Wikipedia20, I'm celebrating the sidelined Wikipedians

Wikipedia20 animated lightning, illustration by Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. Animators: Kunal Sen & Tisha Pillai.

Today is Wikipedia's 20th birthday, and the largest encyclopedia in the world is being celebrated the world over. As a "veteran" Wikipedian myself - I've been a volunteer editor since 2007 - I woke up early this morning, feeling the urge to celebrate an aspect that has been overlooked in all the cake-baking and champagne-popping. 

I'm here to celebrate the editor who hit the "Edit" button to discover "hey, I'm being encouraged to edit!". So they made their first edit: it was no more than correcting a typo, or rephrasing a sentence so that it made more sense. Then they learned how to add references, then upload images to Commons and add them to articles.  And soon after, they got hooked: actually participating in building the sum of all human knowledge can be addictive for people who are passionate about evolving through knowledge. 

Then they proudly published their first article. And woke up the next morning to find it littered with notification tags: notability, citations and style were being questioned in ugly banners across what they had so painstakingly created. So they  discovered the discussion page, where their article was being discussed for deletion. There they interacted with the community, being as civil and polite as possible. Most members were equally kind in return, responding to the newcomer's queries about how to improve their article with patience and understanding. Some were vitriolic: the newcomer's questions kindled their need to spew irony and meanness. They got down to work on applying the advice given by the kind ones, some of whom even lent a helping hand by improving style and adding citations. When they had brought the article to a much better standard, they removed the notifications and there it was: an article that was even better than its original version, thanks to the help of their fellow editors. They waited a couple of days to see how their article would fare, and to their delight it was still sparkling clean, in fact a couple of editors had expanded it with great content. "Wow", they thought, "what an amazing place to be". So what if there were a few cretins: such is life. Look at all the wonderful things I've achieved, with the help of all these wonderful people. Forget the bad, keep the good. 

Then they ventured into discussion spaces. They started suggesting ideas for projects, inviting other editors to collaborate. Most members responded with enthusiasm: projects were launched, articles created, files uploaded to Commons. They discovered newsletters and social media groups to share their accomplishments. They started actively participating in discussions on the village pump, offering insight to problems newcomers were facing - they never forgot the help they had been offered as a newcomer themselves. But apparently they were becoming too good, and some editors didn't like that. They were changing the status quo, and change can only bring trouble: soon enough, they would be challenging the power balance in this microcosm of society. So they were ferociously attacked by the gatekeepers of stagnancy: a stagnant environment is easier to control, and those with control-seeking personalities combined with humongous editing stats will not allow anyone or anything to change it. 

But they persevered, and soon learned about offline events: they applied for a Wikimedia meetup and earned a scholarship. There they met amazing people from every corner of the globe and engaged in fruitful discussions. Their first event was followed by a second and a third, and soon they decided to assume volunteer responsibilities. Throughout the following events, Wikimedians would see them all over the place: helping out at registration, carrying projectors and conference packages, giving directions to the conference halls, doing anything in their power to make delegates happy and the conference run smoothly. But they had an exuberant personality: they were "loud", they often joked with people and patted them on the back. But some delegates didn't like that. So they were asked to step down from their volunteer capacity. Most of the delegates supported and comforted them, but the decision was not revoked and an explanation was not offered.

Broken and sad, yet still passionate about knowledge, they remained on the project, but in the sidelines: they no longer wanted to risk being exposed to hostility, either online or offline. They would work in "harmless" capacities, as there's always something valuable to do: put together a newsletter, copy-edit a blog post, review a project... so long as they were still part of the "sum of all human knowledge" vision. 

So on this day, 15 January 2021, I'm here to celebrate the Wikipedian who never made it past the yellow paragraph. I'm here to celebrate the Wikipedian who never made it past the blue paragraph. I'm here to celebrate the Wikipedian who never made it past the red paragraph. And I'm here to celebrate the Wikipedian who made it through yellow, blue and red, but now sits in the sidelines. 

