The #WikiGap edit-a-thon in Yogyakarta, on March 8, 2018
The #WikiGap edit-a-thon in Yogyakarta, on March 8, 2018
The #WikiGap edit-a-thon in Yogyakarta, on March 8, 2018
The #WikiGap edit-a-thon in Yogyakarta, on March 8, 2018

UAE Wikipedia: Marathon community effort finally gives the Emirates a proper place


Melissa Gronlund
  • English
  • Arabic

Imagine you want to look at a picture of the old souq in Abu Dhabi. Or find information about the 18th-century Ras Al Khaimah poet Salma. Or find out what year the UK withdrew from the UAE. Chances are you'd end up on Wikipedia, but you'd only be in luck for one of those three queries. (The UK left in 1971, right before the Federation of the Emirates.)

The UAE is under-represented on Wikipedia compared to other countries of its size, and on April 1 of this year, a group of volunteer Wikipedia editors launched the Wiki Loves Emirates campaign to drum up images for the UAE’s Wikipedia pages.

The leader of the campaign is Saqib Qayyum, a 28-year-old Pakistani who divides his time between Dubai, where his family is based, and his work with an oil company in Russia. Qayyum previously organised the Pakistani contribution to four of the Wiki Loves Monuments campaigns, through which a whopping 26,000 images of Pakistani monuments were added. At the start of May, Abu Dhabi is hosting its first Wiki edit-a-thon, addressing #WikiGap – the fact that there are four times more pages about men than women – and ensuring UAE women are as represented as UAE men.

One of the images uploaded to the 2018 Wiki Loves Emirates campaign: the boat at Dubai Museum.
One of the images uploaded to the 2018 Wiki Loves Emirates campaign: the boat at Dubai Museum.

Wikipedia is famous among internet entities – depending on how you look at it. It is either in the global top five of the most visited pages or among the top 10 – for the way it has held on to the commitment to free information and crowd-sourced knowledge that marked the early days of the web. They've resisted the temptation to make money (Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, is known as the only internet non-billionaire) and have focused on non-profit initiatives such as Wikimedia that help grow the community of researchers.

As Facebook's ethos of connecting the world has come under scrutiny, Wikipedia's model of being policed by volunteers – whether contributors, fact-checkers or editors – has continued to function remarkably well. (Perhaps inevitably, the most comprehensive information source on Wikipedia's reliability is on Wikipedia itself.)

At the same time, its content reflects the biases – or, more basically, interests – of its contributors. According to Wikipedia, most volunteers are men, either in their mid-20s or retired, while women make up between 10 and 20 per cent. Although the relation between the gender of the writer and the subject is not direct, this might be another reason you will not be able to find information on the Ras Al Khaimah poet Salma, daughter of Al Majedi bin Dhaher.

Wikipedia also tends to skew towards power centres: people from English-speaking countries are the most represented, alongside those from western Europe, and then a smattering of engaged countries, such as Russia, India, Brazil, the Philippines and Lebanon.

Wiki Edit-a-thons

In keeping with the democratic spirit of Wikipedia, over the past few years groups have been hosting editing marathons to redress gaps and imbalances in coverage, often all-day and even all-night affairs, fuelled by coffee and camaraderie, when volunteers come together to enter neglected figures, movements, and facts into the internet's consciousness. The longest took place in 2016 at the Museo Soumaya in Mexico City, where Wikimedia Mexico and museum volunteers added information about artists to Spanish-language Wikipedia for 72 hours solid. This was certified as a Guinness World Record.

As in other forms of grassroots activism, the events foster a sense of social solidarity and responsibility. The US organisation Art + Feminism's fifth annual Wikipedia marathon, held this year at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, involved free childcare. Many events, such as Black Life Matters, organised by the Schomburg Centre for Research in Black Culture, in New York, also teach volunteers editing and digital literacy.

