Welcome to a new edition of WikiLearn News! Take a few minutes to discover how online learning is helping develop Wikidata skills and the new courses coming up this quarter.

What’s WikiLearn?

WikiLearn is a free online learning platform by and for the Wikimedia movement. It offers quality online courses created by Wikimedia affiliates, experienced organizers, and partners that foster social learning and recognize learners’ achievements. The platform is managed by the Community Development team and it’s available in multiple languages – at the moment, you can find self-paced and instructor-led courses launched in 7 languages!

Spotlight on Wikidata

WikiLearn courses are supporting Wikimedians in developing key practical skills of their interest. For example, there are 523 editors who have enrolled on a WikiLearn course that strengthens their Wikidata skills. One of these courses is the Requêtes SPARQL sur Wikidata (developed by Wikimedia France) which has been completed by more than 60% of the learners who enrolled in it. After completing the course, the percentage of edits reverted on Wikidata from these learners went from 6% to 0.58%. Similarly, after learners took the Wikidata 101: An Introduction course (Wikimedia France and Wikimedia Germany), their percentage of edits reverted went from 1.69% to 0.76%. And along with a decrease in edits reverted, learners from the Spanish Wikidata course Curso de formación en Wikidata (Wikimedia Chile) also increased their editing activity from an average of 150 edits to 160 edits per month. These examples demonstrate not only the effectiveness and engagement of the curricula developed by these Wikimedia affiliates, but the consistent interest in Wikidata training opportunities from multiple language communities.

Our team recently chatted with Mohammed Sadat Abdulai and Zita Zage from the Wikimedia Germany team. Mohammed and Zita are days away from wrapping up the third edition (on WikiLearn) of the Wikidata 101 online course – with curriculum developed by Wikimedia France and later translated and adapted by Wikimedia Germany. Mohammed and Zita are investing in online learning because it enables knowledge sharing across diverse communities in a cost-effective and practical way. Additionally, being part of a course cohort in WikiLearn helps newcomers feel less intimidated by complex platforms like Wikidata, offering a supportive, judgment-free space to ask questions and build confidence. They share that self-paced courses are especially important in regions with limited internet access, allowing learners to decide when and how best to engage with the curriculum. Mohammed says that “although countless Wikidata tutorials exist, they’re often scattered across blogs, wikis, and videos. Wikidata 101 provides a step-by-step framework: from basic Item creation all the way to basic SPARQL queries, all in one place. This structured approach helps learners build on each lesson logically, resulting in deeper understanding and more immediate application of new skills.”

We strive to make WikiLearn stand out to course creators with a user-friendly design, making it easy to create and navigate courses—even for first-time users. Zita highlighted features like the customizable landing pages and the discussion forums as elements that helped her foster engagement and peer support among her learners. The team has also shared the insights they gathered from 58 participants across 5 continents who completed the Wikidata 101 course and they’re actively using this information to improve the next iterations. Our team appreciates working closely with course creators because their experiences and feedback allow us to continuously make improvements to the platform. 

Eager to dive more into Wikidata? Keep an eye out for upcoming Wikidata 101 and Wikidata 201 courses on WikiLearn! Whether you’re a beginner, educator, or language enthusiast, course creators like Mohammed and Zita are developing self-paced curriculum to offer a friendly space to connect and grow your Wikidata skills.

How can you take advantage of WikiLearn?

Find the right opportunity for you and your community:

• As a learner: Browse the Catalog to find open self-paced courses, you only need a Wikipedia account to enroll! This quarter, you can find three courses from the Organizers Lab to strengthen your knowledge about topics for impact, the gender gap, and audience-based design for Wikimedia campaigns. For Spanish speakers, a new edition of the Habilidades Digitales Verdes course is about to start and you can register here.
• As a course creator: What does it take to build a course on WikiLearn? Catch the Let’s Connect sessions where the WikiLearn team together with Carla Toro (Wikimedia Chile) and James Gaunt (Wikimedia Australia) shared their experiences and provided a look at the behind-the-scenes process. If you’re an experienced organizer or part of a Wikimedia affiliate interested in hosting a course on the platform, use this short form to send your proposal. 
• As a translator: You can also help make courses available in new languages! If you’re interested in translating any existing courses on WikiLearn, don’t hesitate to reach out to the team. 

If you have any feedback to share about your experience on WikiLearn, please reach out via comdevteam@wikimedia.org

📣 Stay tuned for a next edition of WikiLearn News coming in a few months!

By Gemma Coleman | Wikimedia UK Wales Programme Coordinator

On 9th May 2025, Wikimedia UK proudly collaborated with WMLGBT+ and the National Library of Wales on a Trans + History Week Edit-a-thon hosted by Cardiff Central Library. The aim was to celebrate the contributions of Trans people here in Wales by improving the coverage of notable Trans people and events on different Wikipedia projects.

We had a range of editors attend, from those very new to Wikipedia who wanted support building their Wiki skills, to more experienced editors wanting some advice on articles they were currently working on. One attendee, Keira, said:

“This was the first time I’d met other Wikipedia editors, and everyone was so friendly and lovely! I learnt a lot, and it’s got me excited to contribute more!”

Bilingual editing

The editathon was facilitated and attended by both Welsh and English speakers so we were able to work together on articles on both Wicipedia and English Wikipedia and some editors also updated Wikidata too. 

The mix of language abilities mean some less confident Welsh speakers were able to tackle some smaller edits in Welsh that they wouldn’t have felt confident making on their own. Having other Welsh speakers on hand meant they could easily check spelling, grammar and the best way to translate terms, improving their own Welsh skills and ensuring the quality of the language used on Wicipedia.  

Gender and historical figures

Whilst we munched on welshcakes and tea, we talked about our experiences editing Wiki. A contributor shared an article draft about an individual whose gender identity lacks historical consensus, yet this complexity was only briefly addressed.  The editor believed this lack of consensus deserved greater emphasis based on the source material but had found that even small attempts to incorporate this nuance were quickly being undone by other editors. 

We talked about challenges in clearly and fairly recording gender identity of historical figures. We also talked about different ways editors could work well with other wiki editors to create unbiased articles that fairly represent the prominence of opposing points of view as per Wikipedia’s Neutral Point of View policy.

What we achieved

Over the afternoon, 5 brand new articles were created (3 in Welsh and 2 in English) and another 3 articles were improved to ensure the lead images and pronouns used throughout reflected the subject’s most recently expressed self-identification, as per Wikipedia’s Manual of Style:/Biography guidelines. Some attendees also then went on to join a related online editathon run by WMLGBT+ starting that evening.

Want to join in?

If you couldn’t join us but would have loved to, there are lots of ways you can still get involved.

• WMLGBT+’s Trans History Week and IDAHOBIT editathon runs until 18th May and there are some suggested articles there for inspiration. 
• From June to October there’s Wiki Loves Pride 
• Multilingual editors happy to edit in more than one language might want to look at WikiProject LGBTQ+ translationpage.

Useful resources

• This video about recording the gender and sexuality of historical figures 
• Manual of Style:/Biography guidelines
• Manual of Style:/ Gender Identity
• WikiProject LGBTQ+ studies/Guidelines

The post Trans + History Week Edit-a-thon appeared first on WMUK.

From over 50 countries, nearly 100 young minds are coming together to shape the future of free knowledge – on their own terms.

We’re only a few days away from Wikimedia Youth Conference 2025, the first-ever Wikimedia event created for young people and by young people. Hosted in Prague from May 15 till May 18 2025, this gathering will bring together around 90 young Wikimedians from every corner of the Wikiworld.

Together, they’ll explore questions like:

• How can Wikimedia projects and activities become more attractive and accessible to young people?
• How do we support their growth and keep them engaged?
• And how can they lead change in their own communities?

But it won’t stop at big ideas. The goal is action: this conference is about turning vision into real steps forward.

Why now?

Organized by Wikimedia Czech Republic with the support of the CEE Hub, the conference tackles a topic that’s more urgent than ever. Young people are not just the future of the Wikimedia movement – they’re already here, contributing every day.

In 2024, editors aged 18–24 became the largest age group among active contributors, making up 21% of the global community. And among newcomers, the trend is even clearer: 37% of new editors are in this age bracket.

At the same time, we’re facing real challenges. Wikimedia projects are competing with a range of engaging online platforms, and we’ve seen a decline in new user registrations. Young editors often bring different motivations and needs, and as a movement, we’re still learning how best to support them. Their voices need to be heard more clearly.

Both Wikimedia Czech Republic and The CEE Hub already have experience in supporting young people in the Wikimedia movement – they have been regularly supporting the CEE Youth Group. This group, started as a conversation during the CEE Catch Up regional call, grew into an impactful youth-driven peer-support community of young people in Central and Eastern Europe, says Klára Joklová, the Executive Director of Wikimedia Czech Republic.

Now it is time to take this experience to a global level. 

A global gathering for a global mission

To build a more inclusive movement, we need a more inclusive conversation. And that’s exactly what this event brings.

The participants come from all regions of the world, representing over 50 countries – from India to Argentina, and from Ukraine to the Philippines. They bring rich diversity in experiences and backgrounds: many are already active editors, event organizers, and community leaders, working in both large and emerging Wikimedia projects.

What connects them is a shared desire to make Wikimedia more open, more sustainable, and more welcoming for people like them.

