In a nation where tradition weaves the very fabric of society, Zambia is preparing to embrace a groundbreaking initiative that promises to celebrate and safeguard its rich cultural heritage. Despite the challenges of preserving age-old traditions, the Wikimedia Community User Group Zambia is proud to announce the arrival of “Wiki Loves Folklore” to the heart of Africa.

Zambia, with its diverse and vibrant cultural tapestry, has long struggled with the preservation of its heritage. Countless stories, rituals, and traditions have been passed down through generations, but the challenge of documenting and sharing them has persisted. Now, the arrival of Wiki Loves Folklore heralds a new era for cultural preservation in Zambia.

Under the dedicated guidance of The Wikimedia Community User Group Zambia, this ambitious project seeks to capture and immortalize the folklore that has shaped Zambia’s identity. The Wikimedia Community User Group Zambia, known for its commitment to promoting free knowledge, is taking a pioneering role in fostering a sense of pride and ownership in the local community for their cultural narratives.

Recognizing the importance of community involvement, the Wikimedia Community User Group Zambia is set to engage local contributors, storytellers, and enthusiasts. Through workshops, events, and collaborative initiatives, the project aims not only to document folklore but also to empower Zambians to actively participate in preserving their cultural legacy.

As Zambia opens its doors to Wiki Loves Folklore, the stories and traditions documented will become part of the global repository of free knowledge on Wikipedia. This initiative aligns with the Wikimedia Foundation’s mission to make knowledge accessible to every person on the planet, fostering cross-cultural understanding and appreciation.

Wiki Loves Folklore: Capturing Cultural Essence Through a Global Lens

Wiki Loves Folklore is an international photographic competition held during the month of February, organized worldwide by Wikimedia community members with the help of local Wikimedia affiliates and Wikimedians across the globe. Participants take pictures of local folk culture and intangible heritage in their region, uploading them to Wikimedia Commons. The aim of the event is to document folklore traditions around the world, encouraging people to capture media of their local folk culture and share it under a free license. These contributions can be reused not only in Wikipedia but everywhere by everyone, promoting the widespread appreciation and understanding of diverse cultural traditions.

In Zambia, Wiki Loves Folklore will unfold from April 1 to April 30, 2024, marking a significant chapter in the nation’s cultural narrative. As the competition takes root, it opens a new dialogue on cultural preservation and exchange, not merely as a competition but as a call to capture the essence of Zambia’s cultural richness for generations to come.

This blog was originally written by Chabota Kanguya was reposted from Medium

The Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 42 commander Barry Wilmore of NASA, Alexander Samokutyaev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Elena Serova of Roscosmos near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Thursday, March 12, 2015. NASA Astronaut Wilmore, Russian Cosmonauts Samokutyaev and Serova are returning after almost six months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 41 and 42 crews. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls, public domain.

In July of last year, we announced “Future Audiences,” a new initiative of the Wikimedia Foundation to explore how we can continue to meet the needs of knowledge-seekers and knowledge-sharers for generations to come. This post is a midyear update on what we’ve learned through experimentation to date and where we’re headed next.

How will future generations learn from and contribute to Wikipedia? We don’t yet know – but through quick experiments over the last year, the Wikimedia Foundation has gathered deeper insights on how Wikipedia can continue to meet the needs of knowledge-seekers and knowledge-sharers for generations to come, even as technology and user behavior online continue to evolve. Read on for what we’ve learned from our first round of experiments (exploring ChatGPT and social apps), and a new experiment in online text evaluation we are planning based on these learnings.

Reminder: What is “Future Audiences”?

The mission of the Wikimedia movement has always been to bring free knowledge to everyone in the world. However, we know that recent technological developments – such as advances in artificial intelligence, new social apps, and devices that allow us to interact with the digital world in new ways – have the potential to shape the role of Wikimedia projects within the larger information ecosystem. While our mission remains the same as when Wikipedia started over 20 years ago, the methods to accomplish it will need to continue to evolve. 

To do so, last year the Wikimedia Foundation created a new track of work called “Future Audiences,” a cross-team collaboration to explore how we can reach future audiences of knowledge seekers and contributors. 

Future Audiences doesn’t build products – it launches time-bound experiments to identify and recommend opportunities for the Wikimedia Foundation to innovate. lf an experiment yields promising results, it may lead to the Wikimedia Foundation making bigger investments in new products and/or approaches to engaging new audiences; if it doesn’t (as was the case with our first experiment, a Wikipedia plugin for ChatGPT – more on this below), we will still have gained valuable insights, quickly and without significant impact on our resources.

What explorations have we completed and what have we learned to date?

Screenshot of the experimental Wikipedia plugin for ChatGPT, tested in July 2023–January 2024.

1. Conversational AI: More than just a chatbot

We started the year with the following research questions about developments in conversational AI:

  1. Will knowledge-seekers online transition to getting information from ChatGPT instead of Wikipedia? 
  2. How well does conversational AI do at finding and summarizing information from Wikipedia?

Our first experiment for the year was building a Wikipedia plugin for ChatGPT, which allowed ChatGPT users to receive answers to general knowledge questions specifically from Wikipedia (rather than the general data that the bot was trained on). Findings from this experiment helped us learn:

  1. ChatGPT is not the new Wikipedia – Wikipedia remains an important and trusted source of information online. From traffic data to Wikipedia over the course of the year, as well as usage and survey data from our experimental ChatGPT plugin, we concluded that even if consumers are starting to use AI chatbots like ChatGPT for information, it seems to be in addition to, not instead of Wikipedia. Users of our plugin said they still visited Wikipedia directly and reported that when they knew the information they were getting from ChatGPT was coming from Wikipedia, they tended to trust it more.
  2. Conversational AI can find and summarize Wikipedia content with fairly high (though not perfect) accuracy. While people seem to be (understandably) wary of getting information from generalized chatbots like ChatGPT, the process we used to create our experimental plugin (i.e.: using AI to more intelligently find relevant information in a specific knowledge base like Wikipedia and return a summary back to the user, a technique known as retrieval-augmented generation or RAG) provided fairly high-quality, though by no means perfect, output.

This leads us to conclude that generative AI may have an important role to play in helping future audiences navigate Wikipedia knowledge more efficiently, but chatbots are not necessarily the only or best way to accomplish this. These findings also led us to a new AI experiment, Citation Needed (more on that below).

2. Personality-driven social apps: a new wiki rabbit hole?

Wikipedian Annie Rauwerda, who started a viral TikTok series on Perpetual stew, meets with a Bangkok stew-maker. Image: Annierau, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Though 2023 was the year of ChatGPT, we identified another key trend in last year’s annual External Trends report: younger audiences’ increasing preference for information-seeking not on the web or Wikipedia, but on personality-driven social apps like TikTok and YouTube. This insight led us to the following research questions:

  1. Could remixing Wikipedia content into more social-app friendly formats make information more appealing to younger audiences?
  2. Are there content creators on these apps who care about sharing reliable information and content from Wikimedia projects?

Through qualitative research (surveys, interviews, and usability studies with social app consumers and creators), we learned the following:

  • Younger audiences are more skeptical of the information they see online, and they prefer to learn from people, rather than from impersonal websites. While the format that information is presented in definitely matters in capturing their attention (i.e., they tend to prefer shorter-form, media-rich experiences to longform text, who the content is coming from is also very important. This could be an opportunity for Wikipedia to present itself more clearly to this audience as a community of people who share an interest in reliable knowledge.
  • There is a community of knowledge creators who are sharing facts and images from Wikimedia projects on apps like TikTok, and reaching large audiences. These creators are motivated by sharing reliable knowledge on topics they’re passionate about, and they rely on Wikipedia as a resource for producing content. While they aren’t interested in directly contributing to our projects, we have an opportunity to explore how to engage them in helping us spread free knowledge in innovative new ways, and invite more global youth into our movement

Where are we going next?

New experiment: “Citation Needed”

As the digital space is increasingly at risk of being overwhelmed by misinformation, we are exploring whether AI can be used to harness Wikipedia’s knowledge to help readers understand the reliability of the information they consume online.

Citation Needed is a new experiment that aims to do just this.  Through an experimental extension for the Chrome web browser, which uses advanced Large Language Model (LLM) functionality, users will have the ability to quickly compare what they are reading online to Wikipedia’s content. The extension will present users with information about whether the selected claim is supported or not by information on Wikipedia, including the number of citations used on the related Wikipedia article, the number of contributors who have worked on it, and the date it was last edited. As with our first generative AI experiment, we will also be carefully tracking how well AI does at searching for and summarizing information from Wikipedia within this feature. Over the next few months, Citation Needed will be available to users who are interested in testing it, and we will be evaluating usage and user feedback. 

If you’d like to learn more about and help test Citation Needed, please visit the project page on Meta-Wiki for more details.

Historical Cities listed as UNESCO World Heritage represent a treasure trove of history, art, and tradition. They stand as living witnesses to our shared human heritage, and their documentation is not just a responsibility but a privilege. 

With a profound conviction regarding the importance of documenting these cities, Wiki World Heritage initiated the  “Told Cities” project founded and overseen by Nassima Chaboun the chair of the group. The project aimed to deeply immerse itself in these urban areas and harness the collaborative strength of the Wiki project and its community to ensure comprehensive documentation.

Told Cities logo by User:Nassima Chahboun CC-BY-SA-4.0

The Essence of World Heritage Cities

World Heritage Cities are more than just urban landscapes; they are the soul of our shared history. These cities, around 130 recognized by UNESCO as vital cultural and historical sites, encompass a rich tapestry of architecture, monuments, and stories. 

These cities are not only picturesque; they are invaluable repositories of our collective heritage. They provide a glimpse into the cultural diversity, architectural prowess, and societal evolution that has shaped human civilization.

Assimilated to open air museums, they are  the living remnants of a previous era, and each building and street tells a tale of the past.

Map of UNESCO World Heritage Cities generated using the Wikidata Query Service

Told Cities: A mission of documentation

“Told Cities” is a mission founded on the belief that we can collectively contribute to the documentation of World Heritage Cities. The core objective is to make sure that these cities are well documented in several languages with all the components that define them by leveraging the power of Wikimedia projects and the diversity of the community all over the world. 

With Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons, Wikisource we can dive into these cities and explore them form different perspectives. Imagine being able to explore monuments within the city, the timeline of the city, the people who made the history and how the city is depicted in books, songs, paintings etc..

Map of the City

By utilizing the Wikidata Query Service along with its map visualization mode, one can delve deep into the heart of the city and uncover its myriad monuments and buildings. These historical cities, akin to open-air museums, offer a treasure trove of architectural wonders waiting to be explored. With the aid of these maps, navigating through the labyrinthine streets and discovering the rich tapestry of historical buildings becomes an immersive and enlightening experience.

Map of the Medina of Tunis generated using the Wikidata Query Service

Timeline of the City

Using Wikidata, users can access structured data about historical buildings, query this data to retrieve inception dates, and visualize the information as a timeline, offering insights into the chronological development of a historical city’s architecture. This capability enables historians, researchers, and enthusiasts to explore and understand the evolution of urban landscapes over time.

Timeline of historical buildings in the Medina of Marrakesh generated using the Wikidata Query Service

People of the City

It’s also possible to leverage the power of Wikidata Query Service to display a graph of individuals associated with a historical city offering a fascinating glimpse into the city’s social fabric and cultural heritage. By accessing structured data about notable figures, residents, and influential personalities linked to the city, users can unravel the intricate web of connections that have shaped its history. This interactive visualization not only provides valuable insights into the city’s past but also invites exploration and discovery, allowing users to delve deeper into the lives and stories of those who have left their mark on its legacy.

Graph showing people linked to the Casbah of Algiers generated using the Wikidata Query Service

Written Works of the City

Harnessing the capabilities of Wikidata Query Service to visualize a graph of written books and manuscripts (which can be available on Wikisource) depicting a historical city offers a compelling exploration of its literary heritage and cultural significance. This dynamic visualization not only provides valuable insights into the city’s literary landscape but also serves as a gateway to further exploration and scholarly inquiry, inviting users to delve deeper into the stories and narratives that have shaped its identity over time.

