This Conversation Hour features Dumisani Ndubane, a long-time South African Wikimedian, and the director of Monitoring and Evaluation at MMG EARTH, who formerly worked with the Wikimedia Foundation in several roles, including as a monitoring and evaluation strategist for the Global Data and Insights Team. He will share his reflection on where the movement stands concerning the 2030 Strategy.

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In this conversation, Dumisani will share insights into the current phase of implementing the 2030 Strategy, including the strategic priorities shaping the Movement’s evolution and the key initiatives aimed at making Wikimedia movement more sustainable, inclusive, and equitable. We will also see how different Wikimedia communities and affiliates are contributing to the strategic recommendations and how collaboration, capacity-building, and shared leadership are essential to achieving the 2030 goals.

This conversation hour aimed at diving deep in the "Organizer Lab", a program by the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF), which aims at impactful content campaigns and strategies to improve technical and social workflow for organisers in the global Wikimedia movement. The Conversation Hour features Alexander D. Stinson, a Lead Program Strategist at the WMF, and a long-time Wikimedia contributor, voluntarily contributing as an administrator on English Wikipedia.

?'"`UNIQ--youtube-00000000-QINU`"'? Alexander has worked as a project manager for The Wikipedia Library, and supports GLAM-Wiki outreach and Wikipedia Education programs. He has significantly contributed in establishing a GLAM-Wiki team at the WMF, and has helped develop the research development program for The Wikipedia Library. He has a Masters degree from Kansas State University, where his research focused on cultural studies and the digital humanities.

In this edition of the Conversation Hour, we look forward to discussing advocacy and policy in open knowledge ecosystem. Our guest speaker is Catalina Frigerio, the director for Advocacy and Public Policy at Wikimedia Chile. ?'"`UNIQ--youtube-00000000-QINU`"'?

Note: Registration is mandatory. Visit this page to register.

This Conversation Hour features Abbad Diraneyya, a long-time Wikimedian, writer, and advocate for open knowledge. Active in the Wikimedia movement since 2009, he has contributed extensively to the Arabic Wikipedia and co-founded Wikimedia Levant. Beyond community building, Abbad is the author of The Story of Wikipedia in Arabic (حكاية ويكيبيديا العربية), a Creative Commons–licensed work that documents the growth of Arabic free knowledge online and reflects on the challenges of building collaborative knowledge projects in the region. He has also worked with the Wikimedia Foundation as a Knowledge Manager on the Movement Strategy & Governance team, supporting the development of the Movement Charter and global strategy initiatives. Alongside this, he has built expertise as a Conversational AI Designer, exploring how humans and machines interact through language.

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In today’s rapidly evolving digital world, where artificial intelligence is transforming how knowledge is produced and consumed, the risks of AI hallucinations and the need for robust fact-checking have never been greater. This session will explore how AI-generated content impacts the reliability of knowledge, the challenges it poses to Wikimedia’s mission of accuracy, and the opportunities to adapt fact-checking practices in the age of AI. Drawing on his unique experiences across Wikimedia, authorship, knowledge strategy, and AI design, Abbad will guide us through these critical questions and help us reflect on how communities can safeguard knowledge integrity.

Wikisource is a bridge between historical archives and modern accessibility, offering a platform where texts from diverse cultures and eras are preserved, digitized, and made freely available to the world. This Conversation Hour explores the significance of Wikisource in democratizing knowledge, fostering community-driven efforts to digitize and share invaluable textual heritage, and its impact on education, research, and cultural preservation. Join us to understand how Wikisource empowers communities, advances knowledge equity, and transforms archival materials into accessible resources for everyone.

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Our speaker, Satdeep Gill, a Program Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation’s Culture and Heritage initiative, brings unparalleled insight into Wikisource's relevance. With his extensive experience in promoting underrepresented languages and empowering communities to preserve their literary legacies, Satdeep will share practical strategies, inspiring stories, and a vision for how Wikisource contributes to advancing knowledge equity and accessibility globally.
Note: Registration is mandatory. Visit this page to register.

Bhopal Photo Event was a photographic event that happened between 15 and 20 October 2022, in Bhopal, the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and 131st largest city in the world. The event aimed to collect images from the city associated with the theme of DCW. Bhopal has had a nice history with the global Deobandi scholarship. According to author, Seema Alavi, "Most qaris in Lucknow, Bhopal, Deoband, Multan, and other parts of India that are today known for this talent owe their training to Kairanwi's madrasa." Kairanwi was a prominent Deobandi scholar and his Madrasa Saultiyah remains one of the prominent Deobandi institutions of the contemporary time. One Jamaluddin, who had served as the prime minister of the Bhopal State, was a pupil of Mamluk Ali Nanautawi. A number of institutes related to our theme are located in the city of Bhopal, thus allowing us to cover this gap as well. A total of 346 images were uploaded on Wikimedia Commons as a result of this event.

The Eighth DCW Conversation Hour aimed to explore the interconnections of books, institutions and Wikipedia. This conversation hour features Laurie Bridges, an Instruction and Outreach Librarian/Professor at the Oregon State University, who has an incredible experience of more than 25 years in instruction, outreach, marketing, and has been serving the OSU since early 2000.

