In late 2023, an article claimed that Wikipedia is one of the fastest websites in the USA. Flattering, right? I've been measuring web performance for over a decade, I couldn't help but wonder: How did they measure that? How do you know that Wikipedia is one of the fastest websites? The article does not say anything on how they did measure it.

I went to the Web Performance Slack channel (yes, there's a dedicated place where web performance geeks hang out). I asked the question:

“Has anyone seen the data or the actual “study” done by DigitalSilk about the fastest loading US websites? https://www.technewsworld.com/story/craigslist-wikipedia-zillow-top-list-of-fastest-us-websites-178713.html - I can only find references to it and a screenshot, nothing else?”

Not providing references? That's not Wikipedia! We're all about citations and verifiable sources. No one on the Slack channel knew anything about how the test was run. But then, one of the channel members took action: Stoyan Stefanov emailed the journalist and actually got an answer!

Methodology
The most visited websites based on web traffic were ran through Google's PageSpeed Insights tool, to find out how long it takes for each site to load in full on average“

So, while it's flattering to see Wikipedia crowned as one of the fastest websites based on Google's PageSpeed Insights tool, I couldn't help but feel a tricked. They seemed to rely on the onload metric. That's a metric that, in the web performance world was regarded as old and not correlating to user experience since 2013.

Understanding the limitations using the onload metric, let’s shift our focus to modern metrics that better reflect real-world user experiences: Google Web Vitals

Google Web Vitals

Google Web Vitals is Google's initiative to focus on the metrics that matter to users and also affects Googles core ranking system. Unlike the old-school onload time, Google Web Vitals better measure aspects of real world user experience.

The core metrics at the moment are three metrics:

• Large Contentful Paint (LCP) - when in time is the largest element painted on the users screen. For Wikipedia that is very often a paragraph, but sometimes its an image element or a heading.
• Interaction To Next Paint (INP) - measure the responsiveness of page, meaning that a page responds quickly to user interactions. For Wikipedia the responsiveness can be slow depending on the amount of JavaScript we ship, event listeners or click events.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) - measure the visual stability of the page. That means it measures if content is moved around. In the Wikipedia case this means when campaigns runs and we move the content of Wikipedia.

Google also have two other web vitals, two metrics that are important for the user experience but not listed as core:

• Time To First Byte (TTFB) - measure the time between the request for a resource and when the first byte of a response begins to arrive. For Wikipedia TTFB depends on where the users are in the world and how far it is to the closest data center.
• First Contentful Paint (FCP) - measure the time from when the user first navigated to the page to when any part of the page's text/images painted on the screen. For Wikipedia this is often text.

Google pay special attention to the 75th percentile of those metrics. It was chosen because "First, the percentile should ensure that a majority of visits to a page or site experienced the target level of performance. Second, the value at the chosen percentile shouldn't be overly impacted by outliers.". But what does the 75 percentile mean for us at Wikipedia?

The 75th percentile at Wikipedia

Now let’s put the 75th percentile into perspective by applying it to Wikipedia’s vast global audience.

Imagine that there were 100 people visiting Wikipedia. Each person got a different user experience because of their device, the internet connection and how we build Wikipedia. For some users the experience will be really fast, for some it will be slower.

The 75th percentile focus on the worst experience of the best 75%. If you take all 100 users and then sort the experience from fastest to slowest, the 75th experience is where you draw the line. This means that 75% of the users had a better or equal experience and 25% had a worse one. So, how many users are in that 25% for us? We measure unique devices and not users so lets use that.

Well, for Wikipedia, those 100 users are actually 1,5 billion unique devices per month and 24 billion page views.

That means if we look at the 75 percentile and we see that a metric move we know that at least 6 billion page views per month ( 24 billion × 0.25) is affected. And 375 million unique devices (1.5 billion × 0.25).

That is many devices. Suppose we have a regression of just 100 milliseconds in the 75th percentile. That is at least 375 million devices are experiencing this delay. Collectively, those users are waiting an extra 434 days. Yes, over a year of extra wait time for the users with the worst experience because of a (tiny) 100 ms change.

Is the English Wikipedia the fastest website in the USA according to Google Web Vitals?

With the metrics Google collects from different web sites, you can compare different sites with each other! The metrics are available per domain (not user country), so we can not compare if the English Wikipedia is one of the fastest web sites in the USA, but we can compare the English Wikipedia against other web entities with users all around the world.

However before we do that, I want to point out that "Is the English Wikipedia fastest website in USA according to Google Web Vitals?" is a very exclusionary question to ask since:

• The English Wikipedia is used in more places than the USA
• There are many Wikipedias for other languages out there and we should not only focus on the English Wikipedia. We need to make sure that everyone independent of language has the same user experience.

Looking just at "Are we fast in the USA" we leave out a big part of the world. So today we gonna look at the English Wikipedia compared to other web sites and then also look at Wikipedias all around the world to see what kind of user experience all users have.

But first let's talk about how Google also categorises these experiences as good, needs improvement, or poor by setting specific limits for each metric. With Googles definitions we can see how many of our users have different kinds of experiences. In the data I will show, green means good, needs improvement yellow and red means bad/poor experience.

We collect all data that is available through the Chrome User Experience API and you can see that in our Chrome User Experience dashboard. There's a lot of metrics, so I will focus on just the Largest Contentful Paint today.

First let's look at the actual 75 percentile Largest Contentful Paint. We compare against a couple of other web sites. Lower numbers are better. Green is good. We will start to look at the numbers for mobile.

Mobile

This graph highlights that Wikipedia's mobile LCP performance is nearly as fast as Google's, which is quite remarkable!

We can also look at how many of our users have a slow/bad experience.

Wow we can see that we have less users in percentage with a bad experience than the rest of the sites. However the graph shows a small percentage of mobile users experiencing suboptimal LCP. For a website of Wikipedia's scale, this small percentage translates into millions of users, we need to be even better!

I wonder if it's the same for desktop users? Lets look at the 75 percentile again.

Desktop

Again we can see that Wikipedia is almost the fastest, outperforming many major websites! We seem to be fast on both mobile and desktop.

Yes we are really fast! Can we open the champagne and celebrate?

Are we the fastest site known to human kind?

Well I would take it a little easy here before we start to brag. Do you remember how we calculated how many users are left out when we use the 75 percentile? I would be careful with a web site with so many users. I would say that: "The English Wikipedia is really fast compared to other web pages looking at the Largest Contentful Paint at the 75% percentile for Chrome users that Google collects metrics from".

Another way of looking at the data we get from Google is to see how many users have a bad experience using Wikipedia. By taking the ones that need improvement and poor experience, we can see how many users in percentage we need to move to having a good experience.

First let's look at Largest Contentful Paint again for desktop users. This time we look at the number of users in percentage that have a non good experience per wiki.

And then we look at the same for mobile.

We can see that on desktop and mobile we have Wikipedias where we as developers have work to do to give more users a good experience.

As a last example I want to share the interaction to next paint data for mobile. This is interesting because here JavaScript comes into play and there are many things we can do on our side to give the user a better experience.

We see that for almost every Wikipedia, 5% of the users have a not so good user experience.

Summary

Wikipedia's performance story is one of scale and precision. By focusing on Google Web Vitals, we've seen how milliseconds of delay can impact millions of users. Metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) and Interaction to Next Paint (INP) can provide valuable insights into real-world user experiences, guiding us to optimize for both mobile and desktop users.

With billions of page views monthly, even the smallest regressions in performance ripple across the globe. Yet, Wikipedia stands as a benchmark of speed in the US, rivaling even the likes of Google. This achievement underscores the importance of continuous monitoring, fine-tuning, and maintaining a user-first perspective in web development.

As we celebrate, we also need to acknowledge the challenges. Moving the needle for those users with "non-good" experiences remains our mission. By using data and ongoing analysis, we can ensure that Wikipedia stays fast, accessible, and enjoyable for everyone, everywhere.

Since July 2023, Women Association for Technology and Innovation (WAFTAI) is actively implementing Wiki N’zuñdeuh, a promotion and saving initiative of the cultural identities of the Cameroon people. In this initiative, WAFTAI is being accompanied by partners; which are Cameroon Ministry of art and culture (MINAC), Wiki Loves Museums, Kiwix, Cameroon Institutes of fine arts, and some museums. On the following lines, we share with you the highlights of Wiki N’zuñdeuh.

What is Wiki N’zundeuh?

Definition

Wiki N’zuñdeuh is a program which has as its objective the promotion of production, access and  exploitation of knowledge around culture through the projects of Wikimedia and Kiwix technology. Based on the gender approach, this project has the merit of seeing in majority women taking part. The registering analysis reveals 21 new editors of which 14 are women thus 66.7% of women representative.

Program key domains

Wiki N’zuñdeuh interfered in axes notably culture, education and tourism.

Culture is the central object of this program. The knowledge produced is related to the cultural domain. It includes notably knowledge on museums, festivals, traditional dances, stories and many more.

