Newsletter March 2025

This page is a translated version of the page Newsletter/2025-03 and the translation is 100% complete.

Successful Wikipedia writing sessions in honour of International Women's Day

On 10 and 11 March 2025, several heritage organisations and enthusiastic volunteers in Flanders participated in Wikipedia writing sessions on the occasion of International Women's Day. These initiatives were aimed at increasing the visibility of women on Wikipedia. Currently, less than a quarter of biographical articles are about women.

Some highlights of the sessions:

Antwerp (Museum Plantin-Moretus): The Letterenhuis organised a session aimed at bringing more women out of the shadows of history.
Library of Bruges: on women and heritage in Bruges or West Flanders.
Ghent (meemoo): Participants wrote about various women to reduce the gender gap on Wikipedia.
Ghent (Industriemuseum): The focus was on female business leaders, engineers or technicians who did not make it into the history books despite their influential role.
Leuven (KADOC-KU Leuven): In collaboration with CEMPER, the focus was on women in music and performing arts.
Erfgoedcel Waasland, City Archive Sint-Niklaas and Bibliotheca Wasiana: The focus was on highlighting women in local history, from beguines to artists and resistance women.

These joint efforts have led to a significant enrichment of Wikipedia with articles on influential women, making their contributions to society more visible.

Results
Location	# added pages	# editors	# recent edits
Antwerp	11	22	633
Bruges	9	11	36
Ghent (meemoo)	12	11	224
Ghent (Industriemuseum)	3	6	35
Leuven	33	21	453
Sint-Niklaas	22	15	357

Want to read more about these results? You can do so here!

We thank all participants and organisations for their efforts and look forward to future initiatives to further strengthen the representation of women in our digital knowledge resources.

And last but not least, we also give you a look behind the scenes.

Example page of an article.
Group photo of the volunteers and organisation in Sint-Niklaas.
Museum Plantin-Moretus.
Sint-Niklaas.
Women in Industry.

Journalism students plunge into history on Wikipedia

On March 3rd 2025, 30 journalism students from the Erasmus Hogeschool Brussel took part in a unique educational programme. As part of the history subject, they plunged into various historical topics and wrote about them on Wikipedia.

This initiative, which has been part of the curriculum since 2019, aims to teach students to use historical sources critically and carefully, while teaching them to contribute to the enrichment of freely accessible knowledge. By writing and improving Wikipedia articles themselves, they experience how history is documented and shared with a wide audience.

Thanks to their efforts, valuable additions have once again been made to the Dutch-language Wikipedia.

We look forward to the next edition and the contributions of future students! Want to know more about this education programme? Keep an eye on our updates!

Help create a more inclusive Wikipedia during the Planetary Science Wiki Edit-a-thon! 🚀

Also in 2025, we are committed to diversity in planetary science! Europlanet and the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB), in collaboration with Wikimedia Belgium and with the support of the Ernest Solvay Fund, are organising a new edition of the Planetary Science Wiki Edit-a-thon. This is your chance to contribute to a more inclusive science field by writing and improving Wikipedia articles.

What's on the agenda

📖 The Wikipedia training was completed in February and March 2025. Now the next steps in the program are:

🔎 Research & Resource Collection (March-May 2025). Mapping inspiring women and underrepresented groups in planetary science.

✍ Writing Wikipedia biographies (May-June 2025). Enrich Wikipedia with new and improved articles.

🌎 Translations (June-July 2025). Increase impact by making articles available in multiple languages.

🎤 Final presentation @ EPSC 2025, Helsinki (7-12 September 2025). All contributions will be shown to an international audience at the Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC).

Do you want to contribute to better representation in science as well as gain new skills? Join us and make a difference!

Queer history month on Wikipedia! 🏳️‍🌈📖

Queer History Month on Wikipedia took place for the first time from 1 to 31 March 2025! During this month, LGBTI+ and queer topics took centre stage.

What is Queer History Month?

Queer History Month is an annual initiative in which forty cultural and heritage organisations highlight LGBTI+ history and queer themes. This is done through forty objects that can be viewed online. The month is organised by IHLIA LGBTI Heritage and will take place in the Netherlands for the fifth time in 2025.

