31.05.2019.

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Security Sector Reform on Wikipedia

{image1} How to present security sector reform so that citizens can understand it and how to make information on the subject available through Wikipedia? – that was the central question during the workshop which Belgrade Centre for Security Policy organized on May 23, 2019. Workshop participants were BCSP interns, students ...

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How to present security sector reform so that citizens can understand it and how to make information on the subject available through Wikipedia? – that was the central question during the workshop which Belgrade Centre for Security Policy organized on May 23, 2019. Workshop participants were BCSP interns, students of Faculty of political sciences and Faculty of security and BCSP team members.

Students had the opportunity to talk to Nebojša Ratković, manager of Wikimedia Education Programme Serbia, about the importance of availability of knowledge and information on the internet through online encyclopedia, as well as about the creation and improvement of Wikipedia’s free content.  

“I think that workshops like this are a good indicator that Wikipedia can find its use in different areas. This is just one of the examples how much Internet has become an irreplaceable part of gathering information on different subjects. I would especially like to point out the excellent communication with participants during the workshop. They have shown a high level of motivation and made the lecture interactive”, stressed Ratković.

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After the lecture, students had the opportunity to participate in the practical part of the workshop, where they had the task to edit their articles on security sector reform, written as part of #bezbednostABC (#securityABC) initiative. With the help of their mentors, students created articles in Serbian language on the topics related to security sector reform, national security strategy, parliamentary oversight of the security sector, National Security Council, Defense Inspectorate, special measures for covert data collection.

In this way, students made these important topics visible on the internet and created reliable content available to future students and to the general public. Moreover, students have tested their web writing skills and learned how to create simple and concise, yet substantial articles.
“Workshop on writing articles for Wikipedia was very useful because it gave me not only the practical skills needed to write for this website, but also made me realize how important Wikipedia is. While writing a text on the National Security Strategy of the Republic of Serbia I have been given the opportunity to try a different style of writing, which should be compelling and easy to understand, yet rich enough with essentially important information. In addition, I think it is very important to present basic and key concepts related to the security sector in this way so that citizens can better understand these topics”, said BCSP intern Pavle Nedić.

At the closing event in June 2019, students will receive certificates for a successfully completed Wikipedia workshop and editing articles on security sector reform.

The workshop was held within the project “Promoting Security Sector Governance and Reform Concepts on Free Online Platforms” supported by the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

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