CEE/Newsletter/July 2019/Contents/Russia report

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Russian Northwestern wiki-historians travelled to Kingisepp town as their Wikimedia user-group registration proceeds[edit]

Based on the Russian Wikinews article Петербургские вики-краеведы на пути к статусу Wikimedia посетили Кингисепп
Members of expedition are watching the former public baths building

On Sunday, July 28, a group of Russian wiki-historians based in Saint Petersburg had accomplished their next "wiki-ramble" dedicated to collecting material for Wikimedia projects. As was reported before, these events are held regularly.

The new excursion headed to the ancient town of Kingisepp (formerly Yamburg) 138 kilometers (86 mi) southwest of Saint Petersburg. Crew members consider that objects at the area are poorly represented in Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. Traditionally, the path for the excursion was constructed using the List of Cultural Heritage objects at Russian Wikivoyage, but the extensions to the path was also made thanks to local resident Sergey who helped greatly. All of the remarkable points at the path were photographed and wiki-catalogued. The Wikimedia Commons category could be find now at c:Category:Wikimeetup in Kingisepp 2019-07-28. More over, one of the "ramblers" discovered recently that in 1993 Kingisepp became a node of the first-ever Russian underwater fiber-optic digital cable line — from Russia to Denmark, making then-newborn Russian Federation a part of global Internet backbone.

Previous "rambles" and reports about them include: Priozersk, Kolpino (first-ever Russian wiki-bicycle expedition), Sestroretsk and Kronstadt. These reports (usually in 2 languages) may be helpful in registering the Wikimedia user group called North-West Russia Wiki-Historians User Group (UG-NWR). Preparations for it are in progress, and the confirmation letter from Wikimedia Foundation was received in the course of the excursion. Group members are now planning an "edit-a-thon" dedicated to Kingisepp.

Making photos and writing articles are not the only goals of such happenings. Non-wikipedians often join organizers in these "rambles" and receive information on how to edit Wikipedia and become Wikipedians. For example on Sunday, July 28, Wikipedian beginner Victoria from St. Petersburg could not make her way to the excursion by the appointed time, but Kingisepp native Sergey (mentioned above) met her two days later and made the 2nd excursion for her.

Some of the Wiki users based in St. Petersburg also wanted to go, but turned to be busy at other Wiki initiatives. Some were establishing the Wikimedians of Saint Petersburg User Group (UG-SPB) "parallel" but not "contrary" to UG-NWR. Some at the time were visiting the neighboring country of Estonia at the wiki-event called "Summer Days of Estonian Wikipedia 2019".

The stops on the path



References[edit]