Wikipedia Writing and Editing Training Completed
On Saturday, July 13, 2019, alQaws completed a two-day long intensive training on writing and editing on Wikipedia, which focused on topics related to sexual and gender diversity in Palestine. The training took place at alQaws’s office in Ramallah.
Ten people participated in the training including alQaws activists, coming from various cities such as Ramallah, Jerusalem, Nablus and Haifa. The meetings were facilitated by a Wikipedia activist.
The training demonstrates alQaws’s endeavors to make accurate knowledge about sexual and gender diversity popular and widespread. The reason behind the training is that Wikipedia is one of the most visited sites in the world, and the first resort to information for many Palestinian and Arab readers.
The training commenced with intellectual discussions concerning the language and the terminology used while writing about sexual and gender diversity. Subsequently, the training covered the many theoretical and practical aspects regarding free knowledge and the contribution in it, in addition to the technical matters involved in the process of writing and editing. The training also presented the trainees with different possibilities of contribution and a diverse set of subjects to write about.
The training hosted a Wikimedia LGBT+ activist from Tunisia, Houssem Abida, over a skype call. He shared his experience of working on enriching the Arabic content that deals with sexual and gender diversity, and the drawbacks that the activists might face when beginning to contribute in Wikipedia.
The diverse participants showed a great connection to the content during the discussions and the practical portion of the training. Lama’a Abdel Rahman, a Comparative Literature and Theology student from Jerusalem, pointed out that the training allowed her to be familiarized with alQaws up close, and the comfortable and judgment-free environment that captured her attention.
One of the participants, an engineering student at Al-Najah National University in Nablus, stated that the main driving force for his participation was his desire to advance the Arabic content on Wikipedia, which he described as weak compared to other languages. He also described the training procedure as smooth, and covered varied methods such as videos, theoretical discussions and technical applications.
The participants’ efforts will continue after the two meetings by developing a subject related to sexual and gender diversity in Palestine of their own choice; be it concepts such as Pinkwashing or terms such as gender identity, and will conclude by an evaluative and brief third meeting in late September.