- Today, it's 20 years since Wikipedia was born. It was a product in English, but that same year, on 6 December 2001, the first contribution was made in Basque. The cover and independent version in Basque was created, in some way, in November 2003. Currently, Wikipedia in Euskera is one of the most collaborative versions in terms of the dimension of the linguistic community.
The Economist magazine has published a series of graphs showing how wikipedias are growing in different languages. They have noted that some of the major languages of the richest countries are increasing their strength, but they have concluded that "the underdeveloped" have more potential to grow to put it in some way.
A special graph draws our attention. It combines Gross Domestic Product per capita with active Wikipedia editors per million people. Several languages have been placed on the map.
Where would the Basque Wikipedia be? According to calculations of some Basque wikilaris...
Comments on the superior (and credit to Wikilari Kepa Sarasola):
- The width of the Basque point is not relative, it would be very small, barely larger than that of the Icelandic point.
- The height position is real according to the following statistics (set of statistics and precise graph): 184 active users, at an average level of one year, with a population of approximately 245 million inhabitants.
- The vertical script represents the GDP per capita position according to the following data from Gaindegia. The Basque Country is richer than Catalonia (different concepts for calculating GDP and number of speakers, but well, somehow calculation).
Therefore, of the wikilaris that make their contributions, the Basque Country has many satisfactions. This is also seen in the rise of articles in Wikipedia: At the moment we have more than 369,000 articles, it is possible that by 2021 it will reach the limit of 400,000.
What the graphs show is done on Wikipedia in Euskera. To highlight some of the starting points 2020:
- In a few minutes (in this reference thread in English, with the nuance of a Basque Wikipedia), there was the third Basque Wikipedia that started and created the article.
- A snowstorm documentation initiative has been made for the documentary side of Wikipedia, the Wikimedia Commons.
- A series of sixteenth-century espionage letters have been introduced into another field of Wikipedia, the Wikiteka.
Congratulations Wikipedia! Congratulations to us!
Do you want to join the celebration? The Wikipedia edition in Euskera is in everyone’s hands, and being a member of Euskal Wikilarien Kultur Elkartea (5 euros a year)