Are large language models widening the digital divide between majority and minority languages? Or can they be harnessed in preserving language diversity?

On Day 3 of Wikimania Paris, representatives of many different language and cultural communities shared their experiences in working within the Wikimedia movement.

Respect for indigenous communities

Erroneous information about indigenous languages and cultures can alienate potential contributors. During the keynote panel, Michelle Collipal, a member of the indigenous Mapuche community in Chile, shared how she has started to motivate Mapudungùn speakers and cultural authorities to engage with the Mapudungùn Wiki project. 

Moderator Dr Terri Janke underscored the importance of involving indigenous communities, respecting their knowledge as well as their right to self-determination. What this means in practice for wiki spaces is discussed in the white paper “CutureStrong Platforms: Setting the Standard at Wikimedia”.

Automating and improving translation

During “Language Diversity in the Digital Commons”, Pau Giner of the Wikimedia Foundation shared that the MinT (Machine in Translation) was designed from the start to support diverse language models. The platform currently supports 200 languages.

His ideas for the future include making Wikipedia articles more accessible on mobile phones, and to offer a collection of tools to help people create their first wiki, going beyond translation.

During the Q&A, Kepa Sarasola (User:karasola) of University of Basque reflected on the improvement of translation tools available since he started working on Basque Wikipedia in 2011. The tools, he said, had made it possible to grow minority language Wikipedias – while giving them the flexibility to choose which parts of articles to translate and where to start from scratch. The integration of AI tools has accelerated the process significantly.

Collaboration across communities

The need for collaboration across language communities was a recurring theme across multiple sessions. One example of a cross-border network is Linguatec-IA, an EU project for the digitization of languages in communities in the Pyrenees region, including Basque, Catalan, Occitan, and Aragonese.

David Castillo Parra of UNESCO discussed the launch of the New Commons Incubator for indigenous-led capacity building programs. Applications will be accepted for indigenous-led teams through 14 August.

The need for the Wikimedia movement to remain true to its mission – and to aligning on milestones that matter – was an inspiring message from Audrey Tang in “The State of Wikimedia & AI 2026”. “Don’t let it be a race…Wikipedia never tried to win. We tried to make sure there were many winners at any one time.”

As Jimmy Wales told Le Monde, “It’ll be all right. We’ll adapt, change, use AI in our own way. We’ll find a way.”

When people think about Wikimedia projects, most only know the world’s largest online encyclopedia, Wikipedia. Many do not know that Wikipedia has dozens of sister projects, including Wikimedia Commons, Wiktionary, Wikibooks, Wikisource, and Wikiquote. One of the lesser-known projects is Wikiquote. It is a collaborative project that collects and preserves notable quotations from famous people, films or series, fiction and non-fiction books, proverbs, and well-known sayings.

In Indonesia, Wikiquote is currently available in three languages, Sundanese, Banjar, and Gorontalo. In Wikimedia Bandung Community, we believe that community collaboration is essential to enriching Wikiquote’s content and introducing the project to more people. With this goal in mind, we launched WikiSuarana, a community initiative to enrich the Sundanese Wikiquote with quotations related to memorable events and popular trends from 2025.

Project outcomes

WikiSuarana project was carried out by four members of Wikimedia Bandung community: Hasnanf, Raflinoer32, Zulaihamaryam, and Sonofbrahma from March to May 2026. Together, we created 224 Wikiquote articles featuring quotations related to events that took place throughout 2025. Each team member contributed 56 articles to Sundanese Wikiquote.

In addition to our work on Wikiquote, we also contributed to Sundanese Wikipedia by creating 56 articles about notable events from 2025. We know that many Sundanese speakers still use Sundanese Wikipedia as a source of information. By enriching Wikipedia with these articles and linking them to the related Wikiquote pages, we make it easier for readers to discover and explore our collection of quotations on Sundanese Wikiquote.

Community outreach through training and meets up

Community outreach for Wikisuarana was carried out during the month of April 2026, consisting of a series of training and meet-up activities. As a warm-up activity, in the first week of April, we conducted a community meet-up to edit on Sundanese Wikipedia together focusing on creating new articles regarding remarkable events that happened throughout the year 2025 and the notable figures related to it. This event was attended by 13 participants, both online and offline, which created 14 new articles on Sundanese Wikipedia. By starting WikiSuarana with this thematic edit activity, it was expected to provide a thematic context regarding the purpose of this project, which is to document remarkable events and notable figures in Sundanese Wiki projects. Some of the articles that were the results of this event, for example Tambang Grasberg, Satelit Nusantara Lima, and Sri Rejeki Isman.

