The on-wiki version of this newsletter can be found here: https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Wikifunctions:Status_updates/2026-05-30 ---- Looking back and forward *Abstract Wikipedia will be a long journey, and I expect the project to shift and pivot over time. Our ultimate goal is clear: a system that allows more people to share more knowledge with more people, across languages. And we have an idea which path we are going to take.*

This is how we started the first edition of this newsletter in 2020 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract%20Wikipedia/Updates/2020-09-30, and since then, this newsletter has accompanied in a mostly weekly rhythm the development and progress of the Abstract Wikipedia project.

This is the 250th edition of the Abstract Wikipedia newsletter. We use this arbitrary round number as an opportunity to look back at some of the milestones we have been following with this newsletter:

- Naming the wiki of functions as Wikifunctions https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract%20Wikipedia/Updates/2020-11-17 - A mission statement for Wikifunctions https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract%20Wikipedia/Updates/2021-04-08 - The logo for Wikifunctions https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract%20Wikipedia/Updates/2021-10-27 - Licensing decision for Wikifunctions and Abstract Wikipedia https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract%20Wikipedia/Updates/2021-12-21 - Starting up Wikifunctions https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract%20Wikipedia/Updates/2023-08-07 - The location for Abstract Content https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Wikifunctions:Status_updates/2025-10-08 - Naming the wiki of abstract content Abstract Wikipedia https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Wikifunctions:Status_updates/2025-12-04 - Abstract Wikipedia in early Beta https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Wikifunctions:Status_updates/2026-03-19

As we had originally anticipated, the system has evolved and changed from the original plan. And by now, we have most of the pieces in place:

- Wikifunctions is there, for maintaining a library of functions, which can be called from some Wikimedia projects - Functions on Wikifunctions can access and process data and lexicographic data from Wikidata - Abstract Wikipedia can compose articles from functions on Wikifunctions

What is still missing? We are working on the next main step towards enabling the whole project: Integrating articles from Abstract Wikipedia in the language Wikipedias.

With that, all the major functionalities of the architecture will be in place.

There are still many other things that need to be worked on: scaling the various parts of the system, adding more capabilities (images, categories), building more functions, developing the right types, finding the right abstractions.

As the pieces all come into their place, the outline of the puzzle as a whole will become more visible, and the value of the system will start to become real.

Thank you for accompanying us on this journey! Recent Changes in the software

Abstract article pages now show the label of the Wikidata item alongside the QID in the page title. This makes it easier to see what the article is about without relying only on the QID (T423651 https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T423651). The QID can also be copied by clicking on it. The same title format is now used consistently during the creation workflow for abstract articles (T425408 https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T425408).

In addition, we also fixed an issue where lookup fields could sometimes show results based on what you had typed a moment earlier, rather than your latest input.

We are also working towards adding support for images in abstract articles ( T421841 https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T421841). The first user-facing part of this, Z310/Commons media reference, will land this week, and support for using it will follow soon. Recording of University of Washington Roundtable

Crystal Yragui has organized a roundtable at the Information School of the University of Washington, *Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Metadata: Possibilities, Limitations, and Ethical Implications*. The panelists were:

- Morag Boyd (Director of Metadata Applications and Engagement at OCLC) - Charlene Chou (Head of the Knowledge Access Department at New York University Libraries) - Jeremy Nelson (Stanford University Libraries) - Philippe Saadé (AI/ML Project Manager at Wikimedia Deutschland) - Osma Suominen (Information Systems Specialist at the National Library of Finland) - Denny Vrandečić (Wikimedia Foundation)

More than 300 people attended the roundtable, listened to the short introductions by the panelists, and then had questions filed by the attendees. A recording of the roundtable on AI and Machine Learning for Metadata https://calma.ischool.uw.edu/uw-event/artificial-intelligence-and-machine-learning-in-metadata-possibilities-limitations-and-ethical-implications/ is now available. Volunteers’ Corner on May 11

The next Volunteers’ Corner will be on Monday, 8 June 2026 at 17:30 UTC https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1780939800. We plan to have the following agenda: there will be time to ask questions and discuss all matters arising. If we have time, we will write a function together. Everyone is welcome to join us on Google Meet https://meet.google.com/xuy-njxh-rkw. Fresh Functions weekly: 67 new Functions This week we had 67 new functions. Here is an incomplete list of functions with implementations and passing tests to get a taste of what functions have been created. Thanks everybody for contributing!

- coordinates from an OpenStreetMap URL (Z35273) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35273 - Shannon entropy from string (Z35278) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35278 - Bangla classifier for noun (Z35288) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35288 - signum of complex128 as Sign (Z35292) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35292 - signum of float64 as Sign (Z35303) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35303 - sign (normal) of complex128 (Z35312) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35312 - base-e exponentiation (complex128) (Z35314) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35314 - print Gregorian year limited by precision (Z35331) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35331 - print Gregorian year limited by precision, English (Z35334) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35334 - round Integer to nearest n (Z35338) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35338 - get basic English phrase category (Z35352) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35352 - name for table header from property (Z35362) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35362 - Wikidata item of property (Z35364) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35364 - infobox for person (Z35370) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35370 - infobox row from Wikidata property (Z35374) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35374 - post-process second element of Wikidata claim pair (Z35376) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35376 - FSW coordinate string to integer list (Z35392) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35392 - Formal SignWriting to SignWriting in Unicode (Z35399) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35399 - split string into list by repeated index (Z35402) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35402 - calendar model of Wikidata time (Z35418) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35418 - value by key or else (Z35428) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35428 - convert X11 color name to RGBA color (Z35437) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35437 - Sign of difference of Integers (Z35449) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35449 - inject abstract wikilink into monolingual text (Z35472) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35472 - are Integers different? (Z35475) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35475 - Sign of difference of Bytes (Z35482) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35482 - wrap in quotes (Z35494) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35494 - article-less instantiating sentence (simple) (Z35505) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35505 - first letter uppercase for Turkish (Z35524) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35524 - Simplified Chinese cardinal (Z35528) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35528 - Sign of difference of Gregorian calendar dates (Z35544) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35544 - are Wikidata quantities commensurable? (Z35550) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35550 - select shared target unit for unit conversion (Z35557) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35557 - priority of unit of measurement (Z35568) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35568 - is Wikidata quantity less than other? (Z35580) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35580 - is a square matrix? (Z35587) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35587 - State location using entity and class, (simple) (Z35589) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35589 - add Bangla classifier to Wikidata instance (Z35606) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35606 - Classifying sentence in Bangla (Z35611) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35611 - Classifying sentence in Dutch (Z35615) https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Z35615

A complete list of all functions sorted by when they were created https://www.wikifunctions.org/wiki/Special:ListObjectsByType?type=Z8&orderby=latest is available.