Uzbek Wikipedia

The Uzbek Wikipedia (Uzbek: Oʻzbekcha Vikipediya) is the Uzbek-language edition of the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia. It was founded in December 2003. Articles in the Uzbek-language edition are written in the Latin script. In August 2012, a Latin-to-Cyrillic converter was added to allow users to view Uzbek Wikipedia's pages in both the Latin and Cyrillic scripts.

Uzbek Wikipedia
Screenshot
The homepage of the Uzbek Wikipedia.
Type of site
Internet encyclopedia project
Available inUzbek
OwnerWikimedia Foundation
URLuz.wikipedia.org
CommercialCharitable
RegistrationOptional
Content license
Creative Commons ShareAlike License 3.0

Although Uzbek is spoken by an estimated 37 million people and Uzbekistan has nearly 17 million Internet users,[1] there are not many active editors in the Uzbek Wikipedia and a majority of the existing articles are poorly sourced.[2] Since early 2012, however, both the number of active users and well-written articles have increased noticeably. The number of visits to the encyclopedia has also been rising lately. In early 2013, the Uzbek-language Wikipedia ranked first among different editions of Wikipedia in terms of annual page-view growth.[3] The current number of articles in the Uzbek Wikipedia is 139,650.

The Uzbek Wikipedia was blocked in Uzbekistan sometime in late 2011.[4][5][6] While the reasons for the blockage were undisclosed, some hypothesized that the encyclopedia had been blocked because the Uzbek government was concerned about the appearance of articles critical of its actions.[2] Others speculated that the Uzbek Wikipedia had been blocked simply as an "act of showmanship" because the government of Uzbekistan saw Uzbek-language content as subject to its jurisdiction.[7] The blockage was not very robust: the pages of the Uzbek Wikipedia could be accessed on an HTTPS connection.[8] Therefore, in 2013 Google started indexing pages of the Uzbek Wikipedia with HTTPS by default. Currently users in Uzbekistan can access the pages of Uzbek Wikipedia without any problems.

History

The Uzbek Wikipedia was launched in December 2003. The very first edit was made on the main page of the encyclopedia on 21 December 2003.[9] During 2004, Uzbek Wikipedia remained largely inactive. However, in 2005, the encyclopedia gradually started to grow.

Sometime around the end of September and beginning of October 2011, the Uzbek Wikipedia was blocked in Uzbekistan. Despite the blockage, the encyclopedia started to grow fast in 2012. During that same year, a bot was used to create a large number of articles. In 2013, another bot was used to add all of the articles of the National Encyclopedia of Uzbekistan to the Uzbek Wikipedia.

A mirror of the Uzbek Wikipedia was set up at wiki.zn.uz in 2008. It was created to reduce international traffic for Internet users in Uzbekistan. However, the mirror has been down since June 2012.

Wikiconferences

In 2007, the first Wikiconference (Uzbek: Vikimajlis) of Uzbek Wikipedia editors was organized at the Tashkent University of Information Technologies. Participants included those who had not edited Wikipedia before.

WikiSummer

In 2008, a Wikisummer (Uzbek: VikiYoz; "yoz" means both "summer" and "to write" in Uzbek) contest was organized with financial support from Uzinfocom, an agency of the State Committee of Communication, Informatization, and Telecommunication Technology of Uzbekistan. The main goal of the contest was to contribute to the expansion and development of the Uzbek Wikipedia. However, few people showed interest in the Wikisummer and the contest was not successful.

OzodWiki
Banner of the OzodWiki project

In February 2014, RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, known locally as Ozodlik radiosi, launched the OzodWiki project to contribute to the development of the Uzbek Wikipedia.[10][11] A wide range of articles, including interviews with active editors,[11][12][13][14][15][16] reviews of existing articles,[12][13][17] and lessons on editing Wikipedia[16] were published as part of the project. In addition, selected words and phrases that were used in Ozodlik radiosi's reports were hyperlinked to corresponding entries in the Uzbek Wikipedia to popularize the encyclopedia.[10] The OzodWiki project was "mutually beneficial, enabling Ozodlik users to click through to expanded information resources, while popularizing Wikipedia by driving new topics and audience their way."[10] A total of 33 unique articles were published as part of the project. The final OzodWiki article was published in January 2016.

In a short period of time the OzodWiki project stated to have a positive impact on the Uzbek Wikipedia.[18] While it is unlikely that all of the changes that took place after the launch of OzodWiki were a direct result of the project, a majority of these changes occurred while the project was running. While the main page of the Uzbek Wikipedia was viewed 20,368 times in January 2014, it was viewed 56,274 times in March of the same year.[18] In March 2013, the main page had been visited 20,403 times. In April 2014, the main page was viewed a record 136,592 times.[19] In April 2013, the main page had been visited only 12,134 times.

