Wikimedia chapters/Reports/Wikimedia Bangladesh/2019

From Meta, a Wikimedia project coordination wiki


Report of activities: 2019[edit]

15th Anniversary of Bengali Wikipedia[edit]

Cake of 15th Anniversary of Bengali Wikipedia Celebration in Dhaka
Cake of 15th Anniversary of Bengali Wikipedia Celebration in Dhaka

The celebration for the 15th Anniversary of Bengali Wikipedia was held in Dhaka, Rajshahi and Sylhet. Wikimedia Bangladesh organized the programs along with its regional communities. The celebration news was covered by almost every notable media outlet in Bangladesh.

Annual General Meeting[edit]

The members of the executive committee at AGM 2019
The members of the executive committee at AGM 2019
  • AGM 2019: The first Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Wikimedia Bangladesh was held on 8 February 2019 at Frepd Auditorium, Dhaka. It was presided over by Shabab Mustafa. The AGM included a presentation of WMBD's organizational activities and financial statements from 2018. The current members are: Munir Hasan, Ali Haidar Khan, Tanvir Rahman, Shabab Mustafa, Tanweer Morshed, Nahid Sultan, Ankan Ghosh Dastider, Moheen Reeyad, Masum Al Hasan. The new executive committee is valid upto 2020.

Ekushey Wiki gathering across Bangladesh[edit]

Ekushey Wiki gathering in Hunan
Ekushey Wiki gathering in Hunan
Ekushey Wiki Gathering in Dhaka
Ekushey Wiki Gathering in Dhaka
  • Ekushey Bangla Wikipedia Gathering: On 21 February 2019, Wikimedia Bangladesh hosted gatherings in 5 cities of Bangladesh and China (Dhaka, Rajshahi, Khulna, Comilla and Hunan) to observe International Mother Language Day. This year, for the first time it was organized outside of Bangladesh. Wikipedians of Bangladesh were standing in a public place with banners asking passersby to contribute to the Bangla Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. The day has a special meaning to Bangladeshis, as UNESCO established 21 February as International Mother Language Day as a tribute to those who were killed in the 21 February 1952 Bangla Language Movement demonstration and the ethno-linguistic rights of people around the world. The First gathering was held back in 2007 in Dhaka. Since then, Bangladeshi Wikimedians have been doing it annually. The event was covered by most of the national dailies of Bangladesh.

Wiki Loves Monuments 2019[edit]

Bangladesh took part in the international Wiki Loves Monuments photography competition for the 4th time in September 2019. During the competition, a total of 216 Bangladeshi participants uploaded 3,867 freely licensed photographs of different monuments and sites in Wikimedia Commons. Among all the participants, 69% were new to Wikimedia projects. The jury of the Wiki Loves Monuments Bangladesh 2019 contest selected the 10 winning photographs. They were then sent to the international team where a photo got 8th position globally.

Wiki Loves Earth 2019[edit]

Bangladesh has taken part in the international Wiki Loves Earth (an annual international photographic competition around conservation areas of the participating countries) photography competition for the third time in 2019. The main motivation behind participating the competition is that most of the protected area in Bangladesh don't have enough photographs under the free license and we aimed at creating a database of freely licensed photographs of all the protected sites of Bangladesh in Wikimedia Commons; Wiki Loves Earth offered a unique opportunity in this regard.

During the competition, a total of 153 Bangladeshi participants uploaded 1,644 freely licensed photographs of 44 (of the 51 government listed protected sites of Bangladesh) different protected sites in Wikimedia Commons. The jury of the Wiki Loves Earth Bangladesh 2019 contest have selected the 10 winning photographs. They were then sent to the international team where a photo got 4th position.

