GLAM/Newsletter/July 2026/Single
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July and Wikimania Have Come and Gone
Wikimania
The Wikimania playlists and recordings haven’t been organized just yet, so you may have to do some digging and scrolling to find the sessions you missed or would like to see again, in the sense that the timed recording is not yet linked from eventyay, documented in Meta-wiki, or on the Wikimania pages. It is however all on Youtube, and the GLAM related sessions are gathered in this newsletter article from France!
https://www.youtube.com/@TheWikimediaFoundation/playlists
The Content Partnerships Hub Metabase initiative however is already working to organize this information so that it remains accessible and useful to the community in the future. https://metabase.wikibase.cloud/wiki/Item:Q46205
Global GLAM Calls
ICYMI the Global GLAM Call in July had a number of important presentations about GLAM + Gender, a UN Resolution on Reparative Justice, the GLAM User Group and affiliate recognition, and an intro to Metabase and MEOW as well. The recording will be uploaded soon so check back after 15 August.
At the end of this month on 25 August there will be the next Global GLAM Call; you can already register! A reminder that you can also submit topics for the calls anytime via the agenda form. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_GLAM_calls
Strategic Workshops, Academic Publications, and Bidding Farewell to NeuroMat
In July 2026, Wikimedia Brasil advanced key capacity-building initiatives, published groundbreaking research on Wikidata and Wikibooks integration, and prepared for an upcoming on-the-ground community occupation. The month also marked the conclusion of our over ten-year partnership with CEPID NeuroMat.
Capacity Building: Workshop Series on GLAM Diffusion
Throughout July (7, 14, and 21 July 2026), Wikimedia Brasil hosted the online workshop series "Difusão de Acervos GLAM em Plataformas Wikimedia". Designed for cultural heritage professionals, curators, and Wikimedians, the sessions covered free knowledge fundamentals, metadata management, content editing, media uploads, and strategic cultural dissemination across Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons.
All video recordings and presentation materials have been made publicly available on the event page for continuous learning.
Academic Publication: Integrating Wikibooks and Wikidata at Museu Paulista
A new open-access academic article co-authored by João Peschanski (Executive Director of Wikimedia Brasil) and Solange Ferraz (former Director of Museu Paulista) is now available. Titled "A Wikibooks–Wikidata Integration for Crowdsourced Curatorship at the Museu Paulista in Brazil", the publication explores how structured data from Wikidata was reused to curate and generate a Portuguese Wikibook, offering a scalable model for digital outreach and crowdsourced curatorship.
The full article can be downloaded via Firenze University Press.
Concluding over a Decade of Open Science: CEPID NeuroMat (2013–2026)
On 31 July 2026, Wikimedia Brasil formally concluded its long-standing GLAM partnership with the Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center for Neuromathematics (CEPID NeuroMat) following the dissolution of the center at the University of São Paulo (USP).
Active since 2013, the collaboration generated the following cumulative metrics:
- More than 90,000 media files uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.
- More than 130,000 Wikipedia articles edited and over 70,000 articles created.
- Content produced through the initiative accumulated over 1.09 billion views across Wikimedia platforms.
Among its innovative contributions was an interactive citation graph mapping NeuroMat's scientific network using Wikidata items. While the institutional collaboration comes to an end, the open knowledge infrastructure created by NeuroMat will remain a permanent asset for the global community. Detailed records and legacy metrics are preserved on the NeuroMat GLAM page and the Outreach Dashboard.
Upcoming: Wiki Ocupa Mariana (21–23 August)
Preparations are underway for Wiki Ocupa Mariana, taking place from 21 to 23 August in the historic city of Mariana, Minas Gerais. The initiative will bring together volunteers and local partners for collaborative photowalks, mapping, and editing activities designed to enrich the documentation of Mariana’s cultural heritage on Wikimedia projects.
