Newsletter August 2025
Wikimedia Belgium Celebrates 11 Years of Free Knowledge
On 27 September 2025, Wikimedia Belgium will celebrate its 11th anniversary, a moment to look back with pride on our contribution to free knowledge in Belgium and beyond.
Although we did not officially celebrate our 10th anniversary, this year we are making extra time to honour our community – from volunteers to partners who share our mission: a world where everyone has free access to knowledge.
Since our founding in 2014, we have completed countless projects that strengthen Wikipedia and its sister projects. From documenting Belgian heritage to increasing diversity on Wikipedia, together we are making a difference. This year, we are celebrating not only our achievements, but also the passion of our community.
Highlights of 11 years of Wikimedia Belgium:
- Wiki Loves Monuments: Hundreds of volunteers captured Belgian and Luxembourgish monuments, with thousands of photos now enriching Wikimedia Commons.
- Wiki Loves Heritage and other heritage projects.
- Freedom of Panorama: In 2016, we celebrated the introduction of Freedom of Panorama in Belgium, resulting in more than 1,700 photos of buildings and works of art being restored on Wikimedia Commons.
- 'Education and diversity: From Wikipedia workshops at meemoo and VIVES-Kortrijk, Ghent University and Erasmus University College, to projects such as International Women's Day, focused on gender equality and free knowledge.
- 'Museum projects:' The Photo Museum, the Industry Museum, the Jenever Museum, the Guido Gezelle Archive.
- 'Multicultural bridges: From Brussels, with its three regions and languages, we connect communities in Flanders, Wallonia and far beyond.
How are we celebrating this year?
Let us raise a glass to 11 years of free knowledge and look forward to even more impact. Would you like to join us or find out more? Follow us on our social media channels.
Thank you for building a world full of free knowledge!😉
Wiki Loves Monuments 2025: putting Belgian heritage on the world map
Wiki Loves Monuments is back! This international photo competition invites you to take photos of cultural heritage sites in Belgium between 1 and 30 September 2025 and share them via Wikimedia Commons, Wikipedia's media platform.
The concept is straightforward:
📸 Take your own photographs of protected monuments in Belgium or Luxembourg.
🌐 Upload them to Wikimedia Commons in September.
📘 Illustrate Wikipedia articles in all languages with your images.
From castles and chapels to statues and railway bridges: anything that is officially recognised as a monument is eligible. With your contribution, you help to make our heritage visible to a global audience. You don't need to be a photographer — a clear and informative photo is worth its weight in gold for Wikipedia.
Since its first edition in the Netherlands in 2010, Wiki Loves Monuments has grown into the largest photo competition in the world. In total, more than 3.2 million heritage photos have been submitted by over 100,000 participants in more than 100 countries.
A national competition will be organised in Belgium again this year. The best images will be eligible for a prize and will be nominated for the international competition, where a jury will select the most beautiful heritage images worldwide.
🎯 Important rules:
- You must have taken and uploaded the photo yourself
- The photo must show a clearly identifiable monument
- You must have an active email address linked to your Wikimedia account
- Photos must be uploaded in September 2025
- The photos must have a free licence (e.g. CC BY-SA 4.0)
📌 Join us and bring our heritage to life on Wikipedia. Whether you upload one image or capture dozens of monuments — every contribution counts.
➡️ More information can be found here!
For photographs of heritage other than monuments or buildings, you can also participate in two other photo competitions until the end of September: Wiki Loves Heritage and Wiki Loves Denderland.
Call for entries: Become a judge for our photo contests!
Summer is in progress, and that means our three photo contests are also in full swing! We are seeking 10-15 enthusiastic volunteers who would like to assist in selecting 10 winning photos in October. This is your opportunity to make a difference and highlight the most beautiful images of our community.
What does it mean?
As a jury member, you will judge photos in four rounds, each spread over a week. You will work independently using a handy online tool, at a time that suits you. In the final round, you will describe why your favorite photos stand out.
Technical knowledge of photography is not necessary—a keen eye for quality and the ability to rank images are sufficient.
Why participate?