Graph showing books depicting the Medina of Fez generated using the Wikidata Query Service

Told Cities: An opportunity of collaboration

Told Cities presented a pivotal opportunity for Wiki World Heritage to forge collaborations with numerous heritage organizations, particularly in countries lacking local Wikimedia affiliates, with the shared goal of comprehensively documenting historical cities using Wikimedia projects. 

These partnerships underscored the indispensable role of engaging with local communities to achieve a more thorough and robust documentation of our collective cultural heritage. 

Through collaborations with organizations from Guatemala, Ethiopia, and Senegal, the project tapped into a wealth of knowledge and insights, enabling a more holistic portrayal of historical cities and their significance.

Thanks to Told Cities, Wiki World Heritage established partnerships with the following organizations:

  • Centro Regional De Patrimonio from Guatemala, focusing on documenting Antigua Guatemala
  • Heritage Watch Ethiopia from Ethiopia, aiming to document the historical city of Harar Jugol
  • Association Nationale pour La Promotion des Patrimoines Sénégalais from Senegal, dedicated to documenting the historical cities of Saint Louis and Île de Gorée

The primary objectives of these partnerships included:

  • Introducing the Wikimedia movement to these organizations
  • Training trainers on Wikimedia projects, specifically Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Commons
  • Providing assistance to these organizations during the organization of workshops.

Through the power of Wikimedia projects and the collective efforts, we can ensure that these “old” cities continue to be “told” for generations to come. 

Together, we can share the stories of World Heritage Cities and make sure that these extraordinary places remain a source of inspiration and wonder for all.

On 7th of February 2024, Code for Africa’s Wikipedian-in-Residence (WiR), hosted the 2nd of the WiR bi-weekly webinar series in 2024, titled “Editing Wikipedia,” the webinar was  facilitated by Muib Shefiu, the Founder of Afrodemics, and moderated by Bukola James, the Community Coordinator, CFA-WIR. This session had in attendance 14 participants which consisted of project leads and volunteer Wikimedians from Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda. It provided a comprehensive explanation and practical guide on different types of editing styles, Wiki markup languages, and building a Wikipedia page from scratch.

Key highlights

The webinar commenced with a summary from the previous webinar on Joining Wikipedia  and then proceeded into editing  Wikipedia . In  this session,  understanding how to search for articles, editing in Wiki markup interface, using Visual editor, switching between different editing styles and creating an editing summary were discussed. Other areas covered during this webinar includes; building a brilliant Wikipedia page, where the importance of adhering to the key features that can help make it useful and navigable to readers was underscored. This was an essential part of the session as it instilled an understanding of the responsibilities and norms associated with being a Wikipedia editor. The webinar included a practical session guiding participants through the theoretical aspect of the policies and technical aspects of creating and expanding Wikipedia articles from scratch. 

Furthermore, the webinar provided an in-depth look at the key features of a Wikipedia article, highlighting the importance of creating or improving pages with elements that enhance both readability and navigability. Among these features are:

  • Lead Section: This is the introductory paragraph(s) that precede the table of contents, summarising the key points of an article. It’s crucial for search engine previews and establishes the article’s significance, adhering to the essential components of Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. Guidance on crafting a compelling lead section can be found in Wikipedia’s resources.
  • Headings and Subheadings: Adding headings structures the information on your page and should reflect similar sections found in pages on related topics. They can be easily added using the Visual or Source editor.
  • WikiLinks: These internal links connect your article to related content, facilitating reader navigation. They can be inserted via both editing interfaces to enhance your article’s integration into the wider wiki.
  • References: Following the Verifiability Principle, all information must be backed by reliable sources. The absence of citations, especially for facts, quotes, or contentious claims, risks content deletion. Wikipedia does not prescribe a fixed citation style but emphasises consistency across articles.
  • Categories: Positioned at the bottom, categories improve an article’s discoverability. Similar pages can inspire relevant category inclusion, which can be easily added or adjusted, even with tools like HotCat for efficiency.
  • Infoboxes: These boxes on the right of articles summarise key details and are editable or addable via templates. They provide a snapshot of the most pertinent information to the reader at a glance.
  • Pictures: Visuals significantly enhance articles, offering insights and engagement beyond text. Wikimedia Commons is a valuable resource for finding images compliant with Wikipedia’s use policy.
  • Succession Boxes, Library Resources, Sister Projects, Authority Control, and other Templates: These elements further enrich articles, providing structured paths to related content, authoritative verification, and additional resources for deeper exploration.

Additionally, participants learned to utilise the Wikipedia editing tools like the VisualEditor and Source Editor effectively, tailoring these tools to fit their personal editing preferences and also instilling an understanding of Wikipedia’s core content policies, ensuring the production of valuable, reliable, and accessible knowledge for all.

Conclusion

The session was concluded with a Q&A session and words of encouragement from the facilitator, Muib  who encouraged participants to actively engage in Wikimedia community discussions, enhance their skills in creating and expanding articles to address content gaps, and strictly adhere to Wikipedia’s core content policies like neutrality and verifiability.

For those interested in revisiting the session or those who might have missed it, the recorded version is available on the community programmes page and do well to test your knowledge on our academy Africa. Ensure you are registered for the upcoming CfA WiR Bi-weekly webinar and immerse in our vibrant community. To stay abreast of our initiatives, complete this form, and let’s shape the future together!


Women play crucial roles in folklore professions, often serving as storytellers, custodians of oral traditions, and keepers of cultural knowledge. Their contributions are integral to preserving and transmitting folklore across generations. Creating biographies of these women on Wikipedia not only recognizes their invaluable work but also helps combat the gender gap in historical and cultural representation.

The mere 19% representation of women in all Wikipedia biographies highlights the critical need to prioritize and maintain the inclusion of women’s biographies on the platform.

This is just one of the numerous achievements the Feminism and Folklore campaigns have accomplished with distinction. By documenting the lives and achievements of the notable women in folklore professions, this Wikipedia campaign brings their stories to the world, ensuring they are not overlooked or forgotten, inspiring future generations and fostering a more inclusive understanding of folklore and cultural heritage.

Feminism and Folklore is an annual international writing contest held on Wikipedia, running from February to March, dedicated to documenting folk cultures and the roles of women within them. Stemming from the Wiki Loves Folklore photography campaign on Wikimedia Commons, the competition aims to enrich Wikipedia with articles on global cultural diversity while addressing the gender gap. This year’s focus emphasizes collaborations with affiliates worldwide to spotlight folk culture and advance gender equality.

Since 2019, the contest has fostered multilingual cooperation with numerous Wikimedia affiliates and non-profit organizations, feminist groups, cultural organizations to encourage contributions by local communities. Participants are encouraged to select topics related to the theme, but also to promote intercultural dialogue, mutual respect, and knowledge sharing on feminism thereby enriching users’ understanding of diverse ways of life. This year over 42 language groups coordinated by local affiliate organizations, nonprofits and Wikipedia editions have been organized from over 38 languages and 26 countries.

We’re launching a new initiative as part of the series, called #WeTogether. This initiative aims to spotlight the dedicated individuals, who have tirelessly contributed thousands of volunteer hours to document the celebration of women in folklore and folk culture on Wikipedia. Over six years, countless people have worked behind the scenes, resulting in thousands of articles for Feminism and Folklore. They include organizers of local language editions across various Wikipedias, ambassadors championing our cause in different regions, and an international team working tirelessly to ensure the success of our campaign.

If you wish to join the Feminism and Folklore project, please join via the one of the editions through the local pages of one of these project pages on our official contest page. For media queries or any general queries related to our campaign, please email support@wikilovesfolklore.org.

Our member Tomás Saorín Pérez, professor at the University of Murcia, Faculty of Documentation and Information, has recently released the full content of the book ‘Wikipedia de la A a la W‘ (Wikipedia from A to W), published in 2012 by the Editorial de la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC).

This book, now open access distribution authorised by the publisher, is an introduction to Wikipedia at the community and content level, especially oriented to the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) sector, allowing the reader to have a more genuine approach to Wikipedia, to know it from the inside and its commitment to open knowledge, from cultural, scientific and educational institutions.

Those who have used Wikipedia frequently and want to know more about its inner workings will find in this book a space that will allow them to answer some of the main questions, such as: How can I start editing or contributing to Wikipedia? Is Wikipedia a reliable source of information? Can anyone edit it?

We share with you the digital version of the book that you can find in DIGITUM, University Library of the University of Murcia.
‘Wikipedia de la A a la W’ (Wikipedia from A to W): https://digitum.um.es/digitum/handle/10201/139604

Join the Communications Committee!

Wednesday, 27 March 2024 19:07 UTC

The Communications Committee (ComCom) brings together Wikimedia volunteers and affiliate staff with expertise and passion for communications. The committee works closely with the Wikimedia Foundation Communications Department to implement movement-wide communication projects.

ComCom members leverage their diverse perspectives from across the movement and various regions to:

  • Provide valuable feedback on communications plans.
  • Collaborate on brainstorming solutions and generating new ideas.

They can also:

  • Support and elevate communication efforts across the Wikimedia movement.
  • Facilitate knowledge exchange around communication strategies and best practices.

We are seeking 10-15 Wikimedians (volunteers or affiliate staff) with communications expertise and passion to join the Wikimedia Foundation’s Communications Committee for a two year term. The previous term began in 2019, and we’re excited to welcome new members who are eager to contribute their skills and diverse perspectives.

This commitment will consist of participating in one hour once a month, taking part in email conversations and reviewing materials. 

To apply, please fill out this application form (check the privacy statement for this form)

We wait for your responses until April 19th. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to nszafran@wikimedia.org.

The Winners of Wiki Loves Bangla 2024

Wednesday, 27 March 2024 12:00 UTC

Winners of Wikimedia’s international photo contest Wiki Loves Bangla 2024 (or Banglar Preme Wiki 2024) have been announced. Organized by Bangla WikiMoitree as part of the Bangla Culture and Heritage Collation Program, a collaborative effort between Wikimedia Bangladesh and West Bengal Wikimedians User Group, this month-long competition was held from 15 January to 14 February 2024. The main goal of this contest was to capture and enrich the cultural tapestry and heritage of Bengal through the art of photography. The first edition aims to encourage people to capture photos highlighting the global diversity of Bengali cuisine and put them under a free license, which can then be re-used not only in Wikipedia but everywhere by everyone. In 2024, the contest attracted significant participation with over 2,100 images of Bengali food and culture from 212 participants, reflecting the enthusiastic engagement with the initiative. This competition has substantially enriched Wikimedia Commons with a wealth of Bengali food photos, which will greatly enhance the illustration of Wikipedia articles in the future.

This year, we had three people on the jury team: food expert, professional photographers and Wikimedians, who helped us choose the best photos.

After a review by the organizing team and the round of jury evaluation, we have the top 10 best images for the finalist. The 1st place recipient will be awarded a prize valued at BDT 35 thousand, while the 2nd and 3rd place winners will receive BDT 25 thousand and BDT 15 thousand respectively. Furthermore, all top 10 winners, along with the participants who uploaded the highest number of photos, will be presented with certificates and souvenirs.

And we are ready to showcase them!

First place

Photo by Sohel, CC-BY-SA-4.0.

Rice and ilish fry with dal chachchori and eggplant fry is a unique combination of Bengali food habits. The proverb ‘Mache-Bhate Bangali’ (Bengali by fish and rice) captures the essence of Bengali cuisine, where fish and rice are considered staple foods and are deeply ingrained in the cultural and culinary heritage of Bengal.

Second place

Beef bhuna is a glorious Bengali curry, easily identified by its delicious, spicy and thick sauce. It is a popular dish in Indian cuisine too, particularly in the North Indian region. It is a spicy and flavorful preparation of beef cooked with aromatic spices, onions, tomatoes, and sometimes yoghurt or cream. ‘Bhuna’ refers to the cooking method where the meat is cooked in its juices until they are reduced and the flavours are intensified.

