Catalan version of Wikipedia celebrates its 10th anniversary

Barcelona (ACN).- Ten years ago, the first Wikipedia article in Catalan was published; concretely on March 17^th. It became a milestone day for the presence of the Catalan language on the Internet. Just two months after the creation of the online encyclopaedia, the Catalan version was the second language to have an article published, after the English version. It was also the third to be created. The success of the Wikipedia project is for all to see. In just ten years, it has over 400 million users and 26 million articles in 272 languages . Today it is one of the most ambitious collaborative projects in History and is always at the top of Google searches.

In addition to being one of the most productive as regards the sheer quantity of items, Catalan ‘Viquipèdia’ is particularly remarkable for its quality. In 2010 the British Museum bestowed the Catalan web page with two out of five awards for the quality of its articles on the Epiphany drawing by Michelangelo and the Benin bronzes, both of which belong to the Museum’s collection. The museum hoped that these awards will strengthen relations with the ‘Viquipèdia’ volunteers as well as promoting the art and reaching a wider public.

Recognition such as this confirms the good health of the Catalan Wikipedia which on December 2010 reached the total of 300,000 articles, surpassing the Norwegian version and standing 13^th in the number of items. ‘Viquipèdia’ is currently 10^th in a ranking of 272 languages?? and contains over 480 recognised quality items.

To celebrate this outstanding event, many commemorative events were held in Barcelona. On 19^th March, the ‘Viquipèdia’ association tried to beat the record of 2,000 publishers in a single day, a photography competition was held in l’Alghero (the Sardinian town talking in Catalan) and other sessions on research and teaching on the Wikipedia were held across Catalonia and in other Catalan-speaking territories.