The UAE's oldest extant mosque, Al Badiyah, in Fujairah. Artur Malinowski
The UAE's oldest extant mosque, Al Badiyah, in Fujairah. Artur Malinowski

Other marathons have emerged as part of museums' educational outreach components. The multi-part, multi-venue exhibition and research project Pacific Standard Time, funded by the Getty in Los Angeles to look at LA's art history, hosted a marathon in November 2017 to increase the representation of Latin American filmmakers on Wikipedia. In essence, these are a fast-paced, crowd-sourced version of the global redressing of cultural history that has been taking place since the 1960s, when postcolonialism, feminism, and other advocates began to challenge the privilege of western white males. In May, a marathon for #WikiGap comes to the UAE, in an initiative of Wikimedia – the non-profit arm that oversees Wikipedia and its affiliates – and the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On International Women's Day, March 8, Swedish embassies held Wiki marathons, in which volunteers created and edited pages on key women from each country. Abu Dhabi's will run in early with the support of UN Women – the UN's gender-equality task force – and Abu Dhabi's General Women's Union. So far, Sweden's #WikiGap initiative has edited 2420 articles and added about 450.

Qayyum has been a volunteer editor of Wikipedia since 2012. He has edited more than 1,000 pages on Pakistani politicians, and has won four scholarships from Wikimedia. "I try to spend two to three – sometimes four – hours a day" on Wikipedia, he says. "It has become part of my life. If I don't do Wikipedia one day, it feels like something is missing."

Volunteer editors

Qayyum is married with a child and says that his wife asks why he spends so much time on the encyclopedia website. “Sometimes she asks, yes. But Wikipedia provides free, unbiased information to everyone,” he says, in a spirit of explanation (he might have noted my sympathies with his wife). “It feels good when you contribute to an institution that gives knowledge to so many people around the world and doesn’t ask for anything back.”

One of the images uploaded during the 2018 Wiki Loves Emirates campaign. A ferryboat in Deira, Dubai.
One of the images uploaded during the 2018 Wiki Loves Emirates campaign. A ferryboat in Deira, Dubai.

Now two weeks in, the Wiki Loves Emirates campaign has collected almost 700 photographs: images of traditional architecture, the sea, cityscapes (particularly by night), sand dunes and the occasional oil rig. Qayyum notes, however, that some of these will have to be returned because of a statute called "freedom of panorama," by which images of modern buildings – which for the UAE means most structures, including such iconic ones as the Burj Khalifa, the Burj Al Arab and Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque – are subject to copyright, although they are in public space.

Freedom of panorama is a little-known and little understood restriction on image usage. It rests on the fact that in situations where a structure's architecture or design is still under copyright, it is illegal to publish images of it without express permission from the owner. In France, for example, where there is no freedom of panorama, this means one cannot publish images of the Eiffel Tower at night. Although the architecture of the building is in the public domain, as Wales wrote in a 2015 article in the Guardian, the "illumination of the Eiffel Tower is considered to be a separate artistic installation".

Most photographers, social media users and even media outlets take and post images of modern buildings in the UAE without running afoul of the law. But Wikipedia has stringent rules to accept only images that have been taken by the user, ones for which there is a free licence or for which permission has been secured.

This matters because Wikipedia has emerged as the go-to encyclopedia for most internet users, meaning the copyright distinction greatly affects the representation of the country. For, say, the Burj Al Arab to be legally pictured, permission would have to be secured from the legal team of the Jumeirah Group – hardly an easy task for an everyday punter.

Although many of the images will be taken down at the end of the campaign, you can catch them on the UAE Wikimedia page for the meantime, or you can sign up to contribute.

The #WikiGap Abu Dhabi edit-a-thon will take place in early May at the General Women's Union in Abu Dhabi. The Wiki Loves Emirates campaign runs until April 30

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Where to donate in the UAE

The Emirates Charity Portal

You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.

The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments

The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.

Al Noor Special Needs Centre

You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.

Beit Al Khair Society

Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.

Dar Al Ber Society

Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.

Dubai Cares

Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.

Emirates Airline Foundation

Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.

Emirates Red Crescent

On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.

Gulf for Good

Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.

Noor Dubai Foundation

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).

MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

Director: Jesse Armstrong

Rating: 3.5/5

The Settlers

Director: Louis Theroux

Starring: Daniella Weiss, Ari Abramowitz

Rating: 5/5

How it works

Each player begins with one of the great empires of history, from Julius Caesar's Rome to Ramses of Egypt, spread over Europe and the Middle East.