Third place

Payesh made with date jaggery is a traditional Bengali dessert known for its rich, creamy texture and sweet flavour. It is typically prepared by simmering rice in milk and sweetening it with date jaggery, also known as ‘nolen gur’ (‘new jaggery’), which imparts a unique caramel-like taste. Traditionally cooked at night and served in the morning.

Fourth place

Momos are a type of steamed-filled dumpling in Tibetan and Nepalese cuisine that is also popular in neighbouring Bhutan, India and Bangladesh. It is usually served with a sauce known as achar (South Asian pickle) influenced by the spices and herbs used within many South Asian cuisines. It can also be cooked as soup versions known as jhol momo.

Fifth place

Photo by Srividya, CC-BY-SA-4.0.

Traditional homemade Bhog Prasad. ‘Bhog’ refers to the offering made to deities in Hindu rituals and ceremonies, particularly during religious festivals and auspicious occasions. ‘Prasad’ refers to the consecrated food that is offered to the deity and then distributed to devotees as a blessing. Bhog Prasad is essentially the sacred food offered to the deity and later distributed among the devotees.

Sixth place

Imarti (alternative names include Amitti, Amriti, Emarti, Omritti etc.) is indeed a popular Indian dessert believed to have originated in the Mughal kitchens. It is made from urad dal (black gram) batter, which is fried in a circular shape and then soaked in sugar syrup. Imarti has a distinctive spiral shape and is often adorned with saffron or rose water for added flavour and aroma.

Seventh place

Haleem is indeed a type of stew that is popular across Central and South Asia, and the Middle East. It is a hearty and nutritious dish made from a variety of ingredients, including meat (often mutton, beef or chicken), lentils, wheat, barley, and spices. Although the dish varies from region to region.

Eighth place

Sooji halva, also known as Semolina halva, or rava kesari, is a familiar and common sweet dish in Bengali cuisine. It is made from semolina, ghee (clarified butter), sugar, and water, along with nuts, raisins, and aromatic spices such as cardamom for flavour.

Ninth place

Sweet flour pie, also known as ‘sweet flour pancake’, is a simple, delicious and very common snack in Bengali cuisine. It is made by mixing wheat flour, milk, and sugar, and is sometimes flavoured with cardamom or saffron. The mixture is then fried on a tawa (flat griddle) over low flame until golden brown and crispy on the edges.

Tenth place

Payesh made with date jaggery, is a variation of payesh that adds a caramel-like sweetness to the dish. Usually cooked overnight and served in the morning, this payesh coagulates beautifully like curd.

In addition, Sadikul Islam is the highest image uploader, where he contributed a total of 163 images within the contest scope. Congratulations to the winners, and many thanks to everyone who has shown a commitment to spreading awareness about such a crucial topic!


The details and the winner list can be found here.

One of the jurors, Biswarup Ganguly, stated about the challenge of the contest: “The competition featured approximately 56 captivating shots in its final round, with participants utilizing both mobile and traditional cameras. In any photography competition, technical aspects such as focus, camera stability, clarity, and exposure take precedence. Regrettably, some entries fell short in these areas despite possessing compelling subjects and compositions. Subject selection and composition undeniably play crucial roles, along with the elusive ‘Wow’ factor that elevates an image. Bengali cuisine, deeply rooted in the region’s geography and culture, prominently features staples like rice, fish, and their various derivatives, which are showcased through delectable dishes such as Pitha, Payes, and Hilsa preparations.”

In conclusion, Wiki Loves Bangla‘s exploration of Bengali cuisine through photography has beautifully captured the essence of this rich culinary tradition, celebrating its flavours, colours, and cultural significance. Through the lens of this contest, participants have showcased the diversity and artistry of Bengali dishes, inviting viewers on a sensory journey that highlights the cultural heritage and communal spirit embedded within each meal.

Follow the project on social media to keep up with all updates (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter). And stay tuned for the upcoming Wiki Loves Bangla 2025!

Wikifunctions: where we are now, and what you can do

Wednesday, 27 March 2024 07:00 UTC

Think of a website that can answer questions such as “how do I spell this in Morse code?”, “how do you write this as a Roman numeral?”, or “is this word a palindrome?”, maintained by a growing community of volunteers and completely free to access and edit. That’s Wikifunctions, the first new Wikimedia project in over a decade. A project for everyone to collaboratively create and maintain a library of code functions to support Wikimedia projects and beyond, in the world’s natural and programming languages. A project that you too can join!

In the nine months since the launch of the project, the community has already reached some important milestones: as of 25 March, more than 900 functions have been created by our community, to which are linked more than 1,300 implementations (which are different ways to execute a function) and more than 2,300 tests (which determine if a given function is doing the right thing).

Because Wikifunctions will provide infrastructure for Abstract Wikipedia, we are happy to see how many of these functions aren’t just for string manipulation, but also building blocks for generating natural language. We already have over 60 functions for creating text in Breton, and we also have functions for many other languages, such as Croatian, Igbo, Rohingya, Esperanto, as well as functions to tell if a character is from one of the three sets of characters used in Japanese (hiragana, katakana or kanji).

We recently released our second new type of values since launch, natural numbers, allowing for both basic functions (such as equality or addition) and for more complex functions (such as calculating Fibonacci numbers or turning numbers into the corresponding month of the year). In the week after its launch, the community created more than 100 functions that involve numbers!

Did you know that numeric functions can also work with Roman numerals? Think of the use on Latin Wikipedia of such functions!

Wikifunctions allows the creation of more powerful and thus potentially more computationally demanding digital artifacts than what we are used to from our other Wikimedia projects. For this reason, we introduced a new user role, the Functioneer, which was initially handed out by Wikimedia Foundation staff working on Wikifunctions. This allowed us to closely monitor the site during the first few weeks, to understand the load on our servers, and remedy issues as they were found. 

Last November, the community took over administration of this role, after drafting a policy on how to hand it out to new users. It was particularly encouraging seeing the community take on this task in complete autonomy, allowing us to focus more on the development of the project.

In the coming months, we plan to work on new types for natural language generation, which will allow us to integrate Wikifunctions with Wikidata. We are also preparing for our integration with Wikipedia by interviewing users from seven wiki communities (Arabic, Bengali, Dagbani, Hausa, Igbo, Italian, and Malayalam) about their needs and how we can best serve them.

If you want to get involved, you can go to the Wikifunctions website and start editing on your own. You can also join our monthly meeting (on Google Meet), open to everyone who is interested in knowing more about the project, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter, to keep in touch with the new developments.

Thanks to everyone involved! We are looking forward to co-creating Wikifunctions together with you.

As part of its activities, the User Group Wiki World Heritage launched in 2022 a project called WH2B (World Heritage To Be), dedicated to documenting heritage sites listed on the UNESCO tentative list.

WH2B Logo by User: Nassima Chahboun CC-BY-SA-4.0

The UNESCO tentative list comprises cultural and natural heritage sites that a country is considering for eventual nomination to the official World Heritage List. Countries submit Tentative Lists to UNESCO, outlining the properties they believe have the potential to meet the criteria for inclusion in the World Heritage List. This preliminary step is crucial in the World Heritage nomination process and sites inscribed on the tentative list hold significant importance, as they represent potential candidates for future recognition as World Heritage sites.

WH2B emerges as a proactive endeavor, aiming to document and highlight the cultural and natural treasures poised to become future World Heritage sites (for instance 3 sites that have been documented by WH2B project made it to the official list afterwards). By focusing on sites listed on the tentative list, WH2B contributes to the global effort to recognize and safeguard these invaluable elements of our shared heritage.

The project originated during a consultation with the members on future activities of the group when the group member Ndahiro Derrick suggested documenting the Genocide memorials in Rwanda. At that time these memorials were not yet officially recognized as World Heritage, they were included in the tentative list. This proposal sparked the idea of documenting sites on the tentative list, leading to the birth of the WH2B project, signifying World Heritage To Be.

The project initially kicked off with collaborations in local communities in Sudan and Ghana. Later another collaboration was possible also with the emerging community in Libya. However, the collaborations expanded significantly when a strategic partnership formed with Wiki Wake Up Afrique facilitated meaningful partnerships in other African countries without local affiliates.

Wikimedia Libya Community, Ptolemais Photowalk by User:Salema younus CC-Zero

This transformative collaboration with Wiki Wake Up Afrique owes much to the dedicated efforts of Mermoze (user : Adoscam) , whom I had the pleasure of meeting in Berlin during the Wikimedia Summit 2022 (thank you Nicole and Cornelius) . Our discussions revolved around the potential synergy between Wiki World Heritage and Wiki Wake Up Afrique in developing new communities across Africa.

Wiki Wake Up Afrique, established in 2021, emerged with a mission to foster and fortify local Wikimedia communities in Africa, with a particular emphasis on countries lacking affiliates. This collaboration has added a new dimension to the project, opening avenues for impactful partnerships, community development in unaffiliated countries and the paved the way for collaborative efforts in heritage documentation.

Logo Wiki Wake Up Afrique by User:Adoscam CC-BY-SA-4.0

Thanks to this partnership, Wiki World Heritage was able to connect with local communities in Togo, Madagascar and the Republic of Congo leveraging the enthusiasm of these emerging communities in order to document several heritage sites listed on the UNESCO tentative list.

These sites includes:

  • The old industrial site of Mantasoa in Madagascar 
  • Loango slavery harbour in the Republic of the Congo
  • Conkouati-Douli National Park in the Republic of the Congo 
  • Agglomeration of Aného Glidji in Togo
  • Woold Home in Togo (was on the UNESCO tentative list)
“Organizing two photowalks and uploading over 300 photos of heritage sites in Togo listed on the UNESCO tentative list has been a significant achievement for us. Special thanks to Mermoze Adodo (User : Adoscam), whose assistance facilitated our connection with Wiki World Heritage. The tri-party collaboration involving Wikimedia Togo, Wiki Wake Afrique, and Wiki World Heritage has had a positive impact on our emerging community and the development of our members.” Hermann Kass User:Hermann.kass from Wikimedia Community of Togo.
“Thanks to the collaborative efforts of Wikimedia Madagascar, Wiki Wake Up Afrique, and Wiki World Heritage, our community successfully organized a photowalk to document the historic industrial site of Mantasoa, which is listed on UNESCO’s indicative list. This initiative had a profound positive impact on our growing community, significantly enhancing member participation and fostering a sense of collective achievement.” Andriah User:Anai171 from Wikimedia Community User Group Madagascar.
“Thanks to the partnership with Wiki Wake Up Afrique, our community collaborated with Wiki World Heritage for photo walks at the former Loango slavery embarkation port and Conkouati-Douli National Park, UNESCO World Heritage sites. These initiatives improved our community, enhanced member skills, and strengthened our collective capabilities.” Kano Tchapi User:Kani_Beat from Wikimedians of Republic of Congo User Group.

The WH2B and Wiki Wake Up Afrique collaboration stands as a powerful testament to the impact achievable through cross-initiative partnerships. Together, we strive not only to document our rich heritage but also to empower local communities.

Thanks to the WH2B project, a total of 2,329 photos have been uploaded, encompassing 17 sites spread across 12 countries.

Finally, none of this would have been possible without the unwavering support and invaluable assistance provided by our fiscal sponsor, Kiwix. Thank you Kiwix, Thank you Stephane!!

Episode 159: BTB Digest 25

Tuesday, 26 March 2024 15:36 UTC

🕑 21 minutes

It's a BTB Digest episode! Hear clips from five recent episodes. Steve Schneider describes his remarkably AI-centered approach to teaching, Birgit Müller boasts about her team's success in improving code review, Srishti Sethi considers the usefulness of developer outreach programs, Alan Ang lists the steps in getting a knowledge base onto Wikidata, Guillaume Coulombe compares MediaWiki expertise to martial arts, and more!

Prepare yourself for a parade of imagination: the winners of the 2023 Wiki Loves Monuments photo contest have arrived.

