Wikipedia 15/Site/Stories/Darya Ganor
Darya Ganor
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As a librarian and Wikipedian-in-Residence at the National Library of Israel, Darya Ganor spends her days helping people locate the resources they need through Wikipedia. About a year ago, she met fellow Wikimedian Avner Kantor at a meetup in Tel Aviv.
“On Wikipedia‘s 14th birthday, Avner proposed to me. It seemed very natural, as we both feel that Wikipedia‘s community is family.
I remember meeting Avner for the first time at a Wikimedia Meetup…Wiki-Academy had just successfully completed its 6th conference and everyone was in good spirits. Avner came in late. He knew everyone in the room, except for a girl in a red who caught his eye.
Avner asked around and learned that I was the Wikipedian in Residence at the National Library of Israel. So naturally, the next time he saw me at the library, he started a conversation. The first thing we talked about was a recent complaint the Library‘s Reference Desk in Wikipedia had received. He was unaware that I was in charge of the Reference Desk and that I wasn‘t very happy being criticized. So we kept our distance during the Hebrew Wikipedia birthday that summer.
- The positive energies of it, the wanting to make the world better, that‘s Wikipedia for me. That‘s what I want to share with people.
On Wikipedia’s 14th birthday, organized by Wikimedia Israel, Avner was to give a lecture titled “How to find love in Wikipedia and what do Wikipedians do when they are in love.” It was supposed to be a theoretical lecture on couples in Wikipedia. He even invited my brother to the lecture: I still didn’t figure out that something was up.
The lecture started, Avner spoke about how he began writing in Wikipedia, and how we met. Not exactly a theoretical lecture. :) Then, his last piece of advice for finding love was to dedicate an article for your beloved. He dedicated an entry of a well-known poem by Natan Alterman called ‘Eternal Meeting’. He then read a verse from that poem, looking straight at me, his voice trembling a bit:
- You stormed in to me
- I’ll forever play your tune
- [Avner’s addition] Will you give me your hand in marriage…"
- —Eternal Meeting, Natan Alterman