GLAM/Newsletter/June 2025/Single
Celebrating Communication History and Women Artists through Wikipedia
National Communication Museum
Wikimedia Australia ran an edit-a-thon at one of Melbourne's newest museums, the National Communication Museum, which opened in September 2024. Before the edit-a-thon we were greeted warmly and offered a passionate tour of the collections.
At the edit-a-thon we hosted thirteen staff and volunteers of the museum and we spoke a lot about the importance of editing Wikipedia, and other Wikimedia platforms, in the era of AI. Also, unlike at other edit-a-thons the attendees were very interested in the history of Wikipedia.
As a group, we looked at how easy it was to make a difference and improve the internet one step at a time, and nerded out together (their words), improving a number of articles about communications in Australia.
Dangerously Modern at the Art Gallery of South Australia
Wikimedia Australia (WMAU) and the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) hosted an edit-a-thon as part of its current exhibition Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890–1940.
The event brought together 20 enthusiastic participants to learn how to edit Wikipedia and improve coverage of women artists represented in the exhibition. With guidance from WMAU, participants added information, references, and began creating new articles to help ensure these notable women artists receive the recognition they deserve online. WMAU will also work closely with the AGSA Gallery Guides, who have conducted additional research on each of the artists, to edit and update the articles.
The exhibition Dangerously Modern celebrates a bold generation of women who embraced modernity in both life and art at the turn of the 20th century. The edit-a-thon attendees contributed to a more balanced and inclusive digital record of art history.
Aldinga Wiki workshop improves local history on Wikipedia
As part of Wikimedia Australia's regional outreach, a Wikipedia workshop was held in Aldinga, South Australia (45 kilometres South of Adelaide), focusing on enhancing Wikipedia articles about the local people and history of the area.
The event grew out of the determination of a local historian, who was frustrated by the absence of Wikipedia articles about significant women artists from South Australia. Motivated to take action, he drove a return trip of nearly 2,500 kilometres to Canberra to attend a Know My Name edit-a-thon at the National Gallery of Australia, to learn how to contribute to Wikipedia. On returning to Adelaide he continued editing and has since liaised with WMAU staff to facilitate the Alginga workshop aimed at documenting the cultural heritage of regional South Australia.
Participants learned editing skills and worked together to improve articles. Using the Aldinga Library’s local history resources, the group collaboratively reviewed articles with errors, poor citations, and unclear writing. Through discussion and hands-on editing, participants improved several entries, ensuring more accurate, better-sourced, and locally informed content on Wikipedia. There is great interest in another workshop in the near future to learn how to upload images to Wiki Commons.
This event is part of Wikimedia Australia's ongoing efforts to expand Wikipedia’s coverage of regional Australia, while building digital literacy and research skills in local communities.
Thank you!
Thank you to everyone across Australia who joined us in June, and a special thank you to our wonderful volunteers who helped prepare the lists and materials, as well as to our hosts for their support and collaboration. We look forward to what we can achieve together going forward
Belinda Spry, Alice Woods & Alison Smith
Wikimedia Australia Staff
Public Domain Day in Europe 2026
European Public Domain Day 2026 on January 15 in Brussels
On the first day of each new year, a wealth of heritage enters the public domain. This material is perfect for being made as freely accessible as possible – though this doesn’t always happen. With Public Domain Day, we provide organisations with an annual platform to share knowledge and good examples of opening up this material and making it reusable. Let's celebrate the public domain with like-minded people across Europe!
Who is it for? Public Domain Day welcomes anyone who might engage with public domain collections – from collection managers and service providers to researchers and policymakers. It’s the perfect opportunity to get inspired and stay informed about developments beyond our borders.
What will we do? For the 2026 edition, we’re once again teaming up with (inter)national partners to create an exciting programme featuring voices from both home and abroad. What can you expect?
After a plenary kick-off with an inspiring keynote speech and the first presentations, you can choose between two parallel tracks: an international track focusing on the policy side of the public domain, and a Belgian track centred on (re)using public domain material. The afternoon will also be held plenary – with content that you can help to shape yourself.
What is important for now?
1. Save the Date
The next conference will take place on the 15th of January 2026 in Brussels. The registration will open in the fall. Stay tuned!
2. Call for Contributions for European Practitioners
Would you like to be part of it and share what happens in your country? Would you like to share your experience, case-study or skills? Respond to the Call for Contributions here - Deadline on the 30th of September 2025.
3. Map of the Public Domain Celebrations in Europe and in the World
Do you plan an event? a celebration or a workshop on the Public Domain? Tell us! Be on the map!
4. We've launched our new website
You can find all information on pdday.org.
Partners: meemoo, Communia, Wikimedia Europe, Creative Commons, Open Nederland, KBR, Wikimedia Belgium, CREATe, Internet Archive Europe, Europeana.
Expanding Data on Maranhão's Heritage
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Tilework is a fundamental part of the historical and cultural heritage of São Luís, the capital of Maranhão. The city was the only Brazilian capital founded by the French, in 1612, but by 1615 Portugal had regained control of the region. The presence of tiles throughout the city center is both characteristic and consistent, lending São Luís a unique beauty, so much so that it came to be known as the City of Tiles. In 1997, its Historic Center was declared a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.
Faced with the ongoing deterioration and disappearance of façade tiles, as well as the urgent need to preserve the tile heritage of the state, Zelinda Machado de Castro Lima, a researcher of popular culture and author of several books and studies on Maranhão’s cultural traditions, launched the project Inventário do Patrimônio Azulejar do Maranhão (Inventory of the Tile Heritage of Maranhão). She was supported by architect Margareth Figueiredo and by Maria Leandro Cavalcante, who assumed the presidency of the Association of Friends of the Odylo Costa Filho Creativity Center after Zelinda.
The project initially set out to document only the tiles found in the historic center of São Luís. However, after identifying tiled surfaces in other neighborhoods, as well as in churches and museums, the inventory expanded, requiring three years (from 2004 to 2006) to be carried out in three parts: Inventory of the Tiles of São Luís, Inventory of the Tiles of the Island of São Luís, and Inventory of the Tiles of the Historic Cities of Maranhão. This resulted in a comprehensive record of identification and description, which was finally published in 2012.
The team also gathered detailed information on the tiles and their applications: where in the city they were located, the motifs they displayed, the patterns they formed, the techniques used in their production and decoration, their countries of origin, whether they covered entire façades or only portions of them, whether they were complete or damaged, whether they also appeared in interior spaces or were used for decorative accents, among other aspects.
Wikidatification of the Tile Heritage Inventory of Maranhão
This year, Wikimedia Brazil launched a project to document the current state of this heritage and the changes that have occurred nearly 20 years later, aiming to preserve the memory, history, and culture represented by this material.
