As we commemorate the 163rd birth anniversary of our national hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal on June 19, we are soft launching the Wikisource in the local languages featuring his translated novels and other writings.
As of June 2024, there are Wikisource subdomains active for 77 languages comprising a total of 6,058,235 articles and 2,420 recently active editors.
The Philippine language-based editions, which are currently in the incubation phase are: Bikol Sentral, Ilokano, Sinugboanon, Tagalog and Waray. Three more editions are in the pipeline namely Hiligaynon, Pangasinan and Kapampangan.
Rizal wrote the novels Noli Me Tángere (1887) and El filibusterismo (1891), which together are taken as a national epic, in addition to numerous poems and essays. Many translations have been made of his works such the Ilokano translations ‘Dinak Sagiden’ and ‘Ti Pilibusterismo’ of his novels. The copyrights of the original text have expired, and the copyrights of some translators have also expired, so certain translations are in the public domain.
Wikisource (https://wikisource.org) – The Free Library – is a project of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation to create a growing free content online library of source texts, as well as translations of source texts in any language.
Last December, the PhilWiki Community organized the WikiCommons PH Conference with theme ‘Preserving Our Heritage: Safeguarding Digital Assets Through Wikimedia’ in partnership with the Commons Photographers User Group, Naga City Government, University of Nueva Caceres Museum, ADNU Social Sciences and CSPC Center for Rinconada Culture and The Arts. One of the esteemed speakers, Mr. Ian Christopher Alfonso of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) introduced the National Memory Project. The project envisions democratized Philippine history materials, especially the rare collection, unique items, and public domain materials found in the NHCP library, archives, or museums.
Our partner GLAM institutions in Bicol, the University of Nueva Caceres Museum, Raul S. Roco Library and James O’Brien SJ Adnulibrary have recently hosted a couple of Bikol Wikisource symposia, the Bikol WikiConference 2023, and Webinar on Wikimedia featuring Satdeep Gill, one of the people behind the successful Wikisource Loves Manuscripts (WiLMa) pilot project.
GLAM stands for galleries, libraries, archives and museums. Wikimedians help these institutions share their resources with the world through collaborative projects with experienced editors.
The UNC Museum is now collaborating with University of Bologna in Spain, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the Ayala Museum and the Philippine Wikimedia Community Inc. to improve its displays.
The Bikol Wikipedia Community has an ongoing call for its Bikol Wikisource Loves Manuscripts PH Training Program to commence this month. The training is partnership with the PhilWiki Community and Nueva Caceres Heritage Movement, Inc.
Images: Ilokano Wikisource logo, Wikisource symposium at the University of Nueva Caceres Museum, a copy of Dr. Jose Rizal’s translated work, poster of Workshop on Wikisource (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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