Not your typical Wikimedia conference

Designing a first-of-its-kind youth conference meant rethinking the format, too. While traditional Wikimedia events often focus on presentations and panels, this one needed something different.

Instead of showcasing existing work, we’re co-creating something new.

Over three days of facilitated group discussions, participants will:

• Explore the challenges young people face in joining and staying active in the movement
• Test different ideas and hypotheses together
• Gain leadership and facilitation skills
• Develop concrete, personal action plans to implement back home
  

The focus will shift from movement-wide needs to personal perspectives, so that the big picture is grounded in real experiences. And ideas can be brought back to the communities. 

Impact going beyond the event

The real magic of the Youth Conference will unfold after the event ends.

In their applications, participants shared how they plan to give back: by organizing events, creating content, mentoring newcomers, or taking on leadership roles in their communities. 

As Klára Joklová describes it: The conference program will help the participants to create their own personal plan on how to bring to life the ideas from the conference in the time post the event. It also aims to create strong peer connections that will last long beyond the closing session. It’s not just a conference. It’s the beginning of a support network – one that will help young Wikimedians build lasting impact together.

Joy, belonging, and… Eurovision

The work is important but it won’t all be about planning and strategy. The conference is also about building friendships, sharing joy, and creating memories. Expect some moment of fun, board games and… a shared viewing of Europe’s favorite music tradition: the Eurovision Song Contest. 

Our twelve points go to… the Youth Conference and the young people in the movement! 

In March 2025, Wikimedia Foundation and communities around the world came together with one shared mission: to celebrate, uplift, and advance the leadership of women and gender-diverse contributors across our projects. To honor Women’s Month, the Wikimedia Foundation worked closely with our community to launch a series of campaigns and learning spaces that support community members working to close the gender gap. In alignment with our annual priorities, different Foundation teams came together with a shared goal: to celebrate and elevate the work of gender equity contributors, and to equip organizers with tools that reduce barriers, especially those caused by systemic challenges in gender-focused organizing.

The 2025 Celebrate Women* Campaign built on our collective commitment to close the gender gap in knowledge, leadership, and representation sparking new energy, deeper skills, and lasting collaborations across the movement.

Our Shared Success: 

• The external communications campaign “Knowledge is human. Knowledge is her” celebrated and humanized the work of gender organizers within the movement across Sub-Saharan Africa. It highlighted the work being done to ensure more reliable knowledge about notable women appears on Wikipedia in order to increase trust in and loyalty to the Wikimedia projects.
• Over 220 participants engaged across six multilingual events, designed for learning, reflection, and celebration.
• We saw the inclusion of Wikiproject Women’s Health/Vital collection of articles into the Content Translation tool, allowing editors to translate articles that address this specific gender gap.
• Use of Event Registration grew by 235% compared to the previous 8 months (from 72.5 to 171 events).*
• More than 58 events were documented globally on the international “Celebrate Women” campaign page, spanning eight regions. During March, there were roughly 4000 visits to the page!
• We also celebrated the launch of the inaugural WikiWomen* Task Force, a critical new initiative bringing coherence and momentum to gender equity work across the movement.
• During March, Global Advocacy partnered with Community Growth to help scale our support to community members. Global Advocacy shared insights with community members on how best to host a session at the United Nations, which culminated in a side event at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, raising visibility for the incredible work of our volunteers and their role in building more equitable large language pathways for artificial intelligence platforms. The team helped bring the session’s important message to the local level by working with Bridgit Kurgat and movement partners to showcase the UN session at this year’s Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (DRIF).

While we cannot definitively link the growth in adoption to the Foundation’s activities this March, past experiences indicate that our campaign support is correlated with greater use of tools and expansion of content.

Igniting Change: Celebrating Women* Campaign Begins

The campaign officially launched on February 21, 2025, with an inspiring kickoff session led by the Foundation’s Gender Lead, Bridgitk with support from MMulaudzi-WMF.  Together, they introduced organizers to key tools including the Translation Suggestion Feature, Event Registration, and Central Notice Banners equipping communities with resources to amplify local efforts as well as key events being featured during the month.

One participant reflected, “Feeling appreciated gives me the energy to continue editing. I am excited that this year, we chose to focus on celebrations.“

This launch set the tone for a month dedicated to recognizing contributions, building skills, and deepening the movement’s commitment to gender equity.

Equipping Organizers with Tools for Impact

Throughout March, over 220 participants engaged in dynamic, hands-on sessions across six multilingual events.

Tooling Trainings: Led by EUwandu-WMF and Udehb-WMF organizers learned to leverage the Event Registration Tool, contributing to a 235% increase in event registrations compared to previous periods.

Content Translation and Central Notice Workshops: Uzoma Ozurumba facilitated translation tool training, inspiring new multilingual content creation. Central Notice Banner workshops empowered organizers to design outreach campaigns that reached broader audiences.

Programmatic Training: Astinson (WMF) and CPickens-WMF introduced strategic approaches like Organizer Lab Reframe and List-building as a Service, aimed at reducing barriers and empowering more efficient organizing.

Another participant shared, “The best part was realizing I’m not alone in this work. We are building something bigger together.“

Watch the training sessions here!

A Historic Milestone: Launching the WikiWomen* Taskforce

On March 7, in celebration of International Women’s* Day, the movement celebrated the launch of the inaugural WikiWomen* Taskforce is a collective of 12 diverse leaders representing different regions, languages, and experiences thanks to the  Wiki Women* Advisory Council Team who spend countless hours to put the team in place.

The launch event featured keynote speeches by Kira Wisniewski, Art+Feminism and Mariana Fossati, Whose Knowledge?,  a historical reflection by Netha Hussein on closing the gender gap within Wikimedia and a panel discussion with the pioneer WikiWomen* Task Force team members.

The Taskforce’s launch theme reflecting on the Past, Embracing the Present, Shaping the Future captured the spirit of a movement determined to drive lasting change.

Scan through this meta page for more information and updates!

Advancing Global Dialogue: Bridging Gender Gaps in AI

As part of Wikimedia’s engagement with the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 2025, the campaign hosted a high-impact NGO Forum side event titled Bridging Gender Gaps in AI: Advancing Equity Through Open Knowledge on March 19.

This panel discussion brought together leading experts including; Tigist Shewarega Hussen (Feminist digital activist & researcher, APC), Zinnya Del Villar (Director of Technology, Data, and Innovation, Data-Pop Alliance), established Wikimedian and Executive Director of WOUGNET, Sandra Aceng (Executive Director, WOUGNET), and Winnie Kabintie (Movement Communications Specialist, Africa – WMF) and moderated by Bridgit Kurgat (WMF, Gender Lead) to address critical issues at the intersection of gender, AI, and ethical governance. 

Participants explored the challenges of algorithmic bias, the implications of AI on knowledge representation, and actionable strategies for fostering equitable AI development. Together, they explored algorithmic bias, ethical AI development, and the power of open knowledge to shape more equitable futures. This milestone also connected local and global advocacy efforts, raising the visibility of volunteer-driven gender equity work at the United Nations and beyond.

Importantly, this session aligned with global trends highlighted in the Wikimedia Foundation’s 2025-2026 Annual Plan, particularly the increasing challenges around neutrality, knowledge integrity, and the weaponization of AI. Strengthening gender equity is pivotal not only to correcting historic biases in content but also to ensuring a more inclusive, resilient community of contributors. Broadening representation both in knowledge and among contributors critically strengthens the movement’s ability to uphold neutrality, resist manipulation, and promote ethical AI practices. The insights shared during this session directly support Wikimedia’s broader efforts to safeguard the Neutral Point of View and combat systemic bias in an evolving global digital landscape.

Watch the recording here!

Prioritizing Inclusive Spaces: Gender Sensitivity and UCoC Training

The final event of the campaign was a Gender Sensitivity and Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC) Training, co-hosted with the Let’s Connect Team (Led by Cassie Casares with support from the Let’s Connect working Group) and Trust and Safety Team (Abigail Adu-Daako & Nasma Ahmed). This Learning Clinic aimed to:

1. Enhance awareness and practical understanding of the UCoC in gender-sensitive contexts.
2. Encourage a collaborative, action-oriented approach to gender equity within Wikimedia.

Through interactive discussions and case studies, participants gained valuable insights into fostering safer, more inclusive spaces within Wikimedia, ensuring that gender contributors are supported and protected in their advocacy efforts.

Watch the recording here.

A Shared Commitment to Sustained Change

This Women’s Month was a powerful reminder of what is possible when communities, affiliates, and Foundation teams unite across languages, regions, and expertise. We are deeply grateful to everyone who contributed to making Celebrate Women 2025 a resounding success.

Are you ready to be part of the movement?

• Share a woman’s story on Wikipedia.
  
• Host or join a Celebrate Women event.
  
• Mentor new editors passionate about gender equity.

Together, we are shaping a more inclusive future!

Special thanks to Movement Partners and Volunteers, the Community Growth, Campaigns Product, Language and Product Localization, Global Advocacy, Trust and Safety and Communications teams who came together to make the campaign a success. Special recognition to Masana who carried the torch, and helped ensure gender stays a priority.

