The educational project ‘Arte Valenciano II’, carried out in collaboration with the University of Valencia during the 2025–2026 academic year, has concluded with significant results for expanding free knowledge about Valencian artistic and cultural heritage on Wikipedia.

The initiative, coordinated by Professor of Art History Enric Olivares, has enabled students to combine academic work with the creation of encyclopaedic content for Wikimedia projects, helping to improve coverage of the region’s cultural heritage.

Project results and scope of content

During this edition, 32 new articles were created: 30 on the Spanish Wikipedia and two on the Catalan Wikipedia.

The project had 51 students enrolled. The process involved various stages of proposal, review and adaptation, during which work was carried out on encyclopaedic quality criteria, source verification and adapting the content to the Wikipedia format.

One of the main challenges identified remains the proper referencing of sources and understanding the encyclopaedic structure, areas in which teaching support has proved key to ensuring the final quality of the articles.

Valencian heritage on Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons

The content created covers a wide variety of heritage assets, strengthening the presence of Valencian heritage on Wikipedia. These include sculptures, water mills, churches, chapels, monasteries, industrial heritage, unique urban features, archaeological sites, Arab baths and intangible heritage such as the Dansà de Castalla.

In addition to the textual content, the students have contributed 113 original images uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, thereby enriching open access to visual documentation of the heritage. New categories have also been created on Wikimedia Commons and items on Wikidata, expanding the interconnection of knowledge within the Wikimedia ecosystem.

The project was coordinated by Professor Enric Olivares, whose work has been fundamental in reviewing content and adapting academic work to the encyclopaedic environment. This collaboration has allowed Wikimedia Spain to focus its support on technical and publication aspects, facilitating the students’ editing process.

The experience reinforces the value of Wikipedia as an educational tool for developing digital skills, critical thinking and the production of open knowledge based on local heritage.

Free knowledge in the classroom

At Wikimedia Spain, we welcome the results of this latest edition of the Arte Valenciano II educational project. The initiative demonstrates the potential of collaboration between universities and Wikimedia projects to bring free knowledge into the classroom and, at the same time, improve the visibility of cultural heritage online.

We will continue to promote educational projects that link academic education with the creation of a free, open and accessible encyclopaedia for everyone.

The DEM-Debate project spent almost two years investigating how Wikipedia addressed disinformation during the 2024 European elections through legal and computational analyses. This final report, produced by researchers from the University of Amsterdam and Eurecat – Centre Tecnològic de Catalunya, delivers two sets of recommendations: one specifically targeting the upcoming revision of the Digital Services Act (DSA), and one drawing on Wikipedia’s governance model as a blueprint for the broader online information ecosystem. These recommendations are aimed to inform future regulation on platform regulation to strengthen the resilience of the information ecosystem.

Recommendations for DSA revision

A clear definition of disinformation

The DSA – and EU legislation more in general – does not contain a legal definition of disinformation or of election disinformation nor does it include a specific provision on the removal of disinformation. While the recent European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) refers to disinformation as content that is legal, but harmful, several Member States introduced laws criminalising disinformation. This means that under the DSA, disinformation could be qualified as “illegal content” and ordered to be removed. This could bring about some friction with the fundamental right to freedom of expression and the European Court of Human rights jurisprudence on Article 10 ECHR. The Commission should address this tension in the next revision due by November 2027.

The DSA should not treat Wikipedia as commercial online platforms

The definition of online platform in the DSA is rather broad and includes Wikipedia. Narrowing its scope by excluding platforms that do not operate “on the basis of personal-data collection and -monetisation, algorithmic systems, advertising, and personalisation” would mean to “better capture meaningful differences in platform risk profiles”. 

The Commission should therefore rethink the criteria according to which online platforms are designated as VLOPs and introduce a “more risk-sensitive designation model”, and to consider “whether an encyclopaedia exception should be included”. Furthermore, it should also consider “the development of a methodology for de-designating VLOPs”.

The DSA compliance burdens must be proportionate – especially for non-profits

With regard to the application of the DSA to Wikipedia, researchers pointed out that the Commission should make more clear, through future legislation or guidance, “how responsibility is allocated between service providers and decentralised user communities”. Furthermore, the EU executive should evaluate the burden of the obligations prescribing “the yearly risk assessment and auditing, and the audit implementation mechanism”. Indeed, there could be a risk that those obligations “could disproportionately affect Wikipedia’s arguably low-risk, community-governed platform model”.

As of the supervisory fee, the Commission should continue to follow the principle of “the ability to pay [the supervisory fee] of the provider” and “explicitly recognise non-profit and non-governmental organisations in how it approaches the DSA’s supervisory fee”.

The Wikimedia Foundation was right not to join the Code of Conduct on Disinformation & electoral integrity guidelines 

When assessing the Wikimedia Foundation’s choice of not being a signatory of the Code of Conduct, researchers concluded that the “arguments for Wikipedia joining the Code of Conduct on Disinformation may not outweigh the arguments against, especially given Wikipedia’s transparent systems”. They have therefore confirmed the validity of such a choice. 

Finally, specific recommendations were made concerning the “guidelines on the mitigation of systemic risks for electoral processes”. In particular, researchers suggested that in the next iteration “consideration should be given to Wikipedia’s governance model” and that “the Guidelines should be written with Wikipedia in mind”.

Recommended Wikimedia transferable practices against disinformation

Reliable online sources 

The rules on deprecated sources and their transparent implementation are quite effective in guaranteeing the reliability of the used sources. Therefore, “the model of Wikipedia’s deprecated and non-deprecated sources could be an important tool to implement in the broader ecosystem to “help users assess the trustworthiness of information sources”.

Wikipedia as the go-to for election information

“Wikipedia articles on politicians and political figures could be categorised as “authoritative information on the electoral process” and made prominent and easily accessible across the online election-related ecosystem, thereby building on the Commission’s Election Guidelines”. Indeed, Wikipedia’s editorial rules “demonstrate how treating information about politicians and political figures with heightened care can prevent election-related disinformation and provide insights for broader regulation of the online environment”.

Real-time content patrolling, beyond Wikipedia 

“Wikipedia’s patrolling system is a notable example of how, through community-based oversight, accountability and transparency can be operationalised”. In this sense, the patrolling system that Wikipedia has in place, including the Recent Changes Patrol, could be extended to the broader online information ecosystem as it can help to prevent the dissemination of election-related disinformation.

Disclosure rules for social media influencers inspired by Wikipedia

“Wikipedia’s approach to paid editing and conflict-of-interest disclosure can offer a useful point of reference, particularly in relation to informing regulation of political social media influencers”, as it proved particularly effective in preventing and solving this sort of situation.