Round by round, the player expands their empire. The more land they have, the more money they can take from their coffers for each go.

As unruled land and soldiers are acquired, players must feed them. When a player comes up against land held by another army, they can choose to battle for supremacy.

A dice-based battle system is used and players can get the edge on their enemy with by deploying a renowned hero on the battlefield.

Players that lose battles and land will find their coffers dwindle and troops go hungry. The end goal? Global domination of course.

PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES

Saturday (UAE kick-off times)

Watford v Leicester City (3.30pm)

Brighton v Arsenal (6pm)

West Ham v Wolves (8.30pm)

Bournemouth v Crystal Palace (10.45pm)

Sunday

Newcastle United v Sheffield United (5pm)

Aston Villa v Chelsea (7.15pm)

Everton v Liverpool (10pm)

Monday

Manchester City v Burnley (11pm)

About Karol Nawrocki

• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.

• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.

• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.

• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.

Essentials

The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Malaysia Airlines all fly direct from the UAE to Kuala Lumpur and on to Penang from about Dh2,300 return, including taxes. 
 

Where to stay
In Kuala Lumpur, Element is a recently opened, futuristic hotel high up in a Norman Foster-designed skyscraper. Rooms cost from Dh400 per night, including taxes. Hotel Stripes, also in KL, is a great value design hotel, with an infinity rooftop pool. Rooms cost from Dh310, including taxes. 


In Penang, Ren i Tang is a boutique b&b in what was once an ancient Chinese Medicine Hall in the centre of Little India. Rooms cost from Dh220, including taxes.
23 Love Lane in Penang is a luxury boutique heritage hotel in a converted mansion, with private tropical gardens. Rooms cost from Dh400, including taxes. 
In Langkawi, Temple Tree is a unique architectural villa hotel consisting of antique houses from all across Malaysia. Rooms cost from Dh350, including taxes.

Brief scores:

Pakistan (1st innings) 181: Babar 71; Olivier 6-37

South Africa (1st innings) 223: Bavuma 53; Amir 4-62

Pakistan (2nd innings) 190: Masood 65, Imam 57; Olivier 5-59

Brighton 1
Gross (50' pen)

Tottenham 1
Kane (48)

PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES

Saturday (UAE kick-off times)

Watford v Leicester City (3.30pm)

Brighton v Arsenal (6pm)

West Ham v Wolves (8.30pm)

Bournemouth v Crystal Palace (10.45pm)

Sunday

Newcastle United v Sheffield United (5pm)

Aston Villa v Chelsea (7.15pm)

Everton v Liverpool (10pm)

Monday

Manchester City v Burnley (11pm)

The biog

Favourite colour: Brown

Favourite Movie: Resident Evil

Hobbies: Painting, Cooking, Imitating Voices

Favourite food: Pizza

Trivia: Was the voice of three characters in the Emirati animation, Shaabiyat Al Cartoon

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle%20front-axle%20electric%20motor%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E218hp%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E330Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle-speed%20automatic%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EMax%20touring%20range%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E402km%20(claimed)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh215%2C000%20(estimate)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeptember%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Formula One top 10 drivers' standings after Japan

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 306
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 247
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes 234
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull 192
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 148
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull 111
7. Sergio Perez, Force India 82
8. Esteban Ocon, Force India 65
9. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso 48
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault 34

It Was Just an Accident

Director: Jafar Panahi

Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr

Rating: 4/5

About Krews

Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi

Based: Abu Dhabi

Founded: January 2019

Number of employees: 10

Sector: Technology/Social media 

Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support

 

The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Scoreline

Germany 2

Werner 9', Sane 19'

Netherlands 2

Promes 85', Van Dijk 90'

Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.