Based on the data collected and made available in the inventory, individual items were created on Wikidata for each tile described, as well as for ornamental pieces made with tiles, such as images of saints and decorative elements on building façades. Each Wikidata item includes descriptive information that allows for efficient retrieval, analysis, and reuse by researchers and the general public.
With these structured data and Wikidata entries, the information could be integrated into an app developed by the Wikimedia Brasil team, which catalogs all heritage-listed sites in the country, organized by state and city, and participating in the Wiki Loves Monuments photography competition. In the case of the Maranhão tiles, each one was added to the app’s interactive map using the geographic coordinates recorded in Wikidata—allowing users to locate, visit, and explore these sites in person.
At present, the Wikimedia Brasil team is working to photograph the tiles so that images can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons and later added to Wikidata. This effort not only expands the documentation of Maranhão’s tile heritage but also provides a visual record of the current condition of these cultural assets, two decades after their original inventory.
Best Photo from Maranhão in Wiki Loves Folklore Brasil
The 2025 Brazilian edition of Wiki Loves Folklore, an annual photography competition that gives visibility to the intangible cultures of participating countries, included a special category for the best photo from the state of Maranhão.
The winning photograph was Cazumbá do Boi Unidos de Santa Fé, taken by Negrosoousa. The cazumbá is a mystical and protective figure that appears in certain performances of Bumba Meu Boi in Maranhão. A well-known symbol across the state, the photo successfully captures the irreverence, vibrant colors, and joyful spirit embodied by the character.
Documenting Popular Cultural Expressions
São Luís is a city that lives and breathes culture. Throughout the year, it’s possible to witness performances of tambor de Crioula, reggae, traditional dances, Bumba Meu Boi, and many other cultural expressions.
One of the city’s largest festivities is Saint John. During the months of June and July, a wide variety of celebrations take place across São Luís, featuring countless performances. However, before the festivities begin, a cultural event marks the transition from Carnival to the preparations for the festival: the Boi de Cinzas, a more modest performance derived from the traditional Bumba Meu Boi.
Wikimedia Brasil, alongside members of the local Maranhão community, attended one of these performances in a traditional neighborhood of São Luís. The team documented the participation of local folk performers, the diversity of musical instruments, the wide age range of attendees, and performances by an Angola-style capoeira group and a tambor de Crioula ensemble, a dance of African origin commonly practiced in Maranhão in honor of Saint Benedict.
The event was followed by a photo upload workshop, where participants learned how to use Wikimedia Commons and were able to contribute to the Wiki Loves Folklore competition.
Bibliographic collection upload from Casa de Oswaldo Cruz/Fiocruz completed… for now!
In our previous newsletter, we presented the different lines of work we are developing in 2025 with Casa de Oswaldo Cruz/Fiocruz, a GLAM partner of Wikimedia Brasil. Among them, we highlighted the beginning of the upload process related to the bibliographic collection of its patron, Oswaldo Cruz. The books selected for upload to Wikimedia Commons form a robust collection on the history of health. Democratizing access to this material is an initiative aligned with the institution’s values, which, since its founding in 1986, has worked to preserve memory and promote the history of science and public health in Brazil.
In June, we completed the upload of the first batch of the shared collection, comprising 122 books and nearly 50,000 files. They are now available in a dedicated category for the institution’s bibliographic collection on Wikimedia Commons, see here. Soon, we will begin preparations to wikify another 278 books already selected for future upload.
See the Casa de Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz's GLAM page and the uploaded media.
Greco-Roman Mythology Editathon and Collection Upload by Casa Museu Eva Klabin
Since 2023, Wikimedia Brasil has partnered with Casa Museu Eva Klabin (Eva Klabin House Museum), a cultural institution located in the Lagoa neighborhood, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The museum was established in 1990 and officially opened to the public in 1995. It is the former home of Eva Klabin, a collector who bequeathed to the city of Rio de Janeiro a collection of almost 50 centuries of works of art, furniture and decorative ornaments, from Ancient Egypt to Impressionism.
In June, continuing our joint activities, we held the Editatona Ecos do Olimpo (Edit-a-thon Echoes of Olympus). The event aimed to improve the quality and quantity of information about Greco-Roman mythology on the Portuguese-language internet, focusing on Wikipedia. It was conceived as a way to spark interest among the editing community in the set of 43 works of art from the institution’s collection uploaded to Wikimedia Commons this month, and was held in the context of the exhibition Echoes of Olympus: Gods and Myths in the Eva Klabin Collection. You can find the dashboard for this activity here, and below, part of the uploaded collection.
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See the Casa Museu Eva Klabin's GLAM page and the uploaded media.
First call of Science Month at Wikipedia in the Czech Republic wrapped-up
Wikimedia CR edit-a-thon participants uploaded photos of Czech scientists
As our first edition of Science Month on Wikipedia got its final round, we have also managed to extend the imagery of Czech scientists. Within the partnership of Czech Academy of Sciences using photos published under Creative Commons licence. Starting this cooperation, we hope that there will be more photos coming in next edition in 2026. See all the 2025 photos here.
Discussion about Wikipedia used at high school programmes
Wikimedians and university teachers Petr Brož and Pavlína Kolínová discussed about ways of using Wikipedia in the classroom at their university departments. You can watch the video here.
Romanian Army in the fight for the liberation of Czechoslovakia
Thanks to the cooperation with the Embassy of Romania in the Czech Republic and several Moravian museums (Muzeum regionu Valašsko, Městské muzeum Valašské Klobouky, Muzeum Bojkovska) a set of several dozen unique photographs has been obtained, which illustrate the role of the Romanian army to the liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945. All uploaded photos can be found here. If you would like to participate in the project, please add file descriptions in your language and place photos in the appropriate articles. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
WiR and science&GLAM tour in France
Wikimedians in Residence, GLAM and the project "Wikifier la science"
For two years, two times three Wikimedian in Residence trained researchers on Wikimedia projects. They carried out several actions with GLAM. These actions were presented at the Wikicamp, an annual meeting of the French-speaking community.
- Alain Aspect, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics, has a message for you: "Can you imagine a world in which Wikipedia doesn't exist? It would be a dystopia! Thank you, thank you for what you do." (Wikipedia edit-a-thon at the Lyon 1 university library)
- Upload of classical archaeology photos: Numistral collection.
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Alain Aspect at the Lyon 1 university library. -
Constantinople. Interior of Saint Sophia. -
Racins of Smilax china at the Droguier in Lyon.
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- Production of a “good article” about the Globe of Library of Lyon.
- Transcription of Marceline Desbordes-Valmore's Le Livre des petits enfans (part of a teachers' competition program). This rare book was scanned by the library of the École normale supérieure de Lyon.
- Three podcasts: Wikimedia and the museum of Toulouse, library, Wikimedia and the French-speaking world in Canada, library projects on Wikimedia in French Guiana.
