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At the invitation of the organizers of the Wiki Youth Camps, VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian met with the participants of the camp, the company’s press service reported.

Wiki Youth Camps are organized in Vanadzor, one of the beautiful sites of Armenia, on 6-20 July and 12-26 August, 2014 by the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia Armenia Scientific-Educational NGO. The participants of the first phase of the Wiki camp are high school students of Yerevan AYB School and schools with specialization in Physics and Mathematics, Gyumri Photon Gymnasium, Vanadzor Evrika School, students from Yeghvard, Aparan, Kotayk and Artsakh, as well as Syrian-Armenian young people.

“Our Company has always had the preservation of Armenian national identity and its precious historical-cultural heritage in the focus of its attention. We welcome this initiative and appreciate the work you do for adding Armenian content into the Internet because it will not only ensure awareness on our National treasures worldwide, but will also serve as an excellent source of information for Armenians living outside Armenia. Besides, this initiative is a good platform of communication between young Armenians from both Armenia and Diaspora sharing the same ideas and concerns,” VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian commented. “We have to acknowledge that as a rule of law of today’s digital world, the real presence of a nation assumes its strong virtual presence. Increasing the volume of Armenian content is an effective instrument leading to stronger Armenian factor.”

The goal of the Wikimedia Armenia is to enhance and enrich the amount and content of materials devoted to Armenia, Armenian history and culture, the Armenian Genocide and Armenian issues in Armenian and foreign languages through the Internet, particularly in Wikimedia, Wikilibrary, Wikibooks and Wikitraveler.

The camp will bring together 100 active Wiki editors aged 14 to 20, who will be selected on the basis of volume and quantity in their Armenian Wikipedia, will receive free passes to participate in the camping event, and another 100 young people will be able to participate by paying for the pass AMD 120,000. All the participants will spend 4 hours a day posting articles devoted to Armenia and Armenians in Eastern Armenian, Western Armenian as well as other languages for 14 consecutive days.

During their two-week stay, the participants of the camping event will master the tools of Wiki editing and will write articles with the help of active Wikipedia editors. To facilitate the activities of the campers and make them more effective, digitized versions of literature in Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian will be posted in the Wikilibrary. There will also be print versions of literature, which may serve as a source for the articles to be written. The daily activities include Armenian song and dance lessons, screenings of Armenian films and meetings with renowned academics, writers and cultural figures. The campers will also have the chance to choose their Wiki travel, as well as visit the museums and historic monuments in Lori and Shirak provinces. There are also volleyball and soccer fields, as well as table tennis facilities at the camp.

One of the major and urgent issues of the Wikimedia Armenia for the Wiki Camp Vanadzor 2014 program is the creation, enlargement and enhancement of a separate “Western Armenian Wikimedia.” One of the major objectives of the camp is to engage Western Armenian-speaking schoolchildren of high schools abroad and university students in the Wikipedia content development. By using their potential, it will be possible to create a separate division in Western Armenian, which has been proclaimed a language at risk by UNESCO, and create and post articles and information about Armenian cultural heritage in Western Armenian in Wikilibrary.