Community Resources and Partnerships/India Rapid Project/Wiki Loves Folklore & Feminism and Folklore Activities in India 2025/Final Report
Application type: Standard application
Part 1: Project and impact
1. Describe the implemented activities and results achieved. Additionally, share which approaches were most effective in supporting you to achieve the results. (required)
This was a collaboration project with a diverse set of Wikimedia communities, including CPUG, and regional language communities (Hindi, Awadhi, Malayalam, Assamese, Tamil, Tulu, Bengali, and Kashmiri) across India supporting each other in organising the events as part of Wiki Loves Folklore & Feminism and Folklore campaign. By collabrating with a these group of experienced communities, we ensured effective implementation and captured valuable learnings for future scaling. At the national level a photographic campaign was organised for 2 months engaging photographers to document folk culture visually, contributing images, videos, and audio files under free licenses in Wikimedia Commons.
While the activities carried out by volunteers and language community leaders contributed to the overall objectives, the activities facilitated through this support were managed by the Wikimedians of Kerala User Group with vital support from the Sahya Digital Conservation Foundation and other communities/user groups from India.
Implemented Activities and Results:
Writing Contests: As part of the Feminism and Folklore international writing contest, edit-a-thons were organized across several local-language Wikipedias, including Assamese, Malayalam, Tulu, Bengali, Tamil, and Kashmiri. The Assamese Wikipedia recorded 23 participants who contributed 3,413 accepted articles, while the Bengali Wikipedia engaged 32 participants with 2,096 accepted articles. In Tamil Wikipedia 18 users have contributed around 720 articles during the campaign period. Other language communities also participated actively, making valuable contributions throughout the campaign period.
Workshops: Workshops were organized in Bengali, Malayalam, Tulu and Tamil language communities with a primary focus on article writing and folklore documentation. These sessions offered hands-on training, enabling participants to improve their editing skills while contributing to the documentation of cultural heritage in Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata. The workshops also served to increase community engagement and overall participation in the campaign.
The Bengali Wikipedia Workshop for Feminism and Folklore 2025 was held in March 2025 at Kolkata. Conducted in Bengali, the workshop introduced participants to Wikipedia, covering topics such as article structure, the UCoC, and hands-on editing. Nine participants attended, creating and improving eleven articles with infoboxes and references, and five later contributed to the Feminism and Folklore 2025 edit-a-thon. The event successfully built skills in research, writing, and digital literacy, with photos of the workshop uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. https://w.wiki/EVUa
The Wikimedians of Kerala organized a Wiki Loves Folklore Workshop at the Kerala Folklore Academy, Kannur. The workshop aimed to document and preserve Kerala’s rich cultural heritage through Wikimedia projects. The event combined training sessions on Wikimedia projects with hands-on documentation of Kerala’s cultural heritage. Participants engaged in activities such as uploading media to Commons, bulk uploads, a Theyyam data-a-thon. https://w.wiki/DPpe
The Tamil Wikimedia community actively participated in the Feminism and Folklore 2025 campaign, organizing a series of workshops and meetups to promote contributions on folk culture and feminism. Three in-person workshops were held in Madurai, Chennai, and Coimbatore, along with one online workshop and a hybrid feedback session, engaging more than 70 participants overall. These efforts led to 10 new active editors, 50+ new contributors, and 18 participants in the contest, resulting in the creation of 720+ articles. https://w.wiki/Fnqt
The Wikimedians of Kerala hosted a Wikimedia Folklore Workshop at the Kerala Museum, Kochi, as a follow-up to Wiki Loves Folklore 2025. Fourteen participants received hands-on training in using Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, adding structured data, and improving articles with media and citations. The workshop resulted in updates to 60 articles, nearly 4,000 edits, and enriched Wikidata items with images. Contributions also led to around 1.53k article views, showcasing the immediate impact of integrating cultural heritage content into Wikimedia projects. https://w.wiki/EVsQ
The Wiki Club SATI organized a 2 hours of Quality Images & Feminism and Folklore Workshop at February 2025 at SATI Vidisha which aimed to to equip participants with the necessary skills to contribute high-quality images for the WLF contest and understand the role of feminism in folklore documentation. https://w.wiki/DLo9
The Wiki Club SATI also organized a 2 hours of online workshop on February 2025 which aimed to introduce engineering students to the power of open-source and its role in preserving India's rich folklore and cultural heritage. https://w.wiki/FK29
Photowalks: Conducted in Chanderi, Bhopal, Kerala Folklore Museum (Thevara), Seven Sisters region, Kannur and Kasaragod, documenting live performances, cultural heritage, and folk spaces with images uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.