- Edit-a-thonon women scientists in Burgundian by the GLAM group of Dijon (and creation of a local group, "Cabale du cassis").
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GLAM group of Dijon, "Cabale du cassis". -
Globe of Library of Lyon.
#1lib1ref in France: results
10 libraries, representing 95 professionnals, have added 1 094 new references to Wikipedia.
Edit-a-thon Disappeared building at the Archives of Lyon
Putting disappeared buildings into images on Commons: that was the challenge of the edit-a-thon taking place on June 5th, 2025, at the Archives of Lyon. For the past four years, the archives have been organizing edit-a-thons to showcase their collections. It has been awarded with the label "Culture libre de Wikimédia France". 21 people - volunteers, Wikimedian in Residence and archive professionals - imported 305 images. 34 articles were modified and 2 pages created. The workshop also provided an opportunity for training between archive departments, in order to disseminate the best practices.
Archives of Rennes
Workshop at the Archives of Rennes: geolocation of postcards to map the archives' holdings.
Wiksource: the hunt is on for missing facsimiles
The French Wikisource project has launched a hunt for missing facsimiles. The Part Dieu library in Lyon took part by scanning René Crevel's Accueil. The facsimile had been wanted for over six years.
Convention les sans pagEs at the library of Lyon
The public Part-Dieu library of Lyon hosted the les sans pagEs convention (41 participants). To mark Wiki Loves Pride, the group held a Wikipedia edit-a-thon on LGBTQ+ people and a Wiktionary workshop on the pink color (and the creation of a thesaurus on pink).
World Art Nouveau Day
Nancy's Stanislas library organized an edit-a-thon on June 7th, World Art Nouveau Day. A dozen of images were uploaded. Eight Wikipedia pages were added.
Another publication from Grant for GLAM Indonesia program & Minangkabau Wikisource Competition upadate
This June, we're celebrating the release of ICOM Indonesia Dari Masa ke Masa (ICOM Indonesia Through the Years), a book by grantees of our Grant for GLAM Indonesia program. We also supported a Minangkabau Wikisource Competition, hoping it will get more contributions and be released into its own domain, out of the multilingual Wikisource project.
ICOM Indonesia Through the Years
This June, Syefri Luwis, Dina S. Sinaga and Faizzatus Sa'diyah released their book ICOM Indonesia Dari Masa ke Masa or, ICOM Indonesia Through the Years, which is also the result from their project supported by the Wikimedia Indonesia Grant for GLAM Indonesia program.
The International Council of Museums (ICOM) is an organization that works to promote professional standards in how museums are run and have the mission to strengthen connections between museums worldwide. This organization born in 1946 as a respond to all the damage World War II has caused to museum collections around the globe. In Indonesia, the ICOM Indonesia National Committee didn't even form until 1970, and they didn't really get their organizational structure set up until 2007.
This book shed light on the history of ICOM Indonesia from the 1970s all the way to the 2020s. It also includes archival records of Indonesian museum professionals, like Amir Sutaarga (the National Museum of Indonesia), Nunus Supardi, KR T. Thomas Haryonagoro (Ullen Sentalu Museum), etc., including their participations to the international conferences organized by ICOM. On top of that, the authors even got the chance to access some of the archives from ICOM's headquarter in Paris and published it on the book.
Minangkabau Wikisource Competition
We also held a Proof-read-a-thon competition on Wikisource Minangkabau, which is part of the larger multilingual Wikisource project. This activity was a key effort by the Padang Wikimedia Community to increase contributions, aiming to help the project soon get its own dedicated domain. This would put it in the same league as the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese Wikisource projects, which have already secured theirs.
The event attracted 25 participants who successfully proofread 3,326 pages from 30 books provided by the committee. Most of these manuscripts—29, to be exact—were Minangkabau-language books, along with one Jawi-language, or Malay-Arabic script, book. The competition concluded with Janniba Arifah in first place and Happywu finished as runner-up.
Some of the book list
Special mention
A big and special thanks goes to Hadithfajri and Zhilal Darma, the core committee members behind this activity! They actively gathered Minangkabau-speaking volunteers and supported them from the initial "Kopdar" (Gathering Meeting) and "WikiLatih" (Training) sessions right through to the competition's conclusion.
Isoseismals & Icons
Mapping Knowledge, Sharing Science
The digitisation of Italy’s scientific and cultural heritage continues under the 2025 GLAM programme, funded by Wikimedia Italia in collaboration with ICOM Italia and Creative Commons Italia. This year, the Central Library of the National Research Council (CNR) began the digital preservation of its vast cartographic collection, using advanced tools from its in-house DigiLab. The project focuses on themes such as historic Italian earthquakes and the reuse of abandoned railway routes in Southern Italy — with maps covering geomorphology, hydrology, seismology, and more. These resources, previously only available in physical form,are being uploaded on Wikimedia Commons, supporting open research and collaboration through crowdsourcing and educational outreach. The maps are available in commons:Category:Media from Biblioteca Centrale del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Meanwhile, on 27 June, the “Giovanni Battista Grassi” Museum of Comparative Anatomy at Sapienza University of Rome hosted a public edit-a-thon as part of its own GLAM project. This event invited students, staff, and citizens to contribute new content to Wikimedia platforms, focusing on the museum’s unique hand-painted educational wall charts from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After a practical workshop and collaborative editing session, participants got a guided tour of the museum’s fascinating collections — a perfect example of how open access and local GLAMs can work together to preserve and share scientific knowledge with the world. The charts are available in commons:Category:Media from Museo di Anatomia comparata (Roma)
Concrete knowledge
From March to May, students from the University of Rome Tor Vergata joined forces with Wikimedia Italia and Federbeton Confindustria to strengthen Wikipedia content on concrete and its role in architecture and engineering. The course introduced students to editing on Wikipedia, contributing to Wikidata, and sharing media on Wikimedia Commons — focusing on how to add well-sourced, neutral content to the encyclopedia.
The project culminated in a final edit-a-thon hosted on June 7 at the MAXXI Museum in Rome. Together with experienced Wikipedians, students created and improved 37 articles, covering major works and designers like Fondazione Prada, the Hassan II Bridge, Pier Luigi Nervi’s Palazzetto dello Sport, Jean Nouvel, Santiago Calatrava, and more.
This collaboration didn’t just produce new content — it also helped new editors gain confidence, understand our community principles, and see first-hand how open knowledge connects the academic and professional world with Wikipedia.
Celebrating Albanian Cuisine Through Photography: Winners of the 2025 Contest Announced!
From April 1st to April 30th, 2025, the Wikimedians of Albanian Language User Group held the fourth edition of the Traditional Albanian Food Photography Contest, an open call to document and celebrate the rich culinary traditions of Albania and Kosovo. This annual contest invited participants to upload original photographs of traditional dishes, desserts, and beverages to Wikimedia Commons, helping to build a free visual archive for use on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.
