WikiRiksa, Reflections on Leadership and Knowledge Collaboration

Contributing to Wiktionary through WikiRiksa was about much more than adding definitions or improving entries. Contributors were invited to connect two Wikimedia projects at once by using texts preserved in Wikisource as references for developing Wiktionary entries.

The involvement of Alfiyah Rizzy Afdiquni, Losstreak, Iripseudocorus, and Sofi Solihah with strong support from Swarabakti reflected a consistent commitment to inclusivity while strengthening the sense of solidarity among contributors.

This idea gave birth to the Proyek Wiki Verifikasi Kosakata (Wiki Vocabulary Verification Project), or WikiRiksa. Initiated by the Dana Wiki of the Indonesian Wiktionary Community.

The project fully supported by Wikimedia Indonesia and aimed to improve the quality of Indonesian-language entries in Wiktionary through the addition of citations and verifiable sources.

Beyond reading manuscripts, WikiRiksa is about exploring the stories, contexts, and meanings they carry. This gathering connects participants from Palembang to Makassar, creating conversations that enrich our understanding of Indonesia’s manuscript heritage. Oceanmuse, CC-BY-4.0

The journey of WikiRiksa began with an online workshop that brought together contributors from different regions of Indonesia. This workshop served as an important foundation, introducing a relatively new editing practice to many participants, particularly the use of attestations and citations as evidence of a word’s documented usage.

Through the workshop, contributors learned the editing standards agreed upon by the community to ensure the quality and consistency of contributions. Beyond being a learning space, the workshop also served as a platform for monitoring project progress and achievements.

Like many community-driven initiatives, however, WikiRiksa’s journey was not always smooth. Internal dynamics became an inseparable part of the process. In January 2026, I was initially entrusted by fellow contributors to serve as the project lead.

However, due to my responsibilities during the Ramadan period at work, which was expected to require significant time and attention throughout February and March, I decided to step down from that position.

It was not an easy decision. For that reason, I am deeply grateful to Alfiyah Rizzy Afdiquni for accepting the leadership baton and taking over as project lead.

This experience taught me an important lesson: leadership does not always mean holding the highest position within a project. Leadership also means remaining present, taking responsibility, and ensuring that commitments made to the community are fulfilled until the very end.

Although I was no longer the primary lead, I remained actively involved throughout the entire WikiRiksa project until its completion.

I believe that the success of a community initiative is never determined by a single individual. Rather, it depends on the willingness of every team member to contribute according to their capacity and expertise.

I continued to embody this commitment by remaining involved in various aspects of project implementation, including initiating an additional community meetup toward the end of the project period.

This initiative emerged from observing the strong enthusiasm contributors had for manuscript-based activities and citation development. I felt there was still room to maximize their contributions while expanding the learning impact that WikiRiksa had already generated.

Managing a community initiative over several months is never a simple task, especially when it involves technical requirements, administrative responsibilities, and coordination among contributors spread across multiple regions. Yet the experience also demonstrated that healthy leadership is built upon continuity, trust, and mutual support during periods of transition.

WikiRiksa ran from early February until approximately June 2026. During that time, the team encountered various challenges and adjustments. Fortunately, the collective experience of team members who had previously contributed to major community initiatives such as WikiLatih, WikiNusantara, and Dana Wiki became an important asset in addressing every obstacle.

Many times, we found ourselves encouraging and supporting one another. Through this process, we learned that no challenge is insurmountable when approached collectively and with a shared commitment to finding solutions.

That collaborative spirit eventually produced results that went far beyond the project’s technical goals. All WikiRiksa activities were completed according to the original proposal. By June 2026, a total of 20 book templates had been created and made available for contributors to use.

In terms of measurable outcomes, WikiRiksa generated approximately 3,510 new citations added to Wiktionary entries. In addition, around 2,800 pronunciation recordings were created through Lingua Libre, accompanied by entry development and definition verification within the Indonesian-language Wiktionary.

More importantly, the impact of WikiRiksa extended well beyond these numbers. The idea of connecting Wikisource and Wiktionary spread to communities in various regions and inspired new initiatives.

In Madura, for example, volunteers began preparing Madurese-language manuscripts in Wikisource so they could eventually serve as citation sources for the Madurese Wiktionary. The integration of Wikisource and Wiktionary was seen as a promising new approach to supporting the development of regional languages.

Contributors also began drawing from a wide range of sources, including manuscripts from the early twentieth century and official state documents, to demonstrate the origins, usage, and evolution of words over time.

Through this process, Wikimedia projects complemented one another in meaningful ways: manuscripts were preserved and made accessible through Wikisource, while vocabulary and lexical knowledge were developed through Wiktionary.

The citations added through WikiRiksa allow readers to verify the usage of a word directly from its original source. This not only improves the quality of entries but also enhances transparency and reliability.

Among all of its achievements, one of WikiRiksa’s greatest successes was its ability to bring together contributors from across Indonesia under a shared purpose.

Within a relatively short period, WikiRiksa brought together communities through meetups in Palembang (Sumatra), Jakarta (Indonesia’s metropolitan hub), Madura (East Java), and Makassar (Sulawesi).

These gatherings demonstrated that improving Wiktionary was not merely the concern of a single community but had become a collaborative effort involving volunteers from different parts of the country.

Even more encouraging was the fact that enthusiasm continued beyond the project’s formal activities. Toward the end of the project period, the community successfully organized additional meetups that achieved even stronger results.

One such example was the follow-up WikiRiksa meetup in Bekasi. With only eight participants, the event produced more than 150 new entries, demonstrating the sustainability of community engagement fostered throughout the project.

The WikiRiksa experience also highlighted an important reality: developing citations, verifying definitions, and building high-quality entries require patience, accuracy, and close attention to detail. These tasks cannot be rushed.

Looking ahead, similar initiatives could place even greater emphasis on contribution quality, particularly in exploring the meanings of words within the context of the manuscripts from which they originate.

Historical manuscripts serve not only as linguistic references but also as records of their era, reflecting the vocabulary, perspectives, and cultural realities of the societies that produced them.