Read all policy recommendations in the full final report and its executive summary.

Contests are some of the most enjoyable ways Wikimedia communities come together. Whether it’s a month-long article-writing competition, an edit-a-thon, or a campaign to improve content in a specific topic area, these events encourage contributors to learn, collaborate, and create high-quality content.

But if you’ve ever helped organize a contest, you know that the work doesn’t stop at creating the event page. Tracking submissions, checking whether articles meet the rules, coordinating with jury members, calculating scores, sharing feedback, and publishing results can quickly become a time-consuming process spread across multiple tools and spreadsheets.

Wouldn’t it be great if all of that could happen in one place?

That’s exactly why we built WikiEval.

Previously known as the WikiContest Tool, the platform has been renamed to WikiEval to better reflect its broader focus on article evaluation and contest management.

What is WikiEval?

WikiEval is a web-based platform designed to make Wikimedia contests easier to run and participate in. Instead of juggling spreadsheets, talk pages, and multiple tools, organizers, participants, and jury members can manage the entire contest workflow in one place.

The platform is designed to support different types of Wikimedia campaigns while making contest management more efficient, transparent, and easier to manage.

Key Benefits

WikiEval offers several advantages for Wikimedia communities:

• Centralized Contest Management – Manage the entire contest lifecycle, from contest setup to final results, through a single platform.
• Reduced Manual Effort – Minimizes repetitive administrative work by streamlining submission management, evaluation, and result tracking.
• Flexible Contest Design – Communities can design contests according to their own goals, participation requirements, and evaluation approaches.
• Transparent Evaluation Process – Participants can clearly track submission status, scores, rankings, and feedback throughout the contest.
• Improved Collaboration – Organizers, jury members, and participants can work together through a structured and well-defined workflow.
• Better Contest Monitoring – Real-time insights help organizers monitor contest progress, participant engagement, and overall performance.
• Enhanced Participant Experience – Participants can easily submit articles, follow their progress, receive feedback, and stay engaged throughout the contest.
• Role-Based Access System – WikiEval provides dedicated roles for Super Admins, Organizers, Jury Members, and Participants, ensuring structured workflows and clear responsibilities throughout the contest lifecycle.

Key Features

Contest Creation and Management

Organizers can create and manage contests with customizable rules, timelines, participant requirements, and scoring systems. Multiple organizers and jury members can collaborate within the same contest.

Wikimedia OAuth Authentication

Users can log in securely using their existing Wikimedia accounts through OAuth authentication.

Article Submission and Validation

Participants can submit article links directly through the platform. During submission, WikiEval automatically validates contest requirements such as article size, references, categories, and other configured rules.

Multiple Scoring Systems

WikiEval supports different evaluation methods to meet the needs of various contests:

• Simple Scoring – Basic accept/reject evaluation.
• Multi-Parameter Scoring – Evaluation based on criteria such as quality, neutrality, language, formatting, and references.
• Automated Scoring – Automatic score calculation using article metrics such as byte count, references, incoming links, and outgoing links.

Jury Review and Feedback

Jury members can review submissions, assign scores, and provide feedback through a dedicated review interface. Participants can view their evaluation results and comments directly from their dashboards.

Dashboards and Leaderboards

Dedicated dashboards help organizers, jury members, and participants track contest activity, monitor submissions, review progress, and view rankings through real-time leaderboards.

How WikiEval Works

The workflow is simple and designed around community needs:

1. Organizers create and configure a contest.
2. Participants submit eligible articles.
3. WikiEval validates submissions against contest requirements.
4. Jury members review and evaluate submissions.
5. Scores and feedback are published.
6. Leaderboards and dashboards update automatically.

This creates a streamlined experience for organizers, participants, and reviewers throughout the contest lifecycle.

Community Feedback

WikiEval is actively evolving, and community feedback is essential for improving the platform.

We invite organizers, participants, jury members, and Wikimedia contributors to explore the tool and share their experiences, suggestions, and ideas for future improvements. Feedback on workflows, usability, scoring systems, and overall user experience will help guide the next stages of development.

Try WikiEval

Tool: https://wikicontest.toolforge.org

Phabricator Project: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/project/profile/8418/

Meta Page: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiEval_Tool

Feedback Form: Feedback Form

We encourage Wikimedia community members to explore WikiEval, try its features, and share their feedback. Your suggestions will help shape future improvements and ensure the platform continues to meet the needs of Wikimedia contests and campaigns.

Language diversity is an important topic to me, as both an active Wikimedian in the Italian chapter and a sysop of Lombard Wikipedia, a regional language of Italy lacking any recognition by the government, so that’s something I always keep in mind when I do my wiki-stuff.

I synthesize my approach as “Wikipedia in Italian is not Wikipedia Italy and Wikimedia Italia is not Wikimedia in Italian”: while it’s normal to give many attentions to the majority language and even support actions for Italian culture in other countries, we should always keep in mind the existing communities, both the historic minorities and the immigrants bringing their traditions, customs and languages here.

We were already collaborating with Ucraina Più Milano, a local association of Ukrainians in the Milan area, as we organised with them an edit-a-thon on the Executed Renaissance in February, and when they asked us to organise another one at their Ukrainian Book Festival in Milan on the 31 of May, I was delighted and took the opportunity… and thought right away at my Wiki-Friends from the Youth Conference in Prague!

So, we invited Olesia and Daryna to come to Milan to help us engage the Ukrainian community in the city and manage the Ukrainian part of the edit-a-thon: this event was the first edit-a-thon in the Ukrainian language in Italy and a milestone in building a Ukrainian Wikimedian community in our country.

I can’t express how grateful and thankful to them I am: they made a really long trip to join us, and we thanked them by our best Italian hospitality, and in the meantime the Italian Wikipedia started a “double-writing week” about Ukraine, that will end on the 13th of June, when we are opening the WLM/WLE/WLF exhibithion “Wounded yet resilient: Ukraine in photos” in Milan, with the collaboration of Ucraina Più Milano and Wikimedia Ukraine.

As for most introduction edit-a-thon, the output in terms of articles was not our main metric: some experienced users wrote on Wikipedia, while others were explaining the inner workings of Wikipedia and Wikimedia to the interested newcomers, and some even tried doing some small edits! But the most important thing, in my opinion, wasn’t having a big, productive edit-a-thon with lots of articles written by people already expert with the encyclopedia – for that we have the double writing week – but to show we are there, that there are Wikimedia projects in Ukrainian and that they could thrive even outside Ukraine, favouring the cultural exchange between countries too!

