Wikimedia to Host World´s Largest Open Data Gathering

This year’s WikidataCon 2021 – the largest gathering of the Wikidata community – will take place as a virtual event from October 29 to 31, 2021. Wikimedia Deutschland and Wiki Movimento Brasil are the joint organizers of the event. The conference facilitates exchange within the Wikidata community and focuses on issues of sustainability and fair global technology development.

Wikidata is the free and open knowledge base that holds the world’s knowledge as machine-readable data. Countless institutions and companies use Wikidata’s linked data to power their products. Wikipedia’s sister project will soon have 100 million entries (as of October 2021) and can be read and edited by humans and machines alike.

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“A major focus of this event is to re-imagine Wikidata from the margins, that is, to connect the idea of envisioning a sustainable future for Wikidata and the urgent agenda of the Global South and the underrepresented communities in the Global North”

Focus on Open Data in the Global South

In order to give the community a stimulating environment for exchange, Wikimedia Deutschland and Wiki Movimento Brasil are jointly organizing the WikidataCon 2021. “Wikidata is in countless applications that we all use every day and thus forms the basis of Free Knowledge. This is precisely why it is so important that the development of Wikidata is in the hands of a diverse international community and that the circumstances of all users around the world are taken into account,” states Franziska Heine, Deputy Executive Director and Head of Software Development at Wikimedia Deutschland.

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A place of exchange for the Open Data community

Wikidata editors, tool developers and partners will come together between 29 and 31 October to develop solutions for the knowledge platform. “A major focus of this event is to re-imagine Wikidata from the margins, that is, to connect the idea of envisioning a sustainable future for Wikidata and the urgent agenda of the Global South and the underrepresented communities in the Global North,” says João Alexandre Peschanski, Coordinator Wiki Movimento Brasil.

Future-oriented program for Open Data

Day one will feature keynotes on topics such as decolonizing datasets, making Wikidata more accessible, and the importance of Open Data for biodiversity and for the climate. Online workshops, panels and talks are planned for days two and three, and the community will celebrate Wikidata’s ninth birthday with software giveaways. Several partner organizations provide support for this year’s WikidataCon.