Laurie is a Wikipedian, and the founding member of EveryBookItsReader, a global campaign that aims at every book having an article on Wikipedia. She was a member of the regional grants committee for United States and Canada from 2021 to 2023. She has co-authored Understanding How Students Develop: A Practical Guide for Librarians, and is the editor of 2021 work Wikipedia and academic libraries: a global project.

GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) institutions play a crucial role in preserving and sharing cultural heritage. These institutions can reach wider audiences through digital platforms, making underrepresented histories and artistic treasures more accessible than ever. This Conversation Hour will explore the significance of GLAM initiatives, focusing on how digital tools and open knowledge platforms enhance public engagement with cultural heritage. Using the Khalili Collections as a case study, we will discuss the impact of digitization, partnerships with Wikimedia, and strategies for making cultural and historical knowledge more widely available.

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Our speaker, Dr. Martin Poulter, a seasoned digital knowledge specialist, has worked extensively with GLAM institutions and is currently working as a Wikimedian in Residence at the Khalili Foundation to bridge the gap between academia, cultural institutions, and open knowledge platforms. With his deep expertise in digital humanities and Wikimedia collaborations, Dr. Poulter will provide insights into how GLAM institutions can partner with Wikimedia projects for mutual knowledge exchange. He will also share strategies for making cultural heritage more accessible, highlighting the role of Wikimedia in promoting knowledge equity.

Join us to explore how cultural treasures are transformed into accessible digital resources and discover the opportunities GLAM initiatives offer to shape open knowledge's future.
Note: Registration is mandatory. Visit this page to register.

Education and knowledge access are deeply interconnected, with classrooms playing a crucial role in fostering learning and innovation. This session, "Bridging Pedagogy and Innovation," featuring Dr. Swati Chawla, an Associate Professor and Assistant Director of the Centre for Learning and Innovative Pedagogies at OP Jindal Global University.

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Watch this dynamic session highlighting the innovative pedagogies.

This edition will explore how inclusive, learner-centered teaching practices can bridge the open knowledge ecosystem with local classrooms and the scientific community. Building on global initiatives like Reading Wikipedia in the Classrooms, this discussion will contribute to advancing DCW's Leadership and Skills Development Program and encourage innovative approaches to education.

Join us for an engaging conversation on shaping the future of learning.

Note: Registration is mandatory. Visit this page to register.

This conversation hour focuses about how strategic brand equity building and public relation activities can help communities and affiliates to amplify the impact of their Wikipedia projects. It featured Chitraparna Sinha, the Founder and Director of Lekhak.xyz, which draws its inspiration from the ancient art of storytelling to build brand equity.

Chitraparna is a communications and marketing professional with 14 years of experience working with international companies in various capacities, such as but not limited to, cross-border brand relaunch and executing growth strategy, intercultural communications, digital public relations campaigns, building stakeholder partnerships, content writing and marketing, search engine growth and engagement, community facilitation and engagement, brand voiceover and dubbing, community advocacy, and reputation management.

Chitraparna was the Payoneer (India) Brand Ambassador in 2015 & 2016, won the Most Influential Content Marketing Professional award from the World Marketing Congress and SMO Asia (2017), and numerous other recognition and citations. She has a Master’s degree in English literature from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

This Conversation Hour features Shanmugapriya, an Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Dhanbad. With a background spanning postdoctoral research at the University of Toronto Scarborough and Lancaster University, she brings rich international experience to her work. Her research intersects digital humanities, environmental humanities, and digital literature, with a strong interest in how technology mediates cultural expression and knowledge creation. She also serves as an interim executive committee member of DHARTI (Digital Humanities Alliance for Research and Teaching Innovations) and is a Research Fellow of the Electronic Literature Organization.

?'"`UNIQ--youtube-00000000-QINU`"'? As knowledge ecosystems increasingly shift online, questions of whose voices are represented, how systemic bias influences narratives, and how communities can reclaim storytelling spaces become increasingly urgent. In this session, we will explore the role of community-driven knowledge in resisting bias, the persistence of exclusionary structures across digital platforms, and the possibilities digital humanities offer for inclusive and equitable participation. Aligned with the Wikimedia 2030 Movement Strategy—particularly the goals of ensuring equity in decision-making, promoting knowledge equity, and innovating in free knowledge practices—this Conversation Hour will invite us to reflect on how Wikimedia communities can challenge systemic bias, amplify marginalized voices, and build more resilient and representative knowledge systems for the future. Drawing on her expertise at the crossroads of literature, technology, and culture, Shanmugapriya will guide us in rethinking the role of narratives in shaping free knowledge and in strengthening Wikimedia’s mission of equity and inclusion.

In this orientation program, we look forward to helping our new community members understand the dynamics of the Wikimedia ecosystem, its several projects, and in what capacities they can contribute within and outside the movement. The orientation program will also explore various initiatives of DCW and guide the members.