Read the full schedule on the Wiki Ocupa page
Colombia at Wikimania 2026: panel on how the far-right affects open knowledge institutions
(En español más abajo)
Participation in the panel on how the far-right affects open knowledge
We were at Wikimania, where we participated in the panel titled "Open Knowledge under Attack: How knowledge and heritage institutions can build resilience under the rise of right-wing populism". We presented a case from the Wikiproject: Highlighting the Colombian public domain in Wikidata.
You can view a note about the panel at this link and watch the video of the presentation at this other link, starting at 5:06:26.
Participación en el panel sobre cómo afecta la ultraderecha al conocimiento abierto
Estuvimos en Wikimanía, donde participamos en el panel titulado "Open Knowledge under Attack: How knowledge and heritage institutions can build resilience under the rise of right-wing populism". Presentamos un caso del Wikiproyecto: Visibilizando el dominio público colombiano en Wikidata.
Puedes ver una nota del panel en este enlace y ver el video de la presentación en este otro enlace, a partir de 5:06:26.
From Al-Ahram to Zamalek: Exploring Archives and Art Galleries
Digitizing Issues of Al-Ahram Newspaper from 1968
Following our World Archives Day activity in June, during which we documented historic Egyptian Postage Stamps from the royal era, GLAM Team of Wikimedia Egypt launched a new workshop in July to preserve Egypt’s journalistic heritage.
Organized by Sohila Elshaaer and held from July 8 to 20, the team hosted an online workshop to digitize issues of Al-Ahram newspaper from 1968. Participants processed archived materials and uploaded 5 complete daily editions in PDF format to Wikimedia Commons, with each issue ranging from 10 to 13 pages. We also focused on digitizing high-resolution images of the front pages to capture their main headlines.
Moving forward, we are working on building partnerships to help digitize more of Al-Ahram’s extensive historic archive and make more of this material accessible to everyone.
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Keeping up with GLAM Activities isn't always easy. We constantly face challenges like tight schedules and burnout, but our philosophy is all about taking small, steady steps. Rather than rushing for volume, we focus on high-quality, impactful documentation that truly adds value to the open knowledge movement.
Zamalek District has always held a special place in our strategy. Floating as an island in the middle of the Nile, it’s a district rich in heritage—home to historic palaces, public libraries, vibrant art galleries, and cultural centers. As part of our long-term plan to document this cultural hub for a global audience on Wikimedia Commons and other Wikimedia projects, the GLAM Team decided to kick off the journey by focusing on two major contemporary art spaces, which are Ubuntu Gallery and Dai Gallery.
So on July 23, 2026, Hassan Wahidy and Sherif Al-Yamany, two active members of Egypt Wikimedia and contributors to our GLAM activities, began the documentation work.
- At Ubuntu Art Gallery, they spent time across both floors photographing the current exhibitions, which included a mix of contemporary Egyptian paintings, sculptures, and mixed-media works. The goal was to capture clear, detailed images showcasing the different styles and media on display, enrich Wikimedia Commons, and make these resources available for public use.
- At Dai Art Gallery (Arab Atelier for Culture and Arts), the focus was on two specific solo shows: Fatma Adel’s exhibition, What Remains of Yesterday, and Ibrahim El-Attar’s The Meaning of the Word "Painting". The two members photographed both exhibitions, preserving their visual narratives for open research and appreciation.
Outcome
By the end of the day, the team successfully uploaded 255 high-quality, freely licensed images to Wikimedia Commons. It’s a solid start to our broader Zamalek documentation plan, demonstrating that consistent, quality-focused efforts by dedicated community members can lead to meaningful results.
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Exhibition hall at Dai Art Gallery in Zamalek, displaying a collection of contemporary paintings -
A painting of traditional Nile houseboats by Ibrahim El-Attar, from his exhibition The Meaning of the Word "Painting" at Dai Gallery -
A painting by Fatma Adel depicting a bride surrounded by women during traditional wedding preparations, from her exhibition What Remains of Yesterday at Dai Gallery -
Exhibition hall at Ubuntu Art Gallery in Zamalek -
Bronze sculpture on display at Ubuntu Art Gallery
Gezira Art Centre
As July 23 coincided with an official public holiday, the indoor exhibition halls at Gezira Art Centre were unfortunately closed, limiting our access to the main displays. However, Wahidy and Al-Yamany, made the most of the visit by focusing on the outdoor spaces.
