Wikimedia MKD/Reports/2025-05
Wikimedia MKD regularly organizes edit a thons with the aim of training young people to engage in the creation and sharing of free knowledge through Wikipedia in the Macedonian language. Through these events, they have the opportunity to learn how to write and edit original articles, to get acquainted with the principles of Wikipedia, and to find out information from different fields.
On May 8, 2025, Wikimedia MKD organized a special editing marathon intended for students from the Wiki Club of the Gymnasium "Josip Broz-Tito" in Skopje. A total of 10 students participated under the mentorship of professor Irena Trajkovska Sterjovska. The event was dedicated to the topic of dogs and aimed to raise awareness about the attitude towards animals, as well as to encourage active civic participation through education and writing articles.
As part of the activities, the students visited the shelter "Lajka" - the shelter for homeless dogs in Skopje. There, Stole Velkovski, an employee of the institution, gave a short lecture and the students had the opportunity to get acquainted with the work of this institution, to see how the dogs are cared for and treated, and to talk with the staff about the daily challenges and the importance of humane treatment of animals. The visit was educational, but also emotional, as the students got to meet dogs that are currently under the care of the facility up close.
After the visit, an editing marathon was held, where the students, with the support of their mentors at Wikimedia MKD, worked on creating and editing Wikipedia articles related to famous dogs on Wikipedia and similar topics. In this way, they directly contributed to increasing the quality and scope of content available on Wikipedia in the Macedonian language. A total of 11 articles were written.
You can see how it went through the photographic material uploaded on Commons, but also some of the photos are bellow:
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The participants at the event -
Stole Velkovski giving a lecture -
The students listening a lecture -
The students visiting the shelter -
The students writing articles -
The students writing articles
In the period between 10th and 11th May 2025, the ninth edition of the WikiLive conference for Wikipedia editors from the region of Balkans and surrounding area was held in Belgrade. The conference was held at the SKIP center. The event was held under the slogan "Together we build a world of free knowledge" and brought together about 50 editors and contributors to Wikipedia projects from the region. This year, Wikimedia MKD sent Bosa Filipovic, manager for education of Wikimedia MKD.
The representative of Wikimedia MKD, Bosa Filipović, presented the work of the Macedonian community in her presentation, with a special focus on the editing competitions and marathons organized by Wikimedia MKD. Filipović spoke in detail about the methodology of implementing these events, their educational role, as well as the effects they have on increasing the content of Wikipedia in the Macedonian language. She emphasized that through thematic editing activities, the community manages to motivate new editors and create a space for learning, networking and exchange of experiences. She also spoke about a different type of award editing that Wikimedia MKD has implemented, instead of points, the prize is awarded by drawing lots. These Wikimedia MKD editing marathons were one-day and more related to world days. Filipović presented last year's editing marathon "Chajanka" and this year's "Jazz editing competition", as well as plans for future competitions of this type.
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Bosa Filipovic giving a presentation -
Bosa Filipovic at Wikilive
In the period between 16th and 18th May 2025, Youth Conference for young Wikipedians from all over the world was held in Prague, Czech Republic. The event was attended by about 80 young and active editors from more than 60 countries, under the common theme: "How to attract young people to Wikipedia?". Macedonia was represented by a team from Wikimedia MKD, including Jovan Tasevski – Community and Logistics Manager, as well as volunteers Simona Trajkoska and Olja Aleksovska. The Macedonian delegation participated actively in all sessions, workshops, and discussions, where they shared insights and experiences related to the challenges and opportunities for engaging youth on the Macedonian language Wikipedia.
For the Macedonian participants, this conference was not merely a gathering – it was a deeply motivating and enriching experience that sparked new ideas and a renewed commitment to action. The opportunity to network with peers from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, to discover common obstacles, and to explore possibilities for international collaboration provided a fresh perspective on the global Wikimedia movement.
The event also served as an affirmation that Macedonian Wikipedians are an important part of Wikimedia movement. Their contributions were acknowledged and their voices respected, demonstrating that even smaller communities have the power to make a meaningful impact. This conference opened new horizons for future initiatives aimed at increasing youth participation, and affirmed the vital role of the Macedonian Wikipedia community in shaping the future of free knowledge.
The team of Wikipedians decided that the first weekend of May would be the ideal time to start the new season of Wikiexpeditions for 2025. This time, the choice fell on a part of Macedonia that had not been systematically documented before – the Strumica Valley, i.e. the rural areas in this region. So, on May 3 and 4, 2025, the team began the first Wikiexpedition for this year, during which numerous villages and significant objects in the region were visited.