And naturally, a wish is in order... so my birthday wish for Wikipedia20 is this:

Wikipedians are truly an amazing community. We are trailblazers, we are passionadas, we break boundaries of nation - colour - faith - gender. Yet there is one boundary we have yet to smash into a thousand pieces and leave that and only that in the sidelines of our movement: the boundary of POWER. If we could have our way,  we would obliterate power conflict from relationships, politics and every aspect of our lives. The least we can do is to delete it from our movement. Let's do it.

Happy 20th Birthday Wikipedia, and many happy returns 💓

[[User:Saintfevrier]]

Mina Theofilatou

Kefalonia, Greece

Πώς λύσαμε το Μακεδονικό, με ούζο και rakia...

Μέσα Ιουλίου 2018, φτάνω στο Cape Town της Ν. Αφρικής για το ετήσιο μεγάλο συνέδριο των απανταχού Βικιπαιδιστών Wikimania 2018. Το τσιγάρο φυσικά απαγορεύεται σε όλους τους εσωτερικούς χώρους του ξενοδοχείου, οπότε όσοι είχαμε το κουσούρι βγαίναμε μπροστά στην είσοδο. Δεν άργησε να γίνει η σχετική δικτύωση, έτσι τη δεύτερη μέρα με προσκάλεσαν σε ένα μπαλκόνι έξω από το μπαρ, όπου επιτρεπόταν το κάπνισμα. Με το που κάθομαι στο τραπέζι και συστήνομαι ως Ελληνίδα, αρχίζει η ανάκριση:

- Για λέγε λοιπόν, τι γίνεται με το Μακεδονικό.
(στα αγγλικά όλα αυτά εννοείται) 
- Τι θέλετε να μάθετε;
- Ο Μέγας Αλέξανδρος ήταν Μακεδόνας και μιλούσε Μακεδονικά.
(η παρέα αποτελείται από 3 Ιρανούς εκ των οποίων ο ένας έχει σπουδάσει Ιστορία, μια φιλόλογο από τα Σκόπια, ένα μηχανικό από Βουλγαρία που εργάζεται στην Τσεχία, δυο Ινδούς, μια Αφρικανή, έναν Αυστραλό και κάμποσους ακόμα Αμερικανούς και Δυτικοευρωπαίους)
- Τι θα πει Μακεδόνας και Μακεδονική γλώσσα;
- Μα φυσικά, το κράτος της Μακεδονίας που τώρα θα ονομάζεται Βόρεια Μακεδονία, και η γλώσσα τους.
- Στο κράτος που λέτε μιλάνε γλώσσα σλαβικής προέλευσης. Ο Μέγας Αλέξανδρος μιλούσε Ελληνικά.
- Μα πώς; Αφού ήταν από τη Μακεδονία.
- Και τι είναι Μακεδονία;
- Κράτος.
(όσοι ωρύεστε για τη σύνθετη ονομασία, λυπάμαι που θα σας ενημερώσω ότι η διεθνής κοινότητα σύσσωμη - BBC, CNN κλπ. συμπεριλαμβανομένων - Μακεδονία αποκαλεί το κράτος. Όσο και να χτυπιόσαστε ότι δεν σας αρέσει το Βόρεια ή οποιαδήποτε άλλη μορφή σύνθετης ονομασίας. Fact) 
- Η Μακεδονία είναι γεωγραφική περιοχή η οποία σήμερα μοιράζεται ανάμεσα σε τρία κράτη: ΠΓΔΜ, Ελλάδα, Βουλγαρία. Και στην Ελλάδα έχουμε Μακεδονία, μάλιστα έχουμε το μουσείο της Βεργίνας όπου είναι ο τάφος του Φιλίππου, του πατέρα του Μεγάλου Αλεξάνδρου. Έχω πάει δυο φορές, είναι από τα πιο ενδιαφέροντα μουσεία που έχω δει. Να πάτε.
- Ναι αλλά ο Μέγας Αλέξανδρος ήταν Μακεδόνας.
- Άντε πάλι... Ζάνα (η φίλη από Σκόπια) νιώθεις καμιά συγγένεια με το Μεγαλέξανδρο;
- 'Οχι.
- Με ποιο κομμάτι της ιστορίας της χώρας σου νιώθεις να ταυτίζεσαι;
- Με τα τελευταία 200 χρόνια.
- Ευχαριστώ πολύ! Εγώ πάλι είμαι Ελληνίδα, μιλάω ελληνικά, μπορώ να ταυτιστώ με την αρχαία ελληνική ιστορία, είναι μέρος της παράδοσης και της ιστορίας μου. Ε λοιπόν, όλες οι επιγραφές, τα σύμβολα κ.ο.κ. της Μακεδονίας ήταν ελληνικά.

