Recap of WikiConference India 2026 from Kochi

The WikiConference India 2026, held from 4th-6th September in Kochi, India, was a much-needed event to evaluate, understand, and face the challenges and opportunities in front of South Asian Wikimedia contributors in the era of fast-changing internet. With the theme “Reimagining the Knowledge Commons”, the conference brought the participants from various Indic language communities to discuss the strategies required to strengthen presence and contribute meaningfully to the knowledge commons. With around 200 attendees from 5? South Asian countries, the three-day conference brought together the people, ideas, and discussions which would be instrumental in the shaping of the Wikimedia ecosystem in the subcontinent. 

For reference, the term ‘knowledge commons’ refers to information, data, and content that is collectively owned and managed by a community of users, particularly over the Internet. This includes open-knowledge Wikimedia platforms, supported by communities of contributors from all over the world. 

The programs: hubbub around current projects and speculations about the future

The program-vision was shared on Day 1 to kick-start the discussion on knowledge commons and the issues and anxieties around it in 2026.’The Goose and the Common’ (an English folk song from the 18th century about the social injustice caused by the privatization of common land during the enclosures in England) was introduced to incite conversations and insights on the issues around of privatization of public good and property, including intellectual property. Discussions around the issues with generative AI, questions around the reliability of online information, and the need to pivot towards human-created knowledge forms including the variety of underrepresented languages, culture, knowledge forms including orally-transferred knowledge unfolded from here. 

The conference focused on four major objectives: Community leadership in the age of AI, New models of participation, Regional languages & local knowledge, and Bridging knowledge gaps. Though separate, all of these objectives are inter-related, as reflected in the conference program. They share the common goal of moving past potential threats to knowledge created by the Indic communities and emphasizing on the overall composition of the various knowledge systems as represented in heritage and memory carried by non-textual mediums like oral culture, broadening understanding of what makes a commons, knowledge creation, tools and technology, and community pathways. 

Through the three-day conference various pressing issues were presented and discussed, during the sessions, discussions and presentations were ambitiously placed as parallel sessions in four separate halls. For instance, the interactive activity ‘State of the Indian Wikis’ demonstrated the health of individual Indic Wikis against two categories: a. Against the history of the wiki and b. Against peers i.e. wikis with similar demography. Panel discussions emphasized on areas requiring bridging of gaps, for instance the ‘’Who Leads the Commons? Women in Wikimedia’ discussed the challenges and solutions to bridging the gender gap.

There were several presentations by community contributors on initiatives undertaken by them via lightning talks, presentations, demonstrations and workshops- from GLAM projects like museum partnerships to bridging accessibility gaps for local languages. Workshops and discussions around relatively new Wikimedia initiatives like WikiLinkua and Schoolwiki. Demonstrations and discussions around utilizing tools, open source solutions were plentiful. There were several sessions speculating and hoping about the future of the communities- visions with regards to what the future of the commons might look like, future conferences etc. 

The people and the culture at WCI 2026

The participants and partners attending the conference had various insights about the conference, the program, and new directions the commons would take. While several emphasized on the importance of human-created knowledge and the need to safeguard the ecosystem that encourages such knowledge-production, others appreciated the emphasis and exposure to various exciting projects and the diversity of South Asian communities- the attendees being only representative of the whole. 

Local organizers (KWUG) ensured that the attendees get to experience Keralam; the host state’s various socio-cultural practices, from the sumptuous Sadhya (traditional vegetarian dishes and side-dishes usually served on a banana leaf as lunch) to the conclusion of the conference with cultural performance native to Keralam; Ottanthullal, a 18th century dance form. The participants enjoyed this performance demonstrating ample movements, acting, and peppering of humor- though the lyrics were in Malayalam, the expressions intrigued the spectators crossing linguistic boundaries. Though the conference concluded there, the discussions hopefully haven’t!