This year’s edition saw 218 photographs submitted by contributors from across the region and beyond, each image telling a visual story of cultural heritage and community through food. From homemade flija and pite to vibrant plates of speca me gjizë, the submissions highlighted the diversity and authenticity of Albanian cuisine.
After the upload period ended, a jury of three experts reviewed the entries based on creativity, technical quality, composition, and overall storytelling. The jury faced a tough challenge due to the high quality and originality of many submissions.
We are excited to share the three winning photographs of the 2025 edition:
1st Place: Gatimetemia – Pispili me miell misri dhe spinaq
2nd Place: Gatimet shqiptare – Kungull misiri me mjaltë dhe arra
3rd Place: Rrezjaediellit – Tasqebap
Each winner received a prize and recognition for their contribution to preserving and sharing Albanian culinary traditions through open knowledge.
Every contribution supports our mission to preserve intangible heritage and bring global visibility to local culture.
Some highlights from the contest:
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Browse all uploaded photos here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Traditional_Albanian_food_photography_competition_-_2025
Open Cultural Data Hackathon in Puebla
From June 12 to 14, the first edition of the Hackatón BAM BUAP (Libraries, Archives, and Museums Hackathon) took place at the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP), Mexico. The event was organized by the Faculty of Visual and Audiovisual Arts (ARPA) and the General Directorate of Libraries (DGB) at the Complejo Cultural Universitario, thanks to the financial support from Wikimedia CH and the cooparation and know how exchange with the Swiss Open Cultural Data Hackathon.
During the two hackathon days, the 93 participants worked on 10 different projects encompassing a wide diversity: The artistic and computing communities established a fruitful symbiosis, enabling the generation of ideas ranging from strictly computational to purely artistic. This included, for example, technical programming solutions applied to audiovisual heritage—based on content from Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata—or plastic and cinematographic creations inspired by artifacts from museum and archival collections.
Pluralist Views on Artifacts in Ethnographic Collections
In 2024, BUAP and the GLAM working group of the Opendata.ch association teamed up to implement a novel method (termed “CultureFLOW”) for the facilitation of artistic creative processes that engage with collective memories, both in the form of heritage artifacts and in the form of living memories, thereby reenacting and reinterpreting them in a co-creative approach.
At the occasion of the hackathon’s opening ceremony, the first series of artistic projects, initiated in 2024, were presented by students of ARPA:
- "La Mithotia de las máscaras" (“mascarade”): At the suggestion of the Burgdorf Castle Museum, a team of students at ARPA produced a short video and an animation film involving several Mexican masks from the museum’s exhibition giving their perspective on them. The video and the animation film have been included in interactive video stations in the museum, which comprise further contributions from people from various cultures living in Burgdorf. The content of the video station is also available on the museum’s website. The cooperation has been complemented by an exhibition in the museum’s foyer about Mexican “bordado” culture and Mexican mask culture, featuring the “bordados” and sculptures used for the animation film.
- "Maximilian of Habsburg": Originating from the territory of today’s Switzerland, the dynasty of the Habsburg has been present in many different countries, and its members have been associated with a variety of historical events that have left their traces in our collective memories. Responding to the challenge to tell a story about the Habsburg from the point of view of Mexican history, a student group has produced a short animation film in 2D about Emperor Maximilan’s last day (execution), which will be screened at Mexico’s Fuerte de Loreto Museum in August 2025.
- "Mujer Lipan" is a stop-motion short film project centering around a statue of a Lipan woman in the collection of the ethnographic museum in Geneva. Its aim is to dive into the collective memory of the Lipan people (the south-easternmost Apache tribe living across the border between Texas and Mexico). For this purpose, the project team is planning to travel to the border region in order to meet representatives of the tribe.
Two further projects were initiated during the Hackatón BAM BUAP 2025:
- "Kalakas Chidas" proposes an interdisciplinary collaboration between Visual Arts and Film students. The concept combines installation art with a "one-minute film", thematizing two human tragedies in a Día de Muertos setting. The historical artifacts used are a collection of 29 papier-mâché calacas (skeleton figures) from the Ethnographic Museum of Neuchâtel that pay homage to the Mexican people and their resilience during the 1985 earthquake, and photographic records from the Historical Archives to commemorate a 1973 Puebla tragedy: the killing of three students and a professor. Currently, the team has completed preliminary sketches and historical research, with institutional support from ARPA’s Director to finalize the project for presentation at the next BAM BUAP Hackathon.
- "Pre-Columbian Masks" was developed during the hackathon using digitized images from the Museum Rietberg’s Pre-Columbian mask collection. It involved two phases: A cyanotype workshop teaching participants this alternative photographic technique, and the creation of a large-scale textile mask collage incorporating cyanotype prints and embroidery, designed to introduce the university community to this collection through mixed-media art.
Starting point and source of inspiration for the artistic processes leading to these projects is most often a museum catalog. For this purpose, we are working towards improving the access to Mesoamerican collections: Institutions holding artifacts from Mesoamerica are being approached in order to ask them to make their collections accessible online in line with the OpenGLAM Principles. They are asked to make their catalogs available in a machine-readable format, and – to the extent possible – to make photographs available for reuse by uploading them to Wikimedia Commons. A first showcase has been provided by Museum Rietberg in Zurich, which has uploaded some highlights from their collections and are ready to upload further high-quality images of their collection items on demand.
Promoting Open GLAM in the State of Puebla
Both the ongoing cooperation with our Swiss partners and the launch of the Hackatón BAM as a recurring annual event are important cornerstones in the development of a fully-fledged Open GLAM programme for the State of Puebla. In the context of this year’s hackathon, the following milestones have been reached:
- First digitization projects and image uploads to Wikimedia Commons, referencing metadata on Wikidata have been initiated, involving ARPA BUAP, BUAP Historical Archives, and the BUAP Art Gallery.
- Concepts have been developed for the new online catalogue of the BUAP Historical Archives and for ARPA’s online audiovisual archive.
- Reflections have been made as to how to support future hackathons with appropriate online infrastructure.
- Student interns have been involved to support digitization and data publication activities of cultural heritage institutions in Puebla. These internship activities provide valuable opportunities for undergraduate students to acquire professional skills and will be further developed in the future.
- Murals on the campus of Complejo Cultural Universitario in Puebla
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CCU 15 años de Arte y Cultura -
Asientos Preferentes -
Confía -
Cumbia te voy a olvidar -
Impulso Humano Creador -
La Rebeldía del Bohemio
Wikifying the International Congress of History of Science and Technology; Librarians and Wikipedia; NZ species edit-a-thons
Wikifying the International Congress of History of Science and Technology
At the beginning of July, Tamsin Braisher and Mike Dickison spent a week as official Wikimedians in Residence at the International Congress of History of Science and Technology, a hybrid in-person and virtual event with more than 450 in-person attendees.
