An elderly student (right) receives training on info boxes from chemical university student Jan Mysak, who leads a workshop at a centre for seniors, in Prague on Feb 15, 2024. — AFP
PRAGUE: A frail 80-year-old retiree does not fit everyone’s idea of a tech-savvy Wikipedia writer, but Jirina Kadnerova is a devoted contributor to the online encyclopaedia.
On a sunny Sunday morning, Kadnerova, a former librarian and bibliographer, snaps away with her cellphone in the village of Sobehrdy south of Prague.
She is gathering material on a local Protestant church for her next article, scuttering around the building with a curious look and talking to locals leaving a morning mass.
That’s quite a difference from the average Czech Wikipedia contributor, whom Klara Joklova, chief executive at the Czech unit of the Wikimedia Foundation, describes as “a man aged 15-35 with a tech background” – exactly what Jirina Kadnerova is not.
Kadnerova has been writing articles for the open-source encyclopedia since taking a course training elderly people under the “Seniors Write Wikipedia” project, a Czech initiative launched in 2013.
Jirina Kadnerova, 80, a former librarian and bibliographer, works on a Wikipedia entry on a computer in Prague on Feb 15, 2024. After retiring as the head of a scientific library in 2012, Kadnerova started attending a university of the third age, took a bibliographer's job at the Czech Academy of Sciences and occasional stints as a tourist guide in a southern Czech town. Since 2016, she has also been writing articles focused largely on history for the Czech Wikipedia open-source online encyclopedia. — AFP
“Of course I used Wikipedia for many years, because librarians work with it, but I never thought I would like to contribute,” she told AFP.
After retiring as the head of a scientific library, Kadnerova never became a typical pensioner – a label she insists she hates.
Instead, she started attending university courses, took a bibliographer’s job at the Czech Academy of Sciences and does occasional stints as a tourist guide.
Seven years ago, her grandson suggested she might contribute to Wikipedia.
“He said I had a decent expertise, that I can formulate pretty well, that I have written a few things and above all that I can find my way in databases and catalogues.”
Jirina Kadnerova, 80, a former librarian and bibliographer, poses with a booklet with the title 'Seniors Write Wikipedia' in Prague on Feb 15, 2024. — AFP
‘A promising group’
Her first entry focused on a Gothic church in the small southern town where she is a tourist guide, one of around 100 articles focused mostly on historic sites that she has published since.
She has also edited more than 1,500 existing articles, often adding information about libraries in the region around her home city of Prague.
The Czech Wikipedia has over half a million entries and registers about 600 regular and thousands of occasional contributors – comprising an ever-growing group of Czech seniors.
Leading a workshop at a senior centre in Prague, university student Jan Mysak said elderly contributors were “a promising group”.
“They have the time in the first place,” he told AFP after guiding Jirina Kadnerova through the tricks of inserting an infobox in an article.
Kadnerova (right), 80, a former librarian and bibliographer, receives training on info boxes from chemistry student Jan Mysak, who leads a workshop at a centre for seniors, in Prague. — AFP
“But they also have the life experience and they know what they want to write about,” he added.
So far, around 700 have passed the free courses for seniors, according to the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation managing the encyclopedia.
Wikipedia attracts over a billion users each month, offering more than 62 million articles in over 300 languages.
‘Lay my hands on it’
A passionate tourist, Kadnerova relishes the opportunity to travel out of Prague and learn new things.
“When I write about something, I want to lay my hands on it,” Kadnerova added in her elegant Czech.
She has recently recruited a friend – another retired head librarian – to write for Wikipedia and share the passion.
“I’m happy when I can take a look at a piece of history and find out someone has praised the entry or even added something. That’s what makes me happy,” Kadnerova said.
“A friend of mine once told me I wasn’t doing enough for mankind. So I finally am.” – AFP