Bangla Wikipedia article contest 2019[edit]

Bangla Wikipedia article contest 2018
Bangla Wikipedia article contest 2018
  • '2019 edition': Wikimedia Bangladesh is organizing this annual 2 months long article contest since 2015 during the month of International Mother Language Day. The occasion (Language Movement and the month) itself has immense significant meaning to the Bengali speaking people so we believe it is a great opportunity to promote Bangla Wikipedia to the readers and have some of them on board with this contest. This year, it was delayed to July-August session, but the partcipation was unaffected and huge. During the contest participants are asked to translate a full article into Bengali from a specific list. The main focus of the article contest was not only to add quality articles in Bengali, all the articles created through this contest were also important from encyclopedic perspective. So we also have closed some gap of important topics on Bengali Wikipedia. The competition continued from 1st of July to 31st of August 2019. This year, Jagonews24 supported the contest. Through the competition, 440+ new articles have been added to Bangla Wikipedia, these include important topics related to history, art, information & technology, engineering, science, geography, geology and meteorology, society, social problems and political science, literature, music, film, health and medical etc. We reached out to more than 1300 users for the competition in Bangla Wikipedia. ~95% of them are complete newbies. There were some coverage about the contest in the media.

Wikicamp Chattogram[edit]

WikiCamp Chittagong — group photo
WikiCamp Chittagong — group photo
Participants at the WikiCamp, Chattogram
Participants at the WikiCamp, Chattogram

Wikicamp Chattogram 2019 is a day-long event for experienced and new Wikimedians from Chattogram, Bangladesh. The core objective of the event is to increase offline activities of the Wikimedia Bangladesh in Chattogram, to develop skills and expertise of the new Wikipedians and integrated experienced and newcomers. This is the first initiative in Bangladesh of its kind being held in Chattogram organised by Chattogram Wikipedia Community, were providing technical guidance about Wikimedia Foundation's three projects - Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, and as well as give a detailed discussion of those projects. The venue for the event was chosen with the support of the WCC team. The gallery is located at the east gallery of the M. A. Aziz Stadium, which is placed in the central part of the Chattogram metropolitan city and well connected with city routes. The participants were provided with faster internet connectivity. 10 participants, including 3 female participants, attended the session where they created 23 new articles, and 28 new Wikidata items.

Santali Wikipedia Anniversary Celebration and Workshop[edit]

Group photo
Group photo

In August 2, 2018, Santali Wikipedia started its journey in the world of online encyclopedia. To celebrate the day, Rajshahi Wikipedia community in association with Santali Wikipedia community organized a ceremony along with the workshop at Rajshahi Press Club. Almost 20 participants attended the program.

Notre Dame Wiki Alapon[edit]

Group photo
Group photo
During the workshop
During the workshop

This was basically a series of events in association with Notre Dame Abritti Club, which concluded with the workshop. A quiz competition followed by a Article-Writing contest was organized at first. The successful participants of these events participated in the Workshop where they came to know about Wikipedia's various aspects in a more deeper way. Winners of the quiz competition was awarded at the ending part of this ceremony. Ankan Ghosh Dastider (EC Member), Nahid Sultan (Secretary), and Tanweer Morshed (Treasurer) conducted the workshop. Honorable moderator of the club was also present during the workshop.

Workshops[edit]

Wikipedia workshop at Cumilla
Wikipedia workshop at Cumilla
  • Wikimeetup and Wikipedia Workshop at Cumilla, January: Cumilla Wikipedia community organized the workshop at Nazrul Avenue, Cumilla. It was held on 6 January 2019. It attended by about 5-7 participants, most of them were newcomers. It was a meetup where the newcomers were taught how to edit the largest online encyclopedia — Wikipedia.
Participants at the Workshop
Participants at the Workshop
  • Wikipedia Workshop for Journalists, May: A Wikipedia Workshop was organized on 11 May, 2019 for the journalists where they were trained on various aspects of Wikipedia and its sister projects. 10 journalists from IT sector joined the workshop. It was organized in HiFi Public, Dhaka.
First workshop for the students
First workshop for the students
Second workshop for the professionals
Second workshop for the professionals
  • Wikipedia Workshops for (i) Students and (ii) Professionals, July: Two workshops were organized in Bagerhat, the southern disctrict of Bangladesh, on 9 July 2020 in cooperation with Shamsuddin-Nahar Trust. The first workshop was organized for the students to make them aware of the largest online encyclopedia whereas the second workshop was for prfoessionals where they were taught the impact of Wikipeda in our daily lives.
Group photo
Group photo
  • Wikipedia Workshop, Chandpur, September: On 27 September, 2019 the newly formed Chandpur Wikipedia Community organized the very first workshop in Chandpur, the southern district of Bangladesh. Students of Chandpur participated in this workshop where they learned how they can contribute in Wikipeda, Commons.