Education is the second axis, it comes to enlighten the production views and the exploitation of knowledge. The focused schools of the program notably the Institutes of fine arts of higher éducation (IBAI Garoua and IBA of Nkongsamba) have the merit to conciliate the other two axes. The participating students and teachers are at a time who produce through edi-a-thons, upload -a-thons, data-thons and who in a large dimension exploit them through Reading Wikipedia in the classroom.

Wiki N’zuñdeuh integrated tourism as the third axis. It is the result of the preceding axis facilitating the access and exploitation of knowledge produced. Products of technology are upcoming, this is the case of QR-code which would be created according to the tourists’ different languages.

Through the Kiwix technology, a mobile application is witnessed with a goal of rendering internet access everywhere, at every time, anywhere and even in localities with no internet access.

Methodology of the put in plan of the program for the first year 

Documenting on culture is the central point of this program, for this has defined a way that will facilitate us to attain this goal. It brings different activities from the diagnostic to the training session.

Diagnostic

To document culture, the ideal would be to know it, understand it and experience it. Discovering the Cameroon museum universe helps us to really understand the realities of museums and equally to verify the information. The diagnostic held from the 10th, August to the 20th, September 2024, was based on secondary data furnished by MINAC. With the help of the diagnostic, an evaluation with experts in the domain of museum brings out the existence of about 40 museums in Cameroon of which 15 exist on Wikipedia and 29 on Wikidata. Still on the aspects of museums, some specifities were brought out to know the categories of museums. They are public, private and communitarian and integrate in the register of ethnographic and/or contemporary museums. All these informations help us to produce a documentation which takes into account the context. The elements have been introduced in the documentation template of the different Wikimedian projects (Wikidata, Wikipedia, Commons Wikimedia and soon WikiVoyage)

Guided visit

If the diagnostic had as goal to facilitate the understanding of the culture environment  by the project team, the guided visit held on the 26th, October 2024, the day of the project launching had as fonction to bring the editors in the museum field and also in the Wikimedian World what we call “Socio-Wikimedian immersion“. The participant had a practical approach to the Commons Wikimedia project. After the different museal mediation and the views, a great part was given to training sessions and to uploads. Starting the program by guarded visits help editors develop a practical and heuristic interest for the program.

Training and contribution sessions

Digital is the base of our organisation, the technological approach is prioritized for this activity. We have opted for the training. The experienced trainers who accompanied the program intervene very often online and the training assistant facilitates in the rooms. This strategy in addition to permitting the editors to accomodate to the numerical principles assures the backup of trainers. Participants through this strategy acquire abilities in animation technics of online and physical training. The issue of internet network forced some experienced trainers to also move to training  rooms. The working sessions are cumulative, that is the training and contribution sessions. The editors are in totality the new contributors. Launched on 26th October by Commons Wikimedia. The training and contribution sessions are in multiples. They are based on projects like Wikipedia, Wikidata and soon WikiVoyage. With a goal of ensuring a good acquisition of skills, the follow up sessions are organised the thursday which follows the training weekend. These moments are occasions to find solutions to the different problems of editors and boost those that don’t still meetup.

Diversity and Inclusion

The approach on diversity and inclusion was taken into consideration as well as on the object of the program as by the editors.

The object of this year’s program is the museums. We have targeted all the museums of  Cameroon so different cultures since museums are cultural identities. A major point brought out during our training is that of the 15 museums existing on Wikipedia, no museum from the Far North of Cameroon figures. This has been taken into account in the project since articles on the museums of that part will be created.

For the editors, it is important to signify that this approach was one of the reasons for the choice of partner schools. It is in the issue of including the different social groups that we have solicited a partnership with a school in the Far North Cameroon (Institute of Fine arts and Innovation Garoua- IBAI). This implies that the spatiotemporal and cultural realities are Taken into account in the project. Beside the cultural diversity, the linguistic and religious ones are brought up. The editors are of French and English expressions; Christians, Muslims and traditionalists. 

Challenges and high tips of Wiki N’zundeuh 

We faced large difficulties which were treated as the project was going on. We share with you the majors:

Lack of computers

Of the 21 new publishers registered, only 6 have a permanent computer, even though owning a computer was one of the prerequisites for taking part in the programme. Unfortunately, as confirmed by a teacher in IBAN,

”if we should only respect the order of selecting only students having computers, this program would be done with less than 5 students because the majority of the students don’t have computers”.

The same remark was done by the IBAI administration. This observation also implies that the students have limited knowledge in the numerical domain. Although the students’ phones are not always highly performant for technology and lesser for contributions (particularly for Wikipedia), trainers do their best to transmit the Wikimedian knowledge in this context. Knowing the difficulty, we have decided to give rewards to the three best contributions that are one computer each.

Difficulty of holding the Reading Wikipedia in the classroom 

The Reading Wikipedia in the classroom has a goal to help teachers understand the knowledge production process through the Wikipedia project, equally to train on the exploitation technics in the room of the knowledge produced by Wikimedian editors on Wikipedia. Being in the fine and arts domain, we wanted to prioritize the didactic methodology through Wikipedia. This was not possible due to the prejudices about the university world in general and great schools in particular of this free encyclopedia. To solve this problem, with our experts, we thought that instead of Reading Wikipedia in classroom train teachers on WikiVoyage through WikiLearn is more advantageous. These schools have for example needs in tourism, WikiVoyage help as a useful tool for this sector. It was thought a project Wikimedia for Education (WFE) which integrates read WikiVoyage and many more. This will permit in a specific way to the didactic method in these fine and arts schools and to further ensure a good quality of knowledge produced.

Fight against prejudice and misinformation

The program for this new year was hardly accepted in schools due to the prejudices they have on the encyclopedia. They talk about a lack of information. In addition to the production of knowledge, we have carried out awareness to the administration, to teachers and students on what is Wikimedia and particularly Wikipedia and other projects. On our social network and even during our working sessions, we have multiplied the fight against these stereotypes and misinformation. The editors are invited to produce documentation based on credible sources. We celebrate here the work of experienced trainers and the administrators in the Wikimedian projects (Wikipedia, Wikidata…) who strengthen this fight through the checking of contributions. The editors, who at the beginning of the project; used to discredit Wikipedia, support  that “Wikipedia is the most difficult project and requires more care and discipline during the contributions“. The prejudices fade gradually in the university sectors through IBAN and IBAI.

Community membership

The project as mentioned above was accompanied by the government of Cameroon through the Ministry of Art and Culture (MINAC). In addition to this accompaniment, communities involved in the program. We were touched by the consideration of the promoters and museum directors. During our launching activities, the promoters didn’t stop manifesting their joy of having such an initiative in Cameroon. Receiving calls from traditional leaders and museum promoters is a great source of motivation.

The move towards the documentation of cultural aspects in Cameroon through the Wikimedian projects is launched. We are thankful to all those who accompanied us in this initiative we think principally of the experienced trainers and Wikimedian administrators who work so that the contributions should be of good quality. Thanks also to all our partners, to the editors, to the Wiki N’zuñdeuh teams and to our followers.

Three sentence summary

Prepare for a very hard read. You will not understand anything the first time you read the book. If you're like me, you will not like the book and you will not want to read it the second time.

Book Club

This was the sixth book in our T247665: QTE book club and the first one that wasn't on software testing. We were reading it for three months, from November 2022 to January 2023. The club meets once a month for an hour long discussion. We had three very interesting discussions. Some members of the club like the book, some don't. This is by far the oldest book we've read. It was published in 1975.

Random thoughts

It's one of those books that you have to read once just to get an idea of what the book is about. Then you have to read it at least one more time. I've read it once and I've had enough of it for now. I'm not sure I know what the book is about. Maybe I'll read it again in the future. Maybe.

According to my notes, in 2022 I've read over 100 books. Only 5 got a 2-star rating. 4 were kid's books I didn't like. The fifth 2-star book was this one.

This book was recommended in Lessons Learned in Software Testing (5-star rating from me), so I was expecting much more.

According to Wikipedia, this is one of the two of the author's most famous books. The second one is The Psychology of Computer Programming. I've read his Perfect Software: And Other Illusions about Testing (twice) and really liked it (4-star rating).

Goodreads and Amazon reviews say I'm not alone in not liking the book. But, at both sites, the book has a great average rating (3.96 and 4.2).

I usually sort books in fiction and non-fiction. Or, practical and non-practical. This book looked like a practical book, but I didn't get anything practical out of it. Maybe it's not the book. Maybe I just didn't put enough effort in the book. Maybe I've approached it wrongly, expecting it to be a practical book.

Usually, when I read a practical book, I summarize each chapter. That's what I did for this book. Well, I've tried. I've struggled with chapter summaries for the first three chapters, then gave up for chapters four to seven.

Quotes

All that said, there are good quotes in the book.