Wiki Loves Monuments is best known for being the world’s largest photo contest. It highlights humanity’s cultural heritage through the buildings, structures, and other assets that have gained importance due to their artistic, historic, political, technical, or architectural significance.

Since the contest’s first edition, held in the Netherlands in 2010, Wiki Loves Monuments has inspired the uploading of over 3 million images to Wikimedia Commons, the freely licensed media repository that supports Wikipedia and other websites. You (yes, you!) can use those images for just about any purpose with only a couple stipulations.*

In 2023, about 200,000 images were uploaded from over 4,700 photographers in 46 countries who participated in the contest. The 15 international winners were found in 12 of those countries, and you can see them all below.

It takes a bold and courageous artist to engage with something known and celebrated around the world—but that’s just what Mona Hassan Abo-Abda did. That vision brought them first place in the 2023 Wiki Loves Monuments photo contest.

Abo-Abda took their photo (pictured above) in 2021 after traveling to see the art exhibition “Forever is Now“, then in its first year. They chose to frame the Giza pyramids, the last remaining wonder of the ancient world, through the touching hands of Lorenzo Quinn’s sculpture Together.

“Humans are obsessed with time, and yet there are places on Earth where time stands still,” Abo-Abda said. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, “we missed an essential part of what makes us human. Together wishes to represent that timeless human emotional journey in the place on Earth where time has become relative as a testimonial to living the moment.”

The photo competition’s jury praised Abo-Adba’s choice of “angle and distance,” which they believed “were very well chosen to create a balanced and proportional scene.”

Second place

Photo by Rolf Kranz, CC BY-SA 4.0

The second-place winner was captured in a very different place from the Egyptian desert: a cold German winter. The Marksburg is a castle and a key part of the Rhine Gorge UNESCO World Heritage Site.

“For me, this one photo connects almost a thousand years of history of the Middle Rhine Valley”, photographer Rolf Kranz said. “Marksburg castle was built as early as the 12th century and is the only hilltop castle on the Middle Rhine that has never [been] destroyed. Behind it you can see three significant smoking chimneys of the Braubach lead and silver smelter, [which] were erected [around] 1900.”

Third place

Photo by Maurizio Moro5153, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photographer Maurizio Moro5153 drove for an hour and half to find a location that allowed them to create a single interwoven shot of the idyllic northern Italian village of Premana underneath a wedge of hulking mountains looming over it. The effort won them third place. The jury called out the “warmth and power” displayed in the photo’s contrast between the near-dark sky and lit-up village.

Fourth place

Photo by Maksym Popelnyukh, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photographer Maksym Popelnyukh wanted to find a different way to portray Kyiv’s St. Andrew’s Church, a commonly photographed Elizabethan baroque landmark in Ukraine. They did so by getting to the location at 5 a.m., before most of the city was awake. Getting the right shot was so complicated that it took three times to get right. Their perseverance was rewarded with an award for fourth place.

“This is my way of inviting the world to look at Ukraine anew, through the lens of my camera, and to show the inexhaustible diversity and beauty it holds,” Popelnyukh said.

Fifth place

Photo by Azimronnie, CC BY-SA 4.0

Coming in fifth place in this year’s contest is Azim Khan Ronnie’s aerial photo of Buddha Dhatu Jadi, a Buddhist temple located in southeastern Bangladesh. This particular temple is well-known for its golden spire, but Jadi chose to capture it from an unusual angle: directly above. Their work in composing the shot, finding a balance between form and color, and choosing a time of day that would accentuate the shadows led to their award. (Another one of Ronnie’s photos placed tenth, and you can find that below.)

Sixth place

Photo by Vladimir Pankratov, CC BY-SA 2.0

The 700-year-old Haghartsin Monastery, nestled in the mountains of north-central Armenia, is seen here in a photo from Vladimir Pankratov. Pankratov had been to the monastery before, and it made for an excellent place to start a hike up Mount Dimats with their son. While there, they took a few photos—including this sixth-place winner, which was taken from a vantage point in a nearby chapel. The international jury called the photo “an example of human ingenuity emerging from the earth, like trees in the middle of the forest”.

Seventh place

Photo by Valekd, CC BY-SA 4.0

This aerial view of Serbia’s Petrovaradin Fortress clearly shows the fortress’ deliberate positioning over the town and river, along with the elaborate lines of zig-zagging walls constructed to hold out against an enemy even in the age of cannons. The international jury commended photographer Valekd for the decision to capture the fortress in winter, which they said gave the resulting photo a “monochrome” look that highlighted the fortress’ various levels.

Eighth place

Photo by Αλεξανδρής Αλέξης, CC BY-SA 4.0

Out on a summer holiday to the Aegean Greek island of Syros, photographer Αλεξανδρής Αλέξης was walking through narrow alleyways when they happened on this viewpoint of the Agios Nikolaos Church. They captured the church’s famed blue dome, along with its two towers, and framed them above what looks to be an aging stone wall. The jury loved the photo’s composition.

Ninth place

Photo by Abdelrahmannr, CC BY-SA 4.0

We are headed back to Giza’s pyramids for photographer Abdelrahmannr’s stunning combination of the ancient monuments juxtaposed against a solitary horse and rider. The photo clearly shows the massive scale of the pyramids, which are often viewed through photos taken at long distances, and the Wiki Loves Monuments team said that “it is a breathtaking scene that captures the awe and wonder of these timeless monuments.”

Tenth place

Photo by Azimronnie, CC BY-SA 4.0

For Azim Khan Ronnie’s tenth-place winning photograph, they crafted a top-down aerial view that could have come straight out of a movie. But what’s most valuable about this perspective is that it gives us the ability to see the detailed work that many artisans have put in over the years that Bangladesh’s 201 Dome Mosque has been under construction, especially the roof of the 81 foot (25 m) central dome. As you might have guessed by the name, they have also constructed two hundred 17 foot (5.2 m) domes alongside it. (Another one of Ronnie’s photos placed fifth, and you can find that above.)

Eleventh place

Photo by Bonavia92, CC BY-SA 4.0

Right at the entrance to Malta’s Grand Harbour stands Fort Ricasoli and this accompanying breakwater, seen here fulfilling its purpose of protecting the harbor from the worst of what the sea has to throw at it. This was one of many photos Bonavia92 took that day while seeking the perfect moment, and they ended up with a photo that they called “one of a kind”. It was the first photo they have ever submitted into any competition.

Twelfth place

Photo by MichaelDPhotos, CC BY-SA 4.0

Lighthouses are a favorite subject of photographers, and Split Rock Lighthouse in the northern United States is known for being one of the country’s most beautiful examples of the type. MichaelDPhotos got up early on a cold January morning to capture the sight at dawn. The timing allowed the building to be “bathed in the soft pastel hues of dawn”, as they put it.

Thirteenth place

Photo by T meltzer, CC BY-SA 4.0

The eclectic design of Belgium’s Antwerpen-Centraal railway station has meant that architects have struggled to identify the structure with any one style. Yet, that does not detract from it being “widely regarded as the finest example of railway architecture in Belgium”, as described on Wikipedia. A truly fascinating part of photographer T meltzer’s shot of the station’s central hall is the near-total lack of people in the photo.

Fourteenth place

Photo by Will Koeppen, CC BY-SA 4.0

This image exhibits a memory of the Alaskan Gold Rush in the history of the United States: the Independence Mine complex. Today, it’s a state park. Alaska is known for its harsh winters, and longtime Wikipedia editor Will Koeppen’s image shows the snow blown and piled next to one of the site’s remaining buildings. Koeppen lives in the area and is so familiar with this historical site that they didn’t find the photo all that remarkable. The jury disagreed, and to Koeppen’s delight they awarded it with fourteenth place. Koeppen reflected that its success “reminds me that we, as photographers, can’t always predict what specific photo is going to land with a broader audience. We all have our own preferences, biases, memories or emotions that a photograph can evoke.”

Fifteenth place

Photo by Sitthipolp, CC BY-SA 4.0

Careful positioning was required to capture this low-slung full moon over Wat Saket in Bangkok, Thailand. The site has existed in some form for hundreds of years, but the modern temple was finished in the 20th century. The effort and care put into the photograph brought photographer Sitthipolp fifteenth place in the 2023 Wiki Loves Monuments photo contest.

To see more images like this, have a look at all of the national Wiki Loves Monuments 2023 winners, or check out this year’s winners of Wiki Loves Earth, a contest focused on our planet’s natural areas.

By Ed Erhart, Communications Specialist at the Wikimedia Foundation

*Note: Please make sure to follow each image’s copyright tag. All of the images above, for instance, are available under the Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 license, meaning that you are free to share them for any reason so long as you give credit to the photographer and release any derivative images under the same copyright license.

The post “Where time stands still”: The winners of Wiki Loves Monuments 2023 appeared first on Wikimedia Foundation.

Wiki Loves Monuments has the pleasure to present the winning pictures of the international finale of the photo contest 2023! The jury – thank you to all who took part in it! – completed its deliberations in February 2024, and we officially announced the winners through out social media channels today.

In 2023 almost 220.000 images have been contributed by more than 4.700 photographers in 46 national contests. Up to ten pictures from each of these competitions could be nominated to the international finale. For a complete overview of all nominees, winners and runners-up, please check out the Winners page on Wikimedia Commons!

A warm thank-you from the international coordination team to the international jury, the national juries and national organizers, all the photographers that submitted their amazing photos that can now be used on Wikipedia and its sister projects, and everyone that helped make this competition possible!

 

 

Wikimania 2024: call for submissions open!

Monday, 25 March 2024 14:27 UTC

The great celebration of everything Wikimedia will take place in Katowice, Poland, August 7-10 . Wikimedia Europe was asked to curate the track on Legal and Advocacy, which we are happy to support. As Wikimania 2024 gathers under the topic of the Collaboration of Open, we present under your consideration some ideas on how to align with this message.

You can submit a session proposal for Wikimania 2024 here.

Food for thought

In this time of global conflict, disinformation and digital authoritarianism, the Wikimedia movement offers a model for decentralised, grassroots governance of free knowledge. Our movement empowers communities to exercise their right to access knowledge, and to advance other fundamental human rights. The Wikimedia model offers inspiration on how to create connections between people of various backgrounds, cultures and beliefs. 

Twenty years ago, policymakers and activists based in democratic countries believed that the internet would save democracy. Nowadays, many believe the internet threatens it. Powerful economic and political actors are using the advantages of online exchange to fuel social divisions and feed the attention economy. At the same time, new legislation emerges, shaping copyright, platforms’ liability protections, freedom of expression, or use of AI, etc. Do these laws support and nurture decentralised and community-governed online spaces?

“We tend to focus on the audience that already is very much into the new legislation or emerging policy trends. Isn’t Wikimania a great opportunity to reach out to a wider audience and get them interested in the impact of this work?”

All submissions welcome

As every year, there are many developments and activities to talk about. In this line of work, there is the expertise and there is the know-how, both very important to share and exchange on. We hope to see submissions:

  • focusing on the substance of policy and advocacy activities, but also 
  • showcasing experience and know-how that we have gained throughout the years of doing this work.

How can proposals embody the topic of this year’s Wikimania: Collaboration of Open? For example, they can include ideas and learning in response to the following:

  • How to explain the importance of community-led governance to the outside world? How can we do this work better?
  • How do we explain the importance of the regulatory environment to our communities globally? What are the key issues and the most effective ways to mobilise Wikimedians to support our key advocacy objectives?
  • How do we reach out to various like-minded communities outside of Wikimedia and build mutual support to achieve common goals through advocacy? What are the successful and unsuccessful examples of these collaborations and what can we learn from them?

Getting out of the silo

Often we tend to focus on the audience that already is very much into the new legislation or emerging policy trends. Meanwhile, isn’t Wikimania a great opportunity to reach out to a wider audience and get them interested in how policy, advocacy and legal developments impact their work? There are many ways to do this, of course! We thought of two practical approaches that can help tackle the topic of Wikimania 2024.

