Sharing the Wiki Club AMU story!

Wiki Club AMU contributes differently into the Wikimedia ecosystem. Supported by Deoband Community Wikimedia, a recognised affiliate of the Wikimedia Foundation, the club is the first whose Core Organising Team is female students. These students from diverse departments of the Aligarh Muslim University, established the group and are collectively working together to transform it into a vibrant space both in the Wikimedia ecosystem and at the university. Aafi supports this group of students as a strategic advisor. The club has organised several meetups and workshops until now. However, as a budding club – we want to share our journey with the wider community to create an impact. The vision of “imagining a world where every single person is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge” resonates with our core objective of creating an enriching knowledge-sharing community at the university.

Background: The Other Side of the Story

Wiki Club AMU was founded on May 31, 2024 when a few students at Aligarh Muslim University came together and took the first step towards the shared vision. It is an exclusive circle dedicated to the free knowledge movement. It finds its inspirations from the struggles of the university’s founder Syed Ahmad Khan in supporting the development of modern education in India.

Aims and Objectives

Apart from contributing to the growth of youth in the Wikimedia movement, Wiki Club AMU enlightens students at the Aligarh Muslim University about the vastness of the open Wikimedia ecosystem encouraging them to contribute. Active participation in such activities improves the academic skills of students while enriching the global open knowledge base. Wiki Club AMU was initiated with the goal of empowering students at the Aligarh Muslim University through the Wikimedia ecosystem and training them to contribute to freely accessible knowledge resources like Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, among other open platforms. The purpose of the club is to focus on creating a safe learning and collaborative environment to engage the university students. Moreover, it enhances their knowledge, and intellect thus shaping their holistic personality.

Wiki Club AMU has set up certain key objectives to sustain its growth in the university and the larger open knowledge ecosystem. These include promoting free knowledge, supporting students to enhance their academic skills, build a collaborative community and to develop leadership.

Explaining Objectives

1: Create Awareness about Free Knowledge

It is important to understand the stark difference between “Free Education” and “Free Knowledge”. Wiki Club AMU aligns with Wikimedia movement’s mission to make knowledge free and easily accessible to everyone. The club envisions for the open ecosystem to thrive, and contribute into the development of a more vibrant student community in this ecosystem.

2: Enhance Academic Skills

Wiki Club AMU wants to achieve this objective by engaging its participants in contributing to the Wikimedia ecosystem. While contributing on the Wiki projects, students could master essential skills like writing, editing, interpersonal communication and important leadership skills – which would be beneficial for their academic journey.

3: Build a Collaborative Community

Wiki Club AMU is focused on creating a vibrant, engaging and cooperative environment where students and alumni of Aligarh Muslim University work together to develop leadership and create an impact. The club began with only three members in May 2024 and has eight members in its Core Team as of October 2024 coming from diverse backgrounds. 

4: Develop Leadership

While the club is taking baby steps for its development and sustainability, yet it equally supports skill-building and leadership development. It aims to  establish processes with support from Deoband Community Wikimedia to make sure that COT members are well-equipped to lead future initiatives and mentor new participants.

The Club’s Core Organising Team (COT)

COT is at the heart of Wiki Club AMU much like the “Kitchen Cabinet” of Parliament. The team comprises eight members and is currently headed by Samiya Ahmed, a student of M.Sc Chemistry at AMU. Sana Sabir, a data analyst, played the lead role in setting up the foundation stone of the club alongside the founding members Marisha Shoeb, Mehwish Ali, Layeba Farooqi and Sheeza Shoeb. Their strategic planning and consistent efforts enabled the club to thrive. Regular meetings are organised to discuss ideas, plans related to extracurricular activities as well as other initiatives. The most recent COT meetings included a discussion with Praveen Das from Wikimedia Foundation and a meetup cum semi-workshop held on 13 October 2024. In the initial meeting, the focus was on setting clear goals, inviting members while developing a strong social media strategy to boost the online presence. Later, multiple projects were discussed including Wikidata, a project that allows users to create and manage structured data. Building capacity in this area is a significant goal for the club, with brainstorming sessions planned to continue through November 2024.

Roadmap

Since its inception, Wiki Club AMU has strategized several online events as well as offline meetings which are open for all. As we proceed further, we are planning to host various interactive offline workshops and competitions. These include:

• 500 Edit Challenge – Students could participate in this challenge to enhance Wikipedia by editing articles, proofreading and even sharing experiences related to AMU that contribute to the global knowledge pool. With this challenge, the club wants to engage the researchers in the open ecosystem. 
• Wiki Loves AMU Campus – An event motivating students to capture photographs of the AMU campus and sharing on Wikimedia Commons.

We have explored a lot and eventually gained firsthand experience in event planning, member engagement, strategy development and most significantly how to utilise Wikimedia projects for the global common good. The recent meetup on October 13, 2024 emboldened the importance of building a strong bond and breaking ice among members. These insights will be our guide for future activities as we sail together on the voyage of learning, collaboration along with expanding our impact on campus.

Collective Message from the Wiki Club AMU’s COT

Looking forward, Wiki Club AMU is all set to launch a variety of exciting initiatives. Initially, we are planning to organise photography and training sessions on topics which help connect more students. The club membership is open to students and alumni of the Aligarh Muslim University. Those who are interested to join may submit the membership form.