Chapter 1. The Problem

The first step to knowledge is the confession of ignorance. We know far, far less about our world than most of us care to confess. (p. 10)

Any field with the word “science” in its name is guaranteed not to be a science. (p. 32)

Chapter 2. The Approach

If you never say anything wrong, you never say anything. (p. 47)

Chapter 3. System and Illusion

What is a system? As any poet knows, a system is a way of looking at the world. (p. 55)

Chapter 4. Interpreting Observations

The Lump Law: If we want to learn anything, we mustn’t try to learn everything. (p. 105)

Chapter 5. Breaking Down Observations

The Axiom of Experience: The future will be like the past, because, in the past, the future was like the past. (p. 141)

Chapter 6. Describing Behavior

Count-to-Three Principle: If you cannot think of three ways of abusing a tool, you do not understand how to use it. (p. 191)

Chapter 7. Some Systems Questions

These, then, are the three great questions that govern general systems thinking, the Systems Triumvirate:

1. Why do I see what I see?
2. Why do things stay the same?
3. Why do things change? (p. 221)

New project will support students’ coursework across healthcare professions to improve content

When searching for information on health-related topics, people turn to Wikipedia more than any other source. While it may come as no surprise that the general public visits Wikipedia for answers to questions and to inform their decisions as healthcare patients or caregivers, healthcare experts including providers, researchers, and instructors also often utilize the online encyclopedia within the context of their professional work. 

Given the impact and reach of Wikipedia’s healthcare content, it’s imperative that the information is accurate, up-to-date, high-quality, and trustworthy. Thanks to a new project supported by the Eugene Washington PCORI Engagement Award Program, an initiative of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), Wiki Education will collaborate with higher education faculty across healthcare professions to support their students in the impactful work to improve Wikipedia’s coverage of healthcare topics. 

The two-year project aims to significantly enhance the quality of openly accessible information on critical topics including stroke prevention, postpartum care, and radiation therapy. 

Drawing on the rigorous evaluation of medical research available in PCORI-funded Systematic Reviews, the postsecondary students will improve Wikipedia articles by developing and adding new content, as well as adding missing citations to existing content as needed. The faculty and students will join Wiki Education’s Wikipedia Student Program and receive our staff guidance, curriculum, subject-specific resources, and digital tracking tools to support their coursework on Wikipedia. 

In addition to supporting the student editors’ contributions to Wikipedia, we’ll also explore their perspectives on their Wikipedia experiences to better understand how to improve future student engagement with this work.

To aid our engagement with key stakeholders, Wiki Education will form a Medical Community Advisory Committee composed of health professions faculty and students. The group will provide strategic guidance throughout the project, including ideas for outreach initiatives to reach medical educators, reflections on the results of surveys and focus groups, and suggestions for ensuring sustainability of the project.  

PCORI is an independent, nonprofit organization with a mission to fund patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) that equips patients, their caregivers and clinicians with the evidence-based information they need to make better informed health and health care decisions. The Wiki Education Engagement Award project is part of a portfolio of projects that PCORI has funded to help disseminate PCORI-funded research findings. 

This new project builds upon previous work through which we trained medical professionals and health professions students how to add the high-quality information from the systematic reviews to Wikipedia, working to ensure articles include research on patient-centered outcomes. Their collective contributions to improve more than 40 medical articles across Wikipedia have been viewed more than 11 million times.

We express our gratitude to PCORI for their support of this new project, and encourage any interested instructor to visit teach.wikiedu.org to learn more about incorporating a Wikipedia assignment into their courses. This project is funded through a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Eugene Washington PCORI Engagement Award (EADI #38991).

This is Nikos Likomitros, a Greek Wikimedian. In my first Wikimania, I met many people, and decided among many other things to conduct some interviews with Wikimedians from minority languages. So I elected to interview Ramjit Tudu for this purpose, one of the most active Wikimedians in Santali language, thus having a good knowledge of the project and its qualities.

Having been aware of this interesting community, which gave birth to the very first Wikipedia in an Adivasi language in India, I asked him some questions to learn more about the project. This is by far the fourth interview of a Wikimedian that I am publishing on Diff, and I am planning to do more in this and the next years. For my interviews I give a strong emphasis on minority languages and other communities that have done interesting things, yet they aren’t very well known. Below is the transcript of the interview.

Ramjit explains, that the project began in 2012, and they decided to accelerate the creation of the project in 2017. The project went live in 2018. So I asked: How you connected and formed a team? Ramjit tells me, that he was very far from his team. So he engaged with them and helped them with editing and then, they established contact with the Odia community which provided them support. Then they did their first workshop, and introduced people in to the movement.

After the approval, Ramjit explained that they embarked on a strategy to promote the Santali language through relevant places such as social media, and people began to be interested in contributing on it. Some partnerships were able to be made and the community started to consolidate. The Santali Wikimedians have a user group, that the Wikimedia Foundation recognizes. They are doing various programs, and they receive support from CIS-A2K (editor’s note: it’s an organization that provides multifaceted support to Indic communities). The community, given that the language is spread among multiple countries and not within a united geographic area, and thus social media play a significant role in the cohesion of the community.

Afterward, I asked Ramjit about the public presence of the Santali community, and the outreach activities. They have conducted outreach to universities, and also they have been in touch with Santali language writers through various events to promote the Santali language. In general, the presence of the Santali language on the internet is not very good, because of a low amount of speakers, and the fact that it coexists with other bigger languages in its locales like Bangla or Hindi, however, Santali is taught as a lesson in university. The Wikipedia in Santali language is struggling, but they are also active in event organising and they have approximately 10 active members which conduct various activities. In the future, they are aspiring to collaborate with universities where Santali is taught, as there is a large potential to bring new users in the community.

The Santali community, as we can see, has managed to build a solid community, and the potential is high for sure. The interview was taken in August, however I published it now, as my university-related liabilities didn’t allow me to do it earlier.

In a quiet corner of the internet, over a decade ago, a group of six passionate Brazilian Wikimedians began building something remarkable. Despite being physically distant in cities such as São Luis, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, they were driven by the belief that knowledge should be free, accessible, and collaborative. What started as informal gatherings of editors and small-scale projects has now grown into something much greater.

Earlier this year, Wiki Movimento Brasil – now to be known as Wikimedia Brasil – was officially recognized as a Wikimedia chapter, a milestone that cements its role in the global free and open knowledge movement. This occasion marks its evolution from a voluntary informal User Group to a formal, registered nonprofit organization, significantly enhancing its ability to champion free knowledge throughout Brazil.

What does it mean to be a chapter?

Wikimedia chapters are independent, nonprofit organizations dedicated to supporting Wikipedia and its Wikimedia sister projects as well as their mission in their respective regions. They work to promote free knowledge, organize local initiatives, and strengthen community participation in the movement, outreaching the greatness of contributing to such an important cause.

As a chapter, Wikimedia Brasil now has the resources and structure to amplify its impact and ensure the long-term growth of free knowledge in Portuguese. With its headquarters in São Paulo, Wikimedia Brasil joins 37 other recognized Wikimedia chapters worldwide, becoming the most recent addition to this global network. The last country to be recognized as a chapter was Colombia, back in 2019.

Winning photos from Wiki Loves Monuments Brazil.

Valério Melo, president of Wikimedia Brasil, sees this recognition as both an honor and a big responsibility.

“In addition to our volunteer work as wiki editors, we chose to become Wikimedia Brasil to represent our country’s Wikimedia community while respecting and collaborating with other user groups and projects,” he explains. 

More than just a title, this new status is a commitment to a sustainable and independent growth.

“We understand the responsibility that comes with this role,” he adds, “ And our goal is to support initiatives that strengthen equity, reliability, and the security of the open internet’s sociotechnical infrastructure.” 

Wikipedia has long played a vital role in Brazil, with millions of people relying on it every day for information. Portuguese Wikipedia now hosts over 1.1 million articles, being one of the most visited sites in their continental-sized country.  

Given the community’s presence in a country of vast continental dimensions, encompassing diverse contexts, cultures, and experiences best understood by those directly engaged with their local communities, governance is naturally decentralized. This territorial approach is integral to the group’s organizational culture, aiming to empower diverse voices and strengthen the sense of community while amplifying underrepresented knowledge. To achieve this, the community remains committed to engaging new editors in regions that have yet to participate, with a particular focus on promoting gender equity within Portuguese Wikipedia.

For years, this work was driven by an informal network of volunteers. In 2013, a small but determined group launched Wiki Movimento Brasil, an effort to connect editors and promote Wikimedia projects locally. By 2024, with 43 associate members and a growing contributor base, it became clear that the movement had outgrown its early structure. In response, the community adopted a highly participatory governance model with subcommittees, ensuring alignment with a collaboratively designed strategic plan based on a theory of change. Transitioning into a chapter was not about gaining a new title but about achieving greater stability, providing more support for volunteers, and building stronger partnerships.

Winning photos from Wiki Loves Cultura Popular 2024 Brazil

Wikimedia Brasil’s voluntary work over the years has shown they are well-prepared for this new role. The chapter emerges from the strength of its community. Whether through the thousands of edits made by these individuals—each bringing their own expertise and thematic interests—or through the excellent projects conceived and implemented by them and their groups, Wikimedia Brasil chapter is built by genuinely committed people.

