Projects
Wikimedian-in-Residence in Israel Museum, Jerusalem
On September 18th, Yair Talmor became the first ever Wikimedian-in-Residence in the Israel Museum and in Israel in general. Talmor, an art teacher with academic background in art, will be employed for a two months period at the museum, concentrating on tutoring museum staff on wiki editing, organizing events of public outreach such as editathons and backstage tours, uploading material from the museum's library and enhancing Wikipedia articles about prominent Israeli artists. His employment is funded in part by WMIL. While the focus of the project is in Hebrew, there's also some work on material in English.
- Project page on English Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/IMJ
Haifa University Faculty of the Humanities
On September 22nd, a large meeting was held at Haifa University between members of staff from the Faculty of the Humanities and volunteers from Wikimedia Israel. This was a preparatory session for a large-scale project in which students in various courses will write Wikipedia articles as part of their academic assignments.
"Pikiwiki" - the Free image collection project
Pikiwiki is a cooperation between Wikimedia Israel, the Israel Internet Association (ISOC-IL) and The Center for Educational Technology (CET) to collect images depicting the history, geography and society of Israel. The images will be contributed by the general public and released to the public domain, or with the fewest limitations, and offered to the public on the Internet freely. For further information, see: Free image collection project.
Israeli Ministry of Education
Chapter members have met with the people responsible for Internet ethics and safety education in the Ministry of Education to start planning one-time experimental classes for elementary school pupils that will teach them to understand Wikipedia's background, to read it correctly and to understand the right conduct on talk pages. The lessons are scheduled for November and chapter members are preparing the detailed lesson plans.
The Hebrew Wikipedia mobile poster exhibition
This project was created by the Hebrew Wikipedia users in the very same manner in which they enrich the free encyclopedia - the collaborative writing. The Wikipedian volunteers wrote and edited the texts, then designed the posters bearing them. The poster exhibition tours across Israel in an attempt to increase public awareness to Wikipedia and recruit readers and writers.
Further information about The Hebrew Wikipedia mobile poster exhibition
Supporting legislation which promotes free content availability
Wikimedia Israel was a key partner in a joint effort to prevent an attempt to change the status quo regarding the copyright limitations on photographs. The attempted change in legislation could have led to further harder limitations on the use of historical images from the time of early Zionism, early independence, and from significant times in the country's history. Further information: Supporting legislation which promotes free content availability, Crown copyrights.
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
WMIL representatives met with a Deputy Director of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They are very interested in releasing some of their material under free licenses and in receiving further training from WMIL about Wikipedia editing.
The Wikipedia Academy Israel conference
Wiki Academy is a professional conference about the assimilation of Wikipedia in the educational system and the academic sector, promoting the free content idea in Israel, using organizational Wiki systems, and other similar subjects. The conference is intended to host hundreds of people from the fields of information handling, teachers, lecturers, students, and of course, the general public. The first conference was held on the 3rd of May, 2009, and the second on 14th June 2010. The third academy took place on 4th August 2011, at the Haifa Auditorium as part of the 2011 Wikimania conference.
"Africa Center" Project
As part of the annual delegation sent by the Institute of African Studies in the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Wikimedia Israel, in partnership with Amutat Hamakor, initiated a shipment of Linux-installed computers including a static version of the French Wikipedia to Cameroon and Benin. Wikimedia volunteers assisted in connecting between the university and Amutat Hamakor, installing the computers, creating a local copy of The French Wikipedia and instructing the expatriates.