Σιωπή.

- Να σας ρωτήσω κάτι... πάμε στην αρχαία Αθήνα. 5ος π.Χ. αιώνας, Περικλής, Παρθενώνας κλπ. Αμφισβητεί κανείς ότι όλα αυτά είναι ελληνικά;
- Όχι βέβαια!
- ΓΙΑΤΙ;

Σιωπή.

- Γιατί η Αθήνα είναι στο κέντρο της Ελλάδας. Δεν υπάρχουν ΣΥΝΟΡΑ τριγύρω!

Σιωπή.

- Για πείτε μου κάτι άλλο... σε ποια εποχή έδρασε ο Μέγας Αλέξανδρος;
- Hellenistic!
- Thank you very much! I rest my case. Now let's drink ouzo :)

Ανεβαίνω στο δωμάτιο και κατεβάζω ένα μπουκάλι ούζο, των 200 ml (φοβήθηκα βλακωδώς μη μου το κατασχέσουν επειδή περνούσα από Κατάρ καθοδόν για Νότια Αφρική). Δεκατέσσερα άτομα από κάθε γωνιά της γης, ίσα που πήραν μια γουλιά από το ούζο που ανοίξαμε στην υγειά του Ιρανού Μοχάμμαντ, ο οποίος είχε τα γενέθλιά του.

1 καραφάκι ούζο / 14...

 = σφηνάκια για όλους :)

Από κείνο το βράδυ και μετά, είχαμε άγραφο ραντεβού να τελειώνουμε τις βραδιές μας σε εκείνο το μπαλκονάκι. Συζητήσεις επιστημονικές, πολιτιστικές, πολιτικές, άφθονος χαβαλές (αρχηγοί οι Ιρανοί: αξιολάτρευτοι!!!) Ένα βράδυ η Ζάνα έφερε στο τραπέζι rakia... ετσι λένε τη ρακή στη χώρα της. Ήταν μεγάλο μπουκάλι, ήμασταν λιγότερα άτομα... Δυναμίτης! Στα 100 περίπου ml τα παράτησα. Πήγα όμως με τον ένα Ιρανό που άντεχε ακόμα στο μπαρ όπου ήδη έπιναν 5-6 Βικιπαιδιστές... σιγά μην άφηνα την ευκαιρία να δω πρώτο χέρι πώς είναι ένα μπαρ στη Νότιο Αφρική! Σαν τα δικά μας: σε πεζόδρομο, τραπεζάκια έξω αν και ήταν χειμώνας, παρέες έπιναν και γελούσαν και φώναζαν στις 2π.μ. Πιο οικείο περιβάλλον δεν γινόταν :)

Στη βιτρίνα του μπαρ μια χρήσιμη συμβουλή...

Και κάπως έτσι, μια παρέα φίλων από πέντε ηπείρους έλυσε ειρηνικά και αγαπημένα "ΤΟ ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΚΟ".

