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Taghreedat, a major Arabic e-content community building initiative, currently ranked the fourth most influential Arabic brand on Twitter and supported by twofour54, announced today a partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit  organisation for Wikipedia, the world’s largest encyclopedia.  This long term collaboration aims to increase the number of Arabic Wikipedia editors through the Arabic Wikipedia Editors Program, a skills training course putting UAE volunteers at the forefront of sustainable Arabic Wikipedia content creation.

The Arabic Wikipedia Editors Program is a unique program, aiming to train internet users from the Arab world to become Arabic Wikipedia editors and to create high quality Arabic content. The training consists of both online and offline components.

The training program commences with a workshop on June 20th at twofour54, led by a long time Wikipedia editor. The workshop provides volunteers with practical skills training for developing content and implementing effective editing procedures for Arabic Wikipedia.

As part of the inaugural training session at twofour54, Taghreedat will launch a Comprehensive Arabic Wikipedia Guide on contributing to and understanding the mechanics of Arabic Wikipedia content creation for the wider community of volunteers. The collaboration will see the UAE play a stronger role in enriching Arabic Wikipedia due to the commitment by twofour54 and Taghreedat to supporting the long term sustainable enrichment of Arabic content online.

Sami Mustafa Mubarak, co-founder of Taghreedat commented; “The collaboration with the Wikimedia Foundation gives us a unique opportunity to take a forward thinking approach to enriching Arabic Wikipedia content through an in depth training program with twofour54, and will help us in raising awareness about the importance of developing quality e-content to meet the rising demand across the region. Working with twofour54 allows us access to key digital content stakeholders and volunteers which has resulted in five new Arabic e-content projects with international stakeholders since April 2012, and we look forward to more developments this year.”

Barry Newstead, Chief Global Development Officer, Wikimedia Foundation commented on the partnership saying, “The Wikimedia Foundation’s Arabic Language Initiative focuses on supporting the development of a vibrant  Arabic Wikipedia community that will enable the growth of Arabic Wikipedia as the preeminent free knowledge project in Arabic. We are excited about our collaboration with Taghreedat, and we are looking forward to learning from the program workshops. It is a promising opportunity that expands our community in UAE, and offers a model that can be further developed and applied in other countries.”

There are currently 178,000 Arabic articles on Wikipedia and an average of 76 new articles being developed each day. Despite this trend, there are only 630 active Arabic Wikipedia editors worldwide, demonstrating the need for grass roots initiatives like Taghreedat.

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