From 22 to 25 July 2026, Wikimania Paris featured a room that nobody could physically walk into. The Virtual Room was a dedicated digital space built exclusively for online attendees, complete with its own dedicated programming and unique content unavailable anywhere else at the venue. As a member of the Core Organising Team (COT), co-lead of the Technical Committee, and the primary lead for the Virtual Room, I had a front-row seat to this experiment. This is the story of how a small, dedicated group of volunteers brought a digital-first stage to life. ZacharyB CC-BY-SA ## Why Build a Room for Online Attendees? One of our core commitments on the COT for Wikimania 2026 was to meaningfully engage the global remote audience, not just broadcast physical sessions at them. The Technical Committee pitched several ideas to bridge the hybrid gap, and the Virtual Room was our boldest initiative. Unlike standard track rooms, the Virtual Room had no physical space where people sat and watched. It existed entirely online, streamed through the live section of Eventyay and broadcast on the Wikimedia Foundation’s YouTube channel. Our main goal was to solve the problem of scheduled downtime. During coffee breaks or lunch hours, online participants were historically left staring at a blank screen or a static “stream starting soon” graphic. Furthermore, because remote attendees tuned in from every time zone across the globe, a Paris lunch break often coincided with someone else’s morning start or late-night wind-down. We wanted a living, continuous program that kept remote participants accompanied and engaged through those quiet moments. ZacharyB CC-BY-SA ## What Was on the Program? Each day of the conference was structured around two anchor broadcasts, with localized sessions running between them across the event’s four official languages: * **Morning Live:** Every day kicked off before the main venue program began. Hosted by Isla Haddow-Flood, this show brought in guests from across the global movement for live, dynamic discussions in French and English covering pressing community topics. * **Virtual Room Interviews:** During the local lunch break (1:30 PM to 2:30 PM), we brought key speakers from the physical main stages into our virtual studio. Online attendees got up-close access to dive deeper into stage presentations, broader movement work, and visions for the future of Wikimedia. * **Multilingual Sessions:** To ensure equitable access, dedicated sessions were hosted each day in French, Spanish,Arabic, and English. * **A Dedicated Stage for Remote Presenters:** Traveling to Paris wasn’t possible for every speaker whose proposal was accepted. The Virtual Room provided a proper, interactive platform for remote presenters to deliver their talks to the global Wikimania audience. * **Live Poster Hall Walkthroughs:** In one of our most creative formats, we took a mobile camera setup directly to the physical posters exhibition. Online viewers were guided through the hall in real time and heard directly from poster authors via live interviews. Source: Wikimedia Foundation’s Youtube Channel ## Powered Entirely by Volunteers What made the Virtual Room truly remarkable was its production model: it was 100% volunteer-run. Without an AV team or external production team behind the desk, a small team of Wikimedia volunteers operated the entire production stack using equipment generously loaned by Wikimedia France. Operating with lean gear across four packed days meant navigating a few minor technical hiccups along the way, a natural reality for an experimental setup of this scale. Yet, the stream remained resilient, the broadcast stayed on schedule, and the remote audience stayed tuned in throughout. Source: Wiki in Africa’s Linkedin page ## A True Two-Way Conversation Rather than a passive video feed, the Virtual Room functioned as an active dialogue channel. The Eventyay chat became our primary engagement bridge. Online participants submitted real-time comments, feedback, and questions, which our team relayed live to interview hosts and guests on screen. For remote speakers, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. For many community members worldwide, the Virtual Room was the single factor that allowed them to participate as presenters at Wikimania 2026. ## Acknowledgments & Looking Ahead Bringing a project like this from concept to reality required seamless collaboration. I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to everyone who contributed to making the Virtual Room a success: * **The entire Virtual Room operational staff** * **Michael Barbereau** (Wikimedia France) * **Geoffrey Kateregga** (Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda) * **Isla Haddow-Flood** (Wiki In Africa) * **All event volunteers, the Wikimedia Foundation staff, and the Wikimania Steering Committee** At Wikimania 2026 in Paris, we proved that a room with no walls can be every bit as crowded, vibrant, and connected as a physical auditorium. As our movement continues to evolve, I hope future Wikimania teams will build on this foundation to keep our global community engaged, and especially to keep online attendees as engaged as those attending in person.

