How WikiMaknyus is Bringing Lombok’s Culinary Heritage to the Digital World

Mataram is not just a city on the island of Lombok, Indonesia; it is a living library of flavors. The question is, has this local wealth truly made its presence felt on the internet? That is where the WikiMaknyus project was born—a bridge that carries stories from a plate of traditional food into the digital realm. Maknyus means ‘delicious’ in Indonesian slang. Through this small step, I want to support the Wikimedia mission so that local knowledge is present and easily accessible to everyone. For me, digitizing flavors is the best way to ensure that our ancestors’ heritage is not lost in this fast-paced era.

During the WikiMaknyus Mataram project, we successfully produced 34 Wikipedia articles about typical food and drinks from Lombok and 24 recipe pages on Wikibooks spread across Indonesian, Sasak, Minangkabau, Betawi, and Sundanese languages, plus 342 new vocabulary entries in Wiktionary. Not only that, this project also strengthened the tourism aspect by editing 12 destinations on Wikivoyage, 126 voice recording files on Wikimedia Commons, and capturing 26 authentic photos for Wikimedia Commons. This data is not just numbers on paper; every entry represents a cultural identity that now has a permanent ‘home’ in cyberspace, so that anyone in another part of the world can learn about it with just one click.

Joining the Rapid Fund project of the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) was a major step in my journey as a newcomer Wikimedian. For those who may not know, the Rapid Fund is financial support from WMF to facilitate communities in running projects that have an impact on open knowledge. Through WikiMaknyus, I want to help bring more stories about traditional food from regions that have rarely been heard of in the digital world until now.

Field Notes: Feeling Warmth in Mataram

On my first day in Mataram, a sense of nervousness appeared—could I coordinate the team well? All of that vanished when we sat together in front of a plate of Plecing Kangkung. The warm welcome from the Mataram Wikimedia Community made me feel accepted from the very start. This moment made me realize that in a community project, the emotional bond between members is far more important than just technical matters.

Not only did they help technically, but they also invited me to directly taste the richness of local flavors: the savory Bebalung, the fresh Beberuk Manuk, the sweet Dodol Rumput Laut, the refreshing Tuak Manis, to iconic dishes like Soto Sasak, Sayur Lebui, and Pedis Panas.

This experience cannot be replaced by simply reading stories in books. I still remember on the second day, we had a community meetup until late at night. Even though we were bothered by mosquitoes, the spirit of the friends from the Mataram Wikimedia Community never faded. We even managed to do a cross-city collaboration: recording on LinguaLibre (a digital tool for recording word pronunciations, so that the original local accent can be clearly heard) by native speakers, then inputting them into Wiktionary together with the Jakarta community via Zoom. Our biggest challenge at that time was ensuring the internet connection remained stable during the online session and maintaining the quality of the audio recording amidst the hustle and bustle of the city, but the enthusiasm of the volunteers made every obstacle feel small. From that, I learned that every dish is not just about taste, but also about history, terminology, and accents that deserve to be recorded well. And from the spirit of those friends, I learned that contributing to Wikipedia is not just about contribution numbers, but also the spirit of preserving Lombok’s traditional culinary culture.

Hopes for the Future

Although this journey is not yet perfect, I am grateful to have felt the togetherness within WikiMaknyus. I hope this small step grows into a large movement that guards local flavors and languages, so that future generations can still find the traces of their ancestors in the digital world. For colleagues who are interested in documenting the culture in their respective regions, never hesitate to start. Let’s fill this digital space with authentic stories from every corner of our world!

As a new contributor who was given the great trust of being the Person in Charge (PIC) for the Mataram region, I felt this task was challenging. Thanks to the support from the core team, everything felt lighter. Thank you to Pitchrigi, Sofi Solihah, and Nikolas KHF for the technical guidance and encouragement, and for entrusting this Mataram culinary preservation mission to me. Their guidance was very meaningful to me as someone who still has a lot to learn about the intricacies of the vast Wikimedia ecosystem.