Hello everyone!
We're excited to announce that the next Language Community Meeting is
happening soon - on November 28th at 16:00 UTC! If you’d like to join,
simply sign up on the wiki page
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Language_and_Product_Localization/…>
.
This is a participant-driven meeting where we share updates on
language-related projects, discuss technical challenges in language wikis,
and collaborate on solutions. For example, in our upcoming meeting, we plan
to hear from contributors of the Wikitongues project and Fante
Wikimedia Community.
Got a topic to share? Whether it’s a technical update from your project, a
challenge you need help with, or a request for interpretation support, we’d
love to hear from you! Feel free to reply to this message or add agenda
items to the document here
<https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/language-community-meeting-nov-2025>.
Also, we’d like to highlight that the 9th edition of the Language &
Internationalization Newsletter (October 2025)
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Language_and_Product_Localization/…>
is
now available. This newsletter provides updates from the July–September
2025 quarter on new feature development, improvements in various
language-related technical projects and support efforts, details about
community meetings, and ideas for contributing to projects. To stay
updated, you can subscribe to the newsletter
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Newsletter:Language_and_Internationalization…>
on
its wiki page.
Are you interested in contributing to the technical work around language
development? See a curated list of technical contribution tasks here:
T407935 <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T407935>.
We look forward to your ideas and participation at the Language Community
Meeting. See you there!
Cheers,
Srishti
*Srishti Sethi*
Senior Developer Advocate
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Dear Wikibase and Wikidata Communities,
As mentioned in our latest announcements about upcoming strategic changes,
we decided to pour our energy into ecosystem-related activities such as
federation and data governance. As you might know, our Linked Open Data
Strategy
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/LinkedOpenData/Strategy2021/Wikibase> is
built on the idea that our products are capable of building synergies as
well as growing sustainably.
With this research project, we hope to get a more nuanced understanding of
which projects are perceived to belong into which product category. We aim
to synthesize and map how people currently use the three LOD products, what
their desired use cases are, and where the boundaries between these
platforms may need clarification or additional support.
This process is part of a broader strategy to ensure our hosting
infrastructure remains sustainable and mission-aligned.
A key outcome will be a clearer understanding of:
-
What kinds of projects are best suited for each LOD product
-
Where overlap, duplication, or ambiguity exists
-
How we can make more mission-aligned, predictable decisions on growth
and hosting
Process Design
You will be invited to participate in an asynchronous card sort exercise
where you will be asked to sort imagined projects into four categories:
-
1 - Wikibase Cloud
-
2 - Wikidata
-
3 - Suite or other ways of Wikibase hosting
-
4 - Wikibase is not a suitable software for this use case
Participants will be asked to explain their thought process aloud so that
we can also ensure that we’re considering the full dimensions of each use
case (e.g., technical needs, scope, resource requirements). The results
will inform product strategy across WBC, WBS, and WD—while also offering
key insights into ambivalent or complex areas that require further
discussion.
This approach ensures everyone can participate in their own time, without
needing to attend multiple meetings.
We’re offering two ways to participate:
1. Card Sort Research Activity (Primary Method)
-
Asynchronous (early- mid-July)
-
Approx. 30 minutes
-
No technical expertise required
-
Focused on sorting and classifying use cases
-
Recorded screen and microphone
-
Optional: follow-up interview (if you’d like to talk more)
2. Extended Stakeholder Group (Optional Additional Involvement)
Includes:
-
Asynchronous activity (above)
-
Research insights discussion (synchronous, 30-45 minutes, end of July)
-
Async policy draft review (end of August)
-
Group session (August, 1.5–2 hours)
Total time: ~3.5 hours
Compensation: 35 EUR (if eligible)
Participation
We aim to recruit at least 30, ideally up to 50 community members across
the LOD ecosystem to participate in the research activities, including:
-
Wikibase Cloud users
-
Self-hosted Wikibase users
-
Wikidata users who are invested in the broader Wikibase ecosystem.
-
At least 10 marginalized knowledge holders
Join us!
We will send a link to participate in the card-sort within the next week.
If you would like to participate in the Extended Stakeholder Group, please
reach out to us via email: annie.kim(a)wikimedia.de. We will share the
opportunities as they come up, likely at the end of July and the end of
August, respectively.
Thank you for your continued care and contributions. We're looking forward
to exploring this research with you! :)
On behalf of the Linked Open Data Ecosystem,
Valerie Wollinger (She/Her)
Community Communications Manager Wikibase
Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | 10963 Berlin
Phone: +49 (0)30-577 11 62-0https://wikimedia.de
Keep up to date! Current news and exciting stories about Wikimedia,
Wikipedia and Free Knowledge in our newsletter (in German): Subscribe
now <https://www.wikimedia.de/newsletter/>.
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
the sum of all knowledge. Help us to achieve our
vision!https://spenden.wikimedia.de
Wikimedia Deutschland — Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.
V. Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Charlottenburg, VR
23855 B. Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für
Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/029/42207. Geschäftsführende
Vorständin: Franziska Heine
On Thu, Sep 5, 2024 at 8:15 PM Physikerwelt <wiki(a)physikerwelt.de> wrote:
>
> Dear Luca,
>
> the communication was good I think.