Conflict of interest on Wikipedia is described as "contributing to Wikipedia about yourself, family, friends, clients, employers, or your financial and other relationships." Contributing in this way is strongly discouraged on the encyclopedia. In this workshop, we look forward to exploring the COI question from a beginners aspect. We will also discuss paid editing and how contributions like this usually exploit neutral point of view, one of the five pillars of the encyclopedia.

The Deoband Community Wikimedia was established on July 31, 2021, to support the representation of knowledge related to global Muslim academia, history, culture, and heritage on Wikimedia projects. Over the years, we have initiated projects such as DCW Conversation Hour and Heritage Lens, and helped establish Wiki Clubs, including Wiki Club AMU, to achieve our goals.

We are celebrating our fifth anniversary on 1 August 2026. Kindly keep an eye on this page for more updates.

The Deoband Community Wikimedia was established on July 31, 2021 to support the representation of knowledge related to global Muslim academia, history, culture and heritage on Wikimedia projects. Over the years, we have initiated projects such as DCW Conversation Hour and Heritage Lens, and helped establish Wiki Clubs including Wiki Club AMU and Wiki Club Jamia, to achieve our goals.

We are celebrating our four years on 31 July 2025. Kindly keep an eye on this page for more updates.

The Deoband Community Wikimedia was established on July 31, 2021 to support the representation of knowledge related to global Muslim academia, history, culture and heritage on Wikimedia projects. Over the years, we have initiated projects such as DCW Conversation Hour and Heritage Lens, and helped establish Wiki Clubs including Wiki Club AMU and Wiki Club Jamia, to achieve our goals.

We contributed to the creation of Wikipedia 101 Education Set for Beginners in collaboration with Turkish Wikimedians and NDEC WERT, and initiated our own Leadership Development and Skills Infrastructure Plan. On July 28, 2024, we held the 19th edition of our DCW Conversation Hour, and several volunteers from Wiki Club Jamia completed the 500 edit challenge.

Our staff members and volunteers have collectively made a significant impact over the past three years. As we turned 3 on 31 July 2024, we are celebrating this milestone with a special event on August 6, 2024, in New Delhi. We have exciting surprises in store, including exclusive gifts from the Wikipedia Store and a delicious birthday cake!

We invite our Delhi-based volunteers to join us on the afternoon of August 6 for a two-hour celebration to make this occasion truly special.

Note

Registration for this event is mandatory. Please use this link to register.

Together with Kashmiri Wikimedians User Group, we invite Kashmiri language enthusiasts to contribute in creating and improving content related to global Muslim academia, history, culture and heritage, and scholarship, on the Kashmiri language Wikipedia. Translations of adequately sourced articles from other Wikipedias are also welcome. Please make sure you have an active account which is not blocked on Kashmiri Wikipedia and submit your articles at the Fountain tool between 12:00 AM (11 June) and 11:59 PM (25 June). Previously existing articles can be submitted if they are improved by at least two paragraphs. Should you have any questions, please drop an email at kashmiriwikipediagmail.com

We selectively have three prizes in the shape of vouchers to help you celebrate:

• INR 3000 - First
• INR 2000 - Second
• INR 1500 - Third

Together with Kashmiri Wikimedians User Group, we invite Kashmiri language enthusiasts to contribute in creating and improving content related to global Muslim academia, history, culture and heritage, and scholarship, on the Kashmiri language Wikipedia. Translations of adequately sourced articles from other Wikipedias are also welcome. Please make sure you have an active account which is not blocked on Kashmiri Wikipedia and submit your articles at the Fountain tool between 12:00 AM (11 September) and 11:59 PM (25 September). Previously existing articles can be submitted if they are improved by at least two paragraphs. Should you have any questions, please drop an email at kashmiriwikipediagmail.com

We selectively have three prizes in the shape of vouchers to help you celebrate:

• INR 3000 - First
• INR 2000 - Second
• INR 1500 - Third

Together with the Kashmiri Wikimedians User Group, we invite Kashmiri language enthusiasts to contribute to creating and improving content related to global Muslim academia, history, culture, and heritage, and scholarship, on the Kashmiri language Wikipedia. Translations of adequately sourced articles from other Wikipedias are also welcome. Please make sure you have an active account that is not blocked on Kashmiri Wikipedia and submit your articles at the Fountain tool between 12:01 AM (11 May) and 11:59 PM (10 June). Previously existing articles can be submitted if they are improved by at least two paragraphs. Should you have any questions, please drop an email at kashmiriwikipediagmail.com

We have three prizes in the shape of vouchers to help you celebrate:

• INR 3000 - First
• INR 2000 - Second
• INR 1000 - Third
• INR 500 each for the next three participants.

• You need to have a valid Wikimedia account. See this page for detailed advice.
• You are free to create new entries or improve existing entries on the Kashmiri Wikipedia (available at ks.wikipedia.org), as long as you follow core Wikipedia principles of neutrality, reliability, and verifiability.
• The contest is running on the Kashmiri language Wikipedia, and only entries from there are valid for submission. The articles must have been created or improved between Monday, 11 May 2026, 12:01 am and Wednesday, 10 June 2026, 11:59 pm IST, with a least of 200 words.
• The entries must be related to the theme envisioned by the Deoband Community Wikimedia on Vision & Objectives. The pool is diverse: biographies, Islamic history, literature, books, and much more.
• Submit your entries for evaluation on this dedicated Fountain tool.