On April 18, the Asia-Africa Conference is annually commemorated in Bandung, since the city was the first host of the conference back then in 1955. On that day this year, we conducted a Wikiquote training activity partnering with an independent library in Bandung, which carried out the theme of anti-colonialism spirit. In this activity, we focused on training new contributors to edit and create new quotation articles on Sundanese Wikiquote regarding anti-colonial figures, anti-colonial literatures, and those related to the Asia-Africa Conference. The training was attended by 13 participants, which created 15 new articles. Hopefully, other than attracting new contributors, this event could be the beginning of a consistent effort to amplify and document the voice of anti-colonial figures through Sundanese Wikiquote. Some of the articles that were the results of this event, for example Behind The Scenes – Story of The Bandung Conference Committee, Teh dan Pengkhianat, and Leila Khaled.

The series of WikiSuarana was concluded with another community meet-up as a continuation of the prior training, which was focused to create and edit quotation articles on Sundanese Wikiquote regarding the theme of anti-colonialism and remarkable events that happened during the year 2025. This event was attended by 11 participants, both online and offline, which was also attended by some of the participants of the previous training event, and produced 14 new articles. Some of the articles that were the results of this event, for example Jawaharlal Nehru, Mohammad Yamin, and Ali Sastroamidjojo.

Lesson learned

Through WikiSuarana project, we all learned two valuable lessons:

The first is the importance of partnerships. As a local community, collaborating with organizations that share our mission is essential to promoting free knowledge, especially about the Sundanese language and culture. These partnerships help introduce Wikimedia projects and our community to a wider audience. During this project, we collaborated with an independent library in Bandung. In the future, we hope to work with more partners to organize Wikimedia activities such as workshops, research projects, and community meetups.

The second lesson is about promotion and outreach. In today’s digital world, many people get information through social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. Throughout the project, we created promotional content, from the project launch to activity announcements. However, we learned that relying on just one or two social media platforms is not enough. Recently, Threads has become increasingly popular, and one of our team members found that project posters shared there reached a wider audience and received positive engagement. Based on this experience, Wikimedia Bandung plans to use Threads alongside our other social media channels to promote future Wikimedia activities.

What’s next?

Documenting and amplifying the voices of the people who are part of history is a way to preserve our collective memory. By narrating them in their own voices, hopefully we can make sure that the history being told is honest-to-goodness. Through contributing it to Wiki projects, especially Sundanese Wikiquote, we also hope to be able to preserve them in our mother tongue.

Our plan forward is to keep documenting other voices that are still unheard while also promoting the sister projects of Wikipedia, which already has the Sundanese version, such as Wikiquote. We also plan to reach outward to other parts of West Java to attract many other contributors so that our community can keep growing while also adding much other knowledge to the Wiki projects itself.

Hatur nuhun!

I started working as a volunteer community manager for Wiki for Human Rights, Nigeria, in November 2025 with a focus on organizing trainings and retaining LGBTIQ+ Nigerian editors as active contributors to Wikimedia projects. Although I created my Wikimedia account on 1 March 2024, I did not understand how editing worked and never made any contributions after creating it. 

The same year, I attended a Wikimedia session on Queerpedia. As a writer who is passionate about volunteering, particularly in the open knowledge movement, I still left without knowing how to contribute. The session ended with participants creating accounts but without a practical understanding of how Wikimedia actually worked. This is something I have observed among newcomers: navigating Wikipedia, the most well-known Wikimedia project, can be a daunting experience.

That changed when I attended Wiki Loves Pride 2025, held on 29 June. It was my first in-person Wikimedia event, and with my laptop beside me, everything about contributing to Wikipedia suddenly became much clearer. Through editing Wikipedia, I also discovered the wider Wikimedia ecosystem and its sister projects. Even after the training, I still encountered a few challenges, particularly with adding awards, information tables, and infoboxes. However, through conversations on WhatsApp with the Wikimedia Nigeria Project Officer, Ayokanmi Oyeyemi (user: Kaizenify), who facilitated the training, as well as guidance from Wikipedia help pages and Wikimedia Commons documentation, I was able to overcome those challenges.

Since assuming the role of Community Manager and Project Officer for Wiki for Human Rights, Nigeria, I organised monthly virtual and physical training sessions aimed at improving editor retention. Organising both the physical and virtual Wiki Loves Pride campaign this June felt like a full-circle moment; déjà vu. It also became an opportunity to reflect on the learning experiences from reviewing participants’ contributions and identifying areas where new editors commonly struggled. 

