Iranian Wikimedians User Group/1 Million articles celebration

Displaying the Number 1,000,000 with Celebration Pixels

On May 16, 2024, the Persian Wikipedia community gathered at Café Farhangan in Tehran to celebrate a major milestone: reaching one million articles. About 70 people joined the event, including Wikipedians, academics, and fans of free knowledge.

The event kicked off with a talk from the organizer, who gave a brief overview of Wikipedia’s history and why it matters. The speaker stressed the importance of contributing to Wikipedia and increasing its presence in schools and universities. They also praised the Shahid Beheshti University team for their work on Persian Wikipedia.

Some professors from Shahid Beheshti University spoke about the challenges of using Wikipedia in Iranian universities. Their thoughts offered a valuable look at how academia can support and grow the free encyclopedia.

After the speeches, everyone enjoyed cake, sweets, and drinks. The formal part of the event ended with a group photo, followed by a chance for Wikipedians to chat and network.

The group photo

One exciting outcome was connecting with two Spanish language students from the University of Tehran. This led to a workshop at the University of Tehran's Faculty of Foreign Languages in the following month, which helped further expand Wikipedia's reach in academic settings.

The celebration was a big win for Persian Wikipedia and set the stage for future projects and collaborations. The positive feedback and the new workshop showed that the event successfully engaged the community and supported Wikipedia’s mission of spreading free knowledge.

As Persian Wikipedia continues to grow past the one million article mark, the enthusiasm and connections from this celebration will likely play a key role in its ongoing development and impact on Iranian society and education.