GLAM/Newsletter/October 2025/Single

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

Belgium report • Croatia report • Indonesia report • Italy report • Mexico report • Netherlands report • New Zealand report • Nigeria report • Poland report • Portugal report • Serbia report • Switzerland report • UK report • USA report • Biodiversity Heritage Library report • Memory of the World report • Sustainable CultureConnect Project report • Calendar

From a small language to Wikipedia's Biggest, Share Your Story with the Industry Museum and War Diaries

By Caren Vervaeke

News from Wikimedia Belgium.

How did a small language like Dutch become one of Wikipedia’s biggest?

Dutch ranks surprisingly high on the global Wikipedia list — sixth place, with nearly two million articles. In the VRT Radio 1 program Zijn er nog vragen? (“Any more questions?”), Geert Van Pamel, chair of Wikimedia Belgium, explained why.

A small language, a big community

The Dutch-language Wikipedia thrives thanks to an active volunteer base, the fact that Dutch is spoken across several countries (the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname), and a focus on “breadth over depth” — many short articles covering a wide range of topics.

Volunteers with passion

Worldwide, about 260,000 people contribute to Wikipedia purely on a voluntary basis. Some write new articles, others improve or fact-check existing ones. Paid editing is rare and must always be disclosed transparently.

Quality and control

Every edit and article is monitored in real time. Volunteers and automated scripts work together to safeguard accuracy, structure, and reliability. Artificial intelligence increasingly supports this process.

A living network of knowledge

Wikipedia is a collective effort — it belongs to everyone, but never to any one person.

Read the full article or listen to the full interview (in Dutch) here.

Computers Meetup – Share Your Story with the Industry Museum

From punch cards to personal computers, from humming servers to handheld devices — computers have reshaped the world as we know it. But behind every machine lies a human story. Industry Museum in Ghent wants to bring those stories to life.

On Sunday, November 16, 2025, the museum invites everyone with a connection to the rise of computer technology to join a special Computers Meetup — an afternoon of memories, encounters, and shared experiences. Whether you worked in IT, programmed early systems, sold the first PCs, or simply remember your first floppy disk, your story matters.

☕ Meet & Share

Enjoy coffee and cake while chatting with fellow enthusiasts. In the museum’s Chat Lounge, visitors are invited to tell their personal computer story:

What was it like to work with early computers?
Which machines do you remember most fondly?
How did technology change your work or daily life?

🏛️ Discover the Museum

Before the meetup, participants can take part in a guided introductory tour through the museum’s halls — from roaring looms to rattling printing presses — ending with the exhibition On People and Machines.

💡 A Glimpse into the Future

This event offers a sneak preview of the museum’s upcoming temporary exhibition on computers, opening in 2026. The exhibition will explore the history and future of information technology, shining a spotlight on Belgian pioneers and forgotten innovations.

📅 When: Sunday, November 16, 2025, 2–5 PM
📍 Where: Industry Museum, Ghent
💸 Admission: Free
🧾 Register by: November 9 via info@industriemuseum.be , 09 323 65 00, or the online form

Can’t make it in person? You can still contribute! Share your story online through the submission form on the museum’s website.

👉 Read all the details and register here

War Diaries: Forgotten Voices from WWII

🕰️ Between faded pages lie the voices of those who lived through war — stories of fear in air-raid shelters, secret crushes under bombardments, and the small acts of courage that kept hope alive. These personal diaries from the Second World War reveal not just what happened, but how it felt to live through it.

Yet time is running out. Every day, more of these precious testimonies are lost — hidden away in attics, drawers, or boxes, or even discarded without realizing their value. That’s why Archiefpunt is launching War Diaries: a call to everyone in Flanders to look for diaries, letters, or notes from the war years.

"What may seem like just an old notebook today could tomorrow be the key to understanding our past," - Janna Aerts, Archiefpunt

These diaries capture stories that official records can’t — from the shopkeeper facing empty shelves to the young mother shielding her children, or the teenager who met his first German soldier. Each voice adds a deeply human layer to the history we thought we knew.

Archiefpunt, together with several partners, aims to collect, register, and preserve these documents, making them accessible for research, education, and creative projects.

📖 Do you or your family have a diary, letter, or notebook from the war years? Get in touch and help save these forgotten voices. Together, we can ensure that these stories find a lasting place in our shared memory — because preserving the past means protecting the future.

Do you want to read more news from Wikimedia Belgium? Read the full newsletter here

Autumn activities

By Zblace (report text), Hana Gaon (photos) & Plakor Kovacevic (videos)

Interna(tiona)l(zing)

After revisiting some of the joys/successes and some of the disapointments/failures in/around Wikimedia in 2024, we found it hard to advance much in Winter...hence producing the longest void in our reporting (past 6 months). Individually we worked on/with/around Open GLAM wiki and sustained some communication internally, but only from March got back to the drawing board and made some plans to work on Zagreb cultural centers (in Wikimedia) and continue supporting local Independent cultural archive running its own MediaWiki+Wikibase in cloud of Wikimedia Deutschland.