The Karavali Wikimedians User Group organized a special field day in Perla, Kasaragod to document Tulu’s Maayi month traditions, including the Madira and Kanyapu performances. The event brought together more than 40–50 artists and community members, with activities such as photography, videography, cultural documentation, and interactions with performers to understand the significance of these practices. https://w.wiki/Fnq$
The WLF India 2025 Photowalk was held on March in Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh, organized by Wiki Club SATI in collaboration with the Commons Photographers User Group. The event focused on documenting Chanderi’s cultural and feminist heritage as part of the global Wiki Loves Folklore campaign. 15 participants contributed photographs, which were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons to strengthen the representation of Chanderi’s heritage and enrich free knowledge resources. https://w.wiki/Ea9E
The Cultural Photowalk at Tribal Museum & IGRMS was organized by Wiki Club SATI on March 2025 in Bhopal, India. https://w.wiki/EhZn
The Wikimedians of Kerala User Group organized several photowalks at Kannur to document the Theyyam. Following up the workshop organised at Folklore academy a photo walk were also conducted. The participants actively explored the premises, capturing photographs and videos that showcased the institution’s cultural heritage, and traditional artifacts. As part of the post-workshop activities, another photowalk was organized to document the Kathivannur Veeran Theyyam. Participants captured the vibrant rituals, performances, and cultural elements associated with this traditional Theyyam. Organised another photo walk to capture the Kandanaar Keelan Theyyam. In addition to Kandanaar Keelan, the team also documented other prominent Theyyams such as Vayanattu Kulavan, Gulikan, and Vishnumurthy at Karakkeel Tharavadu. Participants photographed and recorded the vibrant performances, intricate costumes, and rituals that form an integral part of this Theyyam. As a result 4,430 files was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, making it a highly impactful contribution to preserving Kerala’s traditions on open platforms. https://w.wiki/Fnr8
The Wikimedians of Kerala User Group organized a photowalk at the Kerala Folklore Museum, Thevara. The event focused on documenting the museum’s vast collection of over 25,000 artifacts and architectural pieces that highlight South India’s cultural heritage. Three participants took part in the activity, contributing more than 150 images to Wikimedia Commons to help preserve and share Kerala’s artistic and historical legacy. https://w.wiki/FnrA
The Assamese Wikimedia Community organized an online photographic competition on Wikimedia Commons in March, complemented by independent photowalks across seven districts of Assam. Eleven participants documented the traditions of communities like the Bodo, Mising, and Ahom, along with heritage crafts such as bell metal work, terracotta, masks, and handlooms. The initiative resulted in the upload of 864 photographs, significantly enriching the documentation of Assam’s cultural heritage on Wikimedia Commons. https://w.wiki/EZcd
National level a photographic campaign: The 2025 edition of the international photographic campaign was also organised as part of this support. The contest invited participants to contribute photographs of Indian culture and folklore, ranging from festivals, dances, cuisine, clothing, and crafts to everyday traditions. The goal is to enrich Wikimedia projects with authentic visual content that illustrates the richness of human cultural diversity. The campaign was widely promoted through Commons pages, mailing lists, social media groups, and direct outreach to Wikimedia communities across India. This extensive engagement led to 371 uploaders contributing an impressive 30,412 files, significantly enriching Wikimedia Commons with authentic documentation of India’s diverse folklore and cultural heritage. https://w.wiki/CueU
Most Effective Approaches:
- Localized contests on regional Wikipedias helped mobilize diverse communities.
- Hands-on workshops enhanced skills and ensured higher-quality contributions.
- Photowalks and field documentation enriched Wikimedia Commons with authentic visual resources, complementing articles created during the contest.
2.1. Documentation of your impact. Please use space below to share links that help tell your story, impact, and evaluation. (required)
Share links to:
- Project page on Meta-Wiki or any other Wikimedia project
- Dashboards and tools that you used to track contributions
- Some photos or videos from your event. Remember to share access.
You can also share links to:
- Important social media posts
- Surveys and their results
- Infographics and sound files
- Examples of content edited on Wikimedia projects
As part of this pilot initiative, we collaborated with diverse Wikimedia communities, including CPUG and regional language groups across India, to ensure effective implementation and learning for future scaling. A two-month national photographic campaign engaged contributors to document folk culture through images, videos, and audio files under free licenses on Wikimedia Commons.
Our activities and impact from the Wiki Loves Folklore & Feminism and Folklore Activities in India 2025 are documented across Wikimedia platforms. Below are key links that showcase our story, outcomes, and evaluation:
Wiki Loves Folklore 2025 in India - photographic competition:
- The Wiki Loves Folklore 2025 in India competition on Wikimedia commons was run during 1st Feb to 31st Mar 2025. We have seen an incredible participation, with an astounding 30,448 files submitted by 371 uploaders during this period.
