Wikimedia Highlights, January 2015

Here are the highlights from the Wikimedia blog in January 2015, covering selected activities of the Wikimedia Foundation and other important events for the Wikimedia movement.

Contents

• Wikipedia turns 14, receives prestigious Erasmus Prize 2015
• Civility, Wikipedia, and the conversation on Gamergate
• How student Jack Andraka used Wikipedia to research a new test for cancer
• Wellcome Library donates 100,000 medical images to Wikimedia Commons
• Senior citizens learn to edit Wikipedia in the Czech Republic
• Content Translation: A quick way to create new articles from other languages
• Weekly edit-a-thons help create new articles about women in Sweden

Wikipedia turns 14, receives prestigious Erasmus Prize

Erasmus portrait by Hans Holbein, from Le Musée du Louvre. Public Domain.
Wikipedia turned fourteen years old on January 15, 2015. On that same day, the Wikipedia and the Wikimedia community were honored with the prestigious Erasmus Prize — one of Europe’s most distinguished recognitions. We are very grateful to the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation for this award.

Civility, Wikipedia, and the conversation on Gamergate

Building an encyclopedia requires working together, even when topics are difficult. US Navy Photo by Johansen Laurel. Public domain.
The debates on Wikipedia about the Gamergate controversy have been heated. At times, contributors on various sides of the debate have violated Wikipedia’s standards of civility. The Wikimedia Foundation believes inclusion and diversity are essential to achieving the mission of free knowledge, and that civil discourse is key to making that happen.

How high school student Jack Andraka used Wikipedia to research a new test for cancer

High school student Jack Andraka talks about how Wikipedia enabled his research to find a test for pancreatic cancer. You can also view this video on YouTube.com and Vimeo.com — or watch his full speech from Wikimania 2014 in London here.
After a family member died from pancreatic cancer, high school student Jack Andraka set out to find a cure for the disease, using Wikipedia as a primary reference for this research. His fast, inexpensive test may someday be used to detect pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancer.

Wellcome Library donates 100,000 medical images to Wikimedia Commons

This image of a female blow fly (Chrysomya chloropyga) is part of the Wellcome Library’s medical image collection, now available on Wikimedia Commons. Drawing by Amedeo John Engel Terzi. From Wellcome Library, licensed under CC-BY-4.0.
Wellcome Images provide free public access to their digital collection online, covering topics from medical and social history to current healthcare and biomedical science. The high resolution photographs and scans they just donated are used to illustrate a wide range of Wikipedia articles such as disease, art history, cartoons, sexuality and biographies. This collection can be browsed here on Wikimedia Commons.

Senior citizens learn to edit Wikipedia in the Czech Republic

Senior citizens learn to edit Wikipedia in special classes held in Prague’s Municipal Library “Senior citizens class photo” by Pavla Pelikánová, licensed under CC-BY-SA-4.0.
A new training program in the Czech Republic shows senior citizens how to edit Wikipedia. Here are some of the lessons learned from three separate weekly classes held in Prague last year. After learning how Wikipedia works and how to edit it, participants edited a wide range of articles — and about half of the registered senior citizens continued to edit after the program ended.

Try Content Translation: A quick way to create new articles from other languages

Video: How to translate a Wikipedia article in 3 minutes with Content Translation. This video can also be viewed on YouTube (4:10). Screencast by Pau Giner, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Wikimedia Foundation’s Language Engineering team announced the first version of Content Translation on Wikipedia. This new tool makes it easy to translate articles from one language to another. It is now available as a beta feature in 8 different languages.

Weekly edit-a-thons help create new articles about women and literature in Sweden

A happy group of Wikipedians gather for a weekly edit-a-thon in Gothenburg. “Edit-a-thon photo” by Lennart Guldbrandsson, licensed under CC-Zero
During 2014, Wikimedia Sverige organized a new series of regular edit-a-thons and workshops focused on the Gender gap issue. Altogether, 35 weekly edit-a-thons were held in Gothenburg, the second largest city of Sweden. About 15 different Wikipedians edited over 100 different articles about women and literature.


For versions in other languages, please check the wiki version of this report — you are welcome to add your own translation there!


Fabrice Florin, Movement Communications Manager, Wikimedia Foundation
Andrew Sherman, Digital Communications Intern, Wikimedia Foundation

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