Plans for 2026

After a slow start in 2025 during April and May we picked up the speed in collaborative work. We again started addressing Content gap on Croatian culture in Wikimedia through collaboration with KNAP - Cultural center in Peščenica/Zagreb and its Gallery Događanja. Our Aim is establish exemplary content on this particular context, as well as publish some media and data (both from their archive and new) in order to set/test structure for future content donations from this and other cultural centers and galleries in Zagreb and Croatia. Check out examples at Wikimedia Commons.

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

By Ghina & Rahma (WMID)

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.

Banda Cultural Museum in Maluku
Children of Dayak Bidayuh
Javanese illumination from Serat Selarasa

Congratulations! We are looking forward to see their result in the first half of 2026.

Open culture on stage

By Marta Arosio

Opera and open access: Teatro Regio di Torino joins the GLAM 2025 program

Among the institutions awarded in the 2025 GLAM call — funded by Wikimedia Italia in collaboration with ICOM Italia and Creative Commons Italia — is the Teatro Regio di Torino, one of Italy’s major opera foundations.

Marking the 50th anniversary of its reopening (1973–2023), the Teatro Regio launched a project to digitize, catalogue and share online hundreds of original stage and costume designs created between 1969 and 2019. These high-quality scans, now freely available on Wikimedia Commons, document the theatre’s visual and creative history and are linked to detailed catalogue records hosted on the theatre’s archival portal.

As part of the project, a Wiki-Story video was produced to give a virtual tour through the archives, while on 28 October Wikimedia Italia and the Teatro Regio organized an edit-a-thon dedicated to musical theatre. The event led to 6 new articles, 82 improved ones, and nearly 500 edits overall, with 2,000 digitized sketches already online and reused across 14 language editions of Wikimedia projects.

Digital roots: Wikimedia Italia at “Genealogy in the Third Millennium”

On 21 October 2025, Wikimedia Italia took part in La genealogia del III millennio: sfide, strumenti e nuove risorse del genealogista moderno (“Genealogy in the Third Millennium: challenges, tools and new resources for the modern genealogist”), an event organized by the Italian Library Association (AIB) at the Biblioteca Trivulziana, Castello Sforzesco in Milan.

The conference explored the evolution of genealogy and family history research, focusing on archival sources, digital innovation and open resources. Wikimedia Italia contributed with a presentation titled Radici digitali: costruire genealogie con dati aperti e strumenti Wikimedia (“Digital roots: building genealogies with open data and Wikimedia tools”).

The talk introduced Wikidata and linked open data as resources to connect genealogical information from diverse archives, demonstrating how Wikimedia platforms can expand access to family history and heritage data within the semantic web. The event gathered librarians, archivists and researchers, combining traditional archival methods with new digital approaches to genealogy.

Wikimedia Italia at GLAM Wiki 2025 in Lisbon

Iolanda Pensa, national GLAM coordinator, and Marco Chemello, GLAM staff member at Wikimedia Italia, took part in the GLAM Wiki Conference 2025 in Lisbon, dedicated to the theme Resilience: shaping the future through openness and community.

Iolanda Pensa joined the roundtable 100,000 Open Cultural Institutions, discussing how Wikimedia affiliates, ICOM and Creative Commons can engage cultural institutions worldwide in adopting open access, presenting the Italian and Argentinian case studies of the “Empowering GLAMs” project.

Marco Chemello presented the lighting talk From Closed Vault to Open Commons, the experience of the Museo Egizio of Turin — one of the world’s leading Egyptology museums and the first major Italian museum to adopt an open-access policy for its collection, in partnership with Wikimedia Italia and Creative Commons Italia.

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

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Open Topstukken project concludes; Network Archives Design and Digital Culture

By SFauconnier

Conclusion of Open Topstukken (Open Collection Highlights) project

In October 2025, the Wikidata-focused project Open Topstukken (Open Collection Highlights) has concluded with a final presentation at Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the Dutch national library in The Hague.

Open Topstukken was a joint initiative of Radboud University and Maastricht University within the Door Erfgoed Verbonden project.

In the project, 30 carefully selected collection highlights from the library collections of both universities have been digitized, linked, and made more accessible digitally, using Wikidata. The project integrated Linked Open Data (LOD) principles to enhance metadata interoperability and public reach. The collection highlights have been described on Wikidata, and a dedicated Omeka S to Wikidata tool has been developed to facilitate batch integration of data from Omeka S websites to Wikidata.

The project has an extensive project page with a list of the collection highlights, a description of the data model, and an overview of interesting data visualizations. There is also a manual with detailed tips, guidelines and instructions which should prove useful for similar projects.