Using a basic photo booth setup with a small LED light on a tripod reflected off the back of a conference banner, they photographed participants for Wikimedia Commons, attaching those photos to people's entries in Wikidata and Wikipedia pages. One or both Wikimedians staffed a table, where they walked people through creating or improving their ORCID profiles, checked Wikipedia articles about researchers or their areas of interest, and explained how Wikipedia worked. There were excellent conversations with researchers wanting to know about students editing Wikipedia as a classroom assignment, how they can improve inaccurate or out-of-date Wikipedia articles, and different ways they could use Wikidata to enhance their research projects. The Wikimedians also attended some of the presentations, which identified several topics that could be the basis for Wikipedia collaborations between researchers and the editing communities in their own countries.
The Wikimedians interviewed Barbara Hof (User:STANDPROFILE), a historian who has also been an editor since 2009, about her project improving the Wikipedia article science diplomacy, a great example of a Wikipedia editor and subject experts working together. During the event Mike took sketchnotes on an atrium whiteboard to let attendees see what the Wikimedians were up to; for a detailed log of everything achieved, see Wikifying the ICHST. This was the third event in Tamsin and Mike's Wikifying a conference series, and they now look forward to writing a guide to wikifying conferences for other Wikimedians.
- Headshots from the ICHST
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Erika Milam -
Penelope Hardy -
Johannes Mattes -
Ruth Barton -
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Adam Sundberg -
Edwin Rose -
Pascal Marichalar
Librarians and Wikipedia: An Ideal Information Partnership
Auckland Museum Librarians Madison Pine and Bethany Gwynne have been learning about how they can use their library expertise to contribute to the Wikimedia movement. Read more about their experiences as new editors in the June issue of Te Rau Ora Library Life magazine (page 25).
Next month Auckland Museum will be hosting Women in Wartime, an event supporting the international Women in Red movement, spotlighting those who shaped Aotearoa New Zealand’s wartime history.
New Zealand Species Edit-a-thons
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Over two Saturdays in August, experienced editors in Wellington will be running Wikipedia edit-a-thons to create and improve articles focused on Aotearoa New Zealand's unique native flora and fauna. All are welcome to contribute to this effort. For those that wish to attend in person bookings are required with a koha of $5 each day attended. The events will be held on Saturday the 2nd & Saturday the 9th of August 2025 at Ōtari-Wilton’s Bush, Wellington.
Book at events.humanitix.com/nz-species-editathon-wellington
The organisers would like to encourage anyone interested in expanding New Zealand species articles in any language Wikipedia to contribute.
Mapping Heritage Buildings on Wikidata and Wiki Heritage Fellowship
Mapping heritage buildings on Wikidata
As part of efforts to promote open access to cultural heritage data, the Heritage Conservation Integration User Group, in collaboration with Wikimedia community members in Nigeria and ICOMOS Nigeria, recently conducted a training focused on mapping heritage buildings on Wikidata. The project brought together Wikimedians and heritage professionals to enhance the visibility of Nigeria’s built heritage on open platforms.
Participants were introduced to creating and editing items on Wikidata, with special focus on documenting heritage buildings. They also learned how to generate SPARQL queries to visualize these buildings on interactive maps. This integration of structured data and geospatial tools empowers professionals and the public alike to access and explore Nigeria’s rich architectural legacy through Wikidata.
Introducing the Wiki Heritage Fellowship
The Wiki Heritage Fellowship is a newly launched initiative by the Wikimedia User Group Nigeria. In collaboration with a youth leadership organization and the Lagos State Records and Archives Bureau, the campaign seeks to train heritage professionals in the digitization of archives and records.
The fellowship was met with overwhelming interest, receiving 576 applications from across Nigeria. After a rigorous jury review, 12 fellows will be selected to participate in the pilot program. The initiative aims to build a new generation of digital archivists committed to the preservation and open sharing of Nigeria’s cultural heritage.
This fellowship marks a significant step toward sustainable digital heritage practices in Nigeria, supporting the broader goals of the GLAM-Wiki movement.
Find more details on the projects meta page [1]
Wikimedia MKD Strengthens Ties with Academic Institutions: A Wikimedian-in-Residence at the Institute of Macedonian Literature
Wikimedia Macedonia continues to expand its GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) program in 2025, placing greater emphasis on deepening collaboration with academic and cultural institutions across the country. As part of this strategic effort, a Wikimedian-in-Residence has been placed at the Institute of Macedonian Literature—an esteemed research institution dedicated to the study, analysis, and preservation of Macedonian literature and cultural history.
The partnership with the Institute began in 2023 and has already proven to be highly productive and mutually beneficial. Through the presence of the Wikimedian-in-Residence, the Institute is actively contributing to the enrichment of the Macedonian Wikipedia, particularly in areas such as literary criticism, the history of Macedonian literature, literary theory, and biographies of notable Macedonian authors and scholars.
The role of a Wikimedian-in-Residence is to serve as a bridge between the host institution and the Wikimedia community. Their duties include facilitating access to reliable academic sources, supporting editors in creating high-quality and well-sourced content, organizing workshops and educational events for staff and students, and promoting the release of materials under open licenses.
So far in 2025, 30 new articles have been published on the Macedonian Wikipedia as part of this collaboration. These articles cover lesser-known literary figures, historical literary movements, and underrepresented works—greatly expanding the publicly available digital knowledge about Macedonian literature and culture.
This initiative is in line with the broader goals of the GLAM program, which seeks to connect institutions with the global public through free and open knowledge. The Institute of Macedonian Literature has shown exceptional willingness and commitment to engaging in this knowledge-sharing movement, contributing not only to national visibility but also to the international recognition of Macedonian literary heritage.
What's up in GLAM in Poland
Sharing Open Culture: Guest Lecture at the University of Rzeszów
On June 2, Kamila Neuman, Open Culture Manager at Wikimedia Polska, gave an online guest lecture to cultural studies students at the University of Rzeszów. The session was part of a course on GLAM institutions and best practices.
Kamila introduced the idea of openness in cultural institutions in the digital age and presented how Wikimedia projects — including Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons — can serve as effective tools for promoting access to cultural heritage. She referred to the report by the Swedish Museums Association, which highlights Wikipedia as the most effective channel for disseminating digital collections.
She also shared examples of ongoing collaborations between GLAM institutions and Wikimedia Polska, spoke about the role of Wikimedians in Residence, and encouraged students to explore digital volunteering opportunities — such as contributing to the ongoing editing campaign WikiChełmoński.
The meeting was attended by 15 students. Special thanks to Dr. Marcelina Jakimowicz for organizing the session and to Kacper Szymański for initiating the invitation.
