Khalili Foundation: Year in Review

Dr Martin Poulter has been the Wikimedian in Residence at the Khalili Foundation since 2019. Our partnership with the Khalili Foundation has facilitated an incredible wealth of cultural information and research being added to the wiki projects, with a particular focus on non-western art. In this blog, we take a look at the achievements made over the last year of the residency.

In 2022, Martin and Waqās Ahmed researched the extent to which the western art canon was represented on the wiki projects in comparison to the art of other cultures. Unsurprisingly, western art has much higher representation. But with the help of the Khalili Foundation’s images and expertise, as well as native language speakers from the wider Wikimedia community, this residency is filling the gap.

The residency has previously shared over 1500 from all eight Khalili Collections. These are used in 90 different Wikimedia platforms (up from 81 last year). Articles referencing these items and information from the Collection saw a rush of translations from English into other languages, enriching other language Wikipedias with this wealth of cultural heritage. This made it a record year for image views at 78.5 million views of Khalili images across all Wikimedia platforms.

In 2023 the emphasis of the residency shifted from sharing images and creating articles, to running events. Two editathons were hosted by Wellcome Collection and Khalili Research Centre, University of Oxford. The Wikimedians of Islamic Civilization User Group hosted two online sessions about using Khalili Collections’ Islamic art in Arabic Wikipedia. Waqās made a presentation to Art UK using this project as a case study of successful sharing of cultural heritage on Wikimedia.

Milestones

  • Fifteen new articles in English, Indonesian, Urdu, Malay and Spanish, bringing the total of new Wikipedia articles created to fifty.
  • The Musa va ‘Uj article passed Good Article* review, becoming the eighth Good Article from this project.
  • The project received an honourable mention in Wikimedia UK’s Partnership of the Year awards, both to the Khalili Collections for sharing images and Dr Glaire Anderson of the University of Edinburgh for using them in her teaching.
  • Two images won Featured Picture* awards: one on English Wikipedia and another on Arabic Wikipedia.
The Kaaba surrounded by concentric circles of Arabic calligraphy in a Chinese pilgrimage scroll. Chinese caption and calligrapher's seal impression on the upper right
The Kaaba surrounded by concentric circles of Arabic calligraphy in a Chinese pilgrimage scroll. Chinese caption and calligrapher’s seal impression on the upper right. File:Khalili Collection Hajj and Arts of Pilgrimage MSS 1288 kaaba.jpg. CC BY-S.A 3.0
  • Two Featured Article* awards: Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam in English Wikipedia and Urdu Wikipedia, getting 52,771 page views over the course of the year
  • Three articles featured in Wikipedia’s Did You Know? section: Musa va ‘Uj, Falnama, and Gulshan-i ‘Ishq.
  • Substantial rewrites of the articles Cultural diversity, World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, and Falnama. Wikipedia’s articles about cultural diversity were a bit overloaded with legal detail and are now more accessible. These articles are collectively getting more than 10,000 views per month.
  • 58,849 page views of English Wikipedia articles relating to the Khalili Collections.
Photograph of an iron, steel and brass war mask.
Iron, steel and brass war mask. File:Khalili Collection Islamic Art Mtw-1390.jpg. CC BY-S.A 3.0.

Looking ahead

As the residency continues, Martin hopes to share more articles about art works and about topics that link multiple works (such as exhibitions). The residency also aims to promote cultural diversity more generally, by encouraging the community to improve Wikipedia articles about artists and masterpieces from all the world’s cultures.

For more information on our cultural partnerships, you can visit this page. We also have a Get Involved page which lists some of the ways you can explore exciting partnerships such as this one.

Wikimedia and the war on information

By Lucy Crompton-Reid, Chief Executive of Wikimedia UK

Wikimedia UK’s vision is of a more informed, democratic and equitable society through open knowledge. There are times when achieving that vision seems light years away, but it still inspires me; and I think that the idea of creating a better and fairer world – even if they may articulate it differently – motivates many of Wikimedia’s volunteer contributors. In my experience and observation Wikimedians are also driven by a fierce commitment to objectivity, neutrality, openness, accessibility and truth. Unfortunately, during times of conflict and other emergencies, these values can be extremely fragile and highly contested. The Covid-19 pandemic was one such emergency, during which our already unhealthy and unbalanced information ecosystem became more vulnerable to misinformation and disinformation. The current situation in Gaza and Israel is another. 

