On 12 June 2026, the Dhaka Wikimedia Community organized a full-day Wikimedia Commons Edit-a-thon at the Wikimedia Bangladesh office in Dhaka. The event brought together volunteers with a shared goal; improving the discoverability and usability of thousands of freely licensed photographs on Wikimedia Commons by reducing a long-standing categorization backlog.
The edit-a-thon was conducted in a hybrid format. Nine Wikimedians participated in person at the Wikimedia Bangladesh office, while two additional participants joined remotely. Throughout the day, contributors worked collaboratively to categorize images from the Bangladesh Press Information Department (PID), one of the largest institutional media collections available on Wikimedia Commons.
Addressing a large-scale categorization backlog
Wikimedia Commons hosts millions of freely licensed media files, but their usefulness depends heavily on proper categorization. Without categories, images become difficult to discover, reuse, and integrate into Wikimedia projects.
The primary focus of the event was the maintenance category “Press Information Department images without category“, which contained more than 11,000 uncategorized files at the beginning of the edit-a-thon.
Participants systematically reviewed files, identified their subjects, locations, events, and people, and assigned appropriate categories using a combination of manual review and community-developed tools such as Cat-a-lot and HotCat. These tools enabled editors to process large numbers of files efficiently while maintaining human judgment and quality control.
By the end of the event, the backlog had been reduced dramatically—from more than 11,000 files to nearly 6,000 files. Thousands of images that were previously difficult to find became significantly more discoverable for Wikimedia contributors, researchers, journalists, educators, and readers worldwide.
Nearly 12,000 edits in a single day
The edit-a-thon demonstrated the remarkable impact that a small but dedicated group of volunteers can achieve in a short period of time. A total of 11 Wikimedians participated in the event, including nine who attended in person at the Wikimedia Bangladesh office and two who joined remotely. Together, they made 11,928 edits and edited more than 11,000 pages on Wikimedia Commons over the course of the day. Their collective efforts resulted in the reduction of the targeted categorization backlog by approximately 5,000 files in a single day, transforming thousands of previously difficult-to-find images into better-organized and more discoverable resources for Wikimedia projects and the wider public.
The scale of the work demonstrated what a focused group of experienced Commons contributors can accomplish when working toward a clearly defined maintenance objective.
While many Wikimedia edit-a-thons focus on content creation, this event highlighted the importance of maintenance work. Categorization, organization, and metadata improvement may happen behind the scenes, but they are essential for ensuring that freely licensed media remains accessible and reusable across Wikimedia projects.
Tracking contributions in real time
The event was tracked using the Wikimedia Outreach Dashboard, which provided participant registration and contribution statistics.
However, organizers encountered a common challenge faced by many Wikimedia event organizers: dashboard statistics are not always updated in real time. During fast-paced editing events, participants often have to wait for updates before seeing the impact of their work.
To address this challenge, a custom real-time tracking tool was developed specifically for the event.
The tool continuously monitors participant contributions and updates statistics automatically every five minutes. It also generates a live leaderboard, allowing participants to see their progress and compare contributions throughout the day.
The monitor at the office displayed the live leaderboard, creating an engaging and motivating atmosphere. Participants could immediately see the impact of their work, which encouraged friendly competition and sustained productivity throughout the event.
From the organizers’ perspective, the real-time visibility of contributions significantly increased participant engagement and motivation.
Following the success of the event, the tool has been made publicly available for the Wikimedia community and can be used by organizers of future edit-a-thons, campaigns, and contribution drives.
Building tools for the Wikimedia movement
Beyond the immediate results, the event demonstrated how local communities can develop solutions to address practical challenges within the Wikimedia movement.
The real-time tracking platform was built and deployed on Wikimedia Toolforge, the Wikimedia movement’s cloud hosting environment for community-developed tools. By making the tool publicly available and releasing its source code, the project contributes not only to the success of a single event but also to the broader ecosystem of Wikimedia organizing tools.
Community-developed tools have long been a cornerstone of Wikimedia projects, helping volunteers perform maintenance tasks, organize campaigns, and improve contributor experiences. This initiative continues that tradition by providing organizers with a new way to monitor and showcase contributions during collaborative editing events.
Strengthening Commons through collaboration
The Wikimedia Commons Edit-a-thon 2026 demonstrated the value of focused maintenance campaigns and community collaboration. In a single day, volunteers significantly reduced a major categorization backlog, improved access to thousands of historical and governmental images, and experimented with new approaches to participant engagement through real-time contribution tracking.
As Wikimedia Commons continues to grow, maintenance efforts such as categorization, metadata enhancement, and organization remain essential to ensuring that knowledge remains discoverable and useful. Events like this show how dedicated volunteers can make substantial improvements to the world’s largest repository of freely licensed media while simultaneously developing tools that strengthen the Wikimedia movement as a whole.
The Dhaka Wikimedia Community hopes that both the backlog-reduction model and the real-time tracking tool will inspire similar initiatives across Wikimedia communities worldwide.
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