They focused on photographing the unique architecture, surrounding grounds, and sculpture garden, successfully uploading more than 30 images to Wikimedia Commons.
More Info
For more information about GLAM activities in Egypt, visit our page here.
GLAM Presentations at Wikimania 2026 + Wiki Fashion Show
Wikimania 2026 took place in Paris, France from July 21 to July 25, 2026.
GLAM-related Presentations at Wikimania 2026
Wiki Fashion
On July 24th 2026, Wiki Fashion made a splash in the fashion capital of Paris, France with a Wiki Fashion Show hosted by Wikimedia New York City board chair and CUNY Wikimedian-in-residence, Richard Knipel.
Launch of Wikifying a Conference handbook; Wikipedia Workshop at Te Toi Uku
Wikifying a Conference handbook launched at Wikimania
Are you a Wikipedian who sometimes attends conferences, festivals or events? Tamsin Braisher (DrThneed) and Mike Dickison (Giantflightlessbirds) have written a handbook on how to "wikify" events as a Wikimedian in Residence. Containing lots of tips and tricks for engaging with researchers and the general public, Tamsin and Mike hope the book will make this kind of outreach easier for Wikimedians to try. It is based on their experience "wikifying" three events in 2025, supported by a WMF rapid grant, and topics covered include advance planning and liaison with the conference organisers, how to set up a Wikimedian desk and photography station during the event, and the follow-up image uploading and Wikidata cleaning using OpenRefine.
The book was launched in Paris during Wikimania, with a poster, and Tamsin handing out copies of the book and flyers linking to the pdf on Commons. See the book's project page on Meta for more information and to download a copy.
How to Vandalise Wikipedia
As part of the annual Dunedin Science Festival, Giantflightlessbirds gave a public talk called How to Vandalise Wikipedia. Despite the title, this was a light-hearted introduction to the mechanics of Wikipedia, including vandalism patrol, Talk and View History pages, page protection, and some short-lived (and long-lived) Wikipedia hoaxes, including the notorious story of a young New Zealand farmer who became a character in a board game about Japanese monsters, thanks to undetected vandalism. The talk was free, but attendees donated hundreds of dollars to Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand.
Wikipedia Workshop at Te Toi Uku Crown Lynn & Clayworks Museum
On Saturday 18 July, a Wikipedia Workshop was held at Te Toi Uku Crown Lynn & Clayworks Museum. Attendees enjoyed a tour of the museum which covered the early industrial history of West Auckland to the iconic story of Crown Lynn Potteries. They even got to walk inside the newly reopened heritage kiln on site.
The Wikipedia workshop encouraged new and experienced editors to focus on enriching Wikipedia content relating to local West Auckland ceramics history. Edits were made on a variety of pages including Crown Lynn, Dave Jenkin, Frank Carpay, Mirek Smisek, Ernest Shufflebotham, Rice Owen Clark, Tom Clark (industralist), Briar Gardner & Luke Adam Pottery. New articles, Daniel Steenstra and Crum Brick, Tile and Pottery Company were created too!
GLAM-Wiki partnerships continue opening collections
MuFo Continues Expanding Its Collections on Wikimedia Commons
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Logo MuFo -
Author unknown, Pola Negri, portrait -
Mikołaj Seńkowski, Hutsul woman - married woman, portrait -
Tadeusz Rząca, Krakow, Main Square -
Author unknown, Girl and boy with a tyta -
Ignacy Krieger, Józefa Krieger (Baum) as a Cracovian woman and an unidentified Cracovian young man
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Building on the first upload of 60 historical photographs published in December 2025, the GLAM-Wiki partnership with the the Museum of Photography in Kraków (MuFo) has reached another milestone. In July, Maciej Szostek (Wikimedia Polska) uploaded more than 130 additional historical photographs to Wikimedia Commons, further expanding public access to the museum's collections. In addition to publishing the photographs, the project included extensive work on metadata, author records, Wikimedia Commons categories, Creator templates, and Wikidata integration, significantly improving the discoverability and reuse of the collection.