Coverage of the war on Wikimedia has received millions of pageviews from around the world. On the English Wikipedia alone, the main article on the crisis has had nearly 1000 contributors (probably more by the time this is published). When writing about such a terrible situation and one that is driven by deep-seated division, Wikipedia’s emphasis on fairness, proportionality, neutrality and verifiability becomes even more vital. However the very fact that in some languages (including English) the conflict is described as the “Israel-Hamas War” while in others it is the “Gaza War” illustrates that – even when contributors to Wikipedia are editing in good faith – knowledge is not an ever-fixed mark but something that is negotiated in real time, while real lives are being lost. 

While many of us are watching the unfolding news with mounting horror, Wikimedians in the region are of course directly impacted, as are those who have personal connections through family or cultural ties. Tragically, we have heard of at least one volunteer contributor to Wikimedia who has been killed during airstrikes on Gaza, and an unprecedented number of journalists have died in the conflict. Meanwhile, the information ecosystem is being severely undermined by internet shutdowns, as well as rising disinformation.

The Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects, is working hard to support affected volunteers, with the Human Rights team leading a working group with colleagues from Legal, Disinformation, Global Advocacy, Technology and Communications. They can be contacted for support and advice at talktohumanrights@wikimedia.org; or emergency@wikimedia.org (monitored by staff 24/7) regarding an immediate threat of physical harm. 

The Wikimedia Foundation is also working in partnership with other organisations – for example through the #KeepItOn coalition, the Freedom Online Coalition and the Global Network Initiative – to support diplomatic and other actions against internet shutdowns in Gaza, and have created and published this comprehensive guide with resources on how community members can stay connected during internet outages. The Foundation’s recent update on Wikimedia’s activities in relation to the crisis in Gaza and Israel details further information about how the Human Rights team and others are supporting staff and volunteers and addressing disinformation. 

It is vital that we guard against false or misleading content on our platforms. Currently, pages relating to the crisis in Gaza and Israel – particularly in English, Arabic, Hebrew and Farsi – are being closely monitored by Wikimedia Foundation staff as well as volunteer communities to protect against any coordinated efforts to manipulate content, and staff are collaborating with academic researchers to understand more about potential malicious activities on the Wikimedia projects. In the medium to longer term, however, it is also crucial to improve media and information literacy skills as a way of helping to combat the impact of misinformation and disinformation. To that end, Wikimedia UK – the national charity for the global Wikimedia movement – has a long-held commitment to developing media and information literacy skills, and we work extensively with universities and other formal and informal education settings to support the development of these skills. We see an important link between media and information literacy skills and civic engagement, and published a report earlier this year on how Wikimedia UK increases citizen engagement in democratic processes through our work in information literacy.

More recently, Wikimedia UK co-hosted a two day workshop in partnership with the BBC and the Royal Society on the role of media and information literacy in building resilience to future emergencies, particularly in light of the unique challenges posed by AI-generated disinformation. As we know from conflict situations as well as from the Covid-19 pandemic, emergencies exacerbate inequalities and amplify asymmetries in the information environment. Moreover, Generative AI is creating huge changes in the way that information is created, shared and consumed. The workshop brought together academics, journalists, disinformation experts, policy advisors and senior leaders from civil society, government and community organisations in order to address the critical issues of building resilience against emergencies, and explore what different institutions can do to ensure access to trusted, life-saving information in times of crisis. 

The relationship between media and information literacy and people’s behaviour online and offline is very nuanced. After all, the creation and dissemination of disinformation depends on highly sophisticated media literacy skills (of the bad actors involved) in order to appear credible. Also, whilst building trust in institutions is essential for us to navigate existing and future crises, there are some communities that have been excluded or exploited by our institutions, and those communities’ criticality and distrust needs to be understood in that context. 

We will share more about our workshop with the BBC and the Royal Society early next year, including a summary of the discussions and emerging policy recommendations. My own key takeaway was a reinforced sense of urgency in improving the overall health of our information ecosystem, including (but not confined to) a more joined up approach to increasing media and information literacy across all levels of society. The work that Wikimedia staff and volunteers are doing to minimise misinformation and disinformation across the Wikimedia projects is also crucial, in times of peace as well as war. 

If you are interested in training to become a Wikipedia editor, please keep an eye on Wikimedia UK’s varied event programme. Details are usually listed here.

To support Wikimedia UK’s work by making a donation, please visit this page. 

Queer Britain’s Wikimedian in Residence

By Evie Moore

In August 2023, Queer Britain collaborated with Wikimedia UK to host a Wikimedian in Residence project. From August to November, Evie Moore worked on improving content on Wikipedia and related websites, with a focus on topics relevant to Queer Britain. In this post, Evie reflects on the residency.

