WikiBilim
 | |
| Founded | May 2011 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Rauan Kenzhekhanuly, Timur Muktarov, Nartay Ashim |
| Type | Accordance to Kazakhstan Republic Law |
| Focus | Education, Social Development, Kazakh Language, Digital content |
| Location | |
Area served | Kazakhstan |
| Method | Online projects, creating intellectual clubs, grants |
| Owner | Public Foundation - individuals |
Key people |
Rauan Kenzhekhanuly, Chair of the Board of Trustees Nurbek Matzhani, President |
Employees | 12 |
| Website | www.wikibilim.kz |
WikiBilim Public Foundation is a nonprofit organization operating in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Organization was established for developing and promoting online educational content in the Kazakh language. "Wiki" - means content generated by users, "Bilim" means knowledge.
History
The organization as the non-profit public foundation has been founded by the individuals Rauan Kenzhekhanuly, Timur Muktarov, Nartay Ashim and Marat Isbayev in May 2011. The starting project for WikiBilim was the Kazakh Wikipedia with the goal to promote Wikipedia in Kazakhstan and developing community in Kazakh Wikipedia.,[1][1]
In August 2011, Haifa, during the Wikimania 2011 Jimmy Wales presented Kenzhekhanuly with the Wikipedian of the Year award. Moreover, Wales announced his own grant to WikiBilim as a contribution to the development of the Kazakh Wikipedia.[2] The Wikimedia Foundation has given the organisation a $16,600 grant for conducting Turkic Wikimedia Conference in Almaty. Contributors to Wikipedia in the West have raised the question of whether the foundation and Wales should be supporting WikiBilim in light of the backing it has received from the Kazakh government, which has been responsible for closing down independent media outlets in what Human Rights Watch describes as a "growing crackdown on free speech".[1]
Objectives
- Contribute to and support the online development of Kazakh language, education, culture and innovative technologies.
- Develop the IT sphere in Kazakhstan, in general.
- Organize educational projects for youth.
- Sponsor social projects.
- Modernize information and communication systems for Kazakh content.
- Contribute to the overall development of Kazakhstan's Internet content.
- Develop improved communication for information in education.
- Organize contests, awards, and social gatherings of Kazakh content contributors.
- Support improvement of systematizing of laws in Kazakhstan.
Projects
WikiBilim is working on several different projects to promote its mission.
Kazakh Wikipedia
The Kazakh Wikipedia was the first project of the WikiBilim Public Fund, which kicked off in June 2011. The purpose of this project is improving the quality of the material as well as amount of the material, and number of active users in the Kazakh encyclopedia. Also the project intends to create an intellectual community, where members can share with their knowledge in Kazakh language, and, eventually, turn this intellectual community into an everyday hobby. The supporters of the project are: Samruk-Kazyna Welfare Fund provided 100 laptops for the most active 100 users. Nokia Corporation supports Вики-Бәйге contest, where 40 best users in the Kazakh Wikipedia receive Nokia phones. The Ministry of Information and Communication of Kazakhstan Republic helps in organization of events. The Kazakh National Encyclopedia provided its electronic version of their material. International IT University provided its volunteer students for working with material within the Kazakh Wikipedia.[3]
Timeline
WikiBilim began negotiations with Wikimedia Foundation in the beginning of May 2011. On 16 May 2011, WikiBilim announced itself as a project dedicated to Wikipedia in Kazakhstan, during a press conference. The chairman of the Wikimedia Foundation Board, Mr. Ting Chen, himself came to support the Kazakh Wikipedia. Moreover, participating in the press conference were a member of the Kazakh Parliament, Murat Abenov, as well as the chair of the Kazakh National Encyclopedia, Bauyrzhan Zhaqyp, along with a leader of KazContent.
At the conference, Ting Chen announced that Wikimedia Foundation supports WikiBilim and appreciates its efforts to expand the Kazakh Wikipedia. The Kazakh National Encyclopedia officially confirmed provision of its entire material with a license CC-BY-SA 3.0 that permits publishing all the encyclopedia materials to the Kazakh Wikipedia. Nokia Corporation announced its sponsorship to the Вики-бәйге contest, where it will give 40 cell phones to the best editors of the Kazakh Wikipedia. In June 2011, sophomore students of International IT University volunteered as contributors to the Kazakh Wikipedia. Specifically, they worked on wiki coding of the prepared materials and published them to the Kazakh Wikipedia.
From August 4–7, 2011, the founder and director of WikiBilim, Rauan Kenzhekhanuly, went to Wikimania 2011 in Haifa, Israel, where he was named by Jimmy Wales as the Global Wikipedian of the Year.
On 14–17 September 2011 the Wikibilim Public Foundation were invited to take part on the Digital Communications Kazakhstan 2011 Exhibition, where it introduced its methods of recruiting youth to startup projects.
On 16–18 September 2011, WikiBilim Public Foundation representatives went to the conference of the Creative Commons Global Summit in Warsaw, Poland.[4] The purpose of this trip was to include Kazakhstan among the countries that work on distribution of information under the Creative Commons standards.
On 27 September 2011, Wikibilim organized a Wiki-seminar at the Kazakh National Pedagogue University for Women Almaty, Kazakhstan.
On 28 September 2011, the Kazakh National Academy of Arts hosted a presentation about the WikiBilim Public Foundation.
In October 2011, WikiBilim conducted a training session and seminar at the Nazarbayev University. The purpose of the seminar was to create a Wiki-Club with wiki ambassadors on the university campus, and this club would focus on recruiting Kazakhstan youth to improve usage of the Kazakh national language, education, and science.
Creative Commons Kazakhstan
Creative Commons standards adaption in Kazakhstan. This project targets open information share, where people can have a field for easily and effectively share information and knowledge.
Open Library of Kazakhstan
On 17 September 2012 WikiBilim Foundation presented Open Library of Kazakhstan, www.ikitap.kz published under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license. Library contains more than 3500 books, 100 audiobooks and 200 audio files.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Williams, Chrsitopher (2012-12-24). "Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales restricts discussion of Tony Blair friendship". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2013-01-25.
- ↑ "Tengri News". En.tengrinews.kz. Retrieved 2013-09-06.
- ↑ Kazakhstan Prime Minister Web Site
- ↑ Global Summit 2011, Creative Commons.
- ↑ “WikiBilim” projects presented in Astana, courtesy the Central Communications Service for the President of Kazakhstan, 10 April 2013.