That knowledge in the Ukrainian community in Italy is really important too: the majority of them came to Italy before 2022 and speak Russian commonly, and we know well how the various Russian aggressions against Ukraine shifted the language perspectives in the country, influencing which Wikipedia edition Ukrainians read and contribute too. It’s well possible people don’t really know there’s a Ukrainian Wikipedia or, even if they know, they don’t see it as a viable or useful project, and it’s important to us to give dignity to a language that was often mistreated, minoritised and hated in its history, often by the same enemies.

With lots of Ukrainians fleeing from an unjust war, leaving the Ukrainian nation scattered in many countries, online spaces are extremely important to keep that nation, her tradition, customs, culture, cuisine and specialty alive, in the face of the assimilation attempts they’re experiencing.

And in the end, I wanted to have an event that wasn’t just “we write about Ukraine”: the Ukrainian community in Italy is well known for being one of the best examples of integration and positive cultural, economic and social contribution to the country they chose to live in, and saying to them “your culture and language are valued and they deserve to be kept and used even here” is important and just.

The good thing about Wikimedia is that as we don’t have fixed rules, we don’t have fixed times either: I’m pretty sure that building a Ukrainian-speaking Wikimedia community in Italy will take time, but this is the first seed of a sunflower (as the logo we chose for the edit-a-thon, a sunflower opening as a book) that, we all hope, will grow strong in our fields.

When I go to work, I typically listen to youtubes like this one on the train. The narrative is typically much better than the visuals; not looking gives me room to edit Wikidata at the same time.

I found this youtube because I searched for "trophic rewilding" and it suggests that the introduction of jaguars in Yellowstone may bring equivalent changes to Yellowstone of what Wolves famously did. Suggests, because there is no proof that jaguars have actually been introduced. 

However, there are scientific papers on the subject; eg this DOI. It was included in Wikidata in 2021 and,  a lot of additional information is missing that can be added. Adding co-authors or citations is easy and the best bit; the Scholia for this paper gets automagically updated.

What I would like is an environment to link "youtubes" to information from the Wikimedia ecosystem. With links to a Wikipedia article and a Scholia to the subject, links to other subjects mentioned or scientists mentioned. Also links to what Commons has to offer.

As such an environment will expand when "youtubes" are added, it may also be the place where the issues are presented about the quality of the information provided. It should be useful and it may generate its own public.

Thanks,

       GerardM

At the end of May, the UK’s first Wiki Science Competition (WSC) since 2019 drew to a close. After a rewarding 6 months of volunteering, the winners of the 2025 competition were announced on Wikimedia Commons closing the chapter on my first experience as an organiser.

6 images from the contest went through to the international competition, following a process of careful deliberation by the jury. The overall national winner was User:Julian Herzog’s image of a black-headed gull in non-breeding plumage from the Nature & Wildlife category. Placed second and third respectively, was User:Whyistheskyblue1’s image of a sodium laser guide star at the William Herschel Telescope and User:WelshDave’s image of a Welsh mute swan cygnet. Three further images received honourable mentions for their outstanding quality, progressing alongside the winners.

Here, I reflect on what inspired me to get involved and on my experience working with Lucy Moore, my co-organiser and mentor, as well as a team of amazing volunteer judges – the majority of them young Wikimedians – to make the contest happen. 

How the UK’s Wiki Science Competition 2025 came to be

The Wiki Science Competition began in Estonia in 2011. Since then, it has spread across Europe and beyond to Africa, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. In 2025 – the 9th edition of the bi-annual contest – national competitions were hosted across 26 countries, enhancing open knowledge to support public understanding of science on a global level. For the first time since 2019, the United Kingdom was among these countries.

From the beginning, WSC UK 2025 was largely led and made possible through the work of young Wikimedians, highlighting what can be achieved by engaging and investing in youth as the leaders of tomorrow. Without a chance encounter at the Wikimedia Youth Conference in Prague, which I was able to attend thanks to a generous scholarship funded by Wikimedia UK and the Wikimedia Foundation, this national contest would never have been realised.

I first heard about Wiki Science from Wiki Asmah, a Malaysian-Filipino Wikimedian and the lead organiser for Malaysia’s national contest. As we chatted at the conference, Asmah told me about her experiences. I was inspired and began to wonder whether I could bring this competition to the United Kingdom. Despite my growing curiosity after the conference in May, at that time I lacked the confidence to translate inspiration into action.

It was thanks to the mentorship I received from my co-organiser, Lucy Moore, that I was able to make this leap several months later, following my completion of Wikimedia UK’s Train the Trainer programme. Train the Trainer is a fully funded programme hosted by WMUK annually with the aim of equipping volunteers with the resources to train others by developing their skills and expertise through an online course and a series of workshops. This year, a mentoring scheme was launched to provide further support for volunteers afterwards. While meeting with my mentor Lucy to discuss my next steps as a trainer, I mentioned the possibility of hosting a regional Wiki Science Competition in the UK and she encouraged me to go for it, supporting me as a co-organiser and helping to secure essential funding for prizes from the University of Leeds Libraries.

Alongside my mentor, the strong network of young but experienced Wikimedians who I met at the Youth Conference, including Asmah, provided invaluable advice and support as I began my journey organising on Wikimedia Commons, a platform I had little prior experience with. Having such excellent support helped me stay resilient as I navigated not only technical challenges, but deeply personal ones too following the devastating loss of a loved one. Strong networks, both offline and on-Wiki, are critical for organisers, as they face grief or burnout while simultaneously juggling studies, careers, and personal lives alongside their contributions to Wikimedia Commons and sister projects like Wikipedia. Understanding how the wider Wikimedia movement can support Wikimedians to build and maintain support networks is therefore an important strategy going forward that could help to increase editor retention.

Lessons for the future

In 2027, the 10th edition of the Wiki Science Competition will be hosted. As Gauri emphasised, learning from the lessons taught by past competitions is critical to ensure that the United Kingdom’s next Wiki Science Competition (and other nationally hosted WSCs) can make an even greater impact in celebrating the nation’s scientific innovation and biodiversity, while promoting free, open knowledge.

Outreach efforts must be scaled up significantly to increase the competition’s impact in the future. To engage communities across the United Kingdom and to have a greater impact on the regional level, preparation is required much further in advance and must be accompanied by a much wider range of strategies. This will make it possible to reach a broader audience by promoting the contest for longer before submissions close.