Project highlights

Over the past three months, I’ve had the opportunity of contributing to Wikimedia projects as part of my residency at Queer Britain. Despite encountering challenges throughout the residency, specifically limitations due to healing from a broken ankle and undergoing surgery within the residency period, the unwavering support and kindness from the wiki team transformed these obstacles into opportunities. Thanks to this collaborative effort, I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The residency has been both enriching and productive, allowing me to engage with various aspects of the Wikimedia community and make valuable contributions to LGBTQ+ representation on the platform.

Wikipedia article contributions

One of my primary tasks during the residency was enhancing the ‘LGBT rights in the UK’ Wikipedia article, expanding sections on Advocacy Organisations, LGBT representation in politics, Pride Parades, and Rights for Asylum. The comprehensive 1500+ words added aim to provide a well-rounded view of the current landscape of LGBTQ+ rights in the UK. The page is read on average 12,000 times a month so it’s an important source of information.

I also spent time improving the Wikipedia pages of LGBTQ+ figures such as Roberta Cowell. This involved fact-checking, correcting inaccuracies, and ensuring proper referencing. The goal was to provide accurate and comprehensive information about her life and contributions to the LGBTQ+ community.

Signs showing solidarity with Trans people above an LGBTQ+ flag and a mannequin wearing a jacket with the pride rainbow colours hanging off it in strips.
Photo of an exhibit at Queer Britain taken by PinkEM.

Wikimedia Commons contributions

I contributed photographic content of the Queer Britain building to Wikimedia Commons. This not only serves as a visual representation but also adds a layer of accessibility for users seeking information about Queer Britain.

Increasing visibility

To enhance the visibility of Queer Britain, I strategically placed links to their page in the ‘see other’ section of related national Queer Museums and Archives. This cross-referencing helps users discover Queer Britain in the broader context of LGBTQ+ history and culture while constructing relationships between Queer museums and archives internationally. 

Collaboration

I engaged with Owen Blacker in discussions about the LGBTQ+ community on Wikipedia and explored the use of LGBTQ+ acronyms across the platform. These conversations were instrumental in gaining insights into the challenges and opportunities within the LGBTQ+ Wiki community.

I collaborated with Alice White on an upcoming edit-a-thon event at the Wellcome Collection, focusing on sourcing articles related to sexual health and education. This initiative aligns with Queer Britain’s commitment to diverse and inclusive representation within the LGBTQ+ spectrum.

I actively participated in the larger residency team, fostering collaboration and learning about diverse Wikimedia projects. Understanding the scope and shape of longer residencies proved beneficial in shaping the direction of my residency.

Research and data collection

Following on from my and Owens’s discussion, I conducted thorough research and collected data regarding the use of different acronyms such as LGBT, LGBT+, and LGBTQ+ This information can serve as a foundation for future initiatives focused on inclusivity and accurate representation, and can be utilised in future debates regarding which Acronym to use across Wikipedia.

Project pages and planning

I created a project page for Queer Britain, providing detailed information about the residency and Queer Britain itself. Additionally, internal planning for a future Wiki event at Queer Britain, titled ‘Queering Wikipedia,’ is underway. This edit-a-thon will emphasise the importance of accessible and open-source information in queer archiving.

Upon my return to the museum, I am looking forward to offering volunteers Wikipedia training, continuing to improve and expand on LGBTQ+ open source articles, collecting more photographic content to upload on Wikipedia Commons, and continuing to push for Wiki to use more inclusive and relevant acronyms for the LGBTQ+ community.

Summary stats

We used the Outreach Dashboard to summarise the impact of the residency on Wikipedia.

Screenshot of the outreach dashboard

In conclusion, my Wikimedia residency at Queer Britain has been a fulfilling experience marked by collaboration, content creation, and community engagement. The impact of these contributions extends beyond the digital realm, promoting a more inclusive representation of LGBTQ+ history and culture on a global scale. I look forward to the continued growth of these initiatives and the positive impact they will have on Wikipedia’s LGBTQ+ content.

WMUK 2023 Community Meeting – videos and opportunities

By Dr Sara Thomas, Scotland Programme Manager for Wikimedia UK and organiser of the Community Meeting

On Sunday 26th November we were delighted to host our 2023 Community Meeting. It was a chance for our community to gather online, share the work that’s taken place over the last year, recognise that work through the UK Wikimedian of the Year awards, and find out more ways to get involved. 

We were welcomed by our Chief Executive Lucy Crompton-Reid, and then we launched into a series of Lightning Talks.

Lightning Talks

Dr Sarah Rogers, from the Royal College of Nursing’s History of Nursing Forum, told us about the Nurses in Red project.

Alexander – Patient Zero – told us about his journey with Wikipedia, from a young editor to one of the most active 10,000 editors on English Wikipedia.

Richard Davies told us about the work he’s been doing in the Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons coverage of the Welsh town of Wrecsam (Wrexham).

