Education/Newsletter/December 2012/Fall 2012 summary Tecnológico de Monterrey- Campus Ciudad de México

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Progress and experimentation continues with using Wikipedia in various ways at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico City. The fall semester began with a new group of International Baccalaureate students and one organized project with the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana, to work on biographies of their 400 past and present membership of notable artists. Wikipedia drew an initial interest of about thirty IB students. Activities included not only the writing and translation of artist biographies but also include photographic work, work on articles on topics of student choice and even attendance at cultural events such as one sponsored by Uriarte Talavera at the Palacio de Hierro store in Polanco, Mexico City. (summary of work here)

The campus library and its director, Lourdes Epstein, continue to be an important source of support for Wikipedia projects on campus. First, the library dedicated physical space for those students working on Wikipedia projects in any capacity. This allows a place for F2F interaction as well as help for those new to Wikipedia. The second important development was the coordination of a campus sponsored photo contest called Día de Muertos estilo Wiki (Day of the Dead Wiki Style), which attracted the participation of 37 students (almost all completely new to Wikipedia editing) who donated just over 400 images related to Day of the Dead, an important celebration in Mexico. This contest was used as the basis of a class assignment for students of Mandarin Chinese, taught by professor Lili Sun.

In addition, professor Leigh Thelmadatter was invited to speak about campus projects and Wikipedia in general at Wikimania 2012 in Washington, DC, at the EduWiki Conferencat at the University of Leicester in England and at the New Mexico State Museum conference in Albuquerque during 2012.

Some groundwork has been laid for projects for next semester. Salcedo95 has worked to revitalize the Wikipedia Club on campus, which has lacked leadership for the past year, with first meetings planned for January when classes begin again. AndiieVga has registered her work with Wikipedia in political science for next semester as part of her “servicio social” or community service requirement in Mexico to receive her bachelor’s degree. This project will include outreach to various political entities in Mexico on behalf of Wikipedia as well as writing two 1000-word articles in Wikipedia on topics related to her major. Work with the International Baccalaureate program will continue with the main challenges of providing more options for organized projects for students as well as maintaining student interest.