Dolon Prova, CC BY-SA 4.0 I had no clue what to expect. Let me start there. This was my first time in Paris. My first Wikimania. My first WikiWomen+ Summit. Everything was new, and honestly, I was nervous. On Day Zero, I woke up early and decided to walk to the venue. Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie. The morning was warm and bright, the kind of sunshine that makes you feel like something good is about to happen. I walked slowly, taking it all in, but my mind was racing. I kept thinking about the senior Wikimedians I was about to meet. People whose names I had seen on project pages and mailing lists. And here I was, a rookie. A newbie. Just starting out. The breeze helped. The morning light helped. I remember telling myself to breathe and just be present. It took me a while to figure out the floors and rooms. I got lost once, maybe twice. But when I finally found the WikiWomen+ Summit room and walked in, everything shifted. The room was full of women. Beautiful, warm, feminine energy soaked the entire space. There was laughter, there were hugs, there was chatter. I saw Rosie handing out foulards to everyone. All colors laid out on a table, a thoughtful souvenir to remember this day by. Such a small gesture, but it felt like being welcomed into a family. I looked around and saw women from different age groups, ethnicities, and religions. Women with babies running around. Pregnant women. Women who had traveled from far corners of the world just for this. And everyone was so compassionate, so patient, so eager to hear each other’s stories. No one was rushing. No one was guarding their space. Everyone was making room. We all sat down, and the sessions began. There were so many that stayed with me, and I want to talk about a few of them. Sukkoria’s session on generative AI made me see the challenges clearly. Bias in translation. Articles unavailable in so many languages. And no way to know whose copyrighted work AI is pulling, because the process is invisible to us. It was uncomfortable to hear, but necessary. Then Bee Piovesan’s hackathon session shifted something in me. She told us plainly: you are users, and you can come and code the tools that you need. Women do not have to wait for someone else to build for us. We can translate tools, document them so other communities can actually use them. That reframing was powerful. It reminded me that contribution is not only writing articles. Leila Zia’s session on the gender gap on Wikipedia raised another important question. At a time when readership is declining, helping more women become frequent Wikipedia readers can have a significant impact on representation. She asked what we can do. Maybe more lively interfaces. Maybe simplifying the scientific language in articles so people with less formal education can actually read and understand them. Simple ideas, but they spoke to me. There was also the introduction of Wiki Gender Stats by Les Sans Pages, presented by Danÿa and Natasha. Seeing a tool that tracks gender gaps made the problem visible in a way that numbers always do. And then there were the conversations outside the sessions. I heard people talk about mental health, about how editing can actually be therapeutic. One activity at a time. Focusing on something small. Seeing your edits take shape and knowing you made that. Some people shared that this work brings them peace. I felt that. But the most important thing was not any single session. It was the women themselves. I made friends. Real ones. I heard their struggles, the things they had to fight through just to be in that room. Their resilience and perseverance was beautiful in a way that is hard to describe. These are women who kept going despite everything, and they did it with such grace. And then there was Christophe’s session. He talked about the next 25 years of the Wikimedia movement. AI is here to stay, he said. Companies are already fighting over niche content. OpenAI is investing in local journalism because eventually everyone will have the same generic data. The real value will be in context. Knowledge that speaks to specific people in specific places. Which means Wikimedians will become more important