Policies

Script
The Latin-to-Cyrillic converter on the Uzbek Wikipedia

While articles in the Uzbek Wikipedia are written using the Latin script, historically the Uzbek language has used many different alphabets. Before 1928, Uzbek was written in an Arabic-based alphabet by the literate population. Between 1928 and 1940, it was written in a Latin alphabet which was different from the Latin alphabet that is used today. Starting from 1940, Uzbek began to be written in the Cyrillic alphabet, which remained the predominant form of writing until 1993.

The "wikifier" function which allows editors to convert Cyrillic text into Latin while editing

A new Latin alphabet was introduced to Uzbek after Uzbekistan gained independence from the Soviet Union. Currently, the Latin script is used in school and university textbooks, some newspapers, and in some official papers. Since 2004 some official websites have switched over to using the Latin script when writing in Uzbek. However, the use of Cyrillic is still widespread, especially among older Uzbeks and among Uzbeks who live in other countries.

Currently, the Uzbek Wikipedia has a function ("vikifikator", literally "wikifier") which allows editors to easily convert Cyrillic text into Latin while editing. In August 2012, a Latin-to-Cyrillic converter was added to allow users to view Uzbek Wikipedia's pages in both the Latin and Cyrillic scripts.[20]

Other policies

Whereas in the English Wikipedia autoconfirmed status is required to move pages, edit semi-protected pages, and upload files, in the Uzbek edition these actions are not restricted. At the moment there are only 11 administrators in the Uzbek Wikipedia.

Content

The Uzbek Wikipedia lacks articles on contemporary political life in Uzbekistan.[7] However, in 2012 the Uzbek Wikipedia started to grow fast despite being blocked in Uzbekistan and since that time the number of well-written articles on important subjects has increased significantly. In 2013, the coverage of the Uzbek Wikipedia expanded noticeably after all of the articles of the National Encyclopedia of Uzbekistan were added to it using a bot. Currently, the majority of articles on the Uzbek Wikipedia are about populated places, astronomical objects, people, music, and football.[21]

Like in many other Wikipedias, Uzbek Wikipedia editors jointly determine featured and good articles. Currently, there are eleven featured and 22 good articles on the Uzbek Wikipedia. The most comprehensive articles are entries about stars, philosophy, the Republic of Korea, Tehran, Aleppo, Karabulak, Texas, Encyclopædia Britannica, Ali-Shir Nava'i, Cristiano Ronaldo, and the British Empire.

Statistics

The number of articles in the Uzbek Wikipedia reached 10,000 on 5 June 2012.[22] The 10,000th article was on compass. A month later, on 5 July 2012, the article count of the encyclopedia reached 20,000.[23] The 20,000th article was on the topic of meteorology. The Uzbek Wikipedia reached 50,000 articles on 8 November 2012.[24][25] The 50,000th article was on quadratic equations. The encyclopedia reached 100,000 articles on 20 March 2013.[26][27] The 100,000th article was on labor force. These increases in the number of articles were mostly achieved with the help of bots.

As of February 2021, the Uzbek Wikipedia has 139,650 articles. There are 59,414 users, 221 of whom have made at least one edit in the last 30 days. At the moment only 11 users have administrator rights. The total number of pages on the Uzbek Wikipedia (including talk pages, categories, etc.) is 634,382. The total number of edits is 2,174,857. The editing depth of the Uzbek Wikipedia, which is a rough indicator of the encyclopedia's collaborative quality, is 43. Based on the List of articles every Wikipedia should have, the Uzbek Wikipedia ranks 64th.[28]

Origin of views (June 2018) Source[29]
Uzbekistan
 
 51.4%
United States
 
 33.5%
Russia
 
 3.8%
China
 
 3.6%
France
 
 3.1%
Ukraine
 
 1.3%
Netherlands
 
 1.0%
Other
 
 2.0%
Date Articles[30]
15 January 2006 100
24 May 2006 500
28 May 2006 1000
5 June 2012 10 000
5 July 2012 20 000
31 July 2012 30 000
27 August 2012 40 000
8 November 2012 50 000
29 November 2012 60 000
4 January 2013 70 000
13 February 2013 80 000
10 March 2013 90 000
20 March 2013 100 000

Censorship

The entire Wikipedia has been briefly blocked twice in Uzbekistan, in 2007 and 2008. The Uzbek Wikipedia was blocked in Uzbekistan around the end of September and beginning of October 2011, but caught the attention of the international press only in late February 2012 following RFE/RL's report about the blockage on 16 February 2012.[6] Initially Internet users in Uzbekistan trying to access Uzbek-language pages got redirected to msn.com of Microsoft.[6] Later the pages of the encyclopedia simply failed to load. Users in Uzbekistan could easily open Wikipedia articles in other languages, only Uzbek-language articles were blocked.[5]