  1. Framing the session topics in a way interesting to a wide array of participants. This starts with the title – there is no need to cram in an abstract of your session, better to make it practical and relatable. Then you may want to ask someone to read your proposal and point out where the text gets too technical or “legalese”, before you submit. The easier it is to understand what are the practical implications of your work and topic, the more people may be interested in hearing the details.
  2. For longer formats, you may want to include contributors from partner organisations and activist groups and/or representatives of institutions and governments alike. As this is a hybrid event, they can participate online and on-site. Meeting your partners can be an interesting opportunity for our fellow Wikimedians and a good reason to join your talk or workshop.

We are very excited to read your proposals and discuss how jointly we can make this track informative, inspiring, collaborative and nurturing us forward into this important work!

GLAM Image Reports

Monday, 25 March 2024 12:00 UTC


Where do the images on WIkipedia come from?
, Ali Smith.

Australian institutions contribute significantly to Wikimedia Commons, which is a valuable media resource for Wikipedia writers and the general public. By sharing images, sound and video from their heritage collections, these institutions increase the visibility and accessibility of Australian cultural heritage, and foster a global appreciation for Australia’s historical collections.

The GLAM reports below are a great example of how digital platforms can be used to preserve and promote cultural heritage on an international scale - so where on Wikipedia are images used?

Using the GLAMorousToHTML tool, Olaf Janssen, Wikimedia & open data at Koninklijke Bibliotheek, has shared some nifty reports to show just that! The GLAMorousToHTML tool can list Wikipedia articles that include images from a given Commons category. It creates a HTML page and Excel file that lists all Wikipedia articles in all languages.

GLAM Reports for Australia and New Zealand[edit | edit source]

Olaf has created concise overviews for 14 organisations as of March 2024. These numbers are quite impressive!

Australia[edit | edit source]

  • Images from the Pest and Disease Image Library (PaDIL) are used in 10,361 articles in 67 languages. View the report.

New Zealand[edit | edit source]

Related Links[edit | edit source]

Tech News issue #13, 2024 (March 25, 2024)

Monday, 25 March 2024 00:00 UTC
previous 2024, week 13 (Monday 25 March 2024) next

Tech News: 2024-13

weeklyOSM 713

Sunday, 24 March 2024 16:55 UTC

14/03/2024-20/03/2024

lead picture

Understanding OSM streets and intersections with osm2streets [1] | © osm2streets | map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

Mapping

  • Daniel Capilla wrote an article discussing the hierarchical classification of the metropolitan road network of Malaga, Spain.
  • Simon asked for the best way to map parking infrastructure and if it is okay to split roads for that purpose. In the comments, Tobias Jordans recommends a subtractive alternative, which has been developed by Parkraum OSM .
  • Voting on the elevator dimensions proposal is open until Monday 25 March.

Mapping campaigns

  • UMBRAOSM presented the Mapeia Belém mapping project, aiming to update data in the city ​​of Belém, Brazil, for major events that the city will host in 2024 and 2025, such as FOSS4G and COP 30 (United Nations Climate Change Conference).
  • Matt Whilden introduced TIGERMap, a web application to help review the imported US TIGER datasets on OpenStreetMap. The app also includes address data from the USA National Address Database.

Community

  • OSM France called out to Mapillary users who would like their photos to be migrated to the libre street view alternative Panoramax, which is hosted by OSM France.
  • Eka Diweti shared her experience as a volunteer for the OSMF Membership Campaign.
  • The YouthMappers UFRJ (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) celebrated its first anniversary with a special interview with Dr. Rogério Borba, manager of the Brazilian Directory of Geospatial Data of the Brazilian National Spatial Data Infrastructure.
  • GOwin celebrated Map-Pi day with the UP Mindanao YouthMappers.
  • The OpenStreetMap community in Asia concluded another monthly Map-py Wednesday event with lightning talks by volunteers sharing about community activities and mapping techniques. For March, the three lightning talks were:
    • Embracing the OSM Universe by Kiran from TomTom
    • Overpass Turbo Queries by Example by Timmy from Kaart
    • ‘Bus Friendly’ mapping by the UPI YouthMappers in Bandung, Indonesia

    Copies of the slide decks are available, including links to details of the session for next month.

  • Norbert Tretkowski tooted about the distribution of OSM stickers on the way to the FOSSGIS conference in Hamburg.
  • Rebecca Nyinawumuntu Jeannette shared her experiences of the OSM Rwanda Open Data Day 2024.
  • Tommy Hoang Long has exported a list of national parks and nature reserves in Vietnam, and noticed that only half of them have been mapped in OSM.
  • Steve, from Map Kibera, shared his experience of mapping for waste management in one of the informal settlements of Nairobi.
  • Matt Whilden shared a micromapping bingo card. It was designed by user MapSpot on the OSM World Discord.

Local chapter news

  • Last quarter a ‘getting to know you’ survey was conducted with local OpenStreetMap communities in the Philippines. GOwin shared his observations from the responses made by the participants.
  • The call for papers for the 10th State of the Map France is open on Pretalx until Thursday 18 April.

Events

  • Don’t miss the first ever Geomob Edinburgh on Tuesday 26 March. This is reason enough for Ed to direct this week’s geoweirdness focus onto Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿.
  • Enock Seth Nyamador announced that State of the Map 2024 talk, workshop, and panel submissions are now open until Tuesday 23 April.

Education

  • OpenSchoolMaps has made a tutorial on how to use uMap to create thematic maps.
  • The IVIDES Institute announced a public call for submissions of chapters for a proposed book Case Studies in Collaborative Mapping. The manuscripts can be written in Portuguese (pt-BR) or English (en-US) and will be double-blind peer reviewed. The book is expected to be released in April 2025.
  • Volker Gringmuth has released a 40-page book titled Getting started with OpenStreetMap, which is tutorial for people who are ‘generally comfortable with hardware and software and would like to participate in the development of OpenStreetMap, the free world map’.
  • Art Glück has presented a video tutorial on creating a schematic map in Adobe Illustrator using OpenStreetMap data.

Maps

  • Martijn van Exel has been working on a ‘Welcome to Salt Lake City’ map, an opinionated map of stuff to see, eat, drink, and do while you’re visiting for the State of the Map US 2024 this summer.
  • Christoph Hormann has released a set of satellite images of the Antarctic region to use for mapping in OpenStreetMap.
  • Geoobserver reviewed NearbyWiki, a web map to explore interesting places nearby that are listed on Wikipedia.

OSM in action

  • Gislars found a public transportation route map created using OpenStreetMap data in Blankenese, Hamburg.
  • Kachelmann is using OpenStreetMap as the background map for displaying lightning.
  • Holly Branson’s conversation with the HOT team highlighted the critical role of open mapping in disaster response and community development, showcasing innovative AI advances and impactful global contributions.
  • Prajna wrote a viral Twitter thread about the maximum speed of Indonesian railways based on OpenRailwayMap, which is built using OpenStreetMap data. People in the comments are intrigued and fascinated by the data visualisation of OpenRailwayMap and how OpenStreetMap can store such detailed information about railway specifications. On another occasion, a public transportation analyst utilised OpenRailwayMap as a basis for their argument regarding potential improvements to the current rail system.

Open Data

  • The Open Knowledge Foundation tooted that the Learnovation Foundation Network held the Wikidata Loves SDGs 2024 event on Thursday 7 March, at the Mustapha Akanbi Library and Resource Centre in Kwara, Nigeria, to celebrate Open Data Day.

Software

  • [1] Dustin Carlino tweeted that OSM2Streets, an OpenStreetMap street and intersection data visualisation tool, has had a major revamp, now switching to the Muv library for parsing OSM lane tagging and some improvements to the Svelte and MapLibre app.
  • Kamil Monicz has undertaken a security review of the existing OpenStreetMap website while working on their OSM NextGen project.
  • TrickyFoxy is disappointed with cartographers who use inaccurate AI recognition data in places where there is more accurate OSM data available.
  • Peter Kontschieder announced the release of Neural Radiance Fields (NeRFs), a 3D space visualisation feature, on Mapillary. These visualisations are created using 2D images that have been uploaded to Mapillary.

Programming

  • Isaac Boates, with help from the Karlsruhe Hack Weekend February 2024 attendees, has prepared several Docker images for various OSM-related utilities such as osm2pgsql, osmium, and osm2pgrouting.

Releases

  • Ed Freyfogle announced a few improvements to OpenCage’s Geosearch (location autosuggest) service.
  • Organic Maps has released an update patch to fix the OSM login feature on Google Play.

Other “geo” things

  • HeiGIT, the Heidelberg Institute for Geoinformation Technology, is looking for a new Head of Administration with the power of attorney.
  • HeiGIT reported that the University of Heidelberg is seeking applicants for the Robert and Christine Danziger Scholarship until 31 August 2024. The scholarship is intended for doctoral students from Africa (primarily from Ghana or another country in West and Central Africa) who are planning to apply for a doctorate in the field of Geography (with a focus on Geoinformatics) or Political Science at the University of Heidelberg.
  • Daniel O’Donohue, from the MapScaping podcast, interviewed Will Cadell, CEO of SparkGeo, on the topic of ‘modern geospatial’ (the intersection of the cloud, smart space, open source data/standards, AI and smart devices).
  • Thanks to the European Commission’s Digital Markets Act people in the EU will no longer be able to search for an address in Google and click through to Google Maps.
  • Mozilla has announced that they will be shutting down the Mozilla location service. Roman Tsisyk, the developer of Organic Maps, has expressed his willingness to continue this work.

Upcoming Events

Where What Online When Country
Hamburg FOSSGIS 2024 – OSM-Samstag 2024-03-23 flag
Kozhikode FOSSMeet’24 2024-03-23 flag
Braga (São Vítor) Open Knowledge Braga 2024 2024-03-24 flag
東區 TomTom 成大 OpenStreetMap Workshop 2024-03-25 flag
Bremen Bremer Mappertreffen 2024-03-25 flag
Grenoble Rencontre « OpenStreetMap et territoires » 2024-03-26 flag
Saint-Étienne Rencontre Saint-Étienne et sud Loire 2024-03-26 flag
Gent OpenStreetMap-meetup in Gent 2024-03-26 flag
iD Community Chat 2024-03-27
[Online] OpenStreetMap Foundation board of Directors – public videomeeting 2024-03-28
Potsdam Radnetz Brandenburg Mapping Abend #4 2024-03-28 flag
MapComplete Community Call 2024-03-29
Athens Mapathon with OpenStreetMap: Improving Athens County’s Mapped Infrastructure @ Ohio University 2024-03-29 flag
Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer OpenStreetMap-Treffen (online) 2024-03-29 flag
Mapiripán Latam meeting – SOTM LATAM 2024 (2) 2024-03-30 flag
臺北市 OpenStreetMap x Wikidata Taipei #63 2024-04-01 flag
San Jose South Bay Map Night 2024-04-03 flag
Berlin OSM-Verkehrswende #57 2024-04-02 flag
Stuttgart Stuttgarter OpenStreetMap-Treffen 2024-04-03 flag
Dresden OSM-Stammtisch Dresden 2024-04-04 flag

Note:
If you like to see your event here, please put it into the OSM calendar. Only data which is there, will appear in weeklyOSM.

This weeklyOSM was produced by LuxuryCoop, MatthiasMatthias, PierZen, SeverinGeo, Strubbl, TheSwavu, TrickyFoxy, YoViajo, barefootstache, derFred, mcliquid, rtnf, tordans.
We welcome link suggestions for the next issue via this form and look forward to your contributions.

The Wikimedia Endowment is excited to introduce a new member to its Endowment Board with the appointment of Laura Duchâtelet, an important advocate for Wikimedia’s knowledge equity mission.

“Laura is a knowledgeable and passionate ambassador for the Wikimedia Endowment who brings strong facilitation skills to the board,” said Lisa Seitz Gruwell, President of the Wikimedia Endowment. “We are so fortunate that Laura has joined us.”