“Wikisource, and also older manuscripts and materials in general, are […] a time machine to the past,”
– Fariz Hazman (Malay Wikisource Editor)

Wikisource is where historical manuscripts and copyright-free texts are given a new life. Preserving and sharing public domain texts in over 80 languages, it’s a space where knowledge is transcribed, proofread, and published entirely by volunteers.

At the heart of this project are more than 2,000 active editors. Whether working on literary works or old manuscripts, these contributors collaborate across borders to make these texts accessible to everyone.

To recognize their impact, we’ve created a video that shines a light on their stories. This video celebrates the people behind the project who dedicate their time to preserving literary heritage.

Featuring Wikisource community members from around the world, you will hear their aspirations and experiences contributing to the project—captured during the concluded Wikisource Conference 2025 in Bali, Indonesia.

They are:

• Nicolas Vigneron, French Wikisource Editor
• Faris Hazman, Malay Wikisource Editor
• Theresia Setyawati, Javanese Wikisource Editor
• Kavitha Ganesh, Tulu Wikisource Editor
• Nanteza Divine Gabriella, English Wikisource Editor
• Alberto Leoncio, Portuguese Wikisource Editor
• Satdeep Gill, Senior Program Officer, Culture and Heritage, Wikimedia Foundation

Watch the video and learn how the global Wikisource community is working together to safeguard our cultural heritage for future generations.

Subtitles available in Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Hindi, and Spanish 

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

Weekly highlight

• The “Get shortened URL” link on the sidebar now includes a QR code. Wikimedia site users can now use it by scanning or downloading it to quickly share and access shared content from Wikimedia sites, conveniently.

Updates for editors

• The Wikimedia Foundation is working on a system called Edge Uniques, which will enable A/B testing, help protect against distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS attacks), and make it easier to understand how many visitors the Wikimedia sites have. This is to help more efficiently build tools which help readers, and make it easier for readers to find what they are looking for. Tech News has previously written about this. The deployment will be gradual. Some might see the Edge Uniques cookie the week of 19 May. You can discuss this on the talk page.
• Starting May 19, 2025, Event organisers in wikis with the CampaignEvents extension enabled can use Event Registration in the project namespace (e.g., Wikipedia namespace, Wikidata namespace). With this change, communities don’t need admins to use the feature. However, wikis that don’t want this change can remove and add the permitted namespaces at Special:CommunityConfiguration/CampaignEvents.
• The Wikipedia project now has a Wikipedia in Nupe (w:nup:). This is a language primarily spoken in the North Central region of Nigeria. Speakers of this language are invited to contribute to new Wikipedia.
•  View all 27 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.

Updates for technical contributors

• Developers can now access pre-parsed Dutch Wikipedia, amongst others (English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese) through the Structured Contents snapshots (beta). The content includes parsed Wikipedia abstracts, descriptions, main images, infoboxes, article sections, and references.
• The /page/data-parsoid REST API endpoint is no longer in use and will be deprecated. It is scheduled to be turned off on June 7, 2025.
•  Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

In depth

• The IPv6 support is a newly introduced Cloud virtual network that significantly boosts Wikimedia platforms’ scalability, security, and readiness for the future. If you are a technical contributor eager to learn more, check out this blog post for an in-depth look at the journey to IPv6.

Meetings and events

• The 2nd edition of 2025 of Afrika Baraza, a virtual platform for African Wikimedians to connect, will take place on May 15 at 17:00 UTC. This edition will focus on discussions regarding Wikimedia Annual planning and progress.
• The MENA Connect Community Call, a virtual meeting for MENA Wikimedians to connect, will take place on May 17 at 17:00 UTC. You can register now to attend.

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

The Campaigns team at WMF has released two features that allow organizers to promote events and WikiProjects on the wikis: Invitation Lists and Collaboration List. These two tools are a part of the CampaignEvents extension, which is available on many wikis.

Invitation Lists

Product overview

Invitation Lists allows organizers to generate a list of people to invite to their WikiProjects, events, or other collaborative activities. It can be accessed by going to Special:GenerateInvitationList, if a wiki has the CampaignEvents extension enabled. You can watch this video demo to see how it works.

It works by looking at a list of articles that an organizer plans to focus on during an activity and then finding users to invite based on the following criteria: the bytes they contributed to the articles, the number of edits they made to the articles, their overall edit count on the wikis, and how recently they have edited the wikis. This makes it easier for organizers to invite people who are already interested in the activity’s topics, hence increasing the likelihood of participation.

With this work, we hope to empower organizers to seek out new audiences. We also hope to highlight the important work done by editors, who may be inspired or touched to receive an invitation to an activity based on their work. However, if someone does not want to receive invitations, they can opt out of being included in Invitation Lists via Preferences.

Technical overview

The “Invitation Lists” feature is part of the CampaignEvents extension for MediaWiki, designed to assist event organizers in identifying and reaching out to potential participants based on their editing activity.

Access and Permissions

• Special Pages: The feature introduces two special pages:
  • Special:GenerateInvitationList: Allows organizers to create new invitation lists.
  • Special:InvitationList: Displays the generated list of recommended invitees.
• User Rights: Access to these pages is restricted to users with the event-organizer right, ensuring that only authorized individuals can generate and view invitation lists.
  

Invitation List Generation Process

1. Input Parameters:
   • List Name: Organizers provide a name for the invitation list.
   • Target Articles: A list of up to 300 articles relevant to the event’s theme.
     •  The articles will need to be on the wiki of the Invitation List.
   • Event Page Link: Optionally, a link to the event’s registration page can be included.
     
2. Data Collection:
   • The system analyzes the specified articles to identify contributors.
   • For each contributor, it gathers metrics such as:
     • Bytes Added: The total number of bytes the user has added to the articles.
     • Edit Count: The number of edits made by the user on the specified articles.
     • Overall Edit Count: The user’s total edit count across the wiki.
     • Recent Activity: The recency of the user’s edits on the wiki.
       
3. Scoring and Ranking:
   • Contributors are scored based on the collected metrics.
   • The scoring algorithm assigns weights to each metric to calculate a composite score for each user.
   • Users are then ranked and categorized into:
     • Highly Recommended to Invite: Top contributors with high relevance and recent activity.
     • Recommended to Invite: Contributors with moderate relevance and activity.
4. Output:
   • The generated invitation list is displayed on the Special:InvitationList page.
   • Each listed user includes a link to their contributions page, facilitating further review by the organizer.

Technical Implementation Details

• Backend Processing:
  • The extension utilizes MediaWiki’s job queue system to handle the processing of invitation lists asynchronously, ensuring that the generation process does not impact the performance of the wiki.
  • Jobs are queued upon submission of the article list and processed in the background.
  • The articles will need to be on the wiki of the Invitation List, and they can add a maximum of 300 articles.
    
• Data Retrieval:
  • The extension interfaces with MediaWiki’s revision and user tables to extract the necessary contribution data.
  • Efficient querying and indexing strategies are employed to handle large datasets and ensure timely processing.
    
• User Preferences and Privacy:
  • Users have the option to opt out of being included in invitation lists via their preferences.
  • The extension respects these preferences by excluding opted-out users from the generated lists.
    
• Integration with Event Registration:
  • If an event page link is provided, the invitation list can be associated with the event’s registration data. This way, we can link their invitation data to their event registration data.

Collaboration List

Product overview

The Collaboration List is a list of events and WikiProjects. It can be accessed by going to SpecialːAllEvents,  if a wiki has the CampaignEvents extension enabled.

The Collaboration List has two tabs: “Events” and “Communities.” The Events tab is a global, automated list of all events that use Event Registration. It also has search filters, so you can find events by start and end dates, meeting type (i.e., online, in person, or hybrid), event topic, event wikis, and by keyword searches. You can also find events that are both ongoing (i.e., started before but continue within the selected date range) and upcoming (i.e., events that start within the selected date range).

The Communities tab provides a list of WikiProjects on the local wiki. The WikiProject list is generated by using Wikidata, and it includes: WikiProject name, description, a link to the WikiProject page, and a link to the Wikidata item for the WikiProject. We aim to produce a symbiotic relationship with WikiProjects, in which people can find WikiProjects that interest them, and they can also enhance the Wikidata items for those projects, which in turn improves our project.

Additionally, you can embed the Collaboration List on any wiki page, if the CampaignEvents extension is enabled on that wiki. To do this, you transclude the Collaboration List on a wiki page. You can also choose to customize the Collaboration List through URL parameters, if you want. For example, you can choose to only display a certain number of events or to add formatting. You can read more about this on Help:Extension:CampaignEvents/Collaboration list/Transclusion.

With the Collaboration List, we hope to make it easier for people to find events and WikiProjects that interest them, so more people can find community and make impactful contributions on the wikis together.

Technical Overview: Events Tab of Collaboration List

• Purpose: Displays a global list of events across all participating wikis.
• Data Source: Event data stored centrally in Wikimedia’s X1 database cluster.
• Displayed Information:
  • Event name and description
  • Event dates (start and end)
  • Event type (online, in-person, hybrid)
  • Associated wikis and event topics
• Search and Filters:
  • Date range (start/end)
  • Meeting type (online, in-person, hybrid)
  • Event topics and wikis
  • Keyword search
  • Ongoing and upcoming event filtering
    
• Technical Implementation:
  • The CampaignEvents extension retrieves event data directly from centralized tables within the X1 cluster.
  • Efficient SQL queries and indexing optimize performance for cross-wiki data retrieval.