Also see the general website about the collection highlights (in Dutch), which integrates Wikidata visualizations as well.

Dutch design and digital culture makers on Wikidata

Netwerk Archieven Design en Digitale Cultuur (Network Archives Design and Digital Culture - NADD) is a Dutch network of over 70 partners, including archives, museums, platforms and experts, working together to safeguard the history of design and digital culture in the Netherlands. NADD contributes to Wikidata for its Linked Open Data infrastructure. On Wikidata, NADD has aggregated and enriched over 20,000 entries for artists, designers, companies and collectives: people and organizations described in (the collections of) its partner institutions, publications and platforms.

General Wikimedia overviews of the project's activities can be found on meta.wikimedia.org and on Wikidata. In June 2025, a Wikidata-driven network visualization was launched on NADD's own website as well.

Some general pointers:

NADD's general website
Wikidata-driven visualization of makers active in Dutch design and digital culture, designed by the collective Archival Consciousness
Overview of partners and datasets, from large museums like the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam to smaller organizations and initiatives.
The project's working process in Wikidata, with information about data collection, data model and other best practices.

Wikidata data quality dashboard maintained by the NADD project
Example of Wikidata statement with sources and corrections
A Wikidata-driven graph, showing the gender distribution of NADD-related people, per decade

Granny's Wonderful Chair, Preparing for Auckland Museum Wiki Summer Students and an the ASBS Introductory Wiki Webinar

By DrThneed, Winnieswikiworld, Ambrosia10 & Stitchbird2

International cross-wiki collaboration on a book of Irish fairytales, Granny's Wonderful Chair

An 1857 book of fairytales by Irish author Frances Browne, Granny's Wonderful Chair, is now fully digitised and freely available for anyone to read thanks to the efforts of Wikisource volunteers.

The transcription was prompted by Otago University Wikimedian in Residence Tamsin Braisher (DrThneed), after learning that academic staff member Thomas McLean would be attending an annual festival dedicated to Frances Browne in Ireland. During the festival, Thomas was running a workshop to create a Wikipedia article for the book. Wanting to help from afar, work began transcribing the book of fairy tales from 1857 on WikiSource, to create an accessible e-book.

Alongside Wikipedian at Large Mike Dickison (Giantflightlessbirds), the pair committed to getting the works published on Wikisource in time for the festival. This ambitious task was the perfect opportunity to train some new editors in digitising out-of-copyright works, with Tamsin recruiting some newbies to assist with the task while learning how to contribute to Wikisource.

Over on the other side of the world, Thomas utilised the collective knowledge of attendees at the Frances Browne Literary Festival to write a summary of each tale, while simultaneously introducing more people to Wikisource and the Wikimedia movement. The resulting Wikipedia page for the book has many beautiful illustrations from the various editions, uploaded by Mike Dickison.

After becoming blind following a smallpox infection as a young child, Frances Browne penned her first poem at age 7, and went on to write many more, along with essays, reviews, and stories. In her writings, Browne recalled how she used to bribe her siblings to read to her by doing their chores. Over 150 years later, many of Browne’s best known fairytales are now freely available to be enjoyed for many more years to come.

Preparing for Auckland Museum Wiki Summer Students

The 2025/26 Auckland Museum Wiki Summer Student cohort are set to arrive in mid November to commence the 10 week programme that will introduce them to the world of Wikimedia! As the Wiki programme enters its third year, we are excited to be expanding its scope to work with three other Auckland GLAMs; MOTAT, New Zealand Maritime Museum and The Fletcher Trust Archive.

In early October we held a student assessment day at Auckland Museum. Of the over 90 applicants to the Wiki programme, we interviewed 18 students and are excited to have accepted 6 students into the programme. There will be two students posted at Auckland Museum, two students at New Zealand Maritime Museum, one student at MOTAT and one student at The Fletcher Trust Archives.

The student’s progress will be recorded on our GLAM project page and monthly highlights will be shared here in the GLAM newsletter. We are excited to share more once the students arrive!

Batch Uploading Projects

Auckland Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira has uploaded their lantern slide collection from Clement Lindley Wragge, a colourful collection full of astrological interest and an insight into life in the late 19th / early 20th century.

ASBS Introductory Wiki for Botanists Webinar

Recording of the online webinar Wiki for Botanists 2025 (in English)

On the 14th of October Ambrosia10 and Stitchbird2 held an Introductory Wiki for Botanists Webinar aiming to teach participants to improve their digital outreach and communication skills by learning how to enrich Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons. Although this webinar was offered as part of the ASBS Conference WikiProject the organisers were keen to encourage anyone interested to sign up to attend.

