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This page is about the 2026 event held alongside Wikimania 2026. For the Saturday public programme, see wikifringe.com.

Wiki Fringe
Wiki Fringe
2026 · Paris
Status Completed
Genre Unconference, fringe festival
Dates 21 to 25 July 2026
Frequency Inaugural
Venue Near Wikimania 2026
Location Paris, France
Participants you
Selection Unjuried, no programme committee
Related
Parent event Wikimania 2026
Precedent Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Website wikifringe.com

Wiki Fringe is an unjuried gathering held in Paris from 21 to 25 July 2026, alongside Wikimania 2026. It takes its name and its operating principle from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, whose defining characteristic since 1947 has been open access: any participant who arrives may take part, without selection.

There is no programme committee and no call for papers. The agenda is proposed by whoever turns up, in the manner of an unconference. Register online for further details. You can propose a session when you register or starting Wednesday afternoon at the event. Come spend time with artists, game designers, photographers, educators and agent trainers; or bring your own art and games to project and work on with others.

The week has three parts: an open floor running Wednesday to Friday, a social Friday evening, and a public interest day on the Saturday.

Fringe

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/frɪn(d)ʒ/ · noun

From Old French frenge, from Vulgar Latin *frimbia, a metathesis of Latin fimbria ("threads, shreds, border").

1. (textiles)
A border of threads on a cloth, sometimes hung loose at the hem, sometimes sewn into the lining, along the inside of the garment, where it is not seen.
2. (general)
The outer edge of a thing; the part furthest from the centre, where it meets everything else.
3. (performing arts)
An unjuried festival held alongside an official one, open to all who come. First used of the eight companies who arrived uninvited at Edinburgh, 1947; now the third-largest ticketed event on earth. The name has since been borrowed by Adelaide, Vancouver, Dublin, and others, as shorthand for open access.
4. (this event)
Five days in Paris at an unconference.

Background

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In 1947, eight theatre companies showed up uninvited at the edge of Edinburgh's official festival. No one had chosen them. They performed anyway.

That was the first fringe, and today it is the third-largest ticketed event on earth, behind only the Olympics and the World Cup, selling upward of 2.5 million tickets a year. It runs on one rule: unjuried. No committee decides who is worthy. Anyone may take part. Worth is proven by showing up, not by being selected.

That rule is the wiki principle carried over, the same bet that a page anyone can edit beats one a gatekeeper approves. So there is no contradiction in giving a fringe a home. Edinburgh only became powerful once someone provided the shared infrastructure to hold it all: a map, a common box office, a co-operative spirit. The room is the gift. A fringe is the structure that holds space open instead of filling it.

Adelaide, Vancouver and Dublin all borrowed the name from the Edinburgh Fringe. Fringe already travels, as shorthand for open access and alive.

Concept

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The event is addressed to the long tail of the open knowledge and open source movements: people maintaining small tools, datasets and projects independently. That work is numerous and dispersed, and has no regular occasion at which it can find itself.

What happens during the week belongs to the people who make it. Notes, sessions and whatever else surfaces are kept openly, so the week leaves a record rather than evaporating.

2026 programme

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Entry to the fringe floor is open to any Wikimania badge-holder. Saturday is open to the general public.

Most of the schedule is deliberately unallocated. Edit the schedule on site to add new sessions. Blocks below exist to hold time, not to fill it; a few exceptions where we are constrained by when external guests can join.

Provisional programme, Wiki Fringe 2026
Day Date Daytime Evening
Tuesday 21 July Wiki AI pre-conference, see their programme Demos + lightning talks 17:45 to 19:00
Wednesday 22 July Open floor 09:00 to 18:00 Lightning talks 13:00 to 13:30
Thursday 23 July Open floor 09:00 to 17:00 WikiGameJam 19:00 to late
Friday 24 July Open floor 09:00 to 17:00 Wikipedia@25 party 18:00 to late
Saturday 25 July Public Interest Day, open to the public

Lightning talks

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On Tuesday, play with tools mentioned during the wiki AI preconference. On Wednesday, share your own ideas with a 2-minute lightning talk to kick off the unconference. Each morning we will also add a session 09:30-10:00 for new lightning talks, to help people find collaborators to work with that day.

WikiGameJam

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Thursday evening starting at 19:00: Build something with Wikimedia data, or about it, or against it! Look at PlayWiki.Games for inspiration.

Friday social

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Come relax after a long week ;) We will have music, food, drinks, and visuals.

Public interest day

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Saturday, open to any visitor: in the spirit of a World's Fair — an open workshop on how we can connect with the public, in public spaces. How can we integrate wiki experiments into public venues dedicated to knowledge, art, and science and technology?