than ever. We are the spearheads of knowledge. But then he gave an example that hit hard. Women in Red. All those red links marking missing articles about women. Over time, those links will disappear. Not because we filled them, but because AI will fill the gaps. People using AI will never know what never existed. We will lose the memory of what is missing. I sat there thinking about Indian Muslim women. We are hardly visible in this movement. Our stories, our knowledge, our histories are barely documented. And if AI fills the gaps without us, our absence will become permanent. No one will even know we were missing. The session ended with a group photograph. All of us together, smiling. Then lunch on 23 July, where I finally got to hear more stories. Personal stories. Struggles. Wins. Women sharing what brought them here and what keeps them going. I left Paris with so much. Not just the foulard, but a sense of belonging I did not expect. A reminder that I am not alone in this work. A clearer understanding of why it matters. And friends who understand what it means to keep showing up. > This is my first WikiWomen+ Summit. It will not be my last. Pierre-Selim Huard, CC BY-SA 3.0

The Wikimania 2026 Virtual experience has been highly commendable, inclusive, and extremely educational. From Africa to Asia, Europe to the greater Americas, with enormous participation that involved sessions, Panel discussions, Lightning talks, and side events, which included the Hackathon. This year, Wikimania explored better strategies to collectively ensure equitable knowledge sharing and community inclusion to build a community with growth in content generation, language improvements, and enhanced user experiences in the Wikimedia movement. ## AI Sessions and its Impact on Wikimedia Projects AI tools as an assistive technology sparked broader discussions, which raised unique concerns about their fundamental contribution and perhaps their challenges on the Wikimedia projects. The session underscored the fact that AI is not a bad technology, emphasizing that its use within the movement should be used only within specific contexts of improving grammar and related areas. Wikimedians were strongly encouraged to avoid using these assistive tools on AI to generate articles, for example, on English Wikipedia. Furthermore, Wikipedia is a place where many people across the world go to learn, not just to edit. Participants also gave recommendations to the Wikimedia leaders to consider developing and deploying AI tools that help Wikimedia projects improve, especially in sourcing references. These tools should be tested on a small scale and monitored before upscaling and adoption for integration into Wiki platforms. The panel on _**“The State of Wikimedia and AI: Freedom, Equity, Reliability at a Crossroads”**_ was led by **_Chris Albone_** , Director of Machine Learning and Data, Wikimedia Foundation, alongside other panelists who included Jimmy Wales, Lane Becker, Ilario Valdelli, Netha Hussain, and Audrey Tang, and the main discussion focused on community participation, governance, sustainability, and required infrastructures and resources for the necessary progression, for instance, strengthening tools within Wikimedia platforms to flag AI-generated content and to moderate the use of AI within the Wikimedia ecosystem, especially in an AI-shaped landscape. Wiki Women Conference, Wikimania 2026 Virtual ## My Full Experience and Virtual Wikimania Participation The sessions selected for this year were highly engaging, informative, and educational in a way that builds the community’s capacity to engage, learn from best practices, and further broaden their knowledge in ensuring user-group transformation in project management. I successfully attended sessions on topics of Climate Change, the Wiki Women conference, AI sessions, Wikisource, and the hackathon. These sessions shaped my understanding of how Wiki projects facilitate gender inclusion, disability inclusion, and climate change across jurisdictions, spanning legal policy and interventions by global and international organizations that support these initiatives with Wikimedia involvement. For instance, Climate change is