Collaborate and harness the potential of open data 

At Wikimania 2025 in Nairobi, we had a few minutes to showcase one of the Shared Knowledge Asia Pacific (SKAP) projects: WikiGovData Philippines. This project focuses on populating Wikidata with Philippine government data—from a decade of economic figures and electoral results to poverty indexes and other vital datasets.

We shared our experience with the audience: gathering government data is like searching for a diamond in the mud. At first, it’s daunting and exhausting. The data is imperfect, sometimes messy, and it’s not a task for the faint of heart.

But when you polish it, put it to good use, and visualize it, that’s when its beauty and relevance shine. The satisfaction of collecting and curating these small bits of data is immense. It’s no surprise that so many Wikimedians love Wikidata—uploading, visualizing, and integrating it in countless brilliant ways.

In a world where data is often called the new oil or even the fifth element, it’s an invisible force that shapes our world. When we understand data, we make the world more understandable for others. That’s why sharing government data is such a crucial advocacy.

Working with Philippine government data isn’t easy. The team leader for WikiGovData, User WishywizPH, pointed out several challenges. Government websites often change with new administrations, and some datasets are outdated or not uploaded at all. Most data is trapped in PDFs, requiring painstaking manual extraction.

But we see these challenges as part of the process, just like a caterpillar’s journey to becoming a butterfly.

Butch Bustria, who led our session, explained the benefits of this work. He highlighted that government datasets are treasure troves of structured, public-domain information. By enriching Wikidata, we drive research, visualizations, and community projects, while also fostering transparency, inclusivity, and collaboration across the Wikimedia movement.

We encouraged others to join the Global GovDirectory project, which uses Wikidata to build a global, user-friendly directory of government agencies. You can add your country or area by visiting https://govedirectory.org or the project page https://w.wiki/Eue$.

To make this project sustainable, we need more contributors and data enthusiasts. We need more communities to join the open data advocacy, and we need Wikimedia organizations to explore new data-related projects. We also need researchers to leverage linked open data.

During the session, Doc James, a Canadian ER doctor and Wikimedian, showcased an active visualization tool called OWID. It works by uploading static images to Wikimedia Commons. When you hit “play,” a consent pop-up appears, and once accepted, it pulls data directly from OWID. The tool is currently under review by the WMF. 

The road ahead is clear,  we need more hands to join this effort. The future of open government data relies on a growing community of data contributors and enthusiasts just like our young team of volunteers. By participating in projects like WikiGovData and the Global GovDirectory, you can help turn a world of scattered information into a unified, accessible, and powerful resource. This is our chance to build a legacy of shared knowledge, one dataset at a time.