Through a collaboration between the organisations The Shark Trust, Associació LAMNA and Wikimedia chapters and groups from Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Mexico, Ecuador, Chile, Peru and Spain, the first Wikimarathon on Wikipedia about Sharks and Rays will be held on June 29th from 9:00 am, both online and on-site, at the Casa del Alumno (Vera Campus), in the Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain).
This Wikimarathon will be the first major editing event focused on ‘Sharks and Rays’, which aims to highlight the value of the Spanish-speaking community working with elasmobranchs, improving and expanding its content in the digital encyclopaedia; and thus, making knowledge about these species more accessible through Wikipedia. It should be noted that, although June 29th is the central day, online editing can be started in the weeks before and continue in the weeks after the event.
A total of 29 experts from 9 Spanish-speaking countries, with a range of different scientific specialisations, as well as 28 collaborating entities oriented towards species conservation, marine science and elasmobranch research, have been brought together for the realisation of this initiative.
Why a Wikimarathon on sharks and rays?
There are more than 1,200 species of sharks and rays in the world, yet their conservation is not sustainable. More than a third of these species are threatened with extinction, mainly due to overfishing. In addition, the number of sharks and rays in the world’s oceans has declined by 71% since 1970.
This initiative aims to raise awareness of the importance of conserving these species. Oceanic sharks are some of the most iconic and functionally important species in the ocean, and urgent action is required to ensure their long-term sustainability.
Main event on June 29th
The event will be divided into two parts. The first part includes a series of talks given by experts about the importance of sharks in the ecosystem, the threats they face and several specific species at a regional level. Also, Wikimedia Spain will present data and information on Wikipedia and its contents about elasmobranchs in the different Wikimedia projects. The second part will be the Wikimarathon, a collective and simultaneous edition on Wikipedia, free and open, where information, images and data on sharks and rays, for which there is little information or no article yet, will be added to the free encyclopaedia.
To participate in the event, people have to fill in this form.
In addition to the main event, several local events are being organised in different countries. Find out more information about all of them here.
Organising entities:
- Wikimedia España
- Wikimedia Argentina
- Wikimedia Chile
- Wikimedia México
- Wikimedia Colombia
- Wikimedistas de Uruguay
- Wikimedistas de Ecuador
- Wikiacción Perú
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