This Conversation Hour features Puthiya Purayil Sneha, a researcher working in the areas of digital media and cultures, open knowledge, arts and humanities scholarship and pedagogy, gender, and digital rights, currently serving as a Senior Research Manager for the Open Knowledge Initiatives (OKI) Program at International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIITH). She formerly worked with the Centre for Internet and Society for more than a decade.

?'"`UNIQ--youtube-00000000-QINU`"'? In this conversation, Sneha will reflect on the evolving landscape of the digital knowledge commons, especially in the context of expanding digitisation efforts and the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. She will discuss how ongoing archival and open knowledge projects contribute to sustaining the commons, the emerging challenges related to ownership, access, and ethics, and the broader questions about the nature of knowledge creation and dissemination in multilingual contexts. We will also explore how underrepresented Indian languages navigate these technological shifts, the implications for equity and participation, and what these developments mean for the future of open digital knowledge ecosystems.

This conversation hour is credited as the first standard DCW Conversation Hour. The conversation focused on the effect of offline gatherings of Wikimedia communities, and to know merits and demerits of the offline meetings. The conversation featured Nicole Schwitter from the University of Warwick, who is a sociologist with a strong focus on quantitative and computational methods.

?'"`UNIQ--youtube-00000000-QINU`"'? Nicole has focused on German Wikipedia in her PhD thesis: “The role of offline ties in online communities: the case of Wikipedia”. The conversation hour presentation can be accessed from here for free.

Evaluate, Iterate and Adapt is one of the core Movement Strategy Recommendations which the Wikimedia movement hopes to achieve by 2030. In this edition of DCW Conversation Hour, featuring Jessica Stephenson, the Lead Learning and Evaluation Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation, we look forward to exploring best evaluation practices.

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Jessica has an experience of over 17 years in project design, management and evaluation in issues related to education, peace building, improving livelihoods, youth and gender equity. A primary feature of her work "has been empowering diverse communities through innovative movement strategies."

This edition of DCW Conversation Hour aimed to understand the dynamics of events and how we can apply and iterate learnings from past events and create something better than the previous. It featured Butch Bustria, a Filipino information technology professional based in Singapore, and a long-time Wikimedia contributor, prominently known for his contributions to the ESEAP Wikimedia Hub. Butch, as a Wikimania Singapore Event Lead, shared his learnings and the approaches his team used in designing the conference's event strategy.

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In the 15th DCW Conversation Hour, we look forward to exploring Wikimedia User Experience, and how particularly Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) engages and works to achieve the best of it. The conversation features Amal Ramadan, a Senior Community Relations Specialist at the WMF, where she supports the i0S and Android App Teams by building a bridge between the users' experiences and requests to enhance the apps.

?'"`UNIQ--youtube-00000000-QINU`"'? A wide majority of contributors on Wikimedia projects edit using mobile phones and face a bulk of challenges due to lack of features and compatibility. This conversation aims to address some of those challenges and understand the dynamics behind engaging and retaining users using "Wikimedia Mobile Apps". If the meeting asks for a passcode, it is 706338.

In this conversation hour, we look forward to exploring Community Wishlist, a forum where Wikimedians share ideas or "Wishes" in order "to improve our product and technology, and then collaborate with each other and the Wikimedia Foundation to prioritize and solve these opportunities together." The Community Wishlist was launched in July 2024.

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Our guest Runa Bhattacharjee serves as the Senior Director of Product - Languages and Content Growth, at the Wikimedia Foundation. She has been working on various things related to Localization since 2001. At the WMF, she supports the operations of Language and Product Localization, Community Tech, and Structured Content.

We are inviting Urdu-language enthusiasts to participate in a 15-day-long content contribution drive on Urdu Wikipedia and Urdu Wikiquote, and help improve the digital footprint of the language. The themes include classical Indian Urdu scholarship, academia, books, institutions, and the development of the Urdu language, as well as contemporary works related to the language.

Urdu Wikipedia

Contribute new entries or improve existing entries with more than 150 words (excluding citations) and then submit your entries on Fountain dashboard.

Urdu Wikiquote

Contribute more than two quotations on a single article (new/old), and maintain a list of your contributions on your sub-page. Kindly avoid poetry. To create your sub-page, please follow this link

Prizes

We have top-three prizes for both the contests

• First: 3000 INR
• Second: 1800 INR
• Third: 1200 INR

This Conversation Hour features John Cummings, a Wikimedian in Residence and passionate advocate for open knowledge. John has worked with some of the world’s leading institutions, including UNESCO and multiple UN agencies, where he helped make vast amounts of knowledge freely available on Wikimedia platforms.

With over a decade of experience, John has played a key role in initiatives like Wiki4Women and Wikimedia’s collaborations with organizations like WHO, UNEP, and FAO. His work bridges the gap between global institutions and the Wikimedia movement, making him the perfect person to guide us through: What does a Wikimedian in Residence do?