currently a global conversation that can’t be ignored, I had the opportunity to join the Climate Change panel: **_Climate Conversations: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Knowledge Sharing._** This panel was led by _**Tatjana Baleta**_ from South Africa, and other panelists included _**Dr Femke Nijsse**_ from the Netherlands, **_Evelin Heide_** from Uruguay, and **_Mohammed Amine Ben Loulou_** from Algeria session focused on the climate information crisis within today’s broader digital information landscape, including the challenges posed by AI-generated content and coordinated misinformation. The panel further reflected on lessons learned from their work, which, among others, include urgent government interventions through policy recommendations that initiate practical solutions to support the already existing progress to improve climate coverage in practice, especially through the use of Wikimedia platforms to tell climate justice stories and share content that shapes a resilient climate ecosystem information sharing in the open knowledge movement. ## Lessons Learnt 1. Through Wikimania 2026, I learnt that on a daily basis, 10 million URL links are added to Wikimedia platforms; 1 million books are added to Wikimedia yearly; through partnerships, 350,000 dissertations from Lighton University are added to Wikimedia; and 150,000 have been digitized. 2. High level of growth in the creation of climate change articles. 3. Wikimedia to build more tools to help editors improve and create quality articles. 4. Enhancing a shift in the relationship between public renters and publishers to reduce dependencies and put the human in AI for effective control and avoiding overreliance on AI models. 5. Enhancing Collaborations between institutions of learning on better aspects of integrating Wikimedia projects into their curricula for better dissemination. 6. Ensuring high-end companies like OpenAI feature Wikipedia articles to make content creators share their content with wider reach. 7. Use of the Padlet platform to improve Wikimedia projects. ## Wikimania 2026 Virtual Light Moments Wikimania Paris was a memorable event. I connected with many Wikimedians from other continents through the Event Yay platform; this is such a wonderful tool. During the sessions, I managed to make submissions seamlessly and follow live conversations to ensure I built my capacity in Wikimedia Project management. Lightning talks were a very impressive session of the meeting. Also, I enjoyed using the Padlet platform to suggest ideas to improve Wikipedia and the Wikimedia movement. Many user groups shared the work they are doing to increase community participation through campaigns, editathons, hackathons, and this motivated my editing experience, and I will continue to support the growth of the open knowledge movement in Uganda and beyond. **Emma Oruk** **Project Lead: Wiki-Gap, Wiki for Minorities in Uganda.** **Wikimedia Community User-Group Uganda**

Early in the first Language Diversity Conference, Rossouw van Rooyen thought about a quote he had first heard eight years earlier. At Wikimania 2018 in...

Early in the first Language Diversity Conference, Rossouw van Rooyen thought about a quote he had first heard eight years earlier. At Wikimania 2018 in Cape Town, Daniel Bögre Udell of Wikitongues …

Wikimania 2026 in Paris was my first in-person Wikimania since I joined the Wikimedia movement in 2021. Since then, I had participated in Wikimania virtually....

_Hinweis: Dieser Artikel ist eine deutsche Übersetzung der_ Original-Meldung der Wikimedia Foundation_._ Yarl, Wikimania 2024 – Polish Community meetup on Saturday 22, CC BY-SA 4.0 #### Über die Autorin des Artikels Selena Deckelmann ist Chief Product and Technology Officer der Wikimedia Foundation. In dieser Funktion leitet sie die Produkt- und Technologieteams und ist somit für die technische Infrastruktur und die Weiterentwicklung der Wikimedia-Projekte verantwortlich. Zuvor war sie als Senior Vice President bei Mozilla tätig, wo sie für Firefox verantwortlich war. Vor kurzem haben mehrere Organisationen bekannt gegeben, wie Gruppen sogenannter „ausgebrochener“ KI-Agenten versucht haben, in Websites und