Meet the residents: Wikimedia
In each newsletter issue, we present an organisation that works in Publix House. This time: Wikimedia.
What is the core of your work?
Wikimedia is the funding organisation for the German Wikipedia. This means that we make connections and support the many volunteers who are active for Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. Our main goals are free knowledge and open data.
What are you working on most at the moment?
We are working on a wide variety of things. Many colleagues are looking at how we can encourage volunteers in Wikipedia - and support them in recruiting new Wikipedians. Our teams working on policies to strengthen free access to knowledge are concerned with the question: What arguments can be used to convince different democratic actors of this goal? Everyone working on the Wikidata knowledge database here is thinking about what tools people need to be able to share knowledge in Wikidata. For example, how can it be customised even better for the open source community?
Why are you doing this?
We want a world in which everyone can freely participate in the sum of all knowledge. Sounds ambitious, but it should be achievable, right?
What is the best reading on the current situation?
Wikipedia: In the tangle of public debates, it offers comprehensive knowledge that is compiled and maintained by a community according to clear rules.
What should you watch now?
The arte series ‘With open data’. The individual programmes make it impressively clear what the value of open data is: journalists can use it for critical reporting. The examples of topics are very diverse. They deal with cashmere production, pushbacks of refugees in Greece, missing children from Ukraine, gold trading and much more.