What did the programme look like

📅Friday 28th of February was the kick-off of Queer History Month in two parallel sessions both in OBA Oosterdok, Amsterdam

Wikifriday: Kick-off of the Queer History Month on Wikipedia (13:00 - 16:00h)
Challenging! What queer heritage asks of us: Opening ceremony by IHLIA (14:15 - 17:30h)

📅Saturday 8th of March - International Women's Day - National Archive, Den Haag

📅 Friday 28th of March - Atria, Amsterdam

Fun fact: participants can win prizes! Every participant who has made a contribution (expanding an existing article or posting a new article online) has a chance to win a prize. Early April, Wikimedia Nederland will choose the winners!! So be sure to check our April newsletter to find out who the winner(s) are. Want to know more? Be sure to check the project page.

What's in a name? Discover the power of verified person name lists.

Personal names are often the key to searching cultural heritage collections. But how do we ensure that these names are used unambiguously and correctly?

This is where controlled personal name lists, also called authorities, come into play. During the study day, organised by meemoo, on 22 April 2025 in Brussels, we will dive into the fascinating world of personal name authorities and discover the added value of a centralised source. After the success of the first study day in 2024, we can build on the insights and knowledge we gained together. Did you miss it? Read the report here.

What to expect? Together with experts from Belgium and the Netherlands, we explore how centralised data sources can help collection management institutions move forward. After an introduction to the ‘’Visual Name Authority project‘’, six leading initiatives will share their experiences:

Luc Wanlin (AML, Archives & Museum of Literature) - On the collaborative project SCAPIN, which brings together and standardises data on performing arts in Wallonia and Brussels.
Sven Lieber (KBR)- How the Belgian linked data platform MetaBelgica handles standardisation of sources.
Maarten Brinkerink (Digital Tool) & Maarten Zeinstra (IP Squared) - The power of collaboration and combining data sources within the Shared database of LUDAP.
Mirjam Verloop (podiumkunst.net) - The development of a virtual person thesaurus and next steps.
Joris Colla (KADOC KU Leuven) - A look at ODIS, the database that brings together various data sets and opens up new research opportunities.

Are you involved in cultural heritage, archiving or data management? Don't miss this opportunity to learn from experts and think along about the future of personal name authorities.

📅 Date: April 22, 2025

📍 Location: Auditorium of the House of Dutch in Brussels.

🕝 Program:

9h30 - 10h00: Arrival
10h00: Introduction to the Visual Name Authority project (meemoo) and some lectures by speakers from home and abroad.
12h30 - 13h30: Sandwich lunch
13h30 - 15h00: Continuation of lectures.

More information and registration? Registration is open until April 4th!

Protect Wikipedia volunteers from harassment

Volunteers are the backbone of Wikipedia. Day in, day out, they dedicate themselves to making knowledge accessible to everyone. Unfortunately, a serious case of harassment recently occurred among Wikipedia volunteers in France.

On February 15th, a Wikimedia France volunteer was threatened by a journalist from the magazine ‘’Le Point‘’ as a result of changes made to the Wikipedia article on the magazine. The journalist threatened to make the volunteer's identity public and even approached his employer.

As a response, an open letter was created and has already been signed by hundreds of volunteers to counter such threats.

In case of disagreements about the content of an article, Wikipedia's fourth principle emphasises the importance of respectful dialogue and the assumption of good intentions, preferably through the discussion pages of articles. The Wikimedia Foundation is open to receiving complaints about Wikipedia and other projects, but no form of threat against volunteers is acceptable.

Thanks to the efforts of 18,931 contributors, the French-language Wikipedia contains more than 2,664,801 articles and is consulted by millions of people every month. Wikimédia France continues to support and protect the Wikipedia community in their mission to ensure free access to knowledge.

Wikimedia Belgium General Assembly

Dear members and supporters,

We cordially invite you to the General Assembly of Wikimedia Belgium on Saturday the 10th of May 2025, from 14:00 to 18:00, at Amazone in Brussels.

During this meeting, we look back on the past year, discuss future projects and strategic plans, and have the opportunity for questions and ideas. This is an excellent opportunity to help think about the future of our association and connect with other members. Confirming your presence is mandatory.