The webinar had 63 people signing up to attend including 8 from the Bioeconomy Science Institute (the New Zealand Government research institution where Ambrosia10 is currently Wikimedian in Residence). Of those 63, 35 people attended the Webinar with 33 participants from NZ or Australia with one from the USA and one from Cuba.

As the presenters were aware that many of those who signed up were constrained from attending on the day (either because they were working or as a result of timezone issues), the webinar was recorded and was added to Youtube to facilitate sharing. The recording and the webinar slides were also added to Wikimedia Commons. All participants were sent a follow up email with links to the recording, slides and other editing resources. As at the end of October, the webinar video on Youtube has had 37 views.

Although this webinar focused on botanists and botanical examples, it is a great introduction to Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons for anyone in the GLAM sector and beyond.

Ambrosia10 and Stitchbird2 are now looking forward to delivering a full day in person workshop at the Australasian Systematic Botany Society Conference.

Report on Participation at the 12th International Youth Conference

By Royalesignature

Summary

From September 24–27, 2025, I had the honor of virtually attending the 12th International Youth Conference, which gathered young leaders, researchers, and innovators from across the globe. The session I joined—Bridging Heritage and Innovation: Youth Leadership in Advancing Cultural Enterprises—explored how creativity, technology, and inclusive policies are redefining the preservation of heritage. For me, the experience was more than a conference; it was a reminder that education and open knowledge platforms like Wikipedia are vital bridges between tradition and innovation.

Insights from the Session

The conversations unfolded like a tapestry woven with stories, policies, and youthful energy. Digital Storytelling as a Bridge:Mr. George, a student from Alabama, narrated how a village craftswoman transforms cultural motifs into stunning silver ornaments. Through TikTok, he amplifies her story, turning local art into global heritage. What struck me most was not just the craftsmanship but how a simple video became a classroom for thousands—where viewers learned about history, identity, and artistry. It reminded me of how Wikipedia articles serve a similar role: transforming local knowledge into global resources for students, researchers, and curious minds.

Women Leading Cultural Change

Sally, a fellow with Law and Future, illuminated another dimension: women as cultural custodians. She shared how women in Atlantic minority groups sustain traditions in fashion, crafts, and storytelling—often in the face of gender barriers, digital skill gaps, and economic uncertainty. Yet, through social media, these women are reclaiming their voices and rewriting histories. Her story resonated with me as it echoed the mission of Wikipedia, where underrepresented voices are given space to document, preserve, and share their narratives in ways that challenge stereotypes and celebrate identity.

Youth, Heritage, and Sustainability

The session also highlighted youth-led eco-tourism and field research projects. These are not just tourism ventures but living classrooms, where young people collaborate with communities to protect culture, fight climate change, and innovate for sustainable futures. In many ways, this reflects how Wikipedia thrives on collective effort—people coming together to ensure knowledge is preserved, updated, and freely accessible.

Reflections: Where Heritage Meets Education

For me, this session was a mirror reflecting my own journey as an educator and a Wikipedian. In my work with the Yoruba Wikipedia Fan Club Offa and the Wiki Kwara Odyssey Project, I have witnessed firsthand how digital platforms empower young people to become storytellers, educators, and cultural ambassadors. Just as TikTok connected a silver craftswoman to global audiences, Yoruba Wikipedia has connected local histories—such as Offa’s festivals, leaders, and traditions—to the world stage.

What education needs today is not merely the transfer of knowledge but the transformation of learners into custodians of culture and creators of content. Wikipedia, when introduced in the classroom, becomes more than an encyclopedia; it becomes a laboratory where students learn to research, document, and publish knowledge that matters to their communities.

Looking Ahead

The 12th International Youth Conference has reaffirmed my belief that the fusion of education, cultural heritage, and digital innovation is the future of learning. My next steps include:

Expanding the integration of Wikipedia in the Classroom so more students can actively document and share their cultural knowledge. Strengthening partnerships with cultural institutions and local communities to create reliable, verifiable content that preserves heritage. Empowering young people, especially women, to use Wikimedia projects as platforms for cultural entrepreneurship and storytelling.

In bridging heritage and innovation, I see Wikipedia not only as a repository of facts but as a global classroom where education and culture unite—ensuring that traditions are not only remembered but reimagined for generations to come.

Promoting Open Data and Digital Commons in Culture and Research

By Kamila Neuman

Wikimedia Polska at “Open Data in Art Research” Seminar in Vienna

On October 8, Wikimedia Polska took part in the international seminar Open Data in Art Research: Practices and Innovations in Museum Collaboration held at the Polish Academy of Sciences – Vienna Science Center.

The seminar was jointly organized by the Polish Academy of Sciences – Vienna Science Center, the CHC Digital Humanities Centre at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and The Network for Digital Art History in Austria (DArtHist Austria).

The event brought together researchers and practitioners from Poland and Austria to exchange experiences and showcase innovative uses of open data in art and museum research.

