Community Resources and Partnerships/India Rapid Project/First Tibetan Wiki Editathon and Proofreadathon
Applicant
[edit]- Main Wikimedia username. (required)
Kaldan007
- Organization
N/A
- If you are a group or organization leader, board member, president, executive director, or staff member at any Wikimedia group, affiliate, or Wikimedia Foundation, you are required to self-identify and present all roles. (required)
N/A
- Describe all relevant roles with the name of the group or organization and description of the role. (required)
N/A
Project
[edit]- 1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.
First Tibetan Wiki Editathon and Proofreadathon
- 2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.
2025-11-01 - 2026-03-31
- 4. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)
India
- 5. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign, project, or event? If so, please select the relevant project or campaign. (required)
Not applicable
- 6. What is the change you are trying to bring? What are the main challenges or problems you are trying to solve? Describe this change or challenges, as well as main approaches to achieve it. (required)
The change we are trying to bring is to make Tibetan Wikimedia projects more accessible, authentic, and engaging for Tibetan speakers—especially for the large community of monks, nuns, scholars, and laypeople. Tibetan speakers reside all over the world. For a start, we will focus on one of our core communities in India with plans to work in more geographies and across projects as we look to scale with time.
At the same time, we want to ensure that Tibetan knowledge—particularly Buddhist knowledge—becomes part of the global pool of trusted, open, and authentic resources. By improving localisation, expanding authentic Tibetan Buddhist sources on Wikisource, and growing the Tibetan-language knowledge base on Wikipedia, we aim to lower barriers for participation and create the conditions for a thriving Tibetan Wikimedia community.
The main challenges/problems are:
- Poor localisation: Many interface texts and community documents remain untranslated or poorly translated, making it difficult for native Tibetan speakers to contribute comfortably. This creates barriers to participation and often leads to confusion or misinterpretation.
- Lack of authentic sources on Wikisource: Although Tibetan Buddhist texts make up nearly 80% of the Tibetan literary corpus—and much of it is in the public domain—very little is available on Wikisource. This absence pushes contributors to rely on unauthentic or secondary sources, increasing the risk of factual errors.
- Sparse Tibetan Buddhist knowledge on Wikipedia: Despite its centrality to Tibetan culture, there are very few articles on Tibetan Buddhist topics. This gap means that the most accessible online knowledge base in Tibetan does not yet reflect the richness of Tibetan intellectual heritage.
- Challenges in the AI-driven world for low-resource languages: When people search for knowledge embedded in low-resource languages like Tibetan, they often encounter inauthentic or third-hand knowledge. We have noticed that popular AI search solutions, such as Perplexity, use Wikipedia and its sister projects to back their answers. This makes it even more urgent to strengthen Tibetan content on Wikimedia projects—so that answers provided to global audiences come from authentic, reliable sources.
The approaches/strategies we will adopt are:
- Strengthening localisation capacity: Organising collaborative localisation sprints with scholars and contributors to improve interface translation and community documents. This ensures the Wikimedia environment feels intuitive and welcoming for Tibetan speakers.
- Expanding authentic source access: Hosting proofreadathons on Wikisource focused on Tibetan Buddhist manuscripts, so that accurate, primary sources are open and accessible for both contributors and readers. For manuscripts, we will collaborate with Buddhist Digital Resource Center(BDRC) to source high-quality images from their archive.
- Building a Tibetan knowledge base: Running editathons on Wikipedia during major festivals to create and improve articles related to Tibetan Buddhism, ensuring that knowledge central to Tibetan culture becomes available in Tibetan.
- Cross-cultural collaboration: We believe Tibetan Buddhist literature, while rooted in Tibetan culture, belongs to the world. Sharing it openly is one of our key responsibilities. Recently, the Punjabi Wikimedians User Group Contact person (Nitesh Gill, who is also a part of the Open Knowledge Initiatives team) invited us to the Punjabi Wikimedians' Wikisource training to meet and collaborate with the Punjabi Wikimedia community. During which we learned that Punjabi contributors are eager to translate the Holiness the Dalai Lama’s books into Punjabi. They also encouraged us to translate Sikhism-related articles into Tibetan. This shows how Wikipedia serves not only as a tool to revive Tibetan literature but also as a bridge to evolve it through cross-cultural exchange and dialogue.