The collection includes studio portraits created by some of the leading photographers working in Kraków, including Ignacy Krieger, August Adler, Klementyna Zubrzycka-Bączkowska, Antoni Wieczorek, Walery Rzewuski, and Mikołaj Senkowski. It features portraits of artists, actors, scholars, and public figures, including Pola Negri and Jadwiga Smosarska, alongside early twentieth-century landscapes, photographs documenting Kraków, the Tatra Mountains, and other historic landscapes. The upload also includes rare colour autochromes by Tadeusz Rząca, as well as reproductions by Józef Sebald documenting Stanisław Wyspiański's staging of Dziady. Among the highlights are Mikołaj Senkowski's photographs of Hutsul children, together with images documenting the traditional Polish tyta (school cone) celebration, offering valuable insight into the cultural diversity, local traditions, and everyday life of the early twentieth century.
Beyond the upload itself, new author categories, Creator templates, and Wikidata items were created or expanded, while the photographs were systematically categorised and enriched with structured data. This work improves the discoverability of both the collection and the photographers themselves, making the museum's resources easier to find, reuse, and connect across Wikimedia projects. The project demonstrates how GLAM-Wiki partnerships can extend beyond opening collections by improving the quality, interoperability, and long-term reusability of cultural heritage data across the Wikimedia ecosystem.
All photographs contributed through the GLAM-Wiki partnership with MuFo are available in the dedicated Wikimedia Commons category. We encourage Wikimedia contributors to explore the collection and use these freely licensed images to illustrate Wikipedia articles across different language editions, helping bring the museum's photographic heritage to a wider global audience.
From Paris to Persia: New Treasures from the Czartoryski Library on Wikimedia Commons
To mark Wikimania 2026 in Paris, the Czartoryski Library released a nineteenth-century pocket map of Paris and its surroundings on Wikimedia Commons. Published in 1833 by Rosselin and printed from engraved copper plates, the folding map offers a fascinating historical view of the city hosting this year's Wikimedia conference.
The map was released alongside a new batch of digitised treasures shared through the GLAM-Wiki partnership with the Czartoryski Library, a branch of the National Museum in Kraków. Prepared by Agata Stadnicka, Wikimedian in Residence, the July release also includes selected pages from two beautifully illuminated muraqqaʿ albums containing Persian and Indian miniatures and calligraphy dating from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries.
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Persian miniature. -
Floral motifs. -
Fauna depicted in the album. -
Persian and Indian miniature. -
Decorative calligraphy and illustration.
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The albums feature depictions of plants, animals, and figures from Persian and Indian culture, showcasing the richness of the library's manuscript collections. Some of the plants and animals remain unidentified, creating an opportunity for the Wikimedia community to contribute by improving descriptions and adding categories on Wikimedia Commons.
Like other materials published through the GLAM-Wiki partnership, these collections are freely available for reuse and can be used to illustrate Wikipedia articles across different language editions.
We invite Wikimedia contributors to explore the growing collection on Wikimedia Commons, help improve its descriptions and categorisation, and reuse these freely licensed materials to enrich Wikipedia articles across languages.
Collection on Wikimedia Commons:
GLAM-Wiki project page:
This text is based on project updates prepared by Agata Stadnicka, Wikimedian in Residence at the Czartoryski Library.
At Wikimania and copyright process
Wikimania participation
CommonsDB workshop
The CommonsDB presented current status (slides) and held a workshop with the participants focusing on generic usefulness on image similarity who managed to come up with some good ideas.
