Marefa
Encyclopedia
Marefa is an not-for-profit online encyclopedia
project that uses the wiki
system to provide a free Arabic encyclopedia similar to Wikipedia
. It was set up by Nayel Shafei on February 16, 2007. Sister projects include Manuscript documentation, Sources, Collaborative books, forums, Blogsphere, E-mail accounts (with unlimited storage), Video/Audio library.
In September, 2007, Marefa received 25,000 manuscripts and old books, in Arabic script, from the Government of India
. These are scanned images of books stored in and around Osmania University
, Hyderabad, India
. The books are in Arabic, Persian
and Ottoman Turkish
. Marefa started the electronic publishing of them, immediately, and made them available for free. University of North Carolina
(UNC) puts Marefa as one of top eight sources for Arabic Manuscripts, with notable global cultural centers of Arabic heritage, like, Süleymaniye Library, Istanbul
, and Azhar University, Cairo
. Middle East Librarian Association recommends the Marefa to its members, and its cited Marefa's receipt of 25,000 Arabic and Persian books and manuscripts from the Government of India.
In Spring 2009, Marefa began offering weekly live Webinar lectures for site visitors. Marefa members and visitors from around the world discuss pressing global issues, on the Webinar, by hooking up webcams and microphones to their computers and communicating with each other in real time. The weekly Webinar features a guest lecturer speaking about his or her area of expertise. Past Webinars have included talks on the Yemeni secession movement, 2009 Iranian national elections, and historic roots of current crisis in Somalia.
Marefa offers e-mail accounts to members who choose to sign up for such service.
in number of different articles. After what he describes as a takeover of the Arabic Wikipedia that culminated in banning him, he stopped contributing to it, and formed Marefa.
Marefa started with content from several permitting sources including Wikipedia. Marefa uses Wiki-format for its site but provides articles on individuals, issues, and items often not found on the Arabic Wikipedia site. Marefa often uses content from the English and Arabic sites for baseline material, but Marefa provides additional details, sources, images, multimedia, and commentary for articles that may be found on the Arabic Wikipedia site. Marefa's articles are in Arabic but also has a multilingual linking system in which alternative language editions of a given article in Marefa are links to Wikipedia editions in those languages.
Encyclopedia
An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....
project that uses the wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
system to provide a free Arabic encyclopedia similar to Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
. It was set up by Nayel Shafei on February 16, 2007. Sister projects include Manuscript documentation, Sources, Collaborative books, forums, Blogsphere, E-mail accounts (with unlimited storage), Video/Audio library.
In September, 2007, Marefa received 25,000 manuscripts and old books, in Arabic script, from the Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
. These are scanned images of books stored in and around Osmania University
Osmania University
Osmania University , , since 1918, is a public university located in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established and named after the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan. It is one of the oldest modern universities in India. It is the first Indian University to have Urdu and...
, Hyderabad, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. The books are in Arabic, Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
and Ottoman Turkish
Ottoman Turkish language
The Ottoman Turkish language or Ottoman language is the variety of the Turkish language that was used for administrative and literary purposes in the Ottoman Empire. It borrows extensively from Arabic and Persian, and was written in a variant of the Perso-Arabic script...
. Marefa started the electronic publishing of them, immediately, and made them available for free. University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina
Chartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...
(UNC) puts Marefa as one of top eight sources for Arabic Manuscripts, with notable global cultural centers of Arabic heritage, like, Süleymaniye Library, Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, and Azhar University, Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
. Middle East Librarian Association recommends the Marefa to its members, and its cited Marefa's receipt of 25,000 Arabic and Persian books and manuscripts from the Government of India.
Multimedia
In addition to articles and original manuscripts, Marefa offers a vast variety of multimedia projects for its visitors. On the home page, viewers can find developing news stories from around the world, updated daily. Marefa recently added a video library where visitors can watch clips uploaded by administrators and other visitors.In Spring 2009, Marefa began offering weekly live Webinar lectures for site visitors. Marefa members and visitors from around the world discuss pressing global issues, on the Webinar, by hooking up webcams and microphones to their computers and communicating with each other in real time. The weekly Webinar features a guest lecturer speaking about his or her area of expertise. Past Webinars have included talks on the Yemeni secession movement, 2009 Iranian national elections, and historic roots of current crisis in Somalia.
Marefa offers e-mail accounts to members who choose to sign up for such service.
Relationship with Wikipedia
The founder of Marefa, Nayel Shafei, was in 2005-06, one of the contributors to Arabic WikipediaArabic Wikipedia
The Arabic Wikipedia is the Arabic language version of Wikipedia. It started on 9 July 2003. As of September 2011, it has over 150,000 articles, 400,000 registered users and over 11,000 images...
in number of different articles. After what he describes as a takeover of the Arabic Wikipedia that culminated in banning him, he stopped contributing to it, and formed Marefa.
Marefa started with content from several permitting sources including Wikipedia. Marefa uses Wiki-format for its site but provides articles on individuals, issues, and items often not found on the Arabic Wikipedia site. Marefa often uses content from the English and Arabic sites for baseline material, but Marefa provides additional details, sources, images, multimedia, and commentary for articles that may be found on the Arabic Wikipedia site. Marefa's articles are in Arabic but also has a multilingual linking system in which alternative language editions of a given article in Marefa are links to Wikipedia editions in those languages.