Their commitment to diversity is evident in GLAM outreach efforts, educational programs, and community support across Brazil that engage both urban and rural areas. Strong partnerships with organizations like Coalizão Direitos na Rede and the Creative Commons Global Network highlight their leadership in open-knowledge advocacy and civil society engagement. With transparent governance, elected leadership, and a proven track record of initiatives like WikiCon Brasil and GLAM-Wiki projects, Wikimedia Brasil has the structure and dedication to make a lasting impact.

What’s next for Wikimedia Brasil?

Wikimedia Brasil is already organizing the second edition of “WikiCon Brasil 2025: Strengthening Digital Public Goods” with the goal of showcasing how their practices as Wikimedians differ from those established by major digital platforms and raising awareness about the fact that public-interest projects, like those within Wikimedia, enable the creation of a more horizontal, collaborative, responsible, and healthy online environment.

The new chapter values human interaction and grassroots collaboration, that’s why they chose to participate in the project of a global platform for exchanging knowledge, skills, and services with peers. The Capacity Exchange (CapX) was developed to enhance peer-to-peer learning and build capacity in the movement in accessible ways. It is meant to support the Wikimedia ecosystem by connecting movement organizers to strengthen affiliate and movement governance and help to coordinate affiliate activities to have lasting positive impact on Wikimedia projects. At the same time, Wikimedia Brasil recognizes the importance of connecting and strengthening the Portuguese Wikimedia community, the group expanded its leadership development initiative, which is now Calilu, and is supporting the organization of the Portuguese Wikimedia Party.

As Wikimedia Brasil moves forward, it builds on the dedication of its founding team and the community that has grown around it. Now, as a recognized chapter, expanding its reach, strengthening collaborations, and creating a real world impact. More than a reflection of their beginnings, this milestone highlights how far they have come and what is possible next.

Emerging communities are at the heart of the Wiki movement, playing a key role in building and sharing free knowledge. However, their growth is often limited by a lack of learning and collaboration opportunities. What if you could join a program designed to equip you with the right skills, expand your network, and strengthen your community?

Fotamana, Wikimedia Côte d’Ivoire’s immersion program, offers leaders of emerging Wiki communities in Africa a opportunity to enhance their skills, engage with other movement actors, and promote open knowledge and information integrity. With expert guidance and tailored resources, participants will deepen their knowledge, discover best practices, and collaborate with peers to build a stronger and more inclusive movement.

Don’t miss this opportunity! Applications are now open. Join us and be part of this transformative journey.

Apply here: link to application form by February 21, 2025.

In November 2024, I was granted one of the Sheldon Werner Summer Studentship positions at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum, joining a cohort of five Wikipedia students. I was new to editing and created a Wikipedia account for the first time. Tasked with developing content on Wikipedia related to Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s histories over this ten-week programme, I first needed to decide what my focus within Auckland’s histories would be. Fortunately, within the first few days of my studentship, I was introduced to the Women in Red movement and knew that I wanted my outputs to contribute to the commitments of this project.

The first article I wrote was on the Charlotte Museum, the only museum in the world dedicated solely to lesbian culture and history. Located in the heart of Auckland, on the vibrant Karangahape road, I was surprised that a page had not already been written about this distinctive space. However, I quickly discovered why this was the case – there was a huge lack of secondary sources available on the Charlotte Museum. Considering the nature of this highly unique institution, I thought I would be producing a thorough, detailed article covering its history, influence and legacy, but this was not to be the case. In fact, after attempting to use as many sources as possible but coming up with very few – and finding most information through links on the Charlotte Museum’s website – my article was flagged a short time after publishing for relying excessively on references to primary sources.

I was slightly discouraged, but it was an important lesson to learn that the lack of literature on underrepresented communities has a direct impact on efforts to produce open-access knowledge. It made me think, how am I supposed to get underrepresented stories out onto Wikipedia if there are so few sources written on these places, people or communities?

I decided that going forward, I would continue to draw primarily on my art history background and mainly dedicate articles on women artists and public art. Some of these articles were not particularly extensive, nor were they anywhere near a complete summation of people’s lives or artworks histories, but I felt empowered nevertheless in amplifying the visibility of artists on Wikipedia. I was able to edit and expand on Mary Wirepa’s page, correcting unsubstantiated and unsourced claims and contributing new information from sources previously unused on her page. I also provided a more substantial overview of the life and work of Lois White, highlighting her contributions as an artist more significantly.

I then turned my focus toward contemporary women artists who are from or practice in Auckland, knowing the contentious history of how contemporary artists are often undervalued, and how this can be especially true for women. I got my first C-class article from my article on Tyla Vaeau, a master tattooist (or Tufuga Tātatau). The final article that I completed for this internship was on the statue A Māori Figure in a Kaitaka Cloak which was the first public art commission awarded to a woman – Molly Macalister. Contributing accessible knowledge on esteemed women in our society and artworks that have been salient in Auckland’s history was not only rewarding but inspiring, knowing that writing such knowledge can generate new or expanded ideas on such topics in the future.

Wikipedia taught me the value of starting something. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and it doesn’t have to be complete, but sharing the information you do have freely is critical in ensuring that people have access to a vast range of information on their own histories, their own land, and the people and places that came before them.

Photograph of Ōwairaka, Statue of a Cloaked Woman, 2024

Feb 12, 2025  ― Wikipedia has officially been recognized as a digital public good (DPG) by the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA), a multistakeholder initiative that maintains a Registry of Digital Public Goods: open source-software, data, AI models, standards, and content created for the public interest.  The DPGA is endorsed by the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General in support of open source technologies that contribute to the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This recognition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia hosted by the nonprofit organization the Wikimedia Foundation, highlights its unique role in advancing global access to a free and open source of trusted knowledge in the public interest. 

According to Liv Marte Nordhaug, CEO of the DPGA Secretariat: 

“Wikipedia’s recognition as a digital public good is a testament to the power and importance of open access to knowledge. Wikipedia stands as a prime example of how technologies can drive equitable and unrestricted access to information, accelerating the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals worldwide.” 

Wikipedia, the world’s largest online encyclopedia and only top-visited website operated by a non-profit organization, contains reliably sourced information that is shared, maintained, and verified by a global community of nearly 260,000 volunteers in over 300 languages. 

“The Wikimedia Foundation works with affiliate organizations and volunteer Wikipedians across the world to advocate for policies that protect and support Wikipedia and other digital public goods upon which the free knowledge ecosystem depends,” said Rebecca MacKinnon, Vice President of Global Advocacy at the Wikimedia Foundation. “We look forward to working with the Digital Public Goods Alliance, along with other organizations and communities that create and maintain digital public goods, to build a better internet that serves the public interest.”

In 2024 Wikimedia Foundation staff along with Wikipedia volunteers from around the world participated in the UN General Assembly’s Summit for the Future and the drafting of the Global Digital Compact—the UN’s blueprint for global governance of digital technology and artificial intelligence. 

In an open letter in early 2024, the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia affiliates called on UN Member States to:

• Protect and empower communities to govern online public interest projects.
• Promote and protect digital public goods by supporting a robust digital commons from which everyone, everywhere, can benefit.
• Build and deploy Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to support and empower, not replace, people who create content and make decisions in the public interest.

The recognition of Wikipedia as a digital public good strengthens these advocacy efforts and affirms Wikipedia’s role in the broader global movement for an internet that protects and promotes community-led spaces. The Wikimedia Foundation will continue working with the UN and other international institutions, governments, and civil society partners to ensure that digital public goods like Wikipedia are protected, supported, and accessible to all.

For media inquiries, please contact press@wikimedia.org. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed on internet policy and Wikipedia’s future.

About the Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia and other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. Our vision is a world in which every single human can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. We believe that everyone has the potential to contribute something to our shared knowledge and that everyone should be able to access that knowledge freely. We host Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects; build software experiences for reading, contributing, and sharing Wikimedia content; support the volunteer communities and partners who make Wikimedia possible. The Wikimedia Foundation is a United States 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization with offices in San Francisco, California, USA.

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The post Wikipedia Recognized as a Digital Public Good appeared first on Wikimedia Foundation.

This post was originally published on the Wikimedia Foundation website.

The UN-endorsed Digital Public Goods Alliance has added Wikipedia to its registry, affirming the important role its volunteer editors play in making the internet better for everyone.

Feb 12, 2025  ― Wikipedia has officially been recognized as a digital public good (DPG) by the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA), a multistakeholder initiative that maintains a Registry of Digital Public Goods: open source-software, data, AI models, standards, and content created for the public interest. The DPGA is endorsed by the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General in support of open source technologies that contribute to the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This recognition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia hosted by the nonprofit organization the Wikimedia Foundation, highlights its unique role in advancing global access to a free and open source of trusted knowledge in the public interest. 

According to Liv Marte Nordhaug, CEO of the DPGA Secretariat: 

“Wikipedia’s recognition as a digital public good is a testament to the power and importance of open access to knowledge. Wikipedia stands as a prime example of how technologies can drive equitable and unrestricted access to information, accelerating the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals worldwide.” 