This implementation ensures quick access and easy discoverability of events from across Wikimedia projects.

Technical Overview: Communities Tab of Collaboration List

• Purpose: Displays a list of local WikiProjects on the wiki.
• Data Source: Dynamically retrieved from Wikidata via the Wikidata Query Service (WDQS).
• Displayed Information:
  • WikiProject name
  • Description from Wikidata
  • Link to the local WikiProject page
  • Link to the Wikidata item
    
• Performance Optimization:
  • Query results from WDQS are cached locally using MediaWiki’s caching mechanisms (WANObjectCache).
  • Cache reduces repeated queries and ensures quick loading times.
    
• Technical Implementation:
  • The WikimediaCampaignEvents extension retrieves data via SPARQL from WDQS.
  • The CampaignEvents extension renders the data on Special:AllEvents under the Communities tab.
    
• Extension Communication:
  • The extensions communicate using MediaWiki’s hook system. The WikimediaCampaignEvents extension provides WikiProject data to the CampaignEvents extension through hook implementations.

This structure enables efficient collaboration between extensions, ensuring clear responsibilities, optimized performance, and simplified discoverability of WikiProjects.

The Wikimedia Cloud VPS shared web proxy has an interesting architecture: the management API writes an entry for each proxy to a Redis database, and the web server in use (Nginx with Lua support from ngx_http_lua_module) looks up the backend server URL from Redis for each request. This is maybe not how I would design this today, but the basic design dates back to 2013 and has served us well ever since.

However, with a recent operating system upgrade to Debian 12 (we run Nginx from the packages in Debian's repositories), we started seeing mysterious errors that looked like this:

2025/04/30 07:24:25 [error] 82656#82656: *5612 lua entry thread aborted: runtime error: /etc/nginx/lua/domainproxy.lua:32: bad request
stack traceback:
coroutine 0:
[C]: in function 'set_keepalive'
/etc/nginx/lua/domainproxy.lua:32: in function 'redis_shutdown'
/etc/nginx/lua/domainproxy.lua:48: in main chunk, client: [redacted], server: *.wmcloud.org, request: "GET [redacted] HTTP/2.0", host: "codesearch.wmcloud.org", referrer: "https://codesearch.wmcloud.org/search/"

The code in question seems straightforward enough:

function redis_shutdown()
 -- Use a connection pool of 256 connections with a 32s idle timeout
 -- This also closes the current redis connection.
 red:set_keepalive(1000 * 32, 256) -- line 32
end

When searching for this error online, you'll end up finding advice like "the resty.redis object instance cannot be stored in a Lua variable at the Lua module level". However, our code already stores it as a local variable:

local redis = require 'nginx.redis'
local red = redis:new()
red:set_timeout(1000)
red:connect('127.0.0.1', 6379)

Turns out the issue was with the function definition: functions can also be defined as local. Without that, something somewhere in some situations seems to reference the variables from other requests, instead of using the Redis connection for the current request. (Don't ask me what changed between Debian 12 and 13 making this only break now.) So we needed to change our function definition to this instead:

local function redis_shutdown()
 -- Use a connection pool of 256 connections with a 32s idle timeout
 -- This also closes the current redis connection.
 red:set_keepalive(1000 * 32, 256)
end

I spent almost an entire workday looking for this, ultimately making a two-line patch to fix the issue. Hopefully by publishing this post I can save that time from everyone else stumbling upon the same problem after myself.

• Albania report: Wikipedia Event for International Roma Day 2025
• Australia report: Highlighting Feminist and women’s histories and a Wiki Day at the South Australian Museum
• Catalan areas report: Campaign to document the 2025 Falla monuments in Valencia
• Italy report: Wikidata and Research
• Netherlands report: Open Collection Highlights
• New Zealand report: Women in Architecture, BHL, and the Commons Workflow
• Nigeria report: Strengthening Cultural Heritage through Partnerships and Knowledge Sharing: Insights from World Heritage Day in Nigeria
• North Macedonia report: Wikimedia MKD’s new GLAM collaborations and activities
• Poland report: What’s up in GLAM in Poland
• Portugal report: Scholarships and Call for Sessions Proposals for GLAM Wiki 2025 will open soon: Stay tuned!
• Serbia report: GLAM Highlights from Serbia
• Switzerland report: FemNetzCon 2025; GLAM Meeting Biel/Bienne; Digi Archive
• UK report: Mapping Museums / Art in Arabic
• USA report: April meetings
• Biodiversity Heritage Library report: BHL-Wiki Working Group April monthly highlights
• Memory of the World report: Surging forward in Spanish and Arabic
• Calendar: May’s GLAM events

01/05/2025-07/05/2025

Community

• asciipip has detailed a method for naming trails in the Catoctin Mountain Park, by combining on-the-ground observations, such as coloured blazes marked on trees, with official trail information from the park’s website.
• BingoBongo has been testing its in-house game engine, for realistic terrain and vegetation rendering, by integrating global geographic data from OpenStreetMap, high-resolution surface imagery from NASA’s BlueMarble, and elevation data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission.
• The Trufi Association is celebrating their Volunteer of the Month, Anahi Gonzalez: a Mexican public-transport-mapping phenomenon.

OpenStreetMap Foundation

• Grant Slater, of the OpenStreetMap Operations Team, has announced that OSM planet exports, including minutely, hourly, and daily diffs, are now being published through an Amazon Simple Notification Service. This move enables AWS users to automatically trigger workflows as soon as new OpenStreetMap data is released.

Local chapter news

• Since late 2021, FOSSGIS e.V. has been curating ► a growing directory of companies and independent professionals offering support and services around Free and Open Source Software in the GIS sector, including OpenStreetMap and open geodata. The updated list is now available at dienstleister.fossgis.de, where new service providers can also register their businesses directly.

Events

• A special opportunity is being offered by the organisers of the III Workshop on Participatory Mapping and Social Cartography – MPCS 2025, which will be held 100% online this August. Some projects from lusophone countries, presented at the Mapping Projects Exhibition, will be selected for publication as chapters in the second volume of the book series Case Studies in Collaborative and Participatory Mapping, to be released in early 2026 under the IVIDES publishing ► label. More information can be found in a post by the event’s chair, Dr Raquel Dezidério Souto.
• In the latest episode of the Geomob Podcast, Ed interviewed Silas Toms, co-organiser of the recent GeoMeetup event in San Francisco. Silas discusses his geospatial tech background, the event’s success, and the resurgence of the local GeoMeetup scene. This episode also explored the growing role of AI, OpenStreetMap, and the importance of community and collaboration in the geospatial field.
• Several upcoming GeoMob events have been announced, including Geomob Zürich, set for the evening of Thursday 15 May, at the Meta Zürich office; Geomob Netherlands, taking place in Utrecht on Thursday 22 May, at NOVI University of Applied Sciences; and Geomob Brussels, scheduled for Tuesday 3 June, at The Sister Cafe.
• OpenCage GmbH’s Ed Freyfogle interviewed Juan Arellano and Andrés Gómez, from the Organising Committee of SotM Latam 2025, about the upcoming edition of the event in Medellin 4 to 6 September this year.
• The OpenStreetMap US Mappy Hour will be held remotely (by Zoom) on Saturday 21 May 8:00-9:00PM ET. Hear from Bill Wetherholt, Professor at Frostburg State University, about how OpenStreetMap can be used in the classroom to teach Geography’s five themes. The OSM US Software Engineer, Jake Low, will also demonstrate OSMCha, a tool for monitoring changes made in OpenStreetMap.

OSM research

• After analysing 746 mapping projects organised by the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team between December 2021 and November 2023, a group of researchers have found that humanitarian mapping largely relies on remote contributors performing basic tasks with minimal collaboration. The system, they concluded, is sustained primarily by the expertise of a small group of advanced mappers. While these projects generally succeed in achieving short-term mapping goals, the researchers noted they often fall short when it comes to building long-term, sustainable mapping capacity.

Maps

• ^[1] Demonstrating the integration of OpenStreetMap with Wikidata, Matt Whilden has developed DecommissionedAircraftMap, which uses a daily bot to generate thumbnails from Wikidata entries and Overpass Ultra to retrieve geodata for displayed aircraft (historic=aircraft) from OSM.
• Students in the Accounting Technician course at Jerónimo Emiliano de Andrade Secondary School, as part of Citizenship and Development, have made a map called Moedas do Mundo (Currencies of the World). This map shows the currencies of different places in the world, from ancient to current ones, and also a bit of their history. With this map, students were able to discover places in the world and some of their history. As it is always possible to improve, they will continue to do so next year.
• LUN, together with the MasterZoo pet store chain, has launched an interactive map of dog walking areas in Kyiv. The initiative aims to support the development of a pet-friendly culture and responsible walking, and help create a barrier-free, comfortable environment for pet owners and their pets. The map already features over 200 locations: individual playgrounds, parks where walking is allowed, green areas and other places where you can walk your dog. Each location contains a brief description and notes on amenities, such as fencing, benches, litter bins, and training equipment for pets. You can read ► more about it in the accompanying blog post.