Laura Duchâtelet is a Belgian facilitator, philanthropist, and the owner of a small business that facilitates team building among professionals. She is a board member of Elex, leading their philanthropy committee. Laura studied Economics at the University of Antwerp, earning an undergraduate degree; she earned her Master’s degree at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).  Laura and her family have also been longtime financial supporters of the Wikimedia Foundation.

“I am incredibly excited to join Wikimedia’s mission of supporting accessible, equitable knowledge,” said Laura. The Wikimedia community encompasses thousands of volunteers worldwide who use their diverse viewpoints to help each other towards better insights and a more complete understanding of our world–and what a wonderful mission to be a part of!”

With Laura’s addition, the Endowment Board now has ten members who all serve as volunteers; Board members are appointed for three years and may serve up to three terms.

Laura was appointed during the February biannual Endowment Board Meeting hosted at the Sloan Foundation in New York City. In addition, the Board adopted a new investment policy and created an Audit Committee separate from the Finance Committee that had previously included audit responsibilities in its charter.

About the Wikimedia Endowment

Launched in 2016, the Wikimedia Endowment is a nonprofit charitable organization providing a permanent safekeeping fund to support the operations and activities of the Wikimedia projects in perpetuity.  It aims to create a solid financial foundation for the future of the Wikimedia projects. As of December 31, 2023, the Wikimedia Endowment was valued at $130 million USD.  Endowment Board members are selected based on active involvement in philanthropic endeavors, prior nonprofit board experience, fundraising and investment expertise, and a strong commitment to the Wikimedia Foundation’s mission. They serve as volunteers. The Wikimedia Endowment is a U.S.-based 501(c)3 charity (Tax ID: 87-3024488).

The post The Wikimedia Endowment welcomes Laura Duchâtelet as its newest board member appeared first on Wikimedia Foundation.

An old fishing trip

Monday, 18 March 2024 10:21 UTC
 
Tranquebar, the Danish version of Tharangambadi had long been on my list of places to visit. So many species from India have the scientific epithet of tranquebaricus, all because of the Danish settlement from where specimens were carted off to Europe to be given binomial names. So on a visit to the place in December 2022 I checked out some of the big names including Christoph Samuel John who I had been researching both for his Wikipedia entry and for a little chapter on fishes that has recently been published by McGill University Press (see here). I was rather disappointed to see that C.S. John's grave had either no markings or was possibly damaged a long time ago.
 

 


John collaborated with the German fish specialist Marcus Bloch in Berlin, sending him fishes in spirit by the ship load. His notes on the difficulties with finding containers, arrack, and corks is worth examining! Remarkably many of his specimens are still held at the Natural History Museum in Berlin. Bloch named some fishes after John (including the genus Johnius) and it would appear that John had a native artist draw some specimens. Unfortunately there appears to be no trace of any original drawings by Indians in the archives of the museum in Berlin.

The New Jerusalem Church with
the monogram of the Danish King Frederik IV


Another collector who worked the region was a man with the impressive name of Dagobert Karl de Daldorff. Daldorff died somewhere in Calcutta, I doubt anyone has found much about his life there...

Useful sources

Tech News issue #12, 2024 (March 18, 2024)

Monday, 18 March 2024 00:00 UTC
previous 2024, week 12 (Monday 18 March 2024) next

Tech News: 2024-12

weeklyOSM 712

Sunday, 17 March 2024 13:58 UTC

07/03/2024-13/03/2024

lead picture

OSM-Community in Metro Manila [1] | © OSM community in Metro Manila | map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

Mapping

  • Anne-Karoline Distel has written a blog about rag trees mapping (place_of_worship=sacred_tree) in OpenStreetMap.
  • Robhubi asked, in a blog post, whether the wiki page for the key name needs to be restructured.
  • SK53 described the mapping of chapels in crematorium buildings in a very detailed blog post.
  • Codesurfer has requested comments on their proposal social_facility=equine_assisted_centre.
  • Voting on the elevator dimensions proposal is open until Monday 25 March.

Community

  • [1] GOwin blogged about an AlayData event of the OSM community in Metro Manila to celebrate Open Data Day. Last but not least, the trivia at the end of the article is interesting 😉
  • Rebecca Firth, Executive Director of HOT, spoke about how her team uses open maps to help change women’s lives for the better.
  • Doué-en-Anjou (in the south of Maine-et-Loire, France) now has a small OSM community! It organises itself using the Communecter social network.
  • Craftmapper Negreheb first searched OSM and then the internet for second-hand shops in his neighbourhood. To record those missing from OSM, he cycled around local shops and mapped them.
  • Deus Figendi called for more use of Panoramax. Paul explained Panoramax in a nutshell: ‘Street pictures à la Kartaview/Mapillary, but technically like Mastodon’. Christian Quest explained it in detail in a video from SotM Europe 2023.
  • The YouthMappers UFRJ Chapter (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) has received an award from the YouthMappers project, for promoting women’s participation in its membership and activities.

OpenStreetMap Foundation

  • Members of the OpenStreetMap Foundation Board and several of the OSMF Working Groups are launching a membership campaign with the goal of growing and diversifying membership in all regions of the world.
  • Engelbert Modo has put together a few good arguments for why you should become a member of the OSMF and help shape the composition of the Board and the focus of its work. His appeal is particularly aimed at mappers in regions that currently only have a very small proportion of members.
  • Each of the OpenStreetMap Foundation board members shared a few sentences about where they want to contribute in 2024.

Local chapter news

  • Rebecca Nyinawumuntu Jeannette, from OSM Rwanda/ecomappers, blogged about their monthly mapathon events.

Events

  • Raquel Dezidério Souto blogged about her participation as a special speaker at the Open Data Day UFBA 2024 (Brazil). The keynote video and PDF file are publicly available in Portuguese and English.

Maps

  • Matt Whilden has developed TIGERMap, a webmap to help facilitate reviewing the TIGER import of roadways in the United States on OpenStreetMap.
  • Martin Brake, an expert in road engineering, rail engineering, tunnel construction and much more, has published a map based on OSM, which helps visualise the development of transport networks over time (rail, motorway, underground, suburban railway) in Germany, London, and Barcelona.

OSM in action

  • The German Amateur Radio Club (DARC) is offering an introduction to amateur radio with the help of a learning platform. In addition to a detailed course map , the DARC has also created a training sponsor map based on OSM. To keep the data up to date, a registration form can be accessed via a link on the map.
  • governorkeagan spotted his first ‘mapinthewild’ that uses OpenStreetMap.

Software

  • Ian Wagner, from Stadia Maps, gave a talk on using the open-source routing engine Valhalla. The talk systematically covered aspects of Valhalla’s flexibility through reference documentation and live demos using QGIS and the JSON API.
  • Mapstories allows you to tell stories using maps. It uses OpenStreetMap, or the Mapbox library, as a base map and is available in DE, EN, ES, and FR.
  • Tobias Zwick announced his plan to develop an iOS version of StreetComplete, using Kotlin Multiplatform and JetBrain’s Compose for the UI. Part of the development is being funded by the Prototype Fund, a German public interest tech grant program. For the remainder, he asked for help from the community, noting the numerous contributions up to this point that have made this endeavour feasible in the first place.

Programming

  • 2hu4u wrote a tutorial on how to add wireless connectivity to enhance his previously documented very cheap and ultra portable street level imagery setup.
  • Kamil Monicz has tested the performance of his OpenStreetMap NextGen (osm-ng) for the first time. The main task was to evaluate static and unauthenticated queries, which showed osm-ng to be much faster than osm-ruby, with the fastest execution time of 0.00314 seconds. mmd’s diary comment outlines some of the shortcomings in the testing methodology.

Releases

  • Tobias Zwick has released StreetComplete v57, which now includes an overlay with which all those small map features such as benches, bicycle parking, roadside trees, ATMs, and other street furniture in general can be mapped. Another highlight of v57 is the building overlay, which mappers can use to view and edit building types in their vicinity.
  • The OrganicMaps March 2024 update has been released. You can now export all of your bookmarks with a single click for backup; maps are updates to 28 February, and there is a track colour editor for iOS.
  • Sarah Hoffmann announced the release of Nominatim version 4.4.0 and Photon version 0.5.0. This release comes with bug fixes and performance improvements and a new, experimental feature for exporting a Nominatim database to SQLite.
  • Version 0.7.0 of OpenStop, the app to collect information (about accessibility) at public transport stops, has been released. Aside from many other improvements it’s now possible to translate the app into any language using Weblate. The development team have also created a video briefly introducing the app.

Did you know …

  • … there is a modified version of StreetComplete called SCEE? It is aimed at experienced OSM contributors who desire more advanced editing capabilities in StreetComplete and is available on F-Droid.

OSM in the media

  • Outsite featured an article on how to contribute (pp. 40–43) to OSM using mobile apps. Outsite is a Danish magazine aimed at hikers and other outdoor people.

Upcoming Events

Where What Online When Country
Chemnitz Chemnitzer Linuxtage 2024-03-16 – 2024-03-17 flag
Perth Social Mapping Saturday: QEII 2024 2024-03-16 flag
Puerto López Latam meeting – SOTM LATAM 2024 2024-03-16 flag
Defence Colony Tehsil 6th OSM Delhi Mapping Party 2024-03-17 flag
England OSM UK Online Chat 2024-03-18 flag
Lyon Réunion du groupe local de Lyon 2024-03-19 flag
San Jose South Bay Map Night 2024-03-20 flag
Strasbourg Apéro OpenStreetMap 2024-03-19 flag
Bonn 173. OSM-Stammtisch Bonn 2024-03-19 flag
City of Edinburgh OSM Edinburgh pub meetup 2024-03-19 flag
[Online] Map-py Wednesday 2024-03-20
no location [Online] Map-py Wednesday 2024-03-20
no location Map-py Wednesday 2024-03-20
Map-py Wednesday 2024-03-20
UN Mappers training – Validating OSM data – session #3 2024-03-20
Karlsruhe Stammtisch Karlsruhe 2024-03-20 flag
Hamburg FOSSGIS 2024 – OSM-Samstag/Preevent 2024-03-22 flag
Hamburg FOSSGIS 2024 – OSM-Samstag 2024-03-23 flag
Bremen Bremer Mappertreffen 2024-03-25 flag
Grenoble Rencontre « OpenStreetMap et territoires » 2024-03-26 flag
Gent OpenStreetMap-meetup in Gent 2024-03-26 flag
iD Community Chat 2024-03-27
[Online] OpenStreetMap Foundation board of Directors – public videomeeting 2024-03-28
Potsdam Radnetz Brandenburg Mapping Abend #4 2024-03-28 flag
MapComplete Community Call 2024-03-29
Athens Mapathon with OpenStreetMap: Improving Athens County’s Mapped Infrastructure @ Ohio University 2024-03-29 flag
Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer OpenStreetMap-Treffen (online) 2024-03-29 flag
臺北市 OpenStreetMap x Wikidata Taipei #63 2024-04-01 flag

Note:
If you like to see your event here, please put it into the OSM calendar. Only data which is there, will appear in weeklyOSM.

This weeklyOSM was produced by MatthiasMatthias, Michael Montani, SeverinGeo, Strubbl, TheSwavu, YoViajo, barefootstache, derFred, rtnf, westnordost.
We welcome link suggestions for the next issue via this form and look forward to your contributions.

In fall 2023, 20 esteemed experts in art history joined Wiki Education for a special ten-week Wiki Scholars course funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Designed to train experts to edit articles about European art and architecture from antiquity to the early 19th century, the course demonstrated the incredible impact a small group of professionals can create through Wikipedia – nearly 3 million views and counting! 

Collectively, the course participants contributed more than 900 total edits in more than 100 Wikipedia articles, adding almost 50,000 words and 718 references. The course not only yielded a substantial number of article edits, but it also resulted in a marked increase in the quality of articles. The work from the course raised the scores of 31 articles by at least five ORES points, a measurement Wikipedia uses to help rank the completeness of an article. The ORES score is determined by several variables, including article size, number of sections, references, and images. 

While Wikipedia encourages anyone to make edits to pages, regardless of background or experience, professional expertise – including knowledge of and access to high-quality sources – proves invaluable in enhancing and expanding the content of articles. 

