Отдельные коллеги из англоязычного мира высказали опасение, что включение ознакомления с работой в проектах Викимедиа во внеклассную работу по татарскому языку в Татарстане, лишь недавно  (в 2008 году) получившем свою независимость от России, может однажды привести к тому, что "Официальный Татарстан" сможет начать продвигать свою точку зрения на чувствительные политические вопросы как в татароязычном, так и в русскоязычном разделах Википедии, что может привести к напряжению и так вероятно острой межэтнической ситуации в регионе.

Началось всё со странного завуалированного опасения в публичном ответе одной из англоязычных коллег на моё письмо в рассылку wikimedia-l про то, что Президент Татарстана распорядился о важности изучения возможности использования проектов Викимедиа в образовании. Сначала уточнил вопрос в личной переписке. взял недельный тайм-аут на обдумывание (т.к. работал), публично ответил только сегодня, вынеся в отдельную тему "Smart partnerships with strong external stakeholders a way forward? / Умные партнёрства с сильными внешними стейкхолдерами: дорога вперёд?" Зашёл издалека и с намерением поднять более серьёзные вопросы в долгосрочной перспективе.

В выходные вёл переписку с сотрудником Фонда Викимедиа Асафом Бартовым на предмет того, как волонтёрам и объединениям Движения Викимедиа лучше поддерживать "Викимедийцев Года" в рамках реализации проектов, что могут быть полезными для сообщества той или иной страны, культуры или языка. До стокгольмской Викимании 2019 остаётся 3 с небольшим месяца, надеятся повторить случайный успех в Татарстане и думают над системными мерами помощи тем, кому судьба оказаться следующими.

Тимерхан сообщил, что публичного вручения сертификатов участникам статейного конкурса "Татар 4.0" в рамках ежегодной акции Всемирного форума татарской молодёжи "Я говорю по-татарски" не предусмотрено. Сертификаты и дипломы (победителям) будут рассылаться, обещал в ближайшее время подготовить проект трёхъязычного документа, вручаемого от имени Всемирного форума татарской молодёжи, Викимедиа РУ и татароязычной юзер-группы. В моих планах здесь завершить описание всех вынесенных уроков на русском языке (подготовка участников и членов жюри, планирование задач и времени организаторов на поддержку, и т.д.) https://ru.wikimedia.org/wiki/Умный_регион/Многоязычие/Татарский/Татар_4.0


С уважением,
фархад

-------- Пересылаемое сообщение --------
30.04.2019, 20:30, "Фархад Фаткуллин / Farhad Fatkullin" <frhd@yandex.com>:

Dear colleagues,

This thread is the consequence of my thinking over Jennifer's concerns [1] to what I've seen as a routine progress report on Wikimedia Education Program Russia, which she later kindly deciphered to me off the list (see below for original).

We periodically see signs of various individuals or interest groups using Wikipedia to their advantage on a limited scale, so Jennifer is rightly pondering on how should Wikimedians develop relationships with strong partners theoretically capable of abusing our supposedly neutral projects: governments, businesses, NGOs, various religious & ideological groups, etc.

Wikimedia communities want to welcome new active users in large numbers, so we are to follow the principle of good intentions, trust them and help them to learn how to operate onwiki. At the same time, can we feel comfortable that we can prevent the loss of control over what's going on in our projects or being fully overtaken by some outside party interested to push its own agenda using Wikimedia platforms?

I believe we have all means for this. I am also confident that to advance towards the world of Wikimedia movement vision [2] & Wikipedia purpose,[3] we need to make sure that every human being feels welcome on our projects & interested in their sustainable growth.

Before we start similar 360 degree stakeholder engagement initiatives within 6 official UN languages, those of G20 and maybe even any primary language of a sovereign UN member, my guess is we might want to test such initiatives in a less tense setting, working closely with government & publicly-funded institutions, private sector, non-profits or individuals in an environment with less interference from political, ideological or commercial interests. Best candidates are probably mid-sized projects in the language of some non-sovereign ethnic nation that represent little to no interest for whatever outside organized party to gain control of.