OSM in action

• The Duitama Mapping Stars, a group of Colombian high school students, have digitised informal transport networks from East Africa, via Southeast Asia, to Latin America. The Trufi Association is raising money to send them to SotM Latam.
• Gosfilmofond, a state film archive in Russia, has published a map with previously unpublished newsreels and archive photos linked to the places and dates of the events of the Second World War. The map lets you filter events by date, add your own photos, and uses OpenFreeMap tiles as the base layer.

Open Data

• Michaël showed how to cross check between OSM elements IDs and their counterparts on Wikidata, using the R language.

Software

• CoMaps, the emerging community-driven fork of Organic Maps, has released an updated version of its open letter addressed to Organic Maps stakeholders (we reported earlier). In the statement, the group reaffirmed its commitment to moving forward with the fork but emphasised that it remains open to ongoing negotiations with the original project’s leadership. A project on Codeberg and a Matrix chat have been created for the current working name ‘CoMaps’.
• Tobias Zwick has announced that the StreetComplete project is receiving sponsorship from NLNet to support its full migration to a multiplatform app. The transition will leverage Kotlin Multiplatform and Compose Multiplatform for the user interface, paving the way for future releases on platforms beyond Android, including iOS and potentially Linux. Volunteer contributions are welcomed, particularly in areas such as migrating the UI to Jetpack Compose, improving the stability of MapLibre-Compose on iOS, and assisting with iOS development for those with the necessary expertise.
• OpenAerialMap (OAM) V2 has been released, providing faster, more reliable access to satellite and drone imagery for humanitarian mapping. HOT and Development Seed are rebuilding OAM with a new STAC-based infrastructure and modern tools.
• Panoramax tooted that, one year after version 3, the Panoramax viewer is undergoing a major update with version 4. A new look, better readability and a series of small details will make all the difference in using the programme. It’s being tested before being implemented. For more details, see the forum.

Programming

• In response to feedback on his OpenStreetMap diary post and Mastodon toot (we reported earlier), Daniel has demonstrated the versatility of the Z-Curve + BIGMIN technique by developing a cloud-native static spatial index for 2D points. Leveraging the same Z-order space-filling curve and BIGMIN search space pruning, the solution enables users to host a single .parquet file, similar to ProtoMaps, as a spatial index that can be queried efficiently without relying on GeoParquet, R-Trees, or PostGIS.
• TrickyFoxy demonstrated that you can run JOSM in a browser using CheerpJ, a tool for running graphical Java applications in browsers.

Did you know that …

• … TrickyFoxy has introduced new functionality to OSMBuilding, enabling the platform to render building data from custom OpenStreetMap servers? This update allows individual buildings from alternative sources, such as OpenHistoricalMap and OpenGeoFiction, to be visualised, expanding the tool’s reach beyond the main OSM database, which was previously its only data source.

OSM in the media

• The mapping of trees with OpenStreetMap and MapComplete was promoted ► by the Fluminense Federal University and also noted ► by the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro. This initiative, a partnership between IVIDES.org and the YouthMappers chapters at UFRJ, UFRRJ, and UFF Campos, also included speakers at the Green Open Data Day 2025 evening session. The results are available on Wikimedia.

Other “geo” things

• Alex Woodie, of Big Data Wire. has interviewed the Overture Maps Foundation CTO, Amy Rose, regarding the technical aspects of the foundation’s efforts to build a foundational reference map, something that other mapmakers around the world can build upon.
• Deborah Pickett’s toot highlighting some confusing street names in Melbourne quickly sparked a wave of responses, with users sharing similar examples from around the globe.
• Sean Gorman has experimented with a point-of-interest (POI) relocalisation method to improve the accuracy of POI data in the Overture database, by developing a mobile application that detects nearby POIs based on the user’s location. This enables users to select a POI and capture an image to enhance location precision. This effort sparked a discussion on Mastodon, noting that it is beneficial for improving commercial POI datasets, which are strong in coverage but weak in positional accuracy.

Upcoming Events

Country	Where	What	Online	When
	Santiago	Taller Datos Abiertos y Mapas Colaborativos: Uniendo Comunidades y Tecnología.		2025-05-08
	Oslo	OSM Pils #1v1.1 2025		2025-05-08
	Berlin	203. Berlin-Brandenburg OpenStreetMap Stammtisch		2025-05-08
	Bochum	Bochumer OSM-Treffen		2025-05-08
	Zürich	175. OSM-Stammtisch Zürich		2025-05-09
	Yaoundé I	INITIATION A MAPROULETTE		2025-05-09
	Minta	INITIATION A MAPROULETTE		2025-05-09
	Dundee	Dundee OSM Meetup – Spring 2025		2025-05-10
	Alipur Tehsil	16th OSM Delhi Mapping Party		2025-05-10
	København	OSMmapperCPH		2025-05-11
	Kiel	Stadt-Spaziergang mit OpenStreetMap		2025-05-11
	Grenoble	Atelier applications mobiles autour de la contribution à OSM & Panoramax		2025-05-12
	中正區	OpenStreetMap x Wikidata Taipei #76		2025-05-12
	L’Argentière-la-Bessée	Atelier cartopartie – Pays des Ecrins		2025-05-13
	Budapest	OSM térképest 2025-05-13		2025-05-13
	Salt Lake City	OSM Utah Monthly Map Night		2025-05-14
	San Jose	South Bay Map Night	✓	2025-05-14
	Hamburg	Hamburger Mappertreffen		2025-05-13
	Αθήνα	Mapping Hidden Stories: reflecting on pedestrian accessibility in Athens		2025-05-14
	City of Perth	Workshop & City of Canning Hackathon		2025-05-14
	München	Münchner OSM-Treffen		2025-05-14
	Grenoble	Atelier analyse de données géographiques		2025-05-15
	Essen	FOSSGIS-OSM-Communitytreffen im Linuxhotel		2025-05-16 – 2025-05-18
		OSMF Engineering Working Group meeting		2025-05-16
	Olomouc	Missing Maps Day Olomouc 2025		2025-05-17
	Comuna 13 – San Javier	Junta OSM Latam – Avances SotM Latam 2025 Medellín		2025-05-17
	Manchester	Joy Diversion		2025-05-17
	Estrablin	Microcartopartie Estrablin (38)		2025-05-17
	Mamoudzou	Aprendendo sobre mapeamento pós-desastre: estado das edificações em Mayotte		2025-05-19
	Lyon	Réunion du groupe local de Lyon		2025-05-20
	Bonn	188. OSM-Stammtisch Bonn		2025-05-20
	Lüneburg	Lüneburger Mappertreffen	✓	2025-05-20
		[Online] Map-py Wednesday		2025-05-21
	Karlsruhe	Stammtisch Karlsruhe		2025-05-21
	Hannover	OSM-Stammtisch Hannover		2025-05-23
	Stadtgebiet Bremen	Bremer Mappertreffen		2025-05-26

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 Elizabete, Raquel Dezidério Souto, Strubbl, Ted Johnson, TheSwavu, TrickyFoxy, barefootstache, derFred.
We welcome link suggestions for the next issue via this form and look forward to your contributions.

The project ‘WikiDamas en Común: Biographies of late medieval noblewomen’ is an initiative that was born with the aim of enriching Wikipedia and making key female figures of the Middle Ages more visible. In total, the biographies of 17 medieval noblewomen who, due to their significant roles in the society of their time, deserve greater recognition, have been included. 

This project, which culminated on 8 March 2025 on International Women’s Day, was promoted and coordinated by the historian and professor at the University of La Laguna, Raúl Villagrasa Elías; and the wikipedian and designer of technology-based services, Teresa Jular. 

It was also carried out in collaboration with the research teams Scripta manent (IH-CCHS-CSIC) and ‘Sociedades, Procesos, Culturas (siglos VIII al XVIII)’ (UPV/EHU). It also had the support and advice of Wikimedia Spain. 

A project born out of research 

The idea for the project arose at the end of 2024 when historian Raúl Villagrasa, while researching the figure of Mencía de Velasco, realised that many late medieval noblewomen were not represented in Wikipedia, despite their historical relevance. From there, the initiative to reduce the gender gap in the most consulted encyclopaedia in the world was born. 

‘When researching Mencía de Velasco, we realised that many women of her lineage were not represented in the encyclopaedia. From there, we came up with the initiative to contribute to the history of these noble women,’ says Raúl.   

The main objective of the project was to complete Wikipedia with the biographies of at least 16 late medieval noblewomen. These women, many of them unknown, played crucial roles in the history of their time, as defenders of their patrimonial interests and active in the management of manors. Through rigorous research, the biographies were published with a scholarly approach and using reliable historical sources. 

‘We seek to balance the number of women biographies, in this case especially in relation to the men in their families, many of whom already have biographies on Wikipedia,’ says Ana Carrasco, professor at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM).   

Working collaboratively to close the gender gap 

The ‘WikiDamas en Común’ team was made up of historians and experts in digital humanities, who worked collaboratively in a process of co-creation. ‘Two people coordinate, there is a division of tasks, according to the steps we follow, such as the creation of the biographies, revision and validation, editing, contributing information in a collaborative way,’ says Ana Carrasco. 

The process involved the participation of 12 people and a support group from Wikimedia Spain, which allowed the biographies to be validated and published with precision and rigour. This work not only enriched the content of Wikipedia but also facilitated the dissemination of historical knowledge to the general public. 