Becky Male told us about her work on the Hunger Strike Medal article, and how this led to a surprising discovery about the collection of Suffragette Pennies at the Glasgow Women’s Library.

Jonathan – WereSpielChequers – told us about the process of becoming an admin on English Wikipedia, and how the project needs more admins.

And Gill Ryan told us about the project that she ran in partnership with Perth Library this year on the Women of Perth.

In memoriam

In the last few years, we’ve sadly lost a few members of the UK Wikimedia community, and so we took some time to recognise the contributions that Lisa Lodwick, Jo Pugh, Richard Haslam, Les Barker and Richard Lawson made to the movement. They will be very much missed. 

UK Wikimedian of the Year Awards

Next we announced the winners of the UK Wikimedian of the Year Awards. For the full details of who won the awards, the fantastic work they’re doing, and who received an honourable mention, you can see this blog.

UK Wikimedian of the Year: Nick Sheppard

Partnership of the Year: Royal College of Nursing’s History of Nursing Forum – Nurses in Red

Up and Coming Wikimedian: Heidi Berg 

Opportunity Fair

And finally we closed with something new for us; the Opportunity Fair. Here we had a selection of projects with which we’d invite our community to get involved, as well as a range of ways that Wikimedia UK can support the community.

Protests & Suffragettes are looking for translators of articles they’ve been creating and improving about Scottish Suffrage/ttes, as well as help improving those articles – more information on their project page, or contact sara.thomas@wikimedia.org.uk.

Nadege Forde-Vidal, Historian & Community Project Developer at Sankofa London Schools is also looking for assistance, in the shape of after-school workshop leaders: www.sankofalondonschools.co.uk / nadege@sankofalondonschools.co.uk 

The National Library of Scotland uploaded a large number of Scottish Chapbooks to Wikimedia Commons / Wikisource during lockdown, with staff proofreading that work. There are still a number of these to be proofread and transcribed, and they can be found here. If you’d like to know more about how to become involved, or are interested in learning more about Wikisource, please contact sara.thomas@wikimedia.org.uk.

Dr Richard Nevell, Programme Manager, talked about Wiki Loves Monuments and Wiki Loves Earth – we’re in need of assistance with Wikidata for Wiki Loves Earth, and a campaign organiser or organisers for Wiki Loves Monuments – if you’d like to know more please contact richard.nevell@wikimedia.org.uk.

Dr Lucy Hinnie told us about Let’s Connect, a peer learning group for any Wikimedian who is part of an organised group – there are regular events and a whole host of resources, and they can be found through their meta page. Lucy’s slides are here.

Karla Marte, our Programme Evaluation Coordinator, explained our Project and Volunteer Grants, and how they can support individual volunteers – there’s more information about this on our website where you can see examples of past grants, and there’s also an online application form.

Last but not least, our board member Rod Ward told us a little about the Community Development Committee, a new Board subcommittee, whose purpose is to advise the board on community and volunteer issues generally, and to consider any community-related matters that may be delegated to the Committee by the board.

Join us

If you’d like to hear about future UK community events and how you can get involved please sign up for our newsletter, or join our membership to help govern the charity.

The winners of the 2023 UK Wikimedian of the Year Awards

By Dr Richard Nevell, Programme Manager for Wikimedia UK

Since 2012, Wikimedia UK has held the UK Wikimedian of the Year Awards to recognise the efforts of people and organisations who contribute to our work as a charity. Volunteers and partnerships are vital to what we do. From supporting new users to addressing Wikipedia’s content gaps, we want to celebrate the collaborative work of our community.

This year’s winners were announced at the online Community Meeting in late November. Thank you to all of the shortlisted contributors, and to everyone who made a nomination. The rewards will return next year, and nominating someone is a great way of making sure they get some recognition.

Partnership of the Year

This prize was won by the Royal College of Nursing’s History of Nursing Forum (HONF) “Nurses in Red”. The forum established an editing group to improve and create content relating to the history of nursing on Wikipedia. So far they have improved more than 200 articles which have been viewed nearly 4.5 million times. The group’s focus is explicitly diversity focused too: nurses have often been from under-represented groups and making their lives and careers more visible on Wikipedia is so important.

Our Honourable Mention was awarded to the Khalili Collections and Dr. Glaire Anderson of the University of Edinburgh. Glaire has supported two classroom projects in which her History of Art students evaluated articles about Islamic Art and Science on Wikipedia, and then improved them. Many of the pages are now illustrated with beautiful 10th/11th century Caliphate images from the Khalilli Collections, which were released on Wikimedia Commons. Prior to this project, the Khalili images were not viewed by as many people, but are now reaching a wider audience on pages with high engagement.