Since becoming an active Wikimedia contributor in July 2025, I have made more than 3,000 edits across Wikimedia projects, with a primary focus on LGBTIQ+ and Nigerian topics. Beyond editing, I have also taken on leadership positions, including serving as a committee member for the Nigerian National Funding program and as a core organizing member for Queering Wiki, scheduled to take place later this year in Canada.

Alongside the online Wiki Loves Pride campaign, we partnered with the Centre for Population Health Initiatives (CPHI),  a health organization that serves both the general population and minority communities, to host Wiki Loves Pride. The program combined a Pride celebration with Wikimedia training for both experienced and new editors. It also marked the first time I independently facilitated an entire Wikimedia training session from the beginning to the end: account creation, making edits, and introducing participants to the broader Wikimedia ecosystem.

As someone who has always dreaded public speaking because of a minor speech impediment, becoming part of the Wikimedia movement as a community leader has helped me grow tremendously. Standing in front of more than 15 participants and leading a session on documenting queer knowledge, I did not freeze or lose confidence. Community advocacy for LGBTIQ+ people in Nigeria has always required me to speak publicly from time to time, but Wikimedia has made it a consistent part of my work through monthly virtual and physical trainings. It has taught me that confidence in public speaking is often built through practice, and that many of the fears we carry can gradually be overcome through repeated experience.

How can the Wikimedia community defend freedom, equity, and reliability on the internet? Are we in a global information crisis?

Several sessions on Day 2 of Wikimania Paris explored these questions from different angles. The morning kicked off with breakout sessions on how global trends are impacting government regulation – with attendees joining Wikimedia Foundation board members in small group discussions. Protecting free knowledge was a core theme throughout the day.

Misinformation on climate change

During the 2025 Iberian peninsula blackout, misinformation was spread that the main cause was renewable energy. In “Climate Conversations: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Knowledge Sharing”, moderator Tatjana Baleta said that rapid response editing on Wikipedia was one way that the scientific community combats misinformation during extreme weather events and other major incidents.

Many readers have also shifted from reading about climate change to reading more about other issues such as the cost of living crisis. Dr. Femke Nijsse (User:Femke) discussed the importance of meeting readers where they are – and explaining the science related to these issues.

While AI-generated content may have the sheen of reliability, it often turns out that the sources they cite are hallucinations or that they do not actually verify the claims made by the LLM. Editors on Wikipedia are now starting to use tools such as AI Source Verification (which itself uses LLMs) to predict the verifiability of claims made in a article.

AI crawlers: Encroaching on creativity?

“Collateral Damage? Human Creativity and Interaction in the AI Crawling Era” explored how organizations in the free knowledge ecosystem are responding to the massive increase in AI scrapers.

There was a consensus among panelists that attribution is a critical concern for authors. Creative Commons CEO Anna Turnadóttir and Monica Westin of Cambridge University Press discussed the need to educate authors about the benefits of open access models – while also acknowledging the need to experiment.

Mark Graham discussed how the Internet Archive is reaching out to news organizations to discuss alternatives to blocking the Wayback Machine, such as rate limiting and allowing access only for certain uses.

Striking a balance

Throughout the day, speakers debated the complexities of regulation – and how the rush to “do something” can backfire. Turndóttir said, “What used to be the internet handshake online is now the middle finger. And that sort of environment forces lawmakers to reach for blunt tools like regulation. The community needs to establish norms, but sometimes regulation does cause real harm.” 

The keynote session on “Protecting Free Knowledge – The New Battlegrounds of Digital Freedom”, Nnenna Nwakanma (from the internet) discussed the discourse around regulation – and how European approaches may not be applicable in Africa. Panelists during the session, including Axelle Lemaire, architect of the 2016 loi numerique, emphasized the need for balance in protecting openness and freedom online, while also protecting the privacy of individuals.

The conference is making waves in France with media coverage in 25 outlets – including La Croix‘s print edition, a Radio France podcast, and more.

Before joining the On‑Wiki Skills mentorship program, my engagement with Wikimedia projects was mostly as a reader. I was curious about open knowledge but unfamiliar with how data works or how contributors actively build and maintain Wikimedia projects.

Through the mentorship, I was introduced to Wikimedia as a collaborative ecosystem that offers structured ways of organizing and connecting knowledge. The learning curve was initially challenging especially understanding items, properties, statements, and references but with guidance from mentors and hands‑on practice, these concepts gradually became clearer.

Skill Acquired

During the training, I developed skills in sourcing and referencing information and understanding structured data. These experiences changed how I view knowledge creation and reinforced the idea that learning continues beyond formal lessons.

