Wikicamp Chattogram 2019, the first Wikicamp in Bangladesh, was held this summer. It is intended to become an annual national flagship event for the country. The Chattogram Wikipedia Community organized it on behalf of Wikimedia Bangladesh to increase offline activities of Wikimedia Bangladesh in Chattogram, to promote networking, sharing knowledge and develop stronger relationships among experienced and new Wikimedians, and to help spread the best community practices to boost the Wikimedia movement in Bangladesh.
On 20th April, ten volunteers, nine from the local and one from Dhaka, gathered at The Gallery on the east gallery of M. A. Aziz Stadium. A day-long event has produced collaboration between Wikimedians, 28 Wikidata entries and 28 articles on the Bengali language Wikipedia about topics related to the national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and other conservation sites alongside Bangladesh’s archaeological and protected areas. All articles are listed here, and Photos are available on Commons.
A great community with skilled volunteers helped to face and overcome the risks. We formed different committees and teams, such as a Program Committee, a Design Team, a Support Team, etc., to run smooth workflows and handle the problems occurring during the event. Most of the participants of Wikicamp had not previously worked on Wikipedia or needed to familiarize themselves with the organization’s projects. So, it was an opportunity for training newcomers and potential Wikimedians. “We always tried to support and boost diversity in every Wikievent. We are pleased by the number of interested newcomers, where 30 per cent of women from the different public universities help to close the gender gap in the Wikimedia movement. “said Moheen Reeyad, executive member and community director of Wikimedia Bangladesh.
There are different sessions such as contributing helpful technical guidance to Wikipedia, workshops on Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons and edit-a-thon. A total of 10 Wikipedians have participated in this edit-a-thon. Twenty-eight new articles were written on Bangla Wikipedia. Entries for those articles were on Wikidata, all covering topics related to the national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and other conservation sites, alongside Bangladesh’s archaeological and protected areas. We have selected Chattogram-related articles from the Wiki Loves Earth and Wiki Loves Monuments listed entries. During the edit-a-thon, new Wikipedians learned how to edit easily on Wikipedia without not being an expert.
We had a segment about Wikidata, where contributors learned how to create an entry on Wikidata. A brief discussion was about Wikimedia Commons and Creative Commons licensing. Some contributors are much more interested in contributing to Wikimedia Commons than writing an article.
Apart from the workshop and edit-a-thon, Mohammed Galib Hasan talked briefly about the Wikipedia Education Program and its essentialities, and how students and experts get involved with this project from their part.
The Wikicamp was almost successful as per our limitations of funding. We learned that we need practical efforts to strengthen the community, increase the interests of existing members and attract new volunteers. Overall, it was our pilot project, and we plan to gather in the future with that kind of camping for a long duration. Most participants are also interested in joining Wikimedia Bangladesh and hope we can sustain this kind of enthusiasm for the Wikimedia movement.
