From Closing Tags to Opening Collaborations: WikiCelebrating Mārtiņš Bruņenieks

From a single contribution made nearly 20 years ago to becoming one of the most respected Wikimedians in the Central Eastern European region (CEE), Mārtiņš Bruņenieks (user:Papuass) has taken on many roles: administrator, article author, regional connector, campaign organizer, and translator. During this CEE Meeting 2024, the regional community honored his contributions to the Wikimedia Movement through WikiCelebrate. 

Learn more about this Latvian contributor, with more than 155 000 contributions spanning across the Wikimedia projects, and join the celebrations! 

Mārtiņš made his first contribution in 2005, just two years after his home project, Latvian Wikipedia was created. It was a simple maintenance edit – adding a missing closing tag in an image gallery. But the satisfaction of successfully fixing something in an online encyclopedia sparked his desire to edit more. A couple of months later, his first articles were created, primarily focused on student organizations and a popular sport in Latvia—ice hockey. Over the years, the number and thematic scope of his articles grew: he is now the author of more than 3,000 articles in Latvian Wikipedia across various topics. Readers can learn from him about a Croatian folk dance, a lake in Azerbaijani, a British throne succession, or Latvian female BMX racer, and many, many other topics. 

Mārtiņš’ impact extends beyond enriching Wikipedia’s content. Over time, he became engaged in more technical and maintenance tasks, including patrolling recent changes on Wikipedia and combating vandalism. In 2010, Mārtiņš became an administrator of Latvian Wikipedia, giving him the tools to enhance the project’s safety. He also contributes to interface translations for MediaWiki and related software. His contributions can also be found on Wikimedia Commons, where he uploads either his own stunning nature photos or high-quality content from open sources. Additionally, Mārtiņš is a passionate Wikidatian, working on items related to Latvia, uploading open data sets, and curating cultural heritage items for Latvian Wiki Loves Monuments. He is also a contributor to Wikifunctions, a project he actively promotes within the regional community.

The CEE region loves campaigns and Mārtiņš is no exception. He helped to organize several editions of Wiki Loves Monuments and Wiki Loves Earth. “I discovered that one of the best feelings is to observe new images being uploaded every day in those campaigns”, he says. 

However, the campaign that Mārtiņš has been most engaged with is the regionally beloved CEE Spring, one of the largest writing contests in the wiki-world. Each year, the communities of Central and Eastern Europe come together during CEE Spring to write articles about each other in different versions of Wikipedia. This year alone, the campaign brought together 36 Wikipedia communities and resulted in over 10,000 new articles.

Mārtiņš has been active in CEE Spring since its inception in 2015. Initially, he helped organize CEE Spring within the Latvian community, but later joined the international organizing team, helping to make the contest a joyful and productive regional event year after year.

As a community bridge-builder, Mārtiņš wants the Latvian wiki-community to access the knowledge and discussions happening in the wider wiki-world. He enjoys connecting with the global movement and then bringing that knowledge back to his community: “As a frequent attendee of conferences, which are vital for my motivation, I also feel the need to share my knowledge,” he comments.

Thank you, Mārtiņš, for all that you do. We celebrate your work today and every day!

And if you know any other Wikimdians who should be celebrated, recommend them for celebration!