Wikimedia World at the Library Fair 2025: Six online forums

In addition to the in-person forum, this year’s Wikimedia World in Library Fair 2025 also held six online forums in November, where six Wikimedians discussed a variety of topics related to Wikimedia.

WikiConference Seoul 2025 Presentation & Contribution Report

The first speaker on November 11th was Narumi.SBT (Wikimedians of Japan User Group), who spoke about her recent appearance with Eugene Ormandy at WikiConference Seoul 2025, held in South Korea, and her experiences in Seoul. Following fascinating talks about the exhibits at the National Museum of Modern History of Korea and the outdoor library where many people enjoy reading on benches along the city’s river, she also mentioned the possibility of future collaboration between Japan and South Korea.

Wikimedia Projects and People

On November 17, Eugene Ormandy of the Toumon Wikipedian Club Japan spoke about the various communities supporting the Wikimedia project, using the term “clubs.” These include volunteer clubs like the Toumon Wikipedian Club Japan, clubs receiving grants from the Wikimedia Foundation, User groups and Chapters that are affiliates of the Wikimedia Foundation, and cross-regional hub organizations like ESEAP. After touching on the characteristics of Japanese clubs, he concluded by expressing his hope for the development of diverse clubs that can meet diverse needs.

Creating local memories using Wikimedia Commons

Katsuyuki Sakanoshita of OpenStreetMap (OSM) Japan, who spoke on November 18th, has been contributed with OSM for many years, a database that collects information on various local locations. He emphasized the importance of using open data and international platforms if we want to preserve local information for the future. He also shared several specific examples of projects he has been contributed with, such as the Shokoku Roman, Shin-Osaka/Mikuni Otachiyori Map, and Osaka Memories Map. Furthermore, during the forum, he showed us OSM screens from Japan and overseas, giving us a clear understanding of the contribution of volunteers from all over the world.

Take advantage of the library’s local resources with Wikipedia Town!

On November 19th, Professor Kazuto Aoki of Fukui Prefectural University spoke about the open data community in which he has been contributed. Referring to the Wikimedia chronology displayed at the Library Fair booth, he explained that Japan’s first Wikipedia Town (Wikipedia Edit-a-thon) was held in Yokohama in 2013, and that the Open Data Kyoto Practitioner Group began its activities the following year. He also emphasized the appeal of using local materials held in libraries to research and disseminate local information, even in areas that are not tourist destinations. This could be considered the creation of a digital archive using Wikipedia, and his talk revealed a wide range of possibilities that go beyond Wikipedia Town.

English-Japanese Translation Wikipedian Training Project Class for 10 Years

On November 20th, Musashi University Professor Sae Kitamura (Saebo) spoke about a project that began at the University of Tokyo in 2015 and has continued since then at Musashi University, translating English Wikipedia articles and posting them on the Japanese Wikipedia. Her talk was full of specifics and inspiration, including an overview of the more than 300 articles completed to date, achievements and challenges in English education, and student reactions. Unfortunately, there are few cases of students who have taken the course going on to become active Wikipedians, and various solutions were proposed during the question and answer session.

Following up on the session “What would happen if a university researcher tried editing Wikipedia?”

At the final forum on November 23rd, Yoju Ito of Shiseikan University spoke in detail about the process of editing an article about his research subject, Ryukyu Kingdom politician Choshu Haneji. He explained that he used the article’s “notes” to gather opinions on whether or not to include original research. Opinions on this point may differ depending on the subject and the Wikimedians involved. In any case, this is something that is being done with the consensus of the community, so it is important to follow these steps.

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In conclusion, these online forums allowed us to hear from six Wikimedians on various fronts, and also brought to light a variety of issues. I hope to use this experience in future projects. Nearly 100 people participated in the forums, and we were able to share and discuss the Wikimedia world. I would like to thank all the speakers and audience members.