The idea

The main idea is directly inspired by the traditional practice of having a pen pal, which consisted of an exchange—usually through letters—between two people who didn't know each other beforehand, in order to establish a connection, exchange cultural experiences, and practice languages.

In this sense, the proposal seeks to create a network of volunteers from Peru and New Zealand who will connect through digital media and the support we provide from our organizations, with the goal of mutually sharing their journeys and experiences as volunteers in Wikimedia projects.

At this stage, we are exploring ideas regarding the methodology and structure of such a program. Some of the activity ideas we have considered include:

Regular virtual meeting sessions
Artistic and cultural exchange activities that use Wikimedia tools as a vehicle. For example: creating a postcard about your region and uploading the image to Wikimedia Commons; researching and writing the biography of an important figure in your community; using Wikiquote as a platform for quotes from notable figures in your region; recording everyday sounds in your surroundings and then uploading them to Commons; Recording a podcast on a topic of interest to both territories, for example, indigenous communities, the climate crisis, biodiversity, etc.
Exchange of editing skills in Wikimedia projects
Joint identification of content gaps regarding both countries
Exchanging knowledge through short videos that can then be shared on platforms like TikTok, YouTube or Instagram
Biodiversity and science activities that use Wikimedia tools and iNaturalist as a vehicle. For example: uploading iNaturalist observations already available from Peru and New Zealand to Wikimedia Commons using the iNat2wiki (https://inat2wiki-dev.toolforge.org/), then adding these images to species’ Wikipedia articles and Wikidata items; researching and writing Wikipedia articles and enhancing Wikidata items about threatened or endemic species from these areas; taking your own images of species, uploading them to iNaturalist (https://inaturalist.nz/home or inaturalist.org)
Photo diary exchange- Participants work with the same theme: e.g. local buildings, local biodiversity, my favourite part of my city.
If wanting to engage with universities and university students, this resource might be helpful (in Spanish): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Instituciones_educativas_y_Wikimedia.pdf

Ideas to develop

Digital Postcard

Brief: Create a digital postcard including 3-6 images of your local area, university, hometown or city. Alongside these images, include links to Wikipedia articles that share information about your local area, university, hometown or city. Upload the postcard to Wikimedia Commons.

Concept: These digital postcards will become our ‘introductions’ to the exchange. This allows participants to include as much personal information as they are comfortable with and helps people understand the context in which everyone is joining from. This project can be hosted on a Wikimedia Project/Event Page.

WikiPals Similar to penpals