Some of my image uploads

Participating in practical exercises and guided contributions helped build my confidence and showed me that I could engage meaningfully with a global open‑knowledge communication.

My Gratitude

I am grateful to the Wikimedia community, mentors, and program organizers for their support and encouragement. Completing the mentorship marked a new beginning for me, and I look forward to continuing to explore and contribute to open knowledge

Commons Quality Images (COM:QI) was created during June 2006. The purpose of COM:QI was to identify high quality photographs taken by Wikimedians and made freely available to the community at large through Commons. As of 14 June 2026 over 450,000 media files, mostly photographs, have been recognised through this process. Alongside photographs, QI has Microscopic images, animated GIF’s, and graphical works including our own QI seal (pictured).

From the Beginning

In September 2005 Commons became live, just 6 months later I was encouraged over by User:Pfctdayelise who had been there from the first month. In June 2006 User:Pfctdayelise was searching to put together collections of images created by Commons users as rotating background images, or calendars to help promote the project. I tried to help, we could not even find a common subject matter consisting of reasonably sized and quality printable images. Wikimedia Commons had some great photos, some of which had been featured, but a substantial portion were images scraped from other sites like NASA and Flickr.

That started me thinking about how we raise the profile of community uploaded images and encourage efforts to improve them. Having already contributed to some Good Articles over on en.Wikipedia I thought we could create a similar project but for photographs.

Creating the project I saw some key necessities: it needed to be efficient with clear standards, while not taking weeks to decide the outcome. Most importantly it needed to focus only on images that had been taken by members of the Commons Community and that once recognised it could not be taken away. From there working with User:Wikimol and others we built the project. We also created image guidelines which would enable consistent reviewing of nominations.

The image guidelines started out as;

1. Photographic images
   1. Low resolution / thumbnail. Photographic QP has to have at least 1.92 megapixels (=1600×1200, for example)
   2. JPEG problems. Too much compressed, too low JPEG quality settings in camera / when saving. Visible jpeg artifacts. => Use better quality settings (e.g. set JPEG “superfine”, shoot RAW, save in photoshop with max. quality)
   3. Noise problems, too much noise. Be it chroma noise, luminance noise, visible grain, scratches in scans… QP should not have distracting amount of noise when viewed in 100%
   4. Bad exposure. Overexposure, blown out highlights, underexposure, shadows details replaced by jpeg maps… In incorrectly exposed images, significant details in a significant part are lost.
   5. Color problems. Bad white balance. Distracting (typically purple) hazing at 100%. Color aberration. QP must have reasonable colors (which does not necessarily mean natural colors).
   6. Improper or undefined focus, insufficient depth of field. QP should have clearly defined focus, e.g. main subject in focus, foreground and background out of focus. Or the whole scene in focus. Counterexample – main subject blurry, foreground even more blurry, focus is somewhere between main subject and background. DOF could be low on purpose.
   7. Blur. Images blurred just because of shaking hand or subject moving too fast. Motion blur in QP has to have purpose.
   8. Poor lighting. Including: distracting reflections (usual problem with built-in flash), unintended vignetting, distracting harsh shadows. Generally bad lighting makes scenes with space look flat.
   9. Overfiltered. There are so many PS/Gimp filters. Rarely a better image is created just by applying more and more filters…
   10. Bad or nonexistent composition, unclear or nonexistent subject. QP should have subject and composition of the image should support depiction of that subject, not distract from it.
   11. Bad perspective, tilt, and other distortions. An eye (or, more precisely, a brain) is a sensitive detector capable of spotting even a small tilt … falling trees, churches, inclined water surfaces,… Images of architecture should usually be rectilinear and without too much perspective distortion.
2. Stitched images, panoramas.
   1. Panoramatic QP has to have a height of 800px min.
   2. Stitching problems. Stitched images should be without artifacts, colors and lightness should be the same across the image.

All of these may look familiar to many of you as they are still present as Commons:Image guidelines, the very same guidelines that every WikiLoves or similar competition uses as their rules. 

Now we had a process with guides, we approached User:LadyofHats who was known for the drawings she was uploading at that time. LOH was asked to create a seal which we could use to help identify successful photos, that seal is the one we continue to use. Some time during this the QI seal itself got recognised as a Quality Image.

