Led by Associate Professor Vjollca Krasniqi in Universiteti i Prishtinës and Vjollca Islami Hajrullahu, Project Manager in Pro Peace Kosovo Program, the workshop served to both train students and leave a lasting impact on the visibility of women and their contributions within the Albanian public online domain. The workshop fell on the 5th and 6th of March, celebrates International Women's Day on the 8th of March, and commemorates women's struggles for justice and gender equality, both internationally and within Albanian ethnography.
The first day focused on training students in how to use the editing and publishing features of Wikipedia and the training was conducted by Rita Maliqi from Wikipedia in Albanian. The day began with a presentation of how the Wikipedia interface works, then moved to training on the basics of Wikipedia entries, how they are edited, and what an article should look like. Participants were given tips on how to most efficiently edit and present work on Wikipedia. This was followed by providing comprehensive training on how these articles should be researched, drafted, edited, and referenced. Training emphasized the particularities of writing encyclopedia entries, focusing on writing clearly and concisely and ensuring that research is conducted with rigor.
On the second day, Prof.Vjollca Krasniqi concentrated her lectures on writing skills, emphasizing the process, structure, and elements that compose exemplary written work. Throughout both days the importance of gender, women, and peacebuilding on Wikipedia was emphasized, ensuring the aims of the workshop were met.
The workshop is another step in improving the visibility of women whose vital contributions in various parts of society have habitually been under-documented and made invisible. By improving the accessibility of information relating to these contributions we improve public understanding of the struggles of women and inspire recognition. Wikipedia remains the largest and most accessible encyclopedia in human history and is a vital domain for improving visibility. This workshop successfully achieves a couple of interconnected goals. It actively improves visibility through the gaps that it fills with new contributions. It also develops the skills of participants in the workshop to further contribute to publicly accessible databases of knowledge as part of a longer-term push to expand Albanian language documents relating to gender, women, and peacebuilding.
A special thanks is given to all those who participated in the workshops seizing the opportunity to make a positive contribution to both their own skills and to the struggle for justice and gender equality.
