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How Russia’s war in Ukraine impacted the Ukrainian wiki community

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Plan for today

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  • Presentation – overview of Russian aggression in Ukraine & its impact on the Ukrainian wiki community (~15 minutes)

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  • First-hand perspective from a few Ukrainian Wikimedians affected by the war (~10 minutes)

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  • Questions & answers (~5 minutes )

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Overview: Russia’s war in Ukraine & its impact on the wiki community

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Background – Russia’s war in Ukraine

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  • On February 24th, Russia started an all-out military invasion of Ukraine – unprovoked and unlawful

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  • Ukrainians’ life has been upended; a third of population has been displaced

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Silar, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Background – Russia’s war in Ukraine

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  • Close to 30,000 civilians killed by Russia

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  • Ukraine’s economy has been decimated

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  • Russia’s blockade has been threatening global food security, with ripple effects in many countries in Africa and elsewhere

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Impact on the community

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  • Like millions of other Ukrainians, dozens of people from the community have had to flee their homes
    • Thankfully, many people – myself included – were able to return once the Kyiv region had been liberated
    • Still, many are not able to return, particularly parents with young children

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Impact on the community

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  • Many people have joined the army, now serving in various roles

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  • At least one Wikimedian died in combat. At least one Wikimedian from Mariupol is missing

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Vitalii Petrushko, CC0

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Impact on the community

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  • User activity decreased sharply at the beginning (108,237 user edits in UkWiki in March – 40% decrease year-over-year)
    • It has since bounced back since as life became more stable for people

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Impact on the community

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  • In June, 68% of Wikimedia Ukraine members surveyed reported their activity had decreased considerably or somewhat since the all-out invasion

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  • Most widespread reasons – lack of time (e.g. new volunteer / caretaking responsibilities), technical inability (e.g. no internet in a shelter), psychological stress

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Support to community members affected

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  • Financial support, food & hygiene packages to community members in need – Wikimedia Ukraine + the local community
  • Support with relocation & accommodation – European affiliates + community members
  • Information support, useful materials – WMF, Wikimedia Ukraine, many other organisations and people

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Readership interest

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  • Reader interest on Wikipedia grew considerably – 106,877,169 user views in UkWiki in April, second highest month in history

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  • The topic of the war is (predictably) most popular
    • The leader – the article about Russia’s invasion itself – has raked in 3 million views in less than six months, an absolute record for UkWiki

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War coverage on Wikipedia

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  • Hundreds, likely thousands of articles covering everything from major battles to war memes (see Category:2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine in popular culture)
    • Coverage of threatened Ukrainian cultural heritage (more in the GLAM session)
  • Thematic week => permanent project to coordinate efforts

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Learn more

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  • Portal with helpful links – [[meta:2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]] / w.wiki/4$y8

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  • Stories of Ukrainian Wikimedians during the war – w.wiki/5ZLi

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  • General Ukraine coverage in English – kyivindependent.com

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How to help

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  • There are many ways to help
    • Speak out and voice your support
    • Donate money if you can (e.g. comebackalive.in.ua for defence, u24.gov.ua for defence & humanitarian support)
    • Help improve the coverage on Wikipedia

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Let’s hear from some of the folks from the community:

youtu.be/SzbSwerVU_E

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Any questions?

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Get in touch – info@wikimedia.org.ua

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