Forgotten stories that deserve to be told 

These noblewomen played key roles in medieval history, fighting to protect the interests of their families, defending their sons and daughters and even facing violence. ‘We have been able to highlight (in Wikipedia) different issues in which these noblewomen were involved and to show that many of them adopted active roles in the defence of their patrimonial interests, also protecting those of their young sons and, above all, those of their daughters, even defending them against the violence and mistreatment that some suffered at the hands of their husbands’, Teresa remarked. 

Their stories, which have often been forgotten or minimised by traditional historiography, have finally been recognised thanks to this project. ‘The group considers it important to correct the undervaluing of their contribution to manorial society as historiography has been doing until very recently,’ Teresa adds.    

The social and academic impact of the project 

The project has brought together biographies of little-known noble women, providing valuable new knowledge for society, useful for curious people, students and researchers, and all in record time. ‘We have managed to offer a list of biographies of noble women by bringing together information scattered in different media, some of which were very little known,’ argues Ana Carrasco. 

The biographies of these women not only help to balance the gender representation on Wikipedia but also serve as an educational tool for the public and the research community. 

Lessons learned 

The project members agree that the experience was enriching, not only in terms of historical visibility, but also in terms of learning about collaborative work and the importance of using platforms such as Wikipedia for the dissemination of academic knowledge. 

‘I think it has worked well, that each one has contributed in what they knew best and that the collaborative work has been really effective. In addition, it has helped us to work more closely with the Scripta manent team and share scientific knowledge and knowledge transfer,’ says Agurtzane Paz, professor at the Public University of Navarra.   

For her part, Ana Carrasco highlights learning to work as a team, in a very agile, collaborative and fun way. ‘We have worked side by side without the usual pressures of the academic world, but in a relaxed way. And we have learned that Wikipedia can be a very effective tool for dissemination and that it is worthwhile to contribute rigorous knowledge’. 

For Teresa Jular, it was important to understand some of the difficulties encountered by researchers transcribing, reading and interpreting wills, donations and other medieval documents. In addition, she says: ‘… we have also learned from the Wikimedia Spain Association. In addition to their help in providing tutorials and the most correct method for editing on Wikipedia, we have learned from their global analysis and intentions for improvement of this great container of knowledge’.   

Next steps: more women to be made visible 

The project does not end here. The ‘WikiDamas en Común’ team plans to continue collaborating on future editions, including updating Wikidata and translating the biographies into Basque. 

In addition, the group has already identified new noblewomen for inclusion in Wikipedia, demonstrating a commitment to continue fighting for equal representation of women in history. ‘For my part, I would like to continue collaborating in the near future, although this time adapting to other lineages, having exhausted my experience with the Ayala women. There are many more examples,’ says Agurtzane Paz. 

This effort to make women in history visible not only has an immediate impact on the world’s largest digital encyclopaedia, but also opens a path for future initiatives that continue to work for gender equality and the historical visibility of women in all areas of knowledge. 

Discover the stories of these medieval women on Wikipedia and join the fight to close the gender gap in free knowledge! 

WikiDamas en Común Team:   

Raúl Villagrasa Elías and Teresa Jular Pérez-Alfaro (coordinators), Beatriz Benito Rodríguez, Ana Isabel Carrasco Manchado, Ana Galdós Monfort, Nerea Jiménez Pelagio, Cristina Jular Pérez-Alfaro, Cristina Pastor, Agurtzane Paz Moro, Cristina Pérez Pérez Pérez, Ubaldo Villarejo Lucio and Marta Vírseda Bravo. 

It's that time of the year again: the Wikimedia Hackathon 2025 happened last weekend in Istanbul. This year was my third time attending what has quickly become one of my favourite events of the year simply due to the concentration of friends and other like-minded nerds in a single location.¹

This year I did a short presentation about the MediaWiki packages in Debian (slides), which is something I do but I suspect is fairly obscure to most people in the MediaWiki community. I was hoping to do some work on reproducibility of MediaWiki releases, but other interests (plus lack of people involved in the release process at the hackathon) meant that I didn't end up getting any work done on that (assuming this does not count).

Other long-standing projects did end up getting some work done! MusikAnimal and I ended up fixing the Commons deletion notification bot, which had been broken for well over two years at that point (and was at some point in the hackathon plans for last year for both of us). Other projects that I made progress on include supporting multiple types of two-factor devices, and LibraryUpgrader which gained support for rebasing and updating existing patches².

In addition to hacking, the other highlight of these events is the hallway track. Some of the crowd is people who I've seen at previous events and/or interact very frequently with, but there are also significant parts of the community and the Foundation that I don't usually get to interact with outside of these events. (Although it still feels extremely weird to heard from various mostly-WMF people with whom I haven't spoken with before that they've heard various (usually positive) rumours stories about me.)

Unfortunately we did not end up having a Cuteness Association meetup this year, but we had an impromptu PGP key signing party which is basically almost as good, right?

However, I did continue a tradition from last year: I ended up nominating Chlod, a friend of mine, to receive +2 access to mediawiki/* during the hackathon. The request is due to be closed sometime tomorrow.

(Usual disclosure: My travel was funded by the Wikimedia Foundation. Thank you! This is my personal blog and these are my own opinions.)

Now that you've read this post, maybe check out posts from others?

In a country where organized free knowledge initiatives were minimal, the Wikimedia Libya Community emerged in 2023 as a response to a growing curiosity: What would it take to create a space where Libyans could contribute to the global free knowledge projects?

The journey began on 29 April, 2023, with a virtual meeting that brought together individuals interested in Wikipedia and its sister projects. This date marked the official launch of the community and was the result of prior engagement by Libyan volunteer Salema, who had connected with NANöR and the broader Arabic Wikimedia community during Arabic Wikipedia Day 18. Inspired, Salema and NANöR took the first steps toward forming a local network.

In preparation:

• A Facebook page was launched on April 3 to serve as a public platform.
• A registration form was shared widely and attracted 179 responses.
• The first open invitation went out for a Google Meet session, which would lay the foundation for building a sustainable community.

Soon after, the community launched its first program: “The Libyan Wikipedian – First Edition”, which ran from April to July 2023. This included weekly online sessions and introductory training focused on editing Arabic Wikipedia, understanding Wikimedia’s core policies and guidelines such as: Notability and Reliable sources, and encouraging Libyan contributions.

Milestones in 2023

The community didn’t stop at training—it quickly became active in public knowledge sharing:

• On June 1, members participated in Libya’s National Information Technology Day.
• On June 5, they organized a climate awareness panel in Benghazi: “Libya: Our Climate, Resources, and Future Challenges”, as part of the global Wiki for Climate Change campaign 2023. The event was co-hosted with ChloroPhil and Barah Cultural and Arts, and highlighted Libya’s environmental challenges.

This early phase showed the potential of local Wikimedia outreach:

• Volunteers were trained to run thematic events.
• The community became recognized for environmental knowledge sharing.
• A culture of collaboration and learning began to form.

Following the Wiki for Climate Change campaign, the community launched the second edition of “The Libyan Wikipedian”—a training program tailored to the Libyan context.

The program aimed to equip new volunteers with editing skills focused on Arabic Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, with an emphasis on Libyan topics. What made this edition distinct was its reliance on source editing rather than visual editing, giving participants deeper insight into Wikimedia’s editing tools.

Scaling Up in 2024

With stronger internal coordination, the community began a semi-annual planning process and expanded its involvement:

• Participated in the Wikimedia Movement Charter Ambassadors 2024 program.
• Launched the Maghreb Environment Contest under Wiki for Climate Change 2024.
• Organized a panel on knowledge and spatial sustainability on June 8, which opened the door to youth inclusion through the launch of the Little Women Editing program.
• Celebrated the 20th anniversary of Arabic Wikipedia on July 13 in Benghazi, featuring an actor known for his role as Bilal ibn Rabah in Ar-Risālah (The Message) movie, whose article was updated live during the event.

Other notable initiatives included:

• A Training of Trainers course in September in Tripoli.
• Libya’s first Wiki Loves Monuments contest (15 September – 15 October).
• Specialized workshops in Wikidata (October–November), with special participation in Arabic Wikidata Days celebrating 12th Wikidata Anniversary, documenting Libyan authors’ works.
• Wikisource Training Workshop to contribute Libyan historical book (Tārīkh Ṭarābulus al-Gharb) and revive interest in the Arabic Wikisource (December 7–30).
• New editorial projects around Libyan content: coins, stamps, writers, and historical sites.

Looking Ahead

In response to its growing base and expanding activities, the community introduced a new strategy for 2025: Learn, Implement, Celebrate. This model reflects the community’s evolving identity: train new contributors, support real applications, and celebrate achievements.

As of today, Wikimedia Libya continues to build partnerships, increase local contributions, and empower individuals across the country to tell their own stories through free knowledge.

You can follow their work and get involved via Facebook, libyawikimedia@gmail.com, Meta.

I contributed in the “Ukraine’s Cultural Diplomacy Month 2025” writing contest, which began on April 14, 2025. This is my third time contributing, having previously contributed in 2022 and 2024. I am free to choose any article I want to cover, but I try to choose from a “List of suggested articles.” The list is divided into nine genres: cinematography, music, theater, literature, visual art, architecture, general articles, crucial articles, and articles in Ukrainian only, with the article title on the vertical axis and the language on the horizontal axis. This allows you to see at a glance which language version of Wikipedia an article is in.

