Wikimedia CEE Hub/Microgrants/Applications 2026/MG-10
statuspartially funded
Uzwiki Cross-Language Linking Drive
The main goal of the project is to encourage contributions to Wikidata, which remains underdeveloped in the Central Asian region.
targetWikipedia, Wikidata
proposed start date1 June
proposed end date30 June
budget (EUR)489.60 EUR (330 EUR funded)
grant typeaffiliate
applicant• Wikimedians of the Uzbek Language User Group
organization• Wikimedians of the Uzbek Language User Group
This is a generated Meta-Wiki page by the CEE Hub Staff. The page was copied from the specific Google Form, where grantees has submitted their application for the CEE Hub Microgrant programme. Please do not make any changes. Use the discussion page for your feedback.
Basic information
[edit | edit source]- You are applying as
- Wikimedia Affiliate
- Your name(s)/Organisation name
- Your username(s)
- What is your role in the movement?
- Editor, Founding member of organisation
- If you are a part of a WM community, please state its name here
- In addition to Wikimedians of the Uzbek Language User Group, I am a member of the Wikimedians of Turkic Languages User Group.
- Have you applied for any Wikimedia Foundation grant or any other grant before?
- Yes
- Name of your proposed microgrant project
- Uzwiki Cross-Language Linking Drive
- Proposed start date of the project
- 1 June 2026
- Proposed end date of the project
- 30 June 2026
- In which CEE country/ies will the project activities be implemented?
- Uzbekistan (as well as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan)
Project information
[edit | edit source]- What is the main goal of your project?
- The main goal of the project is to encourage contributions to Wikidata, which remains underdeveloped in the Central Asian region. A specific objective is to reduce the 12,600 or so articles on Uzbek Wikipedia that are not connected to other language editions (see the list here: https://uz.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkum:Vikipediya:Intervikisiz_maqolalar). A large share of these articles were imported from the National Encyclopedia of Uzbekistan and cover a wide range of topics, from animal species to historical figures.
- The project will help nurture a new cohort of Wikidata contributors while fostering cross-language collaboration. It will also reduce the number of duplicate articles and help prevent new duplicates from being created. This is essential in the age of AI, as these models heavily rely on Wikidata.
- Describe which activities you plan to implement
- We propose to organize a month-long edit-a-thon focused on linking Uzbek Wikipedia articles to relevant entries in other languages through contributions to Wikidata, along with minor article improvements.. For example, I recently merged two items that both referred to Zoochlorella, a genus of algae (see Q220135).
- Before the event, we will host a free online training session led by an experienced contributor, covering how to identify equivalent articles in other languages and link them via Wikidata.
- During the edit-a-thon, participants will work on connecting unlinked articles and making small fixes (e.g., formatting, categories, basic corrections), with ongoing support provided through an online channel. They will also be expected to add item descriptions in the languages they speak.
- At the end of the event, a jury of three experienced editors will evaluate contributions based on quality and quantity. The top three contributors will each receive a €100 gift card.
- Describe your team
- The project will be implemented by a small team of experienced contributors.
- Nataeva -- project lead, responsible for overall coordination, and reporting.
- Mirfayzbek Abdullayev -- jury member and local contact person, responsible for receiving funds, purchasing gift cards, and distributing prizes to winners.
- Mirishkorlik -- jury member, responsible for evaluating participant contributions.
- Mirzoulugʻbek -- jury member, responsible for evaluating participant contributions.
- Nataev -- conducting the online training session and budget development.
- For which Wikimedia projects is the project relevant? For which communities is the project relevant? What is your target group?
- The project focuses primarily on Uzbek Wikipedia and Wikidata. It is relevant to contributors working on these platforms. The target group includes existing and new contributors from Central Asia, especially members of the Wikimedians of the Uzbek Language User Group, as well as individuals interested in multilingual knowledge collaboration.
- Do you have any metrics for the proposed grant proposal? If yes, please fill in the number of participants, editors, organisers and content contributions (Wikipedia articles, Wikimedia Commons images, Wikidata items, etc.)
- We expect to engage at least 20 participants, including both new and existing contributors, supported by a team of 5 organizers (including trainers and jury members).
- In terms of outputs, we aim to link at least 2,000 Uzbek Wikipedia articles to other language editions through contributions to Wikidata. This estimate is conservative, and actual results may be higher depending on participant activity.
- In addition, we anticipate minor improvements (e.g., formatting, categorization, and corrections) across a similar number of articles, as well as improvement of corresponding Wikidata items (including the addition of labels in Uzbek).
Financial information
[edit | edit source]- What is the amount that you are requesting for this grant proposal?
- 489.60 EUR
- Please provide the budget of your grant proposal
| Expense type | Expense details | Number of Units | Unit Price | Expense Total |
| Fees | 2 percent bank fee for funds transfer | 1 | €9.60 | €9.60 |
| Compensations (participants) | Compensation for the most active three contributors in the form of gift cards | 3 | €100.00 | €300.00 |
| Compensations (judges) | Honorarium for the judges | 3 | €50.00 | €150.00 |
| Contingency | Other costs | 1 | €30.00 | €30.00 |
| TOTAL | €489.60 | |||
Other
[edit | edit source]- Any additional comments or remarks about your project
- I have been personally working for years on identifying and carefully merging items that represent the same entity, but the results have been modest. The main challenge is that this is a tedious task that cannot easily be automated with tools or AI, as it requires knowledge of multiple languages to identify unlinked entities across different language versions.