Education/News/July 2019/Stepanakert WikiClub: Meeting with the Speaker of the Artsakh Parliament - Ashot Ghoulian

Stepanakert WikiClub: Meeting with the Speaker of the Artsakh Parliament - Ashot Ghoulian


Author: Safi-iren





Social Media channels or hashtags: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Wikipedia.Stepanakert/

Summary: Stepanakert WikiClub: Meeting with the Speaker of the Artsakh Parliament - Ashot Ghoulian


Stepanakert WikiClub was the first of its kind to be opened in Artsakh, Armenia in October 15th, 2015. The main idea of the WikiClub is to expand Armenian Wikipedia with new articles, mostly about Artsakh, and to raise awareness of the Wikimedia Movement in the rural places of Artsakh. During the past 4 years of our activities, we have managed to create and improve more than 2,000 articles in Armenian Wikipedia.

As a co-founder and coordinator of Stepanakert WikiClub, I realize the importance of creating a strong Wikicommunity in Artsakh, which is why we worked hard to launch two more WikiClubs in other regions of Artsakh throughout the last few years there. The main objective of WikiClubs is to gather school and university students and to train them to edit Armenian Wikipedia, while also (and more importantly) creating a place where everyone is appreciated and welcomed as an individual. In this way, I try to reveal the inner strength and potential of new Wikipedians as well as to let them understand their role and value, not only as Wikipedia contributors but also as unique people with independent and as members of our society.

In order to reach the above mentioned goals, we always organize different meetings and gatherings with famous people in Armenia as well as in Artsakh. We host discussions with politicians, artists, sportsmen and other interesting people who already reached a big achievement in their life and can be good role models for our young Wikipedians. Within the framework of our meeting traditions, the Stepanakert WikiClub recently invited the Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Artsakh, Ashot Ghoulian, to speak to our students.

The main goal of our meeting and the topic of the discussion was the Importance of new technologies and the importance of knowledge in our life and for a good future. First, we introduced our work and activities to Mr. Ghoulian while explaining to him our last achievements and our future plans. Mr. Ghoulian expressed his willingness to learn how to edit Wikipedia and we showed him some Wikitools on his own article in Armenian Wikipedia. Now, hence, the speaker of our Parliament already knows who and how edit Wikipedia, and he has appreciated the work that we have been doing during those years.

To make the meeting less formal, we organized a coffee-break and turned the meeting into a more friendly and cozy conversation with the head of Parliament. During this meeting, Wikipedians of Stepanakert Wikiclub had the chance to meet with the head of Legislation body of our state and to discuss some critical issues about the Education system and also about the future of our country: because, in the near future, it will be in their hands and they will be responsible themselves for the future of our country.

In the end, we took our traditional group photo with Mr. Ghoulian next to our Wikitree, and wished him all the best.