Wikipedia, the world’s largest online encyclopedia and only top-visited website operated by a nonprofit organization, contains reliably sourced information that is shared, maintained, and verified by a global community of nearly 260,000 volunteers in over 300 languages. 

“The Wikimedia Foundation works with affiliate organizations and volunteer Wikipedians across the world to advocate policies that protect and support Wikipedia and other digital public goods upon which the free knowledge ecosystem depends,” said Rebecca MacKinnon, Vice President of Global Advocacy at the Wikimedia Foundation. “We look forward to working with the Digital Public Goods Alliance, along with other organizations and communities that create and maintain digital public goods, to build a better internet that serves the public interest.”

In 2024 Wikimedia Foundation staff along with Wikipedia volunteers from around the world participated in the UN General Assembly’s Summit for the Future and the drafting of the Global Digital Compact—the UN’s blueprint for global governance of digital technology and artificial intelligence. 

In an open letter in early 2024, the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia affiliates called on UN Member States to:

• Protect and empower communities to govern online public interest projects.
• Promote and protect digital public goods by supporting a robust digital commons from which everyone, everywhere, can benefit.
• Build and deploy Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to support and empower, not replace, people who create content and make decisions in the public interest.

The recognition of Wikipedia as a digital public good strengthens these advocacy efforts and affirms Wikipedia’s role in the broader global movement for an internet that protects and promotes community-led spaces. The Wikimedia Foundation will continue working with the UN and other international institutions, governments, and civil society partners to ensure that digital public goods like Wikipedia are protected, supported, and accessible to all.

For media inquiries, please contact press@wikimedia.org. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed on internet policy and Wikipedia’s future. 📩

On 1 January 2025, Wikimedians across the world marked Public Domain Day, holding in-person and online celebrations throughout the first month of the new year.  Public Domain Day celebrates the moment when copyright protections on numerous cultural works expire and they become common cultural heritage that can be freely and openly accessed, shared, and reimagined. For the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia volunteers, Public Domain Day celebrations offer a chance to discover and preserve works of cultural or historical significance and to imagine the endless possibilities that come from being able to access, adapt, modify, and share the sum of all human knowledge.

On the first day of 2025, many important works of art, literature, and music entered the public domain in the United States and many other countries. Some of the most famous works included:

• illustrated characters such as Popeye and Tintin;
• novels like Wiliam Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, the English translation of Erich Marie Remarque’s All Quiet on The Western Front, and Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms;
• musical pieces such as George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue;
• numerous paintings from artists like Frida Kahlo and Henri Matisse, and;
• the Barcelona chair designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich.

In this blog post, we illustrate the value of the public domain in enriching human knowledge and culture as a part of the digital commons, as well as in powering online collaborative projects like Wikipedia. We also explain digital public goods (DPGs) and digital public infrastructures (DPIs), which frequently come up as a focus of the public policy advocacy that Wikimedia affiliates and the Foundation do in partnership with international institutions, governments, and allied organizations across the world. Finally, we describe how the public domain and digital commons are important to the Foundation’s positive vision of the future of the internet, and share examples of the work we have been doing to advance this vision.

What is the public domain, actually … and how is it connected to the digital commons?

The public domain are cultural works no longer protected by any copyright. For that reason, the general public collectively owns them: nobody needs to obtain permission to reference or use them in any way. Works of many kinds enter the public domain when their copyright expires or when they are ineligible for copyright protection to begin with, like many national government works.

Some works of the public domain are part of the digital commons. What do we mean by that? The commons are resources that belong to no one in particular and, because of that, belong to everyone and can be used by everyone. Historically, the concept of a commons was related to natural resources: commons were large public lands where people could take their animals to feed.

The concept and usage of commons have continued to evolve historically. With the spread of the internet, it also includes things that are created, preserved, or shared through digital technologies. This is what we understand as the digital commons. While public domain works make up some of the digital commons, open access advocates have created specific copyright licenses that allow anyone to contribute their work to the commons during their lifetime. Creative Commons licenses and public domain tools establish how digital commons can be accessed, modified, reused, and shared with others—for instance, by attributing the work to whoever created or modified it in order to recognize their effort.

For example, content on Wikimedia projects was updated in 2023 to the latest Creative Commons license. This provided a number of benefits to Wikimedia volunteers and the general public who want to access and share free knowledge. Museums, for instance, recognize that Wikimedia Commons has become “one of the most important hubs for image information” worldwide, and researchers have estimated that throughout the lifetime of this Wikimedia project it could contribute US$ 28.9 billion (!) to the global economy—noting that its “actual societal value” is most likely “considerably greater.”

What are digital public goods (DPGs) and digital public infrastructures (DPIs)? Are they different from the digital commons and the public domain?

Digital public goods (DPGs) and digital public infrastructures (DPIs) are terms that have become familiar in the context of international relations and development by the United Nations (UN). Recently, there has been much interest within the UN system and among UN Member States in understanding how digital tools created for the public interest can help achieve their stated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and improve the lives of billions of people worldwide.

DPGs include open-source software, data, AI models, standards, and content. The Creative Commons license and public domain tools mentioned above are examples of digital commons being officially recognized as DPGs. Another recent example, which makes us especially proud, is that Wikipedia was also officially recognized as a DPG! The online encyclopedia has served to increase awareness and understanding of the SDGs in addition to its many other contributions to free and open knowledge worldwide. Several other Wikimedia projects and tools also serve the public interest in innovative ways. Wikidata, for instance, has proven to be a valuable resource for everything from data journalism storytelling to ensuring historical memory and social accountability. Local governments have joined Wikimania hackathons to learn how to use Wikibase in order to improve coordination and discussion around the development and implementation of solutions to reach the SDGs, even with scarce resources.

DPIs are understood through an evolving concept that covers networked open technology built for the public interest and helps to enable governance and innovation. The Global Positioning System (GPS) and the internet and mobile networks are examples of DPIs. Other examples include platforms for identification, public services, and instant payments that countries both in the Majority World and Global North have developed in past years.

Advancing a positive vision of the future of the internet

The Foundation believes that in order to flourish, people need access to knowledge for education, health, economic opportunities, sustainable development, informed decisions, and accountable governance. As the nonprofit that hosts the Wikimedia projects, we are committed to advancing our mission of making the sum of human knowledge available to everyone, everywhere.

For these reasons, we champion everyone having easy access to a multilingual digital commons that is supported by a thriving public domain and freely and openly licensed content.

As a result, we advocate promoting and protecting DPGs and DPIs in collaboration with a number of international institutions, governments, and civil society partners, who are allies in sharing a positive vision of the internet and the global digital commons.

What follows are some examples of the efforts that the Foundation and Wikimedia affiliates carry out with the above-mentioned allied partners.

A. Global Digital Compact and Freedom Online Coalition (FOC)

Last year, 2024, United Nations Member States drafted and approved the Global Digital Compact: an agreement which lays down the principles for the future of the internet and its governance. The Foundation, together with a number of Wikimedia affiliates and volunteers, worked to ensure this process highlighted the importance of community-led internet spaces and DPGs like Wikipedia.

We published an open letter outlining our positions for the Compact, and carried out an advocacy campaign working closely with affiliates to ensure our shared points were reflected in the final text of the agreement. Thanks to this work, some aspects of the commitments we highlighted made it into the Compact, and we were able to secure partnerships and a seat at the table during the UN General Assembly and beyond to ensure DPGs are included in the implementation of the agreement.

The Foundation is also a member of the Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) Advisory Network. Last year we co-led a FOC task force on Information Integrity together with the governments of the Netherlands and Denmark. The task force developed and published a Blueprint on Information Integrity—which outlined a multistakeholder, positive vision of how to create a trustworthy information environment, articulated with the three core principles of agency, trust, and inclusion. In this vision, DPGs are considered an important aspect in helping to establish trust in reliable information online, in addition to furthering inclusive knowledge and empowering communities.

B. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is the UN agency governing global copyright, patent, and trademark policies, and its 193 Member States are central to discussing copyright’s future. Wikimedia projects like Wikipedia depend on open copyright policies to facilitate free and open access and sharing of knowledge for millions globally. The Foundation advocates modern, flexible copyright frameworks that promote public access to free knowledge and culture, and believes a presence at WIPO would help shape a copyright landscape reflecting the internet’s global and diverse needs.

Since 2020, the Foundation has sought permanent observer status at WIPO, but has not yet succeeded; meanwhile, since 2021, Wikimedia volunteers have an ongoing multilingual collaboration with the UN agency to make its content freely and openly available through the projects.

C. Toward a Recommendation on Cultural Heritage (TAROCH) Coalition

At the end of 2024, the Foundation joined the Toward a Recommendation on Open Cultural Heritage (TAROCH) Coalition. This Creative Commons-led initiative aims to encourage Member States in the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to adopt an international standard by 2029 that advocates open solutions to improve access to cultural heritage in the public domain.

Wikimedia projects and communities are essential to sharing this public domain cultural heritage around the world. By joining the Coalition along with several Wikimedia affiliates, we reaffirm our commitment to support community efforts to celebrate and protect cultural heritage, and advocate the removal of barriers and the adoption of open access policies, both internationally and nationally.