In those early months every image was reviewed and the pages manually updated, a time consuming process that would occasionally be interspersed with edit conflicts. The community embraced QI and a new project called Valued Image emerged for recognising sets of image rather than individual images. It was the efforts of User:Dschwen, who had also taken on maintenance tasks, decided to create a bot that would do most of the work for us. Mike Peel continues to maintain the QICbot and has been invaluable at keeping it working, as of 16 June 2026 QICbot has performed 922,000 edits looking after QI tasks.

QI grew fast once the QICbot came on board. I stepped into the background watching the community grow QI. Over time many contributors have made QI. Like User:Poco a poco who presented at Wikimania in London on how QI helped him improve his contributions. For the curious there is an opt-in unaudited list of QI by photographers. Whether it’s one successful image or 20,000 of them they all make QI what it is. 

The future

I think some of QI’s potential still hasn’t been realised. I saw it as a historical record of the growth of photography, of something researchers could look back over and see how it has matured. Perhaps more could be done to integrate QI images in content on other projects as they are recognised as our better works. Maybe a bot could triage nominations to identify the more regular issues that cause images to be rejected, though the human touch should always remain the final judge. 

In the future, QICbot will reach 1 million edits, QI will reach 500,000 very soon. QI carries within itself a lot of untapped potential. 

Could it be time to consider creating a sister project for Quality Videos? I know one thing: there will always be enough high quality images created by Wikimedians to make a calendar for any subject. The challenge will be in choosing just 12.

I would must take a moment to acknowledge everyone who has already helped Commons Quality Images along it’s 20 year journey there has been so many as well as everyone who joins the efforts in future. It’ll always be nice to reflect and be able to say I was able to open the door to something so special. The future of Quality Images is now a journey the Wikimedia Commons Community will decide. 

QI’s prosperity comes from the collective effort of everyone! Perhaps this will encourage you to join the QI club.

For 25 years, the Wikimedia movement has been constantly innovating to promote the values of free and universal sharing of all human knowledge for the benefit of humanity. In 2026, as we face the challenges of connectivity, misinformation, and the rise of AI, our ability to innovate collectively is more essential than ever.

To address these developments, we are introducing a new program focusing on Team Challenges in the lead-up to Wikimania. This year, we are inviting experts and newcomers to the Wikimedia community to join forces with participants in our Wikimania Hackathon. The idea is not to replace the hackathon format, but to offer a different approach. We want to bring together diverse perspectives and skills by pairing Wikimedians from all walks of life (not just developers!) with professionals from other fields. The goal is to share our best practices and design digital tools that are sustainable, inclusive, and accessible to all.

Next week, we are kicking off our first online orientation sessions training newcomers on wiki tools. In the coming weeks, they will form teams with Wikimedia community members to undertake one of the 2026 challenges. Stay tuned for further updates as the teams work together toward the Team Challenges showcase concurrent with Wikimania Paris. 

We can’t wait to see what the cross-pollination between different disciplines, perspectives, and skill sets will bring. Good luck to all!

10 challenges for maximum impact

The goal is simple: To turn the community’s needs into concrete solutions. We have selected 10 major technical challenges that address the complex issues encountered on a daily basis across Wikimedia projects. 

These challenges are based on the three pillars of Wikimania 2026:

• FREEDOM: Ensuring the interoperability of free software to facilitate its reuse and maintenance, and to guarantee its long-term viability.
• EQUITY: Promoting multilingualism. Designing tools capable of overcoming language barriers to bridge gaps in sources and contributions on a global scale.
• RELIABILITY: Developing AI-based detection tools to assist volunteer moderators in their work of verifying and protecting information.

Discover the 10 Challenges
	Fix the sources Automatically detect outdated, retracted or broken sources in articles, and facilitate their updating or archiving.
	Welcoming newcomers Reinvent how we onboard newcomers through chatbots, guided micro-edits, and gamification lower the barrier to entry on wikis.
	Update the obsolete Identify and flag outdated articles, obsolete illustrations and screenshots, and outdated graphics to: encourage the community to update them.
	Boost multimedia experience Enhance the audiovisual experience on wikis: playlists on Commons, a modernised video player, annotation of audio segments, and games focused on accents and pronunciations.
	Deciphering biases Develop tools to detect gender, geographic, and cultural biases in Wikimedia content to: encourage the community to correct them.
	Gamify knowledge Create serious games and playful experiences using Wikimedia data to: learn, contribute, and explore in new ways.
	Stream data with Wikidata Take advantage of Wikidata content to: generate lists, tables or up-to-date visualisations, semi-automatically, for other projects in the Wikimedia galaxy or further.
	The editor of the future Improve the editing experience: search & replace in the source editor, a standardized citation toolbar, a better visual table editor, and text alignment in VisualEditor to modernise and streamline contributions.
	Explore knowledge Design and experiment new ways of sharing knowledge, in interactive and visual ways…for the modern web!
	Connect multilingual knowledge Facilitate translation, the reuse of content across Wikimedia projects, and collaboration with other Open Source projects so that knowledge can flow freely in all languages.