Online-Dienste einzudringen – teilweise sogar erfolgreich. Insbesondere ist bekannt, dass Agenten aus dem Umfeld von OpenAI andere öffentliche Wikis (gemeinsam bearbeitete Websites, die nicht uns gehören) genutzt haben, um miteinander zu kommunizieren und sich abzustimmen. Solche erfolgreichen Angriffe können sensible Daten offenlegen oder Website-Dienste stören, auf die sich Nutzer*innen verlassen, während Gruppen von Agenten Angriffe in einem Ausmaß versuchen können, das für die Verteidiger schwer zu bewältigen ist. Sie betreffen die Menschen hinter den Websites, die möglicherweise die Art des Angriffs nicht verstehen oder nicht über die Mittel verfügen, um sich wirksam zu wehren. Bei einer Website wie Wikipedia könnten Agenten Sicherheitslücken aufspüren und ausnutzen oder in großem Umfang irreführende Bearbeitungen vornehmen. Die ehrenamtlichen Autor*innen von Wikipedia und die Sicherheitsteams der Wikimedia Foundation müssen diese Aktivitäten aufdecken und rückgängig machen. Die Wikimedia Foundation führte eine eigene Untersuchung durch, um festzustellen, ob Wikimedia-Websites in ähnlicher Weise von KI-Agenten betroffen waren, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf den von OpenAI betriebenen Websites lag. Wir können bestätigen, dass wir einige Aktivitäten dieser „abtrünnigen“ OpenAI-Agenten auf Wikimedia-Plattformen entdeckt haben. Zu den unbefugten Bot-Aktivitäten gehörten Bearbeitungen unserer Wikis, einige erfolglose Versuche, ein von uns gehostetes öffentliches Notiz-Tool auszunutzen, sowie starker Datenverkehr, worauf weiter unten näher eingegangen wird. Wir haben keine Hinweise darauf gefunden, dass unsere Systeme zur Koordination zwischen den Agenten genutzt wurden, und wir haben auch keine Hinweise darauf gefunden, dass unsere Systeme oder Daten kompromittiert wurden. Dennoch sind wir besorgt darüber, was hier möglicherweise hätte passieren können. Ebenso beunruhigt uns, wie schwierig und aufwändig es ist, solche Aktivitäten zu untersuchen und ihre Quelle zurückzuverfolgen. Hinzu kommen die wachsenden Risiken, die mit dem Einsatz von agentischer KI auf unseren Plattformen generell verbunden sind. Das offene Web ist ein öffentliches Gut. Wir sollten nicht zulassen, dass dieses Verhalten zur „neuen Normalität“ für die Personen oder Organisationen wird, die es aufrechterhalten. ### Zusammenfassend haben wir Folgendes festgestellt: * **Wiki-Bearbeitungen:** Wir haben Bearbeitungen an Wikimedia-Wikis identifiziert, von denen wir glauben, dass sie von KI-Agenten stammen, die von OpenAI betrieben werden. Diese Bearbeitungen wurden nicht auf Seiten veröffentlicht, die für allgemeine Leser*innen sichtbar sind; fast alle waren Testbearbeitungen in „Sandbox“-Bereichen des Wikis. Dazu gehörten auch einige Bearbeitungen an der Konfiguration eines Zitierwerkzeugs, bei denen es sich unserer Ansicht nach um potenziell böswillige Bearbeitungen handelte, die darauf abzielten, dieses Werkzeug als Proxy zum Abrufen von Daten aus Remote-Diensten zu missbrauchen. Zwar erlauben die Wikipedia-Richtlinien die Bearbeitung durch Bots, sofern diese offengelegt und von der Community genehmigt wurden, doch wurde bei diesen Vorfällen keine derartigen Genehmigungen eingeholt. * **Etherpad-Erkundung und -Nutzung:** Agenten, von denen wir annehmen, dass sie von OpenAI betrieben wurden, unternahmen einige erfolglose Versuche, unser öffentliches Etherpad zu kompromittieren, ein Notiz-Tool, das wir als Community-Dienst hosten. Die Agenten versuchten erfolglos, es als Proxy zum Abrufen von Daten von anderen Websites zu nutzen. Andere Agenten, die wahrscheinlich ebenfalls von OpenAI betrieben wurden, machten sich Notizen zu ihren Aufgaben, obwohl dies offenbar nicht zu einer Koordinierung führte. * **Übermäßiges Herunterladen von Daten:** Agenten, von denen wir annehmen, dass sie von OpenAI betrieben werden, haben Millionen automatisierter Anfragen an unsere öffentlichen APIs gestellt, um auf das Wissen in Wikimedia-Projekten zuzugreifen, Millionen von Seiten (hauptsächlich aus unseren Projekten Wikidata und Wikimedia Commons) gecrawlt und Hunderttausende von Datenabfragen an den Wikidata Query Service (WQDS) gestellt. Dieser Datenverkehr könnte zu