D. Working to create and expand multilingual digital commons for a more equitable and inclusive internet

In October 2024, five new language versions of Wikipedia were launched: Pannonian Rusyn, Tai Nüa, Iban, Obolo, and Southern Ndebele Wikipedia. The launch was part of the Future of Language Incubation experiment, a cross-departmental effort throughout the Foundation that aims to understand how we can further support both existing and new languages on Wikipedia with access to tools and resources.

The Research team at the Foundation also built the Wikimedia Language Metrics Explorer, which gives an overview of language coverage across Wikimedia projects.

On the community front, there is the Wikimedia Language Diversity Hub, which works on new language versions of the projects—especially including Indigenous, minority, marginalized and/or under-resourced language communities. The hub hosted its first community call in November 2024, and the second community call is planned for 28 February, 2025; in addition, it is also offering consultation calls to interested language communities in order to provide them with the support they need.

The open nature of Wikimedia projects is what enables this important work, which serves as an example of the significant role that DPGs can have in advancing the promise of an equitable internet and world.

Conclusions

The Wikimedia Foundation will continue to look for opportunities to advance our positive vision of access to a multilingual digital commons for all by fighting for support and protection for the public domain, along with DPGs and DPIs.

But a thriving public domain and digital commons is, and should be, a project for all of us. If you would like to celebrate the public domain this year, there are several ways you can do so on the Wikimedia projects and beyond:

• Upload. Help make accessible an entire year’s worth of works. Anything from paintings by French artist Matisse to some of the earliest films with sound are now free to upload on projects like Wikimedia Commons and Wikisource. For ideas, check out this list on Wikipedia of works entering the public domain. 
• Remix & Share: Peruse some of the newest entries to the public domain, and share your favorites with your network and others who are interested in them. Or why not try your hand at coming up with a creative way to make these classics new again?
• Learn. Learn more about Public Domain Day from a Wikimedia volunteer, read an update from Wikimedia Belgium about the event they held to honor those who won the Wiki Loves Heritage Award, and explore the many resources linked in this blog post to better understand the public domain, digital commons, and DPGs!

We will continue to provide updates throughout the year about our work promoting the public domain, digital commons and open cultural heritage, and DPGs and DPIs. To stay-up-to-date easily, make sure you sign up to our quarterly newsletter and keep an eye out for our monthly recap on Diff, “Don’t Blink”!

Many thanks to everyone in the Foundation who contributed to this blog post with their knowledge, experience, and insights: Amalia Toledo (Lead Public Policy Specialist for Latin America and the Caribbean), Costanza Sciubba Caniglia (Anti-Disinformation Strategy Lead), Rebecca MacKinnon (Vice President, Global Advocacy), Satdeep Gill (Senior Program Officer, Culture and Heritage), Shaun Spalding (Lead Counsel), Stan Adams (Lead Public Policy Specialist for North America), and Ziski Putz (Senior Movement Advocacy Manager).

When you first join Wikipedia, one of the hardest things to figure out is what you can do. For the past few years, we’ve been welcoming new users with our growth features. Every new user has access to their own Homepage, where they can find suggested edits to get started or find a mentor ready to help. Although the Homepage offers several options for starting to edit Wikipedia, we’re keen to offer as many options as possible to all newcomers.

Some newcomers are motivated by the collaborative aspect of Wikipedia. And that’s just as well: there are a large number of initiatives set up by experienced editors and associations, from face-to-face workshops to learn how to start editing in person, to other online actions designed to encourage participation in a common effort… These initiatives go by many names: editathons, sprints, thematic months… and any experienced user can easily find them. Newcomers? Only a happy few can achieve this journey.

A module to fill a gap

To bridge this gap, the Growth team introduced a new feature to facilitate the connection between these wiki editing initiatives and newcomers. We’ve called it the “Community Updates” module. It is located on the Homepage, and presents an event taking place on Wikipedia.

Drawing attention to content gaps on high-impact topics aligns with the 2030 Movement strategy’s “Topics for Impact” recommendation. Until now, events were much harder to find when you’re new to the wiki ecosystem, and signing-up was equally confusing (it improved thanks to Event Registration).

An easy-to-configure feature

If your community hosts events, campaigns, or initiatives that you’d like to showcase to newcomers, consider setting up a Community Update on the Newcomer Homepage! This is a great way to welcome and engage new editors while supporting impactful contributions to Wikipedia.

Creating an event is done using the Community Configuration. By visiting Special:CommunityConfiguration, in the Community Update tab, any Wikipedia administrator can define a logo, title, and call-to-action, as well as a URL where newcomers can find out more about the event. It is possible to target users based on their number of edits. You can even use it for community news or global events!

By offering these customizable options, communities can ensure that the most relevant opportunities reach the right newcomers at the right time. 

More to come! 

The Community Updates module was officially deployed on February 11, 2025. We previously tested the module on Arabic, Czech, French, and Spanish Wikipedias to see whether newcomers would appreciate the initiative. 

This trial deployment also enabled us to gather user suggestions, which we have listed for a second iteration. We hope to soon be able to connect to the features developed by the Campaign team (currently being rolled out), such as Event Registration or the Collaboration List.

Are you interested in showcasing an event to newcomers? Please follow the path!

In a concerted effort to amplify women’s voices and increase gender representation in Wikimedia projects, the Fante Wikimedians Community proudly joined the global SheSaid Contest 2024. This initiative aligns with the community’s mission to improve inclusivity and promote knowledge equity by highlighting quotes from remarkable women worldwide, translated into the Fante language.

Since the SheSaid contest was a new undertaking for the Fante Wikimedians Community, several preparatory steps were taken to equip volunteers with the necessary skills and knowledge to contribute effectively to the Fante Wikiquote Incubator. Two online workshops were organized to provide training and guidance for participants: 

December 3, 2024: The community hosted the Fante Wikiquote Workshop, an interactive session aimed at training members on how to create, improve, and translate quotes from English into Fante on the Fante Wikiquote Incubator. This workshop also served to introduce new editors to the basics of Wikiquote editing.

December 19, 2024: A second online workshop focused on preparing volunteers for the upcoming SheSaid Contest. Participants were trained on contest guidelines and technical editing skills to ensure they could effectively contribute during the competition.

Following these training sessions, the community officially launched the Fante SheSaid 2024 Contest, which ran from December 20, 2024, to January 20, 2025. Participants engaged in a month-long effort to create, improve, and translate Wikiquote items related to women from around the world into the Fante language.

This represented a major achievement for the community, showcasing our dedication to expanding Fante language content on Wikimedia projects while actively participating in a global movement.

The contest ended with the acknowledgement of the following exceptional contributors for their dedication to creating, improving, and translating information about women globally into the Fante language.

Winners

• Top Contributor: User: David kojo joe Mensah
• Second Top Contributor: User: CanadianBride
• Third Top Contributor: User: Amaesumambaa

Welcome to the January 2025 edition of the Language and internationalization newsletter by the Wikimedia Foundation Wikimedia Language and Product Localization team! This newsletter provides you with quarterly updates on new feature developments, improvements in various language-related technical projects and support work, community meetings, and ideas to get involved in contributing to the projects.

Subscribe to the newsletter.

Key highlights

Contribute menu enabled in 144 wikis

The Contribute menu, found under user contributions on Wikimedia wikis, offers editors various ways to engage, such as starting a translation, exploring suggested edits, uploading files, or creating new articles. This menu is being gradually introduced to wikis where translation tools and features are available, meaning editors can easily translate existing content or contribute in multiple languages. So far, the menu has been enabled on 144 wikis, with 221 more planned for future rollout.^[1]

Five New Languages Added to Wikipedia

Southern Ndebele, Pannonian Rusyn, Iban, Obolo, and Tai Nüa have received a Wikipedia as part of the Future of Language Incubation initiative ^[2][3]. This initiative is a new experiment designed to test ideas for supporting the growth of new language editions of Wikipedia. It is part of a larger effort under the Wikimedia Foundation’s Annual Plan 2024–25 to help communities close knowledge gaps by making tools and systems more accessible, adaptable, and effective. The goal is to increase the creation and availability of reliable encyclopedic content. These five languages represent millions of speakers around the world.

Book a Community Consultation with the Language Diversity Hub

The Language Diversity Hub (LDH) recently organized its first community consultation, focusing on the translation of technical terms. This initiative is designed to assist communities as they overcome challenges within the Wikimedia landscape. The Dagbani community, recognized for its creativity and commitment, took part in the inaugural session. Translating MediaWiki is a key step for new language communities, and mentors provided useful guidance to make the process easier. Is your community interested in a consultation? Submit a request here, and the team will follow up.^[4]

Language Support for New and Existing Languages

9 Languages were added to translatewiki.net, including Acholi ^[5], Fur ^[6], Mansi ^[7].

Translatewiki.net is a platform that enables communities to localize the software into their languages before the language becomes fully supported.   These translations are essential for making the platform user-friendly in their language and are a key step in the new wiki creation process. With these new languages added, users can now translate the user interface messages they see on Wikimedia sites like Wikipedia (e.g., menus, buttons, and system notifications).