For more information on the Team Challenges and how to participate, please visit the Team Challenges section of the Wikimania wiki. Please note that registration for the Team Challenges does not grant access to the rest of Wikimania.

Web accessibility is not merely a technical feature. It is a prerequisite for truly free knowledge. During the recent Wikimedia Hackathon 2026, held in Milan, we came together as a dedicated group hailing from Italy to confront a quiet yet persistent issue: the barriers that prevent visually-impaired individuals from fully engaging with Wikipedia and its sister projects.

Thus, Valcio, Daimona Eaytoy, and Piergiovanna Grossi (WMIT) led the unconference session “Wikipedia for Everyone: Closing the Accessibility Gap”, which served as both a wake-up call and a collaborative workshop. By examining how community-made templates and interface elements often fail our users, we aimed to transition from identifying problems to building sustainable solutions.

This is a short recap for those who missed it.

The Reality of the Digital Barrier

The session opened with a candid look at the current state of our interfaces. While MediaWiki provides a robust foundation, years of community-driven customisation have inadvertently introduced many accessibility violations. Key issues discussed included:

• Missing Alt-Text: Images essential for understanding content often lack descriptions or alternative text which is readable by screen readers, assistive technologies that read out graphic content to visually impaired users.
• The “HTML Wall”: Many tables and templates lack proper semantic markup, forcing text-to-speech tools to read out raw code rather than structured information.
• Contrast and Colour: Numerous gadgets and banners still fall short of the WCAG 2.2 AA (a web-accessibility standard) minimum contrast ratios, rendering them invisible to users with colour blindness or low vision.

Measuring Missing Alt-Text

The unconference session also sparked a small follow-up experiment. CristianCantoro set out to measure how widespread the issue of missing alt-text is on Italian Wikipedia and Lombard Wikipedia, combining the Wikipedia HTML dumps provided by Wikimedia Enterprise with the XML dumps published by the Wikimedia Foundation. The initial results confirm the scale of the challenge: more than 90% of images used in Italian and Lombard Wikipedia articles lack alternative text.

This is not an isolated finding. In 2023, a team of researchers from Stanford University and Google Research presented a cross-lingual analysis of image accessibility across 108 Wikipedia language editions finding that, on average, only around 10% of images had alt-text. This research was presented at the 2023 edition of the Wiki Workshop.

These numbers are a reminder that missing alt-text is still an open and large-scale challenge across languages. If we want Wikipedia to be truly open to everyone, we need better tools, workflows, and community practices to help editors add alt-text and meaningful descriptions to images.

From Discussion to Action: The MediaWiki Accessibility Checker

To move from awareness to action, one of the session participants — Super nabla from the Indic MediaWiki Developers User Group — built a concrete solution during the hackathon itself. The tool, available on Toolforge, assists editors and developers in meeting accessibility standards: the MediaWiki Accessibility Checker. Try it out: https://accessibility-checker.toolforge.org/

Built on the industry-standard axe-core engine and Playwright, the tool is specifically adapted for the MediaWiki ecosystem. It allows editors and developers to (i) perform deep audits (queryable both from the frontend interface as well as from a dedicated RESTful API) based on WCAG 2.2 AA (and other standards) on any wiki URL, including project pages; (ii) generate professional reports in multiple formats, including PDF and Wikitext for easy sharing on-wiki; (iii) utilise a modern interface designed with the Wikimedia Codex design system, ensuring a seamless experience for contributors.

This tool represents a small yet important step forward in democratising accessibility auditing, allowing gadget authors — even those without formal expertise — to identify and rectify errors before they impact our readers.

A Legacy of “Wikiricci” and Community Care

The roots of this technical collaboration extend back to 2018 at itWikiCon in Como (Italy), where the “Officina” (the Italian Wikipedia’s technical project) was honoured for its quiet, essential labour, carried out by the smanettoni (hackers) — the tinkerers and wizards who operate behind the scenes to ensure the platform’s gears continue to turn. This community recognition is personified by the Wikiriccio (wiki hedgehog), a physical trophy whose travel history has become something of a legendary saga within the Italian community. Traditionally held in rotation, after years of near-misses, it finally found its way to Daimona Eaytoy during this hackathon, reminding us that accessibility work is also about human connections and shared care.