With more time, holding outreach events online (and, where relevant, offline) to generate excitement and welcome new Wikimedians would be more realistic. Similarly, the recruitment of campus ambassadors from across the UK’s universities and educational institutions, as WSC India proved this year, would be made possible by starting preparations earlier. The strategy of ambassador recruitment for greater regional representation could also be extended to match the UK context by also appointing national coordinators for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Equipped with more specific knowledge of the challenges and opportunities facing the contest across these nations, national coordinators could increase the contest’s impact on the local level by fostering partnerships with organisations, clubs, and societies.

Social media must play a much larger role in these efforts, starting by setting up accounts for the contest across popular platforms. For example, Instagram has been used by contests like Wiki Loves Folklore for successful outreach as Ferfive, who is a young Wikimedian and the main organiser of Wiki Loves Folklore in Mexico, told me as she gave me advice on making the contest a success. Posts might highlight existing high-quality contributions on Wikimedia Commons from previous editions of the contest or could be infographics that provide fun facts alongside related images. It is easy to see the transferability of such strategies, shifting from folklore to science and scientists, especially those from underrepresented and marginalised backgrounds.

As we celebrate the completion of WSC UK 2025, reflecting on these lessons and applying them successfully will help to deliver an even greater impact on national, regional, and local levels when the next competition is hosted in 2027. But before the work on the next contest begins, I want to thank everyone who made this year’s contest possible, everyone who supported me on this journey (especially Lucy, Asmah, Nikos, Nurtenge and Ferfive), and everyone who participated, whether by submitting images or by volunteering their time to judge the images. Last but by no means least, thank you to the University of Leeds Libraries for their generosity in funding this year’s prizes.

The Africa Wiki Women On-Wiki Skills Mentorship Program has been a transformative experience that strengthened my skills, expanded my understanding of Wikimedia projects, and connected me with an inspiring network of African women dedicated to closing knowledge gaps online.

The program was established to address the underrepresentation of women on Wikimedia projects. Despite the wealth of knowledge and experiences that women possess, only a small percentage of Wikipedia editors identify as women. Through mentorship, skills development, and community support, Africa Wiki Women is working to change this narrative by empowering more women to become active contributors to free knowledge.

Over the course of the three-month mentorship program, I participated in a series of structured training sessions focused on English Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons. Each training was accompanied by practical assignments that allowed participants to apply newly acquired skills and gain hands-on experience contributing to Wikimedia projects.

Building Skills on English Wikipedia

One of the most valuable aspects of the program was the English Wikipedia training. Through these sessions, I learned how to create and improve articles, identify reliable sources, add citations, and ensure that content meets Wikipedia’s standards for neutrality and verifiability.

The training reinforced the importance of reliable sourcing and highlighted the role contributors play in ensuring that information on Wikipedia remains accurate, balanced, and accessible to readers worldwide.

Understanding the Power of Wikidata

The Wikidata sessions introduced me to the world of structured data and demonstrated how information can be organized and connected across Wikimedia projects. I learned how to create and edit items, add statements and references, and improve data quality.

Working with Wikidata helped me appreciate how a single contribution can support multiple Wikimedia projects and improve the discoverability of information across different languages and platforms.

Contributing Through Wikimedia Commons

The Wikimedia Commons training focused on sharing freely licensed media that can be used across Wikimedia projects. I learned about copyright, licensing requirements, categories, and best practices for uploading images.

These sessions emphasized the importance of visual documentation in preserving knowledge and supporting Wikipedia articles with relevant and accessible media content.

The Value of Mentorship and Community

Beyond the technical skills, one of the most impactful aspects of the program was the mentorship itself. Learning within a small group created a supportive environment where participants could ask questions, share challenges, and receive personalized guidance from our mentors. We had assignments that we did, and they were very insightful and gave us hands on experience.

The program also fostered connections with women from different communities and countries, creating opportunities for collaboration, networking, and knowledge exchange. Through these interactions, I gained confidence in my abilities as a contributor and felt encouraged to continue growing within the Wikimedia movement.

Looking Ahead

The Africa Wiki Women On-Wiki Skills Mentorship Program is more than a training initiative; it is an investment in the future of knowledge equity. By equipping African women with the skills and confidence to contribute to Wikimedia projects, the program helps ensure that our stories, perspectives, cultures, and histories are represented in the global knowledge ecosystem.

I am grateful to Africa Wiki Women, the mentors, and fellow participants for creating a welcoming learning environment that encouraged growth and collaboration. The skills and experiences gained through this program will continue to shape my Wikimedia journey, and I look forward to using them to contribute meaningfully to free knowledge and to support other women interested in joining the movement.

As part of bringing volunteers on board to increase the content of articles creation for Dagaare Wikipedia, a workshop was organised to train McCoy College of Education students; particularly indigenes of Dagaare language speakers

Participants

On Febuary 28, 2026, a total of 48 students who are Dagaare speakers gathered in McCoy Assembly Hall room with 4 lecturers to be taken through what Dagaare Wikipedia is all about, how to create a user account, and how to create and edit an article as well.

The first step was a brief explanation of what Dagaare Wikipedia is all about where participants were enlightened and series of questions were asked to clarify their certainty.

Participants were now taken through on how to create a user account where 48 accounts were created successfully.

A followup online Zoom meeting was scheduled to further enlighten the basic skills participants have learnt during the workshop. Unfortunately, the meet couldn’t end successfully as expected due to unstable network connection.

A Scheduled Contest

A contest of 70 articles with timely duration of 2 weeks was organized purposely for the newly trained participants. Out of the 70 articles, 28 of the articles were successfully created.

Gallery

Below are the pictures taken before, during, and after the physical workshop of the McCoy college of education.

ശരദിന്ദു ബന്ദോപാധ്യായ രചിച്ച അനശ്വര ബംഗാളി കുറ്റാന്വേഷണപരമ്പരയായ ഡിറ്റക്ടീവ് ബ്യോംകേഷ് ബക്ഷിയുടെ മലയാളപരിഭാഷ മാതൃഭൂമി ബുക്ക്സ് പുറത്തിറക്കുന്ന വാർത്ത ഞാൻ വായിച്ചിരുന്നു. വാർത്തയോടൊപ്പം പുസ്തകത്തിന്റെ കവർപേജിന്റെ ചിത്രവും ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു. കവർപേജിൽ മഞ്ജരി ഫോണ്ട് കണ്ടതുകൊണ്ടും ബ്യോംകേഷ് ബക്ഷിയെപ്പറ്റി പലയിടത്തും കേട്ടിട്ടുള്ളതുംകൊണ്ടാണ് പുസ്തകം വാങ്ങിയത്. മലയാളത്തിലേക്ക് പരിഭാഷപ്പെടുത്തിയത് പ്രശസ്ത വിവർത്തക ലീലാസർക്കാർ ആയതുകൊണ്ട് മോശമാവാനിടയില്ലെന്നും കരുതി.