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As the Wikimedia movement thrives on collaboration—not just among volunteers, but with institutions that hold vast repositories of knowledge. One powerful bridge between these institutions and the Wikimedia ecosystem is the Wikimedian in Residence (WiR). In this session, John Cummings will make us understand the scope, impact, and challenges of the WiR role as well as how it empowers both Wikimedia communities and institutions to collaborate for the public good.

An in-person and online general meetup of the DCW volunteers in New Delhi, organised as a part of the February-July 2023 activity plan. We partially discussed the ideas that originated from the initial observations of our strategic research study and decided on which ideas could be adopted to achieve a better research outcome. Such an outcome, which adds value to the DCW, respects the value of community resources and also makes way for the strategic development of other small affiliates.

We discussed the ideas that are being researched during the first month of the strategic research and shared some analytical points about our Bhopal Photo Event. An idea was put forward to form a single-participant-based photographic program in which a participant would be selected to travel to a specific place to gather thematic photographs and then upload them to Commons. It was said that this saves both community resources and the outcome would likely be equal or somewhat equal to the Bhopal Photo Event in terms of achieving the "image-target".

Train a trainer, a type of mentorship program, was discussed during this meet-up. It was suggested to go through already available versions of this program and implement it at the DCW, and subsequently, its effects and outcomes would be noticed. The outcomes are subject to the six-monthly strategic research work.

We did a short photowalk towards Jamia Millia Islamia at the end of the meetup.

A mini-hackathon and training session, collaboratively organised with Indic Wikimedia tech community, in which Indic MediaWiki Developer User Group's co-founder Jay Prakash will help our participants explore technical aspects of MediaWiki. We will talk about Phabricator, tools, bots, and more. We will also host a session on reducing backlog for translation administrators. No hard-coding will be done.

This Conversation Hour features Suyash Dwivedi, a long-time Wikimedian who has been contributing to the Hindi Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects since 2010. A dedicated editor and community builder, Suyash is also the Vice Chair of the Affiliations Committee (AffCom) and actively associated with the Commons Wikimedia User Group and Hindi Wikimedians User Group. He is known not only for his editorial work but also for his significant role in organizing outreach initiatives, capacity-building workshops, and collaborations across the Indian Wikimedia landscape.

He has been deeply involved in conversations and initiatives around Affiliate Health, contributing to the strategic development of healthier and more sustainable Wikimedia affiliates. His dual experience as an editor and community leader brings a valuable perspective to ongoing efforts around strengthening the Wikimedia movement in India.

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In this session, Suyash Dwivedi will reflect on the concept of Affiliate Health. The discussion will explore what makes Wikimedia affiliates healthy and sustainable, encompassing governance, inclusivity, programmatic impact, and community engagement. Drawing from his extensive experience, Suyash will also highlight the unique challenges emerging communities face and share ideas for building stronger, more resilient Wikimedia affiliates.

Join us for an insightful session that delves into the process of mainitaining Affiliate Health, the criteria for its sustainability, and the challenges faced by affiliates.
Note: Registration is mandatory. Visit this page to register.

This conversatoin aimed to explore the impact of Wikipedia on Non-Conventional Education. The conversation featured Bilal Ali Ansari, an Islamic scholar, who chairs the Academic Advisory Committee and Department of Hadith at Darul Qasim College, in Illinois. Titled as Mawlana, Bilal Ali Ansari has degrees in Computer Engineering and Applied Behavioral Sciences from the University of Illinois and National-Louis University in Lisle, respectively. He is an academician and author and has contributed in several works. His publications include Islamic Perspectives on Psychological and Spiritual Well-Being and Treatment and Exploring the Role of Mental Status & Expert Testimony in the Islamic Judicial Process.

In this conversation, we explored various methods adopted at Darul Qasim College, and in particular, how the DCW can contribute in shaping the environment concerning Wikipedia in such "non-conventional educational institutions".

Effective and well defined communication plans and strategies are essential for successful outreach and consistent growth of any initiative. In this edition of DCW Conversation Hour, featuring Rachit Sharma, Senior Global Movement Communications Specialist (South Asia) at the Wikimedia Foundation. The agenda of the hour included discussion communication in general, the necessity of conveying impact, and examples of successful communication plans. Our guest elaborated on strategic communication planning, highlighting essential elements such as the sender, medium, external factors, receiver, and feedback channels.

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The conversation hour also covered multifaceted benefits of communicating impact, including increased awareness, advocacy, and community engagement. Rachit shared examples of successful communication (such as Wiki Minute Videos) strategies that have fostered greater support from diverse communities. Prsentation slides for the hour are available here.

This edition of the DCW Conversation Hour will explore the operational realities of key administrative roles within the Wikimedia movement. Our guest speaker, Martin Rulsch, will share firsthand insights into the day-to-day work of Stewards, address common community questions, and break down the technical requirements for local admin rights.

Martin is one of the longest-serving Wikimedia stewards, who received the Wikimedia Laureate award for 2024. ?'"`UNIQ--youtube-00000000-QINU`"'? This edition of the DCW Conversation Hour is supported by Indic MediaWiki Developers User Group, and will be conducted on Google Meet.