Σημαντική υποσημείωση:
Στην παρέα μου όπως καταλαβαίνετε δεν ήταν ο μέσος ούγκανος αντίστοιχος Χρυσαυγίτης της αλλοδαπής, ούτε κανένας κομπλεξικός που κοιτάει να καλύψει τα κενά της ψυχής και της ζωής του με "πατριωτικές" ιαχές. Ήταν άνθρωποι που ΕΝΑ πράγμα τους ενώνει: η αγάπη τους για τη ΓΝΩΣΗ. Η γνώση λοιπόν, δεν είναι κάτι που έρχεται με θεία επιφοίτηση, ούτε είναι κάτι που κληρονομείται "έτσι". Η γνώση θέλει μελέτη, κόπο, έρευνα, διασταύρωση, τεκμηρίωση, ουδετερότητα. Επίσης, ο άνθρωπος που αγαπάει τη γνώση δεν έχει προκαταλήψεις: οι διακρίσεις με βάση το έθνος, τη γλώσσα, το χρώμα του δέρματος, τη θρησκεία, το σεξουαλικό προσανατολισμό κ.ο.κ. απλά ΔΕΝ ΜΑΣ ΑΦΟΡΟΥΝ. Μαζί με τους ανθρώπους αυτούς λοιπόν, στον ελεύθερο χρόνο μας χτίζουμε το μεγαλύτερο ανοικτό και ελεύθερο εγχείρημα γνώσης στον κόσμο, που είναι η Wikipedia. Ποιος όμως θα αφιερώσει τον ελεύθερο χρόνο του στη γνώση; Μια χούφτα τρελοί σαν και μας... δεν είναι τυχαίο που η μεγάλη ετήσια συνάντησή μας, που αλλάζει ήπειρο κάθε χρόνο, ονομάζεται Wikimania. Σε κάποιους δημιουργεί αμηχανία το συνθετικό "μανία":  εμείς το αγαπάμε.

Όταν λοιπόν έγραφα πριν λίγους μήνες εν μέσω συλλαλητηρίων για το "ποιος είναι ο εχθρός", και ότι δεν θα κάνω εχθρό μου το Σκοπιανό που έχει τις ίδιες ανθρώπινες αρχές και αξίες με μένα... ΑΥΤΟ εννοούσα. Και στην επόμενη συνάντησή μας - το CEE meeting 2018 στο Lviv της Ουκρανίας - μετά τις εργασίες και συνεργασίες  του συνεδρίου, θα απολαύσω μαζί με τη φίλη μου τη Ζάνα και το φίλο μου τον Άσεν και τους υπόλοιπους εκπροσώπους των χωρών της Κεντρικής και Ανατολικής Ευρώπης... ούζο και ρακία :)

(Μόνο που αυτή τη φορά θα φροντίσω το μπουκάλι να είναι μεγάλο!)

Why is an engineer passionately translating medical content on Greek Wikipedia?

In October 2017 I was admitted to an Athens hospital to have my gall bladder removed. Naturally, I had gone through all the necessary screening, and taken the special precautions due to the fact that I have a VP shunt in my head (meaning, I can't have surgery in a hospital without a neurosurgical ward, which meant the local hospital was out of the question). And naturally, I had read up on the laparoscopy procedure that would be applied. Having examined numerous Greek medical sites, including the cholecystectomy article on Greek Wikipedia, I was wheeled into the operation room in a cheerful mood, knowing that the whole procedure would only take a couple of hours... and convinced I would have no pain or complications and be released the next day, or couple of days at most. Surgery went perfectly well, and soon I was cheerfully chatting away with friends who had come to visit in my room... until around 9 pm, when the anaesthesia wore off and the pain started. Alright, I was expecting pain in the area of the incisions.. but this felt like my right arm was being chopped off at the shoulder. WHAT is this about??? When I asked the nurse, she casually replied:
- "Oh don't worry, it's because the gas they inflated into your abdomen for the laparoscopy is escaping, and pain in the right shoulder is quite common".
-  "Thank you Greek Internet for giving me the whole story", I thought.

Next day, complications set in: bile leak. WHAT is that??? None of the sites I had visited made any mention of it. So, naturally, I looked it up on my smartphone... and got scared stiff. This looked like a serious complication, and it was happening to me, and I had no idea what to expect. But I'm a rational person, so I'm not going to go crazy reading medical journals on case studies of bile leakage: I resorted to my e-mail network of friendly doctors whom I have met along the course of my family's complicated medical history. The friendly doctor told me what to watch out for and reassured me that the quantities of bile leak I was reporting to him were not alarming, but it did make sense that they were keeping me in to be monitored for several days. After a week the leaking stopped, but they had me stay in for another week just to make extra sure I wouldn't be having any issues in the peritoneum, which is where the bile was leaking (and which also happens to be where the shunt drains excess fluid from my brain). I am SO grateful that I had such excellent care from such diligent health professionals of the free and public Greek NHS*.