പുസ്തകം വായിച്ചു തുടങ്ങിയപ്പോൾ എന്നെ നിരാശപ്പെടുത്തിക്കൊണ്ട് വികലമായ പരിഭാഷകൾ കാണാൻ തുടങ്ങി. ലീലാ സർക്കാർ തന്നെയാണൊ ഇത് പരിഭാഷപ്പെടുത്തിയതെന്ന് സംശയിക്കാതെയുമിരുന്നില്ല. 1950 കൾക്ക് സമീപത്തെ കൊൽക്കത്തയുടെ സാംസ്കാരികപരിസരത്തെ മലയാളത്തിലേക്ക് കൊണ്ടുവരുന്നത് അത്ര എളുപ്പമല്ല. പക്ഷേ അതിന് ശ്രമിച്ചിട്ടുപോലുമില്ല. പകരം കണ്ടത് അക്ഷരത്തെറ്റുകൾ. നിഘണ്ടു ഉപയോഗിച്ചാൽ പോലും നന്നായി പരിഭാഷപ്പെടുത്താവുന്ന വാക്കുകൾ തെറ്റിയിരിക്കുന്നു. ഒരു പ്രാവശ്യം പോലും ആരും ഒന്നു മനസ്സിരുത്തി വായിക്കാത്രെ പ്രസിദ്ധീകരിച്ചോയെന്നു തോന്നിപ്പോയി.

For the 32nd round of Outreachy, Wikimedia Brasil’s participation is targeting another wishlist from our Lusophone Technological Wishlist! Published on May 30th, 2025, the list encompasses diverse wishes from the lusophone community for our Wikimedia Movement and sociotechnical infrastructure. In our previous participation, we solved wish #2 with the deployment of ArquiBot. For this round, we are tackling wish #3: automatic verification of duplicate references in the Visual Editor.

The idea is that when a user inputs a reference that already exists in the “Auto” tab of the Visual Editor, it can check and suggest a reference reuse instead of adding a duplicate. This mapping will be made through identifiers like URL, DOI or ISBN. A pop-up appears and the user can reuse an existing reference or add the current one normally. Our development plan is already available on Wikimedia Commons.

Although this need emerged from the lusophone community, it’s an improvement that can benefit the whole Wikimedia community, as this issue of duplicate references and reference reuse happens on other wikipedias as well. With that, we not only satisfy our community needs but also improve local capacity of interacting with international tools and foster solidarity between different language communities.

For this round of Outreachy, we are having our first intern from Latin America: Ana Maria Ruiz from Bolivia! Usually the participation of Latin American interns in the Outreachy selection process is very very low. We hope that this round can be a reference for future Latin American interns that wish to apply for Outreachy and that Ana Maria Ruiz can be an example for the latam tech community! Speaking about community, Ana is already joining our latam tech spaces, specifically our Telegram group that discusses technical subjects. The Wikimedia Brasil mentors for this round are Artur Corrêa and Éder Porto.

Here is Ana Maria Ruiz, I am a developer based in Tarija, Bolivia who enjoys building blocks. It has been three weeks since I started my internship at Wikimedia and I am more than happy to be here. My mentors are part of Wikimedia Brasil and together we are addressing the Lusophone Technological Wishlist. During these first weeks I have been learning a lot about the Wikimedia ecosystem, not only about my project but about many other projects that I was not aware of. 

I meet twice a week with my mentors to discuss more on the project progress and solve any doubt or issue I may have on the sprint. That is how I learnt about the complexity of the citation feature and the many services that are used to create a reference. It was challenging and interesting since there’s a lot of documentation involved but this is what makes it entertaining, you can dig as much as you can to find your answer and if I feel overwhelmed I can email my mentors to get unstuck and keep going. 

But this internship is not just programming and repositories, the Wikimedia Foundation also set up a couple of sessions to know more about the mission with free knowledge, other projects in the ecosystem, opportunities to contribute to the community and grants. Did you know that humans are not the largest volume of Wikipedia users? Actually, many artificial intelligence models repeatedly use Wikipedia content for training and that’s why the biggest traffic is from non-human sources. I am learning the big picture of Wikimedia impact in the world and enjoying this journey.

What comes next? Keep tackling wish #3 and try to have it resolved during this internship. You can keep yourself updated on the Lusophone Technological Wishlist in its talk page and on the wishlist #3 on its talk page.

Gabriel Ashley is a recent graduate of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, where he double majored in history and Italian. Through their Wikipedia assignments this spring, Gabriel and his classmates significantly expanded Wikipedia’s content about colors, adding information about the history and science behind specific shades.

Curious about the first formal scientific investigation of the color dragon’s blood, the toxic legacy of the factory productions behind Paris green, or the historic symbolism of khaki? Thanks to the student editors, Wikipedia now offers richer coverage of these colors and many more. 

Below, Gabriel reflects on his experience improving the Wikipedia article on Tuscan red, a shade of red that was used on railroad cars and is closely associated with the Pennsylvania Railroad, and shares his big takeaways from the assignment.

To be completely honest, I never thought much about the history of colors before this project, but the research did pique my interest in certain areas. The period from 1880 to 1914 was, as it turns out, one of the most consequential eras in the history of color, a moment when industrial chemistry, geopolitics, fashion, military strategy, and public health collided in ways that determined not just what things looked like, but who got sick, who went to war, and who survived. Contributing to Wikipedia in this context was more than an academic exercise. It was an act of making that history accessible to anyone who looks up a color name. Looking back, I can see that our project to improve Wikipedia’s coverage of color history succeeded as a pedagogical tool precisely because it forced students to confront the gap between what is publicly known and what is historically true, and to do the work of closing it.

The most important contribution I made to Wikipedia was documenting the 1887 reformulation of Tuscan red, specifically shifting it from a brazilwood base to a compound of Indian red (a variety of iron oxide). This formula was later modified by adding alizarin lake pigment, resulting in the commercial production of the pigment in three distinct shades. This context explains something that the previous version of the Tuscan red Wikipedia article gestured toward but did not fully account for: why the color became so closely associated with industrial applications like railroad rolling stock, steam pipes, and machinery in precisely this period. 

