Faculty, Students Contributions to Wikipedia Presented in WikiArabia Conference

Birzeit University’s Department of Biology and Biochemistry represented by its Chairperson Johnny Stiban and students Duha Shilleh and Taghreed Farid participated recently in WikiArabia, a three-day conference  held in Jordan.The Birzeit University delegation presented the academic and educational material they have produced and  uploaded  to Wikipedia in Arabic in the fields of biology and biochemistry. Stiban said that he and his students participated in the Wikipedia Education Program where educators and students contribute to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects in an academic setting.“This is an ongoing commitment. More bytes will be added by the Department of Biology and Biochemistry,” Stiban assured. “Arabic is one of the world’s most spoken languages, but the Arabic Wikipedia has lagged behind other language Wikipedias in terms of the number of articles. Thus, we are keen to share our knowledge, researches and academia through Wikipedia, the largest encyclopedia in the world.”The conference was held March 24-26 and is organized annually in different countries of the region by Wikimedia Levant, a newly formed user group in the Middle East.