For us, this light-hearted tradition and award serve as a reminder: behind every accessibility tool or interface fix is a human connection, a shared community-based vision and history, and a commitment to “making the shop run” for the benefit of all users.

Next Steps and Community Involvement

The hackathon session was only the beginning. The outcomes of our session are being synthesised into a formal proposal in the Italian Wikipedia and a Phabricator task to help standardise CSS custom properties and automated linting workflows.

Yet, technology alone cannot solve a cultural challenge. We invite all UI/UX designers, developers, and experienced wiki-editors to join the effort. Whether you are improving the alt text on a high-traffic policy page or helping modernise an old template, your contribution ensures that Wikipedia remains truly accessible, enabling everyone to share in the sum of all knowledge.

A special thanks to the hackathon organisers and all the participants who shared their lived experiences; your insights are what drive these technical improvements forward.

The second cohort of the Africa Wiki Women (AWW) On-Wiki Skills Mentorship Program successfully concluded with a vibrant graduation ceremony celebrating the achievements, growth, and resilience of participants from across Africa. The event marked another major milestone in Africa Wiki Women’s ongoing commitment to empowering women and underrepresented communities through digital literacy, Wikimedia editing skills, mentorship, and leadership development.

About the On-Wiki Skills Mentorship Program

The On-Wiki Skills a 3 month mentorship program designed to equip emerging Wikimedians with practical knowledge and hands-on experience in navigating Wikimedia projects effectively. The program is facilitated through structured mentorship sessions, peer learning sessions , practical exercises, and community engagement activities. Additionally, the mentorship offers a safe learning space for women across the African region to collaborate, learn from each other and strengthen their bond in the wikimedia space creating a rich environment for peer learning, collaboration, and cross-cultural exchange. The second cohort graduated 20 women from 5 African countries, including: Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, DR Congo, Ghana, Madagascar, Nigeria, Republic of Congo,Tanzania and Togo.

To ensure effective mentoring, mentees were organized into Anglophone and Francophone cohorts, each supported by mentors who delivered sessions in their respective languages.

Throughout the program, participants received intensive training on key Wikimedia projects including Wikidata, Wikipedia, and Wikimedia Commons. The sessions covered topics such as:

• Wikidata principles, policies, item creation, and item improvement
• Wikipedia’s Five Pillars, article creation, and notability guidelines
• Wikimedia Commons policies, copyright and free licenses, media preparation and uploads, captions, descriptions, metadata, and responsible reuse of Commons content

A Journey of Learning and Transformation

Over the course of the mentorship cycle, participants showed strong commitment throughout the mentorship, consistently attending sessions, completing assignments, and contributing to Wikimedia projects growing from beginners into confident, independent editors.

Mentees contributed in various ways;including:

• Creating and improving 316 Wikipedia articles
• Uploading 50 media files to Wikimedia Commons
• Created 287 Wikidata items
• Participating in campaigns and edit-a-thons
• Learning effective research and sourcing techniques
• Becoming active contributors within Wikimedia communities

These accomplishments reflect the growing impact of mentorship-driven capacity building within the Wikimedia movement, and the Wikimedia Outreach Dashboard created for the mentorship program also provides a detailed record of mentees’ contributions and activities throughout the program.

Highlights from the Graduation Ceremony

The graduation ceremony served as both a celebration and a reflection on the achievements of the cohort. The event featured welcome remarks, mentor appreciations, mentee testimonials, presentations of achievements, and inspiring words from special guest Amanda Jurno.

Speakers commended participants for their resilience, commitment to learning, and willingness to contribute to open knowledge initiatives. Mentors were also recognized for dedicating their time, expertise, and encouragement toward nurturing the next generation of Wikimedians.

Some of the most memorable moments of the ceremony came from mentees sharing personal stories about how the program transformed their confidence, expanded their digital skills, and introduced them to global collaborative communities

Recognizing the Mentors and Organizing Team

The success of the second cohort would not have been possible without the dedication of the guidance of mentors, facilitators, and the organizing team who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure a smooth and impactful learning experience.

Anglophone Mentors

• Chidi Chinonso – Wikidata Mentor
• Muib Shefiu – Wikipedia Mentor
• Baluku Brian – Wikimedia Commons Mentor

Francophone Mentors

• Konan N’Da N’Dri – French Wikipedia Mentor
• Alexandra Tchuileu – French Wikidata Mentor
• Abdel KARIM – French Wikimedia Commons Mentor

In the last month of the program, participants were introduced to Wikimedia Diff, with the session facilitated by Andikan Eduok.

