DUBAI: Dubai resident Saqib Qayyum is on a mission to make Dubai the world’s first Wikipedia city with Dubaipedia. Dubaipedia, an informative website under Wikipedia, will allow residents and tourist to learn more about the city by scanning QR codes outside landmarks, cafes or malls.
Qayyum, who has been a volunteer with Wikipedia for a long time now has spent the last month identifying relevant locations in the city for his endeavour. Along with five other Wikipedia enthusiasts, the group has identified nearly 200 locations that would need the installation. They plan to install physical barcodes outside these key landmarks, which will route users to the corresponding article on Dubaipedia. “Any smartphone would be able to read these barcodes and will instantly direct users to relevant pages,” he said.
According to Saqib, the service will provide the user with information in the language they prefer. “After scanning the QR code through their phone they will have access to all the information in their preferred language. Users will also have the option to edit the information and upload more pictures,” said Qayyum.
According to him, the information currently available on the website is outdated and such a city encyclopaedia is certainly the need of the hour. “Dubai is one of world’s most visited cities but unfortunately the quality and quantity of the Dubai-related articles on Wikipedia is not satisfactory,” he added.
Qayyum aims to involve local communities and educational institutions to team up with the Wikipedia community in order to expand and improve the coverage eventually raise the profile of the city online. In order to achieve his mission, the 25 year old is looking to get help from government organisations to be able to do the installations as well as grants from Wikimedia Foundation to cover the costs.
