230 new “Antarctic” articles have appeared in Ukrainian Wikipedia, at least 30 articles have been improved; and all this huge amount of information was found, revised and posted by 36 participants from all over Ukraine. These are the statistical summaries of the Antarctic Week – an action carried out by the National Antarctic Scientific Center and the NGO “Wikimedia Ukraine” on January 11-28, 2020.
Now millions of Ukrainian Wikipedia users can in one click learn about the Antarctica discovery history, liberated from the Soviet-Russian ideological matrix, about the first explorers of the continent, conquerors of the pole, about women in Antarctica, about the highest peaks, glacial shelves, the subglacial lakes, about the flora and fauna and the islands of Antarctica, about the legendary first stations based on the ice continent.
Among the many new ones there are articles that provide a compulsory set of knowledge (for example, the Discovery of Antarctica, or William Smith, a British navigator who first reached the continent on January 30, 1820 (created by Svetlana Shybetska), Trinity Island (created by Andrii Grytsenko), Heroic Age of Antarctica Research (authorship of Alesia Bozhnytska), Women in Antarctica (created by Yuliia Kovalchuk, a student of the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”), Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources and many others). But at the same time there are “non-textbooks”, but interesting articles, in particular, about the Faraday bar at Akademik Vernadsky station, about Jiro and Taro dogs who spent a year in Antarctica (thanks to the designer Pavel Salyza), about the most striking films and cartoons (for example, the legendary Soviet-Japanese anime “Little Penguin Lolo” – article by Andrii Grytsenko). A full list of new articles can be found here.
On February 13, the organizers handed in symbolic prizes to those participants who found an opportunity to come to Kyiv, the rest of the active Wikipedists will receive the prizes by mail.
The record holder is the teacher of history of Glukhiv National Pedagogical University (Sumy region) Andrii Grytsenko – during the Week he created 32 articles on Antarctic topics. 29 articles were created by Olga Loboda, 20 articles – by Anna Moroz.
Presenting the souvenirs to the winners, NANC Director Evgen Dykyi thanked all the volunteers – both those who wrote dozens of articles and those who had time to do only one. “For us, this action is important not only because it replenishes knowledge about Antarctica, about the participation of Ukrainians in the exploration of the continent. This is primarily a manifestation of patriotism, because it is important that the main online directory “speaks” Ukrainian on all topics,” said Evgen Dykyi.
Photo: Evgen Dykyi presents a T-shirt with the Akademik Vernadsky station symbols to the active participant – a teacher of history at the Glukhiv National University (Sumy Region) Andrii Grytsenko, who created 32 articles.