It is the world's main source of information and its founder is one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Wikipedia is an example of the collaborative model, with spectacular growth and, in the case of the Catalan edition, also a model of international recognition. In September, Viquipèdia reached 42.3 million articles consulted, a record number of visits in its 13-year history.
"As with almost everyone, I write on different subjects, we do not have a specific theme. I am an industrial engineer and I write about other areas, such as astronomy or art history because that way I learn. We viquipedistes are intellectually promiscuous," confesses Arnau Duran, president the Amical Wikimedia association, an independent organisation that promotes the Catalan edition of the encyclopaedia.
Catalan is the third language on Wikipedia, behind English and German. "The first editor to write the first article in Catalan was from Andorra," recalls the young representative. Despite it being one of the first languages and occupying 17th place in the number of articles on the encyclopaedia, Joan Gomà, the former president of Amical, had a job getting the Catalan organisation recognised internationally. "We wanted our own section but they did not let us because we were not a state and, as the rules of Wikipedia say, we could not have the same rights as other associations."
Since June 2013, Amical can attend the international meetings organised under the umbrella of the Wikimedia Foundation, access funding and enjoy the same tools. "It makes no sense that an encyclopaedia in 287 languages should be organised into sections according to country, when there are states with more than one language," argues Duran, who adds that "Amical is made up of users who are committed to the language, who contribute to Viquipèdia and who want to go further and mobilise the population to grow participation on the network."
An army of 'viquipedistes'
Today, of the more than 33 million articles written collaboratively by users from all over the world, 436,095 are in Catalan, a figure that is "very much respected among the different countries." In fact, the founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, recognised as much in the Fòrum Impulsa in Girona: "If we think that there are nine million Catalan speakers, there are 56 Wikipedia editors in Catalan for every million inhabitants, while in English there are 21 and, in Spanish eight. The proportion is very high."
With its collaborative model, Wikipedia is also a reflection of society. According to Amical, the articles on the history and heritage of Catalonia are very well done; while there are much fewer people interested in chemistry. "There is a bias, not in the information, but in its coverage. The Via Catalana, for example, was covered almost to the minute."
The nucleus of reliability
With the aim of growing the figures, this Friday the II Nit de la Llengua al Món Digital will be held, in which different volunteers will take part in a Viquimarató to increase the number of references in Catalan. However, these figures do not indicate the quality of the online encyclopaedia, which you can even contribute to without being registered.
According to Duran, "Wikipedia is not a frontline encyclopaedia, but rather a compilation of other sources." The work of the editor is to synthesise, in other words, the administrators do not have any greater power of decision making, they are merely charged with protecting and blocking articles. "If someone uses a swearword, there are robots that automatically correct it; a mistake on Wikipedia does not last more than a minute," says Duran.
Having come through the growth stage, now the job is to focus on quality and, to do this, the community of volunteers are also working with Catalan universities, as potential editors. The key is the references and the diversity of sources. One very clear case is the birth of Christopher Columbus, about whom there are different theories. From the community comes a final message to help understand the global success of Wikipedia: "If you see a mistake, do not criticise it, fix it."
"As with almost everyone, I write on different subjects, we do not have a specific theme. I am an industrial engineer and I write about other areas, such as astronomy or art history because that way I learn. We viquipedistes are intellectually promiscuous," confesses Arnau Duran, president the Amical Wikimedia association, an independent organisation that promotes the Catalan edition of the encyclopaedia.
Catalan is the third language on Wikipedia, behind English and German. "The first editor to write the first article in Catalan was from Andorra," recalls the young representative. Despite it being one of the first languages and occupying 17th place in the number of articles on the encyclopaedia, Joan Gomà, the former president of Amical, had a job getting the Catalan organisation recognised internationally. "We wanted our own section but they did not let us because we were not a state and, as the rules of Wikipedia say, we could not have the same rights as other associations."
Since June 2013, Amical can attend the international meetings organised under the umbrella of the Wikimedia Foundation, access funding and enjoy the same tools. "It makes no sense that an encyclopaedia in 287 languages should be organised into sections according to country, when there are states with more than one language," argues Duran, who adds that "Amical is made up of users who are committed to the language, who contribute to Viquipèdia and who want to go further and mobilise the population to grow participation on the network."
An army of 'viquipedistes'
Today, of the more than 33 million articles written collaboratively by users from all over the world, 436,095 are in Catalan, a figure that is "very much respected among the different countries." In fact, the founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, recognised as much in the Fòrum Impulsa in Girona: "If we think that there are nine million Catalan speakers, there are 56 Wikipedia editors in Catalan for every million inhabitants, while in English there are 21 and, in Spanish eight. The proportion is very high."
With its collaborative model, Wikipedia is also a reflection of society. According to Amical, the articles on the history and heritage of Catalonia are very well done; while there are much fewer people interested in chemistry. "There is a bias, not in the information, but in its coverage. The Via Catalana, for example, was covered almost to the minute."
The nucleus of reliability
With the aim of growing the figures, this Friday the II Nit de la Llengua al Món Digital will be held, in which different volunteers will take part in a Viquimarató to increase the number of references in Catalan. However, these figures do not indicate the quality of the online encyclopaedia, which you can even contribute to without being registered.
According to Duran, "Wikipedia is not a frontline encyclopaedia, but rather a compilation of other sources." The work of the editor is to synthesise, in other words, the administrators do not have any greater power of decision making, they are merely charged with protecting and blocking articles. "If someone uses a swearword, there are robots that automatically correct it; a mistake on Wikipedia does not last more than a minute," says Duran.
Having come through the growth stage, now the job is to focus on quality and, to do this, the community of volunteers are also working with Catalan universities, as potential editors. The key is the references and the diversity of sources. One very clear case is the birth of Christopher Columbus, about whom there are different theories. From the community comes a final message to help understand the global success of Wikipedia: "If you see a mistake, do not criticise it, fix it."
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