Judging is not only a unique opportunity to discover beautiful photographs, but also to be part of a tradition that has fascinated volunteers for many years. Some judges have been participating for years and enjoy it every time! In terms of time investment, you should expect to spend approximately 4 x 2 hours, which can be scheduled flexibly.
How do you apply?
Please send your username and application to wikiloves@wikimedia.be. There will be no physical meetings; everything will take place online. Would you like to know more? You can find all the details here.
Join our judging panel and help showcase the most beautiful photographs! We look forward to celebrating the creativity of our community with you.
WikiconNL 2025: Discover, learn and connect
On Saturday, 22 November 2025, Wikimedia Netherlands invites you to WikiconNL – the annual conference for everyone involved in Wikipedia, Wikimedia, digital heritage and free access to information.
This year, the event will take place in the beautiful Wereldmuseum Leiden (Steenstraat 1B), and the programme is packed with inspiration, knowledge sharing and networking opportunities.
Keynote by Maxim Februari
We kick off with a lecture by Maxim Februari – writer, lawyer and legal philosopher – known for novels such as "Klont, essays such as Doe zelf normaal (Just Be Normal) and controversial appearances on programmes such as Zomergasten. In his work, Februari explores how technology and society influence each other, and what that means for our future.
A schedule full of choices
Whether you want to deepen your knowledge, learn new skills or network, WikiconNL offers something for everyone.
- Active workshops – get started yourself with new tools and techniques
- Inspiring lectures – catch up on current topics related to open knowledge
- Special youth track – a place to exchange ideas and collaborate
Who is it for?
WikiconNL is the place to be for:
- Wikimedia editors and volunteers
- Professionals from heritage institutions, archives, libraries, and museums
- Anyone interested in free knowledge, open culture, and open source
Practical
💵Prices:
- Regular participants: €17.50
- Members of Wikimedia Netherlands: €10.00
- Young people (aged 15–25): €10.00
Limited budget? Apply for an exemption via e-mail.
📌 Please note: capacity is limited – register early to secure your place.
🔗 Register via the registration form.
Wikimania 2025: A Global Celebration in Nairobi
Wikimania 2025, held from 6 to 9 August in Nairobi, Kenya, brought together more than 2,300 people from 135 countries for the 20th edition of this unique Wikimedia conference. Organised in East Africa for the first time, the event embodied the theme of Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability. It was a warm, inspiring gathering of Wikimedians, from newcomers to veterans, working together towards an accessible and sustainable future for knowledge sharing.
Highlights of Wikimania 2025:
- Historic milestone: The first Wikimania in East Africa, organised by the “'Wikimedians of Kenya”' User Group and the Wikimedia Foundation, with 776 attendees on site and 1,600 online.
- Inspiring sessions: Over 200 workshops and presentations on topics such as disinformation, endangered languages, and the role of AI in knowledge sharing.
- Young and diverse: Nearly half of attendees were under 34, with stories from people like Chinmayee Mishra from India, who are strengthening local Wikipedias.
- Kenyan hospitality: Nairobi, the "Silicon Savannah", welcomed guests with cultural riches, from traditional drums to culinary delights and nature in the nearby Karura Forest.
The conference brought together not only ideas, but also hearts. From the WikiWomen Summit to the Hackathon, where new tools for Wikimedia projects were developed, each session felt like a step towards a more inclusive world. Maryana Iskander, CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation, put it quite aptly: "Wikimania celebrates 20 years of collaboration and looks ahead to what the next generation needs."
Why this is so important
- Wikimania 2025 strengthened the global Wikimedia movement and highlighted the power of local communities.
- The event inspires us all to contribute to free knowledge, wherever we are.
Let's take the energy of Nairobi with us to Wikimania 2026 in Paris, where we will celebrate Wikipedia's 25th anniversary! Want to join us? Be sure to keep an eye on the Wikimania website!
From first upload to global impact
During Wikimania 2025 in Nairobi, Dutch Wikimedian Vera de Kok was named Media Contributor of the Year 2025. This annual award recognizes Wikimedians who distinguish themselves by enhancing both the informational value and the visual appeal of the Wikimedia projects through their contributions.