Until now, I have translated articles that are not available in the Japanese Wikipedia from the “Music” and “Literature” lists, but this time I chose from the “General” and “Crucial Articles” lists. From the “General” list, I chose the “Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine.” It seems that a Ukrainian encyclopedia called the “Encyclopedia of Ukraine” was published in the late 20th century, but the “Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine” began publication in 2001 and is scheduled to be a total of 30 volumes, with up to volume 24 published as of 2022. In addition to the printed version, an online version is also available, which can be read for free. With the situation surrounding Ukraine changing every moment, it is very interesting to see what the descriptions in these encyclopedias are like.

The “Crucial Articles” have been translated into Japanese quite a bit, but from the articles that have not yet been translated, I chose a person called “Levko Revutsky.” Born in 1889 and died in 1977, Revutsky was a Ukrainian composer who also worked as a music teacher. Blessed with talent and with many accomplishments, he was awarded several medals, including the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. However, he seems to be little known outside of Ukraine, and there was no mention of it at all in the Russian music encyclopedia I found at a nearby library. By translating the articles about such people, I was able to get a glimpse into the state and history of music in Ukraine.

Looking at the “List of suggested articles”, you can see that there are still many articles that are not translated into the Japanese version, except for the “Crucial Articles”. Also, looking at the “Participants” page, you can see that many Wikipedians from all over the world are translating various articles into their own languages. It’s great that Wikimedia has a system where all of this process is open to the public and shared. This year’s contest will continue until May 16th, so I’m thinking of continuing it for a little longer. Would you like to join us?

Since March 2024, the Tradiciones Vivas Association of Palencia has been promoting an exciting project to recover the province’s sound heritage: Son Para Recordar (Sound to Remember), through Wikimedia Commons. This initiative pays tribute to both the traditional sounds of the land and to the people who, with their voices, their instruments, or their fieldwork, contributed to preserving a fundamental part of the collective memory. 

The project was born from the interest of Samuel Villarrubia, one of the members of the Carrión Folk band, in recovering repertoire for his performances. Along the way, he came across the recordings of the Joaquín Díaz Foundation, which sparked a question: why wasn’t there more material accessible on Wikimedia Commons? How could all those tapes and voices not be lost in oblivion? 

Son Para Recordar and Wikimedia Commons 

With this motivation, he began a self-taught process of uploading audio files to Wikimedia Commons. The work has required more than 100 hours, not counting the many hours spent listening to and carefully selecting each recording. Today, the audio files available on the platform include traditional songs, stories of rural life, and local celebrations, performed on a tambourine, dulzaina, or tabor, and accompanied by an interactive map with their geographical origin. 

Currently, work on Wikimedia Commons is primarily done by one person, although Alfonso Abad, also a member of Carrión Folk, has recently joined the group. He has begun digitizing recordings collected by his father, folklorist Pedro Pablo. The project continues to grow with new contributions, and plans to add more than 50 recordings from areas such as La Pernía and Aguilar de Campoo. 

Keeping the tradition alive 

The Tradiciones Vivas Association emphasizes that the ultimate goal is to give back to the people what is theirs: their history, their songs, their way of understanding life. In the words of those behind it, “I can’t find a better way to do something for humanity than by making known what we were, in case one day this society wants to once again enjoy the good times our ancestors had”. 

“Son Para Recordar” is not just a digitization project, but a broader commitment to keeping tradition alive. It also includes the re-recording of audio recordings with musical arrangements, the recovery of local dances, the promotion of dulzaina and traditional music schools, and other actions aimed at revitalizing Palencia folklore. 

At Wikimedia Spain, we can only applaud and support initiatives like “Son Para Recordar.” In this way, Wikimedia Commons becomes a key tool to ensure that this legacy is not only preserved, but also freely shared with the world. A small, great window to the past, open to the future. 

Attending the first-ever Central Asian WikiCon 2025 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, was an enriching experience that allowed me to connect with new friends, share knowledge, and learn from the shared challenges of Wikimedia communities across Central Asia.

This conference was my first-ever visit to Central Asia, and it was an exciting journey of discovery—one that highlighted the power of collaboration and community that defines our shared commitment to the Wikimedia movement.

A Memorable Welcome: New Friends and Shared Purpose

The event kicked off with a Welcome Dinner for scholarship recipients on Day 0, where Wikimedians from diverse backgrounds gathered to celebrate our shared passion for free knowledge. The evening was a wonderful opportunity to connect, exchange experiences, and build friendships that will last long beyond the event.

On Day 1, we gathered at Tandiriy, a wonderful restaurant in Tashkent, where we continued to share great conversations over delicious meals. The evening began with the same welcoming tradition, where we washed our hands to honor Uzbek customs, followed by a hearty meal of traditional plov, shashlik, and other local dishes that were nothing short of extraordinary.

To top off the evening, we were treated to a live performance that captured the essence of Uzbek culture. The traditional music and dance left everyone mesmerized, and it became one of the highlights of the evening, strengthening the sense of connection and celebration among all attendees.

Copyright, Copyleft & Copypaste: Myths and Realities

An equally important session was “Copyright, Copyleft, and Copypaste: Myths, Reality, and a Little Bit of Panic” by Anastasia Lvova from the North-West Russia Wiki-Historians User Group. The session was a thought-provoking discussion on how copyright and licensing myths often lead to confusion in the Wikimedia movement.

Digital Safety Is Not Optional

Another standout session was Digital Safety: Protecting Our Rights on the Internet by Chmielko Maslak. In an increasingly digital world, protecting our privacy and security online is not optional—it’s critical. Chmielko’s session provided us with invaluable tools and advice to safeguard our digital presence, and equipped us to better protect our online contributions and personal information.

Sharing My Work: Building Commons Photographers Network

I was also honored to lead a session about the Commons Photographers User Group, titled “Building a Global Community of Free Culture Photographers”. I shared stories of how our user group collaborates across borders, supports new photographers, and contributes high-quality images to Wikimedia Commons. It was encouraging to see interest from several local photographers who were excited to join and contribute from Central Asia.

Wikimedia Commons Workshop: A Hands-On Dive

I had the opportunity to co-lead the Wikimedia Commons Workshop alongside Ekaterina Borisova and Nikolai Bulykin, where I focused on helping participants navigate Commons effectively—from uploading their first image to understanding licenses and proper categorization. Drawing from my own experience as a long-time Commons contributor, I shared real-world examples and tips that sparked lively discussions. It was incredibly rewarding to see the enthusiasm in the room—participants were not only asking insightful questions but also already envisioning Commons-focused initiatives in their own communities.

As part of my session, I also covered best practices for organizing successful photowalks, emphasizing preparation, cultural sensitivity, consent, and Commons documentation. I introduced a practical tool I developed—glocation—which helps contributors generate ready-to-use Wikimedia Commons location templates from simple GPS coordinates. Whether using Google Maps or mobile devices, users can quickly convert latitude and longitude into {{Location}} tags, making their image uploads more structured and useful for the broader community. It was exciting to see participants try it out and express interest in using it for their own photowalks and events.

Uplifting Every Voice: Inclusive Knowledge for Minority Language Communities

One of the most impactful sessions I attended was Inclusive knowledge creation: Empowering minority language communities through Wikimedia projects by Maor Malul. This talk emphasized how Wikimedia platforms can serve as catalysts for linguistic justice and cultural preservation, especially in regions where minority languages are underrepresented. The session explored practical strategies to support language revitalization through content creation, capacity-building, and community engagement. The relevance to both Central Asia and India was striking—many of the same challenges exist in our multilingual contexts, and it was inspiring to see how others are building tools, partnerships, and workflows that empower communities to take ownership of their digital heritage.

Learn from Others’ Mistakes: Asaf’s Cautionary Tales

No WikiCon is complete without a session from Asaf Bartov, and this one was no exception. His talk “Five common mistakes already made by others, so you don’t have to!” was an entertaining yet sobering reminder of the pitfalls Wikimedia communities often face. From burnout and governance issues to failed partnerships, Asaf helped us reflect on our own contexts while learning vicariously from global experiences.

Shared Challenges, Common Hope

Beyond the sessions, this conference was about connecting with people who care deeply about the same things. From technical challenges to gender gaps, the problems felt familiar—but so did the passion and hope. I left the conference with new friendships, fresh perspectives, and a renewed sense of purpose. The Central Asian communities are young, growing, and full of potential—and I’m excited to support their journey however I can.

Outreach on the Go: Turning Everyday Moments into Advocacy

As someone who never misses a chance to advocate for our Wikimedia and open-source movement, I often find myself reaching out to people—even strangers—during my travels. Whether it’s in a shared taxi, on a bus or train, or even mid-flight, I love introducing others to the world of free knowledge. One such memorable moment happened after the end of the conference, when a few new Wiki friends and I went to a local club and enjoyed food and a fantastic live performance by Ozzie Blunts, Yasel Gomez and Alejandro Delgado of JoinTripBand.