On 12 August 2021, an introductory meet-up session was held online on the Google Meetup app for about 40 minutes. The user group was introduced briefly to the attendees and several strategies were discussed. Among the ideas included to limit the focus to English and Urdu Wikipedia. Attendees included Sumaiya and Khaatir.

On 20 November 2021, an introductory meet-up session was held online on the Google Meetup app for about 40 minutes. The future and the focus was discussed. Discussions included about an offline workshop in Deoband, in collaboration with the Bayt al-Hikmah Deoband, in February 2022. Participants included Aafi, Bilal, Jabir, Kaunain, and Nazia.

This meetup aims to support making of a local community together in collaboration with the Kashmiri Wikimedians User Group. The objectives of the meetup include discussing issues which have an equal impact on the development and growth of the DCW and of the Kashmiri Wikimedians. Refreshments will be served. If you have any queries, please send an email to aafidcwwiki.org

This conversation hour features Jon Harald Søby, a bureaucrat and administrator on the Norwegian (Bokmål) Wikipedia, as well as a former administrator on Wikidata. He is a founder member of Wikimedia Norge and has been working there since August 2016. With considerable expertise in multilingual Wikimedia projects, he has contributed to initiatives that promote linguistic variety, accessibility, and the inclusion of underrepresented languages into Wikimedia platforms. His expertise in Wikidata and structured data also contributes to improving the discoverability and sustainability of linguistic content online.

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In this session, Jon Harald Søby will discuss how the Wikimedia Incubator supports the growth of new language communities and the process of developing test projects into full Wikimedia wikis. Wikimedia Incubator is a foundational space where new language communities can build Wikimedia projects before launching as independent wikis. The Incubator supports many projects, including Wikipedia, Wiktionary, and others, in languages not yet represented on the main Wikimedia platforms. He’ll also share insights from his work with the Language Committee and offer guidance for communities aiming to launch new Wikimedia projects in underrepresented languages.

Join us for an insightful session that delves into the process of starting a test project, the criteria for its growth and approval, and the challenges faced by emerging language communities.
Note: Registration is mandatory. Visit this page to register.

As we get closer to the ratification of Movement Charter, it is crucial to understand its impact and implications as it "lays out the values, principles, and policy basis for Wikimedia Movement structures, including the roles and responsibilities of existing and new entities, and of decision-making bodies in the shared vision of free knowledge". In this edition of DCW Conversation Hour, we aim to get through some of those discussions with our guest speaker, Manavpreet Kaur, who is one of the members of Movement Charter Drafting Committee.

Wikiquote is a free online compendium of sourced notable quotations. We invite you all to contribute towards improving Urdu Wikiquote throughout this month, and stand a chance to win prizes.

• Create new pages for personalities or works that do not yet exist on Wikiquote.
• Add new quotations for notable authors, books, films, historical figures, scientists, poets, politicians, etc.
• Improve citations, ensuring every quote has accurate sources.
• Expand stub pages with additional quotes and biography/context.
• Correct inaccuracies or remove unsourced quotes.

• First: 2500
• Second: 1900
• Third: 1500
• Fourth: 800
• Fifth: 800

Prizes will be provided in the form of gift cards/vouchers.

Celebrate knowledge, literature, and the power of words as we contribute sourced and impactful quotes to Wikiquote

The July 2023 DCW Conversation Hour aimed at exploring the role of The Wikipedia Library (TWL) in the global Wikimedia movement. TWL is an open research hub through which active contributors on Wikimedia projects gain access to the important reliable but paywalled sources for free in order to improve the encyclopedia.

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The conversation hour featured Sam Walton, the Product Manager at Wikimedia Foundation, who has been working with TWL project since 2016. He has been an active contributor to Wikimedia projects since December 2011, and has helped as an administrator on the English Wikipedia since 2014.

The conversation hour covered an overview of TWL, including its purpose, usage guidelines, and tips for maximizing its benefits. The speaker provided a live demonstration, showcasing how to access the library’s collections and utilize advanced tools such as integrated search. Additionally, participants learnt how they can contribute by suggesting new collections to be added to the library.

Partnerships and collaborations significantly contribute to the advancement of our movement. This conversation hour aims to explore the dynamics of partnerships, ethics and strategies behind successful collaborative programs, and to create a shared resource for Wikimedia entities to help them develop tool kits for these programs. ?'"`UNIQ--youtube-00000000-QINU`"'? This conversation features Praveen Das, who serves as a Lead Partnerships Manager for South Asia at the Wikimedia Foundation, where he pursues strategic opportunities to work with mission-aligned companies, nonprofit organizations, governments, and other groups operating at the intersection of technology and education to advance the free knowledge mission, as a part of his role.

This Conversation Hour features Pavan Santhosh, an experienced Wikimedian and open knowledge practitioner, currently serving as the Program Manager for the Open Knowledge Initiatives at IIIT Hyderabad, continuing his work at the intersection of open knowledge, communities, and institutions. He formerly worked with Access To Knowledge (CIS-A2K) as a Program Manager from April 2023 to April 2025, and before that served at Quora as a Community Manager and Legal Support Specialist between August 2019 and January 2023.