In the Russian Federation, we are currently in the process of such an experiment around Wikipedia & other Wikimedia projects in Tatar, which I happen to speak by birth within this language community. When starting on this path in the fall of 2018, I was comforted to learn about "Kumusha takes Wiki" initiative, that was implemented in 2013-2014 in French-speaking Cote d'Ivoire and English-speaking Uganda with the support of by Orange Foundation & presented during WikiIndaba 2014.[4]

As a member of Wikimedia Russia, I am documenting our steps in WMRU-wiki both in the regional [5] as well as in the linguistic development aspects, [6] periodically sharing progress reports with the wider public via [wikimedia-ru] list,[7] Wikimedia Community Languages of Russia on Facebook [8] & Russian Wikinews, for my colleagues from other regions of Russia with strong regional languages & other members of the community to be able to apply whatever we learn, if they find it appropriate for their socio-economic environments.[9]

The working hypothesis is that giving all speakers of Tatar or whatever other language the feeling of collective ownership of respective language Wikimedia projects should be a safe way forward. Our progress reports are almost exclusively in Russian, which is the best medium of communication in my case: I am currently working on this almost alone, whilst local stakeholders reasonably expecting to see some track-record, proofs and other explanatory materials before getting onboard at every step of the way. Tatar is not dominant language even within the region with high concentration of Tatar speakers, whilst the share of English speakers in Russia is @ 5%, even less in case of Tatarstan.

Tatar is a language spoken mainly by an eponymous defacto stateless ethnic group of over 5 million people living predominantly inside the Russian Federation (second in number after ethnic Russians). It has a second official language status within the Republic of Tatarstan (a region-subject of the Russian state since 1552, home to about 1/3 of Tatars, amounting here to slightly over 50%), where Russian is clearly dominant in politics, economics, education, social life, etc. even among Tatars themselves. With its current 85000 articles & under 100 active participants a month Tatar Wikipedia seems a good fit - it's in Top-10 websites in respective language (including groups in Facebook & VK social networks) thanks to being part of Wikimedia constellation.

We seem to be in ideal circumstances to pilot this with least consequences for Wikimedia movement, as WMF is neither fundraising in Russia (no grant money this way), nor allowing local affiliates to place fundraising banners/links in respective language Wikipedias & other Wikimedia projects over the geographic territory of Russia. At the same time, we received a blessing of a respected Senior elder, retired Ex-President of Tatarstan, having the title of UNESCO Special Envoy for Intercultural Dialogue,[10] whilst Wikimedians from other projects in the languages of Russia called on Tatar community to make it successful to scale it throughout the country.[11]

Going forward, I would suspect Tatarstan goverment that shows its interest to make Wikimedia Education Program part of Tatar language curriculum or extracurricular activities might eventually want to sign an MOU or a similar document with the Wikimedia Foundation and/or local affiliates (just like Mexican ministry of Culture, Government of the Indian State of Maharashtra, Italian Ministry of Education or Nigerian Tourism Development Board, to mention just a few cases I have personally read about). We don't see this happening in the English-speaking part of Wikimedia world, probably for cultural reasons, but everywhere else it seems to be a natural step in formalizing partnerships relations. All Tatars are at least bilingual and bi-cultural, so tolerance levels for differing points of view are generally quite high  edit wars around ethnic, civil & other identity related topics rare.

regards,
farhad

P.S. Jennifer, Republic of Tatarstan was never an independent state & 2008 independence you mention is likely to be confusion with the Republic of Abkhazia or the Republic of Southern Osetia that gained their independence from the Republic of Georgia. Landlocked inside Russia, Tatarstan claimed its limited sovereignty at the collapse of Soviet Union (as it was unable to become the 16th Republic of USSR due to the dissolution thereof), at the same time showing it's intent to clearly stay associated with the nascent Russian Federation. Respective association documents were signed in 1994, some 14 years before the event you mention. We have Russian passports, serving in the Russian military, our athletes competing for the national teams.  First President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev & First President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin were friends & colleagues since Soviet Union times, growing through the ranks in parallel, having shared many meals together over the decades in power.

[1] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2019-April/092265.html
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Vision
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Purpose
[4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Kumusha_Takes_Wiki/en
[5] https://ru.wikimedia.org/wiki/Smart_region/Tatarstan
[6] https://ru.wikimedia.org/wiki/Smart_region/Multilingualism/Tatar
[7] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-ru/
[8] https://www.facebook.com/groups/1942496925980407/
[9] https://ru.wikimedia.org/wiki/Умный_регион/Направления/Региональное_многоязычие
[10] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2018-October/091151.html
[11] https://ru.wikinews.org/wiki/Комментарии:Минтимер_Шаймиев_встретился_с_татароязычными_викимедистами

--
Farhad Fatkullin - Фархад Фаткуллин http://sikzn.ru/ Тел.+79274158066 / skype:frhdkazan / Wikipedia:frhdkazan / Wikidata:Q34036417