Why these approaches?
- The upcoming festivals (Kagyu, Sakya, Nyingma Monlams, and Kagyu Gunchoe) will bring together thousands of monks, nuns, and scholars from across the world, offering a unique chance to engage native speakers and domain experts in person.
- Editathons, proofreadathons, and localisation sprints are proven methods across Wikimedia communities worldwide to grow participation, train new editors, and build lasting content.
- Focusing on localisation addresses a root challenge: without an accessible interface and community resources, even interested Tibetan speakers face barriers to contribution.
- In the context of an AI-driven knowledge ecosystem, strengthening Tibetan Wikimedia projects ensures that global audiences get reliable, authentic answers when they encounter Tibetan knowledge.
The wider change:
If successful, this project will lower the barriers for Tibetan speakers to participate in Wikimedia projects, strengthen the authenticity and reliability of Tibetan-language knowledge online, and create momentum for sustained community growth. In the long term, Tibetan readers, students, and scholars will have access to accurate sources and articles in their own language, while the global public will benefit from authentic Tibetan Buddhist knowledge through Wikipedia and Wikisource. This project will not only preserve Tibetan cultural and intellectual heritage but also make it part of the shared human knowledge commons—alive, evolving, and accessible to all.
- 7. What are the planned activities? (required) Please provide a list of main activities. You can also add a link to the public page for your project where details about your project can be found. Alternatively, you can upload a timeline document. When the activities include partnerships, include details about your partners and planned partnerships.
Introductory Workshops (November 2025)
- In the first week of November, we will conduct a two-day program at Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro Institute (India)(1 day on Wikipedia and Wikisource basics, followed by 1 day of Wikipedia editathon).
- A similar two-day workshop will be organised at Palpung Dönnyi Norbui Gatsal University of Buddhist Sciences(India).
- In the second week of November, we will hold a one-day introductory workshop on Wikipedia and Wikisource at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (LTWA), followed by a one-day localization sprint to improve the Tibetan interface and community documents.
Editathons & Proofreadathons Linked to Major Buddhist Festivals (December 2025 – February 2026)
- To reach a wider community, we will host Wikipedia awareness-cum-editathon tea stalls during the large Buddhist prayer festivals in Bodh Gaya. Instead of a conventional event, participants will be invited to edit or create a Wikipedia article or proofread page on wikisource for 15 minutes in exchange for a free cup of tea or coffee. This innovative and interactive approach will lower barriers, create curiosity, and encourage first-time contributions.
- Planned tea stalls include:
- Kagyu Monlam (23 Dec – 3 Jan): One tea stall at Kagyu Monlam venue.
- Sakya Monlam (23 Dec – 3 Jan): One tea stall at Sakya Monlam venue.
- Nyingma Monlam (18 – 28 Jan): One tea stall at Nyigma Monlam venue.
Workshops during Kagyu Gunchoe (Jan–Feb 2026)
- During the Kagyu Gunchoe, a major gathering of Kagyu monastic institutions (6 Jan – 2 Feb 2026), we will organize:
- One-day introduction workshop on Wikipedia and Wikisource.
- One-day editathon and proofreadathon focusing on Tibetan manuscripts on Wikisource.
- Rapid Timeline.xlsx
- 8. Describe your team. Please provide their roles, Wikimedia Usernames and other details. (required) Include more details of the team, including their roles, usernames, Wikimedia group, and whether they are salaried, volunteers, consultants/contractors, etc.
In order to carry out this project, we have gathered a team of dedicated volunteers from the Tibetan Wikimedia community, following our discussions at the Village Pump. Below is our team and their respective roles:
- Tenzin Kaldan (Kaldan007) He will take the lead in preparing and managing the overall plan, including responsibility for the application itself. In addition, he will help coordinate two offline introductory workshops (two in India) and support one Wiki Edit Tea Stall.