The answer is not that the color was fashionable or that the Pennsylvania Railroad happened to choose it, but rather that the reformulation around 1887 produced a pigment that was genuinely resistant to heat and sustained light exposure in a way the earlier brazilwood formulation was not: the material properties drove its industrial adoption. The three-shade production detail — light, medium, and dark, with the medium grade becoming commercially dominant — also reveals the degree to which color had become a standardized industrial commodity by the late 19th century. This was not craft production. This was a market segmenting a product for different end uses and optimizing for the grade that sold best. Documenting that transition from Brazil wood lake to iron oxide and alizarin is, in a real sense, documenting the moment Tuscan red became a modern industrial color rather than a traditional pigment. That distinction belongs in the public record.

The research for this assignment changed my view of color in a fundamental way. I came into the process thinking about color as an aesthetic phenomenon, as a question of what is pleasing or fashionable or symbolically meaningful. I now see color as infrastructure. The color of a railroad car was a standardization problem. The color of a dress was a supply chain problem. The color of a military uniform was a chemistry problem, a geopolitics problem, and an industrial production problem, all at once. The period 1880 to 1914 is the moment when color became industrial at scale, when the decisions about what shade things would be were made not by artists or craftsmen but by chemists, manufacturers, and military procurement officers working under competitive and economic pressure. That shift had profound consequences for ordinary people, most of whom had no idea they were living inside of this change. Paris green, a highly-toxic, arsenic-based pigment, was in their wallpaper, their children’s toys, their ball gowns, and their books, and they largely did not know. Color history is uniquely positioned to illuminate the significance of this invisibility. 

The assignment also changed my view of Wikipedia, and in a direction I had not expected. I came in with the casual undergraduate assumption that Wikipedia is a starting point, a place you go before you do the real research. I leave with considerably more respect for the platform and considerably more appreciation for how difficult it is to contribute to it well. The verification requirements are not bureaucratic obstacles; they are the mechanism by which the platform maintains the distinction between what is known and what is merely asserted. When I discovered that several of my initial facts were already present in the relevant articles, sometimes nearly verbatim, I had to go back and do much more time-consuming research to find what was genuinely absent. That process was frustrating, but it was also the most educationally valuable part of the assignment. It forced me to read the existing articles carefully, to understand what they already said and what they were missing, and to think critically about what kind of knowledge actually needed to be added. That is a different and more demanding skill than simply summarizing sources.

The greatest benefit of this assignment was the experience of doing research with a genuine audience. Writing for Wikipedia is not the same as writing a paper for a professor. The professor knows more than you do and is evaluating your command of the material. A Wikipedia reader may know nothing about the topic at all and is relying on the article to orient them accurately. That shift in audience produced a shift in how I thought about evidence, clarity, and the responsibility that comes with putting information into a public space. The greatest challenge of the project was closely related: the existing articles were better than I expected, and finding material that was both genuinely new and properly sourced required more time and more methodological rigor than I had initially anticipated. Several promising facts turned out to be already present on the page. Others were well documented in secondary sources but not traceable to primary sources that would satisfy Wikipedia’s citation standards. The constraint was productive, but it was genuinely difficult.

Now looking back, I can see that the biggest value of the assignment is the bridge it builds between rigorous historical research and public access to knowledge, and in the experience of learning to take both seriously.

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Interested in incorporating a Wikipedia assignment into your course? Visit teach.wikiedu.org to learn more about the free resources, digital tools, and staff support that Wiki Education offers to postsecondary instructors in the United States and Canada.

With great excitement, we wish to share that Bolivia will host the Latin America Wikimedia Conference this year. The event will take place between November 19 and 21, 2026, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Eastern Bolivia, a city and metropolitan area that has seen impressive growth and which currently features cultural expressions from throughout the country and the region.

We want to share Bolivia’s ecological and cultural heritage with the Wikimedia community at large. The country expands from the Andean zone – with cities located at 13.000 feet – to the vast Amazon basin and dry woodlands of the Chaco, where 14 ecological levels, 17 ecoregions, and 190 ecosystems meet. In this diversity, over 30 indigenous and Afrobolivian civilizations have flourished, representing our national strength. 

Be part of the Conference

The Conference’s goal is to create structured spaces to share knowledge and skills that will empower the community and support conflict resolution and inclusive engagement. Anyone from Latin America and the Caribbean may apply for scholarships or submit program proposals, even from countries without affiliates. Our objective is to strengthen regional cooperation and foster collective efforts towards knowledge equity and localized content from joint and diverse viewpoints. 

To apply for a scholarship, fill out the following form. You may find the questions in the form here. Applications are open until Sunday, June 21, at midnight in Bolivia (UTC -4). This deadline will not be extended. Any decisions concerning scholarships will be communicated in August. 

The conference will reunite people who are new to Wikimedia with organizers, members of the technical community, experienced editors, and users with extended rights. We will seek to establish a healthy balance among people with diverse skills and levels of experience, who may collaborate and inspire one another. 

A call for volunteers is also open to form the organizing committees of the Conference: scholarships, program, communications, and technical community. This call will be open through Sunday, June 7, at midnight in Bolivia (UTC -4). Each committee will be in charge of specific tasks.

• The scholarships committee will set the evaluation criteria for the selection of candidates. 
• The program committee will evaluate proposals and contribute to setting up the time slots in the conference.
• The communications committee will broadcast the event and design the documentation strategies that will be implemented.
• The technical community will find a venue for a hackathon and support creating a space for discussion on the reimagining and strengthening of our social and technical infrastructure.

Members of the committee may apply for scholarships and submit proposals, but membership does not guarantee access to a scholarship or approval of proposals. Members will only be exempt from evaluating their own submissions. Further information about committees may be found in the following Meta link. 

Building the program

The Conference will focus on three program tracks:

• Internet self-representation: a track for initiatives, projects, experiences, analytics, feedback, ideas, and research regarding how Wikimedia projects may or may not be used to build on the ability of historically underrepresented communities to tell their own stories online, with the goal of closing gaps while keeping the focus on the communities themselves, their knowledge, and the capacity for self-determination through collectively built information. This includes experiences linked to local history, minoritary languages, communal heritage, citizen memory, indigenous knowledge, rural and Afro communities, sexual and gender-diverse people’s forms of producing, expressing and broadcasting knowledge from their territories. 
• Social and technical infrastructure: a track with a strong, practical orientation which will feature a Conference hackathon. This track will gather the Wikimedia movement’s technical community with users with extended rights, technical agents (such as developers, sys admins and data scientists) with an interest in Wikimedia projects, organizers and users who may wish to strengthen regional cooperation around technological Wikimedia tools. Proposals in this track may approach subjects like open technologies, Wikimedia tools, automation, AI and Wikipedia, open data, overall social and technical infrastructure, and social and technical engagement barriers. 
• Innovation for open knowledge: this track includes proposals, analysis, research, opinions, ideas, and points of view exploring new ways to build, share, and maintain knowledge free in diverse contexts. We expect to foster creative experiences for implementing and approaching Wikimedia projects in areas like education, culture, heritage, and indigenous languages, among others, through thematic tracks and participative methodologies, workflows, collaboration formats, and innovative partnerships. The goal in this track is to share learnings, experiences, and approaches that may inspire new practices within the Wikimedia movement that will allow us to undertake the engagement challenges that characterize the region. 