?'"`UNIQ--youtube-00000000-QINU`"'? In this conversation, Pavan will focus on reimagining how Wikimedia communities engage and collaborate beyond the movement, moving past traditional outreach models toward more meaningful and reciprocal partnerships. He will also emphasize the importance of understanding the needs, priorities, and contexts of external communities—rather than merely inviting them to contribute—so that collaborations are built on shared goals and mutual benefit. Further, the conversation will address open licensing, re-licensing, and knowledge sharing practices, with a particular focus on how academic institutions, archives, libraries, and galleries can be encouraged to participate willingly in open knowledge creation by responsibly opening up their collections. Through these reflections, the session aims to foster dialogue on sustainable, inclusive, and two-way collaborations that strengthen the open knowledge ecosystem beyond Wikimedia.

This edition of the DCW Conversation Hour will deconstruct the successful revival of the Wikimedians in Sicily and the growth of Wiki Sud Italia. It features Lea Lacroix, Community Engagement Consultant, founder of Wiki Sud Italia and Wikimedia Consultants Network. ?'"`UNIQ--youtube-00000000-QINU`"'? The conversation will explore the specific methods used to re-engage volunteers, secure resources, and build lasting regional partnerships, and is specially designed for community organizers, movement leaders, and volunteers eager to learn proven methods for sustainable growth.

The scope of Wikimedia Commons is often contested, which makes this conversation important. Simply known as Commons, the project is one of the largest repository of freely licensed media. Initiated in September 2004, Wikimedia Commons hosts over 110 million media files as of now. However, limitations exist as to what can be uploaded on the website. In this workshop, we look forward to exploring these limitations and understand the scope of Wikimedia Commons from a very basic perspective.

The 30 January 2023 Strategic Research Meet focused on the beginning, chapterization, and the explicit methodology the affiliate would take while conducting its proposed research entitled Defining methods for the strategic development of the Deoband Wikimedia: increasing quality-oriented knowledge and participation proposed in the February-July 2023 plans.

• A brief presentation and explanation of the research proposal and what we want to achieve from it.
• There are several aspects of the research that have not been worked upon; however, relevant ideas to "how the research should be done" were brought into question.
• We felt that the research work by Wiki Loves Monuments International team on Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity is something that might give us a direction. We navigated through their interim and the the final report available publicly on Wikimedia Commons.
• We also discussed certain ideas related to the objectives and decided that we will divide the research work into about six chapters. The first chapter would discuss the DCW and what it has done so far, followed by a scrutiny of the methods that it has adopted in its first year of recognition with AffCom. The following chapters will subsequently discuss and define methods for its strategic development as indicated in the proposal.

Given the importance of sustainability and accessibility in open knowledge, this edition of the DCW Conversation Hour features Stacy Burnett, a Senior Product Manager at ITHAKA, the parent company of the digital library JSTOR. Stacy, with an MBA in Sustainability and experience managing JSTOR, has also contributed to JSTOR Prison Education, highlighting her commitment to knowledge access for all.

?'"`UNIQ--youtube-00000000-QINU`"'? This conversation draws inspiration from one of the ten Wikimedia 2030 Movement Strategy Recommendations and emphasizes the need for sustainable strategies to maintain vibrant knowledge-sharing initiatives. In this conversation, we will explore collaborative models, and community engagement to keep these initiatives thriving, drawing on Stacy’s valuable insights.

This is the third workshop hosted by Wiki Club Jamia, in collaboration with CIS-A2K, DCW, and the Eng Res Co (English Researchers Collective) at the Department of English in Jamia Millia Islamia. The workshop is being conducted as a part of CIS-A2K's She Leads program and primarly targets at fostering female leadership at Wiki Club Jamia.

Guidelines for participating

• We expect you to be a current or former student of the Jamia Millia Islamia.
• We expect you to confirm your participation either by email or through the Club's WhatsApp group. Click here to join.
• We expect you carry a laptop for better experience.
• Refreshments will be provided. Any queries should be addressed to Affaf Nasir (Nasir.affafgmail.com), Humaira Ali (iamhumairaaligmail.com), and/or to aafidcwwiki.org.

The talk shines a light on how to engage productively and constructively with the grants processes, both as an applicant and a reviewer. Rohini spoke about some of the nuances of a publicly conducted processes for grants applications and review, and provided some practical tips on writing grants applications and reviewing them, along with some examples about what to avoid while writing and reviewing them. Rohini has been a Wikimedian for more than 14 years. In this time, she served on the erstwhile Simple Annual Plan Grants Committee for a few years and co-applied for one Project Grant, which was successfully granted. This conversation was an updated version of the talk she delivered at the CIS-A2K Train The Trainer 2018.

A related presentation is available on Wikimedia Commons

This edition of DCW Conversation Hour features Bobby Shabangu, a South African community leader and Wikimedian, who serves on the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees. He occupies a key leadership in Wikimedia South Africa's board and has been its president, and has also chaired the WikiIndaba Steering Committee.

Bobby will address several key questions related to the state of global South communities in the Wikimedia ecosystem, and help us identify solutions.