einem teilweisen Ausfall des WQDS im Mai beigetragen haben. Als gemeinnütziger Technologie-Host einiger der größten und am häufigsten genutzten offenen Wissensplattformen der Welt sind wir zutiefst besorgt über die Auswirkungen „abtrünniger“ KI-Agenten auf Plattformen wie die unsere, die von Ehrenamtlichen aus aller Welt aufgebaut wurden und auf dem Versprechen des offenen Internets beruhen. Vorfälle wie dieser und die vielen anderen, die aufgedeckt wurden (und weiterhin aufgedeckt werden), veranschaulichen, wie KI-Agenten Ressourcen erschöpfen und Server zum Absturz bringen sowie versuchen können, vertrauenswürdige Informationen zu kompromittieren. In den letzten 25 Jahren hat sich Wikipedia zu einer der beliebtesten und vertrauenswürdigsten Websites der Welt entwickelt, mit mehr als **67 Millionen Artikeln in über 300 Sprachen und bis zu 15 Milliarden Seitenaufrufen pro Monat**. In einem offenen, transparenten und gemeinschaftlichen Prozess sorgen Ehrenamtliche dafür, dass das Wissen neutral, zuverlässig und für alle zugänglich bleibt. Wikipedia ist einer der hochwertigsten Datensätze, die zum Trainieren großer Sprachmodelle (LLMs) verwendet werden, und sein Wissen bildet das Rückgrat der Informationen im Internet und treibt KI-Chatbots, Suchmaschinen, Sprachassistenten und vieles mehr an. Wikipedia wurde für Menschen konzipiert – und agentisches Verhalten stellt eindeutig Herausforderungen dar, für die noch niemand Lösungen hat. Aufgrund unseres einzigartigen und erfolgreichen Modells zur Wissensgenerierung sind es die Ehrenamtlichen von Wikimedia, die als Erste mit den von KI-Agenten hinterlassenen Spuren in Berührung kommen und diese beseitigen. Der steigende Bot-Verkehr und die zunehmende agentische Aktivität zeigen tatsächliche Auswirkungen auf die Wikimedia-Projekte und die Infrastruktur, die diese für Millionen von Nutzern weltweit zugänglich macht. Im Jahr 2025 berichtete die Stiftung, dass ihre Bandbreitennutzung aufgrund des seit 2024 stark angestiegenen Bot-Aufkommens auf ihren Websites um 50 % zugenommen hatte. Gleichzeitig stammten 65 % des ressourcenintensivsten Datenverkehrs in ihren Projekten von Bots. Dieser intensive Druck auf unsere Infrastruktur verursacht nicht nur zusätzliche Kosten für Server und Personal, sondern kann – wenn er nicht angegangen wird – auch menschliche Besucher blockieren, indem er die Systeme überlastet und Ausfälle verursacht. Wir tragen bereits jetzt die Kosten, die mit der erhöhten Aktivität einhergehen. Die Ehrenamtlichen von Wikimedia haben sich bisher bei der Bewältigung neuer Herausforderungen auf unseren Plattformen als widerstandsfähig erwiesen, aber wir möchten auch betonen: Das muss nicht so sein. Zwar räumt OpenAI ein, dass sich die Agenten „unvorhersehbar“ verhalten, doch muss das Unternehmen auch seine Verantwortung anerkennen, diese Risiken zu überwachen und zu verhindern. KI-Unternehmen tun nicht genug, um ihre Systeme zu sichern und die Öffentlichkeit vor den von ihnen verursachten Schäden zu schützen. Diese Last fällt auf alle anderen zurück, einschließlich kleinerer Organisationen. Zumindest sollten ihre Systeme so funktionieren, dass gemeinnützige Website-Betreiber wie wir sie leicht identifizieren und entscheiden können, wie sie mit unseren Diensten interagieren. Das Web ermöglicht so vieles: mit Freunden und Familie in Kontakt zu bleiben, sich für die Schule anzumelden, einen Weg quer durch die Stadt zu planen, Lebensmittel einzukaufen und über Wikipedia etwas über die Welt zu lernen. Bots und Agenten sind Teil der Zukunft des Webs, und die Unternehmen, die sie einsetzen und davon profitieren, müssen direkt dazu beitragen, den Schaden, den sie anrichten können, zu vermeiden und zu beheben. Unsere gemeinsame Priorität sollte die Gesundheit des gesamten Web-Ökosystems sein, damit es weiterhin allen Menschen zugutekommt – nicht nur einer Handvoll Milliardäre. Wikimedia spielt eine entscheidende Rolle bei der Bewahrung der Wissensallmende, aber wir können dies nicht alleine bewältigen. Wir laden alle ein, die an der Gestaltung der Zukunft des Internets mitwirken, sich uns anzuschließen, um die offenen, gemeinsam genutzten Ressourcen zu schützen, die diese Zukunft erst möglich machen.