Representing Wikimedia Polska, Katarzyna Makowska (Open Science Manager) and Kamila Neuman (Open Culture Manager) presented Opening Cultural and Research Institutions with Wikimedia Projects, highlighting how Wikimedia platforms empower institutions to share and open their collections.

The seminar also featured case studies from the Belvedere Museum, Wikidata-based projects, and research on augmented reality, as well as a hands-on workshop on implementing F.A.I.R. principles in art and heritage research.

Participation in the event helped strengthen connections between the Wikimedia and academic communities, fostering new opportunities for collaboration in the open knowledge ecosystem.

Wikimedia Polska warmly thanks the organizers for the invitation and inspiring exchange.

Digital Culture Forum 2025: Wikimedia Polska on caring for the digital commons

From October 23–24, Wikimedia Polska took part in the Digital Culture Forum 2025 (Forum Kultury Cyfrowej) in Gdańsk — an annual event organized by the Institute of Urban Culture that gathers professionals from the cultural, creative, and tech sectors. This year’s theme focused on the potential of the creative sector for culture, and Wikimedia Polska was one of the event’s partners.

Kamila Neuman, Open Culture Manager at Wikimedia Polska, delivered a talk titled Legally, Creatively, Responsibly. How the Creative Sector Can Use Open Cultural Resources.

Her presentation introduced the idea of the digital commons — open resources created and maintained by volunteers and GLAM partners — as the modern equivalent of shared community goods. Kamila explored how to use Wikimedia Commons responsibly, highlighting the importance of proper attribution, ethical reuse, and community care as ways to sustain the ecosystem of free culture. Through practical examples, she showed how open resources can inspire creative work while reminding that what is shared must also be respected.

Reflecting on the event, Kamila emphasized that the conversation about the digital commons is more relevant than ever:

It was inspiring to talk about the ‘better side of the internet’ — and how we can take care of what is shared, for everyone’s benefit. The Forum reminds me how important it is to see technology from different perspectives and to keep space for reflection and dialogue.

On the second day of the conference, Kamila also gave an interview to journalist Filip Jędruch from Radio Gdańsk, together with Karina Rojek, the event’s organizer from the Institute of Urban Culture. They discussed open cultural resources and Wikimedia projects, highlighting how open knowledge initiatives connect culture, technology, and creativity.

Participation in the Forum strengthened cooperation between Wikimedia Polska and the creative community in Poland, promoting responsible, collaborative, and creative engagement with open cultural heritage.

Read more (in Polish) on the Digital Culture Forum website.

GLAM Wiki Conference 2025 Wrap-Up

By Conbene

The GLAM Wiki Conference 2025: Connection and Inspiration in Lisbon

Last week, from 30 October to 1 November, the global GLAM, Culture and Heritage, and Wiki communities came together in Lisbon for the latest edition of the GLAM Wiki Conference.

Over three vibrant days, participants enjoyed more than 40 presentations and over two dozen workshops and trainings, all exploring this year’s inspiring theme: Resilience: Shaping the Future Through Community and Openness.

Couldn’t make it or want to relive your favourite moments? You can now watch the session recordings from the Auditorium, browse slides and documentation, and explore photos from the event on the event page and on Commons.

October in Wikimedia Serbia

By Nebojsa Ratkovic

Wikipedian in Residence at the “Vuk Karadžić” Library in Veliko Gradište

The Wikipedian in Residence program in partnership with the National Library “Vuk Karadžić” in Veliko Gradište is currently underway. Throughout October, the resident worked on digitizing valuable materials, including significant periodicals and photographs. The residency will continue during November, with a focus on expanding the digital collection and strengthening collaboration with the institution.

GLAMourous Wikidata editing campaign

Wikimedia Serbia organized a Wikidata editing action titled GLAMourous Wikidata. Five editors participated and contributed substantially to enriching cultural heritage data on Wikidata. Together, they created 24 new items, improved 694 existing ones, and made a total of 1,750 edits.

GLAM Wiki Conference in Lisbon

The GLAM Wiki Conference was held from October 30 to November 1 in Lisbon. Wikimedia Serbia was represented by Gorana Gomirac, who participated as a panel moderator on the topic of digital resilience of cultural heritage, and co-facilitated a skill-sharing workshop.

Planning the final Wikipedian in Residence program

Wikimedia Serbia is also working on planning the final Wikipedian in Residence program within the GLAM initiative in Serbia, which will be implemented by the end of 2025.

DaSCHcon, 3D, Wiki GLAM conference

By Medea7

DaSCHcon

The conference DaSCHcon took place in Bern at the museum of communication. The theme was Cultural Institutions in the Digital Age: The Future of Infrastructures The GLAM programme was leading a workshop on community building and cocreation for Wiki projects. The conference was attended by scientists and archivists. Here is the documentation.