Group photo
Group photo
  • Wikipedia Workshop, October: A wikipedia workshop was orgaized in association with Notre Dame Rotaract Club on October 2, 2019. Approximately 100 students attended the workshop, where they learned the basics of Wikipedia and how they can contribute here. Ankan Ghosh Dastider (EC Member), Nahid Sultan (Secretary) and Tanweer Morshed (Treasurer) conducted the workshop. Honorable teachers of the college was also present during the workshop.


Group photo
Group photo
  • Wikipedia Workshop, November: On November 7, 2020, a Wikipedia Workshop was organized by Cumilla Wikipedia Community at Sheikh Kamal IT Training and Incubatin Centre, Kamal Mansion, Cumilla. Participants were introduced to Wikipedia, commons, etc. in this workshop. They also learned how they can enhance history of Cumilla-related information on Wikipedia as well. Shahidul Hasan Roman (Coordinator, Cumilla Wikipedia Community) conducted the workshop.

Edit-a-thons[edit]

  • #WikiGap 2019: Wikimedia Bangladesh and the Swedish Embassy jointly organized an online edit-a-thon named #WikiGap on 8 March to enrich women’s articles in Bengali Wikipedia and to make the internet more gender equal. 63 Wikipedians created 639 new articles during the edit-a-thon.
  • #WikiForHumanRights 2019: Wikimedia Bangladesh organized an online edit-a-thon to increase the quantity of article related to Human Rights. 09 Wikipedians created 18 articles during the edit-a-thon.
BNWIKI OAweek Edit-a-thon 2019 web banner
BNWIKI OAweek Edit-a-thon 2019 web banner
  • Bangla Wikipedia Open Access Week Edit-a-thon 2019: Wikimedia Bangladesh hosted a week long edit-a-thon during international open access week at Bangla Wikipedia. The edit-a-thon aimed to increase contents on Open Access related topics as well as enhance the quality of the existing contents in the Bangla Wikipedia.

WikiMeetup in Dhaka[edit]

Wikimedians from Dhaka
Wikimedians from Dhaka
Wikimedians from Dhaka
Wikimedians from Dhaka
Wikimedians from Dhaka
Wikimedians from Dhaka

WikiMeetup in Chattogram[edit]

Wikimedians from Chattogram
Wikimedians from Chattogram
Wikimedians from Chattogram
Wikimedians from Chattogram

WikiMeetup in Rajshahi[edit]

Wikimedians from Rajshahi
Wikimedians from Rajshahi
  • April: The WikiMeetup in Rajshahi took place on 26 April 2019 at Shahid Minar, Rajshahi University. About 8 wikipedians from Rajshahi area took part in the meetup. Wikipedia activities in Rajshahi were discussed in the meetup.

WikiMeetup in Chandpur[edit]

Wikimedians from Chandpur
Wikimedians from Chandpur
  • April: The WikiMeetup in Chandpur took place on 7 December 2019 at Chandpur Boro Station Moorhead. About 10 wikipedians from Chandpur area took part in the meetup. Wikipedia activities in Chandpur were discussed in the meetup, and what can be done in the coming year was also proposed and discussed. This is the very first meetup in Chandpur district, Bangladesh.
Khan Bahadur Bari, Cumilla
Khan Bahadur Bari, Cumilla

Photowalks[edit]

Old Pubali Bank building in Kadirpar
Old Pubali Bank building in Kadirpar
  • Cumilla: Cumilla Wikipedia community arranged a Wikipedia photowalk during the month of January. 2 wikimedians from Cumilla community took part in the meetup and captured 189 photos.

Online magazine: WikiBarta[edit]

  • Wikimedia Bangladesh continued publishing the online magazine named WikiBarta. In Wikidata: WikiBarta (Q55905601). 3 issues have been published in 2019. National and international wikimedians wrote in these issues. Interviews of contributors both from regional and international level were published regularly.