Wikimania

Submissions/100wikidays

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This is an accepted submission for Wikimania 2015.

Submission no.
2003
Title of the submission
#100wikidays
Type of submission (discussion, hot seat, panel, presentation, tutorial, workshop)
Author of the submission
Vassia Atanassova, User:Spiritia
E-mail address

vassia.atanassova@gmail.com

Username
Spiritia
Country of origin
Bulgaria
Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.)
"Wikimedians of Bulgaria" User Group
Personal homepage or blog
http://spiritia.net
Abstract (at least 300 words to describe your proposal)

You probably know about the #100happydays challenge. You might have seen some of your friends in Facebook or Tumblr, who have challenged themselves to find reasons to stay happy for 100 days in a row. Or you may have personally tried this experiment? Well, I did try to complete it, starting in early May 2014. Following the rules of the challenge, I was posting in my blog and in Facebook pictures about things that made me happy each day. On the 10th day, however, I became one of the 71% of people, who failed the challenge. It was an epic, but probably, a genetically coded fail. Happiness, generally, is not among the things in this life, I'm good in.

I am, however, good in things like contributing to Wikipedia. For 8 years, since I started contributing, Wikipedia and its related projects have been for me a significant source of ... erh, well ... happiness. Enriching my native web space with accessible and reliable information, freely sharing my knowledge with virtually every person on the planet, changing the world for the better... I'm so happy I have been part of all this.

But time had passed and I had also suffered all possible forms and levels -- from mild to severe -- of wiki stress, wiki depression and wiki burnout. I had times in 2013, when I even *enjoyed* the time spent on completing my PhD studies and research, and preparing my thesis for defense: i couldn't think of a better and more valid reason to stay offwiki to reach this important milestone of my academic and professional development. Wiki can wait.

In one moment, in the end of December 2014, when I was taking stock of the passing year, it occurred to me that while I had often taken part in discussions about the lowering levels of editors' retention and the measures that needed to be taken for improving the user experience and atmosphere, I have gradually become one of the victims of this disease. I felt that I was in debt to my wiki community, to *my* Wikipedia, which has given me much more than I have given, and can ever give to it.

It occurred to me that the right challenge for me was not the #100happydays. But something else. Something like #100wikidays. And thus it started, on January, 16, which, for the records, was Friday.

#100wikidays is mainly a challenge to myself (but also to anyone else who feels challenged) to create in Bulgarian Wikipedia at least one new article daily, one hundred days in a row. It may be a short article, but should be well written; and the topic may be not so popular, yet definitely notable. The trick in this challenge is that creating new articles is not excuse for not doing the rest of the maintenance like recent changes patrolling, deleting vandalisms, editing existing articles, uploading free photos to Commons, outreach of Wikimedia projects in traditional and social media, GLAM collaborations, and all possible sorts of wiki things that I have started or I am about to start. No excuses. No missed days, and no catch-ups. One article every day.

For experienced editors, one new article per person per day may not sound as much of an achievement. If I have done so every day since my wiki birthday, this would have produced 3153 new articles by now. But sometimes it is not a matter of numbers; sometimes it is a matter of good will and perseverance. The perseverance of pursuing every day a goal, that may occasionally lose its charm, may tire me, upset me, leave me wordless and helpless. Yet a goal that I have long ago adopted as my mission: to contribute to a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge.

Details of the #100wikidays challenge

Track
  • WikiCulture & Community
Length of session (if other than 30 minutes, specify how long)
30 minutes
Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?
Yes, I was awarded a travel scholarship.
Slides or further information (optional)
Special requests
No.


Interested attendees

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  1. Daniel Mietchen (talk) 00:35, 15 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  2. AKoval (WMF) (talk) 01:12, 15 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Mrjohncummings (talk) 05:19, 16 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  4. Mrs Robinson (talk) 00:51, 17 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Margott (talk) 07:45, 17 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  6. Dimi z (talk) 16:51, 17 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  7. VladislavNedelev (talk) 10:14, 3 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  8. Ijon (talk) 10:00, 7 March 2015 (UTC) (I have succumbed to #100wikidays myself.)[reply]
  9. Ganesh Paudel (talk) 07:00, 13 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  10. Ата (talk) 08:36, 13 March 2015 (UTC) (my #100wikidays 001)[reply]
  11. Satdeep Gill (talk) 09:22, 13 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  12. User:Rberchie-- 11:22, 13 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  13. Arkrishna (talk) 12:54, 13 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  14. If I happen to be there. --Base (talk) 13:31, 13 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  15. --Psubhashish (talk) 13:36, 13 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  16. Pavan santhosh.s (talk) 15:52, 13 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  17. Rsrikanth05 (talk)
  18. Titodutta (talk) 18:39, 15 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  19. Touzrimounir (talk) 11:17, 23 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  20. Лорд Бъмбъри (talk) 10:55, 30 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  21. Msannakoval (talk) 15:55, 1 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  22. Smirkybec (talk) 16:41, 25 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  23. --アンタナナ 18:37, 22 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  24. Maximo Perez Rivas (talk) 17:16, 16 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
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