In a surprising coincidence, I ran into the same musicians again at the Tashkent airport. Seizing the moment, I gave them a quick info talk about Wikimedia projects and initiatives like Wiki Loves Folklore. It was a spontaneous act of outreach—unplanned but full of purpose—and it reminded me how every interaction is a potential opportunity to share the spirit of free knowledge.

Looking Ahead

My journey to Central Asian WikiCon was more than just a conference trip—it was a powerful reminder of how collaboration, curiosity, and shared values drive the Wikimedia movement forward. I return home inspired by the energy of new communities, the strength of old friendships, and the belief that free knowledge truly knows no borders.

Potential legal challenge of the UK Online Safety Act Categorisation Regulations by the Wikimedia Foundation

Wikimedia UK is not a party to this claim as we are not the legal hosts of Wikipedia.

Wikimedia UK is an independent charity based in the UK. As the national chapter for the global Wikimedia movement, we are committed to open knowledge and free access to information. Wikimedia Foundation is a key funder of our work. We also receive project-based funding from other organisations such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Big Lottery Fund and Swire Charitable Trust in the UK, as well as donations from individuals. 

As an independent educational charity, Wikimedia UK has been an active advocate for public interest projects like Wikipedia to be exempt from the UK Online Safety Act. We have participated in a wide number of consultations, debates, discussions with ministers, parliamentarians, civil servants, academics, educationalists, child rights organisations, the regulator and those working to promote free expression to express our concerns about the Online Safety Act and its implications for access to information in the UK. We have clearly articulated our view that Wikipedia should not be subject to the most onerous requirements of the UK’s regulatory framework for online safety, which has been designed principally for profit-making, algorithmically driven social media platforms. 

We share Wikimedia Foundation’s concerns about the recently announced categorisation thresholds for the Online Safety Act, and their implications for Wikipedia.

You can read the Wikimedia Foundation’s blog post on their legal challenge here. Media enquiries can be directed to press@wikimedia.org at the Wikimedia Foundation.

The post Wikimedia UK Statement: Online Safety Act appeared first on WMUK.

Wiki Education is thrilled to announce we are now a partner of the STEMM Opportunity Alliance. The STEMM Opportunity Alliance (SOA) is a network of hundreds of cross-sector partners working together to expand access and opportunity so that any American, no matter their background or location, can enter and thrive in the STEMM (science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine) economy.

 

 
SOA’s mission is to address key areas to attain fundamental, systemic change, and ensure the full participation in the STEMM workforce to meet the increasing performance and innovation demands required to keep the U.S. competitive.

As an SOA partner, Wiki Education will help enact a community-developed national strategy to accelerate scientific excellence to power progress, innovation, and prosperity for all by 2050. In alignment with our work, Wiki Education will bolster the SOA’s national strategy’s Discovery pillar to help create opportunity for all in higher education. 

In 2024 alone, our Wikipedia Student Program supported 336 STEMM courses that taught Wikipedia editing to 6,298 students in higher education classrooms, including 57 courses at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges and Universities. In 2025, we plan to support Wikipedia editing assignments for 7,000 higher education students across 375 STEMM courses, including 65 courses at these diverse institutions, to create more inclusive and accessible STEMM programming for all.

Wiki Education also committed to helping achieve the SOA’s national strategy’s Capstone goals on Strategic Communications, including to:

• Ensure that STEMM professionals depicted in entertainment and media are reflective of the country’s population.
• Effectively illustrate the importance of different perspectives in STEMM and how they are critical to achieving excellence in STEMM.

Throughout 2024, university and college students created 113 biographies of historically excluded STEMM professionals on Wikipedia, raising their visibility in the media. In 2025, we will train 200 students to improve 150 biographies on Wikipedia of historically excluded STEMM professionals to inspire excellence and diverse perspectives in the STEMM fields.

SOA will assist Wiki Education in meeting these goals by providing access to a resource library, funding opportunities, and programming to engage directly with other partners and their communities, as well as forums for planning and implementing the national strategy for equity and excellence. 

In collaboration with SOA partners, Wiki Education will help reimagine and transform the existing STEMM ecosystem to better support the aspirations of untapped talent in this country.

Visit teach.wikiedu.org to learn more about the free resources, digital tools, and staff support that Wiki Education offers to postsecondary instructors in the United States and Canada. 

Visit learn.wikiedu.org to explore our editing courses for subject matter experts.

🕑 1 hour 21 minutes

Luca Mauri is an IT manager who in his free time runs the Italian-language Star Trek wiki WikiTrek - which in turn gets much of its data from another wiki, DataTrek, which runs on MediaWiki in conjunction with Wikibase.

Links for some of the topics discussed:

• Luca Mauri homepage
• WikiTrek
• DataTrek
• "Star Trek" article on English Wikipedia
• PageToGitHub MediaWiki extension
• RecentActivity MediaWiki extension
• Wiki2Ban MediaWiki extension

Wikimedia Cloud VPS is a service offered by the Wikimedia Foundation, built using OpenStack and managed by the Wikimedia Cloud Services team. It provides cloud computing resources for projects related to the Wikimedia movement, including virtual machines, databases, storage, Kubernetes, and DNS.

A few weeks ago, in April 2025, we were finally able to introduce IPv6 to the cloud virtual network, enhancing the platform’s scalability, security, and future-readiness. This is a major milestone, many years in the making, and serves as an excellent point to take a moment to reflect on the road that got us here. There were definitely a number of challenges that needed to be addressed before we could get into IPv6. This post covers the journey to this implementation.

The Wikimedia Foundation was an early adopter of the OpenStack technology, and the original OpenStack deployment in the organization dates back to 2011. At that time, IPv6 support was still nascent and had limited implementation across various OpenStack components. In 2012, the Wikimedia cloud users formally requested IPv6 support.

When Cloud VPS was originally deployed, we had set up the network following some of the upstream-recommended patterns:

• nova-networks as the engine in charge of the software-defined virtual network
• using a flat network topology – all virtual machines would share the same network
• using a physical VLAN in the datacenter
• using Linux bridges to make this physical datacenter VLAN available to virtual machines
• using a single virtual router as the edge network gateway, also executing a global egress NAT – barring some exceptions, using what was called “dmz_cidr” mechanism

In order for us to be able to implement IPv6 in a way that aligned with our architectural goals and operational requirements, pretty much all the elements in this list would need to change. First of all, we needed to migrate from nova-networks into Neutron, a migration effort that started in 2017. Neutron was the more modern component to implement software-defined networks in OpenStack. To facilitate this transition, we made the strategic decision to backport certain functionalities from nova-networks into Neutron, specifically the “dmz_cidr” mechanism and some egress NAT capabilities.

Once in Neutron, we started to think about IPv6. In 2018 there was an initial attempt to decide on the network CIDR allocations that Wikimedia Cloud Services would have. This initiative encountered unforeseen challenges and was subsequently put on hold. We focused on removing the previously backported nova-networks patches from Neutron.

Between 2020 and 2021, we initiated another significant network refresh. We were able to introduce the cloudgw project, as part of a larger effort to rework the Cloud VPS edge network. The new edge routers allowed us to drop all the custom backported patches we had in Neutron from the nova-networks era, unblocking further progress. Worth mentioning that the cloudgw router would use nftables as firewalling and NAT engine.

A pivotal decision in 2022 was to expose the OpenStack APIs to the internet, which crucially enabled infrastructure management via OpenTofu. This was key in the IPv6 rollout as will be explained later. Before this, management was limited to Horizon – the OpenStack graphical interface – or the command-line interface accessible only from internal control servers.

Later, in 2023, following the OpenStack project’s announcement of the deprecation of the neutron-linuxbridge-agent, we began to seriously consider migrating to the neutron-openvswitch-agent. This transition would, in turn, simplify the enablement of “tenant networks” – a feature allowing each OpenStack project to define its own isolated network, rather than all virtual machines sharing a single flat network.

Once we replaced neutron-linuxbridge-agent with neutron-openvswitch-agent, we were ready to migrate virtual machines to VXLAN. Demonstrating perseverance, we decided to execute the VXLAN migration in conjunction with the IPv6 rollout.

We prepared and tested several things, including the rework of the edge routing to be based on BGP/OSPF instead of static routing. In 2024 we were ready for the initial attempt to deploy IPv6, which failed for unknown reasons. There was a full network outage and we immediately reverted the changes. This quick rollback was feasible due to our adoption of OpenTofu: deploying IPv6 had been reduced to a single code change within our repository.

We started an investigation, corrected a few issues, and increased our network functional testing coverage before trying again. One of the problems we discovered was that Neutron would enable the “enable_snat” configuration flag for our main router when adding the new external IPv6 address.

Finally, in April 2025, after many years in the making, IPv6 was successfully deployed.

Compared to the network from 2011, we would have:

• Neutron as the engine in charge of the software-defined virtual network
• Ready to use tenant-networks
• Using a VXLAN-based overlay network
• Using neutron-openvswitch-agent to provide networking to virtual machines
• A modern and robust edge network setup

Over time, the WMCS team has skillfully navigated numerous challenges to ensure our service offerings consistently meet high standards of quality and operational efficiency. Often engaging in multi-year planning strategies, we have enabled ourselves to set and achieve significant milestones.

The successful IPv6 deployment stands as further testament to the team’s dedication and hard work over the years. I believe we can confidently say that the 2025 Cloud VPS represents its most advanced and capable iteration to date.