3D Uploads

Many artists use 3D spaces for experimenting. It can take on many forms from 3D objects to immersive spaces and construction drawings. Please feel free to add your ideas to our project page on Meta.

GLAM Wiki Conference Lisbon 2025

The GLAM team participated at the GLAM conference that takes place every two years. The conference was on resilience: Shaping the Future Through Community and Openness. Living in uncertain times the conference offered several answers and responses to the topic. As the project Faces and Masks got accepted it was possible for rhe GLAM team to attend in person.

A look at Grokipedia

By MartinPoulter

Khalili Foundation

Most of the work this month has been on the Memory of the World International Register, which has a separate report.

There is one new article this month: a volunteer translated a short summary of the Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam article into Madurese. This is the first piece of Khalili Collections-related content in this Indonesian language. Madurese is the 19th language in which Wikipedia articles have been created from this project.

Last month I reported that the painting The Giant 'Uj and the Prophets Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (also known as Musa va 'Uj) had been given a Featured Picture award on Wikimedia Commons. This month there was a separate nomination on English Wikipedia, which passed unanimously. As a result, the image has been added to English Wikipedia's gallery of Featured Pictures of paintings, alongside some of the world's most famous paintings. This is the fourth Featured Picture award from English Wikipedia and the 27th Featured Picture award for the Khalili Collections over all.

Among the new articles using Khalili Collections images is an Arabic Wikipedia article about Qajar art which includes this painting of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar.

The stats server reports 4,220,734 image views for October.

I had an online meeting with Sally Latham, the new Education Lead at Wikimedia UK, to talk about Interfaith Explorers. Although her focus is secondary education rather than primary, she will be looking out for contacts who can help us publicise the site to teachers.

Grokipedia

There are many sites that mirror the content of Wikipedia. They do not normally get a mention in a report like this because they only give a different visual presentation of the same content, their views are small compared to Wikipedia itself, and they do not make their view numbers available as open data. Elon Musk's Grokipedia, launched this month, is different in that it takes a subset of English Wikipedia content and claims to "fact check" the articles, making some LLM-driven textual changes, in some cases introducing political bias and misrepresenting scholarly consensus. So it is appropriate to look at how Grokipedia represents the Khalili Collections and ask what Grokipedia's readers will learn about the cultures they document.

The first thing to notice is that Grokipedia has no images, so explains art topics without any examples of the art. It does have external links to some citations, but citation information is patchy and external links at the end of articles (for example, to the official catalogue record of an artwork) have been stripped out. This might change as Grokipedia develops beyond the first version.

On English Wikipedia, there are nine articles directly about the Khalili Collections: an overview article, plus an article for each of the eight collections. There are many other articles which mention the collections, including articles about individual art works, art forms, and three exhibitions. Of the articles about collections, Grokipedia has just one: Khalili Collection of Islamic Art. This is almost exactly the same as English Wikipedia's article, with an additional paragraph at the end that falsely claims that Sir David Khalili won the Commonwealth Peace Prize in 2025. His charitable foundation created and funded the prize; he is mentioned in news stories about it, but is not a recipient.

Most of the articles about non-Western art created or improved by the Khalili Foundation/ Wikimedia project are not present in Grokipedia, but I was able to find the following:

Falnama: this article, including a large section on the Khalili Falnama, is a copy from English Wikipedia, with some citations removed.
Bibliomancy: the section on Bibliomancy in Islam is a copy of what I added to English Wikipedia. There is a full citation for the Rogers book but just a mention of Parikh 2022 without a citation.
Codex Parisino-petropolitanus: this is an almost exact copy of the English Wikipedia article and correctly mentions the folio that is in the Khalili Collections, but has stripped out a lot of the citation details.
Jami' al-tawarikh: Grokipedia's article is longer and more detailed than English Wikipedia's, and written in a noticeably different style. What it says about the Khalili folios seems approximately correct but there are odd phrasings like "the University of Edinburgh's manuscript—split between Edinburgh and the Khalili holdings".

October edit-a-thons & meetings

By Hexatekin & Slowking4

MoMA Linked Open Data Fellow Focuses on Exhibitions Data on Wikidata

Dorothy Howard (User:Hexatekin) started this fall as the 2025-2026 Pratt Institute School of Information, Linked Open Data Fellow at the Museum of Modern Art. She will be at MoMA Library/Archives until May 2026, under Jonathan Lill, Head of Metadata and Systems. This project extends from the work of previous Pratt Institute LOD Fellows on creating data models for exhibitions. See their current Requests for comment/Exhibition models and stay tuned at Wikidata:WikiProject Museum of Modern Art.

Seattle Meetup

Seattle wikimedians held a meetup at Little Oddfellows café. Seattle Meetup October 2025.

San Diego/October 2025

San Diego Public Library and San Diego Wikimedians User Group held a salon, San Diego/October 2025.