Up and Coming Wikimedian

This prize was won by Heidi Berg, a prolific editor who has updated or created over 300 articles, vastly improving coverage of the Norwegian women’s football team. She also undertook Train the Trainer courses and helped other newbie editors on a regular basis. At monthly Women in Red editathons, she helps others and even lent her own laptop to one forgetful participant!

Our Honourable Mention was awarded to Sophie Whitfield, one of Wikimedia UK’s trainers who has shown incredible dedication over the last year in attending, designing, and delivering open knowledge workshops and projects. Sophie has supported projects at Durham University and Newcastle University, helping Wikimedia UK’s collaborations with higher education.

UK Wikimedian of the Year

This prize was won by Nick Sheppard, a Wikimedia volunteer and Open Research Advisor at the University of Leeds. Nick has advocated for Wikimedia projects within Leeds and in the university sector like few people ever have, and he’s really taken on the values of the Wikimedia movement, not just in his professional life. Nick has also been pushing for the UK Reproducibility Network to include guidance on Wikimedia in its advice to researchers. The Wikimedia Champions project they ran at Leeds has been an unusually successful student project, getting PhD students to contribute to Wikimedia in a variety of ways.

Our Honourable Mention was awarded to Ian Pigott. Ian has been the engine that keeps Women in Red going. He has organised an astonishing 270 editathons over the last eight years. His efforts have inspired others and he has been tireless in helping the Women in Red project, addressing Wikipedia’s gender gap.

Join us

These winners were announced at our 2023 UK Community Meeting in November. We were so impressed with every talk and presentation given at the meeting, so to recognise these winners feels like just a small gesture of thanks for the commitment our community has to the Wikimedia projects. To watch the talks and find out ways to get involved in some of the projects, you can view recordings of the Community Meeting in this blog. You can also hear about our projects via our newsletter, or sign up to our membership to help govern the charity.

Unwrap the joy of giving: Open knowledge for all

Support our campaign to Give the Gift of Knowledge this festive season.

Join us in a week-long celebration, spanning from 20th–28th November, as we congratulate the remarkable accomplishments of the Wikimedia UK community. It’s often the case that efforts of Wikimedians go unacknowledged, so we’re excited that this campaign will share the pivotal role each member of our community plays in advancing open knowledge.

donate the gift of knowledge

Over this past year the UK editing community has been as determined as ever to advance open knowledge online. An encyclopaedia is most valuable when it represents us all, and our community consists of individuals from diverse backgrounds and a variety of skills. Their contributions are vital in ensuring the availability of accurate, comprehensive information for people around the world. With each edit they make they strengthen Wikipedia and its sister projects, ensuring they remain a valuable resource for knowledge-seekers everywhere.

Giving Tuesday is the perfect opportunity to highlight some of the activities of our community. The last year has presented the UK editing community with new challenges, which have been met with determination and enthusiasm. We’ve seen new partnerships form, welcomed new groups into editing, and made great strides in our mission to represent all knowledge on Wikimedia.

Quote from Chamion Caballero, CEO of The Mixed Museum, reading: “Working with Wiki has been such a positive experience for The Mixed Museum. In addition to the skills our staff and interns have developed, we’ve found editing Wiki sites to be a really effective way to boost our visibility to audiences who may not otherwise have found us or the history we share.”
Quote from Chamion Caballero, who participated in the 2023 Train the Trainer programme. Background made with openly licensed images from the Khalili Collection on Wikimedia Commons.

Earlier this year, Wikimedia UK partnered with the Swadhinata Trust, a London-based Bengali heritage organisation, to enhance the representation of Bengali heritage and culture on Wikimedia platforms. This collaboration began with an introductory online workshop and continued with an in-person workshop, focusing on creating Wikimedia accounts, editing Wikipedia articles, sourcing information, and uploading images to Wikimedia Commons. 

'Perth Women on Wikipedia’ Editing Group. Group of women sitting around a table with laptops editing Wikipedia
‘Perth Women on Wikipedia’ Editing Group. On Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

The online workshop was followed by an in-person workshop at the Wikimedia UK office in April 2023, where participants learned how to create an account and to edit Wikipedia articles, as well as how to find reliable sources and avoid conflicts of interest. They also learned how to upload images to Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository that anyone can use. They explored some of the existing articles on Bengali topics and brainstormed for potential contributions.

The collaboration between Wikimedia UK and the Swadhinata Trust illustrates how Wikimedia projects can effectively celebrate and safeguard a wide range of cultural heritages while promoting community involvement. But it also highlights how important working alongside local community organisations is for us as an organisation in order for us to achieve our goals in driving community engagement.