- Tenzin Tsewang (Pecha-Tsewang) He will coordinate three offline introductory workshops and edit-a-thons in India, as well as manage the accounting for the project. He will also assist at one of the Wiki Edit Tea Stalls.
- Gade (Pecha-Gade) He will support the coordination of three offline introductory workshops and edit-a-thons in India and participate in one Wiki Edit Tea Stall.
- Choedup (Pecha-Choedup) He will coordinate three offline introductory workshops and edit-a-thons in India and contribute to one Wiki Edit Tea Stall.
- Ngawang Thrinley (Manjushrimitra)Having had project management experiences prior to volunteering with the Wikimedia movement, he will provide advisory support to the team as needed. He will also help at one offline introductory workshop.
- 9. Who are the target participants and from which community? How will you engage participants before and during the activities? How will you follow up with participants after the activities? (required)
Our main target participants are members of the Tibetan monastic community, as they have historically played a key role in preserving and using the Tibetan language and continue to do so today. We will reach out to the administrations of monasteries and institutes to seek permission and explain the value of Wikimedia projects by sharing examples of how they have supported other languages and religious communities.
To engage participants before the festival, we will conduct introductory workshops at selected institutes to serve as a “warm-up,” helping monks and nuns become familiar with Wikipedia, Wikisource, and the broader Wikimedia movement. During the festival in Bodh Gaya, we will run an awareness and edit-a-thon tea stall, which will serve as a space to introduce Wikimedia to a larger audience and provide hands-on editing experience.
We will follow up by announcing awards for the top three new Wikipedians to recognize their contributions after one month of each workshop and editathon and encourage sustained participation. To ensure long-term engagement, we plan to form small Wikimedia groups within their respective institutions, connect them with the larger Tibetan Wikimedia community, and involve them in future projects. This way, we aim to nurture a sustainable network of contributors dedicated to making Buddhist knowledge open and accessible.
- 9.1. If your project includes in-person activities, are there any international participants travelling to India for them? (required)
- Yes
- 9.1.1. List all countries of participation. (required)
Ngawang Thrinley (Manjushrimitra) from Taiwan
- 9.2. Will the project be transferring funds to any international participants? (required)
- No
- 9.2.1. List all international participants receiving funding and their countries. (required)
N/A
- 10. Does your project involve work with children or youth? (required)
- No
- 10.1. Please provide a link to your Youth Safety Policy. (required) If the proposal indicates direct contact with children or youth, you are required to outline compliance with international and local laws for working with children and youth, and provide a youth safety policy aligned with these laws. Read more here.
N/A
- 11. How did you discuss the idea of your project with your community members and/or any relevant groups? Please describe steps taken and provide links to any on-wiki community discussion(s) about the proposal. (required) You need to inform the community and/or group, discuss the project with them, and involve them in planning this proposal. You also need to align the activities with other projects happening in the planned area of implementation to ensure collaboration within the community.
I have written a post on village pump to discuss the project and received lots of support and volunteers who are ready to join me during that time frame.
- 12. Does your proposal aim to work to bridge any of the content knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Cultural background, ethnicity, religion, racial
- 13. Does your proposal include any of these areas or thematic focus? Select one option that most applies to your work. (required)
Culture, heritage or GLAM
- 14. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Ethnic/racial/religious or cultural background
- 15. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select one that most applies. (required)
Increase the Sustainability of Our Movement
Metrics
[edit]- 17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)
Through this project, we hope to learn how to better engage Tibetan-speaking communities in contributing to Wikimedia platforms, especially in contexts where technology and culture intersect. We want to gain experience in organising localisation sprints, editathons, and proofreadathons in a way that not only produces content but also builds lasting contributor capacity. We also hope to understand the challenges Tibetan speakers face when navigating Wikimedia interfaces, and how improved localisation and access to authentic sources can reduce those barriers. By working closely with monks, nuns, scholars, and young Tibetans during our workshops and editathons, We aim to learn effective strategies for collaboration, volunteer coordination, and sustaining long-term participation in Wikimedia projects. Ultimately, this project will teach me how to scale similar efforts in the future so that Tibetan knowledge and heritage can be preserved and shared more widely.