As the second week I was fully mobile and hospitalization was merely precautionary, I used the free time to start working on a project that I was contemplating for over a year, and which made even more sense after discovering first-hand how lacking impartial and reliable medical information is on the Greek Internet: translating medical content on the Wikimedia Projects into Greek. First step was to contact James Heilman from the WikiProject Medicine group. When we met in Esino Lario in 2016, he encouraged me to help them get the Wikimed offline app available in Greek. The time had come for me to begin.

The "office" I set up in my hospital room at "Red Cross Korgialeneio - Mpenakeio General Hospital" in Athens, Greece. Using my mobile phone and data plan as a wifi hotspot, I started by translating labels and descriptions of Wkidata medical items into Greek.

Five months later and I'm obsessed... I've made over a thousand edits, learned a lot along the way, and almost every day I discover a new reason that makes it even more meaningful .

But surely... wouldn't this kind of work be best assumed by a doctor, or someone in the healthcare field? Not an engineer! "What do you know about medicine?," I've been asked. And then they add the inevitable cliche: "and on Wikipedia? How reliable is a site where ANYONE can edit?"

The answer is: 
quite reliable. More than you may think.

I've been using the Wikimedia projects in my teaching for eleven years, and two years ago I trained mentally-ill patients to edit Wikipedia as an alternative therapy approach (more about Wikitherapy here). One of the main reasons I'm so passionate about the Wikimedia movement is that money-making is not involved anywhere in the process: from the cookie-free, ad-free interface to the five pillars of Wikipedia, this is about as impartial and commercial-free as you can get on the Internet.

So, to go back to the cholecystectomy... I re-visited the Greek article and looked at its history. One of the usernames seemed familiar: bingo, it was the name of the doctor whose site was #4 in my Google search. This surgeon has a private practice, so he needs to "advertise" laparoscopy as being painless and complication-free: the title of his page says "no pain or bleeding". Since he's been editing the Wikipedia article, he's obviously using the same story. 

Obviously, there is nothing I can do about this surgeon misleading people on his personal website... nor is it advisable to remove the content he added to the Wikipedia article, as he's not actually lying: just that he's giving half of the story. What I can do is give the other half. By adding and referencing the pain and complications that I experienced first-hand. Because if I had known the issues beforehand,  I would have been better prepared. So now that I have fully recovered, improving the article is the next priority on my Wikipedia to-do list... because I feel it's my duty to protect future patients who will want the full story.

There is a lot of value that a layman, albeit impartial, editor can add to Wikipedia. And that is why Wikipedia is nothing short of a knowledge revolution. And we need revolutions. Especially in a country that has been devastated by eight years of cruel austerity, and a consequent humanitarian crisis which has led hundreds of people to unemployment, poverty and despair. And if no-one is going to right the wrongs of lacking reliable and impartial medical information on its Internet... I will. On Wikipedia. Where anyone can edit**.

Mina Theofilatou
(User:Saintfevrier on the Wikimedia projects)
Electrical & Computing Engineer / Computer Science Teacher
Kefalonia, Greece


 *why didn't the surgeon who operated on me explain to me what was going on? He did, eventually...  but he's not the kind of doctor who explains. I can pardon such minor shortcomings: doctors in austerity-ridden Greece are nothing short of heroes. They are keeping the national health system - which is public and free to all - alive and kicking under conditions that would make other doctors run away in despair. Often the relatives of patients need to bring bandages and syringes to the hospital, and the waiting lists for surgery are long. But you will never see a Greek hospital closing its door on a serious incident that needs to be treated. Because it's public and free for all. And THAT is why National Health Systems need to be accessible to ALL citizens, and not just a fortunate few who can afford proper treatment. But don't take it from me: take it from the as of Wednesday 3/14 late Stephen Hawking. He said himself that he wouldn't be alive if it weren't for the NHS, which UK officials are now trying to break into pieces and give away to private interests...

** if there's anyone out there with working knowledge of Greek, and who is willing to help me make my mission come to fruition, but lacks knowledge and experience in editing Wikipedia... don't hesitate to reach out to me on my Wikipedia page or on social media. I'd be more than happy to show you the ropes :) 

Language and politics: my takeaways from Celtic Knot 2017

 Early July... I arrive in the UK after yet another heat wave in Greece, wearing a tank top and sunglasses. I had to run to catch the train from Manchester airport to Edinburgh and managed to hop on in the nick of time. Looking around me and out the window, I observe people wearing winter jackets, scarves and sweaters. Strange, I thought, as the cold hadn't really set in: a two-hour flight delay and the agony to make it on that train were more than enough to keep me feeling warm. Soon enough though, I put away my sunglasses, and put on a jacket to adjust to the cloudy and cold weather. This is crazy, I thought. It's JULY!!!.