We’ve also seen real progress being made through our Train the Trainer programme. Trainers support volunteers who are keen to deliver Wikipedia editing events. They play a key role in the delivery of Wikimedia UK programmes and extend our work to underrepresented communities, supporting them to become engaged in the Wikimedia projects. They train new and existing editors across the country, in-person, online or in hybrid sessions.

Quote from Sophie Whitfield, who participated in train the trainer, reading: "The best part of volunteering with WMUK is definitely the community. In 2022, I founded the Wikimedia volunteering project at Durham University with the goal of promoting high quality open knowledge about North East England. We succeeded with that goal but what I didn’t expect was the strong sense of community that emerged as students engaged with local history. They really came together to make significant contributions to open knowledge, creating connections with each other and the local community!"
Quote from Sophie Whitfield, who participated in the 2023 Train the Trainer programme. Background made with openly licensed images from the Khalili Collections on Wikimedia Commons.

One of our trainers, Johanna Janhonen, began supporting Wikimedia UK last year, helping newcomers gain fundamental skills in the art of editing and learning from other Wikipedia trainers both in-person and remotely.

Quote from Johanna Janhonen, a train the trainer participant, reading: “I've been giving Wikipedia trainings in Finland for over a decade now. Last year I joined Wikimedia UK's new team for Wikipedia trainers. I still deliver training in Finland, and I’ve also helped editors from across the world get their start on Wikipedia, such as a university class who were creating and editing articles for local female artists. We’ve worked on inserting citations, and ensuring that the article was easy to read for foreign language speakers who could potentially translate the article for a broader audience.”
Quote from Johanna Janhonen, who participated in the 2023 Train the Trainer programme. Background made with openly licensed images from the Khalili Collections on Wikimedia Commons.

In April 2023, we began collaborating with an eager group of digital volunteers from the Royal Albert Memorial Museum. We initiated a practical three-week introductory program centred around Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. These volunteers came from various backgrounds, spanning from recent school graduates to retirees, each contributing their unique experiences and interests to the project. Over the three weeks, we covered essential editing techniques, addressed common questions about Wiki and cultural heritage, and discussed strategies for creating impactful edits. The program concluded with an online editing event in May 2023.

Throughout this process, we discovered a wealth of valuable content. We were particularly impressed by the significant contributions of local historians, highlighting their outstanding work on ‘Devon Women in Public and Professional Life, 1900–1950: Votes, Voices and Vocations,’ which significantly enriched our collaborative journey.

Nick Moyes, a former museum naturalist, has spent a career introducing people from diverse backgrounds to the wonders of museum artefacts, furthering their understanding of the world around them, and facilitating access to knowledge and information. Upon retiring a decade ago, he saw a new avenue for continuing this mission in Wikipedia. The platform offered an exceptional opportunity to carry on his work. It wasn’t long before he found himself assisting fellow editors in their contributions to Wikipedia. Last year, Wikimedia UK conducted a ‘Train the Trainers’ program, equipping individuals like Nick with the skills needed to conduct introductory group training sessions, whether in person or online.

Quote from Nick Moyes, a train the trainer participant, reading: “At first, I supported other trainers until I was eventually confident enough to lead my own sessions on how to contribute to Wikipedia. They were for professional astronomers and science educators in South Africa - and I was helped online by a couple of other trainers - part of a great community of trained volunteers that Wikimedia UK has built up. It's given me a new way to enjoy sharing knowledge with people and communities in the UK and around the world. And they, in turn, can then use their new skills to share knowledge with others.”
Quote from Nick Moyes, who participated in the 2023 Train the Trainer programme. Background made with openly licensed images from the Khalili Collection on Wikimedia Commons.

Initially Nick provided support to other trainers, gradually building the confidence needed to lead his own training sessions on Wikipedia contributions. His sessions were tailored for professional astronomers and science educators in South Africa, and he received invaluable online support from a network of fellow trainers, part of the robust community of trained volunteers cultivated by Wikimedia UK.

Pledge your support this Giving Tuesday and help us celebrate the wonderful Wikimedia UK community as we bring 2023 to a close and look ahead to 2024. Follow our Facebook, Twitter, Mastodon and Instagram channels to stay up to date, and hey, give us a follow while you’re there!

P.S. We’re also holding our community at Wikimedia UK 2023 Community Meeting, taking place Sunday 26th November, 12-2pm, online. To join, sign up here. 

