Newsletter December 2024
Public domain day and award ceremony Wiki Loves Heritage
We cordially invite you to the Wiki Loves Heritage awards ceremony on the 9th of January 2025, during Public Domain Day at the Royal Library of Brussels.
Registration is mandatory via following link.
Already want to take a look at the winners of the Wiki Loves Heritage contest? You can! Wiki Loves Heritage.
And there's more. During September and October, we held our international Wiki Loves Monuments contest. Curious about the participating photos from this international contest? Wiki Loves Monuments.
Friends of Wikimedia Belgium Fund is looking for projects!
As a museum, library, heritage cell, archive, research centre or university, you are brimming with enthusiasm about your own collection and operations. And you have been wanting to come out of your ivory tower and share your knowledge with the general public for a long time. Possibly you need professional guidance and a financial backing? Then a Wikimedian in Residence project could be the right answer.
A Wikimedian in Residence project helps you learn how to use media platforms such as Wikipedia, Wikidata or Wikimedia Commons to document a collection and thus reach the general public. A Wikimedian in Residence project is funded by the Friends of Wikimedia Belgium Fund, recognised by the King Baudouin Foundation. Your own staff can be employed, but new staff (e.g. a BIS job or employment for starters) can also be recruited, and collaborations with Wikimedia Belgium and Wikipedians are possible.
The maximum amount awarded per project is 7500 €. The project must always have a link to culture or heritage, involve a social or educational aspect and be in line with the objectives of Wikimedia Belgium and the King Baudouin Foundation. Your project will be reviewed and approved by the Board of Trustees of the Friends of Wikimedia Belgium Fund.
What you ultimately do is up to you. The project can boost your collection management (e.g. via the creation of a metadata model for Wikidata, export to Wikimedia Commons...) or the relationship with your target audience and with experts (via Wikipedia writing sessions or contacts with colleges and universities...). Similar projects have already been successfully applied by dozens of institutions from all over the world, such as the British Library or the National Archives and the Rijksmuseum Netherlands.
Do you want to take the plunge, under the guidance of Wikimedia experts? Then we expect a project description of no more than 5 A4s from your institution, describing the objective, the planning and a budget proposal. Project duration: 6 months. For questions and to submit your application, please contact us via friends@wikimedia.be. More practical details can be found on this Wikipedia page.
Training OpenRefine
February 11th 2025, meemoo organises a training in Ghent on how collection managers can use OpenRefine to document collections on Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons. Required to subscribe.
Wikipedia and Artificial Intelligence (AI) - the balance between innovation and credibility
A new study by Princeton University shows that 5% of the articles in English on Wikipedia were written using AI. As an organisation committed to free and accessible knowledge, the Wikipedia community faces a major challenge: how to deal with the growing role of AI?
Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into a platform like Wikipedia presents both opportunities and challenges. While AI can help improve efficiency and support editors, it also carries significant risks, especially in terms of information reliability and accuracy. AI systems, especially those based on generative models, tend to produce logical-sounding but factually incorrect content. When such information ends up in Wikipedia articles, it can undermine the integrity of the encyclopaedia and damage users' trust.
This brings up the question: how can Wikipedia innovate with AI without compromising its core values of neutrality, transparency and credibility?
Human verification remains crucial
It remains important that Wikipedia content is checked and validated by editors who understand the context and can maintain neutrality.
A shared responsibility
As long as we put human expertise at the centre and use AI only as a supporting tool, integrating faulty information can be avoided. As VRT's article also suggests, the consequences of misinformation in our digital society are too great to integrate AI without strict control.
By embracing AI in a responsable way, Wikipedia can continue to contribute to its mission: making free and accurate knowledge accessible worldwide. If you have any questions around this, contact us.
Contact us
Wikimedia Belgium NPO (WMBE)
Antwerpselaan 40 Boulevard d'Anvers
B-1000 Brussel/Bruxelles
+32 471 82 20 26 (voice/sms/Signal/Telegram/WhatsApp)
Enterprise 0563.775.480 – RPR Brussel – Not liable to VAT
www.wikimedia.be •
info@wikimedia.be