Global Voices » Dani Easton

Catalan Wikipedia Reaches 400,000 Article Milestone

Dani Easton — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 10:09:27 +0000

The Catalan edition of Wikipedia Viquipèdia, a fundamental support to a language and culture historically discriminated against because it belongs to a stateless nation, has registered a record number of active users, with its article count reaching 400,000.

Viquipèdia contains half as many articles as the Spanish Wikipedia, even though 420 million people speak Spanish in the world, and there are under 10 million Catalan speakers.

At a time when Catalonia is involved in a debate about becoming independent from Spain, Viquipèdia‘s role in raising global awareness about the region and its people has increased massively. This is one of the main motivations that compels 1600 active Catalan Wikipedists to edit.

Viquipèdia's first article [ca] was the first non-English article to go live on Wikipedia. It was published only two months after the original version of the Wikipedia in English went live. Out of the free encyclopedia's 285 language editions, Catalan Wikipedia now ranks at number 15 in terms of article count. It occupies first place in an index compiled by the Wikimedia Foundation, which measures the quality of the thousand most important articles.

On the evening of 12 April 2013, the Viquipèdia article counter reached 400,000 [ca]. Everyone had been preparing to celebrate the milestone for a while, and it finally arrived with article Heli-4 [ca]. This is how David Parreño (@dapamont), 17 year-old active Wikipedist and Wikimediacat (@Wikimediacat) communications coordinator, announced it [ca]:

@dapamont: URGENT | Nota: La Viquipèdia en català assoleix els 400.000 articles i marca el rècord d'usuaris actius http://ves.cat/dJrG #viquipèdia

@dapamont: URGENT | Notice: Wikipedia in Catalan reaches 400,000 articles and registers a record number of active users http://ves.cat/dJrG #Wikipedia.

Tool for Defending Catalan Culture

The Catalan version of Wikipedia is unique, because it has become central to the activism around the language.

According to a study by Amical Viquipèdia (@Wikimediacat), the association that promotes the free encyclopedia among the Catalan community, this is one of the main motivations that compel Catalan Wikipedists to edit. Àlex Hinojo (@Kippelboy), project manager at Wikimediacat [ca] and creator of@CatalanMuseums, says [ca]:

Molta gent diu que edita perquè és divertit, per aprofundir en un tema…i per fer país. Com en altres temes, la societat civil catalanoparlant sempre manté un cert activisme en favor de la seva llengua.

Many people say they edit because it's fun, they can provide more information about a topic…and they are building a country. Catalan-speaking civil society always maintains a certain activism in favour of its language, just as it does with other topics.

WikiMarathon at Drassanes Reials (Barcelona), on Wikipedia's 12th anniversary. March 2013. Photo by @Kippelboy.

Tension with the Spanish Version

A study by Mark Graham (@geoplace), researcher at Oxford University, based on figures obtained by combining geolocated data from WikiLocation and Georeferenzierung, shows that 35,000 articles have been created in Spanish territory with coordinates in Catalan, and nineteen thousand in Spanish. According to Graham, “nowhere else in the world enjoys such a high visibility for a language that is relatively little spoken.”

Viquipèdia is viewed by Catalan-speaking users as a tool for defending their culture, which can occasionally create friction with the Spanish edition due to the issue of identity. Wikipedists not only translate; they often bring their own cultural perspective, which can clash with other cultural perspectives. Despite the desire to understand, conflicts are not always easily resolved. A news item that appeared in the digital newspaper Vilaweb [ca] in December 2012, told how blogger Joan Inglada [ca] (@jinglada) translated the entry about writer Anna Rosselló [es] into Spanish, but another Wikipedist changed ‘Catalan writer’ to ‘Spanish writer in Catalan language’, even against Rosselló's will. In the end, Inglada requested the article be removed. Because of this, Inglada investigated other articles, such as the one about Valencian author and reference in Catalan culture, Joan Fuster, and found identical corrections, as detailed in an entry in his blog [ca].

M. Graham's map showing largest languages by country. Image used with permission.

The Fight for their own Chapter

For years, Catalan Wikipedists have been negotiating with the Wikimedia Foundation, the international Foundation that promotes Wikipedia and its sister projects, to obtain official recognition for the Catalan version, since the organisational structure of the free encyclopaedia is based on border criteria and Catalonia is a stateless nation. Hinojo says [ca]:

Existeixen diverses associacions locals arreu del món anomenades “chapters”. El que passa és que aquestes associacions es basen en delimitacions frontereres i nosaltres ens basem en interessos temàtics (la cultura catalana), i no fronterers. En ser un país sense Estat, vam proposar a la Wikimedia Foundation que ens donés un “reconeixement oficial” com a “chapter” i portem més de 4 anys de negociacions. Encara no tenim l'aprovació oficial.

There are different local associations around the world called “chapters”. These associations are based on border boundaries and we are based on topical interests (Catalan culture), not borders. Since we are a stateless nation, we suggested that the Wikimedia Foundation give us “official recognition” as a “chapter” and we've been in negotiation for over 4 years. We still don't have official approval.

