2025:Program/How we introduce Wikidata for Japanese Open Source engineer
Session title: How we introduce Wikidata for Japanese Open Source engineer
- Session type: Lecture
- Track: Technology
- Language: en
đ„ Session recording: https://w.wiki/FQPR đ„
We have been concerned that the Wikimedia movement and the Wikimedia Project are not well known among people in Japan, except for Wikipedia. Therefore, as a place where we can approach people who know Wikipedia but do not know much about other Wikimedia Projects, we exhibited at the Open Source Conference held in Japan and made an effort to let the main participants, engineers who are interested in open source, know about the Wikimedia movement and the Wikimedia Project. One of the efforts was to set up an exhibition booth and hand out flyers to visitors while explaining the project and letting them know about UCoC. The other was to hold a seminar to explain the overview of Wikidata.
Description
We, the Wikimedians of Japan User Group, have been concerned that Wikipedia is the only thing famous in the Japanese speaking world, that is, in Japan, and that other Wikimedia projects and Wikimedia movements are not well known.
This is because, in the current situation where only Wikipedia is famous, information that is not the main purpose of Wikipedia, such as a simple collection of data or the original text of free documents, is excluded as being outside of its purpose, and as a result, such information does not remain in Wikimedia in Japanese.
In addition, people who have information that should originally be accumulated on Wikimedia have focused on storing the information in a format that matches Wikipedia's format, and are confused by the standards for "notability," and have given up contributing to Wikipedia, or who continue to insist on posting information, and who would have been useful editors if they had contributed to the appropriate place, are excluded as LTAs. Therefore, as a place where we can approach people who know about Wikipedia but do not know much about other Wikimedia Projects, we exhibited at the "Open Source Conference", an exhibition that brings together open source software and open data communities held in Japan, and made an effort to let the main participants, engineers who are highly interested in open source, know about the Wikimedia movement and Wikimedia Project. There were two main things we did in this effort. One was to set up an exhibition booth and hand out flyers to visitors while explaining the project and letting them know about UCoC. The other was to hold a seminar to explain the overview of Wikidata. Continuing this effort, in February 2025, we were able to hold a mini-conference by receiving multiple seminar slots at the Open Source Conference. In addition, by talking with visitors and among exhibitors, we learned about examples of how Wikimedia content was used, and were able to have various discussions based on those examples. In this article, we will announce the contents of the initiative that began in May 2024, what we have realized through it, and our future initiatives.
- How does your session relate to the event theme, Wikimania@20 â Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability?
This session was a report on the results of an attempt to show, with examples of content, that Wikimedia is a project that is inherently diverse and inclusive, in order to change the current situation in Japan where only Wikipedia is well-known and other projects have been largely ignored. This is in line with the theme of "Inclusivity."
- What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?
Everyone can participate in this session
Resources
Speakers
- VZP10224
- My first edit of Wikimedia Project is 2007. I became an administrator of the Japanese Wikipedia in 2010.
- Now, I am doing Wikimedians of Japan User Group's project manager, attending Open Source Conference in Japan.