The first student WikiCamp in Türkiye was held with great enthusiasm

The first WikiCamp in Türkiye, Arhavi WikiCamp 2024 was organized by Wikimedia Community User Group Turkey and Wikimedia Community User Group Georgia in the Arhavi municipality of Türkiye’s Artvin province between 16-19 May 2024.

We want to share with you the outputs of WikiCamp, which was a busy two-day event.

4 WikiClubs from Türkiye and 6 Wiki Student Clubs from Georgia participated in WikiCamp. Additionally, some university student Wikipedians who were preparing to establish a club also took part in the camp.

Wikipedians and guests who attended the WikiCamp spent two full days with sessions where very interesting information and experiences were shared. For example, on the first day, students learned new things about Wikipedia volunteering and Wikidata, while on the second day, they learned a lot of information in interesting presentations such as Woman do Exist at Wikipedia: The Gender Gap Problem, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and OpenStreetMap (WikiCamp Program)

Participants also did very well in the Georgia – Türkiye Edit-a-thon, which was held on both days. As part of the Edit-a-thon, participants in Türkiye focused on maintaining existing articles, while participants in Georgia created most of the more than 200 articles about Georgia and Türkiye.

Social activities

Members of Wiki Student Clubs from Türkiye and Wiki Student Clubs from Georgia met each other. At the end of the day, participants had the chance to visit the natural beauties of Artvin and Arhavi, such as Mençuna Waterfall and Çifte Bridge. Participants also had a fun time by participating in Horon, one of the traditional dances, accompanied by the Tulum, one of the region’s traditional instruments. They also tasted Laz Böreği, a regional delicacy prepared by the staff of the school where the camp was held.

In the closing session, participants tested their knowledge in a quiz competition where some questions were asked about Wikipedia, Arhavi, Georgia and Türkiye. Books from Georgia and Türkiye were given as gifts to the winners of the competition.

The teachers and about 50 students from Arhavi College were with us during the learning sessions, edit-a-thon, and social activities. Local Wikipedians and local administrators also joined our activities. We are grateful to Arhavi College and Arhavi people for their great hospitality.