Donate the gift of knowledge

The winners of Wiki Loves Earth 2023 in Wales

By Robin Owain, Programme Manager for Wales

For the second year running, Wales had the second highest number of photos submitted to the Wiki Loves Earth competition. We’re so grateful to and hugely impressed by the entrants, who added over 5000 images of the Welsh National Parks and other protected areas, such as Sites of Scientific Interest. 50 countries took part, and once again Germany took the lead. This year the organising nation, Ukraine, came a close third with 4541 photographs. The list of all countries can be found here.

Before the international judges view the photos, a local panel in each participating country chooses a shortlist. Wales had a truly impressive top 10, which can be viewed here. Congratulations to all of the winners, and here’s a look at the top three:

Out of 5026 images, the top spot was awarded to Rufus Davies, who captured the image featured at the top of this blog. The action shot of two billy goats clashing heads was taken on a cliff face in the Ogwen Valley, located in the Eryri National Park (previously called Snowdonia). Not only is it impressive that Davies managed to get such a great shot, but the colours and composition of the photo are stunning.

Photo of a lake in Cwm Idwal at the Glyderau mountain range. The sky is a cloudy grey, reflected in the glassy surface of the lake, which is surrounded by mountains in the background and lichen spotted rocks in the foreground.
Cwm Idwal, Dyffryn Ogwen by Dwalad. CC BY-SA 4.0

The second place goes to Dwalad for their captivating photo of a glassy lake in Cwm Idwal – in the Glyderau range of mountains – of Darwin fame.

Photo of a grey heron, paused with one leg lifted while fishing for small fry. The heron is stood on a wooden deck over calm water. Taken in the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley.
Grey Heron in Llandegla by WelshCarebear. CC BY-SA 4.0

The third best photograph from Wales is this image of a grey heron, paused while fishing for small fry in the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley by WelshCarebear.

We were delighted that Northern Ireland also took part in the competition for the fourth year running, which for the first time Wikimedia UK helped organise. Like the Welsh Portal on Commons, the Northern Ireland portal was also bilingual, as we continue to strive for representation of native languages on wiki sites. This year, Northern Ireland’s number of photographs jumped fivefold, from 72 to 363!

Ultimately, the aim of adding photographs to Wikimedia Commons is so they are used and seen. Be it on Wikipedia articles or in another medium entirely, openly licensing images helps the Internet be more informative and useful for all of us. Images from WLE in Wales are among the most frequently added to Wikipedia articles. The numbers are still rising, but 27% of last year’s Welsh photos have been used, and in the few months that this year’s have been up we’re seeing a similar pattern of usage.

Wikipedia has over 335 languages, and the respect to the diversity of languages shown by the Wiki communities globally is excellent and inspirational. This is true of Wikimedia UK (if I may say so), where the conservation of that rich diversity is one of our main columns. The number of Welsh photographers was up from last year from 30 to 52 entrants, submitting over 5000 images for Wales. We have an International Football Team here in Wales, and it’s clear that Welsh photographers feel that WLE is the World Cup of photography competitions!

Wikimedia UK 2023 Community Meeting

We’d like to invite our members and wider UK community to the Wikimedia UK 2023 Community Meeting, taking place on Sunday 26th November, 12-2pm.

This online get-together will be a celebration of what our community has achieved in the last year, a recognition of that work through the Wikimedian of the Year awards, and an invitation to get involved with new and existing activities.

Over the last month or so, we’ve been reaching out to  community members in a call for lightning talks, and we’re really excited by what we’ve now got lined up.  It’s often the case that there’s a huge amount of work done by Wikimedians that others just don’t see, so we’re really happy to be able to highlight some of this activity.

After the lightning talks, we’ll be presenting the annual Wikimedian of the Year awards – there’s more information about those here, and nominations are open until the 10th November.

We’ll round off the meeting with an opportunities fair, where we’ll be showcasing some of the way that you can get involved (either as experienced Wikimedians, or those new to the movement), and ways in which Wikimedia UK can support you to do so.  

This event is open to both members and non-members of Wikimedia UK, who’d like to find out more about Wikimedia work in the UK, and who’d like to get more involved! 

Tickets are free, the event will be held on Zoom, and you can reserve your tickets now through Eventbrite.

Train the Trainer 2023 – call for participants

Would you like to share your passion for Wiki editing by running Wikipedia editing events to train new editors and communities? If so, our next Train the Trainer (TtT) course  is taking place November to December 2023 and will equip you with the skills and resources needed to deliver editing events. We would love to hear from you if you would like to take part. 

TtT trains volunteers who are keen to deliver Wikipedia editing events. Volunteer trainers play a key role in the delivery of Wikimedia UK programmes. They extend our work to underrepresented communities and support them to be part of Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. They train new and existing editors across the country, in-person, online or in hybrid sessions. Demand for training often outstrips staff capacity to fulfil, and we’re conscious that our existing networks do not always allow us to reach all the communities with whom we’d like to work.