For Vera, it all began in 2010 with a single photo. Under her username 1Veertje, this grew into an impressive collection of more than 86,000 files on Wikimedia Commons. More than 7,500 of these are her own creations – mainly photographs but also videos, illustrations, and audio recordings – now enriching thousands of Wikipedia pages.
Vera’s work shows how diverse media contributions can be:
- Each year she photographs the International Film Festival Rotterdam with special Wikimedia accreditation.
- She documented countless cultural heritage sites.
- She even covered unusual subjects such as the ‘Icelandic Tree of the Year’.
In addition, she had tens of thousand of freely licensed material from a wide range of online sources – from YouTube and Flickr to archives of Antwerp – available for use in Wikipedia.
Whether it is heritage, portraits, international events or a striking street scene, one goal has always remained central: making free knowledge sustainable and visually accessible.
"Vera truly deserves the title Media Contributor 2025 for her years of commitment and dedication," says Sandra Rientjes, director of Wikimedia Netherlands. "Her recognition underscores the power of the global Wikimedia movement and the impact that volunteers like Vera have."
With over 123 million media files on Wikimedia Commons, every volunteer is a link in a huge chain of free knowledge. Vera's story shows how much difference one person can make.
📷 View Vera's contributions on Wikimedia Commons here.
Wikipedia's hunt for AI clutter
Wikipedia is built on a simple but powerful idea: everyone can contribute. That is precisely what makes the platform's open nature unique—and vulnerable at the same time.
Over the past few months, however, volunteers have noticed a new plague: pages full of text that sounds nice, but on closer look makes no sense. Strange-sounding sentences, vague sources, sometimes even completely fabricated facts. And often written... by AI.
This digital clutter even has a name: AI slop. And just like our regular trash, it can pile up quickly.
Response
To prevent Wikipedia from slowly becoming clogged up, a speedy deletion rule has been introduced. Articles that are clearly generated by AI and have no added value can now be deleted at the touch of a button. No long discussions, no endless deliberations—just get rid of them.
Volunteers look out for typical signs: overly polished language, fake quotes, dead links, and an overdose of vague subordinate clauses such as "in addition" and "it is worth mentioning that...". Detecting AI slop has almost become a sport.
Doubt and discussion
However, not everyone is enthusiastic about this rule. What if you are too strict? Will you also discard contributions that happen to have been assisted by AI, but are actually correct? And how long will it take before AI writes so sophisticatedly that it becomes unrecognizable?
In addition, Wikipedia itself also uses AI tools—for example, to detect vandalism and help new contributors improve their source citations. So it's not AI versus Wikipedia, but rather a search for the right balance.
Why is this important?
For many people, Wikipedia is the first step in their search for information. If our quality threatens to decline, this will cascade to the rest of the internet.
This battle for reliability is not just about an encyclopedia—it is about how we all deal with knowledge, truth, and technology.
Agenda
📅 Information at ZOO – October 9 & 10, 2025, Antwerp
This fall, the leading conference for information professionals will be moving to the Queen Elisabeth Hall at Antwerp Zoo. No Information at the SEA this year, but information at the ZOO instead 😉.
Two days full of inspiration, networking, and knowledge sharing, in collaboration with our Dutch colleagues from the KNVI. Don't miss it!
👉Discover the program and register.
📅 Flanders Digital Meeting Day – October 23, 2025, Flanders Expo Ghent
Trefdag25 will be the meeting place for everyone who is helping to build the digital government of tomorrow. With four powerful theme tracks—from AI and data to security and scalable platforms—everything will be focused on real impact.
👉More info and please mark October 23rd in your agenda.
📅 Wikipedia Writing Contest 2025
The writing contest on the Dutch Wikipedia has started! Participants can register or change topics during the contest period, from September 1 to October 31, 2025.
📅 Google Birthday – September 27, 2025
Google is celebrating another year this year! A great opportunity to reflect on the evolution of this global player in search technology and digital innovation.
Fun fact: although Google was officially founded on September 4, 1998, the company has been celebrating its birthday on September 27 since 2005.
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
www.wikimedia.be •
info@wikimedia.be