Egyptian Arabic Wikipedia
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Type of site | Internet encyclopedia project |
|---|---|
| Available in | Egyptian Arabic (Articles are written mainly using the Arabic alphabet but a few are written using the Latin alphabet)[1] |
| Headquarters | Miami, Florida |
| Owner | Wikimedia Foundation |
| URL | http://arz.wikipedia.org/ |
| Commercial | No |
| Registration | Optional |
The Egyptian Arabic Wikipedia (Egyptian Arabic: ويكيبيديا مصرى Wīkībīdyā Maṣrī) is the Egyptian Arabic version of Wikipedia, a free, open-content encyclopaedia. This Wikipedia primarily acts as an alternative to the Arabic Wikipedia in favour of speakers of the Egyptian dialect.
History
The Egyptian Arabic Wikipedia was proposed on March 30, 2008[2]. and started as a developing project on April 2, 2008 in the Wikimedia Incubator.
The proposal was accepted in July 2008 and the announcement was made on the first day of Wikimania 2008 in Alexandria.[3] As of November 24, 2008, the Egyptian Arabic Wikipedia became an official Wikipedia, and currently all the articles that used to be in the Incubator were transferred to the new URL address.
Origin
The origin of the proposal for the Egyptian Arabic Wikipedia is based on the active interest of Egyptian Wikipedians in contributing articles, especially on the Arabic Wikipedia,[4] as they constitute large group of the serious contributors in that Wikipedia.[citation needed]
The idea behind the creation of the Egyptian Arabic Wikipedia is to have an encyclopaedia that is written in the language that Egyptians use in their everyday lives. It is hoped this will be much easier for Egyptians to read and encourage more Egyptians to contribute to Wikipedia.
Development
The Egyptian Arabic Wikipedia currently has over 5000 articles, and continues to grow rapidly. The growing community of the Egyptian Arabic Wikipedia are currently developing an Egyptian Arabic Wiktionary as well.
Reaction
Wikipedia Masry has been subject to controversy from the start, causing arguments between supporter and opposers [5]. There has been lengthy discussions before the approval of the proposal, there was also discussions on other websites apart from meta.wikimedia.[6]
Support
The proposal has been supported by many users and gained the approval of the language committee on Wikimedia. The wiki has regular contributors, which has led to an increase in the number of articles.
Opposition
Opposition to this version of Wikipedia has been strong during the proposal stage, after the start of the Egyptian Arabic Wikipedia opposition continued [7] , including campaigns on Facebook [8] [9]. These campaigns encourage users to vandalize Egyptian Wikipedia. The main point the opposition focus on is that Egyptian Arabic is not a language [10] [11] , suggesting that the effort should be directed to development of Arabic wikipedia [12].
The effectiveness of these campaigns remains to be seen as the wikipedia articles are still being developed and number of users is increasing.
References
- ^ Wikipedia Masry rules of writing
- ^ Proposal on Meta
- ^ Wikinews
- ^ Cohen, Noam (2008-07-21). "In Egypt, Wikipedia is more than hobby". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2008-12-14.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Shorouk news
- ^ Answers.yahoo:Egyptians:What do you think of this??(Egyptian Wikipedia)?
- ^ Moheet.com
- ^ Campaign to destroy Wikipedia masri
- ^ Campaign to erase Egyptian language from wikipedia
- ^ pagesperso.univ-brest.fr: Why you should boycott the Egyptian Wikipedia
- ^ drhaisook.wordpress.com: Wikipedia in Masri? No, Thanks!
- ^ omraneya.net
External links
- Egyptian Arabic Wikipedia at the incubator
- Proposal for Egyptian Arabic Wikipedia at Meta
- The Incubation of the Egyptian Arabic Wiktionary
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