The next evening I was at the University of Edinburgh's Library bar, joining the other delegates for a casual meet-up before the Celtic Knot Wikipedia Language conference got under way the next day. I introduce myself as Mina from Kefalonia, Greece; the group, who were already engaged in lively discussion about their native languages, responded with "Hi Mina. What's the story?"

I was soon to learn about the perils of people who identified as Welsh and Scottish in performing the self-evident: using their language and culture without being criticised or persecuted. I felt as if a window had been opened to a world I had never known, or even contemplated, until that moment. I could never have imagined that children were humiliatingly punished  for speaking Welsh among each other... in the seventies! In the UK! Of all ages... and of all places! So they were probably expecting a nasty tale of how Kefalonians were mistreated by the central government for using their local dialect. Not the case... in Kefalonia, as in all regions of Greece, we have a single language: modern Greek. The dialect and accent vary greatly from place to place, but that's about it. In Kefalonia it so happens that we have many Italian words in our local dialect, due to centuries of Venetian rule when most of Greece was under Turkish occupation. But a Greek from Kefalonia will perfectly understand a Greek from Crete (and so on)... though it is highly likely that if you have two Kefalonians (or Cretans etc.) casually chattering away with one another, a Greek-speaking individual from a different region will most likely have difficulty keeping up with the conversation, and will eventually need a bit of translation!

Soon enough I start talking about my own projects as a Computer Science teacher in Kefalonia. My newly met Welsh friends showed interest in our Wild Flora project, so I passed over my smartphone for them to peruse the app we had developed in class. A few minutes later, I was reprimanded: "the app is in English! Why isn't it in Greek?" They only calmed down after I explained that we made the app in English first for it to be used by Israeli schools interested in exploring Mediterranean  biodiversity, and that the Greek app would follow soon. "OK you're excused... but only because you're using English as a means to an end!" That was more than enough to make me feel perfectly at home among this passionate bunch.

During the conference I was to soak in more and more passion for a whole lot of languages I knew very little or nothing about: Gaelic in Scotland... Basque and Catalan in Spain... a handful of different flavours of Sami in Norway... and their Wikipedias. Turns out that there are Wikipedia versions for many more languages than we normally encounter in our travels. The only such case I was familiar with was Pontic Greek, spoken by Greeks who used to live in the Black Sea area, and with its own Wikipedia, albeit not yet having reached the 500-article mark. It was astounding to learn that Catalan was the second Wikipedia to be created, right after English Wikipedia. That Welsh Wikipedia has almost 100,000 articles. That Scotland has not one, but two Wikimedians in Residence: one at the National Library of Scotland and another at the University of Edinburgh. The drive behind the individuals volunteering and working to keep the essence of their identity alive and kicking, is amazing.

But my trip to Edinburgh wasn't all about language: it was my second visit to this magical place and I managed to get in a good deal of sightseeing, mostly by wandering through the Old Town and climbing all the way up to Calton Hill (such amazing contrast: dramatic yet serene). Whenever I travel abroad I'm always curious to catch on to Greek being spoken on the streets, and there was quite a lot of it: not so much as in Manchester, but Greeks are there. Greeks are everywhere actually, after the EU-imposed crisis started to tear apart my country in 2010, and well-educated Greek professionals started abandoning their homeland by the thousands, in seek of a better future.

