GLAM/Newsletter/July 2026/Contents/Wiki Knowledge Park report
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Preserving Islamic Cultural Heritage: The GLAM and Metadata Impact of Wiki Loves Ramadan 2026
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Gumeno village's traditional iftar of chicken kolak, Indonesia by Mumun96. -
Duty and Devotion: praying on deck of a ship, Bangladesh by Abdul Kaium Tito. -
A young girl reading the holy Qur’an, Guinea by Thie Abdoul. -
Tarawih prayer during Ramadan, Indonesia by M Joko Apriyo Putro. -
Eid al-Fitr prayer at Sempur Park, Indonesia by Rangga Firmansyah. -
Praying alone during Ramadan, Bangladesh by Jubersahel001. -
The finishing process of making hot air balloons in Wonosobo Regency, Indonesia by Haridi123. -
Lachcha Semai a Food Item of Eid-al-Fitr, Bangladesh by Rokshana Akter. -
Ramadan lantern with holy Qur’an, United Arab Emirates by Pshahma. -
Prayer mat saleswoman in Conakry, Guinea by Mohamed Finando.
Ramadan is more than just a month of fasting and prayer, it is a time rich with traditions, stories, and community life across many cultures. In 2026, the Wiki Loves Ramadan campaign brought people together worldwide to document and share this heritage on Wikimedia platforms. We are very happy to share our GLAM and metadata impact for this year.
Visual Documentation and Metadata Expansion
During the campaign, volunteers uploaded 5,607 media files to Wikimedia Commons. This includes photos of historical mosques, traditional foods, and local Eid celebrations from 36 countries.
For structured data, our contributors created 536 new items on Wikidata. We originally targeted 200, so this is a big achievement for us! Now, many underrepresented regional mosques, Islamic centers, and historical tombs in Central Asia, West Africa, and Southeast Asia have proper Q-items. We also added labels and descriptions in regional languages like Arabic, Bangla, Hausa, and Uzbek, so researchers can easily find them.
GLAM Partnerships and Local Events
In 2026, our local organizers successfully established partnerships with cultural institutions:
- Uzbekistan: Local Wikimedians partnered with the Center of Islamic Civilization in Tashkent. They hosted offline photo tours to document museum exhibits, manuscript displays, and decorative wall patterns.
- Egypt: The Ramadan edit-a-thon inspired the Egypt Wikimedians User Group to launch a long-term GLAM project to document the Islamic architectural heritage of Cairo.
- Uganda and Guinea: Photographers documented historic religious events, including Quran recitation competitions in Conakry and communal Iftar gatherings at local centers.
Celebrating Success
Our top photo contributions to Commons highlighted significant cultural heritage sites. Mumun96 from Indonesia won 1st prize for documenting Gumeno village's traditional iftar. Abdul Kaium Tito from Bangladesh won 2nd prize for capturing a prayer on a ship deck. Thie Abdoul from Guinea won 3rd prize for a photo of a young girl reading the holy Qur’an. Our top 20 finalists also included beautiful architectural photos from Singapore, Morocco, and UAE.
Looking Forward
We faced some challenges this year. Many first-time photographers had trouble understanding copyright rules on Commons. Also, many local teams operated with zero budget, which made it hard to cover museum entry fees. In 2027, we hope to provide microgrants and establish earlier partnerships with cultural heritage boards. If your GLAM institution wants to collaborate with us for the next edition, we welcome your partnership!
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