The call for program proposals will be open from mid-June through this form and will be communicated through various channels. It is not mandatory to propose a session to apply for a scholarship.  

What we expect in the Conference

The main goals of the conference are:

• To foster a more solid regional community through the promotion of collaboration between peers and shared trust and responsibility.
• To exchange knowledge among experienced users, including users with extended rights, newcomers, and organizers. 
• To enhance participation and renewal tracks within Wikimedia communities in Latin America. 
• To approach key challenges in Latin American Wikimedia projects, such as the promotion of inclusive communal dynamics, proposals, and examples to promote generational renovation and an improvement in policies and processes that may provide clarity without widening the participation gaps of Latin American communities in Wikimedia projects. 
• To strengthen and expand the technical Wikimedia community in the region, thus contributing to the diversity of the global community.  

From its inception as a grant proposal, this process has been the result of the efforts and the cooperation that the Wikimedia movement is known for. We wish to honor the support, cooperation, and disposition of other regional groups for this Conference: Wikimedia Argentina, Wikimedistas de Bolivia, Wikimedia Brasil, Wikimedia Chile, Wikimedia Colombia, Wikimedia México, WikiAcción Perú, and Wikimedistas de Uruguay.

Since this event seeks to be a space for bonding and communal growth, we also intend to be as inclusive as possible: anyone from Latin America and the Caribbean may join the committees, apply for scholarships, and submit proposals for the program, regardless of affiliation or lack thereof. Along with the groups of organizers and the community at large, we hope to put forward a Conference to remember. 

Keep updated

We will publish updates on the event page on Meta.

You may also follow Wikimedistas de Bolivia on social media:

1. Facebook  
2. Twitter
3. Instagram
4. Web

If you have any questions, you may contact: miwikilatam2026@gmail.com

Throughout April and May 2026, Wikimedia Indonesia’s Education team organized Wiki Women’s Month 2026, an annual thematic campaign held to commemorate International Women’s Day and celebrate women’s contributions to science. This year, we adopted the theme #WomeninScience to highlight women who have contributed to the advancement of science by documenting their stories across Wikimedia projects.

Wikimedia contributors in Indonesia and newcomers took part in a series of activities, including Wikipedia and Wikiquote editing workshops (WikiGap) held online and in person in Makassar and Jakarta, Bincang Perempuan (Women’s Talk), community meetups, and  Datathon. In total, Wiki Women’s Month 2026 engaged 240 editors and garnered 279.000 page views across Wikimedia projects. Participants created 201 new articles and improved 555 existing articles related to women.

“Grateful to be part of WikiGap, a meaningful collaboration between Wikimedia Indonesia, Embassy of Sweden in Jakarta, Ministry of Population and Family Development/BKKBN, and UNFPA Indonesia. As inspiring space to broaden perspectives on women’s and adolescents’ health and well-being, while contributing to reducing the information gap on Wikimedia. Because equal access to knowledge is not only about information it’s also about representation, visibility, and creating safe spaces for every voice to be heard.” – @angela_vhebe via Instagram

For activities in Jakarta, the Education team collaborated with several strategic partners, including Generasi Berencana Indonesia under the Directorate of Adolescent Resilience Development of the Ministry of Population and Family Development (Kemendukbangga/BKKBN), the Embassy of Sweden, and UNFPA Indonesia. Together, we organized WikiGap Jakarta: Let’s make the internet more gender equal! to raise awareness among young people and encourage their active participation in addressing content gaps related to women’s health and adolescent girls’ health on Wikipedia.

WikiGap Jakarta was held at the Kemendukbangga/BKKBN Headquarters on 4 May 2026. The event was attended by 23 participants in person and 80 members of Forum Genre Indonesia online via Zoom. The event was officially opened by Ms. Angeliqa Lejonberg, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Sweden in Indonesia, and Mr. Nopian Andusti, Deputy for Family Welfare and Family Empowerment (KSPK).

“Research shows that health topics attract relatively more attention from female readers than male readers. However, information related to women’s health and well-being on the Indonesian Wikipedia is still not discussed comprehensively and in depth. Several important articles, for example, women’s health, maternal and child health, are still in the stub article category. Furthermore, only a small number of other important articles on the same topic have reached the good article category. Through WikiGap, together, we want to improve this.” – Angeliqa Lejonberg, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Sweden in Indonesia

In Makassar, we also organized a Bincang Perempuan or Women’s Talk session and a WikiGap event in collaboration with the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at Hasanuddin University. The program consisted of two activities: (1) a panel discussion titled “Celebrating Women’s Contributions to Science” featuring women speakers, and (2) a basic Wikipedia editing workshop for university students. During the event, participants learned about Wikipedia and how it works, while also contributing to articles about notable Indonesian women on Wikipedia.

“Honestly, when I first heard about WikiGap, I didn’t know much about it. But after joining, I found it enjoyable and more meaningful than I expected. I met people who shared the same passion, learned how to contribute to Wikipedia, and realized that even something as simple as writing an article can have a significant impact. We often don’t realize that our voices and knowledge are valuable and deserve to be shared with the world. WikiGap taught me that change can start from small actions, including a single article on Wikipedia.” — Multafiyah, participant of WikiGap Makassar

In addition, 15 Wikimedia communities across Indonesia joined Wiki Women’s Month through community meetups and online gatherings. Community members came together to improve and expand articles about women across various Wikimedia projects.

By documenting the stories, achievements, and contributions of women, we are helping close the internet gender gap. Through Wiki Women’s Month, Wikimedia Indonesia and its partners continue to encourage more people to contribute to free knowledge and ensure that women’s voices and experiences are better represented across Wikimedia projects.

For years, I used Wikipedia as a source of information without ever thinking about the people behind the articles. Like many others, I was simply a reader. That changed when I joined the On Wiki Skill Program organized by Africa Wiki Women, a three-month training that introduced me to the world of Wikimedia contribution and open knowledge.