Based: Riyadh

Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany

Founded: September, 2020

Number of employees: 70

Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions

Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds  

Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices

LIGUE 1 FIXTURES

All times UAE ( 4 GMT)

Friday
Nice v Angers (9pm)
Lille v Monaco (10.45pm)

Saturday
Montpellier v Paris Saint-Germain (7pm)
Bordeaux v Guingamp (10pm)
Caen v Amiens (10pm)
Lyon v Dijon (10pm)
Metz v Troyes (10pm)

Sunday
Saint-Etienne v Rennes (5pm)
Strasbourg v Nantes (7pm)
Marseille v Toulouse (11pm)

BMW M5 specs

Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor

Power: 727hp

Torque: 1,000Nm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh650,000

SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20Z%20FOLD5
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMain%20display%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%207.6%22%20QXGA%2B%20Dynamic%20Amoled%202X%2C%20Infinity%20Flex%2C%202176%20x%201812%2C%2021.6%3A18%2C%20374ppi%2C%20HDR10%2B%2C%20up%20to%20120Hz%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECover%20display%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%206.2%22%20HD%2B%20Dynamic%20Amoled%202X%2C%202316%20x%20904%2C%2023.1%3A9%2C%20402ppi%2C%20up%20to%20120Hz%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EProcessor%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Qualcomm%20Snapdragon%208%20Gen%202%2C%204nm%2C%20octa-core%3B%20Adreno%20740%20GPU%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMemory%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2012GB%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECapacity%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20256%2F512GB%20%2F%201TB%20(online%20exclusive)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPlatform%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Android%2013%2C%20One%20UI%205.1.1%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMain%20camera%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Triple%2012MP%20ultra-wide%20(f%2F2.2)%20%2B%2050MP%20wide%20(f%2F1.8)%20%2B%2010MP%20telephoto%20(f%2F2.4)%2C%20dual%20OIS%2C%203x%20optical%20zoom%2C%2030x%20Space%20Zoom%2C%20portrait%2C%20super%20slo-mo%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EVideo%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%208K%4024fps%2C%204K%4060fps%2C%20full-HD%4060%2F240fps%2C%20HD%40960fps%3B%20slo-mo%4060%2F240%2F960fps%3B%20HDR10%2B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECover%20camera%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2010MP%20(f%2F2.2)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EInner%20front%20camera%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Under-display%204MP%20(f%2F1.8)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBattery%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204400mAh%2C%2025W%20fast%20charging%2C%2015W%20wireless%2C%204.5W%20reverse%20wireless%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EConnectivity%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%205G%3B%20Wi-Fi%2C%20Bluetooth%205.3%2C%20NFC%20(Samsung%20Pay)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EI%2FO%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20USB-C%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECards%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Nano-SIM%20%2B%20eSIM%3B%20dual%20nano-SIMs%20%2B%20eSIM%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EColours%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Cream%2C%20icy%20blue%2C%20phantom%20black%3B%20online%20exclusives%20%E2%80%93%20blue%2C%20grey%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIn%20the%20box%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Fold5%2C%20USB-C-to-USB-C%20cable%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dh6%2C799%20%2F%20Dh7%2C249%20%2F%20Dh8%2C149%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
RESULTS

Bantamweight: Jalal Al Daaja (JOR) beat Hamza Bougamza (MAR)

Catchweight 67kg: Mohamed El Mesbahi (MAR) beat Fouad Mesdari (ALG)

Lightweight: Abdullah Mohammed Ali (UAE) beat Abdelhak Amhidra (MAR)

Catchweight 73kg: Mosatafa Ibrahim Radi (PAL) beat Yazid Chouchane (ALG)

Middleweight: Yousri Belgaroui (TUN) beat Badreddine Diani (MAR)

Catchweight 78KG: Rashed Dawood (UAE) beat Adnan Bushashy (ALG)

Middleweight: Sallah-Eddine Dekhissi (MAR) beat Abdel Enam (EGY)

Catchweight 65kg: Yanis Ghemmouri (ALG) beat Rachid Hazoume (MAR)

Lightweight: Mohammed Yahya (UAE) beat Azouz Anwar (EGY)

Catchweight 79kg: Souhil Tahiri (ALG) beat Omar Hussein (PAL)

Middleweight: Tarek Suleiman (SYR) beat Laid Zerhouni (ALG)

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Afghanistan squad

Gulbadin Naib (captain), Mohammad Shahzad (wicketkeeper), Noor Ali Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Asghar Afghan, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Najibullah Zadran, Samiullah Shinwari, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Dawlat Zadran, Aftab Alam, Hamid Hassan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman.