Greetings! We are excited to declare that the scholarship applications for the Wiki Student Summit 2024 have officially commenced! This presents an excellent chance for participants enthusiastic about Wikimedia, who are keen to effect positive change within their communities, to participate.

About the Summit

The Wiki Student Summit 2024 is a national gathering of students, educators, and Wikimedia enthusiasts. The theme for this year’s summit is “Beyond Borders: Collaborating for Positive Change”. We aim to foster collaboration and innovation among students from different parts of the world, encouraging them to contribute to Wikimedia projects and use them as tools for education and empowerment.

Scholarship Categories

We understand that not everyone has the resources to attend the summit, and we believe that financial constraints should not be a barrier to participation. Therefore, we are offering two categories of scholarships:

1. Full Funded: This scholarship covers transport to and from the event, meals during and after the event, accommodation during the event, and registration to the event.
2. Partial Funded: This scholarship covers transport to and from the event, meals during the event, and registration to the event.

How to Apply

To apply for a scholarship, you will need to fill out the Scholarship Application . The form includes sections on your personal information, involvement with Wikimedia, and your understanding of the event theme. Each scholarship category has specific questions to understand your needs better.

Important Dates

The scholarship application process open on 05 May 2024 and will close on 20 May 2024. We encourage you to apply early to ensure that your application is considered.

Final Thoughts

We are excited to read your applications and learn about your contributions to Wikimedia. Remember, the goal of these scholarships is to enable as many students as possible to attend the Wiki Student Summit 2024 and contribute to our mission of free knowledge for all.

So, what are you waiting for? Apply now and join us in making a positive change beyond borders!

March 30th, 2023, will go down in history for us as African Wikimedians. On this day the Baraza was launched, setting us on a journey that exemplified the importance of our shared values, bringing us closer together despite our diverse backgrounds. 

The inaugural ‘Afrika Baraza’ marked a significant milestone, revolutionizing the way we connect, celebrate, and collaborate as Africans. This past year we brought together over 500 African Wikimedians, and looking back this was the type of discussion, debates, and discourse around pertinent issues in the movement that we have never had so authentically before. More directly, the Afrika Baraza delivered the Africa Agenda and facilitated many other crucial conversations geared towards empowering African Wikimedians to engage in the movement.

The Baraza has become a catalyst for collaborative and impactful change across the African region.

“The Afrika Baraza has been instrumental in bringing the African community together beyond the Indaba conference. Such a  platform is crucial now more than ever to drive forward the forthcoming continental agenda.”

Reda Benkhadra

The name ‘Baraza’ is Swahili for a public forum or gathering where a community often gathers to deliberate on issues and, for a community that thrives in amplifying and documenting our local languages, we couldn’t have chosen a better name! A catchy, authentic, and vibrant name indeed, that creates a sense of ‘belonging’ in our African context.

The Journey – Impact of Regional Convenings 

The birth of the Afrika Baraza underscores the power of collaboration between the Wikimedia Foundation and volunteers, exemplifying the success of regional convenings like Wiki Indaba. The strategic discussions initiated at Wiki Indaba 2022, paved the way for the birth of Afrika Baraza, ensuring sustained community engagement beyond the annual event.

“The formation of Baraza has not only shown how essential it is to collaborate with the communities we strive to support, but also our commitment to proactively assist communities or regions when they seek our help. While taking into account the diverse needs of each region within the movement.”

Felix Nartey

“The Baraza has opened up a vital space for dialogue that extends beyond the WikiIndaba conference. It has also helped WISCOM with a regular communications channel to be actively engaged with the needs of the community.”

Bobby Shabangu

Achievements

Central to Afrika Baraza’s impact is the development of the Africa Agenda — a comprehensive document addressing critical issues and providing recommendations for a sustainable Wikimedia movement in the African continent. This collective effort highlights the community-first approach maintained by the Baraza Working Group, which continually seeks feedback and input from all stakeholders.

“One of the amazing gifts the Africa Baraza gave us is the Africa Agenda. This agenda will not only enable the Wikimedia Foundation to better navigate its African community but will also help institutions outside the Wikimedia movement to know how to work with the Africa Wikimedia communities, as I have seen how these non-Wikimedia institutions like the African Union struggle to understand how to work with the movement in Africa.”

Ceslause Ogbonnaya

The ripple effect of Afrika Baraza is evident in the emergence of similar regional convenings like Wiki Causerie, further enriching the movement’s diversity and reach. By providing language support for Arabic, English, French, and Swahili at the Afrika Baraza, we ensure the utmost inclusivity for participants across the continent.

Collaboration 

The support from the Foundation’s Movement Communications and Community Growth Teams, including vital translations, has ensured Afrika Baraza remains inclusive to Africa’s Francophone and Arabic communities.

Comprising community representatives that include two representatives from the Wiki Indaba Steering Committee (WISCOM), other members of the community with virtual production expertise and regional language diversity, and Foundation staff. The Baraza Working Group exemplifies the collaborative spirit driving our shared goals. Together, we continue to shape and strengthen the Wikimedia movement in Africa, guided by the principles of inclusivity, collaboration, and collective action.

“Afrika Baraza has demonstrated that indeed when people with a common goal come together great things are bound to happen! I’m immensely grateful for the dedicated community leaders who collaborated in shaping the vision of the Baraza. It’s also worth noting that the establishment of the Working Group, which continues to serve as the cornerstone of this initiative, has been pivotal.”

Winnie Kabintie

The feedback and appreciation we continue to receive from the wider community on the impact of the Baraza, keeps providing a sense of reflection and direction for the Baraza. Here are some more community voices:

“Africa Baraza has been empowering young people to lead and participate. The working group for instance has youth representation. An experience that  stood out is during the Africa Baraza session at the 2023 Wiki Indaba conference in AgadirMorocco, where a young member of the working group, Derrick Ndahiro, led the African community in captivating discussions around the Africa Agenda,”

Eupemia Uwandu

“Ce n’est plus un secret pour personne. L’avenir du mouvement Wikimedia en Afrique passe maintenant par Africa Baraza. Africa Baraza est la plateforme virtuelle qui l’ensemble du mouvement en Afrique et essaie de proposer des solutions aux problèmes communs qui touchent nos communautés. Un élément encore très intéressant avec Africa Baraza est qu’elle se force de prendre en compte la diversité linguistique et en particulier le Français où nous voyons de plus en plus les communautés francophones s’y impliquer,”

Abel Mbula

“Africa Baraza is and has been a cross-pollination platform for me. It has really been an instrumental platform to inform on what is happening around Africa and how I can improve my community back at home. My aspiration is to see it grow in a learning space where we can all learn and share ideas” 

Martin Hipangwa 

Aspirations for the Future

In 2024 we are focusing on the implementation of the Africa Agenda and a plan to host a virtual WikiIndaba 2024 pre-conference as we celebrate 10 years of WikiIndaba. The Baraza Working Group will constitute an Implementation Committee that will oversee the execution of the agenda. 

In continued unity and collaboration, African Wikimedians will shape the Wikimedia movement in Africa, guided by our shared values. Together, as we celebrate one year of Afrika Baraza, we eagerly anticipate the transformative journey ahead.

Long Live Afrika Baraza!

🕑 1 hour 3 minutes

Viktor Schelling is the Senior Principal MediaWiki Developer at Pegasystems.

Links for some of the topics discussed:

• Pegasystems Wikipedia article
• Wikibase Solutions
• FlexForm MediaWiki extension
• Open CSP

Context

In May 2023, Wiki Movimento Brasil, in collaboration with CIS-A2K, started to conduct a research, called Global South Technology Survey, with the objective of consolidate, synthesize and present the technology priorities of the Global Majority Wikimedia communities and start to build and sustain a multistakeholder action process to support the realization of those priorities. We believe that by incorporating the perspectives of those communities into tech development fosters inclusivity and ensures that Wikimedia initiatives reflect the diverse experiences and knowledge systems of the world.

The assessment that motivated this research was that our current methods of prioritizing technology often do not align with our strategic directions. Wishlist of different kinds, hack-a-thons, hiring staff/consultants, tech plans are usually driven by the urgency to resolve outstanding and upcoming issues. This approach has systematically skewed the development of technology against underrepresented communities and their long-term needs.

The questions of this research asked for the people interviewed to envision an ideal, inclusive and effective socio-technical infrastructure for our Movement and to identify the barriers preventing us from fully contributing and accessing the free knowledge ecosystem.

The priorities

From a round of interviews, we gathered and compiled the perspectives of nine affiliates, represented by fourteen individuals and built a document, in the form of a manifesto, relaying ten technological priorities for the Global Majority communities.

The ten priorities ultimately orbit two high priority main concepts: the promotion of epistemic diversity, prioritizing representation and inclusion of the Global Majority communities and knowledge in decision-making spaces and protocols, and the decentering of tech development, prioritizing Global Majority communities’ needs and fostering a federated network of stakeholders to develop in the Wikimedia projects and tools.

What is next?

Moving forward, we want to take concrete steps to realize the priorities declared in the manifesto. One aspect is to decenter the Wikimedia Hackathon from the Global North, aiming to enhance inclusivity and engagement from the Global Majority. Moreover, we want to initiate discussions with the Wikimedia Foundation, affiliates and other Wikimedia Movement bodies to advocate for the incorporation of these priorities into their strategic plans and to have an opportunity to jointly discuss performance indicators for each one of them.

If you want to support our manifesto, please sign on the Meta page. We incentivize the signature by both organizations and individuals.

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

• The appearance of talk pages changed for all wikis, except for Commons, Wikidata and most Wikipedias (a few have already received this design change). You can read the detail of the changes on Diff. It is possible to opt-out these changes in user preferences (“Show discussion activity”). The deployment will happen at remaining wikis in the coming weeks. [1][2]
•  Interface admins now have greater control over the styling of article components on mobile with the introduction of the SiteAdminHelper. More information on how styles can be disabled can be found at the extension’s page. [3]
•  Wikimedia Enterprise has added article body sections in JSON format and a curated short description field to the existing parsed Infobox. This expansion to the API is also available via Wikimedia Cloud Services. [4]

Changes later this week

•  The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 7 May. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 8 May. It will be on all wikis from 9 May (calendar). [5][6]
• When you look at the Special:Log page, the first view is labelled “All public logs”, but it only shows some logs. This label will now say “Main public logs”. [7]

Future changes

• A new service will be built to replace Extension:Graph. Details can be found in the latest update regarding this extension.
• Starting May 21, English Wikipedia and German Wikipedia will get the possibility to activate “Add a link“. This is part of the progressive deployment of this tool to all Wikipedias. These communities can activate and configure the feature locally. [8]

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe on wiki.

By Lucy Moore, Archeologist, Curator and Wikimedian

“Mmmm! Inhale that fresh vintage aroma!” is a sign that welcomes buyers and browsers to the vintage shop Blue Rinse in Leeds. It struck a chord with me, as I’ve been thinking a lot lately about smell and culture, in particular how data about smell can be represented in a database like Wikidata.

This train of thought started early in 2024, at an event in York that is part of a research project at the university called ‘Bespoke, Open, Collaborative Approaches to Heritage Documentation’. It brought together heritage workers and researchers to think creatively about documentation in that sector. During the day I was chatting with people about how recording sensory information, like the smell of an object, could, and perhaps should, be part of museum records. Like a good Wikimedian, I turned to Wikidata to see how it recorded examples of ‘things smelling like other things’, and to my surprise a property for ‘smells of’ was absent. 

Why was I surprised you might be thinking? Why would most people want to record how objects might smell or taste? We’re not (usually) licking things when we visit museums. I have definitely heard people talk about a ‘museum smell’. When I worked as a museum curator, I also used smells in a few exhibitions to bring topics more to life for visitors.

What captures my imagination, especially when you think about smell, is that as a sense it is both intensely personal, and also something shared. I began to think about all the cultures represented in museum collections, but also across the Wikimedia movement and started to imagine what potential there might be to represent this way of understanding the world on Wikidata.

So what smells connect what objects? How can we ‘follow our noses’ to find common scents in cultural data? Once the topic was raised lots of people in our Wikimedia family had suggestions. From the sculpture 5318008 by artist Tasha Marks (it smells of human breast milk!), to Agatha Christie-inspired ways to detect poison through scent, new smell-horizons opened with each conversation. The natural world is full of nose-surprises too. Did you know that a binturong smells of popcorn? Or that jasmine tea smells of otter poo (or is it the other way around)?

Whilst pondering these relationships and questions, I saw that  XLab– The Cultural Heritage Informatics Collaboratory at Carleton University in Ottawa was due to run a conference on futures in heritage informatics along with a ‘book sprint’ on the topic. This looked like a great opportunity to talk to others thinking creatively about data. With funding from Wikimedia UK partly covering my costs, I was able to travel to Canada and take part in the workshops, discussions and book revision in person. Being able to participate in events like these is really important for researchers. At Carleton I spoke with lots of people working at their digital humanities centre, the XLab, and attended a celebration of their public history graduates’ work too. It exposed me to new ideas, and has helped me to shape how I’m thinking about smell and data. I’m now revising the chapter I have written for the book, and am looking forward to sharing wider ideas about linked open sensory data elsewhere. I’m also collecting “things that smell like other things” so drop a message on my talk page!

The post Smelling data at the XLab – The Cultural Heritage Informatics Collaboratory appeared first on WMUK.

Greetings, fellow Wikimedians! In case you were unaware, the biennial ESEAP Conference is back! This time, the premier gathering of Wikimedia volunteers from the East, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific (ESEAP) region shall be hosted by the city of Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, as voted by ESEAP Wikimedians during Wikimania 2023. We cannot wait to share with all of you what we have coming next week!

With nearly 150 Wikimedians from 13 countries attending, the conference promises an exciting experience from 10-12 May, bringing together diverse expertise and strategies for a massive event of collaboration, workshop, and sharing of best practices, to enhance global and regional collaboration and knowledge dissemination on all Wikimedia projects.

This year’s theme shall be “Collaboration Beyond the Horizon,” reflecting ESEAP’s ongoing commitment to bring together all of the region beyond the limits and exploring the opportunities in transcending boundaries to foster a more interconnected and innovative Wikimedia community. It emphasizes the importance of collaborative efforts in driving the growth and sustainability of the free and open knowledge infrastructure. Read more on our theme announcement blog.

A total of 96 scholars were selected to be fully funded to attend the conference, whereas around 40 self-funded attendees have registered to turn up. Throughout the conference, attendees will present over 60 presentations relating to the conference theme, as has been selected by the conference programme committee out of the 81 programmes submitted.

The presentations will be split into six themes, Community initiatives (21 presentations), Diversity, equity and inclusion (7), Education (2), GLAM, Heritage and Culture (10), Governance, Legal and Advocacy (16), and Technology and projects workshops (16).

Some of the exciting sessions to be featured in the conference include:

• Enriching Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s Local History on Wikipedia.  This initiative funded by the Wikimedia Foundation Alliance Fund aims to enhance Auckland’s local history pages on Wikipedia and provide resources for the new compulsory Aotearoa New Zealand Histories Curriculum. The project will also engage students working at the museum during their summer break to create and edit content related to local history.

• Wikisource Loves Manuscripts: A Partnership Perspective on Collaborative Efforts to Preserve Cultural Heritage.  This initiative aims to promote partnership of Wikimedians and external organisations in preserving local cultural heritage. The session shares insights from the manuscript preservation pilot in Indonesia and proposes partnership approaches for communities in the region  interested in independently conducting their own manuscript preservation projects.

• Facing the Heritage Language Crisis: Promotion and Teaching through Wikipedia. This session focus on the efforts of the Amis indigenous language Wikimedia community in Taiwan to foster a language-friendly environment, and revitalize and modernize the Amis language by simplifying vocabulary and sentence structures on Wikipedia through the use of Lingua Libre, a freely licensed multilingual, audiovisual corpus of languages and the Amis language dictionary.

We also look forward to exciting cultural sharing via performances, presentations, as well as the physical sharing of souvenir (especially food) from the different cultures. So if you’re attending the conference, be sure to bring your own!

This conference shall serve as a hub for Wikimedians, guests, as well as stakeholders with an interest in Wikimedia projects and the movement’s growth within the region. Being among the significant volunteer-driven events in the region, the ESEAP Conference 2024 (ESEAP KK24) will offer you opportunities to connect with other Wikimedians and learn from each other, as well as discuss strategies for the coming future.

Kota Kinabalu, being a strategic location for the new and emerging Malaysian Wikimedia community, represents the indigenous and underrepresented communities. Co-organizer Wikimedia Community User Group Malaysia (WCUGM), is not only a growing Wikimedia affiliate, but will also be showcasing their growth and hospitality to all during the three-day conference.

We can’t wait to meet everyone as we dive into panel discussions, workshops, showcases, as well as learning sessions covering various topics including the adding of reliable sources, community sustainability, and collaborative knowledge creation. The conference shall be the platform for dialogue on the future direction of Wikimedia’s missions for free knowledge, and most importantly the region’s role and strategy looking forward. Not to mention the many cultural activities to await as arranged by WCUGM!

So be sure to not miss the conference! For those who are unable to attend the conference physically, you may participate online via YouTube livestream. Zoom remote conference session link is available by request for live interpretations in multiple languages.

In the last few weeks I have stumbled on various little bits during Wikipedia edits that I thought were worthy of airing! One of them was a re-realization of the boon and the curse of iron and steel. It starts with something I heard a few years ago by economist Sashi Sivramkrishna and others who were following the trail of Buchanan Hamilton in Mysore (listen to the talk here) and they were apparently impressed by the impact of iron production particularly on the destruction of forests in southern India. And last week I found a Wikipedia entry that someone from Parangipettai had written as a draft and which had been left languishing. I went and ensured that it got moved from a draft version to a mainspace entry - it was on the Porto Novo Iron Works, one of the first large-scale iron smelting enterprises in India. The venture, started by a J.M. Heath, did not last long, one of the big factors being the lack of coal for smelting, and he had to make do with charcoal. In a few years, he ran out of charcoal, after depleting the forests of several districts nearby, and the factory had to move to the west coast near Calicut (Beypore). The first director general of forests Dietrich Brandis also noted the role of iron smelting in deforestation. 

Now to Josiah Heath, who is a real character and it is quite a surprise to see that the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography does not even have an entry for him, and there appears to be no available photograph of him (at least online). Heath sent out skins of various animals to the Zoological Society of London and there is a species of bat named after him. More interestingly it seem the fishing cat was described based on a specimen that he sent from India - which it would appear from all likelihood to have come from the Parangipettai region - more likely Pichavaram (wonder if the species still exists there). He also collected a specimen of a Eurasian Griffon Vulture from the same region. Heath apparently was impressed by traditional ukku (better known as Wootz steel) steel-making near Salem where he was initially posted and he seems to have discovered an important factor which he patented. It involved the use of carbon and manganese and he made money initially by distributing packets of his mixture - and later made the mistake of giving its composition. The steel makers of Sheffield, England quickly started using his technique and decided not to pay him any royalty - and he died in poverty. Of course today we could ask whether he actually stole the idea from traditional Indian blacksmiths and whether it could have been patented at all in the first place or of the numerous other injustices involved in all of this. 

Herr Meves

In another Wikipedia-related iron-connection, I found a little-known ornithologist who now has a Wikipedia entry (Wilhelm Meves). Meves was a German pharmacist turned ornithologist - and he decided to treat the brown feathers of lammergeiers with hydrochloric acid and tested them for iron and found that the colour was largely due to iron oxide. He found that this coating was on the outer surface and that the inside of the feathers was largely iron free. He suggested that the birds were bathing in iron-rich waters. Meves worked in Stockholm and mostly wrote in German but some of his findings made their way into the Ibis in English - thanks to John Wolley. And it seems both T.C. Jerdon and A.O. Hume were careful readers of Meves' works. Jerdon was aware of the bleating sound of snipes being produced by air-flow induced vibrations of the outermost tail feather. And Hume even repeated Meves' chemical analysis on his lammergeier specimens from Shimla and confirmed the presence of iron. Hume however noted that neither he nor any of his "intelligent native sportsmen" had ever seen a lammergeier bathe in water and suggested that the red staining may be derived from the blood of dead animals. Hume's original text (emphasis mine):

In the Ibis for 1862, it is mentioned that Herr Meves had, by a simple chemical test, ascertained the red colouring in this bird’s feathers, as also the rustiness observable at times in the feathers of the common Crane, (Grus Cinerea) to be due to a superficial deposit of oxide of iron ; as also, that the colouring matter on the eggs, arose from the same cause. Herr Meves suggested, that the stain on the feathers might be owing to the birds bathing in water containing iron in solution; but my belief is, that the Lammergeyer is a very dirty bird, (it swarms with vermin to such a degree, that cats and the like will seldom touch it when dead,) and never washes! I have been watching this bird, off and on, for the last twenty years, and I have never yet seen it bathe ; nor have I ever yet met with any one, amongst the numerous intelligent native sportsmen whom I have had to do with in the Himalayahs, who has witnessed such an operation. Certainly iron does enter into the composition of the colouring matter of the feathers, (I have tested it myself) as also into the red colouring on Neophron’s and kite’s eggs, but my idea is, that in both cases the iron is derived from the blood, and not from any ferruginous streams. Many birds, notably the grey goose and the common teal, very often have the feathers of the lower parts strongly tinged with rusty, and here too an oxide of iron enters into the composition of the colouring matter. How it gets there, is a question well worthy of investigation.

Anyway, it seems that India's large iron-deposits have a habit of lying in regions rich in biodiversity and ethnic diversity often on ancient tribal lands. It is little wonder that the steel industry barons are involved in disempowering tribal peoples or paying governments to water down environmental laws. I was truly surprised by the amount of work from around the world on related topics.

• Goucher, C.L. (1981). Iron is iron ’til it is rust: Trade and Ecology in the Decline of West African Iron-Smelting. The Journal of African History. 22(2):179-189. https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0021853700019393 
• Siran Liu, Thilo Rehren, Dashu Qin, Jianli Chen, Wenli Zhou, Marcos Martinón-Torres, Xin Huang, Wei Qian (2019). Coal-fuelled crucible lead-silver smelting in 12th-13th century China: A technological innovation in the age of deforestation. Journal of Archaeological Science 104:75-84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2019.01.004
• The impact of ancient iron mining and smelting on the landscape balance on Elba Island, Tuscan Archipelago, Italy - Fabian Becker, Raphael A. Eser, Philipp Hoelzmann, Brigitta Schütt (2019). The environmental impact of ancient iron mining and smelting on Elba Island, Italy – A geochemical soil survey of the Magazzini site. Journal of Geochemical Exploration 205 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gexplo.2019.04.009
  
• Iles, L. (2016). The Role of Metallurgy in Transforming Global Forests.. J Archaeol Method Theory 23:1219–1241 https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10816-015-9266-7

Someday I ought to visit Parangipettai! 

Authenticate seamlessly with Google, Microsoft, GitHub, and more.

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Your wiki administrators can configure SSO and other authentication options via our MediaWiki admin panel.

Single Sign-On (SSO) streamlines your workflow by eliminating the need to manage multiple passwords, reducing both the hassle and the security risks associated with password management. By consolidating login credentials through trusted providers, SSO minimizes the likelihood of security breaches and simplifies access, enabling you to focus more on productivity and less on administrative tasks. This integration offers a more streamlined, secure login experience across various platforms.

Additionally, with our new OAuth 2.0 Server support, you can use your wiki as an identity provider, allowing login to other applications with your ProWiki accounts.

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25/04/2024-01/05/2024

Mapping

• ivanbranco discussed the mapping of trees on OpenStreetMap, emphasising the importance of using detailed tags for leaf type, leaf cycle, and species to improve the utility and accuracy of the map, and presented resources and tools to assist in the accurate tagging of tree data.
• Lucas Longour presented a project to prioritise updates to OpenStreetMap by focusing on the ages of points of interest. The project uses a web tool to input locations, fetches data using the Nominatim API to derive bounding box coordinates, and generates queries to the Overpass API to identify points of interest such as restaurants and hotels.
• The following proposals are waiting for your comments:
  • a tagging scheme to further describe industrial works, factories, or plants which are tagged man_made=works
  • biosafety_level=* to tag a laboratory’s biosafety level.
• Voting is underway on the open=* proposal until Tuesday 7 May. This proposal originally suggested the use of opened=* but has been changed to make it more grammatically correct.

Community

• [1] Bryce Cogswell has updated his list of OpenStreetMap users who map every day, highlighting Aurimas Fišeras, who has been mapping continuously for over 10 years, with other users also maintaining long streaks of daily contributions.
• Pieter Vander Vennet has created a puzzle to help learn the names of neighbourhoods in Ghent, Belgium, by adding them to OpenStreetMap, then using MapComplete to create a custom theme and exporting the map as a PNG. The background uses a modified style sheet from Protomaps.
• The French Free Software and Digital Commons Mission interviewed ► Delphine Montagne, an OSM and Wikipedia contributor. She shared her passion for open-source software and the digital commons, and how they are used as part of her job as an engineer in geographic information sciences at the University of Pau, France. From May 2024, she will be in residence for a year at the URFIST ► (Regional Training Unit for Scientific and Technical Information) in Lyon, France, to train civil servants on Wikipedia projects.
• FargoColdYa discussed the potential of AI-generated changeset comments in OpenStreetMap, suggesting that AI could generate concise comments based on edit locations and feature types, saving users time and allowing them to focus on more complex tasks. Implementation challenges such as resolving disputed boundaries and managing technical resources remain significant.
• OpenStreetMap India has highlighted the Rosedale Garden Complex, in Kolkata, in their #NicelyMappedIndia series. Community members are encouraged to suggest or showcase well-mapped locations via the OpenStreetMap community forum under the ‘Showcase NicelyMappedIndia Places‘ topic.
• rtnf tooted that a very rewarding aspect of contributing to OpenStreetMap is the unexpected joy of seeing where your contributions will appear next.

OpenStreetMap Foundation

• OpenStreetMap US is looking for two full-time remote employees; a programme coordinator and a mid-senior level geospatial software engineer.

Events

• Médecins Sans Frontières is organising ► a mapathon in Potsdam, Germany, to support humanitarian efforts by mapping areas that are not yet covered by digital maps. No previous experience is required and the event is open to everyone.

Education

• Dr Raquel Dezidério Souto, president of the IVIDES Institute, delivered a keynote lecture at the 19th Latin American Free Software Install Fest Rio 2024 on creating a web map with uMap and OSM data. In her diary she mentioned ► the collaborative mapping pilot project, which she is developing with a group of mappers from YouthMappers UFRJ, on the theme of disaster risk reduction while using uMap.

Maps

• OpenStreetMap Belgium has updated its base maps, which are now available in three languages. These updates are part of an effort to improve usability for projects that require map tiles. The style includes minor adjustments to better highlight local features. The community is invited to contribute further customisation of the map style to represent local elements such as specific Belgian icons.

OSM in action

• Eurogamer reported that Pokémon Go has introduced Wigglet, a new creature, which is primarily spawning in the game’s beach biomes (specifically, any OSM objects tagged as natural=beach and natural=coastline) according to a fan-made tool. The tool uses OpenStreetMap data to help players locate potential Wigglet spawning sites, even in inland areas that are tagged as beaches in the map data.
• Rtnf explored the complexities of local toponyms in OpenStreetMap, discussing the challenge of mapping ‘forgotten’ or unofficial local names that are still in active use despite not being recognised by official maps and address systems.

Open Data

• OpenCage has released address-formatting, an open database of the various address formats used in territories around the world.

Licenses

• The city of Erlangen, Germany, is now offering ► open government data and geodata under the CC0 licence.

Software

• The EveryDoor 5.0-beta1 release includes new features such as Estonian opening hours and a drawing mode for field notes that are synchronised with JOSM, which users are encouraged to test. The production release is expected next week, and there are plans to create a tutorial video on how to use the new mode. Further details and instructions for other editors can be found on the OpenStreetMap Wiki on the GeoScribble page.
• The OSMChina community will be collaborating with Tsinghua University’s TUNA ► Association to participate in OSPP, a summer camp sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences , aimed at encouraging students to contribute to open-source projects during the summer break. They plan to develop an easy-to-use public transportation editor ► . This project is recruiting students up till Monday 3 June at 7 am (UTC). Currently the project’s documentation is only available in Chinese, but students from outside of China will also be considered.

Programming

• AlexSpritze showed ► how you can display your mapping history in overpass turbo.
• Kraina AI has released QuackOSM, an open source tool for reading OpenStreetMap PBF files using DuckDB.
• RicoElectrico presented ‘Road Watcher’, a Python bot that monitors changes to road classifications in OpenStreetMap to help manage contentious edits and notify users of changes to road classifications via Discord, demonstrating the bot’s utility in preventing edit wars.
• Andy Townsend is looking for volunteers to test and review the new guide to manually build a tile server on Ubuntu 24.04, to catch any bugs before it is officially released.

Releases

• MapTiler has released OpenMapTiles version 3.15.

Did you know …

• … Amanda McCann has developed the ‘osm-mapping-party-before-after’ tool? This enables users to visualise the changes made to a certain OpenStreetMap region over time, useful as a before-and-after comparison of the progress made during a mapping party campaign, providing valuable insights into the impact of collaborative mapping efforts.
• …that the JOSM ContourMerge plugin helps OpenStreetMap users to streamline map editing by merging multiple strings of lines, such as contours, into a single object? This tool is particularly valuable for simplifying complex shapes, reducing data redundancy and improving the clarity of the map’s visual elements.
• … Strubbl has written ► an easy-to-follow tutorial for the map-machine renderer? It describes how to generate maps using the map-machine renderer, written by Sergey Vartanov (aka Enzet).The tutorial gives instructions on how to install Docker, covers cloning the repository, building the Docker image, and explains in great detail the commands required to generate the map.
• … there is a list of TV series that are either about OpenStreetMap or use OpenStreetMap and have given credit?

OSM in the media

• The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management’s repair work on the Johnson’s Pond Dam is still ongoing, with further inspections required despite some progress. The Warwick Post article on the subject includes an OpenStreetMap visualisation to show the effect of water level changes in the area.
• Matt Forrest noted that both OpenStreetMap and OSRM are explicitly referenced in the American TV series Super Pumped, which chronicles the rise and fall of former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who was ultimately ousted in a boardroom coup.

Other “geo” things

• This study has used OpenStreetMap data to conduct a spatial analysis of damage to critical civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip during the Israeli military campaign from 7 October to 22 November 2023. The analysis reveals the significant effect on essential services and the wider humanitarian situation, highlighting the usefulness of OpenStreetMap in crisis mapping and damage assessment.

Upcoming Events

Where	What	Online	When	Country
Essen	FOSSGIS-OSM-Communitytreffen 2024 Nummer 20		2024-05-03 – 2024-05-05
Bogotá	FLISoL Colombia 2024 – Bogotá – Mejorando el mapa de tu casa		2024-05-04
Bogotá	FLISoL Colombia 2024 – Bogotá – Aprovechando las fotos de tu ActionCam (GoPro)		2024-05-04
Bogotá	FLISoL Colombia 2024 – Bogotá – Vuelo de drones con propósito.		2024-05-04
Bochum	OSM-Workshop		2024-05-05
臺北市	OpenStreetMap x Wikidata Taipei #64		2024-05-06
Rio Paranaíba	Capacitação em Mapeando Colaborativo – Editor JOSM (Youthmappers UFV)		2024-05-08
	Missing Maps London Mapathon		2024-05-07
	Encontro OSM Brasil (online)		2024-05-08
Berlin	OSM-Verkehrswende #58	✓	2024-05-07
Bruxelles – Brussel	Notes meetup		2024-05-08
Lorain County	OpenStreetMap Midwest Meetup	✓	2024-05-09
München	Münchner OSM-Treffen		2024-05-08
Stuttgart	Stuttgarter OpenStreetMap-Treffen		2024-05-08
Potsdam	191. Berlin-Brandenburg OpenStreetMap Stammtisch		2024-05-09
	Forum governance team meeting		2024-05-09
Rio de Janeiro	Oficina de mapeamento de waterways no OpenStreetMap – YouthMappers UFRJ		2024-05-10
	OSMF Engineering Working Group meeting		2024-05-10
Mainz	OpenStreetMap-Stammtisch Mainz		2024-05-11
	SotM Asia 2024 monthly meeting		2024-05-11
Zürich	163. OSM-Stammtisch Zürich		2024-05-13
Grenoble	Réunion groupe local Grenoble : Panoramax – L’alternative libre pour photo-cartographier les territoires		2024-05-13
San Jose	South Bay Map Night	✓	2024-05-15
Karlsruhe	Stammtisch Karlsruhe		2024-05-15
Zagreb	State of the Map Croatia 2024		2024-05-16 – 2024-05-17
	[Online] Map-py Wednesday		2024-05-16
Salt Lake City	OSM Utah Monthly Map Night		2024-05-17
Hannover	OSM-Stammtisch Hannover		2024-05-16

Note:
If you like to see your event here, please put it into the OSM calendar. Only data which is there, will appear in weeklyOSM.

This weeklyOSM was produced by MatthiasMatthias, SeverinGeo, Strubbl, TheSwavu, barefootstache, derFred, euroPathfinder, mcliquid, rtnf.
We welcome link suggestions for the next issue via this form and look forward to your contributions.

“நிமிர்ந்த நன்னடை நேர்கொண்ட பார்வையும்,
நிலத்தில் யார்க்கும் அஞ்சாத நெறிகளும்,
திமிர்ந்த ஞானச் செருக்கும் இருப்பதால்
செம்மை மாதர் திறம்புவ தில்லையாம்;
அமிழ்ந்து பேரிரு ளாமறி யாமையில்
அவல மெய்திக் கலையின் றி வாழ்வதை
உமிழ்ந்து தள்ளுதல் பெண்ணற மாகுமாம்
உதய கன்ன உரைப்பது கேட்டிரோ!”

-மகாகவி பாரதியார்

March 08, 2024 – Widely recognised as International Women’s day is celebrated across everywhere to celebrate and recognise the women participation and womanhood across all spheres. This year the Women In Tech collectives, India along with the CIS-A2K hosted an event at Dr. GR Damodharan college of Science, Coimbatore under the A2K’s SheLeads program. This session was attended by 70 students from Computer Science background and 5 faculty members from the same department.

This program was focussed to bring general awareness on women’s health and wellness and how this is represented on Wikimedia projects. The Wikipedia and sister projects of Wikimedia being a source for various forms of Open Knowledge but has certain gaps on content focussed on Women’s Health and Women biographies. In the session we covered topics where the attendees can contribute to Wikimedia and how they can sustain their contributions to the movement. The audience being majorly identified as women there was a large interest to understand the challenges and approach to get started with the first time contributions on Wikimedia projects. Each of them created their new accounts on Wikipedia and explored their areas of interest, a few who already had their accounts registered on Wiki suggested how they wanted to improve articles and contribute to the above projects.

User: Bhuvana Meenakshi mentored the students on Wikimedia Commons and CC licences and how to specifically contribute to projects that need focus on women-based articles/projects which has content gap. Followed by this User: Netha Hussain joined the program remotely from Sweden to share her experiences of her journey in getting started with Wikimedia projects and her motive to initiate the project on WikiProject Women’s Health. The students interacted well and responded actively to the content delivered by the speakers and mentors.

Towards the end of the event we had a small ceremony to celebrate the occasion of Women’s day and paid gratitude to all the women who have done invaluable contributions to the Open Source and Open Knowledge movements.

This event has been helped the new-comers to get introduced to Wikimedia Commons and other Wikimedia projects. Almost 60% of the participants were identified as women and they have a fundamental understanding of basic editing on local Wikipedia pages. An overall discussion on how the knowledge and skill gaps occur among various gender groups in general and on Wikimedia was also facilitated and the observations were made on the same.

Also this does not end here, we are also brainstorming on different opportunities that can be facilitated to the students of the college and also the Institution with the support of Wikimedia Foundation to take this project on a long term and continue the contributions to the movement.

Art history professor Kate Dimitrova has taught three classes with Wikipedia, but it wasn’t until she enrolled in a Wiki Scholars course that she became a more dedicated Wikipedia editor – and found exhilaration, fulfillment, and empowerment in the process.

“I find immense satisfaction in knowing that I am improving an article with accurate and current scholarship,” said Dimitrova, an expert in late medieval and early Renaissance tapestries at the University of San Diego. “In many ways, serving as a Wikipedia editor is like being a super publisher – I can make significant changes instantaneously to a range of subjects and topics for which I have subject expertise – making measurable and meaningful content.”

For Dimitrova, the professional development course designed for pre-modern European art experts was a chance to connect with a new network of scholars, professors, museum curators, and librarians, and to engage with scholarship in a new, incredibly impactful way.

“I truly think that editing on Wikipedia (either editing a current article or creating a new article) is a form of public scholarship that has far-reaching influence, particularly to readers who are outside the walls of academia,” said Dimitrova. “Although I have published a co-edited volume in the field of medieval art history, my contributions to Wikipedia have the potential to make an even greater educational and scholarly impact, in part because the audience is larger and I can also create content on a relatively short timeline.”

Dimitrova’s assessment of Wikipedia’s scholarly impact is supported by research, including studies shared by recent Wiki Education Speaker Series panelist Neil Thompson which highlight how the site can influence the content in academic publications.  

To get started on Wikipedia, Dimitrova explored Stub-class to C-class articles from geographic regions that intersected with her research and teaching interests: Flanders, France, Spain, and Italy. As she began to edit the article on the Pastrana Tapestries, she quickly found herself “tumbling down a rabbit hole”, exploring other linked pages including one featuring 15th century leading tapestry dealer Pasquier Grenier, a name Dimitrova has repeatedly encountered throughout her three decades of research.

“I was dismayed by the sheer lack of sources and inaccurate information about him,” said Dimitrova, who changed course to enhance Grenier’s Wikipedia article. “I learned a lot of intriguing facts about him during my deep dive: he was a dealer not just in tapestries, but also in wine! Who knew!?”

Just as a hyperlinked page brought her to working on Grenier’s article, linked pages within the tapestry dealer’s article led her to editing other related articles, where she took pleasure in providing valuable and precise descriptions of works of art within her areas of expertise.

Although she has now completed her Wiki Scholars course, Dimitrova continues to work in her sandbox and edit on Wikipedia today, emphasizing its crucial role as a source of free, open access knowledge and underscoring the importance of Wiki Education trainings like Wiki Scholars courses and the Wikipedia Student Program for changing misperceptions of Wikipedia in academia.

“Academia’s long-propagated mistrust of Wikipedia as a viable academic source continues and students are still often advised not to use it,” Dimitrova explained. “However, I think that as more and more scholars and students alike become trained editors, they typically realize that Wikipedia’s system of ‘checks and balances’ is quite rigorous.”

Dimitrova expressed deep gratitude for Wiki Education’s Will Kent for his impactful instruction of the course, as well as for the course sponsor, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, highlighting its vital support of pre-modern European art scholars as they work to contribute to the field.

Imagine a world where women’s voices shape the stories we tell online. A world where African perspectives paint a richer picture on platforms like Wikipedia. This is the vision that brought Women for Sustainability Africa and Arts + Feminism together in Accra, Ghana.

Anita Ofori

Women For Sustainability Africa, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Women Empowerment and Environmental Sustainability, collaborated with Arts + Feminism to host its inaugural Arts + Feminism Event. Thanks to Sadik Shahadu who introduced us and whose support together with Zita Zage regional coordinators for Arts+Feminism guided and supported us to host our first event.

The event was held in Cafe Bar Noir in Accra, Ghana, and drew a diverse group of people who care about sustainability, gender equality, and arts. With 28 attendees, including 25 women, the event provided a significant platform for empowerment and knowledge-sharing.

A highlight of the event was a presentation by guest trainer Ruby D-Brown, who introduced participants to Arts Feminism and the gender gap on Wikipedia. She also demonstrated how Wikipedia and Wikidata can be great tools for knowledge dissemination, changing narratives, and addressing biases about women’s issues. Participants learned new skills such as creating Wikidata items about women and improving existing articles about women on Wikipedia.

Our second guest, Max Beganin, an Open Knowledge enthusiast and Climate activist, presented on how women are affected by climate change and how we can address such knowledge gaps on platforms like Wikipedia. 

Executive Director and Co-Founder of Women for Sustainability Africa, Anita Ofori emphasized the urgent need to address the gender gap on Wikimedia projects and called for greater collaboration to ensure maximum  participation and support for women  in the movement. She also encourage participant to put to work what they have learned and leverage on the existing support that will be provided from time to time.

Participants exchanged ideas and shared their views around the topic and meaningful connections among attendees, united by their commitment to sustainability, gender equality, and the arts. The event  was followed by two virtual practical training sessions on editing Wikipedia.

Here was some of the feedback by participants.

I am excited that by myself I have been able to add a few women on Wikidata during the practical session..- Queen

I have had the opportunity to be at this event to meet other women trying to bridge the gap around sustainability. I had the opportunity to see how Wikidata can help us bridge the knowledge gap by contributing to information around gender and sustainability. We also had the opportunity to learn about Arts + Feminism and how they are committed to bridging the gender gap- Grace

I learnt about Wikipedia and Wikidata and sustainability. With Wikimedia I learnt how to create an article on wikidata. I think we should include women in everything we do. It shouldn’t be one-sided because women are also part of the society. I am currently working on an article  on Wikidata- Ama

I have learnt that Art + Feminism is seeking to bridge the gender gap by promoting gender equality and ensuring a more inclusive Wikimedia community. Now there is not much information on Wikidata talking about women who are contributing to sustainability, climate change and all that. So we want to bridge that gap and make sure we encourage a lot of women to join this project. Thank you. – Vivli

The engagements didn’t end there, all participants were enrolled on our Wikipedia Community WhatsApp group for further engagement. The collaboration between Women for Sustainability and Arts + Feminism created a great platform for women to voice their perspectives and contribute their voices. Together, we can rewrite narratives, bridge gender gaps, and champion women, sustainability, and the arts.

Follow Women for Sustainability Africa on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube for more updates.

Gallery

All photos can be accessed on Wikimedia Commons.

Last week, I had the incredible opportunity to delve into the world of digital rights and inclusivity at the Digital Rights and Inclusive Forum (DRIF 24) that took place from April 23rd to 25th, 2024, in Accra, Ghana, as a Wikimedian and representative of the Global Open Initiative Foundation (GOIF). It was an enriching experience that allowed me to connect with fellow Wikimedians from across the continent, share my knowledge of Wikipedia and its sister projects as well as various wiki communities in Ghana with some participants. I experienced some “aha” moments from the discussions that took place, and that made me happy. Plus, I even had the chance to pick up a new dance move!

Some of the topics of sessions I attended included fostering Trust Online in the Year of Democracy: Lessons on Combating Disinformation on Wikipedia, Artificial intelligence and emerging technologies and their impact on civic space in Africa, Artificial Intelligence for the energy transition, Artificial Intelligence and Disability: Reimagining Technology for a More Inclusive Society, and Digital Rights Advocacy: Mobilizing Communities for Change. Here are some key takeaways from these sessions.

Diversity and inclusion in the digital world are more than just buzzwords; they require deliberate action. True inclusivity means consulting with all relevant stakeholders, ensuring genuine public participation, and not just engaging with a select few who are easily accessible. This includes actively involving people with disabilities in the development and digital tools.

Policies, in general, are essential because they go a long way towards influencing wider adoption, but their effectiveness lies in their implementation and evaluation. Rushing to adopt digital policies without considering the context can lead to unintended consequences. It’s crucial to tailor policies to specific contexts to ensure they address the needs of all communities.

Enforcing digital laws should be a top priority. Those who breach digital rights and laws must be held accountable. Legal action should be taken, and the resulting funds, such as fines, should be used for the common good. This includes ensuring accessibility and inclusion for people with disabilities, thereby contributing to a more just and equitable society.

A speaker mentioned that “technology is good; however, it is the people behind technology that make it bad.” With the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), there have been many theories regarding its use, with some in agreement and others in disagreement. Regardless, AI is here to stay, and it’s important for all stakeholders to be well aware of its benefits as well as its risks in order to explore it to its best advantage. During my preparation for DRIF, our lights went out, leaving me agitated due to the lack of a simple timetable to plan accordingly. Then, a random thought struck me: why not recommend to the Electricity Company of Ghana to ask ChatGPT to come up with a timetable for Ghana via a tweet? Little did I know that this thought could somewhat be explored. At the session on Artificial Intelligence for the energy transition, I learned about how AI can be used to provide better supply solutions by monitoring household consumption, among other applications.

Knowledge of digital security and rights is important. It’s essential to educate ourselves about them and share that knowledge with others. As I left DRIF, one question lingered in my mind: are people aware of their digital rights and are they protecting themselves enough? On this note, do check out this course on Assessing your digital security risks.

Over all, DRIF 24 was a call to action. It reminded us that the digital world we’re building should be accessible, inclusive, and protective of everyone’s rights. A special thanks to the organisers, speakers, and participants for making it a memorable event. Events like DRIF 24 remind us of the importance of continuous learning and unlearning. They challenge us to reflect on our practices and advocate for positive change. Let’s keep the momentum going and work towards a digital future that is inclusive, secure, and respects everyone’s rights.

In 2023, Dodoma, Tanzania’s capital city, was the venue for the Wiki Student Summit 2023, drawing participants from varied backgrounds, including students, educators, and visionaries. Against the backdrop of Dodoma’s cultural diversity, attendees actively participated in intellectual discussions and explorations. The event facilitated the sharing of diverse narratives, enhancing insights into editors’ experience. Through debates and discussions, attendees forged connections, promoting mutual understanding and empathy across Wikimedia platforms.

As time moves forward, we extend another invitation to participate in shaping the future alongside us. Our commitment made in 2023 indicates ongoing progress and growth. With the onset of a new era, we are ready to delve deeper into exploration and expand our aspirations. To individuals seeking knowledge and connection, we extend our friendship and assistance. The journey persists, driven by our collective goals. Are you willing to join us on this journey together?

2024 Edition

Get ready to join us in a transformative journey of breaking borders and barriers to progress, as the Wiki Student Summit returns in July 2024 in Arusha, Tanzania. We welcome participants from both Tanzania and internationally, the event promises an unforgettable gathering of intellect, creativity, and ambition in the culturally rich tourism city.

Set against the backdrop of Arusha’s stunning natural landscapes and its status as a bustling tourist destination, the Wiki Student Summit is poised to be a celebration of diversity, dialogue, and discovery. Bringing together scholars, educators, and thought leaders, the event offers an opportunity for exploration, learning, and collaboration. As the summit unfolds in Arusha, it symbolizes a call to action for innovation and progress, highlighting the transformative potential of collective effort. Get ready to be inspired, challenged, and empowered as we unite in pursuit of a brighter, more inclusive future.

As each day passes, there’s a growing sense of anticipation for the upcoming Wiki Student Summit. Acknowledging the importance of clarity and preparedness, we assure you that all details, including dates and venue, will be revealed in due course. Our dedication to transparency ensures that participants will have access to all necessary information, empowering them to plan confidently and enthusiastically for the event.

Be assured, dear friends, that as time progresses, details such as dates and venue for our upcoming event will be disclosed. This will enable you to plan your participation meticulously, envisioning the experiences and connections that await.

Event Theme

Let’s explore the core of our gathering: the theme. “Beyond Borders: Collaborating for Positive Impact” goes beyond words, embodying a significant philosophy and a call to action for transformative change. In a world marked by division, the theme offers hope, pointing towards a future characterized by cooperation, empathy, and mutual respect. It urges us to bridge divides, embrace diversity, and leverage collaboration to build a world of harmony and progress.

Exploring the significance of our theme, “Beyond Borders: Collaborating for Positive Impact” reveals its alignment with the Wikimedia Foundation’s 2030 strategy. This strategic plan aims to make human knowledge universally accessible, transcending geographical, linguistic, and cultural barriers. It emphasizes the value of diversity and the need to create an environment where individuals can listen, learn, and collaborate across various divides. By embracing this approach, we unleash the transformative power of unity, advancing towards a future characterized by cooperation and mutual understanding, fostering an enlightened and inclusive society.

Scholarships and Program Submissions

We are pleased to announce the availability of scholarships from 05th April to 20th May, 2024, offering an important opportunity to aspiring scholars. Stay tuned for updates in our meta page, as we will provide the link to apply for these scholarships. Guided by the belief that knowledge should be accessible to all, regardless of financial constraints, we are committed to enabling every passionate individual to participate in this enriching experience.

We eagerly await program submissions from those passionate about creativity and influencing the summit’s narrative, open from 30th April to 15 June 2024 (submit your session via this link). This is your chance to contribute to the diverse range of ideas, themes, and dialogues that will shape our event. Look out for the link to submit your proposals and let your imagination explore the many possibilities ahead.

Let’s Make History Together

Join us to celebrate the wealth of knowledge available and commit to using it for positive change. It’s a call to action to build connections, foster understanding, and envision a world where education is a universal right. Let’s work together to create a society where every voice is valued, diversity is embraced, and the pursuit of knowledge promotes unity, empathy, and progress.

We sincerely invite you to attend the Wiki Student Summit 2024, regardless of your background or level of expertise. Save the date and spread the word, as this event offers a transformative experience towards a more inclusive future. Let’s collaborate on this journey together, where every voice and idea matters in shaping tomorrow’s landscape.

In March 2024, Wikimedia Indonesia marked a significant milestone. In collaboration with the Swedish Embassy and UNFPA Indonesia, Wikimedia Indonesia celebrated Indonesia Wiki Women’s Month 2024, coinciding with International Women’s Day. This year, the focus of Wiki Women’s Month shifted to the vital topic of Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH), addressing the pressing need for reliable SRH information in Indonesia, particularly for girls and young women. Based on the Indonesian Demographic Health Survey 2017, only 12% of girls and 6% of boys aged 15-24 know where to find SRH information and services; and only half can identify the risks of pregnancy. 

Half of young people consider the internet and social media as crucial sources of information on SRH, underlining the necessity of making SRH information readily available online (UNFPA Asia Pacific, 2021). However, alongside this imperative, there is a pressing need to combat infodemics, characterized by the proliferation of information, including misinformation and disinformation, particularly concerning SRH for girls and young women. Thus, ensuring the availability of accurate and relatable SRH information online becomes pivotal in addressing both the information gap and the challenge of infodemics.

Following extensive discussions with UNFPA Indonesia and in alignment with WikiProject Women’s Health, Wikimedia Indonesia chose this theme. Working closely with WMF and Dr. Netha Hussain, Wikimedia Indonesia curated a list of essential women’s health articles. Additionally, UNFPA’s support enabled the participation of the Community of Practice of SRH youth content creators, who facilitated training sessions on SRH issues and provided reliable resources to enhance the quality of Indonesian Wikipedia articles.

Throughout March, Indonesia Wiki Women’s Month 2024 unfolded with a blend of offline and online events, all geared towards augmenting both the quantity and quality of articles focusing on women’s health on Wikimedia projects, notably Wikipedia and Wikidata. The offline segment, held in collaboration with the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences of Udayana University in Bali, featured a cornerstone event: Bincang Perempuan (Women’s Talk). This gathering saw the participation of esteemed guests, including the Swedish Ambassador to Indonesia and Indonesian SRH experts to encourage public participation in bridging the information gap by contributing SRH information to the digital space, including social media and Wikimedia projects. Complementing this pivotal discussion was a series of Wikipedia editing trainings and Edit-A-Thons on the local languages, enriching the program further.

“Thanks to the collaborative efforts with UNFPA Indonesia, the engagement of the Community of Practice of SRH youth content creators has brought valuable insights to Indonesian Wikipedians, fostering the creation of more precise and gender-sensitive Wikipedia articles”

Dian Agustin, the Organizing Team from Wikimedia Indonesia

On the other hand, members of the Community of Practice also expressed their enthusiasm for the event and their eagerness to contribute to Wikipedia, especially on SRH topics. “I am interested in contributing to writing on Bahasa Indonesia Wikipedia on various gender and women’s issues. And I want to share my articles on social media so that more and more people will get involved in writing and sharing women’s issues on Wikipedia,” said Vevi Alfi, a member of the Indonesian SRH Community of Practice from Mubadalah.id.

At the end of the event, Indonesia Wiki Women’s Month 2024 boasted the creation of 144 new articles and the enhancement of 721 existing articles. This event engaged 220 editors and garnered 57,900 article views. It signifies a significant milestone in collaboration with UNFPA Indonesia. As a follow-up to this collaboration, UNFPA Indonesia will also be presenting at the Wikimedia Indonesia’s annual conference (WikiNusantara 2024), further spotlighting efforts to bridge the gender gap in Wikimedia projects and promoting access to quality SRH information in the digital space for girls and young women in Indonesia. By investing in women’s and girls’ access to knowledge, we build a stronger social fabric and empower them to create a brighter future for all.

Remote companies have to work harder at everything.

The effort goes beyond “remote-friendly”—you need remote culture.

But once you have a remote culture, it’s hard to imagine going back. After nine years of working remotely, the only thing I miss about working in person is seeing people’s messy desks.

Why desks matter

Loneliness is a problem for remote workers—video chats are a terrible substitute for happy hour.

Plus, in person, you get to see people’s desks—it’s fun—it’s how you get to know people.

And I know other people think it’s fun, too: we remoties share our pictures of our workspaces all the time. Everyone should share their workspaces (here’s mine circa 2016).

My desk

This is my messy office as of today. (No cleaning and no judgments 🥹 allowed when sharing your workspace.)

Some things of note in this picture in no particular order:

• The desk and stuff on it
  • Ikea Markus chair and Trotten standing desk
  • My laptop—Framework 13 AMD
  • Vortex Race 3 Keyboard with Cherry MX clear switches
  • Logitech ERGO rollerball mouse
  • Ugmonk analog – the most straightforward productivity system I’ve found.
  • Field notes expedition edition – “I’m not writing it down to remember it later, I’m writing it down to remember it now.”
  • Endless recorder notebook – this notebook is slowly supplanting my Leuchtturm1917.
  • Micron 08 pens
  • Elgato wave mic arm with a cheapo Amazon Basics microphone. When you spend all day in meetings, it’s important to sound good.
  • Nikon D610 with 24–70mm f/2.8 lens for video calls
    • The camera sits atop a Manfrotto 244 Variable Friction Magic Arm attached to the desk via Manfrotto super clamp – see how many magic arms you spot on the International Space Station (answer: bunches)
  • The small red things in the foreground are USB data blockers—USB adapters with the data lines removed. I usually keep these in my travel bag.
  • The white cube is an ODISTAR Desktop Vacuum Cleaner.
  • dretec timer, for when I have the will to pomodoro.
  • Post-Its®. So many Post-Its.
• On the shelf
  • Perplexus maze ball held in place by a third-hand kit for soldering
  • My trusty ThinkPad X230
  • Lots of old notebooks and thank you cards
  • On the top shelf are some posters and essential reminders: “DON’T BECOME BITTER AND JADED” and “DON’T LET ADULTHOOD CORRUPT YOU.”
• My overflowing homelab rack
  • Startech 6U wall mount
  • Mikrotik hEX RB750Gr3 5-port Ethernet Gigabit Router
  • Ubiquiti edgeswitch 16
  • Synology DS212—yes, from 2012(!), it’s still kicking thanks to 2×6TB Western Digital Red NAS HDDs.
  • Gigabyte mini PC – 16GB RAM, 1TB NVMe, balancing precariously atop the Synology. The PC runs a handful of VMs: PiHole, HomeAssistant, Grafana, and Prometheus.
  • 2×Raspberry Pi 3B+s doing not much of anything
  • CyberPower CPS1215RMS Rackmount Surge Protector
  • $6 clamp work light with a $60 hue bulb bouncing light off a Neewer 43 in. reflector to light my video calls
• On the floor
  • Home Depot homer bucket, storing my Weaver arborist throw weight and line which is crucial for my job as an engineering manager.
  • A trash can with a lot of dryer sheets
  • An old dog bed

None of these are affiliate links since no one would want to be affiliated with this mess.

On my Wikipedia user page, I keep a list of the Online Communities courses I’ve taught. The capstone project for the course is to make a significant contribution to Wikipedia—the students then reflect on the experience relative to what they’ve learned about online community.

I first taught this in 2014! That’s about a decade of working with the great people at Wiki Edu on 15 courses and ~200 articles. (Thank you Helaine, Brianda, Ian, Sage, Shalor, Adam, and Ryan.) Here are a handful of the excellent contributions from this semester:

• 2023 Paris bedbug infestation
• Bengals’ & Chiefs’ rivalry
• The Mamba Mentality: How I Play
• Chinese New Year customs in Singapore
• Body doubling
• Snapchat dysmorphia
• Undecuple meter

18/04/2024-24/04/2024

Mapping

• Clay_C discussed the process of mapping pipelines using US government data, specifically from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. He outlined a detailed workflow for using JOSM to download and map pipelines within specific US counties, thereby increasing the accessibility and utility of the data for OpenStreetMap projects.
• Wikimedia Italia has published ► a short tutorial on how to start contributing to OpenStreetMap.
• The proposal for shop=tortilla is up for discussion.
• The proposal to set the key open=* is in the voting phase until Tuesday 7 May.

Mapping campaigns

• OpenStreetMap Belgium is hosting a mapathon on Wednesday 8 May, at 7 PM in the Muntpunt Café, Brussels, with an aim of reducing the number of open map notes in Belgium.

Community

• Branko Kokanovic shared a detailed guide to optimising the use of the Insta360 ONE RS 1-inch camera for capturing and uploading street-level imagery to Mapillary, including tips on camera handling, video splitting, and improving GPS tracking accuracy using software solutions such as Geoapify for map matching. The images can also be uploaded to Panoramax.
• Now that the call for contributions has closed, the State of the Map France 2024 is opening ► their platform for managing proposals for speakers and presentations using the ‘Pretalx’ software.

OpenStreetMap Foundation

• The OpenStreetMap Foundation’s Communications Working Group has provided an update on how to request support for social media posts or other communications. They have provided a detailed template for submissions aimed at streamlining the process of promoting community stories and events on OSM’s official social media channels.

Events

• FOSSGIS e.V. is currently seeking locations for the 2026, 2027, and 2028 FOSSGIS conferences. Interested parties have until Sunday 30 June to submit their applications via email, as detailed in their Call for Location document.
• The IVIDES Institute will be hosting ► an online workshop on the mapping of waterways in OpenStreetMap on Friday 10 May, at which Séverin Ménard (UN Mappers/UNGSC) will be participating. The call for registration is open ► and details can be found on the event page.
• The State of the Map US 2024 will be held at the University of Utah 6 to 8 June. Registration is now open and the conference programme has been announced.
• Swiss OpenStreetMap will hold a presentation and discussion on the upcoming report from the SBB and BAV (Bundesamt für Verkehr) on use of OpenStreetMap on Thursday 2 May from 5 to 6 pm.

Education

• Anne-Karoline Distel showed, in a short video, how you can support OpenStreetMap by capturing public notes.
• The IVIDES Institute held ► an event on importing points of interest into OpenStreetMap. Dr. Raquel Souto commented ► about this workshop in her diary, saying that she included, as an example, a subset of the 2022 Brazilian Demographic Census’ official data.

Maps

• The Agroecology map currently shows and describes 541 locations worldwide where ecological principles are being applied to agroecosystems. The same information is also available through an Android app.
• bopjesvla has developed Tiny World Map, a world map designed specifically for web applications that prioritise offline functionality and operate efficiently with limited bandwidth.
• Christoph Hormann explored potential future trends in map design within OpenStreetMap, critiquing the OpenStreetMap Foundation’s historical and current map rendering strategies. Hormann highlighted the challenges and limitations of the transition to vector tiles, which reduces operational costs but shifts a significant amount of data processing to the user side, potentially complicating map design and data management. The discussion also highlights the tension between technological efficiency and creative control over map design.

OSM in action

• Jacek Gęborys has created several maps visualising the accessibility of railway stations in various major cities. He used QGIS with OpenStreetMap as a source for the stops, in particular with the Overpass API, which allows you to automate the fetching of data and GraphHopper for calculating isochrones.
• The Russian OSM community has noticed that the mobile application lessy.app is using OSM data rendered in the style of Yandex.Maps.
• euroPathfinder and Barthwo, two active mappers, took part in the seminar ‘Route 3.0 and OpenStreetMap’ at the invitation of the Saarland Tourist Board ►. In their blog post euroPathfinder briefly presented ► Thomas Froitzheim’s seminar, in which Saarland tourism experts were trained to check the correct mapping of hiking and cycling tour routes in OSM. The tools used were uMap, BRouter Web, GPX Viewer and WayMarkedTrails.

Programming

• Rtnf has archived the OpenStreetMap help website before its planned shutdown.

Releases

• GraphHopper version 9.0 has been released. It comes with an improved GPX export, updated translations, many bug fixes, more route hints, and conditional access information.
• Aerosoft and Thera Bytes have launched a new PC farming simulation ‘Global Farmer‘, which lets players build farms anywhere in the world using OpenStreetMap data, incorporating real agricultural parameters and challenges.
• Roland Olbricht has announced the release of Overpass Version 0.7.62, including newly completed documentation on the user_touched filter and museum (attic) data, along with a detailed component overview for local server instances.

Did you know …

• … about the tools that allow you to select a bounding box, on a reference map, through a visual interface?
• … that the OpenStreetMap wiki has an A to Z to help you figure out how to tag objects?
• … that the Changelog page, on the the OSM wiki, documents recent changes to tagging strategies, listing new tags that have been added, modified, or deprecated?
• … that it is possible to create a city map with the help of OSM data? No? MyOSMatic is the solution for you!
• … that you can generate a specially styled OpenStreetMap-based map for the purpose of surveying an area by utilising RenderMyMap?

OSM in the media

• [1] ZDNet reviewed ► Panoramax, the digital commons platform, sponsored by IGN and OpenStreetMap France, which offers a free alternative to services such as Google StreetView. It features nearly 18 million terrain view photos contributed by various entities and aims to provide an open, decentralised system for sharing geolocated, ground-level photos under free licences that can be used for various applications, including urban infrastructure management.

Other “geo” things

• Wikidata’s ‘Coordinate Me 2024’ is an international competition taking place in May that encourages participants to improve or create new Wikidata items that have a coordinate location property, focusing on a variety of countries to improve global data coverage.
• swissinfo.ch explored the significant contribution of Swiss cartography and a Swiss entrepreneur, Samuel Widmann, to the development of Google Maps. It highlights Switzerland’s long tradition of detailed and accurate mapmaking, which laid the groundwork for the creation of global geodatabases and ultimately influenced modern digital mapping technologies. The story also details how Swiss innovations in map accuracy and aesthetics were crucial before Google acquired Widmann’s company, Endoxon.
• Google Maps is rolling out new features with the intention of addressing the common concern of locating charging stations, which are of interest to the owners of electric vehicles.
• Pierre Blanchet, from Meteory, has developed a machine learning model to monitor hedges across France by using aerial imagery.
• An article on TradingView explained the concept of mapping on a blockchain and discusses its potential to improve the accuracy, privacy, and security of geographic data compared to traditional GPS systems by using decentralised methods of data verification and storage. The article does not include the obligatory xkcd cartoon.
• ORBIS, the Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World, is an interactive tool hosted by Stanford University that simulates the logistics of travel and communication in ancient Rome. It allows users to calculate travel times and costs across various routes and modes of transportation, such as roads, rivers, and seas, based on historical data and geographic models.
• Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland (Current height data Netherlands) provides an interactive viewer of detailed topographic data covering the Netherlands with approximately 950 billion measurements. This tool allows users to explore a high-resolution point cloud of the Dutch landscape, offering visualisation options such as height, intensity, reflections, and feature classification.

Upcoming Events

Where	What	Online	When	Country
Aachen	5. Treffen Aachener Stammtisch 2.0		2024-04-25
Potsdam	Radnetz Brandenburg Mapping Abend #6		2024-04-25
	OSMF Engineering Working Group meeting		2024-04-26
Prishtinë	Kosovo TomTom Editing Party		2024-04-26
Bengaluru	OSM Bengaluru Mapping Party		2024-04-27
	OpenStreetMap visual impaired accessibility initiative – kickoff (online)		2024-04-27
Fianarantsoa	State of the Map Madagascar		2024-04-28 – 2024-04-29
Brno	Missing Maps Mapathon at the Department of Geography		2024-04-29
Fianarantsoa	OSM Africa April Mapathon – Map Madagasikara		2024-04-30
San Jose	South Bay Map Night	✓	2024-05-01
Dresden	OSM-Stammtisch Dresden		2024-05-02
Essen	FOSSGIS-OSM-Communitytreffen 2024 Nummer 20		2024-05-03 – 2024-05-05
Bochum	OSM-Workshop		2024-05-05
臺北市	OpenStreetMap x Wikidata Taipei #64		2024-05-06
	Encontro OSM Brasil (online)		2024-05-08
	Missing Maps London Mapathon		2024-05-07
München	Münchner OSM-Treffen		2024-05-08
Lorain County	OpenStreetMap Midwest Meetup	✓	2024-05-09
Bruxelles – Brussel	Notes meetup		2024-05-08
Stuttgart	Stuttgarter OpenStreetMap-Treffen		2024-05-08
Rio de Janeiro	Oficina de mapeamento de waterways no OpenStreetMap – YouthMappers UFRJ		2024-05-10
Mainz	OpenStreetMap-Stammtisch Mainz		2024-05-11
	SotM Asia 2024 monthly meeting		2024-05-11
Zürich	163. OSM-Stammtisch Zürich		2024-05-13
Grenoble	Réunion groupe local Grenoble : Panoramax – L’alternative libre pour photo-cartographier les territoires		2024-05-13

Note:
If you like to see your event here, please put it into the OSM calendar. Only data which is there, will appear in weeklyOSM.

This weeklyOSM was produced by MatthiasMatthias, Strubbl, TheSwavu, barefootstache, derFred, euroPathfinder, mcliquid, renecha, rtnf.
We welcome link suggestions for the next issue via this form and look forward to your contributions.

Wikimedia UK is seeking volunteers to help with the organisation and running of the 2024 Wiki Loves Monuments competition, which will run again this year in September.

Wikimedia UK have participated in the international photo competition since 2013, where participants upload images of listed buildings & scheduled monuments to Wikimedia Commons. The UK has a 4-nation competition, and then submits the top images to the international competition. In 2023, over 13,000 UK images were uploaded to the competition.

There’s a variety of different opportunities for community members to be involved in the competition, from small tasks to bigger ones, and we’d love to hear from you if you’re interested in joining the team!

There’s lots of ways to get involved, depending on your skillset and your availability.

Smaller tasks

• Categorising and sorting images during the competition
• Screening images before the judging process

For those with a little more time

• Producing web content to promote the competition

For those who’d like a bigger project to work on

• Reviewing and updating the data on Wikidata
• Running small events to engage people in the competition

Running the competition (behind the scenes work)

Reviewing & updating the data on Wikidata before the competition starts. The competition relies on lists from heritage bodies in Scotland, England, Wales & Northern Ireland. A good deal of data already exists in Wikidata, but there may be additional sites to add, sites to remove or re-categorise, and the quality of the data generally could be improved:

• This work needs to take place before the competition kicks off in September, so could be worked on between May-August. 
• We have some suggested workflows and ideas for checking and improving the data, but are also open to ideas! We’re looking for people who have some degree of familiarity & comfort with Wikidata, including bulk upload / editing and data modelling. We can also provide training in OpenRefine if volunteers would like to use that tool. 
• Ideally we’d like to put a small team of volunteers together to work collaboratively on this part of the project, rather than one person being expected to do everything. We’re happy to work with folks’ availability, but as a general guideline we’d like to start this process in May, and be finished by the start of August. (If we finish earlier that’s a bonus! But we want to offer flexibility.) 
• We’d also like to have regular check-in meetings (probably on zoom), and would be available to help, coordinate and answer questions throughout.  

Helping to categorise and sort images during the competition itself:

• When images are submitted to the competition, they’re placed in the main country category, however they do need to be checked, and it can be helpful if additional data can be added.
• We’re looking for a group of volunteers who would be happy to check in on the category for multiple days during the competition, and check around a dozen images each time. This is a role where all contributions would be very much welcomed, whether that’s one day or ten days!

After the event, screening images before judging:

• When it comes to judging we have two main stages. The first stage is preparing a long-list of 100-200 photos for the judging panel to look over. We need as many volunteers as possible to check over images to make sure they’re eligible and grade them. Each image is seen by multiple people. This takes place in October and sometimes November – each volunteer contributes a couple of hours.

Public engagement with the competition

We’d love to have more voices producing website and social media content about the competition:

• Would you like to write a blog post to advertise the competition, about what heritage means to you? Record a couple of minutes of audio on why you took a picture of a particular building? Make a short video about participating in the competition? Please get in contact if you have ideas!
• We’d like to have some content available to post in August in the run up to the competition, as well as to post throughout the competition in September.  We’re very happy to chat about ideas for content, as well as scheduling.  

Running small events to engage with the competition:

• In the past, we’ve run photo walks paired with a Wikimedia Commons training / upload session, and it would be great to have at least one of these running in each part of the UK. We’re looking for folks who could be event organisers or trainers to make this happen. 
• This is a bigger task, and we have some funding available to support volunteer grants for items such as venue hire, admin time, and travel expenses (around £250 per event).
• There’s a lot of scope for creativity in how these events would run – you could partner with a local library or museum, a meetup group or a group of students, for example. 
• These events should take place in September (ensuring that all uploads were made in time to be eligible for the competition), but planning would need to start in July to allow for advertising & marketing time in August. 

If you’re interested in any of these volunteer opportunities, please fill in this google form, and we’ll be in touch to organise a chat!

The post Call for volunteers for Wiki Loves Monuments 2024 appeared first on WMUK.

By Lucy Moore, Archeologist, Curator and Wikimedian

Between 15th and 17th March 1974 a ground-breaking transgender rights conference was held in Leeds. Entitled ‘Transvestism and Transsexualism in Modern Society’, it was the first conference organised by trans people to address their needs. To mark the 50th anniversary of the conference, Leeds City Museum hosted a day of recognition and celebration organised and curated by Leeds-based artist and activist GossipGrrrl. 

As part of the programme, volunteer Lucy Moore led a short workshop introducing people to Wikipedia editing. With only an hour’s slot in a packed programme, which included performances of music by Leeds-born composer Angela Morley to celebrate her centenary.

In preparation for the event, Lucy started an article on English Wikipedia for the conference, which featured in the Did You Know … section on 16 March, and was swiftly translated into Spanish by User: MiguelAlanCS. Muchos gracias!!!

The group had a short introduction to what Wikipedia is, basic guidelines, and a short demo on how to add content. It was then straight over to the group, with the goal of getting a few people to make one edit! Our good intentions were scuppered by an IP bloc, but many avoided it, and were able to start making changes. This included adding references to the conference to a range of pages, including: 

• Beaumont Society
• Leeds Beckett University
• University of Leeds
• Della Aleksander

One attendee, who’d previously done some noble work de-orphaning articles, started a new page for the American organisation Full Personality Expression, a precursor of the Beaumont Society.

While we edited, one attendee mentioned how when she was transitioning, Wikipedia was one of the first places she went for medical information, but that there were many gaps. This was especially true for health and social care. These include no mention on the page for dementia about the challenges that trans people can face when diagnosed and as the disease progresses. Neither are trans women mentioned in pages for prostate or prostate cancer (which can cause issues for trans women as well as cisgender men) nor for cervical screening (trans women may receive invitations for screenings). Nor is there information available, apart from on Reddit, about how hormones prescribed for trans people interact with medication for epilepsy. 

The group also talked about the need for lived experience to be better represented on Wikipedia. One way we discussed how this might be addressed is through media uploads to Wikimedia Commons of images and/or oral histories in audio or film. 

We were really fortunate to get financial support from Wikimedia UK, which paid for transport costs for some participants, as well as some gorgeous stickers! Leeds City Museum provided tea and coffee for us too. Feedback included: 

“I think it’s really important to preserve our history, especially since Wikipedia is such a widely used resource.”

“It was lovely to meet and chat with other like-minded people!”

One month on…

Together, we work to ensure that Wikimedia reflects the world in all its diversity. Your support makes this possible, donate today.

The article begun for Full Personality Expression was featured in the ‘Did you know ..?’ section on the front page of English Wikipedia

Inspired by how images can illustrate lived experience, Lucy also met up with new editor Katie to show her how to upload pictures of LGBT events she’s attended to Wikimedia Commons. Here they are, still smiling, after two hours of editing!

The post Making trans histories public with Wikipedia appeared first on WMUK.

From randomized control trials to years of intensive content analysis, the featured scholars in our most recent Speaker Series webinar brought a range of research studies and findings to answer our two-part question, “What can we learn from Wikipedia and how do we move it forward?”

Wikipedia can shape the world, not just reflect it, according to research by panelist Neil Thompson, director of the FutureTech project at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Our experimental studies about Wikipedia have demonstrated the ways Wikipedia content makes its way into other knowledge production systems,” said Thompson, who led randomized control trials to examine the impact of Wikipedia content on scientific publishing and case law. In both studies, Thompson’s findings were clear: Wikipedia content influences real-world decisions and behaviors – in the case of his research, the decisions made in a court of law or in the development of scholarly publications.

“Because of Wikipedia’s scope, and how it is used and trusted, it has a lot of effect on the world,” said Thompson. “It’s pretty exciting, but it also speaks to the importance of getting the content as right as we can.”

Panelist Kai Zhu’s own research curiosities led him to explore how editing Wikipedia articles generates more attention paid to those articles and related articles, and the role of hyperlinks in driving this process.

“Wikipedia is not only a collection of textual content, but it is also a network of knowledge,” said Zhu, an assistant professor at Bocconi University, who emphasized the importance of the hyperlink structure of Wikipedia. “When there is a new link created, not only will more people read the linked article, but it also brings more content contribution because of that visibility.”

When panelist Shira Klein jumped into a Wikipedia talk page discussion in 2018, she never predicted it would lead to a two-year collaborative research study and a subsequent publication with nearly 55,000 views and counting. 

“The skirmish [on the talk page] was the tip of the iceberg,” said Klein, associate professor of history at Chapman University, who joined a debate between editors to support the citation of “Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz,” a book published by Princeton University Press and Random House in 2006. This experience led Klein to discover a group of editors working systematically to simplify and distort Holocaust history on the English-language Wikipedia.

In her research, Klein found that misleading information about Jews in Poland has been added to Wikipedia despite its policy violations, noting how the organized efforts of groups of editors to maintain the misinformation can lead to unchecked distortions in articles.

Along with her co-author, Klein studied 25 public Wikipedia articles and nearly 300 back pages, including noticeboards, arbitration cases, and talk pages. Together with interviews with editors and statistical data from Wikipedia, the analysis demonstrated how the addition of content that violates Wikipedia policies can evade scrutiny, leading to distortions and misinformation.

“One thing I’m curious about is what other areas on Wikipedia have this burning issue,” said Klein. “Is there a correlation between the amount of disinformation on a topic and the amount of dispute it has triggered on Wikipedia?”

For more than ten years, panelist Rosta Farzan has studied the social experience of new Wikipedia editors, including why people begin to edit and what helps them not only continue to edit but also contribute higher quality content to articles. According to Farzan’s research, intentional socialization practices for new editors can lead to their long term engagement with Wikipedia. 

Farzan, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Information at the University of Pittsburgh, emphasized the positive impact of the structure and support provided by Wiki Education’s Wikipedia Student Program. 

“The students feel proud of working on Wikipedia articles,” said Farzan. “Newcomers who join through classes are more likely to continue editing on Wikipedia compared to other comparable newcomers. They write more, they write better quality, and they stay on Wikipedia longer.”

Interested in hearing more from the panelists and other featured scholars? Catch up on our Speaker Series programs on YouTube and be sure to join our next webinar, “Wikipedia and Education, globally”, on Tuesday, May 14, 10 am PDT / 1 pm EDT.

🕑 1 hour 28 minutes

Dr. Moritz Schubotz (developer username Physikerwelt) is head of research at the mathematics department at FIZ Karlsruhe – Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructure. He is the author or co-author of the MediaWiki extensions Math and MathSearch, and the Mathoid application, among others.

Links for some of the topics discussed:

• Dr. Moritz Schubotz CV and publications
• Math MediaWiki extension
• MathSearch MediaWiki extension
• MathML Wikipedia article
• MathJax Wikipedia article
• Mathoid
• The MaRDI (Mathematical Research Data Initiative) Portal (Wikibase instance)
• zbMATH Open
• Wikimedia Community User Group Math

O Pacto Digital Global é uma oportunidade única e crucial para moldar nosso mundo digital de uma forma que promova o interesse público e apoie o desenvolvimento sustentável para todas as pessoas, em todos os lugares.

 
Nós, as pessoas signatárias desta carta aberta, apelamos aos Estados-Membros da ONU para que adotem uma visão positiva para um futuro da Internet que apoie e empodere comunidades diversas em todo o mundo para criar e operar projetos de conhecimento livre e aberto. Os projetos da Wikimedia, incluindo a Wikipédia, a enciclopédia on-line, disponibilizam para o mundo o maior repositório livre e aberto, multilíngue, intercultural e universalmente acessível de materiais educacionais já criado. Os projetos da Wikimedia geridos pelo voluntariado têm formado um ecossistema liderado pela comunidade que defende a integridade da informação. Estes projetos servem como infraestrutura pública digital para conteúdo enciclopédico, neutro e de licença aberta em mais de 300 idiomas.  

A experiência de mais de duas décadas da Wikipédia nos ensinou que a Internet precisa ser aberta, global, interoperável e inclusiva para poder servir a toda a humanidade. Para isso, três compromissos essenciais devem ser incluídos no texto do Pacto Digital Global:

*Para assinar a carta, por favor, preencha este Formulário do Google. Para detalhes sobre como as informações que você compartilha neste formulário serão tratadas, consulte esta declaração de privacidade.

Co-signatários

Número	Assinatura	País	Organizaçao
1	Diego Hättenschwiler	Switzerland
2	Matt Andrews	United States
3	Vanj Padilla	Philippines	Shared Knowledge Asia Pacific
4	Rachmat Wahidi	Indonesia	Wikimedia Indonesia
5	Tila Cappelletto	Brazil	Wikimedia Foundation and Wiki Editoras Lx
6	Joydeep Sengupta	Germany
7	Kyle Vu	United States
8	Bernardo Oliveira	Portugal
9	Nurul Rifqah Fahira	Indonesia
10	Kanyadibya Prasetyo	Indonesia	Wikimedia Indonesia
11	Nadia Hanessian	Switzerland
12	Dr. Ziko van Dijk	Netherlands	Klexikon
13	Tim Sandgren	Sweden
14	Nikolai
15	Fachria Marasabessy	Indonesia	Universitas Terbuka
16	Bita Babolian	Iran
17	Stefan Cibian	Romania	Fagaras Research Institute
18	Mukul Pandya	United States
19	John Gorrell
20	Andrea Guzman	Switzerland	Public Health – Johns Hopkins
21	Erika Martinez	Colombia
22	Laura Abril	Colombia
23	RonRitchie	United States
24	Marissa Strniste
25	Nicolás Bautista Duarte	Canada
26	Janice Dean
27	Ángela Duarte	Canada
28	Nate Angell	United States	Nudgital
29	Jorge Pulecio	Colombia	Fundación Amazonia y Vida
30	Sam Tagg	United States	Writer
31	Daniel Guzman	United States
32	José Ignacio Jiménez	United States
33	Gonzalo Sánchez-Gómez	Colombia
34	Emelie Rivard-Boudreau	Canada	Wikiclub Croissant boréal
35	Joshua Levens	United States
36	Ignacio guillen	Colombia
37	Henrique Neiva	Brazil	Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte – UFRN
38	Juliana Gordillo	Colombia
39	Richard Nevell	United Kingdom	Wikimedia UK and the University of Exeter
40	Elizabeth Spica	United States	Open Counsel, LLC
41	Nelly Duarte
42	Silvia Gutiérrez	Mexico	Wikimedia Foundation
43	Valério Melo	Brazil	Wiki Movimento Brasil
44	Martha Duarte
45	Anamaria Nieto	Colombia
46	Maria Eduarda Rodrigues
47	Juan Dimey
48	Andreas Mitchell
49	AM Trépanier	Canada	Cinémathèque québécoise
50	Dianne Skelton	New Zealand	Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand
51	Adriana Rosell	Colombia
52	Marcus Vinícius Pereira da Silva	Brazil	Fundação Oswaldo Cruz
53	Anna Tumadóttir	United States	Creative Commons
54	Divine Nanteza	Uganda	Wikimedia Community Usergroup Uganda
55	Maria Duarte	United States	University of California, San Francisco
56	Isaac Looremeta	Kenya	Carnegie Mellon University
57	Francisco Barreto	Colombia	De acuerdo
58	Shuhada Rosdi
59	Ismael Olea	Spain
60	Adriana Sandoval	Spain
61	Claudia Arroyave O’Brien	United States
62	Luz Esperanza Duarte Ortega	Colombia
63	Juan Duarte
64	Monica Bonilla	Colombia	Wikimedia Colombia
65	Juanita Vargas	Colombia
66	Osvaldo Larancuent	Dominican Republic	ISOC Chapter Dominican Republic
67	Juan Camilo Sandoval	Colombia
68	Irvin Sto. Tomas	Philippines	Bikol Wikipedia Community
69	Nora Rodriguez	Colombia
70	Maffeth Opiana-Sto.Tomas	Philippines	PhilWiki Community
71	Cesario Errico	United States
72	Margot Albin	United States
73	Francesco Roveto
74	Luis Jimenez
75	Laura Ines Oliveros	Colombia
76	Sara Hilarión Díaz	Colombia
77	Soha Eshraghi	United States	Citi
78	Tara Das	United States
79	Everett Palet	United States
80	Laura Rodríguez	Colombia
81	César Mendoza	Mexico
82	Max Goldman	United States
83	Taufik Rosman	Malaysia	Wikimedia Community User Group Malaysia
84	Baluku Brian	Uganda	Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda
85	Jurina Jonimin	Malaysia	WMCUG
86	Idd Ninga	Tanzania	Dunia Salama Foundation
87	Macholi Chris Benard	Uganda	Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda
88	Muhammad Rifqi Saifudin	Indonesia
89	Arthur Picerna	France
90	Ahmad Wafiq Aqil Bin Kamarul	Malaysia	Wikimedia Community User Group Malaysia
91	Laura James	United Kingdom
92	Libby Cummings	United States
93	Eliana Quiroz	Bolivia
94	Maria Paulina Jaramillo	Colombia
95	Jake Orlowitz	United States	WikiBlueprint
96	Victoria Kure-Wu	Germany
97	Erwin Sentausa	France	Wikimedia Indonesia
98	Peter Suber	United States	Senior Advisor on Open Access, Harvard Library
99	Wilfredo Rafael Rodriguez Hernandez	Canada	Wikimedia Canada
100	Barbara Miller	United States
101	Kamila Součková	Switzerland
102	Pablo Corredor	Colombia
103	Arshak Shahenyan	Armenia	Wikimedia Armenia
104	Martin Adalberto Tena Espinoza de los Monteros	Mexico	Universidad de Guadalajara
105	Isaac Lopez
106	Deoband Community Wikimedia	India
107	Christine Plote	Germany
108	Stephen Dakyi	Ghana	Wiki Green Initiatives
109	Vladimir Cortés	Mexico
110	Adhmi Fauzan	Indonesia
111	Éder Porto	Brazil	Wiki Movimento Brasil
112	Maria Rojas	Colombia
113	Huaira Foundation	Ecuador	Huaira Foundation
114	Siggi Weide	Germany	webgrrls Deutschland e. V.
115	Jenny Ebermann (Wikimedia CH CEO)	Switzerland	Wikimedia CH
116	Ulrich Lantermann	Switzerland	Wikimedia CH
117	Michael Granitzer	Germany
118	Isla Haddow-Flood	South Africa	Wiki In Africa
119	Florence Devouard (representing Wiki In Africa)	South Africa	Wiki In Africa
120	Wikimedia Colombia	Colombia	Wikimedia Colombia
121	Correl Moris	Malaysia	Kent Wiki Club
122	Jilorisa John	Malaysia	Kent Wiki Club
123	Pilar de la Prieta	Spain	Wikimedia España
124	Michael West	United Kingdom
125	Andy Mabbett, FRSA	United Kingdom	Wikimedian
126	Jane Daniels	United Kingdom	Amgueddfa Torfaen Museum
127	Patrick Snyder
128	Bernardo García Quiroga	Colombia
129	Maria Clara Ortiz Karam	Colombia
130	Hardiansyah	Indonesia
131	Olga Spingou	Greece
132	Martin Poulter	United Kingdom	Wikimedian
133	Sandra Aceng	Uganda	Wikimedia Community Usergroup Uganda
134	Dr Anita Hall	United Kingdom
135	Jeni Merino	United States
136	Teresa MacKinnon	United Kingdom	Honorary Life Member of Association for Learning Technology
137	Andi Inácio	Brazil	WikiMulheres+ | Wiki Movimento Brasil
138	MJ Deery	United States
139	Nikolas Becker	Germany
140	Pedro Moreno Chaves	Colombia
141	Kyung Sin Park	South Korea	Korea University | Open Net Korea
142	Geoffrey Kateregga	Uganda	Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda
143	Leanne Ritchie	United States
144	Fraser Morgan	United Kingdom
145	Luciana Brito	Brazil	Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
146	Aviv Sapire	Israel
147	Alek Tarkowski	Poland	Open Future Foundation
148	Daniela Branson
149	Donatien K. Koffi	Ivory Coast	Wikimedia Community User Group Côte d’Ivoire
150	Diana Betzler
151	Emily Bandeira	Brazil	Boca Language Justice
152	Lorna M. Campbell	United Kingdom
153	Bernhard René Wallisch	Austria
154	Maria Fernanda De Brasdefer	Mexico	IFLA
155	Filippo Catania	Italy
156	Curt Newton	United States	MIT OpenCourseWare
157	Dimitar Dinev	Bulgaria
158	Mukesh Baniya	India
159	Samer Afhad	Portugal
160	Anthony B Dixon	American Samoa
161	Tracy Clay	United States
162	Wendy Arenas	Colombia
163	Tanakorn Sensunon	Thailand
164	Nasri Nasir	Malaysia	Wikimedia Community User Group Malaysia
165	Sherry Antoine	United States	Wikimedians of the Caribbean and AfroCROWD
166	Lu Klunder	Mexico
167	Robin Hicks	United States
168	Ezequiel Lopez	Argentina
169	Laura Arosa	Colombia	Universidad Nacional de Colombia
170	Dwayne Perrault	Canada	Administrator
171	Ahaan Chaudhuri	India
172	Odoh Cosmas	Nigeria
173	Andrea Merrill	United States
174	José Gama	Portugal
175	Katherine Townsend	United States	World Wide Web Foundation
176	Alfred Hendrix	United States
177	Marco Chemello	Italy
178	Juan Dimey
179	Filip Kramec	Czech Republic	Brno University of Technology
180	Cooper White	New Zealand
181	Sinan Baytar	Turkey
182	Nico Mathuse	Austria
183	Rasmus Giesel	Germany	MOR Design
184	Jan Soons	Belgium
185	Noël Hardenne	Belgium
186	César Alcántara
187	Eric De Groote	Belgium
188	Jean Higgins	Ireland
189	Carmen Johnson	Benin
190	Kao Her	Albania
191	Rajneesh Kumar	India
192	Tom Hutcherson	United States
193	Jiří Špaček	Czech Republic
194	David Phoenix	United States
195	Archie Miles	United States
196	Vanthuy Gwynn	United States	Retiree
197	Jill Godmilow	United States	Filmmaker, retired professor at University of Notre Dame
198	Samaya Anjum	Bangladesh	Global Network Initiative
199	Jaime Sparr	United States
200	Felipe Pacheco de Lima Oliveira	Brazil
201	Takeshi Koyama	Japan

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