- The campaign was led by Wikimedians of Kerala UG and supported by Sahya Digital Conservation Foundation and various Wikimedia communities across India who organized events to encourage contributions from their regions.
- To ensure a fair and transparent selection of winners, an open call for jury members was announced and shared in India mailing list and social media groups. Selected members joined an onboarding call on 19 May 2025, after the detailed jury guidelines and access to the jury tool was shared with them. The evaluation was conducted in three stages: first-round screening, second-round shortlisting, and final evaluation. The jury members names and jury process were published once the results was announced. CampWiz NXT tool was used for the the evaluation purposes.
- Event Page - Commons:Wiki Loves Folklore 2025 in India
Photowalks, Workshops, and Field Activities Reports:
Feminism and Folklore Writing Contest
- Assamese, Malayalam, Tulu, Bengali, Tamil and Kashmiri language communities have organised Writing Contest on the their language wikis. Fountain tool and campwiz tool was used for the submitting the articles and evaluation by the jury members.
- The writing contest at Assamese Wikipedia was co-ordinated by Nayan Jyoti Nath and Dibya Dutta. 23 contributors submitted around 3446 articles and out of it 3413 articles got accepted. - Fountain link
- The writing contest at Malayalam Wikipedia was co-ordinated by Ranjithsiji. 4 contributorrs submitted 34 articles. - Fountain link
- The writing contest at Tulu Wikipedia was co-ordinated by Bharathesha Alasandemajalu. 5 contributors submitted around 156 articles and out of it 74 articles got accepted. - Fountain link
- The writing contest at Bengali Wikipedia was co-ordinated by Nettime Sujata. 32 contributors submitted around 2,175 articles and out of it 2,096 articles got accepted. 4 new contributors participated in this edit-a-athon. - Fountain link
- The writing contest at Kashmiri Wikipedia was co-ordinated by User:511KeV. 4 contributors submitted around 75 articles and out of it 75 articles got accepted. - Fountain link
- Workshops was organised in Bengali, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam and English languages by the communities.
- The summary of the workshop conducted is added to the answer to Q1.
- The list of workshop conducted by the communities are listed at this activities page with the links to the reports reported by the respective community members.
- Photo walks was conducted by Wiki Club SATI - CPUG at Chanderi and Tribal Museum & IGRM, Wikimedians of Kerala UG at Thevara and Kannur, Assamese Wikimedia Community at Seven Sisters region, and Karavali Wikimedians at Kasaragod, documenting live performances, cultural heritage, and folk spaces with images uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.
- The summary of the workshop conducted is answered to the question Q1.
- The list of photowalks conducted by the communities are listed at this activities page with the links to the reports reported by the respective community members.
- Uploaded Media on Commons:Category:Images from Wiki Loves Folklore 2025 in India
- [1]Impact Metrics: These media files got the monthly views of 206,594 in April, 217,124 in May, 251,270 in June and 256,923 in July 2025. Out of these images 323 images are being used in various wikimedia projects as of July 31st 2025. English, Malayalam, Assamese and Bengali wikipedia are top of these in terms of usage.
2.2. Additionally, share the materials and resources that you used in the implementation of your project. (required)
For example:
- Training materials and guides
- Presentations and slides
- Work processes and plans
- Any other materials your team has created or adapted and can be shared with others
- For the national level photographic competition we have created a page at Commons page which lists the criteria, scope and other relevant information for the participants.
- We have prepared and shared the Wiki Loves Folklore 2025's jury process in India - [2]
- A dedicated data page was created to document and list the events for helping the participants to add the media files easily. This resource provides a structured reference and can be reused by community members and organizers for future campaigns. [3]
3. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals. Required. Select one option per question. (required)
| A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups | Agree |
| B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community | Strongly agree |
| C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups | Strongly agree |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Strongly agree |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | Agree |
| F. Encourage the retention of organizers | Agree |
| G. Increased participants' feelings of belonging and connection to the movement | Strongly agree |
| F. Other (optional) |
Part 2: Learning
4. In your application, you outlined some learning questions. What did you learn from these learning questions when you implemented your project? How do you hope to use this learnings in the future? You can recall these learning questions below. (required)
You can recall these learning questions below: Through this pilot initiative, we aim to achieve several key learnings that will guide our future efforts and contribute to the broader Wikimedia movement. Specifically, we hope to learn the following:
- Community Engagement Strategies in India:
India is home to diverse cultures as well as language communities with unique cultural practices. By collaborating with community members, we aim to understand the most effective methods for engaging diverse groups and fostering active participation in Wikimedia projects. By connecting with individuals, groups, and organizations through this initiative, we hope to strengthen our network and create opportunities for future collaborations.