“Contributing to Wikipedia aligns with a core professional goal I have: to democratize knowledge,” said participant Anne McClanan, art history professor at Portland State University. “The Wiki Education course empowered art history professors to contribute, ensuring that scholarly expertise is accessible to a wider audience, breaking down barriers to information.” 

McClanan, a Byzantine art historian, improved several articles including Byzantine silver (explore her changes inspired by a specific thesis), as well as the Wikipedia article about the Byzantine Empire. McClanan’s improvements of the Byzantine Empire article are particularly noteworthy, as the text was already considered one of the highest quality articles on Wikipedia, indicating the comprehensive and robust nature of its information and sources. Using her deep understanding of the subject area and related sources, McClanan was able to add small yet key pieces of information to the article, filling in content gaps previously unaddressed by editors. This article has been viewed 250,000 times in the past month alone and continues to be regarded as one of Wikipedia’s best articles.

Like McClanan, the other subject-area experts in the course sought to improve articles related to their own unique interests and professional backgrounds. James Clifton, Director of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, focused on the article about Bernardo de’ Dominici, an Italian art historian and minor landscape and genre painter. James not only crafted a detailed section about one of his works, but he also improved the article lead, cleaned up a long list of works, and polished the article’s overview of his life. Take a look at the Bernado de’ Dominici article in “the visual editor” mode – this view shows Clifton’s additions (in green) and text he removed (in red), edits which enhanced the overall quality of the article. 

For Clifton, the importance and impact of Wikipedia for both scholars and the general public cannot be underestimated.

James Clifton, director of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
James Clifton, director of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Image in public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

“I use Wikipedia frequently,” said Clifton. “It is the quickest path to at least superficial – and often profound – information on countless subjects.  As such, its importance as a widespread source of information is incalculable, and it behooves those who contribute to it to make it as accurate and accessible as possible. The Wikipedia editing course taught me to do that in my own small corner of the world.”

As the scale and detail of Wikipedia more than eclipse that of every encyclopedia which preceded it, Wikipedia can often feel expansive and even complete. However, as these courses demonstrate, no knowledge system is immune to content gaps and systemic bias. Wiki Education courses provide experts with support to leverage a global platform and share their knowledge, research, and passion with the world. And in the process, they make this vast source of information a little more complete for all. 

This year, our courses will bring together groups including medical professionals, political scientists, and climate change scholars (just to name a few!), creating a bridge between their professional expertise and the information accessible to everyone through Wikipedia – making a great thing even better. 

Interested in learning more about the work of this course and its reach on Wikipedia? Visit our open-access Course Dashboard, and be sure to explore our upcoming courses for subject-area experts provided by Wiki Education.

Wiki Education thanks the Samuel H. Kress Foundation for their generous support of the fall 2023 Art History Wiki Scholars course.

Course participants:

  • Paul Albert, Scholar, George Mason University
  • Anne McClanan, PhD, Art History Professor, Portland State University
  • James Clifton, Director, Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Curator, Renaissance and Baroque Painting, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
  • Margaret Ann Zaho, PhD, Associate Professor of Art History, University of Central Florida
  • Kate Dimitrova, PhD, Lecturer, Department of Art, Architecture + Art History, University of San Diego
  • Maria Ketcham, Director, Research Library, Archives & Collections Information, Detroit Museum of Art
  • Jessica Allison, Collections Database Manager, Detroit Museum of Art
  • Maura Wilson, Department Assistant, University of San Francisco
  • Elizabeth Macaulay, DPhil, Associate Professor, Graduate Center, CUNY
  • Anne Betty Weinshenker, PhD, Professor Emerita of Art History, Montclair State University
  • John Hagood, Librarian, National Gallery of Art
  • Susanna Caroselli, PhD, Professor Emerita of Art HIstory, Messiah University
  • Casey Long, Head of Research & Instruction, Agnes Scott College
  • Lalaine Bangilan, PhD, Gallery Director and Adjunct Professor of Fine Arts, Misericordia University
  • Zoe Kobs, Student, University of San Diego
  • Daniel Maze, PhD, Associate Professor, Head of Art History, University of Iowa
  • Shirley Schwarz, PhD, Professor Emerita, Assistant Teaching Professor, University of Evansville
  • Lindsay Cook, PhD, Assistant Teaching Professor, Penn State University
  • Joy Kearney, PhD Candidate, Royal Netherlands Military Academy
  • Eelco Nagelsmit, PhD, Lecturer, Leiden University
  • Emily Everhart, PhD, Assistant Professor, Chair of Liberal Arts, Art Academy of Cincinnati
  • Daniella Berman, PhD, Project Manager & Researcher, The Drawing Foundation
  • Christina Tatum, Instruction & Outreach Librarian, Agnes Scott College

We need a Digital Knowledge Act

Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:40 UTC

A digital knowledge act for europe

In December 2023 the Communia Association, which Wikimedia Europe is a member of, rolled out the idea of a Digital Knowledge Act at the European Union level. A EU regulation that makes the interests of knowledge institutions, such as libraries, universities and schools, a top priority. 

In the past five years we have seen the EU tackling various specific digital issues through legislation – content moderation through the Digital Services Act, market power through the Digital Markets Act, data sharing through the Data Act and the Data Governance Act. All these were necessary steps, we believe, they however treated institutions, such as libraries, archives, universities and schools, almost as an afterthought.  

So, what’s in it?

The idea is to have a piece of EU legislation that would pinpoint the pain points of knowledge institutions in the digital world and remedy them through precise changes to the relevant laws. 

  1. A secondary publication right would ensure that publicly-funded research can not only be cited, but also linked to and accessed by researchers, journalists and all citizens. 
  2. We also need to ensure access and reusability of administrative and legal documents, publicly commissioned studies and works in the public domain. 
  3. A unified research exception should allow the sharing of protected materials between researchers for purposes of verification of research results and for engaging in collaborative research. Something that is currently impaired by a multitude of national and incompatible regimes. 
  4. A EU-wide e-lending right would allow libraries to lend out works in digital formats under the same conditions as works in physical form, something they are currently barred from doing.
  5. The introduction of measures protecting against abusive contractual practices, which would allow to balance the relationship between libraries, archives or other knowledge institutions and right-holders. 

Why do we need all this? Disinformation!

In today’s world citizens are flooded with information, including misinformation and disinformation. Mushroom sites pop up constantly, but their content is also peddled by more traditional outlets and public personalities. There doesn’t seem to be an adequate legislative response to this with regards to limiting access to information, nor does it appear desirable. 

However, the public sector can instigate meaningful change when it comes to the accessibility of reliable information. The public hand finances research and educational materials with humongous budgets, but much of the results can’t be accessed and reused. 

The balance between the online availability of unreliable or even malicious information vs. verifiable and reliable information is shifting in the wrong direction. By opening up publicly-funded research, studies and educational content,  we can start pushing back. Citizens, journalists, researchers, or even just Wikipedia readers would have access to significantly more reliable sources. Information would become easier to verify and more reliable. Not everywhere, but in many places.

why do we need all this? artificial intelligence!

Artificial Intelligence is a hype right now in political and legal circles. But it is also a technology that, we believe, will shift the way the world works. Nowadays we use online platforms to perform almost any activity, from jogging to listening to music and watching TV to talking to friends and participating in public debates. AI will be interspersed in almost any product or service we use daily.  

As a society we must decide whether we want these ubiquitous AI models trained predominantly on mushroom disinformation sites and social media posts or we prefer them being trained on publicly-funded research and projects like Europeana, Project Gutenberg and Wikipedia.

we need this!

The Digital Knowledge Act tackles long standing issues in the field of research, education, libraries and the public domain. But in sum, it is much more than a set of surgical fixes to well known issues. It would be one adequate response to the risks of artificial intelligence and to the threats of misinformation and disinformation. 

Sheila McKechnie Foundation (SMK) in collaboration with Wikimedia UK, have launched an open access toolkit which empowers people to campaign effectively.

Across the UK people are working to change things for the better. Campaigners, activists, and changemakers of all types are stepping up to address injustices, improve conditions in their communities, and draw attention to neglected issues. From the Post Office Horizon scandal, housing issues such as mouldy homes, and fighting the closure of local libraries, changemakers are grafting away on many vital issues, and are often at the forefront of holding those in power to account. 

Change is possible, but it is not easy work. It requires extraordinary courage, resilience and persistence. Changemaking is made tougher still because of the lack of good quality, freely available knowledge on how to go about it. From our many years of working with changemakers we know that it can be a struggle to know where to start. Today, we launch a toolkit to address these challenges and support those at the forefront of making change happen.

Through this unique collaboration, SMK and Wikimedia UK are committed to making knowledge open and freely available so it can help people campaign effectively. That’s why we’ve launched the Changemaker’s Toolkit, a free online training resource for campaigners, activists, and changemakers.  

The three introductory modules; Introduction to changemaking, Analysing the problem and planning for Change, and Communicating for Change, will enable you to develop your understanding of campaigning and changemaking, providing the  tools to allow you to reflect and plan. Our aim is to support you to campaign more confidently straight away, and to provide a framework to build your knowledge in the future. 

The Toolkit is based on SMK’s Campaign Carousel which draws on nearly two decades of experience training hundreds of campaigners and activists. 

‘SMK’s Campaign Carousel is a cutting-edge training programme shaped by expert campaigners. We provide practical tools and approaches that allow new campaigners to hit the ground running. Our training supports these new campaigners to make powerful, impactful change by giving them the guidance they need across all of the different aspects of campaigning. From social media, to understanding social change, to working with the legal system, and much more- our Campaign Carousel supports campaigners to become powerful forces for change.’ – Kathleen Christie, Head of Programmes, SMK

Photo of a man with a placard reading 'Guys. C'mon.' on a blue background with a quote from the Wikimedia + Democracy report.
Climate March 0802 Stunning People (33603586923) by Edward Kimmel.

At Wikimedia UK we pride ourselves on being experts on knowledge equity, committed to the ideal of a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. With thousands of contributors to open knowledge through Wikipedia and its sister projects, we have a network of supporters who will benefit from a better understanding on how to campaign on the wide variety of issues that are important to them.

‘Within the Wikimedia movement sits a great potential for making change in the world, across a huge range of societal issues: misinformation, shrinking civic space, decolonisation and knowledge equity. Members of the Wikimedia movement are, or have the capacity and aptitude to become changemakers  if supported with the right tools and knowledge. This project brings together two communities – Wikimedians and changemakers – so they can benefit from each other’s expertise. Wikimedians get access to social change knowledge to increase their effectiveness, SMK is able to support changemakers with the tools, knowledge, and confidence to work effectively and create change.’ Daria Cybulska, Director of Programmes and Evaluation

The overlapping interests between our organisations are clear, and we’re grateful for Wikimedia Foundation’s grant to help make  a long-standing ambition a reality. It’s a modest start, but an important one and a foundation we intend to build on.

‘Working with Wikimedia UK on these new resources has been a fantastic experience and fascinating to combine our different perspectives on social change and develop this Toolkit. It’s never been more important to find new ways to support those who are working to create change in our communities, and we are thrilled to share our tools and approaches with a wider audience. It’s the first step towards a long-held ambition for SMK.’ Shaan Sangha, Knowledge and Insight Manager, SMK

The ambition is to add to the Toolkit over time, providing changemakers with a comprehensive library of free campaigning resources. We’d love your feedback on how the Toolkit works for you and what else you would like to see added. You can email us at volunteering@wikimedia.org.uk

Photo of two climate protestors on a green background with yellow placards with a quote from the Wikipedia + Democracy report.
Greenpeacebelomonte by Agência Brasil.

Further information

The Changemakers Toolkit includes:

Introduction to Changemaking – Provides an introduction to how change happens and the many routes through which campaigning and activism can have an impact. Covers foundational tools including the Social Change Grid, 12 habits, and introduces the topic of social power.

