South Asia/Newsletter/May 2026
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WIKIDHARA
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Community Meetup Photo
Community Spotlight:Dhaka Wikimedia Meetup (May 2026) Sparks New Wiki Collaborations
The Dhaka Wikimedia Community, hosted its monthly meetup on 17 May 2026, at the Wikimedia Bangladesh office to discuss the future of Bangla Wikipedia and its sister projects. Thirteen local contributors gathered to plan upcoming workshops, map out community strategies, and explore GLAM partnerships to preserve regional heritage. Key discussions also focused on freedom of panorama rights and increasing collaboration with global Wikimedia communities. The event concluded with concrete action items for future public outreach initiatives and monthly gatherings.
The Dhaka Wikimedia Community is a regional volunteer group operating under Wikimedia Bangladesh, the local affiliate of the Wikimedia Foundation. Based in the capital, it serves as a collaborative hub for Wikipedians, photographers, and open-knowledge advocates. The community focuses on enriching Bangla Wikipedia and its sister projects through monthly meetups, editing workshops, and outreach programs. By collaborating with local cultural and educational institutions (GLAM), the group actively works to digitize, preserve, and freely share Bangladesh’s rich heritage with the world..
The Dhaka Wikimedia Community is a regional volunteer group operating under Wikimedia Bangladesh, the local affiliate of the Wikimedia Foundation. Based in the capital, it serves as a collaborative hub for Wikipedians, photographers, and open-knowledge advocates. The community focuses on enriching Bangla Wikipedia and its sister projects through monthly meetups, editing workshops, and outreach programs. By collaborating with local cultural and educational institutions (GLAM), the group actively works to digitize, preserve, and freely share Bangladesh’s rich heritage with the world..
Syheti Wikipedians at its 1st anniversary celebration
Sylheti Wikipedia:A Language Movement that Began a Decade Ago and is Now Thriving
Launched on 25 February 2025, Sylheti Wikipedia, which is written in the traditional Nagri script, completed its first year with 2,249 articles and around 50 contributors from home and abroad. The project, a decade in the making, celebrated its anniversary with a Wiki Meetup at RTM Al-Kabir Technical University in Sylhet, featuring discussions on language preservation and a hands-on editing workshop for new contributors. More than an encyclopaedia, it is widely regarded as a historic movement to preserve the Sylheti language and culture in the digital age.
Spoken by over 15 million people across Bangladesh, India, and the global diaspora, Sylheti is ranked among the world's 100 most spoken languages. Yet, it had long been absent from the digital knowledge space. The push for a Sylheti Wikipedia began as far back as June 2014, and after nearly a decade of community-driven effort, the Wikimedia Foundation officially approved the project on 14 February 2025. A defining feature of the project is its use of the Nagri script, the traditional writing system of Sylheti, preserving not just the language but its cultural identity.
Spoken by over 15 million people across Bangladesh, India, and the global diaspora, Sylheti is ranked among the world's 100 most spoken languages. Yet, it had long been absent from the digital knowledge space. The push for a Sylheti Wikipedia began as far back as June 2014, and after nearly a decade of community-driven effort, the Wikimedia Foundation officially approved the project on 14 February 2025. A defining feature of the project is its use of the Nagri script, the traditional writing system of Sylheti, preserving not just the language but its cultural identity.
WikiClub_Tech_Q1_2026_Presentation.png)
WikiClub Tech Q1 2026 Presentation
Road to Wiki: How WikiClub Tech India Trained 90+ Students Across 12 Universities to Contribute to the Wikimedia Technical Ecosystem
WikiClub Tech India, operating under The Open Knowledge Initiatives at IIIT Hyderabad, has completed Phase 1 of Road to Wiki Cohort 2, a structured program training university students from Tier-2 and Tier-3 Indian cities to become active MediaWiki and Wikimedia technical contributors. Over 10+ expert-led sessions featuring industry experts, 90+ students across 12 universities built foundational skills in Gerrit, Phabricator, MediaWiki architecture, and open source contribution norms.
OKI Summer Internship 2026 Abstract Theme
OKI-Summer Internship - 2026: Open Knowledge and Development of Indian Language Resources on Wikimedia Platforms
Open Knowledge Initiatives (OKI), IIIT Hyderabad is conducting a 45-day summer internship from 8 May 2026. The program commenced on the second week of May and will continue till third week of July. A total of 140 students from 14 languages of the country have been selected for the programme. All of them collborate on various Wikimedia projects and work directly through online training.
Under the supervision of mentors and subject matter experts, copyright-free books are uploaded, proofread, and published in Wikisource. Interns create new Wikidata items based on the information gathered and updating existing ones. Working with resources such as digital libraries and old books helps to enhance their skills. The endeavour will expand free knowledge and pave the way for more resources in the future.
