Serbian Wikipedia
Encyclopedia
The Serbian Wikipedia is the Serbian
version of Wikipedia
, the free encyclopedia
. It was created on February 16, 2003. This language version exceeded 100,000 articles on November 20, 2009. As of November, 2011 it has over 150,000 articles making it the largest South Slavic
Wikipedia.
. Before then, there was unified Serbo-Croatian Wikipedia. Main page was translated from English to Serbian on April 22, 2003 by unknown user with IP address 80.131.158.32 (possible from Freiburg
, Germany), and Nikola Smolenski finished the translation on May 24. Unknown user with the IP address 194.106.170.199 created on October 10, 2003.
During September of that year, Nikola Smolenski wrote basic articles, and in October issue of Svet kompjutera
was published his article about wiki
s and Wikipedia
. Soon users has begun to arrive, both registered and anonymous. In October Nikola has translated user interface to Serbian.
In the beginning, articles were written only in Cyrillic script. Since March 3, 2006 software which converts scripts is installed, so both scripts became equal.
s, Cyrillic
and Latin
and two dialects — Ekavian and Ijekavian. Combination of alphabets and dialects give four variants (Ekavian Cyrillic, Ijekavian Cyrillic, Ekavian Latin and Ijekavian Latin).
When Serbian Wikipedia was founded, it used only Cyrillic alphabet, and both standard dialects. However, since both alphabets are widely used by Serbian native speakers, attempts were made to enable the parallel usage of both Cyrillic and Latin alphabets. The first attempt was to use a bot
for dynamical transliteration of every article. About 1,000 articles were transliterated, but then, the action was stopped due to the technical difficulties, and later, this concept was abandoned in favor of a model used by the Chinese Wikipedia
. After a few months, software was completed and now every visitor has the option to choose between two alphabets using tabs at the top of each article. There are special tags used to indicate those words which shouldn't be transliterated (names and words written in foreign languages). Anti-transliteration tags in use are:
Cyrillic-Latin transliteration is working smoothly (although there are still some minor technical difficulties), but Ekavian-Ijekavian conversion is much more complicated, and its implementation is not yet complete (it will probably require extensive tables of words in Ekavian and Ijekavian variants). However, despite of all the difficulties, this is probably the first successful attempt to develop the software which will allow parallel work on all four variants of the Serbian language.
) and there have been more than hundred of meetings in the last four years. On December 3, 2005, they founded the local branch of Wikimedia Foundation for Serbia and Montenegro
. This was the fifth local WF branch founded in the world. After disintegration of Serbia and Montenegro, the local branch changed its name to Wikimedia of Serbia.
Wikimedia Serbia was the host of all four Wikimedia conferences for Southeast Europe.
of Belgrade University and Faculty of Electrical Engineering of University of Montenegro
; students of those faculties occasionally write articles for Serbian Wikipedia.
Due to similarity of Serbo-Croatian language
s, one of the features is copying adapting articles from one language version Wikipedia to another (Serbian, Croatian
, Serbo-Croatian and Bosnian.) Another Serbian language project, Serbian Wikinews (as of October 2010) has more than 52,000 articles, so Wikipedia articles are often accompanied with latest news.
A controversy erupted in 2006 over some 10,000 articles on French communities created by a bot. The problem was that such articles needed transcription
, and that process went slowly.
Some 1500 (human-written) articles, including articles on a number of topics related to social work
that even English Wikipedia doesn't have, were bot-uploaded to Serbian Wikipedia from the Dictionary of Social Work, whose author Ivan Vidanović offered to release under GFDL.
During September and October 2007, new articles on more than 4,300 towns in Serbia
and 1,250 in Montenegro
were created. Already existing articles (about 1,600 towns from Serbia and 80 towns from Montenegro) were manually merged with bot-created articles.
From July 13 to July 17, 2009, about 2,400 articles on artificial satellites
from Soviet-Russian Cosmos
program were created, and in August were created additional 7,840 articles about deep sky objects from New General Catalog.
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
version of Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
, the free encyclopedia
Encyclopedia
An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....
. It was created on February 16, 2003. This language version exceeded 100,000 articles on November 20, 2009. As of November, 2011 it has over 150,000 articles making it the largest South Slavic
South Slavs
The South Slavs are the southern branch of the Slavic peoples and speak South Slavic languages. Geographically, the South Slavs are native to the Balkan peninsula, the southern Pannonian Plain and the eastern Alps...
Wikipedia.
History
Serbian Wikipedia was created on February 16, 2003 together with Croatian WikipediaCroatian Wikipedia
The Croatian Wikipedia is the Croatian version of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, started on February 16, 2003. This version has more than 103,000 articles , making it the 39th largest edition of Wikipedia....
. Before then, there was unified Serbo-Croatian Wikipedia. Main page was translated from English to Serbian on April 22, 2003 by unknown user with IP address 80.131.158.32 (possible from Freiburg
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In the extreme south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Breisgau region on the western edge of the Black Forest in the Upper Rhine Plain...
, Germany), and Nikola Smolenski finished the translation on May 24. Unknown user with the IP address 194.106.170.199 created on October 10, 2003.
During September of that year, Nikola Smolenski wrote basic articles, and in October issue of Svet kompjutera
Svet kompjutera
Svet kompjutera is a computer magazine published in Serbia. It is a computer magazine with the highestcirculation in the country Svet kompjutera (World of Computers) (Started October 1984) is a computer magazine published in Serbia. It is a computer magazine with the highestcirculation in the...
was published his article about wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
s and Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
. Soon users has begun to arrive, both registered and anonymous. In October Nikola has translated user interface to Serbian.
