Monday, August 10, 2015

#Wikidata - #Free Mazin Darwish

It is satisfying to learn that Mr Darwish has been freed. He was jailed since February 2012 and, the BBC has it that we was freed. It mentions that he is the director of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) and received many international awards.

Wikidata already knew about a few of those awards, finding more awards was a matter of reading the three Wikipedia articles. It is just a matter of doing the research. One of the awards Mr Darwish received was the PEN Pinter Prize in 2014. However, the Wikipedia article calls it the "Pinter International Writer of Courage Award". This award is not listed on the "List of PEN awards".

There is a reason to celebrate. Mr Darwish is free. It is satisfying to see that a lot of information is already there. Working on the data that exists on Mr Darwish connects him with more people sharing similar connections.

Every day there is someone who is worthy of attention. I can do this, you can do this. It is how Wikidata gains relevance. Relevance because it is information available for use in any language including Arabic.
Thanks,
        GerardM

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