The National Monument of Scotland: built to resemble my country's iconic Parthenon. Left unfinished for nearly two centuries. Nicknamed "Scotland's Disgrace". I find it beautiful:)

Walking around a town at 55 degrees latitude in July, donned in winter clothing, was surreal. Even though my stay in Edinburgh lasted merely 48 hours, I caught myself thinking "this is paranoid. I don't know what to call this, but it is definitely NOT July". That's how a Greek feels in UK weather, especially in the summer: anything but normal. I came to actually appreciate our heatwaves: they are insanely uncomfortable, but hey, they feel normal. And feeling normal is important. So, imagine a Greek who has left his country not by will, but by need. Because the unemployment rate is so high that even if he does manage to put his painstakingly-earned Ph.D. to use, he will be receiving a salary that Western Europeans would laugh at. I was explaining this to a Welsh delegate during the Celtic Knot lunch break... "so then you have a brain drain going on", he concluded. I stopped to think for a minute, and replied "No. You can't call it that. You would say it's a brain drain if there weren't enough professionals to fill the vacant job positions. There are no job positions for professionals in Greece. Greek education is public and free from Kindergarten to University. A Medical School graduate will nowadays most likely seek employment in Germany or the UK. So the German or British state will have acquired a doctor without spending a single pound on educating her; her education was paid for by the Greek state. Which is supposedly the culprit in the supposed Greek bailout. In which money wasn't donated to us; it was lent to us at criminal interest rates. It's lose-lose for us, win-win for the EU".

Which brings me to "language and politics". One thing I was surprised to discover at Celtic Knot was how fond of the European Union most of the British delegates were (pardon me my dear Welsh, Scottish and Irish friends for any derogatory connotations in "British": using the term merely for convenience:-). The EU supports indigenous language and culture via its various funding programmes, so it can hardly be viewed by them as hostile. The United Kingdom, on the other hand - and its violent assimilation of everything Welsh, Irish and Scottish into a single British culture - can.

So there you have it: two flip sides of the same coin. The EU as a vehicle to promoting language and cultural diversity. The same EU financially crushing a member-state and reaping 500,000 of its state-educated native professionals in seven years. The UK as a vehicle to employment and dignity for thousands of Greek professionals. The same UK crushing the indigenous language and culture of three of its countries, and forcing thousands of natives to use English to conduct their daily business.

Epilogue?

What better way to close a post about a Wikipedia conference... than a Wikipedia edit. Wikipedia in the synecdoche sense, anyway... so here is my first ever contribution to English Wikiquote:

'There's no such thing as dead languages, only dormant minds.' 

By the Catalan novelist Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

And to elaborate on the political aspects: they WANT our minds in a constant dormant state. They, as in "the system" and its greedy, all-assimilating accessories. Perhaps awareness of the workings of assimilation in the cultural/language domain, can lead to better understanding of how the same methods work in other capacities. Employment-driven migration, for instance. Wouldn't it be great if the Wikimedia projects were explored as a tool to tackle both? Just food for thought...

Many thanks to Ewan McAndrew for inviting me to present at the Celtic Knot Wikipedia language conference, after the enthusiastic comment I left on a University of Edinburgh "thinking out loud" page soon after my first visit to Edinburgh in March 2017. Susan, Jason, Duncan, Robin, Dafydd et al... it was great to meet you. John, it was great to see you again. And as suggested by Duncan... here's to the next Wikipedia Language Conference being held in Kefalonia. We may not have the mystery, drama and medieval charm of Edinburgh... but I promise you, our July weather is much more enjoyable :)

Mina Theofilatou
Computer Science Teacher
Wikimedian (User:Saintfevrier)
Kefalonia, Greece

Εκφοβισμός: μια πρωτότυπη πρωτοβουλία αντιμετώπισης

Οι εκπαιδευτικοί της χώρας γνωρίζουν καλά ότι ο σχολικός εκφοβισμός υπάρχει σε κάθε βαθμίδα μάθησης: ρωτήστε καθηγητές και δάσκαλους στην πρωτοβάθμια, δευτεροβάθμια, μεταδευτεροβάθμια και τριτοβάθμια εκπαίδευση και θα σας πουν ότι έχουν υπόψη τους τουλάχιστον ένα περιστατικό από προσωπική εμπειρία και δεκάδες από αφηγήσεις τρίτων και τα ΜΜΕ. Κανείς δεν μπορεί να ξεχάσει τον Βαγγέλη Γιακουμάκη: η τραγική του κατάληξη ανέδειξε στην κοινή γνώμη ένα σοβαρότατο πρόβλημα το οποίο συχνά "σκουπίζεται κάτω από το χαλί" από τους ιθύνοντες προκειμένου να προστατευτούν άτομα και υπολήψεις. Διότι πολύ συχνά τα άτομα τα οποία επιδίδονται σε εκφοβισμό έχουν "πλάτες" και πάνω σε αυτές πατάνε προκειμένου να εκδηλώσουν τα συναισθήματα μισαλλοδοξίας και υπεροψίας που τους διακατέχουν.