In the beginning, articles were written only in Cyrillic script. Since March 3, 2006 software which converts scripts is installed, so both scripts became equal.
Variants
The Serbian language uses two alphabetAlphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...
s, Cyrillic
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
and Latin
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
and two dialects — Ekavian and Ijekavian. Combination of alphabets and dialects give four variants (Ekavian Cyrillic, Ijekavian Cyrillic, Ekavian Latin and Ijekavian Latin).
When Serbian Wikipedia was founded, it used only Cyrillic alphabet, and both standard dialects. However, since both alphabets are widely used by Serbian native speakers, attempts were made to enable the parallel usage of both Cyrillic and Latin alphabets. The first attempt was to use a bot
Internet bot
Internet bots, also known as web robots, WWW robots or simply bots, are software applications that run automated tasks over the Internet. Typically, bots perform tasks that are both simple and structurally repetitive, at a much higher rate than would be possible for a human alone...
for dynamical transliteration of every article. About 1,000 articles were transliterated, but then, the action was stopped due to the technical difficulties, and later, this concept was abandoned in favor of a model used by the Chinese Wikipedia
Chinese Wikipedia
Chinese Wikipedia is the Chinese language edition of Wikipedia, run by the Wikimedia Foundation. Started in October 2002, Chinese Wikipedia had over 270,000 articles as of September 2009 and 383,391 articles as of November 7, 2011...
. After a few months, software was completed and now every visitor has the option to choose between two alphabets using tabs at the top of each article. There are special tags used to indicate those words which shouldn't be transliterated (names and words written in foreign languages). Anti-transliteration tags in use are:
-
-{text here}- , that prevents text transliteration in articles -
__NOTC__ or__БЕЗКН__ , that prevent article name transliteration.
Cyrillic-Latin transliteration is working smoothly (although there are still some minor technical difficulties), but Ekavian-Ijekavian conversion is much more complicated, and its implementation is not yet complete (it will probably require extensive tables of words in Ekavian and Ijekavian variants). However, despite of all the difficulties, this is probably the first successful attempt to develop the software which will allow parallel work on all four variants of the Serbian language.
Community
Starting from February 15, 2005, members of the Serbian wiki-community have regular meetings in Belgrade (usually in Belgrade Youth CenterBelgrade Youth Center
Belgrade Youth Center, or Dom omladine Beograda , is a cultural center in Belgrade, dedicated primarily to youth. It organises numerous programs in the area of modern art and culture, as well as educational-debate programs: around 1,000 different programs per year, visited by over 180,000 youth...
) and there have been more than hundred of meetings in the last four years. On December 3, 2005, they founded the local branch of Wikimedia Foundation for Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro was a country in southeastern Europe, formed from two former republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia : Serbia and Montenegro. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, it was established in 1992 as a federation called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
. This was the fifth local WF branch founded in the world. After disintegration of Serbia and Montenegro, the local branch changed its name to Wikimedia of Serbia.
Wikimedia Serbia was the host of all four Wikimedia conferences for Southeast Europe.
Content
Serbian Wikipedia has good cooperation with the Faculty of Mathematics, Faculty of Physical Chemistry and the Philological FacultyUniversity of Belgrade Faculty of Philology
The Faculty of Philology is one of the constituent schools of the University of Belgrade. The school's purpose is to train and educate its students in the academic study or practice in linguistics and philology.-History:...
of Belgrade University and Faculty of Electrical Engineering of University of Montenegro
University of Montenegro
The University of Montenegro is a university located in Podgorica, Montenegro. It was founded in 1974 and is organized in 20 Faculties.-History:...
; students of those faculties occasionally write articles for Serbian Wikipedia.
Due to similarity of Serbo-Croatian language
Serbo-Croatian language
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
s, one of the features is copying adapting articles from one language version Wikipedia to another (Serbian, Croatian
Croatian Wikipedia
The Croatian Wikipedia is the Croatian version of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, started on February 16, 2003. This version has more than 103,000 articles , making it the 39th largest edition of Wikipedia....
, Serbo-Croatian and Bosnian.) Another Serbian language project, Serbian Wikinews (as of October 2010) has more than 52,000 articles, so Wikipedia articles are often accompanied with latest news.
A controversy erupted in 2006 over some 10,000 articles on French communities created by a bot. The problem was that such articles needed transcription
Transcription (linguistics)
Transcription in the linguistic sense is the systematic representation of language in written form. The source can either be utterances or preexisting text in another writing system, although some linguists only consider the former as transcription.Transcription should not be confused with...
, and that process went slowly.
Some 1500 (human-written) articles, including articles on a number of topics related to social work
Social work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...
that even English Wikipedia doesn't have, were bot-uploaded to Serbian Wikipedia from the Dictionary of Social Work, whose author Ivan Vidanović offered to release under GFDL.
During September and October 2007, new articles on more than 4,300 towns in Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
and 1,250 in Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
were created. Already existing articles (about 1,600 towns from Serbia and 80 towns from Montenegro) were manually merged with bot-created articles.
From July 13 to July 17, 2009, about 2,400 articles on artificial satellites
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
from Soviet-Russian Cosmos
Cosmos (satellite)
Kosmos is a designation given to a large number of satellites operated by the Soviet Union and subsequently Russia. Kosmos 1, the first spacecraft to be given a Kosmos designation, was launched on March 16, 1962....
program were created, and in August were created additional 7,840 articles about deep sky objects from New General Catalog.