January Newsletter 2025/ Nuachtlitir Mí Eanáir

January may have felt like the longest month ever but we are finally nearing which means it’s time to catch up with our January 2025 newsletter.

Intentions for the new year have been set and resolutions made and maybe it is just me being optimistic but can anyone else smell spring in the air?
In our latest newsletter, we bring you new collaborations, the Wiki Science 2024 Winners and an exciting announcement! We are also delighted to launch our Art+Feminism Campaign for 2025 alongside the first podcast episode of the year.

We are also happy to launch a new survey for our Irish Language Community members and network. We continue to strive to make improvements on Vicipéid and ensure it is a welcoming place for knowledge sharing as gaeilge. We would love to be able to better respond to your needs and vision for the platform, so please make your voice heard and fill in the survey. Read more below.

Art+Feminism 2025: What would a truly feminist internet look like?

Art+Feminism is an International Wikimedia Campaign that dares us to imagine and initiate a more equal world, starting with the internet. What if we held the power to create a feminist internet that amplifies marginalised voices, dismantles existing power imbalances, and fosters safer, more collaborative digital spaces for all? What would that look like?

Wikimedia Community Ireland is taking part in the Art+Feminism Campaign 2025-2026. Throughout the next two years, we will be joining the international community in continuing to reimagine what’s possible, and the ways we can empower ourselves and others for change.

To kick off Art+Feminism 2025 we asked our network: What would a truly feminist internet look like?
This question is a starting point. A call to action- to start imagining the ways in which we can shape the digital landscape.

Read the answers here.

If you would like to submit your own answer to the question: What would a truly feminist internet look like? Reach out info@wikimedia.ie

The Art+Feminism Podcast with Pauline Cummins is out now!

To launch Art+Feminsim 2025 we released a new podcast with Pauline Cummins. 

Cummins is an Irish sculptor, painter, performance and video artist from Dublin, currently based in Rua Red. She was previously a lecturer at the National College of Art and Design and was the founding chairperson of the Women Artists Action Group. Her performance and video work examines the human condition from a feminist perspective. Her practice explores themes of the political body, activism, human rights and gender.

We talked about how she played a key part in establishing the Women Artists Action Group in 1987 in response to the exclusion women artists faced at that time. We also discuss the impact that our current digital landscape is having on art and together we envision what a truly feminist internet would look like.

If you are looking for an inspiring conversation that is sure to replenish your determination to fight for what you believe in then this is the episode for you!

Listen to the episode now. 

Wiki Science Winners Announced

At the start of January we announced the winners of the Wiki Science Writing Contest 2024. As the photo contest was taking a break in 2024, we launched the writing contest to celebrate Science Week Ireland. The contest was aimed at closing the gender gap on Wikipedia and celebrating women in science. 

Check out the winners here!

Thank you so much to everyone who participated! Your contributions to these contests help us create a more inclusive and balanced Wikipedia, ensuring that it remains a freely accessible source of information.

New Collaboration with the University of Galway

We are delighted to announce that we will be starting a new collaboration with the University of Galway in 2025. We are looking forward to extending our educational outreach to the West as part of the MA in Media for Social Change led by Dr Andrew Ó Baoill.

At the current moment, it is more important than ever to think critically about the way we use and consume media. This module engages with social movement theory, the political economy of media, and alternative and activist media. We are thrilled to showcase the open knowledge movement and the potential that digital activism offers for change. 

Dieglop, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CESI Conference 2025

We are honoured to have been selected to participate in the 2025 annual conference of the Computers in Education Society of Ireland this March. The conference is set to take place on Saturday 1st March in Gaelcholáiste Luimnigh.  Gaelcholáiste Luimnigh is the second secondary school in Limerick to have been awarded a European Digital School status for excellence in digital teaching and education so it will be the perfect setting for the conference. 

This year’s theme is ‘Navigating Digital Futures’ and we will be presenting our Wiki Women Erasmus+ Project, and giving participants a Wikipedia Editing crash course. 

Registration is open now on Eventbrite: Get tickets here.

Bryan Mathers, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Enhancing Vicipéid: Take part in the Irish Language Community Survey

Our Irish language Officer recently appeared in the media at the start of January which led to some interesting discussions around the Irish language community and Wikipedia (Vicipéid). 

Vicipéid is a great resource and offers a place where we can make more Irish language information resources available online. 

We are hoping to offer more support to our Irish language editors and increase our community of Irish language Wikipedians. We hope to create useful guides for getting started editing as Gaeilge which we hope will help to improve the quality of the articles and encourage people to get involved

Ahead of this, we would like to invite everyone to take part in a short survey, which will provide us with information about what you/we need to develop Vicipéid and support the community. Have your say and let us know what you need!

Please find the survey here and share it widely. 

Nóta ón Oifigeach Gaeilge

Le déanaí, bhí beagán cainte sna meáin faoi Vicipéid cúpla seachtain ó shin agus bhí plé ar an Halla Baile. Ba mhaith liomsa díriú ar an dea-obair atá á dhéanamh ag an bpobal go dtí sin. Is áis iontach é Vicipéid agus ba cheart dúinn a bheith bródúil as an méid atá bainte amach ag na Vicipéideoirí go dtí seo.

Faoi láthair, táim ag eagrú acmhainní nua agus treoracha simplí (agus ilmheán) do dhaoine atá ag tosú mar eagarthóirí ar an Vicipéid. Tá súil agam go gcuideoidh sé seo le caighdeán na n-alt a fheabhsú agus daoine a spreagadh le páirt a ghlacadh, chun cur ar a gcumas conas if féidir leo a bheith in a Vicipéideoirí, agus tús maith a bheith acu. Táimid ag ullmhú d’fheachtais idirnáisiúnta freisin (Is Breá le Vicí Béaloideas agus An Feimineachas agus an Béaloideas) agus ba bhreá linn bhur rannpháirtíocht iontu. Tugaim cuireadh dóibh go léir páirt a ghlacadh i suirbhé gairid, freisin, a chuirfidh eolas ar fáil dúinn faoi cad é atá ag teastáil uaibh / uainn chun Vicipéid a fhorbairt agus a thacú leis an bpobal. 

Faigh an tsuirbhé anseo. 

Táim ag lorg maoinithe freisin chun níos mó acmhainní agus cúrsaí oiliúna a chruthú don phobal, go mbeadh sé níos fusa do dhaoine nua tus a chur leis. Más mian libh tuilleadh eolais a fháil nó moltaí a roinnt, bíodh drogall oraibh teagmháil a dhéanamh liom. Go raibh míle maith agaibh as bhur gcuid tacaíochta agus as an obair iontach a dhéantar gach lá ar son na Gaeilge.

Le dea-ghuí,
Wikimedia Community Ireland