As a temporary solution to this situation, the Amical Viquipèdia (@WikimediaCat) was created in 2008 to pave the way. This association, which currently has around 60 members, promotes the online encyclopaedia in Catalan through activities such as WikiMarathons, competitions in schools, and collaborations with institutions such as universities, museums and libraries.

Barcelona's Best Writers, Translators Celebrate Literary Journal Asymptote's Anniversary

Dani Easton — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 18:05:42 +0000

English translator Peter Bush. Photo by Alba Calle.

Asymptote, an international digital literature and translation magazine, celebrated its second anniversary with a series of events held around the globe with participation from some of the world's best contemporary writers and translators. Among the cities chosen was Barcelona [es], where a recital [es] from some translators and authors from the city took place in Spanish, Catalan, and English on 25 January to present the first edition of the magazine in 2013.

Audience at the Inusual Project room. Photo by Alba Calle.

The project came about thanks to a group of entrepreneurs from different parts of the world who shared a love for literature and the art of translation. With this in mind, Asymptote provides readers with excerpts from works in their original language and the corresponding translation. Some even include audio recordings of the translator so that readers can have access to the phonetics of the language.

And that's not all. Apart from literary works, the magazine also has a section dedicated to visual art.

Asymptote was named 2012 Magazine of The Year by 3:am magazine alongside publications including The Times Literary Supplement and London Review of Books. The project's success is owed largely to a long list of volunteer collaborators including authors, translators, photographers, and illustrators.

Yew Leong Lee, the magazine's editor-in-chief, spoke with Global Voices about the project and the event in Barcelona.

After two years, how does it feel to be part of such a successful project?

Celebrating our second anniversary in cities like New York, Berlin, Taipei, and Barcelona has been extremely satisfying, particularly because we met up with readers from all over the place for the first time and we saw the difference between their cultural environments, even though we are a completely digital magazine. This proves that there is a huge demand for literature to be treated as a global phenomenon and not within the individual framework of a single language. Asymptote aims to be the focal point for literary communities, which are always minorities. I'd like to thank my team and also the readers, especially those who helped us to broadcast our initiative and have collected for us in our current Indiegogo fundraising campaign.

Writer Adrià Targa with Rafael Mammos and Najat El Hachmi. Photo by Joaquim Moreno Càceres.

Since we've collaborated with so many great Spanish writers (not only from Spain, but also from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, etc.) over these two years, we wanted to hold an event to reinforce our link with Spain. Barcelona seemed like an obvious choice because many translations are done there, not only for tourists but also between Catalan and Spanish. We'd like to introduce even more Catalan and Spanish writers to our English readers in 2013.

How was the event in Barcelona received?

It was a great success. There were definitely more than 100 people attending. The programme included both established translators and writers and young promising faces in the world of translation and literature. Some of the writers even tried their hand at one or two translations and shared them with the audience. There was also live music from a swing band who added a relaxed vibe to the event. Many of the guests stayed behind to talk to the authors and thank us for the initiative, as they'd never been to an event like it.

Following the huge success of all the events, do you have plans to do it again in the near future?

It's a possibility, because the public not only gave us a warm welcome in Barcelona but in all the cities where we organised events. It all depends if we have enough support, because we'd also like to go to other areas and bring world literature to local communities and vice versa. The next places on our list are London, Paris, and Tokyo. However, if we get another chance to organise a similar event in Barcelona, we'd be delighted!

Photos of the worldwide event are available on the magazine's Facebook page. You can also keep up to date with the latest Asymptote news on Twitter and Tumblr.

An Online Campaign Demands Quality Journalism from La Vanguardia

Dani Easton — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:41:32 +0000

The Catalan Association for Scientific Communication, the Spanish Association of Scientific Communication and the Society for the Progression of Critical Thinking have started an Internet campaign via online petition platform Change.org asking for scientific accuracy in La Vanguardia, one of the widest circulated Catalan newspapers and part of the Grupo Godó. So far they have collected 826 signatures. The petition, which is in the form of a letter addressed to the editor of La Vanguardia Josep Rovirosa, demands “not only respect for science but above all quality journalism, whether scientific, specialised or of a general nature” [all links lead to Catalan speaking pages].

Minister Wert Sparks Humour on the Net

Dani Easton — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 14:03:37 +0000

An article on online newspaper Núvol with the title “Send up #Wert” [ca] collects discussions, cartoons, jokes and word games inspired by statements and the education law reform proposed by Spanish Minister José Ignacio Wert.

The world viewed through 3054 languages in danger of extinction

Dani Easton — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 13:55:30 +0000

Endangered Languages is a project started by Google which provides technology to individuals and organisations so that they can tackle the threat of certain languages becoming extinct. The page contains information, learning materials and text files, sound and video in languages including Aragonese, Ainu, Navajo and Catalan sign language gathered from Youtube, Google Docs and Picasa.

United Kingdom: Cases of Child Malnutrition on the Rise

Dani Easton — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 13:59:50 +0000

Charlie Cooper, a collaborator from portal Kaoesenlared [es], published [es] an article on 13th March about the increase in cases of child malnutrition in the United Kingdom. According to FareShare and Kids Company, two charity organisations, many starving children come from immigrant families without work permits and who cannot apply for benefits. However, they have also reported cases of parents in employment who are finding it increasingly difficult to get by due to the high cost of living.