Four Young Wikimedians Helped Villages Share Their Stories with the World through Wikipedia

Every year from July to August, Universitas Brawijaya organizes Mahasiswa Membangun Desa, a flagship student study service program that engages students from all faculties. For one full month, students are stationed in rural areas across East Java Province, where they are encouraged to apply their academic knowledge to real-world challenges and contribute to the local community’s development.

In 2024, KlubWiki Universitas Brawijaya members Annida and Sakila participated in the program. During her survey of Baturetno Village, Annida identified a critical gap. The village’s official website was defunct, and its potential tourism, culture, and local products lacked digital visibility. Without up-to-date information, outreach and development efforts were hindered.  

Recognizing the importance of digital visibility in today’s world, she proposed a solution using Wikipedia as a platform to document and share information about the village. She organized a Wikipedia training workshop for village officials, teaching them to create and update articles. The choice of officials as trainees ensured sustainability, as they held the most accurate knowledge about the village. 

Insipired by the success of the Wikipedia training in Baturetno Village, Annida encouraged her fellow KlubWiki UB member, Sakila, to replicate the initiative in Tawangargo Village. The event was successfully held and attended by seven village officials.

The initiative didn’t end in 2024. Building on the success of earlier initiatives, KlubWiki Universitas Brawijaya members Kesya and Dhani joined the 2025 Mahasiswa Membangun Desa program to bring knowledge-sharing efforts to new villages.

Continuing the MMD journey in 2025, Dani embarked on a new venture in Tawangargo Village with the initiative “Wikilatih: Digital Transformation for Village Officials.” He had noticed that information about Tawangargo was poorly managed the village website lay abandoned, crucial data was trapped in an unfriendly layout, and local stories remained hard to find. So Dani gathered every village official from each hamlet at the Village Hall to discuss solutions. A simple idea emerged: Wikipedia, an open platform with high visibility on the internet, could serve as a bridge to document and showcase Tawangargo’s natural beauty, cultural heritage, and local innovations in a clear, accessible way.

Building on last year’s Wikilatih program initiated by Sakila in the same village, Dani refined the training with a fresh focus: editing articles in the Javanese language. Beyond mastering Wikipedia’s interface and source verification, participants learned to write for Javanese Wikipedia, adapt Indonesian texts into the local dialect, and include original vocabulary to help readers of all ages feel a deeper cultural connection. Cameras and smartphones buzzed with activity as village officials documented local traditions and folklore in Javanese, later uploading their photos and bilingual captions to Wikimedia Commons. This initiative not only expanded the village’s digital footprint but also safeguarded its linguistic heritage, ensuring that Desa Tawangargo’s stories remain vibrant and accessible online for years to come.

Also, Kesya Stevany Santoso and her team continuing WikiLatih at MMD Journey 2025 on the July 5, 2025 WikiLatih in Pagentan Village with titled “Transformasi Digital Desa: Pemanfaatan Wikipedia sebagai Sumber Informasi Terbuka untuk Promosi Potensi Lokal”. This WikiLatih focused on enhancing digital literacy, interface mastery, and source verification to boost visibility for highlights like the Pagentan Holiday Festival, this year participants moved beyond basic editing. Members of Karang Taruna Pagentan (Pagentan Youth Organization) practiced editing articles. Under Kesya’s guidance, each youth contributor drafted informative captions at Wikipedia articles.

By entrusting the Karang Taruna Kelurahan Pagentan with both content creation and curation, the workshop equipped these young leaders with practical research and article-writing skills. As they gathered stories, documented daily life and ceremonial traditions, and crafted well-sourced, accessible articles and captions, the participants transformed from passive consumers of information into active stewards of open-access knowledge. This hands-on engagement strengthened community bonds, renewed pride in local heritage, and established a sustainable foundation for ongoing digital advocacy. As a result, the initiative has significantly enhanced Desa Pagentan’s online presence, ensuring its cultural legacy remains visible and vibrant for generations to come.

These Wikipedia training initiatives, have become more than just a digital literacy effort, they represent a growing movement of youth and communities working hand in hand to shape a more connected, informed, and inclusive future. As students and villagers collaborate by editing articles, documenting traditions, and learning digital platforms, they weave a lasting digital legacy. This proves that education, when paired with grassroots action, can transform communities far beyond the classroom.