Background

In 2015, in light of our philosophy of integrating marginalized groups and victims of violations in the process of setting our priorities and including them in the process of defending their rights, Euro-Med Monitor launched its “WikiRights” project’s first training course. The project aimed at including the narrative of victims of violations in the historical documentation of the events and contemporary crises on Wikipedia, promoting and developing human rights content in the electronic encyclopedia, as well as training human rights defenders to use the encyclopedia and edit its articles.

In its first course, the project provided comprehensive information and materials about Wikipedia, including its foundations, its rules, “Wikipedia in conflict areas,” and “victims of violations in Wikipedia.” The course also discussed the theoretical and practical nature of Wikipedia's work.

The beneficiaries of the project received information about the history of Wikipedia, the number of articles, the extent of its popularity, and the most used and contributing areas of the encyclopedia worldwide. They also received training and practical examples in how to create an account on the free encyclopedia, and how to create articles or edit existing articles with a detailed explanation of Wikipedia's standards and policies to ensure the correct use of the encyclopedia without violating the policies.

Next October, Euro-Med Monitor will launch the second session of the WikiRights project in the Palestinian territories, providing a series of free training lectures on how to enhance the human rights content on Wikipedia and redress the victims' narrative. The course will also include basic skills in encyclopedic editing and methods of editing Wikipedia articles.

The project covers the occupied Palestinian territories – the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Euro-Med Monitor team will hold meetings separately and face-to-face in the cities of Ramallah and Gaza.

The course is held over three weeks between October 21 and November 4, 2021, covering basic information related to Wikipedia, the structure of its articles, and how to create and modify them. The course will also include practical training on applying skills acquired during the course.

The trainees who successfully pass all the requirements of the course will be awarded a certificate from the Euro-Med Monitor. The trainees who competently complete all the basic and supplementary practical exercises will be awarded financial rewards for their excellence.

Those wishing to join the training course should send a letter of interest consisting of at least 250 words, which also includes a brief about the applicant, his/her qualifications, and contact addresses to the email address: info@euromedmonitor.org.

Candidates are notified to attend the training course meetings by e-mail, with applicants sending their applications no later than October 13, 2021.