GLAM/Newsletter/October 2025/Contents/Indonesia report

This Month in GLAM – Volume XV, Issue X, October 2025

Indonesia report

WikiCommon community meet-ups, Wikisource trainings, and the announcement of Grant for GLAM Indonesia

Wikimedia Commons and Wikisource Activities in October

In October, several communities across Indonesia held Wikimedia Commons meet-ups and Wikisource Training session to enhance contributors’ skill and documentation Indonesian’s culture and heritage. Banjar negara community (12/10), Yogyakarta Community (18/10), east Java Community and Bandarlampung Community (25/10) organized Wikimedia Commons meet-up, each with different theme. In Banjarnegara, contributors documented traditional snacks from Banjar negara, many of them still exist today and can be found in Banjarnegara. The meet-up aimed to introduce traditional snacks to wider audience through freely licensed images on Wikimedia Commons.

Yogyakarta Community gathered at Museum Affandi, where the contributors in that meet ups they documented museum collection and some artworks. The Gathering made contributors explored culture and legacy in museum Affandi.

Wikimedians from East Java joined the Gandrung Sewu Festival, which is an obvious event to celebrate east Javanese tradition. It was a perfect opportunity to capture Indonesian’s performing art. During the event, contributors documented the beauty of the culture and share it on Wikimedia Commons to promote open access to local heritage.

At the same time Bandarlampung community gathered at Museum Lampung “Ruwai Jurai”, contributors documented museum collections and showcased the diversity of Lampung’s cultural heritage, with exhibits covering the province’s history, culture, flora, fauna, geology, and ethnography.

Meanwhile Denpasar and Palembang held a training session for increase number of contributors. Denpasar Community (25/10) held a Wikisource Training session with Institut Agama Hindu Negeri Mpu Kuturan Singaraja to support and introduce WikiPustaka Competition 2025 . The training focused on proofreading and validating text in Balinese script. Training participants understand the tools, code and workflow on Wikisource through the training session the participants were encouraged and prepared to join WikiPustaka competition.

Palembang Wikimedia Community (26/10) organized Wikimedia Commons Training to introduced Wikimedia Commons to new users. During the session, participants learned how to upload images and apply proper licensed, understand Commons policies. The community also encouraged newcomers, especially that interested in photography, to contribute their work to Wikimedia Commons and become part of the Open Knowledge.

All these events encouraged the participants and continued the enthusiasm of Wikimedian in supporting Open knowledge. Through Commons and Wikisource, communities across the country are helping preserve Indonesia’s cultural, artistic, and literary heritage, making it freely accessible to the world.

Announcement of the Grant for GLAM Indonesia recipients

Last September we opened a call for individual, community or GLAM institution to submit their proposal for Grant for GLAM Indonesia. During the open call, we received more than 180 proposals submitted by applicants from 27 provinces in Indonesia, which is a very great number for this small grant!

Here are the list of the recipients:

Luna Hapsari & Kris K., propose a digitization project for over 200 tangible cultural heritage artifacts from the Banda Cultural Museum collection. These bilingual digital archives will be disseminated openly and freely through the Banda Heritage and Culture Foundation website, Wikimedia Commons, and the Banda Naira University network.
Sadri Rahmad, propose a project for documenting and archiving the cultural heritage of the Dayak Ibanik-Bidayuhik in West Kalimantan, specifically focusing on oral stories and artifacts. The project will involve recording oral narratives (including myths, legends, and history) from tribal elders, as well as digitizing photos of artifacts.
Abrid Madilantoro & Tyas Panorama Nan Cerah, propose a reactivation and revitalitation of the ornamental styles of Nusantara manuscripts, such as the Wedana Renggan from Javanese texts and illuminations from ancient Qur'an manuscripts, into the digital realm. Their main activity involves tracing ornaments from public domain manuscripts (e.g., the Leiden and National Library collections), re-illustrating them as high-resolution vector visual assets (with a target of at least 40 illustrations), and share them freely to Wikimedia Commons.