Education/Newsletter/March 2015/Novel photo projects related to editathon at Tec de Monterrey

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By Jocelyne Perreard - Martha Gomez - Artemisa Martinez (Wiki Learning -Tec de Monterrey)

Snippet: Massive three-campus editathon with Tec de Monterrey (Wiki Learning) yields some interesting ideas.

From 4 to 6 March 2015, three campuses of Tec de Monterrey were involved in a large-scale editathon as part of a program called “Experiencias Retadoras” (Challenging experiences) with the school. (More information about this event in the Wikimedia blog.)

Most of students worked on general translation and article correction projects, but teachers at Campus Estado de Mexico (CEM) and Campus Ciudad de México (CCM), came up with a pair of ingenious ideas. Despite lacking an experienced Wikipedian and with only basic wiki training, a meeting of the CEM campus School of Humanities came up with the idea of creating photographs and short videos/animations with topics related to social issues such as poverty, traffic safety, nutrition, tattoo discrimination and more. The uploaded files (over 100) varied from images from real scenes in the area around the campus to dramatizations to short video essays. See the photos and videos here. Various files have been integrated into Wikipedia articles such as Persona sin hogar, (homelessness) Ciberadicción (Internet addiction) and Embarazo adolescente (teen pregnancy) One photo was picked up within three days of uploading to Commons and published by Science Times magazine here. Currently, there is a student survey underway to evaluate the event on students in order to assess its impact and how to develop for the next Experiencias Retadoras event in September 2015.

The second event was also photography-related and was the brainchild of professors Martha Gomez and Artemisa Martínez. This activity was called Tepoztlán en mi mirada (Tepoztlán in my view) and was the first wiki-expedition done with an academic institution. Tepoztlán is a small town 2 hours south of Mexico City in the state of Morelos. It is known for its colonial architecture, a small pyramid at the top of the neighboring ridge line and existence of curanderos and other alternative medicine. It has been named a Pueblo Mágico (Magical Town) by the Mexican federal government. The aim of this expedition was to bring a group of 29 students from the Campus Ciudad de México for a one-day guided tour, taking photographs. These students were from countries such as Brazil, Canada,the Czech Republic, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Slovakia, Finland, France, Mali and Sweden. Once in Tepoztlán, the group was divided in two: one to explore the town and the other to explore the surrounding ecosystem, which consists of mixed conifer forest and low tropical rainforest. In this area the students were guided by an expert, Javier Mugica Morales, who gave students the background of what they saw. Major landmarks that were documented include the Tepozteco pyramid and the 16th century La Navidad church and former monastery.

The tour lasted one day, returning to Mexico City. The following day, the students met again on campus to share with others what they had experienced, then begin to upload and document their photographs onto Wikimedia Commons. With a spirit of camaraderie and mutual support, the students worked together on creating and checking each other's descriptions, not only in Spanish and English but also in Russian, German, Slovak, Finnish, Czech, French, Portuguese and Swedish. They also helped each other figure out technical issues with the site. The results of their hard work can be seen here.

Read more about the Experiencias Retadoras event on the Spanish Wikipedia here.

Read more about the Wikipedia Education Program at ITESM here.