Wikimedia Commons copyright management
In the second feasibility study of the CommonsDB project the Institute for Information Law in Amsterdam has summarized the process Wikimedia Commons uses for copyright management. It is possibly the most comprehensive description of that process, collecting information from numerous policies and pages on Commons, and might be useful if someone would like an easy but thorough explanation. It has also been parallel published onwiki to enable even further improvement by the community.
Faces and Masks - the interwoven relation, Wikimania Paris
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Faces and Masks - the interwoven relation
The summer is devoted to Wikimania projects. The project "Faces and Masks" started in 2025 and has been focussing the Wikimania themes inclusivity, impact, sustainability. It is an art project with an exhibition at the National Gallery Nairobi, National Museums Kenya. Our local partner in Nairobi who attended last year's Wikimania was imnvited to Switzerland one year ago to prepare the exhibition and to give talks on the Kenjan tradition of masks. In 2026 Swiss and Kenyan artists worked together preparing works for the exhibition. The project page describes the concept and provides links to the category on Wiki Commons. The project has been featured in Africa Art news and in the magazin InNairobi. All the exhibitions this year are part of celebrating Wikipedia 25th birthday.
Wikimania Paris
This time Wikimania was around the corner for Switzerland. The theme Freedom, Equity, Reliability relates to our work in Switzerland and in Europe in general. It has been a magic event meeting interesting people and with a wonderful programme. Besides many other interesting topics the GLAM Meetup was a great opportunity to connect with collegues around the world working in GLAM. The toolbox for Indigineaus knowledge helps integrating indiginous knowledge.
Wikimania report + New articles in Hindi
Khalili Foundation
The total of new articles from this partnership has reached 109 articles in 23 different Wikipedias, thanks to new articles in Hindi and Simple English.
Hero of the month is Muhammad Umar Kairanvi, a Dehli-based contributor for Hindi Wikipedia. Muhammad recently created a lot of new articles relating to Islam, particularly about early manuscript Qurans. Some of them he translated from English Wikipedia. That is how Hindi Wikipedia now has articles on the Palermo Quran, Isfahan Quran, and Falnama. These are the first articles connected to the Khalili Collections in Hindi. In mid-April, there was no mention of the Palermo Quran or Isfahan Quran in any version of Wikipedia; now they have articles in four languages each. Muhammad also translated a summary of the article on the Samarkand Kufic Quran, keeping the same lead image which is of the Khalili Collections folio.
This month I spent a full week at Wikimania in Paris, taking part in discussions about Wikimedians In Residence and about working with UN agencies. I made my first edits on Abstract Wikipedia, creating a page for the Taj Mahal. It is still early days for the project, and I don't think it's yet time to add lots of articles about art works. Since Abstract Wikipedia is driven by Wikidata, the best thing we can do for now is make sure data sets (about the Khalili Collections) are as good as they can be.
I learned about new tools that are being developed and attended a lot of discussion about AI and the nature of the relationship between LLM technology and the "Knowledge is human" approach which is essential to the Wikimedia projects. I tried out the Noesis tool which examines Wikipedia articles for neutrality, and fed back to its creators about getting it to work specifically with English Wikipedia. This could be a valuable research tool for looking at types of bias in Wikipedia topics. Another tool showcased at the conference was WISE (Wikimedia Semantic Search). This image search tool is intended to be more flexible than Wikimedia Commons' own search. Enter a search phrase such as "paintings of the Kaaba" or "Japanese cloisonne" and images from the Khalili Collections will appear, along with images from other collections. Clicking on the thumbnail enlarges the image, then clicking on the title takes you to the full listing for the image. Another tool for exploring Wikimedia Commons images is CommonsWall. During the live demo, the developer clicked on a Khalili Collections image, and showed that the image's category tags such as "Camels in art" could be used to navigate to other images.
I continued the work of improving Simple English Wikipedia, creating a new article on Bibliomancy, mentioning the Falnama and specifically the Khalili Falnama. This involved copying text from English Wikipedia, then carefully rewriting each sentence to reduce complexity.