- Preservation Techniques for India’s Intangible Cultural Heritage:
India has an extensive repository of living cultural heritage, including oral traditions, folk music, regional festivals, and traditional art forms. We hope to learn best practices for documenting and preserving this heritage on Wikimedia platforms in a manner that respects local traditions and ensures ethical documentation of living heritage with accuracy and inclusivity.
- Sustainability of Engagement in Indian Communities:
Sustained engagement is crucial for long-term impact. We want to explore strategies that will ensure participants continue contributing to Wikimedia projects, such as capacity-building workshops and mentorship programs. We plan to get the feedback from the community and participants after the event.
- Engagement of Participants:
After the event, we plan to gather insights from communities and participants through surveys to evaluate their experience and identify areas for improvement. These surveys will focus on understanding participants' satisfaction with the event, the challenges they faced, and their overall takeaways. Specific feedback will be sought on aspects like event organization, accessibility of resources, and the support provided during the events.
- This was our first time organizing such a large-scale, multi-community coordinated event at the national level, and we approached it as a pilot project. A key focus was supporting local communities in organizing their own activities while minimizing the workload related to grant management and reporting. This approach allowed communities to focus on meaningful engagement and content creation, while we facilitated coordination, resources, and support. The experience provided valuable insights into scaling collaborative projects across India in the future.
- Collaborating with regional language communities (Hindi, Awadhi, Malayalam, Assamese, Tamil, Tulu, Bengali, and Kashmiri) were highly effective in fostering participation. Helping the existing community leaders and tailoring activities to regional contexts significantly increased engagement. This approach not only encouraged contributions but also built stronger networks across diverse Wikimedia communities.
- Through this project, we learned that localization and inclusivity are key to engaging communities in India. Each language and community group organised and led the activities to their needs and that significantly improved participation. Serveral micro events was organised as part of this support in many places in India. Building trust with local leaders and leveraging existing community networks also made engagement more sustainable.
- The campaign demonstrated that visual documentation of folk culture through photography and multimedia uploads is a practical entry point for communities to preserve living heritage. However, it also highlighted the importance of providing contributors with guidance on ethical documentation and accurate descriptions. Moving forward, we plan to develop structured documentation guidelines and training modules to ensure respectful and inclusive representation of cultural heritage.
- We learned that documenting intangible heritage requires sensitivity, accuracy, and collaboration. Folklore and feminist knowledge are often oral, community-led, and deeply embedded in traditions. We discovered that co-creating content with local practitioners, rather than just documenting them, helps ensure respectful and ethical representation. We plan to refine these techniques for broader Wikimedia projects, ensuring that living heritage is preserved in ways that value community voices and align with Wikimedia’s open knowledge principles.
- From organizing Wiki Loves Folklore and feminist-focused activities, we learned that short-term events alone don’t guarantee long-term participation. Sustained engagement happens when participants are given follow-up opportunities mentorship, peer-support networks, skill-building workshops, and recognition of their contributions.
- Post-event discussions revealed that participants valued the opportunity to share local stories but also faced challenges such as limited access, need for multilingual resources, and technical barriers in editing. These feedback emphasized the importance of accessible training materials, better event coordination, and clearer guidance during events. We will use these learnings to design more inclusive events offering multilingual support, simple onboarding resources, and a stronger feedback loop. This will help improve future campaigns and related initiatives, making them more participant-friendly and impactful.
5. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities? This can include both positive and negative situations. What did you learn from those experiences? (required)
During the implementation of our activities for Wiki Loves Folklore & Feminism and Folklore initiatives in India several unexpected and surprising situations emerged both positive and challenging, that provided valuable lessons for future projects.
Positive Surprises:
We observed that even when participant numbers were lower than initially expected, engagement and enthusiasm were remarkably high. For example, as shared by Nettime Sujata, although some workshops had fewer attendees than anticipated, those who participated were deeply committed and contributed actively throughout the sessions. Similarly, Nayan J Nath highlighted that during a photowalk, local residents became curious about our activities and gained awareness about Wikimedia projects, which led to spontaneous participation and discussions. Another remarkable outcome, shared by Neechalkaran, was that the campaign resulted in four new active contributors on Tamil Wikipedia, a development that exceeded our expectations.
