Aside from the excitement of seeing Paris for the first time, being able to attend Wikimania this year was incredibly exciting for me, from the first day to the last. I’d like to share some key points from what I learned and experienced this year at Wikimania, which was held under the theme “Freedom, Equality, Reliability” (Liberté, Équité, Fiabilité).
Opening ceremony and Wikimedians of the Year
As every year, this year’s opening ceremony was one of my personal favorite parts of the event. After relaxing our minds by listening to a beautiful composition at the opening, we arrived at what was perhaps the most sparkling moment of the year: the announcement of the Wikimedians of the Year. This year was a little special for me, unlike previous years. The fact that two of my young friends were honored with WOTY awards not only made us happy but also renewed our motivation as young people.
I would like to congratulate Mari, with whom I have worked many times as part of the CEE Youth Group and who was awarded an Honorable Mention, as well as Chlod, who was awarded the very first Community Connector of the Year.
Click the link below to read the Diff article about the WOTY 2026 award winners.
Sessions
Now let’s talk about the sessions. This year, I attended more workshop-style sessions and those related to communities and movement. I’d like to share some of the key points I gained from these sessions with you.
Communication as Community Infrastructure: Growing a Wikimedia community from 25 to 100 members in two years by Katherine Bahamondes and Michelle Collipal Martínez
Community-focused sessions were among the ones I paid particular attention to this year. The presentation by Katherine Bahamondes and Michelle Collipal Martínez from Wikimedia Chile’s Communications Team was one of them.
The speakers explained how they grew their communities from 25 to 100 members over the course of two years. Michelle, noting that they had faced various challenges, explained that after the pandemic, they were unable to reach the required quorum for voting at the general assembly due to the low number of participating members; that only a few (and sometimes none) members attended events; and that members did not communicate with one another in the WhatsApp group. Michelle, describing the problem as “our volunteers didn’t feel called to be there”, explains that after coming up with many ideas and so on, they realized an uncomfortable truth: “People (newcomers) didn’t feel called because we weren’t building a sense of belonging.”
Speaking about the results, Katherine noted that participation in the community had become easier and that within two years, they had grown from 25 members to more than 130 volunteers. She added that they had learned some lessons from this rapid growth: expectations, boundaries, and engagement and retention. Michelle then explained the importance of communication for communities and discussed communication trends for 2026. Katherine then noted that they had realized many members were not actively participating; “Growth isn’t only about numbers. It’s also about engagement. Sometimes a smaller but more commited community is much stronger than a larger but inactive one.”
After the presentation, we split into groups of 3–4 people and each of us sought answers to various questions from our own perspectives.
How Wikipedia is seen through the eyes of social media superstars by Liv Burke and Lucas Pasqual
The session, organized by Liv Burke and Lucas Pascal from the Wikimedia Foundation and featuring content creators Don DiestrO and Matthew Preberg—as well as Baby Globe!—as speakers, was one of the sessions that caught my attention the most among those I attended this year. It has been shown that Wikipedia’s social media design and content style have changed significantly over time. The posts, which initially contained only information and images related to Wikipedia articles, have now been enriched with video content featuring real people. Of course, this has also had positive statistical implications:
- 1069% more shares
- 300% more comments
- 38% more average watch time
- More than 2 million followers
During the presentation, they were noted that Wikipedia is compiled by editors with diverse perspectives and that its presence on social media also aims to reflect this approach; “No single editor writes Wikipedia. No single creator or style defines our social approach.”
As for why Wikimedia needs to collaborate with content creators, the answer is quite clear: “Young audiences prefer to watch content featuring creators.” Later in the presentation, we were introduced to content creators from all over the world who had collaborated on projects, and we learned about the secrets of creating creator-style content.
I listened to the presentation from start to finish with great interest, taking notes from time to time, and as I listened, I compared the content creation activities I had done up to that point with what was being discussed. I gained a better understanding of why some of my content had garnered significant interest, while other content had received very little engagement.
Design & Communications without a team: practical survival skills for small Wikimedia communities by Iryna Boiko ve Miss Kamola
The work of Iryna and Miss Kamola, which shows us what can be achieved without a professional design team, caught my attention as a graphic designer.
First of all, Miss Kamola shared a variety of practical tips with us that could serve as a roadmap for those who are not communication professionals. I realized that among the points they shared, I had underlined the importance of storytelling repeatedly in my notes. Kamola provided various examples of this storytelling, such as voluntary stories, real-life stories, and highlights of the community.
Meanwhile, Iryna shared valuable insights with us on the topic of design. First, she showed us examples of how Wikimedia Ukraine’s social media design language has evolved over time and gave us a brief overview of the tools she uses. However, as a graphic designer, what caught my attention—and is something I always keep in mind—were the examples of what to do and what not to do in design. Iryna summarized this quite well: Instead of using a logo with a white background, use a transparent PNG/SVG logo, and when adding links as text within the design, omit prefixes like “https.”
Following the presentations by both speakers, the session concluded with a short workshop in which the participants also took part.
Lessons from the CEE Youth Group by Nal Mencin and Nikos Likomitros
I was also surprised to be invited as a speaker to this event organized by Nal and Nikos. I gave a brief introduction about the CEE Youth Group, and then Nal and Nikos presented to the audience the group’s development process, the members of its working groups, and some examples of the social media activities carried out by the social media working group.
In this workshop, we split into 3–4 different groups and discussed the questions given to us under the headings “Youth Group” and “Social Media”, and we shared our ideas—the ones we said, “In my opinion…”—with our group members. After this extensive brainstorming session, it was quite enjoyable and enlightening to hear the ideas from each table.
Social time
This year’s Wikimania was once again very social. One day we got together with other young volunteers at a youth meetup, and another day I met with my volunteer friends with whom I’ve worked on joint friendship projects.
The Japan-Malaysia-Turkey Friendship Project came together again
As the team that established the Japan-Malaysia, Japan-Turkey, and Malaysia-Turkey friendship projects—which were first launched after Wikimania 2023 Singapore and have remained active every year since—we gathered once again for lunch.
Eugene from Japan, Taufik and Zahirul from Malaysia, and myself from Turkey spontaneously got together for lunch. While we were eating, we discussed—just as we had in previous years—what we should do in the coming term. Although we all want the Wiki edit-a-thons to continue, we also want to expand our activities to include slightly different themes (such as Commons photo walks). In addition, we agree that the WikiClubs should continue to collaborate with one another and build on these efforts even further in the future.
Outcome
Wikimania 2026 in Paris was quite different and very enriching, both in terms of the sessions and what I learned from other participants. Of course, I can’t fit everything I learned here into my Diff post, but just as I do every year, I wanted to document another Wikimedia event and leave a note for the future 🙂 Thank you to all the teams and volunteers who worked hard to organize Wikimania 2026 in Paris and to welcome us to the City of Light. See you next year in Santiago!
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