Wikimedia at Europeana 2025 – on safeguarding and reusing digital heritage
On June 11–12, 2025, the international conference Europeana 2025 – Preserve, Protect, Reuse took place in Warsaw as part of Poland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union. The event, hosted at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, brought together participants from across Europe, including Kamila Neuman, Open Culture Manager at Wikimedia Polska.
Organized in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the National Institute of Cultural Heritage, the conference addressed key challenges around preservation, protection, and reuse of digital cultural heritage. At the center of the discussion was the common European data space for cultural heritage, explored as a tool to support the cultural sector and broader society.
Kamila took part in several engaging sessions and workshops — including a hands-on impact workshop led by Jason Evans (National Wikimedian, National Library of Wales), which introduced the Europeana Impact Playbook and inspired reflections on how this tool might support planning and evaluation in GLAM-Wiki partnerships.
One of the many thought-provoking thematic blocks, “Reuse Meets Copyright in the Age of AI,” featured Gabriele Aroni, who explored legal and ethical questions around the reuse of cultural heritage in video games, and Camille Françoise, board member of Wikimedia France, who discussed how stronger national cooperation can help promote the public domain more effectively across Europe.
On the second day, Kamila also attended the panel “Opening up the data space: expanding access and reuse”, moderated by Maja Drabczyk (Centrum Cyfrowe). Panelists — including Karol Zgódka (Polish Ministry of Culture), Brigitte Vézina (Creative Commons), Sebastian Majstorovic (EleutherAI), and Marie-Véronique Leroi (French Ministry of Culture) — discussed how the European data space can better serve not only cultural institutions, but also education, tourism, creative sectors, and science. Much of the conversation focused on barriers to reuse and how to prevent dominant tech platforms from monopolizing public domain content. The panel highlighted that openness must go hand in hand with fairness and inclusivity, to ensure that open data serves the public good and fosters creativity and innovation across sectors.
One clear takeaway from the discussion was the importance of maintaining a positive cycle of knowledge sharing, even amid growing concerns and uncertainties related to the impact of AI.
Polish perspectives on reuse: copyright, practice, and potential
In June, Kamila Neuman, Open Culture Manager at Wikimedia Polska, attended the event "Reuse po polsku" ("Reuse in Polish"), organized by Centrum Cyfrowe in cooperation with the European Commission as part of a broader EU campaign to raise awareness about copyright and the reuse of digital heritage.
The event brought together experts from academia, cultural institutions, and creative sectors to explore how copyright law affects open access to digital collections in Poland. Speakers highlighted both challenges and opportunities, emphasizing that well-designed legal frameworks can support — rather than hinder — openness. Case studies and new research reports showed how institutions are navigating recent changes, including the implementation of the EU DSM Directive.
A key part of the event was a hands-on workshop, “Let’s Unlock the Collections!”, where participants worked in groups on real-life challenges related to reuse in education, research, and creative work. The sessions confirmed that copyright remains a complex issue, but also demonstrated the value of cross-sector dialogue and knowledge sharing.
Curator-led webinar supports WikiChełmoński editing campaign
As part of the ongoing WikiChełmoński editing campaign, a webinar titled “A New Beginning? Kuklówka and the Late Work of Józef Chełmoński” was held in June. The event was co-hosted and moderated by Kamila Neuman, Open Culture Manager at Wikimedia Polska.
The first part of the session featured Dr. Arkadiusz Krawczyk, curator from the National Museum in Poznań – one of the institutions co-organizing the campaign. He introduced participants to Chełmoński’s later creative period, sharing valuable historical context and offering insights that supported deeper engagement with related Wikipedia articles. His talk provided a solid, informative foundation and an inspiring perspective for contributors.
The second part of the webinar included a conversation with the campaign coordinators from both partner museums: Marta Tomczak (National Museum in Poznań), Agata Jabłońska, and Joanna Szytuła (National Museum in Kraków). Together, they reflected on why cultural institutions join editing campaigns like this one – and why it’s worth participating.
The editing contest has been extended to 13 July, in line with the extended exhibition at the National Museum in Poznań, where Chełmoński’s late works from Kuklówka are presented in the museum’s distinctive cobalt-blue room.
In August, the exhibition will open at the National Museum in Kraków, where five Wikipedia articles selected from the WikiChełmoński campaign will be featured in the exhibition space via QR codes. We warmly invite you to participate in the campaign and to visit the exhibitions!
More info: WikiChełmoński campaign website.
Registration is now open for GLAM WikiCon 2025!
We’re excited to announce that registration for GLAM Wiki 2025 is officially open! Join us in Lisbon, Portugal, from 30 October to 1 November 2025 for a global gathering dedicated to open access, cultural heritage, and the future of GLAM-Wiki collaboration.
🌐 A global conference for the Wikimedia, heritage, and open culture communities
📍 Lisbon, Portugal
📅 30 October – 1 November 2025
🎟️ Register now to secure your spot!
👉 Register here: Pretix
What to expect
GLAM Wiki 2025 will bring together wikimedians, cultural professionals, and open knowledge advocates from around the world. The conference will feature:
- Interactive sessions, from hands-on workshops to creative formats
- Conversations on resilience, equity, and sustainability in the cultural sector
- Opportunities to connect across geographies, disciplines, and languages
- Cultural tours and other special activities to deepen our sense of community
Whether you’re involved in local initiatives or global platforms, GLAM Wiki 2025 is a space to share, learn, and build together.
Why “Resilience”?
The theme of GLAM Wiki 2025 is 'Resilience: Shaping the Future Through Community and Openness' and it calls us to reflect on how our communities respond to crises, adapt to change, and build sustainable models of collaboration in the face of social, environmental, and technological challenges.
We look forward to welcoming you to bring diverse perspectives and experiences on the theme.
Secure your spot!
- You can register to attend the conference until 30 September 2025, or until all 300 seats are filled, via Pretix.
- Please note that a registration fee of 95 Euros is required to help cover logistical costs, refreshments, and meals, ensuring a pleasant experience for all attendees.
- If you are a scholarship recipient or a conference volunteer, please enter the code sent to your email to waive the fee.
If you have any further questions regarding the conference, please check our FAQ page or reach out to the organizers via e-mail: glamwiki2025
wikimedia.pt
Hope to see you in Lisbon! - Core Organization Team GLAM WikiCon 2025
June highlights from Wikimedia Serbia and beginning of new accredited seminar
Global #1Lib1Ref Learning Clinic
As the May edition of the #1Lib1Ref campaign ended, a global Learning clinic was held in collaboration with the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia Argentina, and the Let’s Connect program. The session showcased a variety of tools and resources available to both organizers and participants, aiming to improve the campaign’s impact and accessibility.
