Deoband Community Wikimedia Turns 5: Celebrating Five Years of Free Knowledge and Looking to the Horizon

Deoband Community Wikimedia Celebrates its 5th Anniversary

1 August 2026, Aafi, Founder and Chair, Executive Board.

On 31 July 2026, Deoband Community Wikimedia (DCW) completed five years as an organized Wikimedia community. On 1 August 2026, community members and editors held a 3-hour event in Nehru Place, New Delhi, marking the anniversary and discussing plans.

Established on 31 July 2021, DCW began as a group of three people, recruiting more than 40 active volunteer members who contribute across Wikimedia projects and represent the community at major Wikimedia spaces like Wikimanias and WikiConferences. Among the prominent DCW initiatives are the DCW Conversation Hour, Heritage Lens, and WikiClubs like Wiki Club AMU.

What did we do so far

DCW started with a consistent approach rather than fervour, and initiated diverse programs over these 5 years. I was joined by many others, who helped in their ways. Some contributed significantly to Wikimedia projects, while others helped organise events. Profit-driven communities see pride in how much money they make, but for a community that doesn't look at money, the proud resources are the volunteers and the conversations they have. We partnered with Yoruba and Kashmiri Wikimedians, and tested a few other ideas. Today, we have been successful enough to have consistently organised 43 editions of DCW Conversation Hour - a conversation that focuses on Wikimedia movement strategy and beyond. For Professor Matthew Vetter of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, "These conversation hours are just incredible resources for engaging our communities and working to advance the mission of Wikipedia's free knowledge."

• 
  Aafi and Lisa Seitz-Gruwell during Wikimedia Futures Lab
• 
  Gate of Sher Mandal - a quality image by Mahi Zahidi
• 
  CosmicCodex during Youth Conference

We organised 8 iterations of our Heritage Lens program, bringing about 1714 images to Wikimedia Commons. Our Heritage Lens fellow, Afreen Banday, appreciates its focus on underrepresented heritage sites and living traditions. For her, "it helps bring attention to places and stories that are often overlooked in mainstream documentation efforts." Through the DCW-K Editathon, our volunteers contributed over 279 articles to the Kashmiri-language Wikipedia. Our volunteers helped revive Urdu Wikiquote and made significant contributions to the English and Urdu Wikipedias, as well as to Wikidata. Good articles, Did You Know facts, and much more.

In the 2023 edition of WikiConference India, we had a meagre participation of 2 people from the DCW Community, and in the 2026 edition, 7 of our volunteers received full scholarships to participate in the conference. We made our way to Wikimania conferences in Singapore (2023), Nairobi (2025), and Paris (2026). 2 of 3 three South Asians at the Wikimedia Youth Conference in Prague (2025) were DCW volunteers. We represented our community at the Wikimedia Summit in 2024 in Berlin, and were significant enough to share our thoughts at the Wikimedia Futures Lab in Frankfurt (2026). Our volunteers also made their way to the WikiWomenCamp (2023), GLAM-Wiki Conference in Lisbon (2025), and She Leads Bootcamp in Bangalore (2025), among many other significant events.

In 2026, we have an active contributor base of 40+ people. Many are associated with our Wiki Clubs: Wiki Club AMU and Wiki Club Jamia. We organise our residential leadership and skills development program, Train a Wikipedian, two times a year. We have partners like the Embassy of Ukraine in India, alongside the Kerala Wikimedians User Group.

In early June 2026, our volunteers developed a Digital Certification Portal, helping us to support retention - and making DCW the first to bring such a solution in the Wikimedia ecosystem.

These are a few of the many works that the Deoband Community Wikimedia has been doing, and continues to do. For me, as the founder of the community, I recall what Subroto Bagchi expresses in his work, The Day The Chariot Moved, "All good things have the capacity to replicate but often in ways we cannot comprehend in the beginning. Our job is to be the catalyst. Our job is to trust the power of good and pull the chariot."

Reflections

To mark the 5th anniversary, members, contributors, and academic collaborators shared reflections over the past week on their experiences with DCW:

"I immensely enjoyed the Deoband Community Wikimedia workshop, and it was also lovely hosting the group at my place. I look forward to welcoming you all again. Congratulations on the fifth anniversary, and on helping build a more open and inclusive world." — Prof Swati Chawla	"Reflecting on DCW’s five-year journey reminds me that strong communities are built by people who quietly show up, support others, and give their time without expecting anything in return." — Muntaqibah
"I am pretty sure that DCW will grow into a very important element in the academic culture of the future." — Dr. Aishwarya Kumar	"Looking back at the past five years, joining Deoband Community Wikimedia (DCW) has been one of the best decisions of my Wikimedia journey." — User:Khaatir
"I don’t think words can truly capture the impact DCW has had on all our lives, whether in big ways or small. It has opened us to the world while also helping us discover the world within ourselves. For that, I will always be grateful." — Sana Sabir