Rough schedule

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Tuesday July 21

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Wednesday July 22

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0900 : Setup coffee, extra strong ;) Migrating some materials from the preconf. 1000-1800 : Fringe opens
1000 - 1200 : Lessons in using makerspace tools -- 3D printing, laser-cutting
Set up tables for the week: Offline libraries (IIAB, Farm Box, &c);
Set up interactive art exhibit + projection
1300 : Opening circle for the unconference : intro to the editable board
1400 : Update on MCP and the Wikidata Embedding Project (Selene, WMDE)
Throughout the day: ~ Intro to APIs (incl. WM Enterprise) and tools ~ Intro to HuggingFace (Apolinario) ~ Matchmaking, 1/3: Mapping current wikiverse projects & resources (Lane @ WME: ideas for a "Wiki AI Library") ~ Getting started with LiftWing Studio (Sucheta @ WMF)
1800 : Fringe closes for the day (party and enjoy the eve!)

Thursday, July 23

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0900 : Breakfast + coffee
1000-1800: Infrastructure topics: Shared compute, playgrounds, object stores. What core costs do we need to share? ~ What infrastructure should we build within the movement? (WMCH, WMDE, WMF - continuation of past work) ~ Ongoing: experiments with tools + playgrounds (reprise of sessions from the preconf day)
~ Intros to agent harnesses (SP42), agent skillsets, citation checkers, source finders, slop catchers, media generators ~ Matchmaking, 2/3: Mapping partners and supplies of expertise
Wiki AI Playground experiments: status + updates. Games experiments
1900-2200 : WikiGameJam and wiki game exploration

Fri, July 24

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0900 : Breakfast + coffee
1000 : Matchmaking / lightning pitches for sessions today
1015-1700 : Brainstorming, The next 25 years.
1030 : PolitiQL
1100 : Apertus – 1.5 release, use cases
All Day : Design brainstorm, stickers and poster printing
1200 : Universal offline libraries (IIAB / Farm Box)
1700 : Closing circle for the unconference
 
1900 – 2300: ✨AI COMMONS PARTY✨


Sat, July 25

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1000 : Public art + creation day: Things you can make and take home!
Use the maker space: print your own baby globe or wiki globe, as light, art piece or keychain
Matchmaking from the week: Public game to pair the best ideas with what they need for next steps.
Help get the best ideas turned into something ready for public display or production: posterized, specified, &c.
[ 11-1200 : Wiki AI Alliance (panel) ]
1430 : Harmonize results from the week w/ hacking space + team challenge outcomes. Where should they live long term? How do we keep cool tools available for public inference?
1530 : End of Fringe 🧶🐈 // Strike + pack up
[ 1730-1900 : Closing ceremony ]

Physical schedule photos

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Highlighted activities

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WikiGameJam

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WikiGameJam NYC 2025 participants
WikiAsteroids being played

WikiGameJam (see wikigamejam.org) is a series of events for Wikimedians, game developers, creatives, and friends to come together and create new wiki-powered games. WikiGameJams have so far been held in New York City and San Francisco, with more to come.

Wiki Fringe's Thursday-evening event will be a mini-WikiGameJam dedicated to exploring, playing, discussing, and creating new wiki games.

WikiGameJam links

Wikireceipt Machine

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~fjpaz-net's Wikireceipt machine is a physical interface which will be deployed at the event.

Attendees can use its receipt printer + barcode scanners to browse ~all of Wikipedia.

Prints of all lengths (see below) may be taken home, or left as contributions for others to encounter / browse with.

WikiPortraits Studio

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Need a headshot? WikiPortraits brought their lights to set up a studio. Beautiful blue background!

Taking part

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Role Description Sign-up
Attend Everyone should register!

Those without a Wikimania badge must register in advance to attend.

Register here
Propose a session Claim open spots on the board, move things around as needed On the day
Steward a shift Hold the space during an open shift wikifringe.com
Set up a demo or table Bring a project to show or let people try out or hack on during the week. Including favorite swag (we may be able to print some new ones on site). wikifringe.com
Demo on Saturday Show a project on Saturday; get interviewed for a Wiki Fringe podcast. wikifringe.com

AI at Wikimania 2026

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Other AI events around Wikimania 2026:

Discussion of AI Guidelines
(main)
Discussion of AI and GLAM
GLAM / Wiki conversations with national libraries, notes will be posted after
Agentic AI and GLAM: Saturday 14:30 in the main venue

Organisers

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The Wiki Fringe space is sponsored by Wikimedia CH, with additional support from AI Commons.

Organisers: Sj, Schiste, Madisen Taylor, Ilario Valdelli, Alek Tarkowski

Space stewards

To help, add yourself here or use the talk page.

See also

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