Education/News/February 2019/Wikimedia, Tourism and Education: Launching project ISAL

Wikimedia, Tourism and Education: Launching project ISAL

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Summary: Wikimedia Portugal and Instituto Superior de Administração e Línguas da Madeira join efforts on the first large scale Wikimedia in University project in Portugal, about Education, Wikimedia and Tourism in Madeira; Also this month in Portugal: Wikimedia Portugal partnership with Centre for Lusophone and European Literatures and Cultures on focus at the commemorations of the 30 years of the University of Madeira; new education project with ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa bound to start in late February.

Wikimedia, Tourism and Education: Launching project ISAL

Not 30 years had passed since the Atlantic archipelago of Madeira started being settled by Portugal - commemorating its sixth centenary this year - when, in 1455, the islands saw their first documented tourist, Alvise Cadamosto, tasting its honey and wine, and writing down the uses and curiosities of its inhabitants. It's only natural that little more than five centuries later, in 1980, it would be the place where one of the earliest tourism focused superior education schools of Portugal would be established, in 1980: Instituto Superior de Administração e Línguas da Madeira (ISAL). And it is also where the first large scale Wikimedia in University project in Portugal is starting right now. Last 13 February, at ISAL's main auditorium, the first workshop/meeting of this project took place, with the presence of institute board and about 15 teachers, to present the Wikimedia projects - with a focus on Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata - and set the basis for the project involving teachers and students of the institution bound to start this semester, in March 2019.

After a lively and participated debate, an initial model was settled for improving the contents of the Wikipedia articles of the region 11 municipalities and 54 civil parishes ("freguesias"), all of them in dire need of amelioration, using the different competences of the classes the students are in: cultural heritage, history, nature, and so on. The article writing will be accompanied with photo documenting activities, to illustrate the articles and improve Wikimedia Commons contents on those subjects. The work developed this way will then be used as part of the evaluation of the students. When the articles attain a fair degree of quality and stability, students of foreign languages, as English, German and French, could translate the contents on those languages and help improving the respective articles in each foreign language Wikipedia. A second, more practical meeting with the teachers, eventualy including an editing workshop, is planned to take place next 20 February, with the first Wikipedia editing workshop with the students planned for 1 March. In the meanwhile, one or more scientific papers about this projects are expected to be developed evaluating the project success, and taking lessons aiming at bettering any future instances of it.

Also this month in Portugal

Open Day - 30 years of the University of Madeira: As part of the commemorations of the 30 years of the University of Madeira (UMa), the university is organizing next 20 February an Open Day at the Senate Room, at Campus Penteada, Funchal. Paulo Perneta, member of Wikimedia Portugal and researcher at the Centre for Lusophone and European Literatures and Cultures of the Faculty of Letters, University of Lisbon (CLEPUL), will be presenting the projects and initiatives that have been developed in a joint partnership with Wikimedia that started in 2017 and was signed one year ago, including Wikipedia articles creation and improvement and co-organization of Art & Feminism initiatives.

Education project in ISCTE bound to start in late February: In a month that is proving to be quite rich for Education & Wikimedia in Portugal, a second Wikimedia in University project is bound to start next 28 February, with a class on Wikipedia scheduled for a classroom of 23 students of the Post-Degree on Sistemas de Informação Aplicados às Organizações, at ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE), as part of the discipline "Seminary" by professor Manuela Aparício. Ana Cravo from Wikimedia Portugal is coordinating this project, which sets the onset of a new educational partnership in Portugal. ISCTE is located precisely next to the National Library of Portugal, which is our partner in a number of other projects, opening a very interesting and promising panorama of future cooperation between both institutions in Wikimedia educational and GLAM projects.