23.04.2019, 21:33, "Jennifer Pryor-Summers" <jennifer.pryorsummers@gmail.com>:
>  Farhad
>
>  When a government adds contributing to Wikipedia to its national curriculum, especially if it involves spending public time and money, it is likely to expect that both the pre-existing material and the additional controbutions to reflect the requirements of that national curriculum, which in turn are likely to reflect the national values and spcific positions.  For example, Tatastan has claimed independence from Russia as recently as 2008.  Can we be sure that the Tatar-language and Russian-language Wikipedia entries will be independent of any official position on this and other sensitive questions of national importance?
>
>  JPS
>
>  On Tue, Apr 23, 2019 at 8:02 AM Фархад Фаткуллин / Farhad Fatkullin <frhd@yandex.com> wrote:
>>  Dear Jennifer,
>>
>>  I feel you have put more thought into your question than I can grasp right away.
>>
>>  Please give me more context and some examples to help me understand whatever might be of possible concern in this piece of Wikimedia Education Program Russia related progress news.
>>
>>  I would prefer to respond in full without causing back & forth ping-pong.
>>
>>  Thank you in advance,
>>  farhad
>>
>>  --
>>  Sent from Yandex.Mail for mobile
>>
>>  20:15, April 22, 2019, "Jennifer Pryor-Summers" <jennifer.pryorsummers@gmail.com>:
>>>  Farhad
>>>
>>>  I assume that under this arrangement, the editorial independence of the
>>>  contributors and content will remain inviolable?
>>>
>>>  JPS
>>>
>>>  On Mon, Apr 22, 2019 at 5:22 PM Фархад Фаткуллин / Farhad Fatkullin <
>>>  frhd@yandex.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>   Regional department of education (elementary & secondary education) &
>>>>   Kazan Federal University today received instructions signed by the
>>>>   President of Tatarstan on integrating Wikimedia Education Program
>>>>   opportunities into the curricula of educational establishments of the
>>>>   Republic. I was asked for some guidance on the topic before tonight, so
>>>>   prepared what I could in Russian
>>>>   https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-ru/2019-April/005086.html
>>>>   We are in the country with a centralized education system culture, so
>>>>   project owner will be the ministry, with Wikimedians serving as
>>>>   stakeholders, consultants & guides.
>>>>
>>>>   On March 1st we fielded 2 speakers for EDU RUSSIA 2019 conference
>>>>
>>>>   https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CEE/Newsletter/February_2019/Contents/Russia_report#Wikimedia_movement,_Wikimedia_RU_&_WUG_TAT_activities_presented_at_%C2%ABEDU_RUSSIA_2019%C2%BB_Forum
>>>>
>>>>   On April 11-12 our Bashkir colleagues (WUG BAK) were invited to speak @
>>>>   their regional teachers' conference (photoes & report in Russian -
>>>>   https://ru.wikinews.org/wiki/?curid=221169 ) & their regional deputy
>>>>   minister recalled our speakers in Kazan
>>>>
>>>>   Right now our judges are checking some 200 pre-qualified ttWP articles
>>>>   created by 67 previously untrained school teams in the framework of Tatar
>>>>   4.0 contest. Prizes provided by local partner, introduction to the contest
>>>>   video, Messenger support, participant & article tagging, prequalification &
>>>>   assessing on volunteering time. 10 best teams to be publicly awarded at
>>>>   Ğabdulla Tuqay memorial event downtown Kazan on April 26.
>>>>   Contest in Tatar - https://tt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Проект:Татар_4.0
>>>>   Lessons learnt in Russian -
>>>>   https://ru.wikimedia.org/wiki/Умный_регион/Многоязычие/Татарский/Татар_4.0
>>>>
>>>>   This all follows our February presentation
>>>>   https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CEE/Newsletter/February_2019/Contents/Russia_report#Tatarstan_pilot_of_%C2%ABSmart_Region%C2%BB_initiative_presented_to_the_Russian_Federation_Deputy_Prime-Minister
>>>>
>>>>   regards,
>>>>   farhad
>>>>
>>>>   --
>>>>   Farhad Fatkullin - Фархад Фаткуллин http://sikzn.ru/ Тел.+79274158066 /
>>>>   skype:frhdkazan / Wikipedia:frhdkazan / Wikidata:Q34036417
>>>>
_______________________________________________
Wikimedia-RU mailing list
Wikimedia-RU@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ru