The article on Amanat Khan Shirazi passed DYK review back in June, but has not yet been scheduled for the front page.
This month I have fixed a lot of broken links in the Khalili Foundation and Nasser Khalili articles. Any substantive changes to the articles are proposed for volunteers to review as part of the Conflict Of Interest process.
I have also spent some time revising and updating the paper on the Memory of the World dataset in response to feedback from the journal editor. The Memory of the World programme has its own update in this newsletter.
The stats server reports 3,358,171 views on images from the Khalili Collections in July.
GLAM USA Report (Past & Upcoming)
Upcoming events
Online
A monthly online meet-up for people interested in community archiving.
- Date: Tuesday, August 11, 2026
- Guest speaker: Morgan Davis Gieringer, Head of Special Collections, University of North Texas
- Time: 10:00am PT, 11:00am MT, noon CT, 1:00pm ET
California
San Diego
San Diego Wikimedians User Group will be hosting a Salon/Edit-a-thon at San Diego County Library.
- w:Wikipedia:Meetup/San Diego/September 2026
- Date: Saturday September 12th, 2026
- Time: 12:30PM - 4:00PM PDT
- Location: San Diego County Library in Imperial Beach, California
- Potential agenda topics: National Hispanic Heritage Month.
Temecula
The Wikimedians of Los Angeles & San Diego Wikimedians User Group will be partnering with the Riverside County Library System library in Temecula, California to hold a salon/edit-a-thon.
- w:Wikipedia:Meetup/Riverside/September 2026
- Date: Saturday, September 19, 2026
- Time: 2:00PM - 4:00PM PDT
- Location: 30600 Pauba Road, Temecula, CA 92592
Illinois
Wikicurious will be in Chicago with Wikimedians of Chicago on September 19, 2026.
New York
- When: September 25 – October 12, 2026
- Who: Planned coverage by WikiPortraits
- When: October 30, 2026
- Where: Pratt Institute School of Information
Puerto Rico
- Arte y Cultura (Puerto Rico)
- Wikicurious in Puerto Rico organized by Wikimedia NYC and the Puerto Rico Museum of Art, in collaboration with WikiLatinos, WikiPortraits, and the North American Wikimedia Hub.
- When: August 28-29, 2026
- Where: Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan
Washington
- Seattle Wiknic 2026: August 22, 2026
Washington DC
- When: September 14, 2026
- Where: Smithsonian National Museum of American History
- What: Panel appearance by Ariel Cetrone, Institutional Partnerships Manger, Wikimedia DC
Recently past events
California
This event took place on Saturday, July 18th, 2026, 11:30AM-3:30PM, at the San Diego Public Library's Mission Valley branch library.
A wiknic/potluck/bonfire at Vacation Isle, Mission Bay took place on August 1st, 2026.
The following day, a post-Wiknic edit-a-thon/salon took place on Sunday, August 2, 2026 from 1:15PM-4:15PM PDT in Chula Vista, California at the Chula Vista Public Library Civic Center Branch.
Florida
This event took place on June 13th 2026 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida hosted by Wikimedia New York City's Wikicurious program, along with WikiLatinos, AfroCrowd, and Wikimedians of the Caribbean. The event, titled: "Black Broward on Wikipedia" took place at the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center (AARLCC) of the Broward County Library system. The event drew from local archives, oral histories, and special collections. 48 participants signed up on the event page.
The event also served as a pilot for the new WikiLatinos Learning Platform, which was tested live with participants for the first time in a session led by Oscar Costero of WikiLatinos.
Participants edited the Wikipedia pages of local figures and institutions — Andrew DeGraffenreidt, Von Delany Mizell, Eula Johnson, The Westside Gazette, and Westview Community Cemetery.
The event also featured a panel with Derek T. Davis (Broward County Historic Preservation Board), Emmanuel George and David Paulo (H.A.C. — history.art.culture.), Erin Purdy (Senior Archivist, AARLCC), and Pacita Rudder (Executive Director, Wikimedia NYC).
