Wikipedia for Peace! Online Project with SCI Switzerland

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May 5, 2023


Date: 08 May - 07 June

Age: 16 - 99

Description: Militarization is on the rise and creates the base for current and future wars. But there is resistance by anti-war activists and movements around the world. A lot of content about these activists is still lacking on Wikipedia, the biggest encyclopedia in the world. With this online camp, we want to make these movements more visible on Wikipedia by engaging volunteers in editing and translating Wikipedia articles. This workcamp is part of the "No War Anywhere!" campaign of diverse voluntary service organisations who have united together to address urgent and important questions such as antimilitarist utopias, nuclear disarmament, military-industrial complex, etc. More information: https://sci.ngo/our-work/projects/no-war-anywhere/

Type of Work: Doing research for Wikipedia articles online about antimilitarism and anti-war activists, writing new articles and improving existing ones. The project organizers will prepare a list of articles around people and topics that are related to the camp topic. We write about people, events and organisations that are important enough. This means that there need to be good sources of information about the content we write about. The camp takes place in 7 sessions, each ca. 2 hours from 6pm-8pm (Central European Time) where we gather in Zoom. Between the sessions, you can work individually or in small groups. You don’t have to have knowledge on Wikipedia already. The aim of the project is to edit Wikipedia and provide more pieces of information & facts about different situations across the world.

Study Theme: There will be a big emphasis on studying in this camp. We will learn how to write good Wikipedia articles. We will learn about the principles behind Wikimedia projects as well as free licences/open content philosophy in general. We will learn about antimilitarism, disarmament, nuclear warfare and discuss our own positions around this. We will get to know more about people that are fighting against war - through our own research, through exchange with other participants and through external inputs.

Accommodation: Your own bedroom (online camp)

Language: We will speak English in the group. You can write Wikipedia articles in any language you want. We encourage you to write in your native language.

Requirements: You need a laptop (smartphones or tablets won't work) and a good internet connection that works with video calls. It is crucial for us that you are motivated to participate throughout the whole project, that you are not missing more than 1 session, that you enjoy writing and that you are interested in peace and antimilitarism.

Overview of all the meetings (PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS WORKCAMP CONSISTS OF 7 SESSIONS OVER 1 MONTH): 8 May – 18:00-20:00 CET / 9 May – 18:00-20:00 CET / 15 May – 18:00-20:00 CET / 22 May – 18:00-20:00 CET / 29 May – 18:00-20:00 CET / 5 June – 18:00-20:00 CET / 12 June – 18:00-20:00 CET

Apply for this project, here. 

Please note: When you click on this link you will leave the VSI website and go to the SCI database, search engine and application pages of SCI (VSI is the Irish branch of SCI). The projects listed on the database are managed by various SCI branches and partners across Europe, so the project titles and descriptions are generally written by non-native English speakers so please excuse us if some of them are hard-to-understand or use unusual language! 

Project fees: VSI is a small charity and we charge a fee (€55  - €155) to volunteer on our projects, this includes food, accommodation, insurance whilst on the project and VSI annual membership, more info here.

Some of the descriptions mention an additional fee (of €50.00) when applying through  non-SCI organisations. VSI is an SCI branch and these fees are included in the VSI project fee.

If you have any questions at all or would like more info on a project, please contact Annabelle.