When Aristide Kouamé arrived at Wikimania in Singapore in August 2023, he was looking for something practical: help understanding how to translate French Wikipedia articles...

**_ Wikimania Paris wordmark_** **_PANNEAUX_** For me, Wikimania 2026 was not simply a conference in Paris. It was a journey that connected many parts of my Wikimedia experience – learning, volunteering, meeting people from different communities, exploring new ideas, and contributing to the free knowledge movement in my own way. When I received the opportunity to attend Wikimania 2026 in Paris, I knew that this would be a very different experience from participating in Wikimedia activities from Odisha. Wikimania brought together Wikimedians from different countries, languages, backgrounds, and communities. The 2026 edition was held from 21 to 25 July at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Paris, under the theme “Freedom, Equity, Reliability.” It was also a special year because Wikipedia was celebrating its 25th anniversary. **_PUZZLE 25 ANS LQ_** **_Baby Globe in Paris_** **_PORTE WIKI GIF LQ_** ## Arriving in Paris Coming to Paris for my second Wikimania was a very different experience. This time, I was not completely new to the Wikimedia community. I already knew some people from my previous Wikimania experience and from my interactions within the movement, while many others were new faces whose work and communities I was getting to know for the first time. I was travelling to Paris as a **Wikimedia Foundation scholarship recipient** , which made the journey particularly meaningful for me. Although the scholarship made it possible for me to attend Wikimania, I travelled from Odisha to Paris independently, making this a solo travel experience as well. **_ Aliva Sahoo at Wikimania 2026_** From navigating a new city to finding my way around the conference, there were many small moments that pushed me beyond my comfort zone. But once Wikimania began, those moments of unfamiliarity quickly turned into conversations and connections. I reconnected with people I already knew, met many new Wikimedians, and had the opportunity to interact with people from communities and countries I had never worked with before. For me, Wikimania was once again much more than a programme of talks. It was a space where people came together to exchange experiences, discuss challenges, share ideas and simply get to know one another. Being there for the second time made me appreciate something even more deeply: the Wikimedia movement may be global in scale, but its strongest part is the people and relationships that connect communities across borders. ## Learning beyond the sessions I attended a wide range of sessions during Wikimania 2026, and each one gave me a different perspective on the Wikimedia movement. One of the sessions I attended was the **WikiWomen+ Summit** , which focused on gender equity, empowerment, strategy and content gaps. The conversations around participation, leadership and creating more inclusive Wikimedia spaces made me reflect on the importance of supporting women contributors not only to participate, but also to take on meaningful roles within communities. **_ Photo de groupe du Wiki Women Summit à Wikimania 2026_** I also attended a session on **how the Wikimedia movement can adapt if AI becomes the first interface to the web**. The discussion explored a possible future where people increasingly access information through closed applications and generative AI rather than directly through websites and search engines. It made me think about the importance of keeping Wikimedia knowledge accessible, reliable and connected to people even as the internet changes. Another particularly useful session for me was **“Tools that make Wikimedia Commons Contributions reliable and easy.”** As someone who contributes to Wikimedia Commons, I found the practical focus very relevant. The workshop introduced tools and user scripts that can make Commons contributions easier and more reliable, including resources useful for newcomers, campaign organisers and people working with images for educational and outreach purposes. I also attended **“Social integration of the new generations: How do we turn casual editors into community leaders?”** The discussion focused on how communities can support people who start as occasional contributors and gradually become active community members or leaders. This made me think about my own interest in bringing more students and young people into Wikimedia projects through educational institutions in Odisha. The _Wiki Women Lunch – From Participation to Power_ * was another meaningful space. Rather than being just a networking lunch, it created opportunities to discuss mentorship, leadership, governance participation, sustainability and equitable access to resources. Conversations like these reminded me that community growth is not only about increasing the number of contributors; it is also about creating an environment where people feel supported to continue and grow. I also joined a **Wiki Loves Film creative workshop** , which showed how Wikimedia Commons content can be used in creative and collaborative ways. The workshop connected photography, creativity and free licensing, demonstrating that Commons can be more than a place