Ο εκφοβισμός δεν είναι όμως "πατέντα" του μαθησιακού περιβάλλοντος: υπάρχει παντού γύρω μας. Τις τελευταίες δε δεκαετίες με την έλευση των ΤΠΕ οι συμπεριφορές εκφοβισμού και παρενόχλησης γίνονται όλο και πιο συχνό φαινόμενο στο Διαδίκτυο, σε σημείο που πολλοί χρήστες να τις θεωρούν "δεδομένες" και να τις αποδέχονται, νομίζοντας ότι "δεν μπορούν να κάνουν αλλιώς".

Μαθαίνουμε στα παιδιά μας και στους μαθητές μας ότι το καλύτερο όπλο είναι η γνώση. Αυτό ακριβώς σκέφτηκε και ο Σύλλογος Σχολείων Κοινότητας Βικιπαίδειας Ελλάδας και αποφάσισε να διοργανώσει πρωτοβουλία λημματογράφησης στην ελληνική Βικιπαίδεια κατά του εκφοβισμού. Στόχος της πρωτοβουλίας είναι να δημιουργηθούν ή να επεκταθούν λήμματα που σχετίζονται με τον εκφοβισμό και την παρενόχληση, καλύπτοντας όμως και αντικείμενα που υπεισέρχονται στο ίδιο φάσμα αλλά ελάχιστα έχουν αναδειχθεί ως μέρος της "κουλτούρας" φόβου και μίσους. Ένα τέτοιο παράδειγμα είναι ο "τοξικός ηγέτης": το λήμμα υπήρχε από το 2006 στην αγγλική Wikipedia, δημιουργήθηκε μόλις χτες στην ελληνική με αφορμή την πρωτοβουλία λημματογράφησης. Τα προτεινόμενα λήμματα προς δημιουργία ή μετάφραση έχουν αντληθεί από την αγγλική Wikipedia, όμως ο καθένας μας μπορεί να προτείνει κάτι που πιστεύει ότι λείπει από τη λίστα. Ακόμα καλύτερα θα ήταν να αναλάβει κάποιο λήμμα και να το δημιουργήσει, ή να το μεταφράσει από άλλη γλώσσα ή να το επεκτείνει: η Βικιπαίδεια άλλωστε είναι το μεγαλύτερο εγχείρημα ελεύθερης και ανοικτής γνώσης με χιλιάδες εθελοντές συντάκτες σε ολόκληρο τον κόσμο. Αν θέλετε να συμμετάσχετε αλλά δεν γνωρίζετε πώς, ο Σύλλογος Σχολείων Κοινότητας Βικιπαίδειας Ελλάδας μπορεί να σας κατευθύνει μέσω σεμιναρίων και online υποστήριξης: δείτε εδώ τη σελίδα του Συλλόγου στο Facebook για περισσότερες πληροφορίες.

Η λημματογράφηση κατά του εκφοβισμού θα διαρκέσει από τις 22 Αυγούστου έως και τις 5 Σεπτεμβρίου 2016. Ελπίζουμε με το ξεκίνημα της νέας σχολικής χρονιάς να υπάρχουν πολλά νέα λήμματα, ώστε μαθητές και καθηγητές που θα αναζητούν πληροφορίες για θέματα εκφοβισμού που τους απασχολούν να βρίσκουν αυτό που ψάχνουν στα πρώτα αποτελέσματα της αναζήτησης μέσω της Βικιπαίδειας.

Ευχές σε όλους τους συναδέλφους και μαθητές για καλή σχολική χρονιά, με αισιοδοξία, δημιουργικότητα και επαγρύπνιση μέσα στους δύσκολους καιρούς που ζούμε...

Μίνα Θεοφιλάτου
Καθηγήτρια Πληροφορικής  ΠΕ19
Αργοστόλι, Κεφαλονιά