Under the supervision of mentors and subject matter experts, copyright-free books are uploaded, proofread, and published in Wikisource. Interns create new Wikidata items based on the information gathered and updating existing ones. Working with resources such as digital libraries and old books helps to enhance their skills. The endeavour will expand free knowledge and pave the way for more resources in the future.
Train The Trainer 2026 (India)
Train The Trainer (TTT) is a dedicated program focused on equipping Wikimedian community leaders with advanced skills in leadership, technical tools, and community growth. The event will take place in the second week of July. The team has mapped out the first draft of the event's interactive sessions. Following a thorough review by our three volunteer committee members, scholarship selections will would have been shared out by 8 June.
TTT 2026 aims to:
- Strengthen leadership within Wikimedia communities
- Support contributors in becoming effective trainers and facilitators
- Enable participants to respond to evolving movement and community needs
- Encourage collaboration, critical thinking, and long-term engagement
WikiConference India 2026 Update
The organizing team is preparing to launch the Call for Program Proposals and Self-Funded participation applications for WikiConference India 2026. Community members, Wikimedia contributors, affiliates, partners, and knowledge enthusiasts are encouraged to start thinking about session ideas, presentations, workshops and discussions that align with the conference theme, Reimagining the Knowledge Commons - Community Leadership in an Evolving Wikimedia Ecosystem.
Detailed application guidelines, timelines, and submission processes will be announced shortly. For latest updates and announcements, please refer to the conference Meta page and relevant Wikimedia mailing lists.
Detailed application guidelines, timelines, and submission processes will be announced shortly. For latest updates and announcements, please refer to the conference Meta page and relevant Wikimedia mailing lists.
Yercaud Elango:A Man Who Uploaded 25,000 Photographs on Wikimedia
Yercaud Elango is a renowned Tamil science writer, rationalist, and retired Botanical Survey of India assistant who achieved a historic milestone by uploading and documenting over 25,000 public-domain photographs on Wikimedia Commons. Deeply rooted in the Yercaud hills of Tamil Nadu, his massive visual contribution primarily focuses on natural biodiversity, capturing more than 16,000 images of flora, fauna, insects, and ancient archaeological monuments, including over 200 rare and endangered plant species.
Clip2commons tool Logo
Clip2Commons Helps Contributors Bypass Video Upload Bottlenecks on Wikimedia Commons
Clip2Commons is a browser-based tool that enables direct video uploads to Wikimedia Commons without relying on server-side processing. It performs video conversion locally in the user's browser using WebCodecs before uploading through the MediaWiki API. The tool was recently shared with the global Wikimedia community and has received positive feedback from contributors facing repeated upload failures with existing workflows. It is now being prepared as a project for the Indic Wikimedia Hackathon 2026.
The tool addresses long-standing challenges with Video2Commons, where server queues and failures often delay uploads during campaigns and events. In recent community discussions, contributors highlighted how the tool helped them attempt uploads more smoothly, especially for smaller video files, and appreciated its simplicity and speed. Feedback from users across mailing lists, community calls, and talk pages has led to the creation of structured development tasks focusing on usability, multilingual support, and performance improvements. The tool is live on Toolforge and improving with feedback.
The tool addresses long-standing challenges with Video2Commons, where server queues and failures often delay uploads during campaigns and events. In recent community discussions, contributors highlighted how the tool helped them attempt uploads more smoothly, especially for smaller video files, and appreciated its simplicity and speed. Feedback from users across mailing lists, community calls, and talk pages has led to the creation of structured development tasks focusing on usability, multilingual support, and performance improvements. The tool is live on Toolforge and improving with feedback.
Screenshot of the WikiEval platform interface
WikiEval is Now Live:A Platform for Wikimedia Contest Management
WikiEval is a platform designed to support Wikimedia communities in organizing and managing contests, edit-a-thons, and content campaigns. It provides a structured workflow for contest creation, article submission, evaluation, scoring, feedback, and leaderboard management within a single platform. The tool aims to simplify contest administration, improve transparency in evaluations, and reduce manual effort for organizers and jury members. Community members are invited to explore the platform and share feedback with the team to guide future improvements.
Previously known as the WikiContest Tool, the platform has been renamed to WikiEval to better reflect its broader focus on article evaluation, contest management, and community-driven campaigns. WikiEval supports multiple user roles, including organizers, participants, jury members, and administrators, enabling structured workflows for Wikimedia contests. Feedback from Wikimedia communities will play an important role in shaping future development and feature enhancements.
Previously known as the WikiContest Tool, the platform has been renamed to WikiEval to better reflect its broader focus on article evaluation, contest management, and community-driven campaigns. WikiEval supports multiple user roles, including organizers, participants, jury members, and administrators, enabling structured workflows for Wikimedia contests. Feedback from Wikimedia communities will play an important role in shaping future development and feature enhancements.