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Active editors of the Karvajar WikiClub have been participating in the most interesting summer wiki event – WikiCamp for the last 3 years. In this article, they tell us about their impressions, new acquaintances and the knowledge they have got.

A 13 year old Elen Gevorgyan, has already been participating in the Summer WikiCamp for the third time.

“When I first heard about WikiCamp, I didn’t know what it would be like, but I liked it from the very first minutes”, Ellen shares her impressions about the WikiCamp. The young editor thinks, that during the camp she and her friends get the opportunity to gain knowledge and share it with others.

“Free communication with other WikiClub members, with the children from various cities, villages, and even foreign countries, with different Wikiteam members and Group leaders is also important. Even newcomers who do not know Armenian letters learn to edit with the Armenian keyboard here.”

A 14 year old Lena Ghazaryan, another young editor from the same WikiClub, has been a participant of wikiCamps since last year. She also highlighted the opportunity of receiving and sharing knowledge during the WikiCamp.

“Most of us learn working with some editing tools right here at the WikiCamp. And many children learn editing here. It’s great to see how many of your friends who can’t work with the Armenian keyboard master it a few days later”, says Lena and adds, that there were children in their group who didn’t know Armenian letters, and returned home from WikiCamp fully having mastered the Armenian keyboard.

The participants of the Summer First WikiCamp during their leisure time, photo by Ashkhen Muradyan, CC BY-SA 4.0

Marietta Vardanyan, 13-year-old editor of the Karvajar WikiClub, participated in the WikiCamp for the first time this year: “I learned a lot at the WikiCamp. I learned how to work with some new computer tools,” says Marietta.

When sharing their impressions on WikiCamps, children emphasize learning through games and several important meetings that have also become a source of knowledge for them.

“During this first Summer WikiCamp we met with representatives of the Hovhannes Toumanian Museum. They told us about Tumanyan. And we tested our knowledge with a quiz game dedicated to the life and works of Hovhannes Tumanyan. At the end of the meeting we also played some developing plays created by Tumanyan.” says Lena.

“During WikiCamps we get a lot of knowledge through games. Every year, guests from different places visit us at WikiCamps. We had different guests this year as well. The days in WikiCamp went fast and were full of fun,” said Liana Ghazaryan (age 13).

Summer First WikiCamp participants’ badges, photo by Ashkhen Muradyan, CC BY-SA 4.0

“I really liked the event organized by the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Armenia, during which I learned what to do in an earthquake, fire and flood. The videos they showed were very interesting․ I want to find them and show to my little brother, too”,- says Marietta.

“We spend such wonderful days in WikiCamps that noone wants to return home. I learned a lot during the WikiCamp and I know for sure it will serve me a lot for many years to come”,- says Ellen.

Tamara Grigoryan, Karvachar Wikiclub Coordinator
Dato Abuladze, Communications Coordinator
Violla Mosikyan, Wikimedia Armenia Intern

This year’s Summer WikiCamps were marked by a great number of applicants and participants. Wikimedia Armenia has received around 300 applications for both camps. The majority of the participants had applied for the first Summer WikiCamp for students ages 9-15. The first camp was also marked by a great number of payable participants ever – 30 participants who were equally distributed among groups.

The learning and editing process in Wikimedia projects were organized with the help of 12 experienced wikieditors (Wikiteam). The participants were editing in 3 Wikimedia projects – Armenian Wiktionary, Wikisource and Wikipedia. The Wikiteam was also responsible for quality checking of the content written during the camp. The organization team used a new method for the newbies’ teaching process. The experienced editor students of each group who expressed willingness to share their knowledge with their groupmates, taught the editing tools and rules to their fellow friends. The usage of this method made the teaching and learning process more smoothly and effective as it is always more comprehensive when the students of the same age explain the editing tools to each other.

During the workshop at Summer Wikicamp 2019 (I), Ashkhen Muradyan, CC BY-SA 4.0

One of the achievements of this camp was Armenian Wiktionary moving 2 lines up in the list of all Wiktionaries – now we are in the 21st place.

Non wiki life of the camp was full of interesting and entertaining events. Besides playing sport and intellectual games the camp hosted Hovhannes Toumanian museum Education program team who represented Armenian writer Hovhannes Toumanian’s life and literary works. After the presentation the guests organized a small quiz during which the campers answered Toumanian related questions. As many of us know Toumanian has also created a number of games for children. The campers were happy to play those games with the help of Toumanian museum staff.

During the quiz game organized by Hovhannes Toumanian Museum at Summer Wikicamp 2019 (I), Ashkhen Muradyan, CC BY-SA 4.0

The other memorable event of the camp was the educational-informative event by the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Armenia. The Ministry staff organized training-games which were aimed at increasing the level of awareness during emergencies. The small actors of the “911” children’s theatre of the Cultural center of the State Academy of Crisis Management presented the “Disaster” musical-educational performance to the campers. After the presentation the campers watched educational cartoons prepared by the Ministry of Emergency Situations and “Save the Children” organization about earthquake, flood and fire, after which a quiz game was organized. The winners were awarded with certificates.

During the evacuation training organized by Ministry of Emergency Situations of Republic Armenia at Summer Wikicamp 2019 (I), Ashkhen Muradyan, CC BY-SA 4.0

An evacuation training was also organized for the campers. Firefighters and rescuers arrived after the alarm was reported and began to work immediately on the area of the rest house evacuating those campers who had not managed to leave the building. The training was conducted under the supervision of major Samvel Davtyan, Commander of the Hrazdan N 44 department of the RA Ministry of Emergency Situations.

At the end of the day, the children were also taught how to provide first aid in different situations.

Lilit Tarkhanyan,
Wikimedia Armenia Education Program Coordinator