conducted traditional public meetings. Rashida Gizzatullina met the teachers of Gymnasium no. 3 in Sterlitamak, named after Jalil Kiekbaev, and Zaytuna Nigamatyanova conducted a meeting with the students of the Department of Bashkir Philology and Journalism at the Bashkir State University in Ufa. The volunteers told about their Wiki activities, demonstrated how to register in the project and edit Wikipedia articles.

The Wiki meeting in Sterlitamak. Oct 4
The Wiki meeting in Ufa. Oct 10