Roaring Lion 2014 award to Wikimedia Israel

Wikimedia Israel ( he, ויקימדיה ישראל; ar, ويكيميديا إسرائيل) is an Israeli nonprofit

organization An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived fro ...

working in cooperation with the

Wikimedia Foundation The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., or Wikimedia for short and abbreviated as WMF, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California and registered as a charitable foundation under local laws. Best kno ...

to promote

knowledge Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is disti ...

and education in Israel through the collection and dissemination of free content and the initiation of projects to facilitate access to

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases spa ...

s. Wikimedia Israel supports the community of

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read ref ...

volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

s, recruits new editors, establishes collaborations and

partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments ...

s, organizes events and conferences, and promotes the exposure of the public and the media to Wikipedia and the importance of free and shared content. In addition to Wikipedia editors, the organization initiates and supports the work of other volunteers (Wikimedia volunteers) who take part in activities organized by the organization and implements its projects and initiatives. Wikimedia Israel was founded in 2007. It is one of 41 recognized chapters (national nonprofit organizations created to promote the interests of Wikimedia projects locally) around the world. Wikimedia Israel is the only chapter that operates in a

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

-speaking environment, as well as an

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

-speaking environment. On July 2, 2014, the speaker of Wikimedia Israel won the Roaring Lion Award from ISPRA (Israel Public Relations Association) in the Technology and Mobile category, for the PR work on the

Hebrew Wikipedia Hebrew Wikipedia ( he, ויקיפדיה העברית, ) is the Hebrew language edition of Wikipedia. This edition was started on 8 July 2003 and contains more than articles as of . History Timeline *8 July 2003: The Hebrew edition of Wikip ...

10th

anniversary An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saint ...

and collaboration with TV Channel 2.כוס קפה רק - 5 ש"ח... קמפיין הקפה של קופיקס, נבחר לקמפיין השנה באוסקר ענף יחסי הציבור "האריה השואג" של איגוד יועצי התקשורת ויחסי הציבור בישראל
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Vision and goals

Wikimedia Israel has adopted the vision of the Wikimedia Foundation, from which the following

goal A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or ...

is inferred: “Imagine a world in which every single person on the

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a ...

is given free access to the sum of all human

. That's what we're doing”. Goals: *Promoting knowledge and

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. ...

in Israel through the collection, creation and dissemination of free content. *Improving the access for free content to all, and making knowledge accessible to everyone in Israel. *Promoting

computer system A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ( computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These prog ...

s and internet infrastructure used for collecting and disseminating free content, specifically systems used for Wikimedia *Foundation projects. *Promoting research of

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tylor ...

and practical issues related to free content. *Promoting and initiating volunteer activities to further the chapter's goals.

Main projects

*Supporting the Wikipedia community: social activities, supporting projects initiated by volunteers, etc. *Lectures: lectures about the history of Wikipedia, the basics of Wikipedia and projects initiated by the Wikimedia Foundation. *Editing workshops: workshops that introduce the participants to the basics of Wikipedia and how to edit it. *Establishing long-term collaboration for the purpose of expanding the

and other projects. Wikimedia Israel collaborates with cultural and academic institutions, among them the National Library, the Ministry of Education and the Society for Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites. *Writing Wikipedia articles as an

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

requirement: Wikipedia and Wikimedia volunteers facilitate courses where writing articles is part of the course requirement. *Outreach programs and activities aimed at introducing Wikipedia, its projects and the principles of free content to decision-makers and the public. *Outreach programs to promote policy that will enable the release of government-held information and content. For example, government decision 5268: Granting free use of images owned by the government on government websites. *Initiating photography contests to expand the online repository of free-use images (Wikimedia Commons) with images from Israel.

References

External links

*{{Official website
Wikimedia Israel at the Israeli Corporations Authority
Wiki communities Wikimedia Foundation Organizations based in Tel Aviv