Wikimedia Armenia/Reports/2025-03
Wikiclubs
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On March 7, Wikimedia Armenia opened its 10th Wikiclub in Gyumri, Armenia. This is the second Wikiclub in Shirak region. The Wikiclub will operate at the premises of the Gyumri Branch of the State Academy of Fine Arts of Armenia.
As of March 31, there are 284 registered members in all 10 active Wikiclubs (Goris, Ddmashen, Lernapat, Kirants, Koghb, Hatsik, Jermuk, Kajaran, Ijevan, and Gyumri).
In March, the “Young biographer” multi-staged project for Wikiclubs continued. During this project, participants create articles about biographies of popular people by translating them from different languages. This competitive project has five stages. In each stage, the Wikiclub member who creates the most quality articles will receive a prize from Wikimedia Armenia and four other participants will receive certificates. The second stage of the project was dedicated to women’s month in Armenia that lasts from March 8 until April 7. In this stage all those participants who created articles related to women received additional points. In the second stage of the project, 32 participants created 252 articles with a volume of 5,560,277 bytes.
Wikiedits
[edit]Throughout March, out of 284 Wikiclub members, 83 contributed to Wikipedia. In total, they have created 447 articles and made 1357 edits with a volume of 8,133,158 bytes. During the month of March, 72 Wikiclub members contributed to Wikidata, by making 1259 edits in total.
Other events
[edit]Besides editing, the following events were organized in Wikiclubs: Members of Kirants Wikiclub actively contributed to actor Khoren Abrahamyan’s article. Sources were provided by his granddaughter which helped improve the article. On April 1, the actor's 95th anniversary was celebrated and the article was updated to commemorate the anniversary. Hatsik Wikiclub organized a two-day edit-a-thon dedicated to women’s month (on March 10 and 12). As a result, 24 articles were created that tell about women who have stood out in various fields.
10th WikiClub in Gyumri
[edit]On March 7, Wikimedia Armenia opened its 10th Wikiclub in the city of Gyumri, Armenia. This is the 2nd Wikiclub in Shirak region; the first one is Hatsik Wikiclub. This Wikiclub will operate on the premises of the Gyumri Branch of the State Academy of Fine Arts of Armenia. After Ijevan Wikiclub, this is the second one which will be operating in a higher education institution.
The opening ceremony of the Wikiclub was attended by the President and staff of Wikimedia Armenia, and faculty and students from the academy. WMAM staff presented the organization's activities and purpose, as well as implemented projects. A discussion took place among those present, and WMAM representatives answered questions raised by the students and faculty.
After the opening ceremony, some participants were registered by the Wikiclub coordinator.
Wikiclub will give students and everyone interested an opportunity to become a part of the wiki community and participate in the development and improvement of Wikipedia.
University students’ internships
[edit]Brusov State University
[edit]Brusov State University students began their internships on 10 February and finished it on 21 March. 88 senior students from the Faculty of Translation and Intercultural Communication and Russian and Foreign Languages visited Wikimedia Armenia’s office twice a week to participate in a two-hour-long training. During these training, they learned how to edit and contribute to Armenian Wikipedia.
Students did translation from English, Chinese and Korean Wikipedias and created 191 articles, in total 12,079,747 bytes,
YSU Ijevan Branch
[edit]Students from this university started their internship on 8 February. Wikimedia Armenia staff visited Ijevan, where the university branch is located, for a two-day trip. Here they organized four training courses introducing students to Wikipedia, its rules, five pillars, and editing tools. Throughout the following weeks until the end of March, 31 students from the Departments of Armenian History and Social Sciences, Armenian Language and Literature, Foreign Languages did translations from English, French and Russian Wikipedias. Overall, they created and improved 145 articles totalling 2,088,796 bytes
Awards ceremony of the “Wiki Literary World” edit-a-thon
[edit]On March 11, the awards ceremony of the “Wiki Literary World” second edit-a-thon, jointly organized by Wikimedia Armenia and “Darak” publishing house in January and February, was held at WMAM office. Winners and active participants of the project received certificates and prizes. The latter were prepared by the “Darak” publishing house.
“Sweet Wiki” edit-a-thon
[edit]Wikimedia Armenia and “Laki Online” Academy jointly launched the first ever “Sweet Wiki” edit-a-thon which continued from February 8 to March 8.
Within a month, 28 participants of the edit-a-thon created 428 articles with 5,246,379 bytes on Armenian Wikipedia. Articles were related to sweets, candies, pastry, and their recipes.
Interesting Wiki
[edit]From March 9 to 20, Wikimedia Armenia organized the “Interesting Wiki” edit-a-thon aiming at enriching Armenian Wikipedia with articles which include interesting and thought-provoking facts which could be presented in the “Did you know…” section of the main page of Wikipedia.
A list was prepared for the participants which were translated from other language Wikipedias; however, if anyone wanted to create an article outside of the list, then there was a special page where they could suggest their article identifying the interesting fact which could be used in the “Did you know…” section. After being confirmed by the organizers, the suggested article was included in the project list.
Within 12 days of the edit-a-thon, 66 articles were created, in total 979,853 bytes, and they are already being included in the “Did you know…” section of the main page.
Community Meet-up
[edit]On 11 March, 2025 Wikimedia Armenia organized a community meet-up organized for organization members, staff and community members interested in WMAM work. The meet-up took place at Wikimedia Armenia’s office, but also anyone could join the meeting online via Zoom.
The meet-up was attended by 17 in person and 5 online participants.
Arshak Shahenyan, President of the WMAM, introduced Wikimedia Armenia’s activities, projects, and events held in the previous quarter (January-March). He also presented the activities and the work that was planned for the following months. The possible deadlines and target groups of the upcoming projects were discussed.
Organization staff answered the questions raised by the participants.