Learning Wikimedia Tools and Platforms

The program exposed me to various Wikimedia platforms, including Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikipedia. Through interactive training sessions and practical assignments, I learned how these platforms work together to make knowledge freely accessible to millions of people around the world. I gained valuable skills in researching, editing, sourcing reliable references, and contributing information in line with Wikimedia standards.

My First Wikipedia Contribution

One of the most rewarding moments of the program was creating an article for Daniel Nwachukwu. Developing the article required careful research, fact-checking, and adherence to Wikipedia’s content guidelines. The experience helped me appreciate the effort that goes into creating trustworthy and verifiable information for public use.

A Shift in Perspective

Beyond the technical skills, the training changed my perspective on knowledge sharing. I realized that Wikimedia projects are powered by ordinary people who are passionate about preserving, improving, and sharing information. The program showed me that anyone can contribute meaningfully to the global knowledge ecosystem.

Completion of the Program

Completing the On Wiki Skill Program was a significant milestone for me. It lasted three months, and during this period I developed both technical and collaborative skills in Wikimedia editing and contribution. Receiving my testimonial and participating in the graduation ceremony were proud moments that reflected dedication, learning, and growth.

Gratitude and Acknowledgement

I am grateful to Africa Wiki Women, the facilitators, mentors, and fellow participants who made this journey possible. Their guidance and encouragement helped transform me from a passive consumer of information into an active contributor.

Advice for Future Contributors

My advice to future participants is to stay consistent, ask questions, and take every assignment seriously, no matter how small it may seem. At first, Wikimedia editing may look difficult, but with practice and guidance, it becomes easier and more meaningful. Most importantly, always remember that every edit contributes to global knowledge that others depend on.

Today, I am not just a user anymore. I am a Wikimedia contributor, and this is only the beginning of my journey.

🕑 1 hour 28 minutes

Daniel Dobriy is the founder and managing director of the company Dobriy AI. He is also a researcher at WU Vienna University and Austria's Bilateral AI Cluster of Excellence.

Links for some of the topics discussed:

• Dobriy AI
• Daniel Dobriy homepage
• Agentic Data Catalogue
  • Web of Data Catalogue
  • Search of Engine for the Web of Data
• WikiApiary
• ECHOLOT
• NeoWiki MediaWiki extension
• GraphHub

It’s now roughly halfway through the 2026 Wiki Loves Earth campaign, which runs 1 May – 30 June.  Here’s a little bit about how some of our Programmes staff based in Wales, England and Scotland have been using their time, voluntarily, to raise awareness, encourage participation and highlight the different ways people can get involved with the competition.

Gemma Coleman | Wales

I love nature and I’m always taking photos of things that strike me or of plants I want to identify. But for some reason, “Wiki Loves Earth” didn’t feel immediately relevant. Making time to travel to a protected area felt hard, all I have is the phone on my camera and I’m not even really a competent photographer! 

But as someone who is always taking (bad) photographs it was fun going through the pictures on my phone. There was the strikingly moody sunset at Nant Gwrtheyrn on a drizzly November evening. I was in the area for a residential Welsh course rather than the nature but the Llŷn Peninsula coast is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty so eligible for Wiki Loves Earth! There was the cow parsley I snapped on a lunch time walk to feed into my plant ID app. And there was that time I came across a fin whale carcass! 

I’m still no photographer and these still aren’t the greatest pictures in the world. But it was fun to reminisce on what I’d already taken over the year (and it was an excuse to create the Beached whales in Wales category, which didn’t exist yet!) 

Wiki Loves Earth in Wales page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Earth_2026_in_Wales 

List of protected natural areas in Wales page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Earth_in_Wales/Protected_natural_areas 

Richard Nevell | England

One of London’s highlights is the amount of green space. Even a megacity can have a place for nature. With that in mind I thought I’d see where the nearest eligible place for Wiki Loves Earth is. The first challenge is avoiding the red herrings. London has lots of parks, but the competition is specifically about protected places. The most common designation is Site of Special Scientific Interest, so was the best choice for something nearby. Just over 40 minutes on the bus took me within a short walk of the Chingford Reservoirs. I checked the route to the reservoirs on Google Maps and my plan was to go to the reservoirs and take a snap from the road.

So far so good!

On arrival, I was struck by the size of the embankment around the reservoirs which reminded me of the remains of Iron Age hillforts, and were calling out to be climbed. However, I couldn’t see the reservoir from the road. One thing I should have considered was whether I could get into the protected area and a large metal fence made it clear that wasn’t going to be possible. Though it’s not what I expected, I do quite like the photograph, though you probably wouldn’t know it’s a reservoir unless someone told you as much. The moral of the story is: if you are making a trip just to visit to take a photograph, check if there is access. And if that fails, find somewhere nearby to get a consolation snack.

Wiki Loves Earth in England competition page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Earth_2026_in_England

List of protected natural areas in England page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Earth_in_England/Protected_natural_areas

Sara Thomas | Scotland

Living in Glasgow, I’m normally more of a Wiki Loves Monuments participant than Wiki Loves Earth.  But I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how the Wikimedia projects help us to interact with physical space and location, which led me to the Possil Marsh article on en.wiki.  If you’re familiar with the city you’ll know that North Glasgow often has a reputation primarily characterised by its experience of poverty rather than its rich community spirit or industrial history, but I know Possil Marsh (a Nature Reserve and a Special Site of Scientific Interest), Hamiltonhill Claypits, the nearby River Kelvin, and the Forth & Clyde Canal as havens for nature, and reminders of why Glasgow’s Dear Green Place nickname remains quite so apt. I guess that it may be unexpected to find SSSIs within city boundaries, but Glasgow has two! 

Pictures make a difference when it comes to Wikipedia, and the Possil Marsh article only had one image, which was taken in 2009.  I wanted to expand on that, to give more of a sense of what the place feels like, and what you can find there. With it being Wiki Loves Earth season, it seemed like an appropriate time to take a sunny Saturday morning wander.  

I got a few good shots (well, as good as I can get on a mobile phone) showing the wider location context, some close ups of interesting plants, and found a path I’ve not taken before that let me get closer to the water to show Possil Loch itself.  I’ve now added a few more images to the article, and created a new “Possil Marsh” category on Commons.  Not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning! 

Wiki Loves Earth in Scotland competition page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Earth_2026_in_Scotland

List of protected areas in Scotland page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Earth_in_Scotland/Protected_natural_areas 
If you’re in Northern Ireland, you can find out more about the Irish competition here: https://wikimedia.ie/2026/05/01/wiki-loves-earth-2026-in-in-ireland-and-northern-ireland-photography-competitons-are-open/

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