VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian Meets Participants Of Wi

VIVACELL-MTS GENERAL MANAGER RALPH YIRIKIAN MEETS PARTICIPANTS OF WIKI YOUTH CAMPS

16:39 19/07/2014 >> SOCIETY

At the invitation of the organizers of the Wiki Youth Camps,
VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian met with the participants
of the camp, the company’s press service reported.

Wiki Youth Camps are organized in Vanadzor, one of the beautiful sites
of Armenia, on 6-20 July and 12-26 August, 2014 by the Wikimedia
Foundation and Wikimedia Armenia Scientific-Educational NGO. The
participants of the first phase of the Wiki camp are high school
students of Yerevan AYB School and schools with specialization in
Physics and Mathematics, Gyumri Photon Gymnasium, Vanadzor Evrika
School, students from Yeghvard, Aparan, Kotayk and Artsakh, as well
as Syrian-Armenian young people.

“Our Company has always had the preservation of Armenian national
identity and its precious historical-cultural heritage in the focus
of its attention. We welcome this initiative and appreciate the work
you do for adding Armenian content into the Internet because it will
not only ensure awareness on our National treasures worldwide, but
will also serve as an excellent source of information for Armenians
living outside Armenia. Besides, this initiative is a good platform of
communication between young Armenians from both Armenia and Diaspora
sharing the same ideas and concerns,” VivaCell-MTS General Manager
Ralph Yirikian commented. “We have to acknowledge that as a rule of
law of today’s digital world, the real presence of a nation assumes
its strong virtual presence. Increasing the volume of Armenian content
is an effective instrument leading to stronger Armenian factor.”

The goal of the Wikimedia Armenia is to enhance and enrich the amount
and content of materials devoted to Armenia, Armenian history and
culture, the Armenian Genocide and Armenian issues in Armenian and
foreign languages through the Internet, particularly in Wikimedia,
Wikilibrary, Wikibooks and Wikitraveler.

The camp will bring together 100 active Wiki editors aged 14 to 20,
who will be selected on the basis of volume and quantity in their
Armenian Wikipedia, will receive free passes to participate in the
camping event, and another 100 young people will be able to participate
by paying for the pass AMD 120,000. All the participants will spend
4 hours a day posting articles devoted to Armenia and Armenians in
Eastern Armenian, Western Armenian as well as other languages for 14
consecutive days.

During their two-week stay, the participants of the camping event
will master the tools of Wiki editing and will write articles with
the help of active Wikipedia editors. To facilitate the activities
of the campers and make them more effective, digitized versions of
literature in Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian will be posted
in the Wikilibrary. There will also be print versions of literature,
which may serve as a source for the articles to be written. The
daily activities include Armenian song and dance lessons, screenings
of Armenian films and meetings with renowned academics, writers and
cultural figures. The campers will also have the chance to choose their
Wiki travel, as well as visit the museums and historic monuments in
Lori and Shirak provinces. There are also volleyball and soccer fields,
as well as table tennis facilities at the camp.

One of the major and urgent issues of the Wikimedia Armenia for the
Wiki Camp Vanadzor 2014 program is the creation, enlargement and
enhancement of a separate “Western Armenian Wikimedia.” One of the
major objectives of the camp is to engage Western Armenian-speaking
schoolchildren of high schools abroad and university students in the
Wikipedia content development. By using their potential, it will be
possible to create a separate division in Western Armenian, which
has been proclaimed a language at risk by UNESCO, and create and post
articles and information about Armenian cultural heritage in Western
Armenian in Wikilibrary.

Source: Panorama.am