Wikimedia Bangladesh Foundation (mostly known as Wikimedia Bangladesh or WikimediaBD) is a registered charity established to support volunteers in Bangladesh who work on Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia.[1] It is a Wikimedia chapter[2] approved by the Wikimedia Foundation which owns and hosts those projects. As of 19 November 2019, it is the only official Wikimedia chapter in South Asia and the only chapter that operates in a Bengali-speaking environment.[3]

Wikimedia Bangladesh Foundation
উইকিমিডিয়া বাংলাদেশ ফাউন্ডেশন
AbbreviationWikimediaBD
Formation3 October 2011; 13 years ago (2011-10-03)
FounderWikimedia community
Founded atDhaka, Bangladesh
TypeNon-profit organization
Registration no.S-11906
Legal statusActive
Location
  • Dhaka, Bangladesh
Coordinates23°44′24″N 90°23′15″E / 23.740117°N 90.3875823°E / 23.740117; 90.3875823
Area served
Bangladesh
MethodsBengali Wikipedia, Bishnupriya Manipuri Wikipedia, Santali Wikipedia, Bengali Wiktionary, Bengali Wikiquote, Bengali Wikibooks, Bengali Wikisource, Bengali Wikivoyage
President
Shabab Mustafa
Key people
  • Masum Al-Hasan
    (General Secretary)
  • Moheen Reeyad
    (Treasurer)
Subsidiariesregional communities
AffiliationsWikimedia Foundation
Volunteers71 (as of August 2019) (2019)
Websitewikimedia.org.bd bd.wikimedia.org

The chapter has several collaborations with other institutions and has organised events for volunteers aimed at adding content to Foundation projects.

History

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Wikimedia Bangladesh was approved by Wikimedia Board of trustees on 3 October 2011, and was the 39th local chapter to be approved by the Wikimedia Foundation board.[4] In May 2012, the organization applied to Registrar of Joint Stock Companies And Firms for local registration. It was registered locally on 9 June 2014[5] under the Societies Registration Act of Bangladesh and its official name is Wikimedia Bangladesh Foundation.[6]

Board of trustees

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As of 2024, the Board members comprises:[7]

  • Shabab Mustafa (President)
  • Masum Al-Hasan (General Secretary)
  • Moheen Reeyad (Treasurer)
  • Tanvir Rahman (member)
  • Ali Haidar Khan (member)
  • Ankan Ghosh Dastider (member)
  • R K Hannan (member)
  • Dolon Prova (member)
  • Tanbin Islam Siyam (member)

Activities

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Wikimedia Bangladesh runs various voluntary education programs such as workshops, photo contests, article contests and conferences in Bangladesh to promote and enrich the Wikimedia Foundation projects.[8][9][10] While Bengali language projects (such as Bengali Wikipedia) are the priority, it also helped with the launching of other regional language version of Wikipedia such as Santali Wikipedia and Bishnupriya Manipuri Wikipedia.[11][12][13]

The organization also collaborates with other organizations and institutions such as Bangladesh National Museum, the Embassy of Sweden in Dhaka, Grameenphone for the enrichment of the Wikipedia project. When video piracy started in Bangladesh by using Wikipedia Zero in 2016, it worked jointly with the Wikimedia Foundation to raise awareness among the users.[10][14] In 2017, Bangladesh Air Force release their photos to Wikimedia Commons, and in 2019, Jago FM provides photographs of media personalities for the same purpose.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ অনুমোদন পেল উইকিমিডিয়া বাংলাদেশ. Prothom Alo (in Bengali). Dhaka. 16 October 2011. Retrieved 1 December 2019.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ Paroutis, Sotirios; Heracleous, Loizos; Angwin, Duncan (1 February 2013). "Wikimedia chapters". Practicing Strategy: Text and Cases. SAGE. p. 243. ISBN 978-1849207508. Archived from the original on 19 October 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  3. ^ নবম বছরে 'উইকিমিডিয়া বাংলাদেশ'. Prothom Alo (in Bengali). Dhaka. 16 October 2011. Archived from the original on 19 October 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  4. ^ ৯ বছরে 'উইকিমিডিয়া বাংলাদেশ' (in Bengali). Dhaka: Samakal. 3 October 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  5. ^ Wikimedia Bangladesh: a chapter's five-year journey, Wikipedia Signpost
  6. ^ "About Wikimedia Bangladesh". WikimediaBD. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  7. ^ "Interim Executive Committee members of Wikimedia Bangladesh".
  8. ^ "10th anniversary of the Bangla Wikipedia celebrated". The Daily Star. 1 June 2015. Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  9. ^ বাংলাদেশে উইকিমিডিয়া. Prothom Alo (in Bengali). Retrieved 19 November 2019.[permanent dead link]
  10. ^ a b নতুন বছরে নতুন লক্ষ্য. Prothom Alo (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  11. ^ "Santhali becomes India's first tribal language to get own Wikipedia edition". Hindustan Times. 9 August 2018. Archived from the original on 22 February 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  12. ^ ক্ষুদ্রজাতির ভাষায় বিশ্বকোষ. Kaler Kantho (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 20 September 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  13. ^ "Gour Hari Das: The Unsung Freedom Fighter Whose Fight Didn't End With Freedom". The Better India. 10 August 2018. Archived from the original on 13 January 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  14. ^ Koebler, Jason (27 April 2016). "Wikipedia's Piracy Police Are Ruining the Developing World's Internet Experience". Vice. Archived from the original on 18 September 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
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