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Mexico report

How Wikimedia México is training cultural and government institutions as wikimedians.

By Christian (WMMX)

How Wikimedia Mexico promotes the growth of Mexico's cultural sector with free knowledge

Cultural institutions and Wikipedia

After fifteen years of collaboration with the cultural sector, we organized, for the first time, a seminar focused on training and developing new skills for staff working in these institutions.

Leveraging our experience organizing learning activities such as the School of Wikipedian Women, we reflected on the need to train staff responsible for preserving the collections of libraries, archives, and museums as Wikipedians.

Work on stabilization and restoration of documentary heritage.

Through sessions aimed at those who assist us in the process of researching references for edit-a-thons, in the creation of encyclopedic articles, and who consistently disseminate knowledge from their respective spaces— plus to being those who best know, safeguard, and preserve the heritage—we held the First BAM Training Seminar. This seminar lasted three months and culminated with the "Heritage Through Time" edit-a-thon held at the San Ignacio de Loyola Vizcaínas College.

Postal service by carriage

During the three months of seminar, we worked with the staff from 35 libraries and archives on a list of articles to improve and on the curation of images to donate to Wikimedia Commons. Among the participating institutions are: the Network of Libraries and Archives of the Historic District of Mexico City (RBACH), Central Library of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the Ignacio Cubas Library of the Archive of the Nation, the Miguel Lerdo de Tejada Library of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit through its Juárez Library of the National Palace, Library and Historical Collection of the National Lottery, Postal Library of Correos de México, the Library of San Carlos Museum, the Library of Mayer Museum, Historical Archive of the College of San Ignacio de Loyola Vizcaínas, Museum of Popular Art, the Library of Mexican Gastronomy of the Hérdez Foundation, the Library of the Casa de Carranza Museum, the National Classical Theater Company and the Library of the Postgraduate Program in Arts and Design of the UNAM.

In this first edition of the seminar, in addition to the sessions about What is Wikipedia?, How to release images on Wikimedia Commons? and What are the common causes of article deletion on Wikipedia?, we addressed the following topics:

The Red Book 1520-1867. Its aim was to showcase the heroic sacrifices of various figures from Mexican history.

Creative Commons Licenses and the Public Domain, a session facilitated by Salvador Alcántar, lawyer and Master in Information and Communication Technologies, founding member of WMMX and Creative Commons Mexico. From 2015 to 2019, he has advised the Mexico City Government on technological innovation, e-government, digital communication, and social media. He is a member of the UNAM research team on privacy and anonymity on social networks, a member of the Collective for Free Access to Culture, and author of a thesis on digital piracy in the publishing sector. He is also a public domain activist.

We also had a session focused to copyright for cultural institutions, facilitated by Patricia Díaz Charquero, a lawyer with a master's degree in International Relations, researcher, and activist in technology and human rights. She is the chairwoman of DATA Uruguay, coordinator of Data and Society Lab (Datysoc), and coordinator of the Latin American Civil Society Alliance for Fair Access to Knowledge (Alianza A2K Latinoamérica). She teaches in the Master's programs in Documentary Heritage and Innovation Management at the University of the Republic of Uruguay.

The sessions dedicated to Wikidata and databases were led by Luis Álvarez, professor and researcher in the Bachelor's Degree Program in Art Studies and Cultural Management at the Autonomous University of Aguascalientes. He holds a PhD in Sociocultural Studies, a Master's degree in Aesthetics and Art, and a Bachelor's degree in Communication Sciences. He is a candidate for the National System of Researchers. His areas of study goes from the commons in art and culture; the dissemination of cultural heritage through open and free tools; copyright and the public domain; collaborative artistic communities; the production of sound art and soundscapes; as well as open access publishing and open science. He has been a member of WMMX since 2014 and vice president since 2021. He was a member of Creative Commons Mexico from 2020 to 2024. He is author of the book *The Collaborative Construction of Wikipedia in Spanish*. Member of the Free School, a collective of artists, teachers and researchers focused on art, which creates laboratories, archives and practices that celebrate affection, community and collaboration, in an independent space in Aguascalientes.

Heritage Through Time Edit-a-thon

The closing activity of the seminar was the Heritage Through Time Edit-a-thon, held at one of Mexico City's most emblematic educational institutions, College San Ignacio de Loyola Vizcaínas. Founded in 1767, it was the first secular school for women in America and is the only institution from the colonial era that has operated continuously in Mexico. It began as a school for orphaned girls, among them Josefa Ortiz Téllez Girón, also known as Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, a key figure in the Mexican War of Independence.

The inaugural session included Daniel de Lira Luna, member of the Mexican Committee of UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme; Elena Sánchez Cortina, Coordinator of the Cultural Collection at the Colegio de las Vizcaínas; Iriana Prado, coordinator of the Network of Libraries and Archives of the Historic District of Mexico City; Rocío Sánchez, head of the Library at Casa de Carranza Museum; and Christian Cariño, Officer of BAM, the Cultural Program of Wikimedia Mexico. In this discussion, we reflected on the importance of safeguarding, digitizing, and disseminating knowledge through Wikimedia projects and how the participation of BAM staff in these projects directly impacts the construction of the world's memory and the preservation of heritage.

First historical, artistic and monumental almanac of the Mexican Republic

Regarding the donation of archives, 3362 high resolution images were released on Wikimedia Commons, ranging from documentation of conservation and preservation processes such as that of the Restoration Laboratory of the Central Library of UNAM; unpublished photographs, historical documents, decrees, complete books, two from the Miguel Lerdo de Tejada Library: the First Historical Almanac of the Mexican Republic, and the Red Book, which narrates historical moments in the history of Mexico; one more from the Old Collection of the Franz Mayer Museum Library: Amorum Emblemata of 1606; to the hundreds of lottery tickets that have been issued from 1779 to 1953 and that were donated by the Archive of the National Lottery of Mexico.

What will happen with this generation of the BAM Training Seminar? We at WMMX will support the process of improving, creating, and illustrating articles based on the donated materials. We will create elements in Wikidata and organize edit-a-thons with several of the participating institutions on 2026 to continue digitizing and releasing their collections for integration into Wikimedia projects.

Mexican National Lottery Draw, May 9, 1952

If you want to learn more about this Wikimedia Mexico initiative, we invite you to read this article written by the Excelsior newspaper and to consult the categories of this donation:


BAM, the Cultural Program of Wikimedia Mexico won the Info Awards 2025 prize for Good Practices

BAM, the Cultural Program of WMMX won the Info Awards 2025 prize for Good Practices

Due to this BAM Training Seminar, BAM, the Cultural Program of Wikimedia Mexico won the Info Awards 2025 prize for Good Practices, nominated at the same category than the Library of Chile and the Coordination of the Library System of the University of Guanajuato.

The Info Awards, an award that recognizes innovation, leadership, and excellence of archives, libraries, and museums throughout Iberoamerica, were created in 2018 by Infotecarios, a collaborative Iberoamerican community that promotes to recognize those professionals, projects and institutions that are making a difference. The 2025 edition featured categories and projects in Library and Information Science.



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