4 Languages were added to Mediawiki , including Chakma ^[8] and Tigre ^[9]. Among these languages is also Duala, which has become the first language from Cameroon to be supported by MediaWiki, marking an important milestone for linguistic diversity on Wikimedia platforms.^[10] This is the next step after Translatewiki.net and involves making these languages officially supported by the MediaWiki software. With this support, speakers of these languages can use Wikimedia websites like Wikipedia or Wiktionary in their own language and create or contribute content directly.

Furthermore, several Configuration fixes were implemented, such as fixing line height ^[11] renaming autonyms ^[12], adding or modifying namespace translations ^[13] and adding new keyboards ^[14]. Learn more here.

Community defined lists

In November 2024, the Language and Product Localization team launched an exciting new feature in the Content Translation tool: Community-defined lists. This innovative translation suggestion feature is designed to enhance the experience for translators working in Wikis where the mobile experience of Content Translation is available. Now, translators can easily discover articles related to their interests from Wikiproject campaigns within the All collection category of suggested articles.

Wikiproject Campaign organizers can take advantage of this feature by incorporating the  ‎<page-collection>...‎</page-collection> tag into their campaign article list on Meta-wiki. This simple addition will make those articles readily discoverable in the Content Translation tool, connecting more translators with topics they are passionate about.

For a comprehensive guide on how to effectively use this tool and the tagging process, please refer to the detailed step-by-step instructions provided. Getting involved in Wikiprojects campaigns has never been easier!

Community meetings and events

• Wikimedians at Global Voices Summit 2024 in Nepal. A session on Getting started with Wikimedia language tech volunteering was delivered for 30+ students from Wikitech Club India. They were introduced to the basics of internationalization and localization, along with beginner-friendly tasks from actively maintained repositories, perfect for them to start their newcomer journey in the Wikimedia movement. One of the new developers, Ravitej_Neeli, had their first MediaWiki core patch merged–kudos!
• In case you missed the language community meeting in August, you can catch up by watching the video recording and reading the notes. This meeting was co-organized by the Language and Product Localization team and the Language Diversity Hub and had over 35 attendees, covering topics such as developing Indonesian language keyboards, hearing firsthand from Moore Wikipedia community members about their language incubation journey and challenges and outcomes from the language support track at Wikindaba. Sign up here to attend the upcoming meeting in February.
• Language and Product Localization team members shared their experience from organizing a hackathon at the Wikimedia Technology Summit 2024.
• The 2024 Global Voices Summit in Nepal brought together voices from around the world to discuss preserving endangered languages and strengthening Wikimedia’s role in this effort. Discover the key discussions and outcomes from the event here.

Get involved

• If you are looking for technical tasks, take a look at the easy tasks that haven’t been assigned yet in various language project repositories on Wikimedia Phabricator.
• Interested in contributing to language support related technical tasks for new and existing languages? See open tasks on LPL Technical Support workboard.
• If you are looking for tools to edit and translate articles and interface messages, you can use Content translation and Special:Translate on Translatewiki.net. These tools make it easier to work with content in different languages.
• Report feedback on talk pages of language tools.

Stay tuned for the next release! You can subscribe to this newsletter.

References

1.  phab:T381371
2. https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/10/31/wikipedia-goes-live-for-five-languages-through-the-future-of-language-incubation-initiative/
3. Future of Language Incubation
4. https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/11/26/creating-words-for-the-future-the-first-language-diversity-hub-consultation-call/
5. phab:T376060
6. phab:T378711
7. phab:T375944
8. phab:T365365
9. phab:T375052
10. https://aharoni.wordpress.com/2024/10/18/duala-becomes-the-first-language-from-cameroon-to-be-supported-by-mediawiki-the-software-that-runs-wikipedia/
11. phab:T377294
12. phab:T377294
13. phab:T377510
14. https://github.com/wikimedia/jquery.ime/commit/b170943cd13c4001a5e11e0865ff351622f52f94

🕑 1 hour 11 minutes

Selena Deckelmann has been the Chief Product and Technology Officer of the Wikimedia Foundation since 2022. Before that, she worked for around 10 years at the Mozilla Foundation, eventually reaching the position of Senior Vice President, Firefox.

Links for some of the topics discussed:

• Mozilla Foundation Wikipedia article
• Media knowledge beyond Wikipedia: Response from the Selena Deckelmann, CPTO at the Wikimedia Foundation (Wikimedia Commons talk page discussion)
• "Wikipedia’s value in the age of generative AI" (July 2023 blog post by Selena)
• Abstract Wikipedia project page on Meta-Wiki

To celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science (today!), we’re taking the opportunity to look back at some of the incredible impact made by our program participants as they seek to improve Wikipedia’s coverage of women in the sciences. 

Even if you haven’t yet taught with a Wikipedia assignment, enrolled in a Wiki Scholars & Scientists editing course, or engaged with other efforts to improve the world’s go-to online encyclopedia, Wikipedia’s persisting gender gap probably comes as no surprise to you – a gap that extends from its content across disciplines to its content contributors themselves. Over the years, Wiki Education’s programs and resources have empowered academics, students, and subject matter experts to move the needle on this imbalance, and today we’re reflecting on just a snapshot of their work to expand the coverage of women in science.

One of the most straightforward and impactful ways to enhance Wikipedia’s coverage of underrepresented notable figures is to create new biographies for those who lack their own articles or to improve existing biographies. And year after year, professors like Glenn Dolphin at the University of Calgary empower their students to do just this.

Last term, Dolphin incorporated his eighth Wikipedia assignment into his annual Introduction to Geology course, charging his students with the mission of creating new Wikipedia articles and improving existing content about famous women geologists and other underrepresented people in the field. In his most recent course alone, Dolphin’s students improved or created articles for 37 women scientists, including geologist, politician, and diplomat Judi Wakhungu and micropaleontologist Helen Jeanne Skewes Plummer. Over the years since he first taught with Wikipedia, Dolphin’s students have added more than 350K words and 3,330 references to Wikipedia, creating content that has been viewed 2.63 million times.

Unlike Dolphin, biologist Emily Sylwestrak at the University of Oregon was new to incorporating the Wikipedia assignment into her pedagogy last term, but she too tasked her students with the mission to create new biographies of women in the sciences. Thanks to the efforts of Sylwestrak’s class, we can now learn about prominent female figures in fields such as marine biology (Natalya Gallo, Ana K. Spalding) and chemistry (Sibrina Collins, Cynthia Chapple).

And as Wiki Education’s curriculum emphasizes, improving representation is not just about creating articles or adding new sections to existing articles. By citing more sources authored by female scientists, taking a critical eye to the weight of existing sections, adding links to other related articles, and considering the role of images on Wikipedia, editors can also make significant impact on this topic area through smaller edits.

While Wiki Education supports hundreds of faculty each term to assign their students Wikipedia coursework, faculty and other subject area experts across the world also enroll in our professional development courses to improve content through their own contributions. 

Thanks to support from the American Physical Society, we’ve offered 10 courses since 2019 to teach scientists how to add their expertise to Wikipedia, many of whom have focused their efforts on enhancing the coverage of women in sciences. 

Prior to the work of the course participants, prominent female scientists including Leticia del Rosario, the first Puerto Rican woman to earn a PhD in physics, and Silke Bühler-Paschen, a solid-state physicist, were absent from Wikipedia, and the content of others with existing articles was limited. Throughout the courses, participants transformed Wikipedia’s existing coverage of figures like chemist Ka Yee Christina Lee, materials scientist Julia R. Greer, and astronomical sciences professor Gillian Knapp, and so many others, expanding the world’s understanding of women’s contributions to the sciences.

Today, we celebrate the efforts of all who have worked to improve representation of women in science  – and all who will read their stories on Wikipedia and be inspired to follow their own professional dreams. 

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.

• Africa report: Guinea-Bissau Heritage from Commons to the World
• Albania report: Wikimedian in Residence at the Qemal Baholli Public Library in Elbasan (October – December 2024)
• Aruba report: Wikipedia on Aruba project has officially begun!
• Brazil report: Wiki Loves Maranhão
• Germany report: Exploring Wikidata & Building Community for Cultural Heritage Professionals
• Indonesia report: Celebrating Public Domain Day 2025 in Indonesia
• Italy report: New Wikimedia Italia Grant for GLAMs
• Netherlands report: 3 Million Dutch Cultural Heritage Images in Commons & 400,000 RCE images now in higher resolution & Usage of DBNL in Dutch Wikipedia articles
• New Zealand report: Student led Edit-a-thon
• Poland report: GLAM-Wiki 2024 in Poland: Achievements, Collaborations, and Impact
• Serbia report: Wikimedia Serbia: Advancing GLAM collaborations and digital heritage
• Switzerland report: Swiss GLAM Programme
• UK report: Cairo Geniza
• USA report: Wikipedia Day
• Biodiversity Heritage Library report: BHL-Wiki Working Group January monthly highlights
• Special story: Join the Global GLAM Call – Tuesday, February 11th, 13:30 UTC!
• Memory of the World report: To the front page!
• Wikidata report: Wikidata at WikiLibCon 2025
• Calendar: February’s GLAM events

30/01/2025-05/02/2025

Mapping

• Requests for comments have been made on this proposal:
  • traffic_sign:id=* to explicitly reference official traffic sign identifiers, improving data accuracy and interoperability with external databases.