>
> However, I don't understand the decision process. Who is the
> responsible person, e.g., the product manager, who eventually decided
> to cut WDQS into pieces?
>
> Moritz
The decision was defined together by the Search Team at Wikimedia
Foundation and the people in charge of Wikidata at Wikimedia
Deutschland. In particular, Lydia Pintscher is ultimately responsible
for all Wikidata product decisions at WMDE.
I would like to stress how this decision was not taken lightheartedly.
It's been three years that we know that Blazegraph is on the verge of
failing, we wrote a playbook in case of dramatic failure,[1] and we
evaluated several alternatives to Blazegraph,[2] each with its pros
and cons.
While evaluating which way to go, knowing that no solution would be a
"magic wand" that would magically solve all our problems - in fact, no
"magic solution" exists, each comes with its load of problems and
costs - we came to terms with the fact that we needed more time and
the split was a harsh, but ultimately effective solution to buy some
time in the transition to the next backend.
Hope this helps.
L.
[1] https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:SPARQL_query_service/WDQS_backend_up…
[2] https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:SPARQL_query_service/WDQS_backend_up…
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P.O. Box 98204
Washington, DC 20090-8204
United States of America
enNZC2526_RML1
Dear Wikidata Community,
Please look at our latest research insights within the Data Governance
Research process by Annie Kim:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Community_report_Data_Governance_Re…
.
We're happy to hear your feedback!
Kindly
Valerie Wollinger (She/Her)
Community Communications Manager Wikibase
Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | 10963 Berlin
Phone: +49 (0)30-577 11 62-0https://wikimedia.de
Keep up to date! Current news and exciting stories about Wikimedia,
Wikipedia and Free Knowledge in our newsletter (in German): Subscribe
now <https://www.wikimedia.de/newsletter/>.
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
the sum of all knowledge. Help us to achieve our
vision!https://spenden.wikimedia.de
Wikimedia Deutschland — Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.
V. Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Charlottenburg, VR
23855 B. Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für
Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/029/42207. Geschäftsführende
Vorständin: Franziska Heine
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Hello all,
We’re happy to announce that the 2026 Wikimedia Hackathon
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Hackathon_2026> will be taking
place in person May 1 - 3, 2026 in Milan, Italy!
The Wikimedia Hackathon is an annual event that brings together the global
technical community to connect, hack, and explore new ideas. Experienced
technical contributors from all around the world come together to improve
the technological infrastructure and software that powers and benefits the
Wikimedia projects. The 2026 event is being organized by the Wikimedia
Foundation in collaboration with local Wikimedia affiliate, Wikimedia
Italia (WMIT) <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Italia>.
During the Hackathon, we will focus on bringing together people who have
already contributed to the many technical aspects of Mediawiki and our
Wikimedia projects, those who know how to find their way around on our
technical ecosystem, and who are able to work or collaborate on projects
rather autonomously.
We'll be livestreaming the Hackathon opening ceremony and closing showcase
for those unable to attend in person. Local and global communities are also
welcome to organize pre-hackathon events or related meetups.
Next steps:
-
Scholarship applications are open and will close on November 28, 2025.
If you would like to apply for a scholarship to attend the hackathon, please
apply through Pretix <https://pretix.eu/wikimedia/Hackathon-2026/>
before the deadline:
-
Scholarships provided will adhere to the WMF travel policy
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Scholarship_travel_policy>
guidelines.
-
Event registration will open in January 2026 and will close mid April
2026, or earlier based on event capacity.
-
Mark your calendars and register early! And don’t miss the scholarship
application deadline!
If you have any questions or would like to reach out to the organizing
team, feel free to email hackathon(a)wikimedia.org or comment on the talk page
<https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Wikimedia_Hackathon_2026&a…>.
All participants will adhere to the Code of Conduct
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Code_of_Conduct> for Wikimedia technical
spaces and the Friendly Space Policy
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Friendly_space_policy>.
We hope to see you in May!
--
*Bee Piovesan *(she/her)
Lead Program Manager, Developer Outreach
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Hello everyone!
The *Search Platform Team* holds an open meeting on the first Wednesday of
each month. You're welcome to join and talk with us about anything related
to *Wikimedia search infrastructure and features*.
Please note that *Wikidata Query Service (WDQS)* is now maintained by
a *dedicated
team*, so questions about WDQS may be better directed to them — though
we’re happy to help with general search-related context.
You can add your discussion topics to the *Etherpad Agenda* for the next
meeting.
Details for our next meeting: Date: Wednesday, November 1, 2025 Time:
15:00-16:00 UTC / 08:00 PST / 11:00 EST / 17:00 CET Etherpad:
https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/Search_Platform_Office_Hours Google Meet
link: https://meet.google.com/vgj-bbeb-uyi Join by phone:
https://tel.meet/vgj-bbeb-uyi?pin=8118110806927
Have fun and see you soon!
--
Peter Fischer (he/him)
Senior Software Engineer, Search Platform
Wikimedia Foundation