The reason for the blockage of the Uzbek Wikipedia has not been disclosed. Some expressed the view that the encyclopedia had been blocked because the Uzbek government was concerned about the appearance of articles critical of its actions.[2] Sarah Kendzior, an American anthropologist, speculated that the Uzbek Wikipedia had been blocked simply as an "act of showmanship" because the government of Uzbekistan sees Uzbek-language content as subject to its jurisdiction.[7]

The blockage was not very robust: the articles in the Uzbek-language Wikipedia could be accessed on an HTTPS connection. Therefore, in 2013 Google started indexing pages of the Uzbek Wikipedia with HTTPS by default, and visitors of the Uzbek Wikipedia started to be automatically redirected to HTTPS. Between 2013 and 2019, users in Uzbekistan could generally access pages of the Uzbek Wikipedia without major problems. In May 2019, the government of Uzbekistan unblocked several news and rights websites, including Voice of America, BBC's Uzbek Service, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch.[31] Users in Uzbekistan have not faced any issues while accessing the Uzbek Wikipedia since then.

References
  1. "Asia Internet Stats by Country and 2019 Population Statistics". Internet World Stats. December 2018.
  2. Ataev, Nodir (17 February 2012). "Is Wikipedia accurate?". RFE/RL (in Uzbek). Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  3. "Page views for Wikipedia, all platforms, normalized". Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  4. Kilner, James (20 February 2012). "Uzbekistan blocks Wikipedia pages say witnesses". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  5. "Wikipedia articles in Uzbek blocked". RFE/RL. 16 February 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  6. "The Uzbek Wikipedia is blocked in Uzbekistan". RFE/RL (in Uzbek). 16 February 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  7. Kendzior, Sarah (21 February 2012). "Why did Uzbekistan ban Wikipedia?". Registan. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  8. "The number of articles in the Uzbek Wikipedia has exceeded 50,000". RFE/RL (in Uzbek). 12 November 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  9. "Main page". Uzbek Wikipedia. 21 December 2003. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  10. Omuemu, Sophia (17 June 2014). "Fighting censorship in Uzbekistan, one entry at a time". RFE/RL. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  11. "The Uzbek Wikipedia is about to become more active". RFE/RL (in Uzbek). 6 February 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  12. "Misha Ge of Uzbekistan will take part in the Sochi Winter Olympics on February 13". RFE/RL (in Uzbek). 13 February 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  13. "The Uzbek Wikipedia is not keeping up with Euromaidan". RFE/RL (in Uzbek). 19 February 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  14. "Uzbekistan has many educated young people who can contribute to Wikipedia, but..." RFE/RL (in Uzbek). 6 March 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  15. "21 year old Doniyor has added an article about NATO to the Uzbek Wikipedia". RFE/RL (in Uzbek). 20 March 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  16. "The bell has rung and the wiki lesson has started". RFE/RL (in Uzbek). 27 March 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  17. "The Uzbek Wikipedia is closely watching the crisis in Crimea". RFE/RL (in Uzbek). 7 March 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  18. "OzodWiki has increased visits to the Uzbek Wikipedia by 300 percent". RFE/RL (in Uzbek). 10 April 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  19. "Wikipedia article traffic statistics". Wikipedia article traffic statistics. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  20. Ataev, Nodir (3 October 2012). "The Uzbek Wikipedia is growing". RFE/RL (in Uzbek). Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  21. Maxsus:MostLinkedCategories
  22. "The number of articles in the Uzbek Wikipedia reaches 10,000". Kun (in Uzbek). 7 June 2012. Archived from the original on 10 June 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  23. "The number of articles in the Uzbek Wikipedia gains another 10,000 in a month". Kun (in Uzbek). 12 July 2012. Archived from the original on 20 July 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  24. "The Uzbek Wikipedia has more than 50,000 articles". Gazeta (in Russian). 8 November 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  25. "The number of articles in the Uzbek Wikipedia has exceeded 50,000". Kun (in Uzbek). 8 November 2012. Archived from the original on 16 December 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  26. "The number of articles in the Uzbek Wikipedia has exceeded 100,000". Gazeta (in Russian). 20 March 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  27. ""Labor force" has become the 100,000th article on the Uzbek Wikipedia". Kun (in Uzbek). 20 March 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  28. "List of Wikipedias by sample of articles". Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  29. "Wikimedia traffic analysis report - Page edits per Wikipedia language". Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  30. "Wikipedias by article-count milestone". Wikimedia. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  31. "Uzbeks Open Web to BBC, VOA, Amnesty International". VOA. 14 May 2019. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
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