Meet Émna Mizouni, the Wikimedian of the Year
The Tunisian’s contributions include helping to put together the Arabic Wikipedia
When you think of Wikipedia, you might think of the old high school teacher who warned you against citing the crowdsourced online encyclopedia in your research paper. Or you might imagine editors like Steven Pruitt, the Washington D.C.-based federal contractor who has volunteered 3 million edits to Wikipedia and who earlier this year became a popular internet meme: “carefully, he’s a hero.”
But unless you’re already involved in the so-called Wikimedia movement, it is not likely that you associate Wikipedia with notions of global citizenship and human progress. Nor are you likely aware of the movement’s annual award. Since 2011, Wikipedia’s co-founder Jimmy Wales has presented the “Wikimedian of the Year” award annually to highlight major achievements for the encyclopedia project. (In 2017, the name was changed from “Wikipedian” to “Wikimedian” of the year to acknowledge contributions not only to the encyclopedia Wikipedia, but also to its many related projects such as Wikimedia Commons, which hosts free images and video, or the knowledge base Wikidata.)
This year’s honoree, Émna Mizouni, is the first contributor whose principal project is Arabic Wikipedia. “Émna is a tireless…