Content Partnerships Hub application
Wikimedia Serbia actively supported the development of the Content Partnerships Hub proposal, alongside Wikimedia Sweden and other community partners. The goal of the Hub is to foster stronger international collaboration with cultural and heritage institutions. Wikimedia Serbia contributed through consultations, reviewing application materials, and providing feedback to ensure an inclusive proposal that will support GLAM communities.
Accredited seminar on Lifelong learning
The first accredited seminar titled “Wiki Seniors in Libraries: Librarians as creators of innovative knowledge for the third age” was successfully held. Hosted by the Children's Department “Dragan Lukić” of the Belgrade City Library, the seminar targeted library professionals interested in developing lifelong learning programs and supporting educational initiatives for older adults.
Upcoming Wikipedian in Residence in Čačak
Preparations are underway for a new Wikimedian in Residence project at the City Library "Vladislav Petković Dis" in Čačak, aiming to support knowledge sharing and digital access to cultural content.
International Archives Week 2025; SAPA Performing Arts; GLAM Meeting Biel/Bienne
International Archives Week 2025
The International Archives Week had the subject accessibilty, archives for everyone. Running from the 9th until the 13th of June it is a celebration of the work done in archives. Wikimedia CH hostet a panel discussion on the different approaches of archiving and digitizing. Archiving practice can be complex regarding the different working ways. Looking into the past might change the view of today. With artistic practice objects can be put up to life by putting past objects in relation with today's reality. An edit-a-thon on a theme that is presented and worked on by scientists can be fruitful for both sides: wikimedians and institution. The goals and the ideas can be found on the project page.
SAPA Performing Arts
The SAPA project is getting bigger. Wikidata items will be linked with the images on commons. As performing arts is a fluid medium that disappears normally straight after the performance this project makes it more durable. For the Wiki projects it can be quite inspiring as it puts human life into tech platforms in a more traditional way refering to human values in the performing arts. The SAPA archive is community based and works also with volunteers. Showing the theatre and performance history can be helpful for understanding today's performance practice.
Once GLAM institutions have entered open licensed data and media they will be shown in the Cassandra GLAM statistical tool that maps the landscape of Swiss cultural institutions.
GLAM Meeting Biel/Bienne
As last event of the GLAM meeting series we did a workshop with ceramics together inviting also the director of the museum. The idea was to connect not only via laptops but also as human beings. Together several objects referring to masks were created. While working on the objects conversations on personal stories and experiences refering to the creating object were told. Shifting perspectives creates a space for reflecting on the diversity of value systems and knowledge forms. It offers an opportunity to rethink the familiar, challenge ingrained habits, and open up possibilities for structural and societal change. In a contemplative atmosphere of shared practice, solidarity can be strengthen by practice, exchanging, and reflection.
New Featured Pictures
Khalili Foundation
There were two Featured Picture awards this month for images from the Khalili Collection of Islamic Art. On Wikimedia Commons, a unanimous decision of ten judges gave the award to Instrument Case with Shuttered Mirror by Muhammad Baqir. As a result, it was added to the gallery of non-photographic media of people in groups. This puts Muhammad Baqir's work alongside some of the world’s most famous paintings, including works by Degas, Renoir, Manet, Rembrandt, and Hopper. This is the fifth Featured Picture award on Commons for the Khalili Collections.
On Arabic Wikipedia, a Tunisian gold dinar was given Featured Picture status by a unanimous decision of eight judges. The image is used to illustrate the Fatimid coinage article in four different language versions of Wikipedia. It ran on the front page of Arabic Wikipedia as Picture Of The Day on 21 June, when the front page had 48,000 visitors. This is the tenth image from the Khalili Collections to get a Featured Picture award on Arabic Wikipedia. In total there have been 23 awards for Khalili Collections images during this project.
A month ago, volunteers had just begun French translations of Khalili Collection of Islamic Art and Khalili Collection of Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage. Those are now complete.
There continue to be new translations of articles I created. This month we have:
- a short summary of the Musa va 'Uj article in Persian (the 4th language for this article)
- the Dar al-Kiswa article fully translated into Arabic (the 3rd language for this article)
- the Heaven on Earth: Art from Islamic Lands article fully translated into Arabic (the 3rd language for this article)
- the Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam article fully translated into Arabic (the 5th language for this article)
This brings the total new articles resulting from this project to 85, 15 of which are in Arabic.
The Egyptian Arabic Wikipedia has a newly translated article, List of museums of Islamic Art. It includes a lot of content that I added to the English version, including entries for the two relevant Khalili Collections. Arabic Wikipedia has a new translation of the Talismanic Shirt article, including two images from the Khalili Collections.
I submitted a talk for the Museums+Tech Conference (happening in December) about how the Khalili Collections/Wikimedia UK partnership is a model for how heritage institutions can use their collections to fill cultural gaps on Wikipedia. This submission will now go through anonymous review.
The Plácido Zuloaga article was linked from the "On This Day" section of the English Wikipedia home page on July 1, the anniversary of his death. This resulted in 2,900 extra views in a 24 hour period.
Most work this month has been on the UNESCO Memory of the World International Register, about which there is a separate report.
There are no new image uploads this month. I am gradually working on a new article about Islamic Metalwork.
The stats server gives 4,684,135 image views this month.
June meetings
UN Tech Over Wikipedia
Wikimedia NYC and United Nations held a Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon, United Nations Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon.
LA Wiknic 2025
Los Angeles wikimedians held a wiknic, LA/Wiknic 2025
San Diego June 2025
San Diego wikimedians held a meetup, San Diego/June 2025.
Lez Wiki
Lesbian Herstory Archives held workshops, Lez Wiki.
DCCAH Pride Heritage Month
DCCAH and Wikimedia DC held a workshop, DCCAH Pride Heritage Month Wikipedia Edit-a-thon.
BHL Transition update, LivingData2025 and Women Genera paper
BHL Transition update
As a result of the Smithsonian no longer hosting the administrative functions of BHL from 1 January 2026 (see this announcement), BHL has released a call for support which has been shared widely by many BHL collaborators/champions across various networks. If you are aware of any institution that may be interested in hosting BHL please share that information with them.
The most recent update on BHL's transition can be found here.
LivingData2025 Conference
The session being organised by Anabela Plos and BHL’s Wikimedian in Residence Tiago Lubiana titled Wikimedia and Biodiversity Data: A Mutualistic Relationship in the Open Knowledge Ecosystem has had an increase in time allocated for presentations.
Ambrosia10's abstract submitted to this session titled “Integrating research expedition data from the Biodiversity Heritage Library into the Wikiverse” has been accepted. Tiago Lubiana and Giovanna Fontenelle's abstract The impact of the BHL-Wiki working group in making biodiversity heritage knowledge accessible to all has also been accepted.
