The Bhutan-Australia Wiki project
Bunty Avieson, from University of Sydney, in collaboration with Royal University of Bhutan, Zung Dratshang and Bhutan Media Foundation, is working with various Bhutanese communities to edit Wikipedia. The aim is to further develop an editing community so that Bhutanese can:
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1) influence the ways in which their country and culture are represented on English Wikipedia
2) develop the Dzongkha Wikipedia site.
3) join the global knowledge movement of Wikimedia
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To be notified about forthcoming workshops in Thimphu (2024), send Bunty an email here.
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To read the project page, with all its instructions, links and suggested pages to edit, see here
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The project is funded by The Australian Research Council through a Discovery Early Career Research Award.
workshops 2023
In partnership with the Zung Dratshang, we ran editing workshops at Tenchen Choeling Buddhist College for Nuns, in Paro, and also with senior students at the Institute of Science and Mind, in Thimphu.
workshops 2022
Above: Editing workshops in Canberra, Australia, in 2022, with Dr Pema Wangdi (linguistics), Dr Kinley Wangdi (epidemiology) and Dendup Chopel (Research Fellow). pix: Mal Watson
workshops 2019
Above: In 2019 Needrup Zangpo and Bhutan Media Foundation hosted Dr Bunty Avieson for a Wikipedia editing workshop with Dzongkha editors at their offices in Thimphu. pix: Bhutan Media Foundation
about the project
Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia, created and updated by millions of volunteers around the world, who believe knowledge should be free and available to all. It is the only not-for-profit site in the top 50 and has become the world’s go-to site for information on all manner of topics – from the height of the Eiffel tower in Paris, to the World Cup results of 2018; from the number of COVID-19 cases in Sweden, to the storyline of Bhutanese Oscar contender in 2022, Lunana: a Yak in the Classroom.
While the site is known for its "anyone can edit" ethos, there are a range of rules and protocols that editors must follow. These protocols have been developed by the community over the past two decades and work well to prevent the site being used for propaganda, misinformation or self-promotion. However they can also be a barrier to participation.
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In March 2022, English Wikipedia was visited 23 billion times - 546,000 of those visits came from Bhutan. But the pages about Bhutan are mostly written by foreigners, using western references rather than Bhutan’s own, eg preferencing the Lonely Planet Travel Guide over Dr Karma Phuntsho’s History of Bhutan. This brings a western skew to the way Bhutan is presented. Only a handful of Bhutanese are active contributors.
There are more than 300 different language Wikipedias, including Dzongkha Wikipedia. Launched in 2008, it has few pages and offers great potential for Dzongkha language development and education.