Irish Wikipedia


The Irish Wikipedia is the Irish-language version of Wikipedia, run by the Wikimedia Foundation and established in October 2003, with the first article being written in January 2004.
The founder of Vicipéid was Gabriel Beecham. In September 2005 over 1600 articles had been written, with 173 contributors having written material. By March 2007, about 20 regular Wikipedians were writing articles, with up to seven thousand articles having been created. In November 2013, it went over the 28,000 article mark, making it the 85th largest Wikipedia by article count.
The Vicipéid now encompasses a wide range of subjects, including topics as diverse as philosophy, genetics, Aboriginal bark canoes and maritime terminology. The Vicipéid also draws directly from Fréamh an Eolais, an Irish-language encyclopedia of science and technology.
The Vicipéid has been favourably received by Irish-language media. In his paper on Putting the learning back into learning technology, Barry McMullin of Dublin City University suggested that while the Irish Wikipedia is never likely to contain as many articles as the Wikipedias in the world's most widespread languages, it is still a useful resource. He felt that when seeking knowledge about certain topic areas it was likely to be more useful than the Wikipedias in English and other languages, because the nature of its evolution would lead it to contain the only, primary or definitive Wikipedia articles in any language on those areas.
Other academic sources have emphasised the site's educational value. The role of the Vicipéid as an educational tool at tertiary level has been acknowledged in the context of Wikimedia use, involving projects supported by NUI Galway.