Impact beyond the clock: Highlights from the 72 Hours Virtual Marathon Edit-a-thon 3.0 in the Igbo Wikimedians User Group

The 72 Hours Virtual Marathon Edit-a-thon 3.0 organized by the Igbo Wikimedians User Group, marked another exciting step in our ongoing effort to preserve and promote the Igbo language through open knowledge. This event was a continuation of the pilot held in April 2025, which recorded remarkable success from collaborative efforts and participation across our community.

This third edition was designed not just to edit, but to sustain impact and deepen technical contributions. We began with an engaging opening session that walked participants through the assigned tasks, demonstrated practical ways to fix pending issues, and provided guidance on the use of essential tools. Editors dedicated 72 hours, from 28 to 31 July 2025, to improving the Igbo Wikipedia. During the marathon, participants focused on:

1. Adding {{DEFAULTSORT}} to biography pages for better organization and accessibility.
2. Fixing existing Igbo Wikipedia articles with reference errors to ensure integrity.
3. Fixing pages with broken files to enhance quality, and
4. Strengthening language localization efforts on translatewiki.
   

The results were both inspiring and measurable. 275 articles with reference errors were corrected, 271 pages with broken files were fixed, and 305 biography pages were improved with {{DEFAULTSORT}}. Remarkable progress was also made on translatewiki. Beyond the numbers, what truly stood out was the collaborative energy and dedication of editors who contributed across different time zones and skill levels. This event didn’t only improve content quality but strengthened community engagement and capacity building among Igbo Wikimedians.

Together, through each and every edit, we are building a vibrant digital future for the Igbo language and open knowledge. My deepest gratitude goes to every participant and my amazing co-organizers – Lucy Iwuala, Mark Lapang, and Hilary Ogali, for their incredible teamwork and commitment. This is not the end yet. I can’t wait to achieve even more in our next editions!