Mapping campaigns

• AE35 has announced that OpenStreetMap Denmark’s Mapping Project of the Month for February 2025 will focus on bench mapping. To support participants, 15 grants of 100 DKK are available for refreshments on a first-come, first-served basis. To claim a grant, mappers can email soren DOT johannessen AT gmail DOT com with their MobilePay number and OpenStreetMap username.
• After five years of work, OSM mapper Ottwiz has completed mapping West Virginia’s forest landcover and is now shifting focus to Pennsylvania.

Community

• YouthMappers UFRJ Chapter (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) highlighted their main achievements since its creation and extended an invitation to participate with its vibrant mapper community.
• Anne-Karoline Distel recapped her mapping contributions made while touring the Netherlands with a band (we reported earlier). Using a GoPro Max, she captured 360° imagery along motorways and concert venues, significantly improving the coverage on Panoramax. She also mapped thatched buildings, defibrillators, and backstage amenities in theatres, adding missing shops, streetlights, and other details. Despite the limited daylight, Anne-Karoline ranked number 56 in Dutch OSM contributions.
• Anne-Karoline also announced that the OpenStreetMap Ireland community has successfully completed the Dundalk mapping project.

Local chapter news

• Matthew Whilden has released his candidate statement for the upcoming OSM US Board 2025 election.

Events

• You can participate in the selection of a SotM LatAm2025 logo by participating in the OSM Community forum survey before Wednesday 12 February.

Education

• Emilie Lerigoleur, from the Géographie de l’Environnement research group at the Université de Toulouse II (France), highlighted ► the potential of uMap in the training of geographers and the visualisation of scientific data. You can access some learning resources and start to map with uMap.

OSM research

• Zhang and other authors published a paper in the International Journal of Digital Earth, tracking individual OSM mappers’ trajectories of editing behaviour. The paper concluded that OSM has been self-sustaining so far and does not yet show any signs of decline, along with the finding that most contributors transition to a higher career stage within a month, a conclusion that may cause more than one raised eyebrow.
• Scholz and other authors have written a paper on investigating the potential of using OpenStreetMap data to understand exposure and vulnerabilities to climate-related hazards of Sudan’s most vulnerable populations, such as internally displaced persons or refugees displaced by violent conflict.

Maps

• Cayenne has tooted a map illustrating the percentage of fibre to the home eligibility coverage by department in metropolitan France for the third quarter of 2024. The map was created using QGIS, combining data from ARCEP, France’s telecommunications and postal regulator, with a basemap from OpenStreetMap.
• The eu citizen science has an interactive map, developed using OSM, Mapbox and Leaflet, showing research groups and related citizen science initiatives around the world.
• You can see an interesting uMap, created by Alan Grunitzki, showing Xanxerê City’s (Santa Catarina, Brazil) emergency escape routes.
• The United Nations office in Brazil has created ► a map showing its initiatives related to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030, using OpenStreetMap data, Mapbox and Leaflet, a powerful JavaScript Library for web map interactivity.

OSM in action

• ^[1] Open Seneca has launched an interactive air quality map for Kigali, Rwanda, providing a visual representation of air pollution levels across the city, with OpenStreetMap data as its basemap. The data was gathered in 2021 through a network of 16 sensors mounted on electric delivery motorbikes, capturing pollution levels during their daily travels.

Software

• The Agence Nationale de la cohésion des territoires has published ► a newsletter describing the advances in using uMap (OSM-fr tool) in the development of a map tool for the French administration. You can also access ► a website to explore the maps generated by the community.
• HeiGIT has recently expanded the ohsome Quality API and its dashboard, adding a new indicator to assess attribute completeness in OpenStreetMap and introducing major upgrades to the functionalities of this Indicator:
  • Multi-Attribute Queries: Assess the completeness of multiple attributes simultaneously, such as comprehensive address information.
  • Custom Attribute Filters: Define complex key-value combinations using and/or logic for more advanced data analysis.

  The code is available on GitHub.

Programming

• Savaş Altürk published on using Panel, DuckDB, and MapLibre for data analytics.
• The OpenStreetMap Google Summer of Code (GSoC) 2025 committee is seeking project ideas and mentors for this year’s event. GSoC provides stipends for students and new open-source contributors to develop OSM-related software. Interested mentors and project contributors can submit their ideas on the OSM Wiki.
• Along with the usual charts, the Plotly library lets you create interactive maps with OSM. The open source graphing library is available for both Python and Javascript and has moved from Mapbox to Maplibre as the rendering engine, while still providing various OSM styles. There is also a tutorial that shows how to render OpenStreetMap tile layers using the Maplibre library.

Releases

• Version 1.5.1 of Baba for Android has been released. It is used to contribute to the Panoramax project and new features include the resumption of recordings interrupted by calls and setting the image orientation.
• Yohan Boniface listed the improvements made to the user experience in the pre-release version of uMap (2.9.0b0).
• TrickyFoxy outlined the new features of their better-osm-org browser userscript, for adding additional functionality to the OpenStreetMap website. This update implements the display of photos associated with StreetComplete notes, and the panoramax=* and wikimedia_commons=* tags. Also added are the display of users’ GPS tracks on the map and when opening notes from StreetComplete. The changesets history page now displays the first comment to a changeset. You can read about the other functions of the script in their other diary entries.

Did you know that …

• … OSM has a feature to allow you to follow other mappers’ edits? The edits of the mappers you are following will appear as a list in your OSM user dashboard.
• … there is a Wiki OSM page that lists some websites and services that use OpenStreetMap, clustered by countries, companies and thematic categories? And that you can help to improve it?

OSM in the media

• The Sydney Morning Herald has highlighted Jake Coppinger’s Better Intersections project (we reported earlier) in a recent article on pedestrian-friendly traffic reforms. Anthony Segaert’s article notes that the push for improved walking spaces gained momentum in 2023 when Coppinger began crowdsourcing a survey to identify the local intersections with the longest pedestrian wait times.
• Les Petites Affiches has published ► an article about OSM, highlighting its advantages and collaborative nature.

Other “geo” things

• Pablo Sanxiao has written [gl] Fina e os mapas, a children’s book about cartography and collaborative maps, with OpenStreetMap being mentioned as an example. The book, currently available in Galician and Spanish, can be translated into other languages from its GitHub repository.
• PetaPixel reported on safety concerns surrounding GeoSpy, an AI tool capable of pinpointing a photo’s location by analysing its visual elements.

Upcoming Events

Where	What	Online	When	Country
Wien	73. Wiener OSM-Stammtisch		2025-02-06
Montrouge	Réunion des contributeurs de Montrouge et du Sud de Paris		2025-02-06
Guadalajara	A Synesthete’s Atlas: Cartographic Improvisations between Eric Theise and Fernando Feria		2025-02-07
	OSMF Engineering Working Group meeting		2025-02-07
København	OSMmapperCPH		2025-02-09
Grenoble	Atelier de février du groupe local de Grenoble		2025-02-10
中正區	OpenStreetMap x Wikidata Taipei #73		2025-02-10
Hamburg	Hamburger Mappertreffen		2025-02-11
	Meeting preparing the creation of the Catalan Association of the OSM		2025-02-11
München	Münchner OSM-Treffen		2025-02-12
	Mappy Hour: State of the Map US Info Session		2025-02-13
Richmond	MapRVA Meetup		2025-02-14
Bochum	Bochumer OSM-Treffen		2025-02-13
Moers	I Love Free Software Day Community-Hackday vom 14. – 16. Februar 2025 im JuNo, Moers Repelen		2025-02-14 – 2025-02-16
Karlsruhe	Karlsruhe Hack Weekend		2025-02-15 – 2025-02-16
東区	State of the Map Japan 2024		2025-02-14
	Panoramax monthly international meeting		2025-02-17
	Missing Maps London: (Online) Mid-Month Mapathon [eng]		2025-02-18
Lyon	Réunion du groupe local de Lyon		2025-02-18
Arlon	Réunion Province de Luxembourg		2025-02-18
San Jose	South Bay Map Night	✓	2025-02-19
Bonn	185. OSM-Stammtisch Bonn		2025-02-18
Lüneburg	Lüneburger Mappertreffen	✓	2025-02-18
	[Online] Map-py Wednesday		2025-02-19
Hannover	OSM-Stammtisch Hannover		2025-02-19
Karlsruhe	Stammtisch Karlsruhe		2025-02-19

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 MarcoR, PierZen, Raquel Dezidério Souto, Strubbl, TheSwavu, barefootstache, mcliquid.
We welcome link suggestions for the next issue via this form and look forward to your contributions.