Human Rights on Wikipedia for the Third Year: The Czech Challenge Brought 216 New and Expanded Articles

At the end of May and throughout June, Wikipedians on Czech Wikipedia focused on human rights and humanitarian themes, history, and notable figures. Thanks to the Human Rights on Wikipedia challenge, held by Wikimedia Czech Republic for the third time this year, 33 Wikipedians managed to create 99 articles and expand another 117, editing a total of 216 articles. The Wikipedian community met twice in person as part of the challenge: at an editathon at the People in Need Center at Langhans Cafe in Prague and on an excursion to the Ďáblice Cemetery. Additionally, we organized three events for schools: at Londýnská Elementary School, at the Secondary School of Informatics, Postal Services and Finance in Brno, and at Dvořák Gymnasium in Kralupy nad Vltavou. An online workshop for non-profit organizations complemented the challenge.

Photo: Jan Beránek, CC BY-SA 4.0

While organizing the challenge, we collaborated with other non-profit organizations, especially Amnesty International, the OSF Foundation, and the VIA Association. The event was held under the patronage of the Government’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Klára Šimáčková Laurenčíková.

The goal of the Human Rights on Wikipedia challenge is to ensure that everyone has access to neutral and up-to-date information about human rights. These should be fact-based and backed by relevant sources. The challenge highlights that Wikipedia is often the primary place where the public seeks answers to broadly human rights-related questions.

Collaborative Editing of Wikipedia at Langhans

The main event of the “Human Rights on Wikipedia” challenge was traditionally an editathon at the People in Need’s Langhans Cafe in cooperation with Amnesty International. On Wednesday, June 26, twelve people attended in person, and three joined online.

We welcomed Martina Wranová from Amnesty International at the editathon. “When I was writing an article on redefining rape, I was surprised at how easy editing was. It’s intuitive, and that’s great because anyone can do it,” she said. According to her, Wikipedia lacks topics that are not mainstream: “Minorities, whether religious, ethnic, or sexual, or topics like sportswashing or the climate crisis and its impact on human rights.”

The Executive Director of Wikimedia CZ Klára Joklová added: „For the third time, we reached out to dozens of Czech experts who deal with a wide range of human rights topics not only in institutions but mainly in non-profits that address various human rights issues in the Czech Republic. Most organizations welcomed our offer, supported it, or directly used it. This allows us to complement many current topics and articles, which are often very complex.”

Human rights are a very broad area, from specific actions and individuals to complex international laws. Wikipedia can play a crucial role in this by presenting complex matters in simpler language so that everyone can understand and access them easily online. My first encounter with Wikipedia surprised me at how easy it is to get involved and edit it. During the editathon, I edited the page about the Gratias Tibi Award.

— Jakub Varvařovský, editathon participant and co-founder of Mnoho světů in Jilemnice

Human Rights on Wikipedia for Students

As part of the “Human Rights on Wikipedia” challenge on Czech , we also focused on students. One of the events was a workshop for upper-grade students at Londýnská Elementary School in Prague, attended by over 50 pupils. They learned who creates and monitors Wikipedia content, how Wikipedia works, and whether it is a reliable source of information. They also got hands-on experience with Wikipedia practice. They tried Wikipedia not only as users but primarily as editors. Based on selected human rights articles, they learned what and how we can change on Wikipedia and the rules that must be followed.

Additionally, the third edition of a course for students was held at the Secondary School of Informatics, Postal Services, and Finance in Brno under the guidance of teacher Martin Hájek, culminating in a Human Rights Editathon on June 17. For the first time this year, students from Dvořák Gymnasium in Kralupy nad Vltavou also participated in work on human rights articles, attending the workshop “Media Education and Human Rights on Wikipedia.”

Photo: Marie Čcheidzeová, CC BY-SA 4.0

Ďáblice Cemetery as a Place of Memory and Reminder of the Second and Third Resistance

On Saturday, June 15, 11 Wikipedians visited Ďáblice Cemetery with historian, Wikipedist, member of WMCZ and employee of the Military History Institute Michal Louč. The cemetery is strongly associated with the struggle for human freedom and the history of the second and third resistance.

Respect for human rights should be a given, but, as history has shown since antiquity, it is unfortunately not. This remains true even in our society, which prides itself on being ‘civilized.’ The struggle for human rights is an ongoing process that will never, and should never, come to an end. I was reminded of this once again during a recent guided tour of Ďáblice Cemetery, organized by Wikipedia.
— Zorka Sojka, excursion participant and Wikipedian

How to Get Your Topic on Wikipedia? We Advised non-profit organizations.

On Wednesday, June 5, we organized an online workshop “How to Get Your Topic on Wikipedia” for non-profit organizations. Although the workshop was mainly aimed at non-profits dealing with human rights topics, the participants were much more diverse. It was attended by local activists, organizers of local events, and representatives of the non-profit sector – e.g., Arnika – who came with specific suggestions, such as chemical pollution of the landscape. The recording is available on YouTube.

Articles Created: Human Rights in Poland, Cultural Rights, or the Society for Queer Memory

Thanks to the “Human Rights on Wikipedia” challenge, some quality articles were created. They were written by experienced Wikipedians as well as new users, including high school students. Newly created articles include Human Rights in Poland, Saint Sarah, Bandits for the Ballad, the Society for Queer Memory, and Cultural Rights. Among the personalities newly listed on Czech Wikipedia are journalist and activist Jelena Kosťučenková, Roma Holocaust survivor Pavlína Džurbanová, scientist Paulína Slepčíková, Palestinian lawyer Zaha Hassanová, Czech environmental economist Eva Fraňková, and Roma musician Josef Fečo. Articles on American actresses Jane Fonda and Glenn Close, who are involved in charitable activities, were also expanded.

Medals and Book Discounts for All Participants, Vouchers for 10 Winners

All participants in the challenge received a virtual medal – a user award created specifically for this event. The Albatros Foundation also rewarded all participants with a 30% discount and free shipping on purchases in the Albatrosmedia.cz e-shop.

The challenge also included a competition for vouchers to the Albatrosmedia.cz e-shop for the top 10, again donated by the Albatros Foundation. Three vouchers were awarded to the most active contributors based on the number of articles created or significantly expanded, two went to new participants, and two users were randomly selected regardless of the number of articles written. The remaining three awards were given by judges Martin Strachoň and Martina Wranová, whose task was to reward editors whose contributions were of high quality and related to human rights – this could include articles significant due to their challenging nature, overlooked personalities, or other important human rights topics.

I noticed that we lack most articles about people executed in political trials after the February coup on Czech Wikipedia. I decided to try to write as many articles as possible about all these victims that I could find information on and bring their life stories to Wikipedia. I succeeded!

— V0lkanic, the most active Wikipedian of the Human Rights on Wikipedia challenge.


Most Active Contributors

• V0lkanic: 89 contributions*
• Karelkam: 38 contributions
• Meloun1212: 9 contributions

Newcomers

• Adéla Baďurová
• Honťák

Randomly Selected

• Ikcur
• Ján Kepler

Jury Award

• Chavran97: Creation of high-quality, complex translation articles about journalist and activist Jelena Kosťučenková and the women’s association Živena.
• Mojmir Churavy: Creation of quality articles about Roma personalities: Holocaust survivor Pavlína Džurbanová, scientist Paulína Slepčíková, and architect Zdeněk Daniel.
• Allontanato: Expansion of articles on American actresses and human rights activists Jane Fonda and Glenn Close.

*For 59 of them, the hashtag was added after consultation with the organizer; without them, V0lkanic would have placed second by the number of contributions.
*The draw took place on the RandomPicker website; the protocol is available here.