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Wikimedia Languages of Russia Community User Group

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Other languages:
Languages of Russia@Wikimedia
Wikimedia opportunities in support of
languages indigenous to Russia

About Tasks Meetings Potential Participants State of the Projects
Logo of Wikimedia Languages of Russia Community User Group
Based on the results of our research we can now confidently state that all humans, even aborigines of the yet unnamed islands, have the knowledge of everything about the world, its structure, interactions within, as well as contents of awe-inspiring phenomena in the field of physics, mathematics, etc., because they were able to create own language. ... By creating own language they have proved own greatness. ... our planes, atomic bombs, computers – all these achievement turn out to be nothing in comparison with the greatness of any human language, as it already contains everything from the evolving world.[1]

— Gaynulla F. Shaykhiev

Wikimedia Languages of Russia Community User Group (Юзер-группа «Сообщество участников «Викимедиа на языках народов России») is a group of people interested in Wikimedia projects in various languages with official status in the Russian Federation, as well as languages of minor indigenous peoples of Russia.

A group of editors, actively contributing towards development of various Wikimedia projects in the languages of Russia decided to register this initiative to further raise effectiveness and spectrum of on-going activities to

  1. promote
  2. attract, support and develop
    • other volunteer-contributors, capable and willing to engage with Wikimedia projects in respective languages
    • organizations and communities that might benefit from cooperation with Wikimedia projects in respective languages and their communities.

Objective

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"Of the approximately 7,000 languages spoken today ... less than 5% ... can still ascend to the digital realm. ... To summarize a key result of this study in advance: No wikipedia, no ascent."[2]

— András Kornai

To create conditions, necessary for each of the languages of Russia to start having its own Wikipedia and a self-sufficient Wikimedia user groups that is capable to assure sustainable development thereof and other Wikimedia projects in that language.

Why is this?

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  • We need to find ways to increase active participation from throughout the country, not just its capitals and large cities, in developing and contributing towards Wiki-community life in their settlements, regions, Russia, Europe & Asia, as well as internationally.
    • Being part of a recognized group of the like-minded is an important moral support, especially, when there are none or very few active Wikimedians in one's settlement or even province
    • whilst Wikimedia Russia can't have unlimited membership:
      • Wikimedia Russia is limited by its quorum requirement and personal physical presence thereof in Moscow,
      • non-citizens of Russia can't be admitted into membership,
      • Wikimedia Russia activities are directed at a country-wide tasks, not separate language communities, etc.
  • Collective Community User Group bringing together a great diversity of languages with few individual contributors in each is a step towards developing separate language-specific ones later.
    • Indigenous multilingualism of Russia & our active contribution into strengthening and developing it allows for enriching Wikimedia movement by increasing on & off-wiki presence of respective cultural riches.
    • User Group recognition is the simplest and most flexible way to support volunteer group on the part of the Wikimedia Foundation.
    • Affiliation with the organized activities of others is a step towards self-organization.

Principles

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  • Indigenous linguistic diversity of Russia and the wider Russian-speaking region of the planet is our common cultural heritage, intangible riches and a foundation for creative decision-making now and in the future.
  • The group's activity supports preservation of sustainable linguistic diversity and regional multilingualism in respective tongues throughout the territory of Russia and, within our capacity, in the adjacent (Eastern Europe and Central Asia) and other regions of the planet.
  • The name of this group, list of covered languages and, respectively, the logo can change over time to better reflect its evolving community.
  • The community is being intentionally created as a predominantly virtual entity (User Group), as volunteer editors prefer contributing in their own time, scale & speed. Coordination is organized remotely, necessary support is provided using all diversity of Wikimedia movement resources.
  • Every volunteering member is, by default, one of the leaders in some (or a number) of Wikimedia projects in one or a few of the covered languages. In this regard, every participant is a qualified representative of the community in offline interactions. For the purposes of delivering group reports, presentations or other participation in seminar, conferences and other events of Wikimedia or other parties specific representative(s) will be approved by voting, based on rotation principle.

Membership

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«Wikipedias in the languages of Russia» related language codes
  1. This group welcomes active Wikimedians, regularly contributing into any Wikimedia project's branches in the languages of Russia, that are interested in growing Russia's indigenous multilingualism & making it better known domestically and internationally known.
  2. Membership is independent from the country or region of residence, citizenship, ethno-cultural background or full mastery of respective languages.
  3. Any Wikimedian with 20 constructive edits in the qualifying projects is automatically invited to join.
  4. Any member of the group with 100 or more qualifying edits within previous calendar year can be invited to represent the community in various Wikimedia movement events.
  5. Membership in this User Group neither implies one must actively engage it its planned activities, nor limits one's participation in any other Wikimedia affiliate, including those specializing in on-going support & development of Wikis in separate languages from among those covered.

Strategy

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  • To make Wikimedia projects in the languages of Russia visible in Russia & internationally (online & offline)
  • To make reading & active participation in respective projects attractive (for individuals and among respective groups)
  • To simplyfy the process of interiorizing knowledge & skills, necessary to ease substantial active contribution

Tasks

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Activities

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Finno-Ugric Wiki-Seminar 2016 in Petrozavodsk
Urals Regional Wiki-Seminar 2016
Wikimedia Conference Russia 2016 Group Photo
Wikimania 2017 poster
Caucuses Regional Wiki-Seminar 2017
Wikimedia Conference Russia 2017 Group Photo
Volga Regional Wiki-Seminar 2017

Routine activities

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  • News from the Wikimedia world - upon availability (Facebook / Vk.com)
  • Monthly monitoring and reports on state of the projects, on their active participants, etc. — bulletin?
  • Regular events
    • Engaging and supporting attendance from among speakers of small wiki languages
    • Organizing preparing/translating SiteNotice & CentralNotice announcements towards respective events
    • Preparing lightning talk progress reports / posters towards Wiki-events (to be presented by the attendee in the group name)

Covered projects and languages

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Languages already having own editors-organizers groupings

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Milestones

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Contact information

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AffCom Resolutions

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Interested in participating

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[en] Want to be a part of this community? Add <* ~~~~>" to this list!
[ru] Хотите присоединиться к этому сообществу? Добавьте в список <* ~~~~>!

Add yourself

Notes and references

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  1. (Russian) "Наши исследования позволяют заявить, что каждый человек, даже абориген безымянных островов, знает всё об этом мире, о его строении, структуре, взаимодействии в нём и содержание таких премудростей нашего восхищения, как физику, математику, и т.д., ибо он смог сотворить свой язык. ... он велик, создав свой язык. ... наши самолёты, атомные бомбы, компьютеры – оказывается, эти достижения ничто перед величием любого языка, ибо в его содержании уже есть всё из творящегося мира."
    Шайхиев Г.Ф. "Татарский язык за один день, или рассказ инопланетянина" Казань: 2000 ISBN 5-85264-026-3 pp.93-94 Глава II. Язык – это мировоззрение ("Tatar in a day, or an alien's tale" / Chapter II. Language is a worldview).
  2. Digital Language Death by András Kornai