Minnesota/Online-October 2025

Minnesota wikimedians held an online meetup, Minnesota/Online-October 2025.

Pride Outside Edit-a-thon 2025

Wikimedia DC held an edit-a-thon, Pride Outside Edit-a-thon 2025.

DCCAH Hispanic Heritage Month Edit-a-thon

DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and Wikimedia DC, held an edit-a-thon, DCCAH Hispanic Heritage Month Edit-a-thon.

WikiConference North America

WikiConference North America User Group held a conference, WikiConference North America 2025. Presentations were made, WikiConference North America 2025 presentations.

There was news coverage of an incident.

LivingData 2025, GLAMWiki and a "collector" Wikidata property proposal

By Ambrosia10

LivingData 2025

Tiago Lubiana and Anabela Plos successfully organised the session Wikimedia and Biodiversity Data: A Mutualistic Relationship in the Open Knowledge Ecosystem at the LivingData 2025 conference. Many of the presentations in this session had a BHL focus or contained BHL content. More information can be found on the Meta-Wiki page https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:Living_Data_2025 and presentations and slides can be found at this Wikimedia Commons category https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Living_Data_2025

GLAMwiki Conference

Tiago Lubiana, JJ Dearborn, Giovanna Fontenelle amongst many others of the BHL-Wiki working group physically attended the recent GLAMwiki Conference. Tiago, JJ and Giovanna all presented on their work with BHL at that conference. Further information on their presentations can be see in the conference programme.

New property proposal for “collector”

In October a Wikidata property proposal was put forward by Wikidata editor Dactylantha for a “collector” property. One of the motivations for this proposal was to assist with the BHL-Wiki working group’s type specimen data model work. See the following link for the proposal and the discussion https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Property_proposal/Natural_science#collector

International outreach

By MartinPoulter & Clara Weber

This is the thirteenth 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.

Publicity

Martin spoke at two events near the end of October to publicise the Khalili Foundation/ UNESCO Memory of the World project. A joint UNESCO/ International Council of Archives event in Barcelona was attended by the President of the ICA and by young archivists from many countries. As well as showing what the Khalili Foundation partnership had achieved, I talked about the Wikimedia platforms in terms of their roles in the long-term preservation of vulnerable documentary heritage. Dian and Fackson (of the Memory of the World team) and I took the opportunity to meet and discuss the partnership afterwards.

At the three-day GLAM-Wiki conference in Lisbon, I presented in the Heritage at Risk panel, describing how we have made it easy for volunteers to create and find articles relevant to the International Register across multiple languages. The audience included cultural professionals, Wikimedia volunteers, and Wikimedians In Residence; I showed how they, in their respective language communities, can help raise awareness of the international register.

Clara published an article on the UNESCO website for the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage on 27 October, highlighting notable inscriptions from the Memory of the World Register that have made significant contributions. One relevant example is Humanity’s First Recordings of Its Own Voice: The Phonautograms of Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville (c.1853–1860), created when he envisioned “photographing sound.” Besides, Clara is co-editing a colouring book for children featuring all 29 African inscriptions in the Memory of the World Register and has developed a summary of key Memory of the World publications for presentation at UNESCO's General Conference.

Progress on data

Clara completed the upload of the 2025 Memory of the World inscriptions and compiled the French and English links to the new registrations, while she and Martin have both worked on adding the 2025 International Register additions to Wikidata; this final stage of the bulk data upload is nearly ready. In addition, Clara continued resolving issues in existing Committee and inscription entries (for example, missing countries in nominator lists).

Wiki challenge

Prizes are being sent out for the winners of September's wiki challenge, both from the Khalili Foundation and UNESCO.

New articles

Tamil: Memory of the World Programme
German: Final document of the Congress of Vienna
Indonesian: Shoah
Urdu: Dīwān ul-Lughat al-Turk
Slovene: Biblioteca Palafoxiana
Azerbaijani: Treaty of Tordesillas

Grokipedia

As part of his comparison of Grokipedia and English Wikipedia articles (see the UK report), Martin looked at coverage of the Memory of the World International Register. Grok does not have list articles listing inscriptions on the register, but it does have an overview article about the Memory of the World Programme. This seems to have been generated directly by AI rather than copied from Wikipedia. It is longer than English Wikipedia's article and covers more aspects, seeming to be broadly correct. It might be useful inspiration for improving Wikipedia's article, at least in terms of structure.

Page and image views

Total views for images related to the Memory of the World International Register are at a similar level to the previous month: the GLAMorgan stats tool reports 150 million, which is likely an overestimate.

