The Quality against the Time

It was during Wikimania 2011, in a small restaurant in Haifa, which came up the news. The largest popular computer manufacturer in Brazil, the Grupo Positivo [1], would like to have a Portuguese Wikipedia version installed in their products. Who was present got excited because it was known the importance of this fact for the diffusion of the encyclopedia and its mission. In other words, this meant the Portuguese Wikipedia for approximately 13% of the national market of personal computers [2] and with a greater representativity in the lower-income strata.

Despite the good news, a race against time has began. It was necessary to prepare the offiline version of the Portuguese Wikipedia, with 5 thousand articles of good quality, within a very short time, in March 2012. The challenge was huge and to overcome it we needed to step on the gas.

The list of 5 thousand articles which should make the offline version [3] was present in only three months, with a great assistance of Wikimedia Brazil volunteers, but the quality still was not enough and we would have to improve it. It was then that the idea of a grand prix, as the famous auto racing. No cars and no laps, but with articles to be improved and many awards for the "pilots" who accept this challenge. Thus began the "I GP Wikimedia Brazil" [4] where for each article improved a lap is completed.

The take-off will begin in 2012 January, and for attend is really easy. Just subscribe in one of the existing teams or joining a new team. The registration will last until January 07, and at the moment we have 26 subscribers divided in 7 teams, but the prevision is reach around 50 attendees. After all, this is a Grand Prix where everyone win.

Prizes will be distributed as teams improve the quality of the articles included in the list. There are buttons, sticks, notebooks and t-shirts with the brand of Wikipedia, as well as thopies and medals in the userpages of the participants. The rules of the award will be released soon after the formation of the teams, but we know that the biggest prize is the offline version of Wikipedia in Portuguese.

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment. Imagine, now, a Brazil where thousands of people - some of them even without acess to Internet - will share a little sum of this knowledge. This is what we will do. Join a team and participate of this Grand Prix too [6].

[1] http://www.positivoinformatica.com.br/

[2] http://computerworld.uol.com.br/tecnologia/2011/12/07/positivo-lidera-mercado-de-pcs-no-brasil-e-argentina-no-3o-tri/

[3] http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipédia:Projetos/Wikipédia_Offline/Lista

[4] http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipédia:Concursos/I_GP_Wikimedia_Brasil

[5] http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipédia:Concursos/I_GP_Wikimedia_Brasil/Equipes

[6] http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipédia:Concursos/I_GP_Wikimedia_Brasil/Equipes

Tags: Wikimedia Brasil, Portuguese Wikipedia, contests

(Colocar link para os prêmios e uma imagem deles também ;)