This is wonderful news. Expecially the fact that they can edit for free. Congrats to all involved :-)
James On Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 11:28 AM, Pine W <wiki.p...@gmail.com> wrote: > Forwarding. > > Pine > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Samantha Lien <sl...@wikimedia.org> > Date: Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 3:28 AM > Subject: [Wikimedia Announcements] [PRESS RELEASE] Wikimedia community in > Iraq partners with Asiacell to bring Wikipedia to nearly 12 million > subscribers free of mobile data charges > To: press-rele...@lists.wikimedia.org > > > This press release is also available online here: > > https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/ > Wikimedia_community_in_Iraq_partners_with_Asiacell_to_ > bring_Wikipedia_to_nearly_12_million_subscribers_free_of_ > mobile_data_charges > > *Wikimedia community in Iraq partners with Asiacell to bring Wikipedia to > nearly 12 million subscribers free of mobile data charges* > > *Mobile data fees waived for Asiacell customers in Iraq to access > Wikipedia, a free collection of knowledge available in nearly 300 > languages* > > (Barcelona, Spain) February 28th, 2017 -- Today, Wikimedia community > members in Iraq, the Wikimedia Foundation, and Asiacell, one of Iraq’s > largest mobile operators, announced a new partnership to provide access to > Wikipedia free of mobile data charges to Asiacell’s nearly 12 million > subscribers in Iraq. The partnership was announced today at a press event > hosted by Ooredoo during Mobile World Congress 2017. > > The partnership, developed in large part by Iraqi volunteer editor and > Asiacell employee, Sarmad Saeed Yaseen, marks the first Wikipedia Zero > program in Iraq. The program, overseen by the nonprofit Wikimedia > Foundation, addresses one of the greatest barriers to internet access > globally: affordability. In a recent phone survey in Iraq led by the > Wikimedia Foundation, roughly 80% of surveyed participants reported that > mobile data costs limited their use of the internet. About 33% of > participants also reported rarely or never being able to find online > content in their preferred language. > > Through the Wikipedia Zero > <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Zero> program, mobile data > fees are waived for subscribers of participating mobile operators so that > they may read and edit Wikipedia without using any of their mobile data. > > Sarmad, who is part of a community of local volunteer Wikipedia editors in > Iraq, started the partnership to extend access to knowledge in his home > country of Iraq. Together, he and his wife, Ravan Jaafar Altaie, have been > active editors (or Wikipedians) since 2008. > > “I've always believed that it is better to light a candle than curse the > darkness, so I decided to volunteer in Wikipedia to provide knowledge for > free to my people in their own language,” said Sarmad Saeed Yaseen. “When I > was first introduced to Wikipedia Zero, I felt right away that this could > be the best thing ever to share free knowledge in my country and encourage > the people of Iraq to contribute knowledge and share this with the world on > Wikipedia.” > > Wikipedia is an online collection of knowledge written by volunteer editors > from every corner of the globe. Available in nearly 300 languages, > Wikipedia is a place to learn about virtually any topic -- from ancient > history to science to the arts -- in your local language, for free, and > without advertising. Wikipedia editors use reliable sources to support > information that is included in Wikipedia articles, so readers can explore > the sources that verify the facts. Wikipedia is completely non-profit, > independent, and maintained by everyday people around the world. > > Wikipedia in Iraq is supported by a local community of volunteer editors in > almost every major city of the country. In 2015, Sarmad and Ravan organized > the first series of workshops in Erbil to teach Iraqi people how to edit > Wikipedia. The workshops led to 600 new articles and more than 12,000 edits > primarily to Arabic and Kurdish Wikipedia. In October 2015, this community > launched the first formalized Wikimedia group from Iraq, the Iraqi > Wikimedians user group <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Wikimedians> > (a formalized Wikimedia affiliate group that has been recognized by the > global Wikimedia community of editors). Today, the majority of unique > device visits to Wikipedia in Iraq come from mobile devices. > > Worldwide, Wikipedia is recognized as an important learning resource, but > it also offers a platform to share knowledge with the world. Edits from any > country contribute to the world’s common knowledge repository, seen by > hundreds of millions of people every month. This allows many to learn from > what just a few people might otherwise know. As more voices contribute to > Wikipedia, it becomes a better representation of the diverse cultures, > history, people, viewpoints, and perspectives of our world. > > “Asiacell believes that sharing knowledge is a way to enforce the > interaction among human beings. We strongly believe in contributing in the > global project of Wikipedia. Beside all the modern technologies that we > offer, this partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation is one of the > achievements that we are proud of. We will enable our 12 million subscriber > base to have free access to Wikipedia, this will enable them to widen the > scale of their knowledge and thus direct them towards a brighter future for > themselves and for humanity,” said Zring Faruk, Chief Commercial Officer at > Asiacell. > > With this partnership, Asiacell customers will be able to edit Wikipedia > without mobile data charges -- adding to and improving articles in their > preferred language and sharing knowledge of Iraq’s rich cultural history, > heritage, and its people with the rest of the world. > > “Wikipedia is guided by a powerful vision: that every single person should > be able to share in all of the world’s knowledge, for free and without > restriction,” said Katherine Maher, Executive Director of the Wikimedia > Foundation. “Sarmad, Ravan, and the Iraqi Wikimedians User Group have been > passionate advocates of this vision in Iraq. They've nurtured the growth of > Arabic and Kurdish Wikipedia for nearly a decade, and have built a vibrant > community committed to sharing knowledge of Iraq and its heritage, people, > and culture with the world. We are thrilled to have Asiacell join us as a > partner in this journey.” > > The Wikipedia Zero program is overseen by the Wikimedia Foundation, the > nonprofit that supports Wikipedia and a number of other Wikimedia free > knowledge websites. Since the program first began in 2012, Wikipedia Zero > partnerships have taken place with 68 mobile operators in 52 countries. > > > > *# # #* > *About Asiacell* > > Asiacell is a leading provider of quality mobile telecommunications and > data services in Iraq with a subscriber base of nearly 12 million customers > as of December 1st 2016. Asiacell was the first mobile telecommunications > provider in Iraq to achieve nationwide coverage, offering its services > across all of Iraq’s 19 governorates including the national capital Baghdad > and all other major Iraqi cities. Asiacell’s network covers 99.06% of the > Iraqi population which makes its national coverage the widest among the > mobile operators in Iraq. > > *About Wikipedia* > > Wikipedia is the world’s free knowledge resource. It is a collaborative > creation that has been added to and edited by millions of people from > around the globe since it was created in 2001: anyone can edit it, at any > time. Wikipedia is offered in hundreds of languages containing more than 40 > million articles. Wikipedia and its sister projects are collectively > visited by more than a billion unique devices each month. > > *About the Wikimedia Foundation* > > The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that supports and > operates Wikipedia and its sister projects. More than a billion unique > devices access the Wikimedia sites each month. Roughly 70,000 people edit > Wikipedia and its sister projects every month, collectively creating and > improving its more than 40 million articles across hundreds of languages – > this all makes Wikipedia one of the most popular web properties in the > world. Based in San Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation is a > 501(c)(3) charity that is funded primarily through donations and grants. > > > *Press contact* > > *Asiacell* > > public.relati...@asiacell.com > > *Wikimedia Foundation* > > Juliet Barbara > > pr...@wikimedia.org > > -- > *Samantha Lien* > Communications Manager > Wikimedia Foundation > 149 New Montgomery Street > San Francisco, CA 94105 > > > > > > > > (To be unsubscribed from this press release distribution list, please reply > to communicati...@wikimedia.org with 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in the subject line) > _______________________________________________ > Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately > directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia > community. 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