Students from Universidad Espiritu Santo (UEES) participated in the marathon of collective and simultaneous editing of Wikipedia articles, organized by Fundapi (Foundation for Internet Assistance), the group of Wikimedians of Ecuador and the Faculty of Systems, Telecommunications and Electronics of UEES (FISTE).
The event brought together more than 50 young people from careers such as Systems, Journalism and Law from 09:00 to 13:00, who used their knowledge to generate articles on the web portal about the sectional authorities of Guayaquil and Samborondón.
“The objective of this editathon is to demonstrate to students the importance of disseminating knowledge to others, as well as to improve their research and teamwork skills,” said Edgar Rosero Villacis, representative of Wikimedistas Ecuador.
FISTE's Editathon resulted in a base of 40 articles, which will be shared on the Wikipedia portal worldwide, allowing access to a greater amount of secure and verified knowledge about our country.
According to Eduardo Bejar, representative of Fundapi, linking young people with the information published on the Internet is of utmost importance for research in Ecuador, in addition to encouraging the active participation of citizens in issues of global interest. “We must empower ourselves and take ownership of the Ecuadorian content that circulates on the web, content that students use, and design it from a local perspective,” he says.
The editathon was also consolidated as an opportunity for students to become editors of one of the largest information networks on the Web. “This is a small example of what it means to share knowledge, so that what young people learn does not remain only in the classroom,” said Lohana Lema, a teacher at FISTE.
The event was widely disseminated on social networks under the hashtag #EditatonFISTE, demonstrating the community's interest in engaging with technology.
