Basque Wikimedia Education program in full swing

Very pleased with the turnout and atmosphere on the 6 April edit-a-thon at the Carlos Santa Maria Library (Donostia-San Sebastián)

Summary: The winter and spring terms have consolidated the Basque Wikimedians' education program with University of the Basque Country undergraduates from a number of subjects, who may get a credit on completion of their assignments. Wiki workshops have now expanded to the University's campus of Leioa near Bilbao. These outreach activities are expected to open fresh avenues for farther-reaching cooperation with public institutions.

Article: Following up from the 2016 autumn term, the Basque Wikimedians have expanded their program to the campus of the public University of the Basque Country in Leioa, Bilbao. In the Donostia-San Sebastian campus, Wiki GLAM collaboration continued the path opened in 2016, bridging the gap between Wikipedia, children's literature and university.

Wikipedia in the medicine faculty

The Basque Wikipedia's education program in the campus of Leioa-Biscay addressed the subject of Medicine, after professor Angel Bidaurrazaga detected holes in Wikipedia articles related to the field and came up with a proposal to create or enhance the profile of a number of articles. Two crash courses were launched in March for 6 days, 9 hours altogether with a view to instructing the students on operation and rules of Wikipedia.

The courses, conducted by the Wikimedians Josu Albero and Galder Gonzalez, were each attended by 50 students, who got down to the task of drawing up 50 articles. This collaboration was considered very positive and highly beneficial in advancing ties with the academy, both individually and institutionally, as well as contributing to engage new editors for the project.

Two tracks in the Donostia campus

The campus of Donostia-San Sebastián has played host to two further interventions of the Basque Wikimedians, coordinated by our member Xabier Cañas. One of them developed within the collaboration program EHU-Wikipedia 2017 along the same lines as previously in autumn, when undergraduates from different schools, e.g. law, engineering, chemistry, psychology, joined the Basque Wikipedia's Education program.

A special edit-a-thon was staged on 6 April for the purpose at the cutting-edge Carlos Santa Maria Library counting on the participation of nearly 50 students, assisted by Wikimedians, librarians and topic specific university instructors and academics. The event helped the students familiarize with the basics of Basque Wikipedia and Commons, as well as get answers to their queries in a cooperative and interactive environment. On the mid and long run, we expect to have provided the springboard for a rise in contributions to the Basque Wikipedia and Wikipedia overall.

On a different track in close connection with GLAM Wiki collaboration (see here), students from the Education College in Donostia-San Sebastián have contributed in an edit-a-thon to the elaboration of 19 Wikipedia articles related to Basque children's literature works and authors, with a view to expanding the range and depth of Basque literature and culture topics. It has also added to the effort to establish a bridge between the Basque Wikimedians and individual academics and institutions that will help lay out the foundations for a closer collaboration in upcoming months.

Tags: Outreach, Wikipedia Education Program, Basque Wikipedia, University of the Basque Country, cooperation