Education/Newsletter/December 2016/Students go wikipedian in the Basque Country

Students go wikipedian in the Basque Country

edit

By Iñaki LL (Basque Wikimedians User Group)

Snippet: Synergies with Basque university benefiting both undergraduates and Basque Wikipedia

 
Learning how to operate Wikipedia
 
Mutual benefit

Synergies between public and academic institutions with the Basque Wikimedians Users Group have bore fruit starting on 25 September. The Basque Public University, the DSS2016 European Capital of Culture and the young Basque Wikimedians User Group reached an agreement for this autumn to launch the project EHU-Wikipedia 2016 located in the Donostia-San Sebastián campus in order for the students to make themselves operative at the Basque Wikipedia in an academic environment by creating topic relevant articles under the guidance of their professor.

Enrolled undergraduates will be using Wikipedia as a platform for both training and community projection / knowledge diffusion. The deal reached by the agencies above includes an economic agreement by which the Basque Wikimedians User Group benefits as an organization, not on an individual basis. Upon successful completion, the course gets the student 1 academic credit.

The first step inaugurating this optional course took place on 30 September and 3 October, when workshops were staged in the campus of Donostia-San Sebastián addressed to the students of Chemistry, Physics, Computing Sciences, Anthropology, Law, Architecture, Business School, Philosophy, etc. All three agencies involved in the project showed their satisfaction at the enrollment of the courses and development of the workshops to date.

The workshops were conducted by Basque Wikipedians on a voluntary basis. The students working in small groups will then need to focus on a topic agreed with the professor, and build an article. The course is meant to address not only contents, but procedures and values, emphasizing the building process, its more technical aspects like syntax or relevant links, but also collaborative interaction. The final outcome of the assignment is due for delivery on 16 December, when they will be subject to assessment by wikimedians and the relevant professors.