Esperanto Wikipedia

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Screenshot of the Esperanto Wikipedia home page.
Main Page of the Esperanto Wikipedia in July 2011
Type of site
Online encyclopedia
Available inEsperanto
OwnerWikimedia Foundation
URLeo.wikipedia.org
CommercialNo
RegistrationOptional
Launched11 May 2001; 22 years ago (2001-05-11)

The Esperanto Wikipedia (Esperanto: Vikipedio en Esperanto, IPA [vikipeˈdio en espeˈɾanto] or Esperanta Vikipedio [espeˈɾanta vikipeˈdio]) is the Esperanto version of Wikipedia, which was started on 11 May 2001,[1][2][3] alongside the Basque Wikipedia. With over 351,000 articles as of March 2024, it is the 37th-largest Wikipedia as measured by the number of articles,[4] and the largest Wikipedia in a constructed language.[5]

Origin and influence of the Esperanto Wikipedia[edit]

Chuck Smith, an American Esperantist, is considered to be Esperanto Wikipedia's founder. The encyclopedia started off when he imported the 139 articles of the Enciklopedio Kalblanda by Stefano Kalb, which took him three weeks following 15 November 2001.[6] Later on, he undertook a journey to Europe with the goal of popularizing Wikipedia among the speakers of Esperanto in European countries.[7] For instance, in November 2002 he gave a talk about Wikipedia at the 10th Conference on the Application of Esperanto in Science and Technology in Dobřichovice (Czech Republic).

Esperanto speakers have also been involved in the founding of several other language versions of Wikipedia (Czech, Slovak, Ossetian, Swahili). The introduction of support for the Esperanto alphabet by Brooke Vibber, an Esperanto speaker and later Wikimedia Foundation's first employee, in January 2002 has paved the way for alphabets of languages other than English and initiated the transition of the whole Wikipedia to Unicode.[8][9]

Quality of the Esperanto Wikipedia[edit]

Origin of edits (2014/12) Source[10]
Germany
33.7%
Cuba
10.5%
Netherlands
7.5%
Unknown
5.2%
France
5.2%
Japan
4.5%
United States
3.7%
Spain
3.4%
Poland
3.0%
Switzerland
2.2%
Russia
2.2%
Georgia
2.2%
Italy
1.9%
United Kingdom
1.9%
Australia
1.5%
Argentina
1.5%
Canada
1.5%
Czech Republic
1.1%
Croatia
1.1%
Other
6.6%

As of January 2022, the Esperanto Wikipedia has 309 articles of feature quality (elstaraj artikoloj)[11] and a further 279 considered worth reading (legindaj artikoloj).[12] Weekly community projects include a Collaboration of the Week (kunlaboraĵo de la semajno)[13] which improves neglected articles and an Article of the Week featuring good-quality articles on the front page. The Esperanto community is a frequent contributor to the Meta project, Translation of the week.

According to the List of Wikipedias by sample of articles at Meta, a list based on List of articles every Wikipedia should have, Esperanto ranks 36th, lacking almost none of the list of vital articles, but having in general relatively short articles.

On 18 November 2008, the Esperanto Wikipedia implemented the Flagged Revisions extension.

As of February 2012, the Esperanto Wikipedia had the 5th greatest number of articles per speaker among Wikipedias with over 100,000 articles, and ranked 11th overall.[14] These figures were based on Ethnologue's estimate of 2,000,000 Esperanto speakers.

Due to the geographical spread of its editors (see the box on the right), the Esperanto Wikipedia has a varied list of countries of origin of its editors.[10]

On 13 August 2014, Esperanto Wikipedia reached 200,000 articles.

Notability within the Esperanto community[edit]

Origin of viewers on the Esperanto Wikipedia.
One of the Wikipedia meetups at World Esperanto Congress, Rotterdam 2008

At least three editors are members of the Academy of Esperanto: Gerrit Berveling, John C. Wells, and Bertilo Wennergren, a notable Esperanto grammarian[15] and the director of the Academy's section about Esperanto vocabulary.

Vikipedio incorporates, with permission, the content of the 1934 Enciklopedio de Esperanto and also content from several reference books and the monthly periodical Monato.

The Esperanto Wikipedia has been featured in many Esperanto news media, including a radio interview at Radio Polonia,[16] and articles at Esperanto, Kontakto, Libera Folio[17] and Raporto.info.[18] The Esperanto Wikimania, a gathering held in 2011 to celebrate the encyclopedia's 10th anniversary, has been subsidized by the host city of Svitavy (Czech Republic) and the Pardubice Region and covered by Czech Television.[19][20]

Esperanto organisations like Universal Esperanto Association do not contribute to Vikipedio but support it by providing chambers at Esperanto conventions for Vikipedio presentations and trainings. At the World Esperanto Congress in Rotterdam, summer 2008, there were two Wikipedian meetups and a lecture at the Esperantology Conference. In April 2013, ELiSo (Esperanto and Free Knowledge) was established as one of the first Wikimedia user groups.[21]

Wikipedia handbook in Esperanto[edit]

The Esperanto Wikipedia community has created and published a 40-page Wikipedia: Practical Handbook (Esperanto: Vikipedio: Praktika Manlibro), which is sold online and at conventions.[22] The manual is intended to give new Wikipedians advice and information on how to edit Wikipedia in Esperanto. It is currently in its second printing.

Gallery[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "[Wikipedia-l] new language wikis". 11 May 2001.
  2. ^ Multilingual Monthly Statistics (2001) in the English Wikipedia
  3. ^ "[Wikipedia-l] new language wikis". 11 May 2001. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  4. ^ "List of Wikipedias". Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  5. ^ "List of Wikipedias by language group". Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  6. ^ http://blogs.transparent.com/esperanto/founding-the-esperanto-wikipedia/ Founding the Esperanto Wikipedia (Part 2 of 4)
  7. ^ "Promoting the Esperanto Wikipedia (Part 4 of 4) - Esperanto Language Blog". 15 January 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  8. ^ "Unicoding the Esperanto Wikipedia (Part 3 of 4) - Esperanto Language Blog". 10 January 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  9. ^ The Signpost: Interview with Brion Vibber, the WMF's first employee
  10. ^ a b "Wikimedia Traffic Analysis Report - Page Edits Per Wikipedia Language - Breakdown". Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  11. ^ "Vikipedio:Elstaraj artikoloj". Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  12. ^ "Vikipedio:Legindaj artikoloj". Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  13. ^ "Vikipedio:Kunlaboraĵo de la semajno". 3 May 2022 – via Wikipedia.
  14. ^ http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wikipedias_by_speakers_per_article List of Wikipedias by speakers per article
  15. ^ Plena Manlibro de Esperanta Gramatiko by Bertilo Wennergren.
  16. ^ https://archive.org/details/UnuaIntervjuoKunChuckSmithPriVikipedio Interview with Chuck Smith in Esperanto about the Esperanto Wikipedia
  17. ^ Vikipedio kreskas kiam Antverpeno festas — Libera Folio, 2007
  18. ^ Raporto.info » Vikipedio, la reta esperanta enciklopedio progresas, 2007
  19. ^ "Esperanto Wikimania in Svitavy". Esperanto Language Blog | Language and Culture of the Esperanto-Speaking World. 7 November 2011.
  20. ^ Ve Svitavách se sešli tvůrci Wikipedie v esperantu In Události v regionech (Brno). Česká televize. 2011-10-27, 18:00. Available on-line
  21. ^ "Affiliations Committee/Resolutions/Esperanto kaj Libera Scio – March 2013". Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  22. ^ Vikipedio: praktika manlibro

External links[edit]