On May 4, 2025, Wiki Community Forum (WCF) was successfully held as a collaborative forum that brought together young wiki communities from around the world. This event was designed to be an open space for building communication, collaboration, and a global network among young activists within the Wikimedia movement. The Wiki Community Forum is a new initiative from KlubWiki Universitas Brawijaya, which is also supported in parallel by Wikimedia Indonesia. The idea emerged from our own concerns, that there are many Wiki communities in Indonesia, but those based at universities are very few.
In fact, there are only two university-based Wiki Communities in Indonesia: ourselves and KlubWiki Universitas Sriwijaya. Unfortunately, a few years ago, KlubWiki Universitas Sriwijaya merged with Klub Wiki Palembang, leaving KlubWiki UB as the only remaining university-based Wiki Community in Indonesia. The lack of university-based young Wiki Communities in Indonesia is truly regrettable, as the youthful resources, energy, and fresh ideas among students are greatly needed to help build the Wiki community in Indonesia.
From this starting point, we became curious about the situation in other countries arround the world. Is it the same as in Indonesia, where Wiki Communities have yet to flourish among university students? What are the challenges, and what are the unique characteristics of each community? There were many things we wanted to learn and discuss together with the other university-based Wiki Communities in another country.
We began searching for information about university-based or youth-initiated Wiki Communities abroad. It turns out that there are several university-based young Wiki Communities that actively initiate various activities with very interesting and fresh concepts, utilizing various Wikimedia projects. Thus, the idea for the Wiki Community Forum (WCF) was born—a collaborative initiative designed as an open space for young wiki communities from around the world to interact, share experiences, and strengthen cross-country networks. This forum serves as an inclusive platform to encourage the exchange of ideas, best practices, and strategies for developing sustainable local communities.
This initiative received a positive and enthusiastic response from each Wiki Community we approached. Interestingly, they also have same desire to initiate similar activities. Of the six young Wiki Communities we targeted, all six responded very positively and agreed to participate in the WCF. These six communities are Kelab Wiki Kent, Wiki Club Jamia, Wiki Club Amu, Wiki Club Deoband, Wiki Club Sati, and the CEE Youth Group. Even Uzlit Wiki, which was not initially on our “radar”, expressed interest in participating and joined the WCF. This was a great joy for us as the initiators of WCF. Even though this was our first time organizing such an initiative and our first time opening communication with young Wiki Communities abroad, we received a very warm response.
Therefore, WCF succeeded in becoming an important momentum for young Wiki Communities worldwide to exchange insights, share best practices, and establish cross-country collaborations. Through a series of panel presentations—including community introductions, interactive sessions, and an edit-a-thon themed “editing traditional cuisines from each country”, all forum participants were invited to exchange experiences and ideas about youth participation in preserving open knowledge through various Wikimedia projects. To spark and deepen the discussion, before the event, we asked each wiki community to prepare materials on the Introduction and history of the Wiki Community, Annual programs, Latest activities, and the Impact and achievements of each Wiki Community. These would serve as conversation starters. Once again, exceeding our expectations, each community thoroughly prepared the materials to be presented at the event.
On the day of the event, we witnessed tremendous enthusiasm from every participant and the various young Wiki Communities we invited. We discovered several interesting things: the initiative to establish university-based young Wiki Communities faces various challenges, much like what we have experienced. On the other hand, we gained new insights, as these young Wiki Communities have initiated various exciting Wikimedia projects with innovative concepts. Some of these include Wiki Loves Folklore 2025 by Wiki Club Sati, Mehfil-e-Wiki by Wiki Club Jamia, Wiki Clicks Amu by Wiki Club Amu, and WikiGap Tuaran 2025 by Kelab Wiki Kent. The projects and experience-sharing sessions provided valuable brainstorming and new insights for each participant and young wiki community involved. After each community presented their materials (as we requested) and engaged in discussion sessions, the event concluded with an edit-a-thon session themed around the traditional cuisines of each country. All sessions were enthusiastically attended by the participants.
Our hope is that WCF will not only serve as a discussion space but will also pave the way for new relationships, knowledge exchange, and the potential for long-term collaboration among young wiki communities across countries. Through this forum, we see that despite our different backgrounds and cultures, we are all united by the same vision: to realize open, free, and inclusive access to knowledge for all.
We, as the organizing committee of the Wiki Community Forum, are very happy because through this event, we were able to strengthen our sense of family with one another. Thanks to the WCF, we also had one extraordinary day, where we could help each other with our respective job descriptions among the committee, while listening to sharing sessions and gaining new knowledge from the other young Wiki community members who participated. Our hope is that the enthusiasm to organize similar activities, or even to continue the Wiki Community Forum next year as “Wiki Community Forum 2.0,” will continue, as it has successfully brought new spirit, knowledge, and networks to each of us. If all Wiki communities around the world have a platform to connect, communicate intensively, share experiences, and support each other, we can create a broader and more impactful Wikimedia movement. We hope that WCF will become the seed for future collaborations and that the spirit of crosscommunity communication will continue to grow, transcending space and time. See you at the next meeting. Keep moving, keep sharing, and stay connected!
If anyone is interested in learning more about Wiki Community Forum or would like to join our agenda in the next period, you can contact KlubWiki Universitas Brawijaya as the initiator of the Wiki Community Forum through our email: klubwikiub@wikimedia.or.id or via our Instagram account: @klubwikiub
Can you help us translate this article?
In order for this article to reach as many people as possible we would like your help. Can you translate this article to get the message out?
Start translation