Living Data 2025 is a major conference in the field of biodiversity informatics in Bogotá, Colombia, from 21-24 October 2025.

It will have a session dedicated particularly to Wikimedia projects: Wikimedia and Biodiversity Data: A Mutualistic Relationship in the Open Knowledge Ecosystem.

The conference is organized jointly by 4 different major organizations: GBIF, TDWG, GEO-BON and OBIS, and more than thousand in person participants are expected.

Wikimedia Session

The conference will have a session dedicated particularly to the interface between Wikimedia and biodiversity informatics. The session is organized by Tiago Lubiana, from Brazil, and Anabela Plos, from Argentina, and is expected to have around 10 presentations by speakers around the globe.

Overview

This session explores the intersection of Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Commons) with global biodiversity infrastructures like GBIF, iNaturalist, and the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL), emphasizing their alignment for data mobilization, standardization, and public engagement and knowledge dissemination.

Additionally, it will examine how the sociotechnical aspects of Wikimedia may support connecting specimen data, literature, and multimedia resources towards a linked biodiversity knowledge graph.

Through a combination of presentations and panels, we hope to discuss the interface of Wikimedia and Biodiversity Informatics, including:

Wikidata as a hub for persistent identifiers
The role of Wikipedia in biodiversity informatics technology and dissemination
Structured Data on Wikimedia Commons to represent details of biodiversity images
iNaturalist-Wikimedia roundtripping of images and articles
Wikibase & Wikidata for Digital Extended Specimen networks

This session will offer a space for discussing the links of biodiversity data with Wikimedia platforms, ensuring that biodiversity knowledge is openly available, structured, and widely accessible to researchers, policymakers, and the public.

Program

According to the preliminary program, our session will happen in the Valle room of the conference.

Date: Wednesday, October 22

Time: 10:45 AM - 12:45 PM (Bogotá) (your timezone)

We encourage all presenters to add slides to Zenodo or Wikimedia Commons, as well as add any additional information to the table below. Also, feel free to link your names to your usernames or personal websites!

We ask participants to aim for 7-8 minute talks, so we have around 2 minutes for questions.

Time	Title	Speaker	Affiliation	Link to slides	Extra information
10:45 AM	Introduction	Tiago + Anabela	BHL + GBIF Argentina
10:50 AM	Open knowledge for all: connecting initiatives with diverse audiences	Anabela
11:00 AM	Variety is the spice of life: Leveraging Wikidata for interoperable subspecies nutritional biodiversity data	Sarah Brinkley
11:10 AM	Wikibase to the rescue? Exploring the use of Wikibase to extend the Sherwin Carlquist Digital Extended Specimen Network	Jason Best	Botanical Research Institute of Texas
11:20 AM	From Specimens to Statements: Connecting Biodiversity Collections to the Linked Open Data Cloud with LUX and Wikidata	Gary Motz
11:30 AM	Botanical cross-border connections unveiled through linked data	Heimo Rainer
11:40 AM	Integrating research expedition data from the Biodiversity Heritage Library into the Wikiverse	Siobhan Leachman	Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand	Presentation slides	Wikidata:WikiProject Research Expeditions Recording of presentation
11:50 AM	Towards a Museum Knowledge Graph: Measuring the Impact of Linked Open Collection Data for the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin	Sabine von Mering	Museum für Naturkunde Berlin	Presentation slides
12:00 PM	Linking Biodiversity Literature and Data: Persistent Identifier Exchange Between BHL and Wikidata	Mike Lichtenberg	Biodiversity Heritage Library
12:10 PM	Using links from wikis to help discover content in the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL)	Roderic Page
12:20 PM	The impact of the BHL-Wiki working group in making biodiversity heritage knowledge accessible to all	Giovanna Fontenelle	Wikimedia Foundation	Presentation slides	BHL Meta-Wiki portal
12:30 PM	Discussion	everyone

The last session, discussion, will be a space open for questions/sharing on the projects as well as thinking future activities. Things we may do include:

Share fun/insightful personal stories in the Wikimedia ecosystem
Bring up the challenges in your past work with Wikimedia infrastructures
Have questions running for multiple presenters, in a round-table format.

Any other ideas are also welcome, feel free to add them above.

Participants

Add your name below if you intend to participate in Living Data 2025 and the Wikimedia session! If possible, add whether you plan on attending vitually or in-person:

TiagoLubiana (talk) 14:35, 25 June 2025 (UTC) (in person)
Jason_H_Best (in person)
Ambrosia10 (virtually)
Bienflorencia (in person)
Anabela Plos (in person)
Ainali (virtually)
GFontenelle (WMF) (in person)
S.v.Mering (in person)

External links

official website for the conference