Wikipedia officially recognised as Digital Public Good

Did you know that Wikipedia is now recognised as an official Digital Public Good? An important milestone: the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA), a UN-backed initiative, has added Wikipedia to the Register of Digital Public Goods. This means Wikipedia is recognised worldwide as an open-source solution that contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Wikipedia plays a crucial role in promoting knowledge and inclusiveness and officially contributes to the following SDGs:

SDG 4 - Quality education
SDG 5 - Gender equality
SDG 10 - Reduced inequality
SDG 16 - Peace, justice and strong institutions
SDG 17 - Partnerships for the goals

This recognition underlines the importance of free knowledge for all and motivates us to continue building an inclusive, accessible and reliable source of information.

Read more about how this recognition strengthens our work and increases Wikipedia's impact worldwide here!

The impact of the corona pandemic on Wikimedia Belgium

March 18, 2020. A date that many of us still remember well. The first corona wave swept through Belgium and public life came to an abrupt standstill. Non-essential shops closed their doors, staying at home became the norm, non-essential travel was prohibited. The one-and-a-half-meter distance rule was introduced, and anyone who wanted to go for a walk outside could only do so with family members or one friend, provided that social distancing was respected.

The way we worked also changed drastically. From one day to the next, organizations had to switch to digital communication and online collaboration. Wikimedia Belgium was no exception. The pandemic forced us to reinvent our operations and adapt to a digital reality faster than ever.

One of the most important changes was the massive use of videoconferencing. Where physical meetings and workshops used to be an essential part of our activities, we suddenly had to switch to online alternatives. For example, the training Wiki Women Design was organized completely digitally and no less than 100 students participated. This proved that digital meetings were not only feasible, but could also have a greater reach.

Large events also had to be tackled differently. The celebration of 20 years of Wikipedia on 15 January 2021 took place entirely online. This required a new approach in terms of organisation and interaction with the public, but it also offered new opportunities to reach a broader and more diverse audience.

In addition to these organizational adjustments, the pandemic also brought structural innovations. Wikimedia Belgium focused much more on a structured project approach, using the technical possibilities of the Wikimedia platforms.

Online presence became more important than ever, with an increased focus on newsletters, social media and extensive project pages. This shift not only meant greater visibility, but also made knowledge sharing more efficient.

In retrospect, the corona pandemic, despite all the challenges, had a positive impact on digitization within Wikimedia Belgium. The technological steps that were taken at the time fundamentally changed and improved our operations. The experience with online collaboration and digital knowledge sharing is and remains a valuable pillar within our organization.

The pandemic may be over, but the lessons and innovations we learned from it continue to help us continue our mission efficiently and accessibly.

Discover the world of free knowledge even faster via Wikipedia.be!

Did you know that Wikipedia.be has been around since 2002? This handy website provides quick and easy access to Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia used by millions of people worldwide.

What makes ‘’‘Wikipedia.be’‘’ so special? The site automatically recognises your browser's language settings and guides you directly to the correct version of Wikipedia. Whether you are looking for information in Dutch, French, English or any other language, Wikipedia.be will take you straight to the right content.

With this handy redirect, you no longer have to search for the right language version - Wikipedia.be takes care of it for you! Try it yourself and find out how easy and efficient it works.

Another fun fact is that you can even search in your own dialect. For example, numerous pages are written in West Flemish. 👉 Discover it yourself!

Easier donations with new QR codes!

Good news for those who want to support Wikimedia projects! The Friends of Wikimedia Belgium Fund, recognised by the King Baudouin Foundation, is committed to financially support socio-educational and cultural initiatives using the Wikimedia platforms.

To optimise operations and ensure transparency, a committee meeting is held every three years. The most recent meeting was held on 11 March.

In addition, the King Baudouin Foundation has launched a new platform to comply with the legal obligation to register the national register number of donors.

What does this mean in concrete terms? The Fund has acquired new QR codes, which can now be found on the website. Although ordinary transfers with a structured communication are still possible, donors must subsequently register on the King Baudouin Foundation website. By using the QR code, this registration is arranged immediately, making the process much easier!

This support has already made it possible to realise two wonderful projects: KOERS and Amazone

But we are looking further! That is why we are launching a shout-out for new projects. Would you like to submit or support an initiative? Find out how you can contribute and make a difference!

Want to know more? We are working hard on our new website, feel free to take a look already!

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