- 18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
| Other Metrics | Target | Optional description |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 500 | Workshop Attendance: The total number of participants from all workshops was 85.
Tea Stall Projection: We anticipate a daily attendance of 10-15 individuals per tea stall. With three stalls operating for a duration of 10 days, the total projected visitor count is between 300 and 450. |
| Number of editors | 300 | Workshop Attendance: The total number of participants from all workshops was 85.
Tea Stall Projection: We anticipate a daily conversion or return editors of 5-7 individuals per tea stall. With three stalls operating for a duration of 10 days, the total projected conversion or return editors count is between 150 and 220. |
| Number of organizers | 5 | Tenzin Kaldan (Kaldan007)
Tenzin Tsewang (Pecha-Tsewang) Gade (Pecha-Gade) Choedup (Pecha-Choedup) Ngawang Thrinley (Manjushrimitra) |
| Wikimedia project | Number of content created or improved |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 460 |
| Wikimedia Commons | |
| Wikidata | |
| Wiktionary | |
| Wikisource | 1200 |
| Wikimedia Incubator | |
| Translatewiki | |
| MediaWiki | |
| Wikiquote | |
| Wikivoyage | |
| Wikibooks | |
| Wikiversity | |
| Wikinews | |
| Wikispecies | |
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
- Optional description for content contributions.
Content Creation on wikipedia: A total of 460 new articles are expected.
From Workshops: 160 articles are projected from the four workshops, based on an output of two articles per participant.
From Tea Stalls: 300 articles are projected from the three tea stall locations, based on a target of 10 articles per stall per day over a 10-day period.
Quality Improvement (Proofreading on wikisource): The proofreading target is 1,200 pages, to be completed at the three tea stalls over the 10 days (averaging 40 pages per stall, per day).
- 19. Do you have any other project targets in numbers (metrics)? (optional)
No
| Main Open Metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
- 20. What tools would you use to measure each metrics? Please refer to the guide for a list of tools. You can also write that you are not sure and need support. (required)
For a start, we hope to set up a simple Tibetan Buddhism Project Page on meta for better visibility and connection within the movement. While we are still figuring out how the project metapage could look, we know there are already plenty of samples to learn from:
[1] (sample project page); [2] (sample project page);
[3] (sample affiliate page)
On tools, we look to learn and apply the Programs and Events Dashboard where possible and also supplement this with manual documentation (especially for activity/ participation at the tea stall).
Online learning resources:
While the above online resources may be useful for self-paced learning, we also are aware that any onsite/in-person peer learning opportunities will be really supportive for the team. In this regard, we were also able to connect with Ms Nitesh Gill from Open Knowledge Initiative(OKI) at Wikimania 2025 (Nairobi). She mentioned that we could attend the Train the Trainer sessions conducted by Open Knowledge Initiative(if selected) soon in October 2025.
Budget
[edit]- 21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)
- 22. What is the amount you are requesting for this proposal? Please provide the amount in Indian Rupees. (required)
432000 INR
- 22.1. Convert the amount requested into USD using the Oanda converter. This is done to help you assess the USD equivalent of the requested amount. Your request should be between 500 - 5,000 USD. (required)
4911.83 USD
- By submitting this proposal request you agree with the Institutional Partner Privacy Policy, Application Privacy Statements, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.
Yes
This is an automatically generated Meta-Wiki page. The page was copied from Fluxx, the web service of Wikimedia Foundation Funds, where the user has submitted their application. Please do not make any changes to this page because all changes will be removed after the next update. Use the discussion page for your feedback. The page was created by CR-FluxxBot.