to store photographs—it can also become a space for experimentation and storytelling. The session on **Community Governance: “The Good, the Bad, and the Way Forward”** gave me another perspective. It looked at how Wikimedia communities make decisions, collaborate, handle challenges and improve governance practices. The emphasis on transparency, clarity, accountability and collaboration was particularly interesting because healthy communities depend not only on good contributions but also on good processes. **_ Baby Globe at Wikimania 2026_** ### Learning Beyond the Sessions: The Poster Presentation I also attended the poster session. The space brought together Wikimedians from different communities who were presenting their projects, tools, research, campaigns, and community initiatives through posters. As I walked through the posters, I came across a wide range of ideas – from community capacity building and education initiatives to projects around biodiversity, science, languages, digital tools, and Wikimedia outreach. Each poster offered a glimpse into how different communities were approaching their local needs and challenges through Wikimedia projects. What I enjoyed most was that the session allowed me to explore many projects in a short time and interact with people behind them. Some of the ideas made me think about how similar approaches could be adapted for the Wikimedia community in Odisha, especially in areas such as educational outreach, community capacity building, documentation, and introducing Wikimedia projects to new groups. For me, the poster session was not just about seeing different projects. It was a space where I could collect small ideas from different communities and imagine how some of them could inspire future work back home . Poster session at Wikimania 2026 in Paris Poster session at Wikimania 2026 in Paris ## **Volunteering behind the scenes** Another special part of my Wikimania experience was volunteering with the **Wikimania swag pack team**. Being a participant and being a volunteer are two different experiences. As a participant, we see the conference, sessions and activities. As a volunteer, we also get a glimpse of the work that happens behind the scenes to make those experiences possible. Working with the swag pack team gave me an opportunity to contribute in a small but practical way to the conference itself. It also gave me another reason to interact with people beyond the sessions and understand the importance of teamwork in organising a large Wikimedia event. **_ Swag Pack Team at Wikimania 2026_** It reminded me that Wikimedia is built not only through articles, photographs and technical contributions, but also through hundreds of small acts of volunteer work. ## Paris through the lens of Wikimedia Commons My Wikimania experience did not end inside the conference venue. Paris gave me another opportunity to contribute to Wikimedia Commons through photography and documentation. During my stay, I visited some beautiful places and monuments in the city and photographed them with the intention of documenting them for Wikimedia Commons. For me, photography was not simply about bringing back beautiful memories from Paris. It was also about thinking about how those photographs could become part of a freely accessible visual record. Every monument has a story. Every historic building represents a particular period, culture or architectural tradition. By documenting these places and sharing the images under free licences, we can make cultural and historical visual resources available to people who may never get an opportunity to visit them personally. **_ Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre, Paris_** **_ Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel – Front view, Paris_** **_ Pont Alexandre III pylon and Grand Palais, Paris_** **_ Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre, Paris_** **_ Fontaine des Mers, Place de la Concorde, Paris_** **_ Obélisque de Louxor, Place de la Concorde, Paris_** **_ Institut de France seen through an arch of the Louvre Palace_** **_ Eiffel Tower located in Paris_** **_ Notre-Dame de Paris – West facade_** **_ Sphinge de Sébastopol et plaque au Général Lemonnier – Jardin des Tuileries, Paris_** **_ Louvre Museum Cour Carrée inner courtyard_** ## What I am taking back to Odisha Coming back from Wikimania, I am carrying more than memories and photographs. I want to continue working on Wikimedia projects in Odisha, particularly around educational institutions, Wikimedia Commons, local culture and underrepresented knowledge. The sessions on community growth made me think more about how students and newcomers can be introduced to Wikimedia in a simple and welcoming way. The Commons-related sessions encouraged me to explore better tools and documentation practices. The discussions around women’s participation strengthened my interest in creating more opportunities for women contributors. Most importantly, Wikimania reminded me that local contributions matter. An article written in Odia, a photograph documenting a village, a historical monument, a cultural tradition, a workshop conducted with students, or a new contributor taking their first edit—all of these can become part of a much larger global movement. Wikimania 2026 Day 4 group photo