This training will equip candidate trainers with the skills, experience and resources to deliver a standard ‘Introduction to Wikipedia’ edit-a-thon.In advance of the hybrid sessions in December, participants will complete a four week WikiLearn course, starting 9th November, with a commitment of approx 1-2 hours per week. We will be training volunteers on delivering online and in-person editing events and this year we will also be delivering training specifically on how to deliver hybrid events.

The session ‘Running Hybrid Events’ will be focused on equipping you with skills needed to run an event with participants online and in-person. This session is also open to applications from accredited trainers as well. It will also be an opportunity for new and accredited trainers to get to know each other.

Expressions of interest are welcomed from all. However, given the current demographic mix of our training network, we are particularly interested in hearing from Black, Asian and minority groups; women; and members of LGBT+ community. For this iteration of TtT we’ll be prioritising applications from areas of the UK in which we have gaps.

The in-person training will take place in London. So please do indicate if you would like to participate in-person or online. We have a budget to cover travel and accommodation costs, and will provide lunch and refreshments.

Course content and key dates

  • 9th November onwards – Four week WikiLearn self led course
  • Thursday 7th November 2023 /18:00-20:30/online: Introductory Session
  • Saturday 9th December 2023 /10:00-16:00/in-person and online: Train the Trainer Day 1 – new trainers 
  • Sunday 10th December 2023 /10:00-16:00/in-person: Running Hybrid Events – open to new and existing WMUK trainers. This session will be run by Bhav Patel.

What you could expect from us

  • Full training and support to deliver a standard ‘Introduction to Wikipedia’ edit-a-thon and similar events
  • Access to event materials
  • Ongoing support
  • Volunteer expenses where appropriate
  • Job references upon request

What we would expect from you

  • Familiarity with, or desire to increase your knowledge of the Wikimedia Projects, particularly Wikipedia.
  • Full attendance at the training course
  • To complete the online self led course (1-2 hours per week)
  • To lead training for a minimum of 2 events per year. This would be a mixture of third party events which we would field to you, and those you would organise yourself. Please note that we do receive requests for training to be delivered within office hours
  • To be responsive to communication from Wikimedia UK staff and fellow volunteers and Event Organisers, including in advance of the event.
  • To complete basic reporting, including returning sign up information
  • To represent Wikimedia UK well during the time in which you are volunteering
  • To adhere to our Safe Spaces policy, and the Code of Conduct

How to apply

Places are limited to make sure that each participant gets individual attention and feedback, so please apply via the following forms to express your interest. Call for interest will close on the 26th of October. You will hear from us by the 2nd of November to confirm your place.

Candidate Trainers Application Form (for new trainers)

Accredited Trainers Application Form (for existing trainers)

Further information

The Wikimedia UK Volunteer Trainer Role description.

Outreach to celebrate and preserve cultural heritage with The Swadhinata Trust

The Swadhinata Trust is a London-based secular Bengali heritage organisation that works to promote Bengali history and culture in the UK. We have formed a partnership to collaborate on a series of events and activities that aim to increase the representation and visibility of Bengali heritage and culture on Wikimedia platforms. The partnership also seeks to engage and empower the British Bangladeshi community in the UK to contribute to and benefit from free and open knowledge.

Our partnership started in August 2022 with an email from us to the Swadhinata Trust, expressing interest in working together. After an online call to discuss the possibilities, our volunteer coordinator visited the Swadhinata Trust’s management committee to introduce themselves and explain more about Wikimedia projects. The Swadhinata Trust was enthusiastic and agreed to participate in an introductory online workshop to learn more about our movement.

The online workshop took place in February 2023, and was attended by Ansar, Abu and Val from the Swadhinata Trust; as well as Stuart from Wikimedia UK, who led the workshop, and Tahmina, who supported Stuart as a volunteer. We also had a guest from the West Bengal Wikimedians User Group to introduce their Wikimedia projects in the region.

The online workshop was followed by an in-person workshop at the Wikimedia UK office in April 2023, where participants learned how to create an account and to edit Wikipedia articles, as well as how to find reliable sources and avoid conflicts of interest. They also learned how to upload images to Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository that anyone can use. They explored some of the existing articles on Bengali topics and brainstormed for potential contributions.

The partnership between Wikimedia UK and the Swadhinata Trust is an example of how Wikimedia projects can be used to celebrate and preserve diverse cultural heritage and foster community engagement. It also demonstrates how Wikimedia UK works with local community organisations to support their missions and amplify their voices.

If you are interested in learning more about this partnership or getting involved in any of the activities, please get in touch with us or visit the Swadhinata Trust website.