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LDH Tibetan Community Mentorship (2025–2026)

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This is the central documentation page for the mentorship relationship between the Tibetan Wikimedia community and the Wikimedia Language Diversity Hub (LDH).

Overview

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  • Mentored Language: Tibetan (བོད་ཡིག / bo)
  • Mentorship Start Date: December 2025
  • LDH Mentor(s): Tochiprecious & Jon Harald
  • Primary Community Contacts: Tsewang Jamling, Kaldan, Gade
  • Community Page:
  • Related Projects:
  • Wikipedia: [bo.wikipedia.org]
  • Wikisource (Incubator):

Community Assessment Summary

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(Based on initial diagnostic call with the community)

Current Status & Strengths

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  • Active Contributors: ~61 active users on Wikipedia, ~25 organized community members.
  • Recent Output: Added 1,229 articles in Wikipedia, proofread **700+ pages** in Wikisource, appointed **4 new admins**.
  • Strong Organization: Clear project management focused on the preservation of Tibetan Buddhist manuscripts and wisdom. Active Telegram (15) and WhatsApp (73) groups.
  • Clear Vision: Community has defined **"4 EPICS"** as their annual goals.
  • External Partnerships: Connections with institutions like OpenPecha and BDRC.

Primary Goals ("The 4 EPICS")

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  • Wikipedia: Create quality articles with proper infoboxes, pictures, and structure.
  • Wikisource: Achieve high-quality transclusion and secure a standalone domain (**bo.wikisource.org**).
  • Wikidata: Learn, integrate, and contribute to enrich linked open data for Tibetan cultural heritage.
  • Community Engagement & Outreach: Conduct workshops, edit-a-thons, and grant-funded activities to grow the contributor base.
  • Identified Challenges & Support Needs
  • Technical: Difficulty with template/infobox adaptation and creation (e.g., `Template:Infobox person`). Need for guidance on Wikisource technical setup and gadget usage.
  • Skill Development: Need to build internal technical capacity to sustain template and data work.
  • Process & Quality: Lack of labeling/categorization preventing "featured article" status. Desire to systematize outreach and training.
  • Resource Mobilization: Seeking grants to fund physical outreach, workshops, and proofreadathons.

Mentorship Action Plan

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  • Phase 1: Foundation & Technical Onboarding (Months 1-3)

Objective: Build internal technical capacity for Wikidata integration and template work.

Action Item Lead Status Notes / Deadline
Nominate Technical Learning Team Community Completed Identify 2–5 members interested in Wikidata/template work.
First Training: Wikidata & Data Boxes LDH Mentor + Community Completed Session on creating/adapting Wikidata-driven infoboxes.
Pilot Template Adaptation Community Tech Team + Mentor Completed Select and adapt one high-use infobox template (e.g., for a person or text).
Document Wikisource Domain Requirements LDH Mentor In progress Clarify steps and criteria for bo.wikisource.org approval.
  • Phase 2: Implementation & Quality Drive (Months 4-6)

Objective: Deploy new technical tools and focus on content quality systems.

  • Integrate data boxes into active article creation.
  • Conduct a "Featured Article" workshop.
  • Draft a partnership proposal for a joint project with an institution (e.g., BDRC, OpenPecha).
  • Apply for a micro-grant or rapid grant to support a proofreadathon.
  • Phase 3: Scaling & Sustainability (Months 7-12)

Objective: Secure domain goal, scale outreach, and document the model.

  • Finalize and submit domain request for Wikisource.
  • Execute a grant-funded outreach program.
  • Create a "Tibetan Community Playbook" documenting the mentorship model and technical processes.

Meeting Notes & Logs

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January 13 2025

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Initial Assessment & Planning: Discussed the community's strong university partnership and the critical challenge of volunteer retention. Agreed to prioritize building a systematic onboarding and engagement program to create sustainable activity beyond one-off events.

February 6 2025

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  • Strategic Focus: We will prioritize integrating Wikidata data boxes into the Tibetan Wikipedia to improve and future-proof your infoboxes. This approach allows for easier maintenance and automatic updates when data on Wikidata changes.
  • Capacity Building: The most sustainable path is for 2–5 interested community members to learn how to create, adapt, and maintain these Wikidata-driven templates. Interest and enthusiasm are the primary qualifications, technical expertise can be built together.
  • Documentation: We will use a Meta-Wiki page as our central hub to document progress, share resources, and plan training.


Action Items & Responsibilities

Share Resources & Meta Page. Meeting notes and the link to our shared Meta documentation page here.

  • Nominate Technical Learners - Tibetan Community: Please identify 2–5 members interested in this Wikidata/template work and share their names/usernames with us.
  • Update Meta Page -Tibetan Community (with mentor support): Please add a summary of today’s meeting and any future updates on the page. Jon and I will monitor and assist.
  • Investigate Wikisource Requirements - Jon and I will check the specific technical and content requirements for **bo.wikisource.org** approval and report back.

February 12, 2026 (after the 1st meeting)

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བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས། Tashi Delek! (greeting in Tibetan). I am one of the members of the Tibetan wikimedia community. Our community is grateful to be selected and exicited to indulge in the LDH Mentorship Program. We had the first group meeting on 6th February 2026 with Tochi Precious as mentioned above and we thank Tochi. The members who participated in the meeting are also the Nominated Technical Learners from our community.

We look forward for the next meeting. Tsewang Jamling (talk) 20:25, 11 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

February 13 2026

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Meeting Summary

  • Focus: Hands-on training on installing and using the Wikidata data box for Tibetan Wikipedia articles.
  • Key Points Discussed:
    • Jon demonstrated how the data box works, pulling information directly from Wikidata into Wikipedia articles to reduce manual maintenance and ensure consistency.
    • We explored both source editing and visual editor methods for adding the data box.
    • The group practiced editing Wikidata items for the Heart Sutra manuscript, adding Tibetan labels and descriptions.
    • We discussed the importance of translating both item labels AND property names for full multilingual functionality.
    • Jon addressed questions about resolving conflicting or incorrect entries in Wikidata.

Action Items

Action Item Lead Status Notes / Deadline
Divide Responsibilty Community In progress coordinate among yourselves to divide responsibility for translating the priority properties listed.
Wikidata & Data Boxes editing Task LDH Mentor + Community Not Started Notify Jon, who will verify and assist with any further integration needs..
Troubleshooting and Expansion Community Tech Team + Mentor Not Started Tsewang will notify when ready for troubleshooting and expanding use of the data box across more articles..
Continued Practice All community members In progress Continue hands-on practice by editing Wikidata items for Tibetan cultural and historical topics..
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Contact

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To support the Tibetan community please reachout to: 

Tibetan Wikimedia Community (telegram)
WhatsApp Group

Comments

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  • This page is maintained collaboratively by the Tibetan Community and the LDH team. Please feel free to add updates, notes, and reflections below.*
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