This conversation aimed at exploring different tools that are available to event organizers in the global Wikimedia movement. This conversation features Ilana Fried, a Senior Product Manager at the Wikimedia Foundation, where she works on the Campaigns Product team.

Ilana’s team builds and improves software tools for campaign organizers. She has also served in the Community Tech Team as a product manager. She would enlighten us about several tools that make tedious works easy, most notably those on which her team is working.

We are pleased to host the third edition of our residential leadership & capacity development program, Train a Wikipedian, which serves as a dedicated space for equipping participants with essential leadership skills and knowledge to effectively navigate and contribute to open ecosystems, with a particular focus on the Wikimedia movement. The key objectives of the program include providing a foundational understanding of the ecosystem's dynamics, developing leadership skills through practical training, facilitating equitable access and utilization of opportunities within the ecosystem for individual and collective benefit, and fostering critical decision-making abilities within a collaborative environment to address community challenges related to this domain.

Program schedule will be available very soon on Meta Wiki.

We are pleased to host the first edition of our residential leadership & capacity development program, TaW, which serves as a dedicated space for equipping participants with essential leadership skills and knowledge to effectively navigate and contribute to open ecosystems, with a particular focus on the Wikimedia movement. The key objectives of the program include providing foundational understanding of the ecosystem's dynamics, developing leadership skills through practical training, facilitating equitable access and utilization of opportunities within the ecosystem for individual and collective benefit and fostering critical decision-making abilities within a collaborative environment to address community challenges related to this domain.

Program schedule is available on Meta Wiki.

We are pleased to host the second edition of our residential leadership & capacity development program, Train a Wikipedian, which serves as a dedicated space for equipping participants with essential leadership skills and knowledge to effectively navigate and contribute to open ecosystems, with a particular focus on the Wikimedia movement. The key objectives of the program include providing foundational understanding of the ecosystem's dynamics, developing leadership skills through practical training, facilitating equitable access and utilization of opportunities within the ecosystem for individual and collective benefit and fostering critical decision-making abilities within a collaborative environment to address community challenges related to this domain.

Program schedule will be very soon available on Meta Wiki.

This conversation aimed at exploring transformational leadership in global education. The conversation features Nichole Saad, who formerly led the Education team at the Wikimedia Foundation. She established Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom program which helped train more than 50 trainers in 30 countries reaching more than 7,000 teachers.

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Nichole Saad is an experienced educator with nearly 20 years of teaching and leadership experience across 9 countries. As Founder of the Open Learning Collective, Nichole is passionate about transforming lives through equity in education and fostering transformative leadership. Through the Open Learning Collective, Nichole helps education leaders develop innovative education programs, empower teachers with effective training, and navigate complex education policies.

This session, organized by Wiki Club AMU, will provide a deep dive into Wikipedia's policies and guidelines aimed at fostering inclusivity and combating systemic bias. Participants will learn how to identify and create content that represents diverse knowledge, cultures, and communities, with a special focus on local heritage and underrepresented groups.

This conversation hour aimed to explore the role of digital audio in today’s world, and how it can serve as the printing press for the oral culture. The conversation features Marcel Heyne, an internet entrepreneur and co-founder of the Audiopedia Foundation. Marcel’s vision and efforts with Audiopedia have been globally recognized.

Audiopedia Foundation uses accessible digital audio tools to champion marginalized women, empower through knowledge, and lay the foundation for global gender equality. It was audited and endorsed by the UNDP in 2022, and it earned a place in their prestigious Digital-X catalogue – a collection of groundbreaking digital solutions designed to further the Sustainable Development Goals.

This edition of the conversation features Anusha Alikhan, who serves as Chief Communications Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation. In this session we will explore how Wikimedia communications is evolving to meet rapid changes in technology, information ecosystems, and global public trust. ​We will dive into what it means to be "intentional messengers," with a dedicated focus on lessons for South Asian communities. ?'"`UNIQ--youtube-00000000-QINU`"'? The discussion will cover how to align affiliates, volunteers, and partners to tell our story coherently, respond to external challenges, and safeguard Wikipedia’s vital role as a global public good for generations to come.

Between lectures. Between deadlines. Between conversations. There exists a quiet world waiting to be seen.

This contest encourages participants to pause, observe, and capture: Architecture : Heritage structures, corridors, arches, domes, doorways, shadows, textures, and historical character. Greenery : Gardens, tree-lined avenues, seasonal blooms, morning dew, and nature reclaiming quiet corners. Geometry : Patterns, symmetry, repetition, reflections, leading lines, perspectives, and abstract campus compositions.

Capture the campus. Frame the in-between.

An open photography contest on Wikimedia Commons, organized by Wiki Club Jamia. The contest is open to bonafide students of the university, and has exciting prizes for top winners.

You will need to have an active account on Wikimedia Commons. Kindly create one using this link. It is advised to use an anonymous username of individual nature instead of your real name. For more detailed information about the contest, kindly skim through Wiki Clicks Jamia on Wikimedia Commons. Images are to be submitted through this wizard only. Please submit your interest of participation through this form

You may connect with Wiki Club Jamia through its community group on WhatsApp, and social accounts on Facebook and Instagram.