Wikimania 2025 First Wikimania, First International Journey: My Story from Nairobi

Presentation at the Hackathon:

I had the opportunity to participate in the Hackathon, where I presented my tool Wikifile-transfer Effortless File Migration. The wikifile-transfer tool helps users transfer non-free images from one wikimedia project to another within the wikimedia ecosystem. It simplifies the process by enabling users to select a source URL, target project, language, and specify a target filename. This tool is particularly useful for wikimedia contributors managing media across multiple language wikis. The showcase allowed me to connect with fellow developers, contributors, and receive valuable feedback on improving the tool further.

Learning through sessions and discussions:

Throughout the event, I attended diverse sessions that broadened my perspective and engaged in insightful discussions.

In “Re:searching Global Trends” by Nicole Ebber, I actively participated in discussions on how global trends are impacting our movement and shaping its future. I also learned how to implement these trends within communities, projects, and proposals, as well as strategies for responding effectively to them. The program focused on three main areas: knowledge consumption, contributions, and infrastructure. I shared perspectives on the evolving patterns of knowledge consumption globally, particularly from an Indian context, highlighting how improved data accessibility has significantly transformed the way knowledge is accessed and utilized.

I participated in a discussion on neurodiversity, which was a new topic for me. I am grateful to Domenika Bolls for patiently explaining the subject and helping me understand both the technical and human aspects of the challenges faced by neurodivergent contributors. During the discussion, my focus was primarily on understanding the issues themselves, as I had not previously engaged with the neurodivergent community. Recently, I have been exploring this topic further, particularly after attending an Indian showcase where I saw photographs taken by individuals with neurodiverse conditions. These photos can be seen on Wikimedia Commons.

Weaving Memory: In the poster session, I connected with Wikimedia Colombia members John and Bernardo, learned about Wikimedia Colombia’s work on documenting and preserving historical memory past incidents in Colombia on Wikidata, contributing to project 6402+, a memorial honoring 6,402 affected individuals. They created clean, verified and structured entries from JEP rulings. They faced handling sensitive historical data responsibly, structuring complex legal information for global understanding, balancing technical work with symbolic memory preservation, and coordinating contributions across a diverse international community. I had engaging and insightful discussions with both.

I met members from Wikimedia Bolivia Julitatwa and Calceolaria who are working with the Tacana, Chiquitano, and Guarani communities to document and share their local experiences and challenges on wikimedia platforms. Their work highlights environmental issues such as deforestation, mineral extraction, and groundwater depletion that affect these communities. They face challenges such internet and economic gaps, but the interest of the communities to share their knowledges and exercise their right to self-representation has allowed communities to identify Wikimedia Commons as an appropriate space to raise their voices about their territories. With John’s help in translation, I was able to follow Julitatwa‘s talk even though we did not share a common language.

An Undeclared AI generated text in wikipedia session by Mathias: I explored the challenges of AI generated text entering Wikipedia without disclosure. Wikipedia’s human-created content is used to train AI models, which then produce misleading text that reappears in Wikipedia articles. Mathias demonstrated how a tool originally built for ISBN checksum validation unexpectedly became effective at detecting AI edited content, exposing clear signs of AI hallucination. This cycle of AI trained content being reintroduced into Wikipedia raises serious concerns about verifiability and trust on the platform.

I attended a JAM session focused on Internet-in-a-Box (IIAB), a low-cost digital library built on a Raspberry Pi to provide offline access to knowledge. I had a great time exploring it with Tim Moody, Suyash ji, Fan, and James. During the session, I tested the physical device and experimented with the newly deployed LLama model, which uses Wikipedia articles as training data to generate summarized, chatbot like responses.

I also met Stéphane Coillet Matillon and learned more about Kiwix, the free and open source offline web browser. I found it to see how Internet in a Box actually uses Kiwix as its browsing layer, combining hardware and software into a powerful tool for delivering knowledge in offline or low connectivity environments.

One of the most heartwarming moments was celebrating Vrikshabandhan, a meaningful variation of Rakshabandhan where we tied rakhis around trees as a promise to protect them. With the kind support of Suyash ji, Anchal, Swayam, Chinmayee ji, Gapu, Sawan (Virtually) and more than 20 Wikimedians from different regions came together for this symbolic gesture. 

Wikimania was also about friendships and shared values. Beyond sessions and tech, there were meaningful personal moments: I made new friends, John, Claudia, Domenika, Harshil, Sebastian, Carla, Bernardo, Anchal, Licia, Yakshitha, Gopala and many more each adding a unique flavor to my experience.

Outside the conference, I immersed myself in Nairobi’s culture and nature visiting the Masai Market, Karura Forest, National Museum, ISKCON Temple, Giraffe Centre, and even going on an unforgettable Safari in National Park.

This Wikimania taught me that Wikimedia is not just a collection of projects it is a living, breathing community of people driven by knowledge, collaboration, and compassion. I return home with fresh ideas, a deeper understanding, and a stronger commitment to the Wikimedia movement. 

A heartfelt thank you to the Wikimedia Foundation and all the organizers for making it possible for me to be part of this unforgettable event.