Wikipedia Education Program/MENA/Join

Are you interested in making a real impact to Arabic knowledge available on the internet? Are you interested in giving your students the opportunity to have their classwork seen by thousands of people? If so, join us!

This brochure (in Arabic) explains the goals of the program and highlights the inequalities between the Arabic Wikipedia and other Wikipedia language versions (like Portuguese) that have a much smaller number of native speakers than Arabic but a larger number of active Wikipedia editors.

Overview

In the Wikipedia in Arabic Education Program, university professors assign their top students to contribute content to the Arabic Wikipedia during the academic term, supported by trained Wikipedia mentors ("Wikipedia Ambassadors") who teach students how to edit Wikipedia. Past program participants have included French translations and literature students from Ain Shams University (Egypt) and political science and mass communications students from Cairo University (Egypt), and we are now seeking classes from around the world where students have good Arabic writing skills to participate in the program for the Spring 2013 academic term. By adding Arabic content to the largest free encyclopedia on the web (Wikipedia), program participants significantly enrich the representation of Arabic information available on the internet, and students' work will be read by thousands of Arabic-speaking people worldwide.

Some examples of past student work: the Arabic Wikipedia articles on Civil disobedience, the 2012 French presidential elections, and famous international writers like Laura Restrepo.

Basic information about the Wikipedia in Arabic Education Program

• This program is about improving the Arabic Wikipedia (note: for programs that are about improving other language versions of Wikipedia, such as the English Wikipedia, see here).
• We seek to involve only students who have very good Arabic writing skills to participate in editing Wikipedia (usually this means your most motivated, top students).
• The Wikipedia project could be an optional or extracurricular assignment for your students.
• You may assign your students to either translate Wikipedia articles from another language into Arabic, or research and write new content for the Arabic Wikipedia, or contribute non-text content (such as pictures, videos, or charts).
• Students are allowed to add only neutral information with reliable references onto Wikipedia. Persuasive, essay-like writing is not allowed.
• Your students are expected to contribute at least 5 paragraphs per person to the Arabic Wikipedia during the academic term.

Interested in joining?

If the Wikipedia in Arabic Education Program sounds like a good fit for you, please fill out this interest form.

We will be in touch with you shortly after you fill out the form. Note: we will try our best to select as many qualified professors as possible to participate in the program, but we might not be able to accommodate everyone due to limited space in the program.

Relevant links

A group of Egyptian students contributes content about famous playwrights and theatrical productions to the Arabic Wikipedia.

• More information about courses that previously participated in the Wikipedia in Arabic Program
• Blog posts about an earlier academic term in the Wikipedia in Arabic Education Program.
• Wikipedia Education Program as a whole.

For questions, email Tighe Flanagan, Arab World Education Program Manager, tflanaganwikimedia.org