Submissions/Wikipedia for Peace

This is an Open submission for Wikimania 2017 that has not yet been reviewed by a member of the Programme Committee.

Submission no. 2032 Subject C9 and C5

Title of the submission

Wikipedia for Peace

Type of submission (lecture, panel, tutorial/workshop, roundtable discussion, lightning talk, poster, birds of a feather discussion)

Lecture

Author of the submission

Thomas Schallhart (Shikeishu), Saskia Ehlers (Earlyspatz)

Language of presentation

English

E-mail address

thomas.schallhartgmx.at, saskia.j.ehlersgmail.com

Username

Shikeishu, Earlyspatz

Country of origin

Austria, Germany

Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.)

Service Civil International, Wikimedia Austria, Wikimedia Germany

Personal homepage or blog

Abstract (up to 300 words to describe your proposal)

Since 2015, Wikimedia Austria cooperates with the peace organisation Service Civil International (SCI) on organizing international camps in Austria (2015, 2016, 2017). In 2017, the project expanded to other European countries. In 2017 Wikimedia Germany decided to partner up with the German branch of SCI and organize the first camp outside of Austria in Berlin in July 2017 (Wikipedia for Peace Berlin 2017). Communities in other parts of Europe are interested in setting up camps and edit-a-thons around the topic peace as well.

Wikipedia for Peace is an example of a well-functioning cooperation between a Wikimedia chapter and a non-governmental organization: On these camps, people from all over the world (mostly from within Europe) come together for about two weeks to write and improve Wikipedia articles around peace and connected topics. As most of them are newcomers, they first learn about editing. At the same time, they receive workshops about peace-related topics.

The project is an interesting way of involving new people by combining editing on Wikipedia with the meaningful purpose of improving the knowledge available about peace movements online. Also the project itself, bringing people from different countries together, is a project that aims to create a culture of peace within the group.

As the project becomes bigger, so do the aims: We think Wikipedia should be more peaceful. The articles about peace activists and peace movements should be better. And the communication on our platform needs to become more peaceful, targeting inequalities and harassment. The community interested in setting up Wikipedia for Peace projects has written its own manifesto. The motto is: Be the [edit] you want to see in the world.

What will attendees take away from this session?

We mainly wish to inspire people to organize similar camps and edit-a-thons in their communities by cooperating with peace and volunteering organizations. We want to present the idea and the present outcomes from the four camps that will have taken place by August 2017 in Austria and Germany.

The presentation aims to:

1. Spread the idea of Wikipedia for Peace to the global Wiki community, hoping to set in motion projects that want to be part of the Wikipedia for Peace movement.

2. Find people that are interested in organizing and coordinating camps and edit-a-thons about peace.

3. Get moral and technical support from the Wikipedia community for both existing and new projects.

4. Present the idea to Wikimedia employees so that they will provide funding for camps and edit-a-thons.

We will present how we organized our projects: We will present the outline of the camps, the outcomes and the funding that was needed so that all necessary information is provided.

For people that have further interest, we can provide them with a toolkit on how to organize camps and edit-a-thons, as well as with contacts that can help them through the process. If attendees would like to learn more or organize a camp themselves we will give a Workshop on how to do that later during the conference.

Theme of presentation

• WikiCulture & Community

For workshops and discussions, what level is the intended audience?

Beginning, intermediate, expert

Length of session (if other than 25 minutes, specify how long)

25 minutes

Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?

Yes, scholarship recipients

Slides or further information (optional)

We will upload them before the conference. We want to include events that will take place later this year in the presentation.

Special requests

No special requests.

Is this Submission a Draft or Final?

This is a Completed submission for Wikimania 2017 ready to be reviewed by a member of the Programme Committee.

Interested attendees

If you are interested in attending this session, please sign with your username below. This will help reviewers to decide which sessions are of high interest. Sign with a hash and four tildes. (# ~~~~).

1. --Claudia.Garad (talk) 17:14, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
2. Kritzolina (talk) 21:12, 26 March 2017 (UTC)
3. Schiste (talk) 13:18, 3 April 2017 (UTC)
4. Daniel Mietchen (talk) 01:55, 10 April 2017 (UTC)
5. Freddy2001 (talk) 09:03, 11 April 2017 (UTC)
6. Raimund Liebert (WMAT) (talk) 09:28, 11 April 2017 (UTC)
7. RachelWex (talk) 22:06, 11 April 2017 (UTC)
8. ...