Additionally, unexpected media attention created opportunities for wider impact. Bharathesha Alasandemajalu reported that when the team contacted local artists and performers, news media representatives also arrived. This allowed us to document a cultural performance that had been dormant for 18 years, reviving it for the first time in nearly two decades. The media independently documented the event, and we coordinated directly with them to ensure proper coverage and preservation of the material.
Challenges and Learning Experiences:
Organizing local offline events proved more complex than anticipated. As Ranjithsiji noted, documenting cultural performances involved logistical challenges, including changes in schedules, venue timings, and coordination with performers. These situations required flexibility, quick problem-solving, and strong communication within the documentation team.
Key Learnings:
From these experiences, we learned that the quality of engagement often matters more than quantity a smaller, motivated group can generate meaningful outcomes. We also learned the importance of adaptability and proactive coordination when working with local communities and live events, as unexpected changes can significantly impact planning. Finally, the positive outcomes, such as media coverage and new contributors, highlighted the potential of these initiatives to create lasting visibility and sustainable community involvement.
6. What is your plan to share your project learnings and results with other community members? If you have already done it, describe how. (required)
Each participating community actively shared the learnings within their local networks and broader audiences. Community members documented their activities, disseminated best practices, and encouraged new contributors, ensuring that insights from the pilot initiative reached multiple levels from local cultural groups to the larger Wikimedia movement.
Some of the learnings and outcomes of the activities was shared with the wider Wikimedia community through multiple platforms and events. The activities have been presented and discussed during the South Asia regional call, providing an opportunity for other community members in the region to learn from our experiences and ask questions. Additionally, updates and insights were shared during monthly Wikimedia user group calls, ensuring regular engagement and feedback from a broader audience. We also presented key outcomes at Wikimania, where we highlighted both the successes and challenges of organizing large-scale, multi-community coordinated events at a national level.
Through these platforms, we have shared practical learnings, such as effective community engagement strategies, methods for documenting folklore and feminist content ethically, and approaches to sustaining participation. These efforts have facilitated knowledge exchange, inspired other community members to organize similar initiatives in their regions, and strengthened collaboration across Wikimedia projects in India and the South Asia region.
Part 3: Metrics
7. Wikimedia Metrics results. (required)
In your application, you set some Wikimedia targets in numbers (Wikimedia metrics). In this section, you will describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used.
| Target | Results | Comments and tools used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 100 | 450 | Ptools, Petscan, Event pages, fountain tool |
| Number of editors | 50 | 86 | https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Folklore_%26_Feminism_and_Folklore_Activities_in_India_2025 |
| Number of organizers | 7 | 11 | https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Folklore_%26_Feminism_and_Folklore_Activities_in_India_2025 |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 100 | 5736 | 837 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 2000 | 30446 | 50000 |
| Wikidata | 25 | 50 | |
| Wiktionary | |||
| Wikisource | |||
| Wikimedia Incubator | |||
| Translatewiki | |||
| MediaWiki | |||
| Wikiquote | |||
| Wikivoyage | |||
| Wikibooks | |||
| Wikiversity | |||
| Wikinews | |||
| Wikispecies | |||
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
8. Other Metrics results.
In your proposal, you could also set Other Metrics targets. Please describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used if you set Other Metrics in your application.
| Other Metrics name | Metrics Description | Target | Result | Tools and comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Articles | Articles in Wikipedia | 100 | 6573 | https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aGX6LUj2Wnx4RPE8cB6m59QaE0aQwZjZDW2sNPwuNfk/edit?gid=0#gid=0 |
| Images | Images uploaded to Wikimedia Commom | 2000 | 30446 | https://ptools.toolforge.org/uploadersincat.php?category=Images+from+Wiki+Loves+Folklore+2025+in+India |
9. Did you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results? (required)
No
9.1. Please state what difficulties you had. How do you hope to overcome these challenges in the future? Do you have any recommendations for the Foundation to support you in addressing these challenges? (required)
Part 4: Financial reporting
[edit]10. State the total amount spent in your Indian Rupees. (required)
431016.48
11. State the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
4855
12. Report the funds spent in the currency of your fund. (required)
Provide the link to the financial report https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1c4eZuW14U8tgOaJLhoL8mU6rqmm7llK65k2YXnjZ-0k/edit?usp=sharing
12.1. If you have not already done so in your financial spending report, provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal. (optional)
13. Do you have any unspent funds from the project? (required)
Yes
13.1. Amount of unspent funds.
1283
13.2. Explain the reason for unspent funds.
The remaining ₹1,283.52 was left.
13.2. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
N/A
13.3. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
Will be utilize after dicussing with the PO
14. Are you in compliance with all applicable terms, laws and regulations as outlined in the project agreement? Yes
15. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here. (optional)