Education/Newsletter/May 2015/Rachidia music school celebrates 80 years of love and art by editing Wikipedia

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By Emna Mizouni (Wikimedia TN User Group) and Samir Elsharbaty (WMF)

Snippet: Students and civil society activists in Tunisia celebrate The Rachidia 80th anniversary by editing articles about it on Wikipedia.

Al-Rachidia is one of the oldest music institutes in Tunisia and the Arab World. In May, the institute celebrated its 80th anniversary in a large event that lasted for 11 days between May 21 and 31. Celebration included musical events, social events and a Wikipedia editathon! Wikimedia TN User Group collaborated with Carthagina, an NGO that aims to keeping history, on organizing this event. The celebration slogan was "80 years of love and art".

The editathon was divided into two workshops, the first one for translating and publishing articles on Wikipedia. This session was led by Yassine Tounsi. And the second one, which was led by Wael Ghabara, was dedicated for editing articles based on research. Participants spent their day editing, listening to music, eating freshly baked Makroudh Keirouan and enjoying the special cultural atmosphere.

The editing session resulted in creating new articles about The Rachidia on Wikipedia in different languages as well as developing the existing ones. Other Wikipedia articles about prominent Tunisian musicians such as Khamis Ternan, Fethi Zghonda, Chafia Rochdi and many other articles have been edited during the editathon. Students in Rachidia consider Wikipedia a means of self-expression using technology in a free space that should be supported. The editathon was attended by Rachidia students, teachers, journalists, social activists and unemployed people.

Reem Azib and Jamel Ben Saidaine, are two Wikipedians from Carthagina were there to support and help in the coordination. One of the success secrets for this group is the collaborative spirit between different non-profit groups that participate in their events.

Visit the Rachidia website to see their their activity schedule.

Read more about Wikipedia Education Program in Tunisia.