Paper published based on BHL powered research
A paper by Ambrosia10, S.v.Mering and other collaborators titled The women honoured in flowering plant genera: From myth to reality has been published. BHL played a significant role by providing access to the scientific publications we used to confirm the naming of these plants. This paper is the analysis of the dataset we created based on that research.
Data upload achieved
This is the ninth 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.
Data upload
The long-promised data set is now available on Wikidata. This is complete up to 2023 (the 2025 inscriptions will be added later this summer). This is a big step towards making it easier for Wikipedia communities to maintain list articles about the international register. Here is a view of the data for a specific region (Latin American and the Caribbean). Lists can be generated by nominating country, by date of inscription, or by title of inscription. As a result of this upload, nearly 600 broken links from Wikidata to the old International Register have been deleted and replaced with current links.
The official online International Register has many options for exploring the set of inscriptions, including filtering by date or by country. Similar possibilities are available with the Wikidata set, which additionally allows new ways to research and present the register. Hannah Drummen, the consultant employed at UNESCO, extracted some important data, including collection sizes and copyright statuses, by reading the individual nomination forms. These facts can now be queried as data; here are the inscriptions with the largest collection sizes. Here is an overview of the intellectual property statuses of the inscriptions, which is useful for identifying where we might be able to share digital media.
It is now just minutes of work to ask Wikidata for all the countries that successfully nominated cultural heritage to the register in an given year, and plot the results on a map. This can be adapted to show countries that added to the register in a particular year for the first time. This can be adapted to show all the countries represented on the register, colour-coded by year of first admission (use the menu on the right to select the years). Another virtue of the data set is cross-searching other heritage registers along with the MoW international register. For example, we can produce country profiles that list a country's contributions to the MoW registers, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and other UNESCO registers.
The next phase of the data upload will include the locations of the documentary heritage. This is a complicated task in terms of reconciling the institution names to what already exists in Wikidata. I had a meeting with Sara Thomas of Wikimedia UK who advised me on the best process to achieve this.
Hannah Drummen has moved on from this project, and we express our gratitude for all her hard work. Her replacement will start work in July.
Images on Commons
Hannah uploaded four public domain images to Wikimedia Commons: these are stills from the Westerbork film.
There has long been a problem with how MoW images are tagged on Wikimedia Commons: no distinction is made between the international, regional, and national MoW registers. The tagging is also not very precise. As a result, a great many files are tagged "Memory of the World Register" which are not related to the MoW International Register. This in turn means that measures of image views are inaccurate. I have written a proposal for how to sort this out and it has been endorsed by the community. So it now remains to find time to implement this.
Publicity
Florence Devouard, Wikimedian In Residence at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), has put in a poster to the Wikimania conference about the collaborations between UN agencies and Wikimedia, stressing the role of WIRs. The poster mentions the current project and that it is unusual in that the WIR is hosted by the Khalili Foundation rather than the agency itself.
Hannah created a brochure for Wikimedia contributors, setting out how they can help represent the MoW International Register. My intention is to adapt some of this into an article and a project page, both giving guidance and encouragement to the volunteer communities. The UNESCO MoW office have identified books, stickers and other small gifts that we can use to motivate volunteers in an on-wiki challenge. We are aiming to run this in the month of August.
I have submitted a talk to the GLAM-Wiki conference (30 October-1 November in Lisbon) about the current project.
New Wikipedia articles
- Spanish: Ram Khamhaeng Inscription
- Catalan: Utrecht Psalter
- Hungarian: Los Olvidados
Page views on Wikipedia
There were 16,922 views of list articles about the MoW International Register this month, down somewhat from the previous two months, which is to be expected since there is always a drop-off for Wikipedia views in the Summer as universities and schools end their term.
Celebrating Heritage and Faith: Wiki Loves Ramadan 2025
The Wiki Loves Ramadan 2025 campaign concluded successfully this year, marking another milestone in documenting the cultural, spiritual, and social dimensions of Ramadan on Wikimedia platforms. Led by Wiki Knowledge Park, the initiative brought together voices and stories from across the world, adding knowledge that reflects diverse lived experiences of Ramadan across regions, communities, and traditions.
Launched in early March and running through April 2025, the campaign invited participants to contribute articles, images, and data related to Ramadan on Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata, Wikiquote, and other sister projects. The central theme emphasized documenting Ramadan beyond its religious aspects—focusing also on local traditions, art, literature, cuisine, architecture, and public events that shape the month in different cultures.
A Global Movement of Local Narratives
This year, 29 communities across 18 countries actively participated in the campaign, including contributors from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nigeria, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Ghana, Pakistan, and beyond. What made this year’s edition remarkable was the scale of engagement and the diversity of contributions. From small online edit-a-thons to large offline workshops, communities adapted the campaign to fit their local needs, cultural contexts, and volunteer capacities.
Over 280 participants joined the movement, including 212 editors and 68 organizers. The campaign led to the creation and improvement of more than 3,225 contributions across Wikimedia projects. On Wikipedia alone, over 2,800 articles were created or significantly expanded. Participants also contributed content to Wikimedia Commons (141 files), Wikiquote (166 entries), Wikidata, Wikivoyage, and even Wikimedia Incubator. Each contribution added depth and nuance to global understanding of Ramadan practices.
Empowering Communities through Knowledge Sharing
In addition to content contributions, Wiki Loves Ramadan 2025 served as a platform for capacity building and community empowerment. Organizers from newer and emerging communities received mentorship and technical support to run events, apply for rapid grants, and coordinate locally. Several outreach events focused on mobile editing, cultural documentation, and GLAM-Wiki strategies to engage libraries, archives, and local historians.
By encouraging content creation in multiple languages, especially underrepresented ones, the campaign helped reduce knowledge gaps on topics that rarely find space in mainstream narratives. This also aligned with Wikimedia’s Movement Strategy goals, particularly around “Knowledge Equity” and “Global South Engagement.”
Recognition and Celebration
To celebrate the efforts of participants, Wiki Knowledge Park organized a special “Celebrating the Global Winners” event in June 2025 in Dubai. Contributors from different countries were recognized for their outstanding work, creativity, and consistency. Digital certificates and international gift vouchers were awarded, and the event became a space for cultural exchange and reflection on the importance of Ramadan in shaping individual and collective identities.
Looking Ahead
The success of Wiki Loves Ramadan 2025 signals the growing interest in thematic, cultural campaigns that resonate with diverse communities. It also shows how faith-based heritage and cultural expression can be respectfully and thoughtfully documented through Wikimedia platforms.
Organizers are already planning for the next edition in 2026, aiming to expand the campaign’s reach into more African, Middle Eastern, and Central Asian communities. There are also ongoing discussions about integrating more GLAM partnerships to support archival access and open licensing of Ramadan-related materials.
July's GLAM events
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