The organizing team and AWW management played a vital role in ensuring the success of the program. Special appreciation goes to:

• Ruby D-Brown , Bukola James, Pellagia Njau
• Coordinating team: Blessing Ojewuyi Timothy, Andikan Eduok, Adel Bigata, Mammysou17, and the AWW Communications department headed by Pascaline and Adeyinka. Their commitment to mentorship, knowledge sharing helped mentees remain motivated and supported throughout the program.

Looking Ahead

As the second cohort has graduated, the On-Wiki Skills Mentorship Programme continues to empower participants as active contributors and future leaders in the Wikimedia movement. Africa Wiki Women remains committed to creating inclusive spaces where women and marginalized communities can build digital skills and contribute to free knowledge. Congratulations to all graduates for their growth and impact. Follow us on all social media handles at Africa wiki women and stay tuned for the announcement of the next cohort. Be a registered member today and be part of the vibrant community.

There was a time when Wikipedia was the go-to source for information and one of the most trusted tools for research across the world. From students and journalists to researchers and everyday internet users, millions relied on the platform for quick and accessible knowledge. However, as technology continues to evolve, the way people consume information has also changed.

Today, Wikipedia faces growing competition from emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and social media platforms, which now shape how many people search for and engage with information online. As a result, the platform has experienced a decline in page views over the years, raising important questions about its future relevance and visibility in the digital age.

To address these concerns, about 100 Wikimedian affiliates, volunteers, and external experts gathered in Frankfurt am Main from 30 January to 1 February 2026, for the Wikimedia Futures Lab event organised by the Wikimedia movement. The Futures Lab serves as a space for research, experimentation, and forward-thinking conversations on the future of free knowledge.

At a time when technology is rapidly transforming the internet and information-sharing, the event provided an opportunity for participants to reflect on how Wikipedia can continue to remain relevant, visible, and trusted in an increasingly digital and AI-driven world.

From the attendees

The conversations and ideas shared during the event formed the AWW Voices Podcast episode “Can Wikipedia Evolve with the Digital Age?”. In this episode, host Oluwapelumi Aina joined by Ruby D Brown, Co-Founder of African Wiki Women, Tochi Precious, Language Advocate and Co-Founder of the Igbo User Group, and Olubusola Afolabi, Community Engagement Lead at Free Knowledge Africa. 

Having attended the Wikimedia Futures Lab event, the guests shared their experiences, reflections, and key takeaways from the discussions held in Frankfurt. 

“The world around us is changing really fast. When you think about how people trust information online, AI-generated media, new laws, and shifting technologies, it becomes important to understand how these trends affect us as the Wikimedia community,” says Tochi.

Wikipedia vs Digital Age

Despite technological advancement, Wikipedia, once regarded as one of the most trusted digital information platforms, has seen a decline in page views since 2016 as more people turn to AI tools for information. However, it is important to recognise that many AI systems are trained using content from platforms like Wikipedia.

“For example, when you search for something on Google, the AI overview provides a summary alongside references. Very few people actually click on the Wikipedia link for the longer version. This shows that people are still consuming Wikipedia content, but AI tools now act as middlemen,” explains Olubusola.

According to her, this shift means Wikipedia can no longer rely solely on users visiting the platform directly. Instead, it must adapt to changing online habits and find ways to bring information closer to the spaces where audiences already spend their time.

She adds that Wikipedia must adapt by meeting audiences where they already are, bringing information directly to the platforms people use instead of expecting them to always visit the main website.

The solution

The rise of AI and social media has also changed how people consume information. Many users now prefer short-form content over long-form reading because of shrinking attention spans. Since Wikipedia is traditionally a long-form platform, there is growing pressure for it to evolve alongside these changing habits.

For many younger internet users, information is no longer consumed through lengthy articles alone. Videos, creators, podcasts, and short-form explainers are increasingly becoming the preferred way to learn and engage online.

“People are moving away from institution-based information and increasingly relying on personalities. They want direct interaction, and video content makes information easier to consume. As Wikimedia, we need to pay attention to these shifts so we can meet people where they are,” says Ruby.

The Dilemma

Wikimedia exists because of the volunteers who edit and write the content on the platform. While keeping up with technological change is necessary, the movement also faces the challenge of ensuring that technology does not overshadow the human element that has always been at the centre of Wikimedia projects.

As conversations around AI continue to grow, many community members believe the focus should remain on supporting contributors rather than replacing them.

Last year, the Wikimedian community launched its AI Strategy, which clearly showed that AI should not replace the human writers and editors but rather support their work.