Sustainable CultureConnect: Empowering Youth and Preserving Heritage through Open Knowledge and Leadership

By Royalesignature

Summary

The Sustainable CultureConnect Project is a global, youth-driven initiative that bridges education, cultural preservation, and digital inclusion through Wikimedia platforms. Spearheaded by Prince Salako Lukman Olamilekan (Royalesignature), Unite President of the Rotaract Club of Offa Metropolitan, the project connects Rotaractors, Rotarians, and Wikimedia enthusiasts across continents to document and digitize cultural heritage in multiple languages. In partnership with the Rotaract Club of Delhi South Central (RID 3011, India) and nine other institutional-based clubs from Africa and Asia, the initiative has trained over 162 emerging editors to contribute to Yoruba, English, Hindi, and other Wikimedia projects. Through peer mentorship, workshops, and global collaboration, Sustainable CultureConnect exemplifies the power of youth leadership in advancing education, cultural awareness, and open knowledge—proving that one edit can connect cultures and inspire generations.

Education and Leadership

Education and leadership are the cornerstones of every progressive society. In an age where digital literacy defines global influence, empowering young people to merge knowledge with service has become a catalyst for sustainable change. Guided by this belief, I have led initiatives that integrate open knowledge, youth leadership, and community development—cultivating a generation of culturally grounded, digitally skilled changemakers.

My journey into open knowledge began with the founding of the Yoruba Wikipedia Fan Club Offa, a youth-centered Wikimedia community dedicated to advancing digital literacy, language preservation, and inclusive education. Through this platform, my team and I have trained over 162 emerging editors to contribute across multiple Wikimedia projects—including Yoruba, English, Hindi, and other global language Wikipedias, as well as Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Meta-Wiki. These contributors have documented local histories, traditional festivals, biographies of notable figures, and social development stories from diverse communities, ensuring that knowledge is preserved and accessible to all.

Building upon this foundation, I spearheaded the Sustainable CultureConnect Project—a global movement that unites Rotaractors, Rotarians, and Wikimedia volunteers in promoting open knowledge, cultural preservation, and youth empowerment. The initiative reflects both Rotary’s ideals of service above self and Wikimedia’s mission of free access to knowledge for all.

This project was championed through the Rotaract Club of Offa Metropolitan (RID 9126, Nigeria) in partnership with the Rotaract Club of Delhi South Central (RID 3011, India) and in collaboration with nine additional Rotaract and Interact clubs across Africa and Asia, including:

Rotaract Club of Khulna University, RID 3281 (Bangladesh)
Rotaract Club of Delhi Genesis Midwest, RID 3011 (India)
Rotaract Club of Galgotias Educational Institution, RID 3011 (India)
Rotaract Club of Panjim, RID 3170 (India)
Rotaract Club of Ilorin, RID 9126 (Nigeria)
Rotaract Club of JDCOEM, RID 3030 (India)
Interact Club of Prudence, RID 3011 (India) and several others across Eastern and Southern Africa.

Many of these institutional-based clubs had never encountered Wikipedia or the Wikimedia ecosystem before this collaboration. Through a series of virtual workshops, my team from the Yoruba Wikipedia Fan Club Offa guided participants step-by-step—creating accounts, contributing to multilingual Wikipedia projects, uploading cultural media, and exploring the power of collaborative digital knowledge. Participants were also encouraged to establish Wikipedia Fan Clubs within their institutions, turning their Rotaract clubs into hubs for open knowledge learning and peer mentorship.

Between October 1 and 14, 2025, the project recorded 75 official registrations and over 126 active participants, engaging in live edit-a-thons, storytelling sessions, and community documentation drives. To ensure sustainability, we created a dedicated mentorship and follow-up system via WhatsApp, offering real-time technical guidance, peer learning, and continuous support for new editors worldwide.

The impact has been profound. Participants have gone on to contribute in multiple languages, representing their communities on global Wikimedia platforms while amplifying their local stories. They are now documenting indigenous knowledge from India, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and beyond—showing that open knowledge truly transcends language, culture, and geography.

As the project initiator and lead trainer, I am proud to see this network of over 162 trained editors evolving into a vibrant, self-sustaining community of young leaders and knowledge ambassadors. Sustainable CultureConnect stands as proof that collaboration between Rotary and Wikimedia movements can foster innovation, empathy, and education-driven impact.

In essence, this project is not just about editing Wikipedia—it is about transforming lives through learning, service, and storytelling. Together, we are proving that every young person can be a bridge between heritage and technology, between local and global knowledge—one edit, one culture, and one act of service at time.

About the Author

Prince Salako Lukman Olamilekan (Royalesignature) is a Wikimedia leader, Rotaract President, and youth empowerment advocate from Nigeria. He is the Unite President of the Rotaract Club of Offa Metropolitan, and founder of both the Offa Youth Impact Initiative and Yoruba Wikipedia Fan Club Offa. His work focuses on bridging culture, education, and open knowledge to empower young people across Africa and beyond.

November's GLAM events

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