In the afternoon of May 2, the team headed to their accommodation in the city of Strumica. The next day, May 3, the team headed to the first village, which was Sushica, where they spent an entire hour, because the village had many objects for photography. In addition to the things that were known, the claim that there was also a monastery in the village turned out to be true, for which there was only one source, and the team confirmed its existence. After Sushica, the village of Zubovo followed and photographs were taken. From there, the Wikipedians headed to Novo Selo, where the monastery was photographed near the small artificial lake. Then came the villages of Barbarevo and Samoilovo. From Samoilovo, the team headed to the village of Stinik. In Stinik, it is as if time has stood still and the few residents raise pigs, which is probably a characteristic of the Ogražden mountain itself, since pig farming is also widespread on the Berovo side in the village of Dvorishte.
From Stinik, the Wikipedians returned to the regional road, where they were briefly in the village of Bajkovo, where the monastery "St. Peter and Paul" is located. Towards the end of the day, the team had the last fenced village left, which was the village of Badolen. On the way back from the village, the former ARM{Army of Republic of Macedonia) barracks were also visited, which were abandoned. At one point, the road to the village approaches the border with Bulgaria at only 2 kilometers. Finally, the village of Novo Konjarevo was visited. where the team came across an unusual object, which turned out to be a church. After a short time, a local resident who came to the church said that the church had not been consecrated because the construction had not been approved by the church authorities.
The second day began with the unfinished mission from the previous day, i.e. visiting all the villages in the municipality of Novo Selo. So, the team started in Staro Konjarevo. From this village, moving to the foot of the Belasica mountain, the villages of Draževo were visited, and later Smolari. Then came the villages of Mokrino, Mokrievo, Koleshino and Borisovo, in which the team stayed for a long time due to the numerous religious buildings and schools, as well as other economic and social buildings. The village of Koleshino was especially characteristic, which has numerous Christian buildings from different denominations, such as Protestants, Adventists, and Jehovah's Witnesses.
From Koleshino, the villages in the Municipality of Bosilovo were visited. As soon as the Wikipedians came to Borievo, they immediately noticed a big difference in the arrangement of the villages in the Municipality of Novo Selo and those in the Municipality of Bosilovo, so the former villages are far more orderly and tidy compared to the latter. In Monospitovo, the Wikipedians also stayed for a longer time due to the large number of religious buildings, similar to Koleshino. After Monospitovo, the village of Ednokukjevo followed, and then the municipal seat of Bosilovo, which brought this expedition to an end.
With 20 new villages photographed and over 400 kilometers traveled, we can say that the team had another successful expedition. You can view all the photographic material from the Wikiexpedition here.
Editing days is an activity that lasts for the whole year in organization of Wikimedia MKD. Each Tuesday and Thursday different topics are given and the participants create or improve existing articles. In May 2025 there were in total 9 editing days, where participants edited on different topics in order to enrich the content of Wikipedia. The editing days and the topics were:
- 1.5.2025 - Secret societies
- 6.5.2025 - Baroque sculpture
- 8.5.2025 - Automotive body parts
- 13.5.2025 - Coats of arms with roses
- 15.5.2025 - Beekeeping
- 20.5.2025 - Mythology books
- 22.5.2025 - Anti-corruption measures
- 27.5.2025 - Government ministries of the Russian Empire
- 29.5.2025 - Biological records
Cumulatively, 9 different users took part in these calls and edited. In total, 44 new articles were created during the editing days in May 2025.
Editing weekends is another project that is organized during the whole year. During weekends (Saturday and Sunday) user are welcomed to take part in this project activity and improve or enrich Macedonian Wikipedia content. During these weekends, the participants are expected to edit articles on given topics. In May 2025 the following editing weekends were organized:
- 3-4 May 2025 - Shopping malls
- 10-11 May 2025 - Hills
- 17-18 May 2025 - Wine
- 24-25 May 2025 - Crime novels
- 31 May- 1 June- Natural disasters
In total, during these weekends there were 7 different users editing on the given topics and they created 30 new articles on the Macedonian Wikipedia.
- From the shelter "Lajka" to Wikipedia: Educational visit of the students from Gymnasium "Josip Broz Tito", kanal5.com.mk
- From the shelter "Lajka" to Wikipedia: Educational visit of the students from Gymnasium "Josip Broz Tito", vecer.mk
- From the shelter "Lajka" to Wikipedia: Educational visit of the students from Gymnasium "Josip Broz Tito", skopjeinfo.mk
- From the shelter "Lajka" to Wikipedia: Educational visit of the students from Gymnasium "Josip Broz Tito", vreme.mk
- From the shelter "Lajka" to Wikipedia: Educational visit of the students from Gymnasium "Josip Broz Tito", vesnik.com
- From the shelter "Lajka" to Wikipedia: Educational visit of the students from Gymnasium "Josip Broz Tito", mia.mk
- Educational visit of the students from Gymnasium "Josip Broz Tito", vecer.press
- From the shelter "Lajka" to Wikipedia: Educational visit of the students from Gymnasium "Josip Broz Tito"
- The members of wikiexpiditions documented 1083 villages from total 1749 villages in Macedonia, fakulteti.mk
