Open Data Day Taiwan 2025 – New Venture for New Ideas

• Open Data Day Taiwan 2025
• Wikimedia Taiwan/Wikidata Taiwan/Open Data Day Taiwan 2025

Since 2019, Wikidata Taiwan and Open Street Map Taiwan have been dedicated to advancing the open data movement and promoting its adoption across various fields in Taiwan. Over the years, our relentless efforts have laid a solid foundation for collaboration and innovation within local communities. However, despite this progress, significant gaps remain—particularly in preserving local cultural and religious heritage. These rich and diverse stories, rooted in our communities, remain fragmented and are at constant risk of being forgotten. Therefore, at Open Data Day Taiwan 2025, we decided to shift our focus back to the essence of our communities and re-explore everyday life from a fresh and exciting perspective.

Overlooked Majorities

With “Local Stories” as this year’s theme, we introduced our partners from diverse backgrounds to the world of open data and demonstrated how leveraging open-data workflows can enhance community work and foster deeper engagement. We united local activists, tech enthusiasts, academic researchers, and other community members to share their experiences and dedication to local community engagement and revitalization. Across eight sessions, we examined how open-data workflows can be integrated into anthropology research and documentation, helping to preserve past efforts while offering new perspectives for future public discovery and reuse.

The event kicked off with an exploration of efforts to record, re-imagine, and revitalize local communities in Ilan County, using open-data workflows to innovate traditional methodologies. During the first two sessions, we painted a vivid picture of the current state of anthropology in Taiwan, understanding the struggles and visions of front-line researchers and how the open data movement can help advance their work to better serve the diverse needs of the local communities.

Next, we proudly welcomed Doctor Hung, CEO of the Platform for Taiwanese Religion and Folk Culture (TRFC), a pioneer in utilizing open data for documenting local religions, culture, and history. Through his presentation, we followed his journey in the digitization of local history, learning about the challenges and achievements that have positioned TRFC as one of the leaders in this evolving field.

In the afternoon, we shifted our attention to practical ways for everyone to participate in the open data movement. Attendees were introduced to the fundamentals of how to make contributions to projects like Wikivoyage, Open Street Maps, and Wikidata; and encouraged to participate in local communities to record local features and share them on open platforms or assist in translating local languages to enhance knowledge preservation and sustainability. With endless possibilities waiting to be uncovered, the event concluded on an inspiring note, encouraging participants to come together, explore this uncharted ground of innovation, and make meaningful contributions to their communities.

New Venture Awaits

Looking back, Open Data Day Taiwan 2025 was a rewarding experience. We explored the diverse efforts from communities to preserve and honor the rich heritage of Taiwan while showcasing how open-data workflows can improve the quality and sustainability of such work. Additionally, we gained valuable insights into how open data can empower local initiatives, bridging the gap between traditional preservation practices and modern technological innovation.

Through meaningful sharing and discussion, we fostered deeper connections between communities and strengthened our collective capacity to enhance our work with the support of open-data workflows. We hope that this year’s collaboration can inspire and empower us to explore more innovative possibilities for the open data movement, pushing the boundaries of data-driven storytelling and community engagement to a new high.