Analysing the Problem and Planning for change – Digs further into how to understand the problem you want to address and your solution, using the Problem Tree tool. Introduces approaches to planning campaigns, and identifying your allies and people you need to influence.

Communication for Change – How to achieve an impact with your communications by understanding who you’re speaking to, what you need to say to connect with them, and how you can reach them.


There is a version tailored for Wikimedians available on metawiki. Modules are Introduction to changemaking, Analysing the Problem and Planning for Change, and Communicating for Change

Rob Abercrombie, Deputy Chief Executive, SMK

Daria Cybulska, Director of Programmes and Evaluation, Wikimedia UK

The post Announcing the Changemakers’ Toolkit: your go-to, free training resource for campaigners, activists, and changemakers of all kinds appeared first on WMUK.

Episode 158: Taavi Väänänen

Tuesday, 12 March 2024 15:03 UTC

🕑 38 minutes

Taavi Väänänen is a site reliability engineer in the Wikimedia Cloud Services team at the Wikimedia Foundation. In 2022, when he was still just a volunteer contributor, he was named Tech Contributor of the Year by Jimmy Wales.

Links for some of the topics discussed:

Professor Richard Doll of Oxford is considered one of the best epidemiologists of the 20th century. There are 20 Wikipedias who consider him notable enough for an article yet Wikidata had until now no scientific paper associated with him. That was easily solved by disambiguating "author strings" for Mr Doll. 

With currently 54 publications to his name, none of his books are included. At the Open Library, Mr Doll is known five times and several books were known by these different Mr Dolls. All books have now been attributed to the Mr Doll with id OL1150080A. This identifier is now linked on Wikidata and reading the available books can be read by an international public.

All publications known at Wikidata for Mr Doll are represented in his Scholia. Given that there is much more to explore, this representation will evolve over time. People may add books or publications and additional co-authors may be disambiguated (currently a potential of 159 authors). 

The English Wikipedia has a Scholia template and it is implemented on the Richard Doll article. Functionality like this makes all the effort worth it bringing information to a next level of exposure. It works both ways. Suppose that all references of all Wikipedia articles in any Wikipedia are to be found in Wikidata. All of these references will be known in the Red&Blue Wikibase. All references with an identifier like a DOI or an ISBN can easily be integrated in Wikidata for re-use in other Wiki projects. 

With some additional work, it is even possible to associate references to individual statements and have them known in Wikidata as well. Again this promotes exposure of all the work we do and it promotes re-use in other Wiki projects.
  • Scholia is/could be available as a template on any and all Wikipedias
  • You can read books when available at OpenLibrary
  • Anyone can contribute to the tapestry of information for any scholar
  • References can easily be added in Red&Blue Wikibase
  • These references can be linked to Wikidata making for one stop shopping for updates
So what is not to like? 
Thanks, 
       GerardM
Mark Edward Hay is an American marine ecologist. There is a Wikipedia article about him in two languages and there is an article in Wikispecies. Consequently there is an item in Wikidata.

In a template it says: "[[Lowell Thomas Award]] (2015)". The link it a redirect to [[Lowell Thomas]] the man the award is named after. This is accepted practice in Wikipedia and it is not a problem. The redirect page has 23 links to articles mostly of people who received the same award.

With a Red&Blue Wikibase for the English Wikipedia, it will be possible to associate a relation with the award. This could fit in a template and additional red links can be added based on the source

When a Wikipedia adds new links, it is done by typing in the name of an potential article. Given that people who received an award are notable, consequently new blue links are highly likely to occur. New red links are entered in a template so there is this implied relation. 

At Wikidata an item for the Lowell Thomas award was recently added because of Mr Hay. It currently only refers to one recipient; Mr Hay. The 23 relations known at the en:red&blue are more than welcome to be added to Wikidata. Red links are more tricky as Wikidata is a superset of data of all the Wikipedias  articles of all Wikipedia and then some. 

So when Wikidata already knows about a recipient, it can make a red Wikibase link blue. When any Wikipedia adds the Lowell Thomas Award as a link, all the information can be populated from Wikidata making it much easier to have sanity checks indicating where data may be right or wrong..

  • Hidden data in redirection articles are given an additional use
  • Data available in multiple Wikipedias is actually shared making knowledge more complete
  • Data only available in one Wikipedia becomes more generally available
So what is not to like?
Thanks,
      GerardM

Tech News issue #11, 2024 (March 11, 2024)

Monday, 11 March 2024 00:00 UTC
previous 2024, week 11 (Monday 11 March 2024) next

Tech News: 2024-11

This Month in GLAM: February 2024

Sunday, 10 March 2024 13:52 UTC

weeklyOSM 711

Sunday, 10 March 2024 11:11 UTC

29/02/2024-06/03/2024

lead picture

DemoF4map 3D rendering in Pyongyang [1] | ©F4 | map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

Mapping

  • [1] Koreller explained how he mapped Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, in 3D. An effort was made to recreate both ordinary buildings and city landmarks in detail. Inspiration for the project came from the popular simulation game ‘Cities: Skylines’.
  • Penegal shared his thoughts on mapping the natural regions of mainland France: what is a natural region? How should they be mapped? What sources should be used?
  • Geozeisig has made a request for comments on aerodrome=*, a proposal that the aerodrome=* key should be used to classify aerodromes according to their importance and purpose.

Community

  • mikeocool stumbled upon an intriguing discovery while mapping Forest Service roads in northwest Montana: two airstrips across the road from each other. Further investigation revealed a backstory involving retired US Navy commander Murland Searight and Hollywood director Michael Cimino.
  • Ali Ingersoll, from WRAL-TV, reported that residents of Raleigh, North Carolina, have been mapping pedestrian infrastructure in OSM as volunteers for Code with the Carolinas.
  • The UN Mapper of the Month for March 2024 is Pawan Muddu, from India.

Local chapter news

  • The OSM-FR association has announced that the 10th SotM France will be held in Lyon from Friday 28 to Sunday 30 June 2024. Detailed information and the call for papers should be available soon.

Maps

  • TrailStash has developed OpenBikeHero, an OSM and Overpass powered application for finding bicycle repair stands.
  • Rtnf has overlaid weather satellite data onto an OpenStreetMap base map to produce weather forecasts around specific coordinates.
  • Sebastian Pertsch found an interesting project – a virtual forum with maps from Saxony, Germany, and the University Library of Dresden. The site has more than 9000 georeferenced historical maps that can be overlaid on a modern OpenStreetMap layer. Some maps were created in the 17th century, which makes this platform even more valuable.

OSM in action

  • By using OpenStreetMap data, Ben Ashforth has devised a mathematical route-planning algorithm in order to visit the streets around Europe that are named after each day of the year.
  • Stolpersteine (literally ‘stumbling blocks’) are small brass-plated cubes laid, around Europe, in front of the last-known residences or workplaces of those who were driven out or murdered by the Nazis. Heise Online reported that 100,000 such memorial plaques have now been laid of which 30,000 have been recorded in the Stolperstein app. The app is primarily based on OSM data. In OpenPlaques you can find 5786 Stolpersteine, many with a photo. OSM has 33,876 blocks currently mapped.

Programming

  • In the year of OpenStreetMap vector maps (we reported earlier), Paul Norman has described his work on minutely updates of a tile server and provided a webpage demo where we can see the result. Developers are invited to test and provide comments.
  • Adrien Pavie has shared a tutorial to help users create custom models for object recognition in Panoramax photos. The tutorial walks users through the process of creating a dataset, marking up photos, training the YOLOv8 model, and recognising objects in new photos.
  • Mary Knize has developed an OpenStreetMap-based 3D map using the A-Frame framework.
  • Using the Monaco example Kamil Raczycki explained, in Towards Data Science, how to use DuckDB to read OpenStreetMap data, while providing insights into nodes, ways, and relations; perfect for SQL enthusiasts looking for streamlined GIS operations with QuackOSM.
  • Volker Krause tooted some of their progress on indoor routing in KDE Itinerary and OSM infrastructure for Transitous (a public transport routing app).

Releases

  • Joseph Elfelt has released GeoJPG version 2, a web app to display offline maps (we reported earlier).

Did you know …

  • … Bexhill’s OSM map, which leaves nothing to be desired? Bexhill-OSM is completely open source. The project is freely available for anyone to review, modify, and improve. Highly recommended for imitation.
  • … about the ‘awesome-maplibre‘ GitHub repository? This repository features various projects that use or support MapLibre.
  • … the MapLibre webmap Javascript tool? It renders vector maps including 3D models, animations, adding icons, style labels, etc. This open source API is a community led fork derived from mapbox-gl-js that uses WebGL to render interactive maps from vector tiles in a browser. Paul Norman used MapLibre GL for his vector map example in the article above.
  • HeiGIT has an instance of overpass-turbo that defaults to using their Overpass server?  update: the instance is for internal use only

OSM in the media

  • Brian Sperlongano described StreetFerret, which uses OSM and Strava data to generate ‘activity completeness’ maps, often resulting in corrections to OSM. StreetFerret’s OSM-based progress tracker for ultra-runner Paul Johnson’s quest to run across the United States was recently featured on a Los Angeles TV news station.

Other “geo” things

  • Shaun McDonald raised concerns about proposed traffic solutions in the Ravenswood area of Ipswich, England. He suggests developing alternatives such as walking, cycling, and public transport.

Upcoming Events

Where What Online When Country
OSMF Membership Drive – March Volunteers Meetup 2024-03-09
Bologna Open Data Pax 2024 2024-03-09 flag
Intramuros #AlayData sa Intramuros Open Data Day 2024 2024-03-10 flag
København OSMmapperCPH 2024-03-10 flag
Zürich 161. OSM-Stammtisch 2024-03-11 flag
臺北市 OpenStreetMap x Wikidata Taipei #62 2024-03-11 flag
Rennes Cartopartie “Places PMR” du Master SIGAT 2024-03-12 flag
Salt Lake City OSM Utah Monthly Map Night 2024-03-13 flag
Berlin Missing Maps – DRK Online Mapathon 2024-03-12 flag
Hamburg Hamburger Mappertreffen 2024-03-12 flag
Plano Piloto Encontro OSM Brasil 2024-03-12 – 2024-03-13 flag
Autelbas OSM Belgium – Ardenne belge – Réunions des contributeurs 2024-03-12 flag
Potsdam Radnetz Brandenburg Mapping Abend #3 2024-03-13 flag
Lorain County OpenStreetMap Midwest Meetup 2024-03-14 flag
Berlin 189. Berlin-Brandenburg OpenStreetMap Stammtisch 2024-03-14 flag
Bochum Bochumer OSM-Treffen 2024-03-14 flag
München Münchner OSM-Treffen 2024-03-14 flag
Stainach-Pürgg 12. Österreichischer OSM-Stammtisch (online) 2024-03-14 flag
Hannover OSM-Stammtisch Hannover 2024-03-15 flag
Chemnitz Chemnitzer Linuxtage 2024-03-16 – 2024-03-17 flag
Perth Social Mapping Saturday: QEII 2024 2024-03-16 flag
Defence Colony Tehsil 6th OSM Delhi Mapping Party 2024-03-17 flag
England OSM UK Chat 2024-03-18 flag
Lyon Réunion du groupe local de Lyon 2024-03-19 flag
Strasbourg Apéro OpenStreetMap 2024-03-19 flag
Bonn 173. OSM-Stammtisch Bonn 2024-03-19 flag
San Jose South Bay Map Night 2024-03-20 flag
City of Edinburgh OSM Edinburgh pub meetup 2024-03-19 flag
Map-py Wednesday 2024-03-20
Karlsruhe Stammtisch Karlsruhe 2024-03-20 flag
Bremen Bremer Mappertreffen 2024-03-25 flag

Note:
If you like to see your event here, please put it into the OSM calendar. Only data which is there, will appear in weeklyOSM.

This weeklyOSM was produced by Elizabete, PierZen, SeverinGeo, Strubbl, TheSwavu, barefootstache, darkonus, derFred, renecha, rtnf.
We welcome link suggestions for the next issue via this form and look forward to your contributions.