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Flyer for the Black Broward on Wikipedia event
Illinois
The Wikimedians of Chicago held a Wikinic on July 25th, 2026: Chicago/25 July 2026
New York
- When: August 9, 2026
- Where: w:Roosevelt Island
- Time: 2:00pm to 7:00pm
Oregon
At the Northwest Library in Portland, Oregon on July 25, 2026, a general Wikipedia meet-up occured hosted by TechnoSquirrel69. 10 participants RSVPed on the event page. The agenda included a presentation on the Developing Countries WikiContest, planning a Wiknic, general and specific conversations about editing, fighting vandalism, burnout, and more!
Pennsylvania
On July 11, 2026, Philadelphia WikiSalon held an online WikiSalon: WikiSalon 2026-07-11. Two articles worked on during the Salon were: Roger W. Moss Jr. & Mimi Stillman.
On August 7, 2026, Black Lunch Table held a portrait session at OTV & Kashif's Unified Frames Filmmaker Brunch at the BlackStar Film Festival.
Washington
Seattle Wikimedians held a meetup, Seattle Monthly meetup, July 21.
Washington DC
Wikimedia DC held a Wiknic at Franklin Park together with HTML Day DC on Saturday, August 8th.
Updates on work by BHLWiki Working Group members
Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung joins BHL
Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung has joined BHL as a partner institution. More information can be found in this press release.
Wikimania 2026 posters
Two posters at Wikimania 2026 in Paris had links to BHL. The Open Science National Museum of Natural History poster gave information of that organisation's contributions to BHL. Also a poster titled “Wikidata in the real world” had a link to the BHL gallery explorer tool created by editor Tiago Lubiana. Images of these posters were shared with the wider BHL community in the BHL forum. Wiki folk interested in working with BHL content are welcome to join this forum.
Wikimania biodiversity lunchtime meetup
At Wikimania there was also a Biodiversity lunchtime meetup where editors gathered to discuss editing various language Wikipedias, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons and Wikisource. Ambrosia10 discussed the Biodiversity Heritage Library, the BHL-Wiki working group and the BHL-Wiki meta page and also gave information on ways editors can contribute BHL content to Wiki platforms.
Type Catalogues in Wikidata
A recent paper by Wikidata editor Dr. Sabine von Mering has been published on work she and her colleagues have undertaken to ensure type catalogues have a presence in Wikidata. Items for these publications have been enriched or created and linked to Wikidata items relating to authors, collectors and specimen determiners. This publication used BHL data as well as information in sources made available by BHL. See this link to read that paper.
BHL identifiers in Wikidata
Work is continuing by multiple editors on BHL Identifiers needing review as well as the Biodiversity Heritage Library creator id mix’n’match dataset.
Academic paper in preparation
This is the twenty-first monthly report of the ongoing work to improve the representation of the UNESCO Memory of the World international register on Wikimedia projects. This is supported and fully funded by the Khalili Foundation, with the involvement of UNESCO and Wikimedia UK.
This month I revised my draft paper about the Memory of the World International Register data set, in response to requests from the journal editor. That draft, which can't be shared until it is published, now stands at 4,500 words.
New this month
I run a monthly check on new articles relating to the Memory of the World International Register created by Wikipedia volunteers. The tools I use to scan the hundreds of wiki platforms are not perfect and so this list is not guaranteed to be complete.
There is a new article on the Terengganu Inscription Stone in Kadazandusun Wikipedia, created by translation from Malay.
View statistics
The Massviews tool reports 3,557,411 views of pages on English Wikipedia that link to the Memory of the World International Register, and 130,159 views on French Wikipedia pages. Many of the links from French Wikipedia are to pages in English on the Memory of the World site, despite the fact that French alternatives are available.
The Commons Analytics tool reports 164,106,362 views in July for images related to the MoW International Register. Due to imperfect tagging, this should be regarded as approximate.
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!
August's GLAM events
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