WikiFest 2025 unlocks open knowledge

On Wednesday 27 August, WikiFest 2025, hosted by SLV LAB in partnership with Wikimedia Australia, gathered technologists, researchers and cultural workers to explore how open knowledge platforms like Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons can reshape the ways we share and connect information.

Aimed at GLAM 1 workers, the all-day workshop was designed to demonstrate that Wikimedia projects can uncover hidden stories, link disparate datasets and inspire new approaches to cultural stewardship.

The day opened with a welcome from SLV LAB’s Innovation Lead, Sotirios Alpanis, 2 who underscored the Library’s commitment to experimentation and collaboration. Icebreakers quickly revealed a wide range of motivations among participants: some sought hands-on experience with Wikidata, others hoped to break out of professional silos and many simply wanted to explore new possibilities for open access and cultural equity.

This spirit of curiosity set the tone for the morning’s keynote talks. Five experts from across the Wikimedia and GLAM landscape presented case studies and practical insights that grounded the workshop in real-world applications:

- Tim Sherratt 3 talked about his experiences using Wikidata in combination with GLAM data to enrich his historical research – helping to glue together different collections and their data.

- Phizz Telford 4 introduced the Library's copyright-free image pool, and his passion for making them available.

- Alex Lum 5 gave an overview of what Wikidata is, with examples form GLAM institutions to help illustrate his talk.

- Julia Rodwell 6 introduced the research that underpinned her PhD and the Beyond the Book online exhibition. She emphasised the importance of open linked data to support this, and how she'd had to overcome a sense of imposter syndrome to contribute to it (on Wikidata).

- Paul Duchesne 7 gave an overview of his experiences as ACMI's Wikimedian-in-residence – including the benefits and some of the pitfalls he had to overcome.

After the morning sessions, participants fanned out across five tables, guided by facilitators including Pru Mitchell and Belinda Spry from Wikimedia Australia. The format resembled a hackathon: participants brainstormed, clustered around common interests and began shaping projects they would prototype in the afternoon.

The groups drew on the expertise of roaming Wikimedians like Alex and Paul to troubleshoot queries or suggest models. By late afternoon, the room had shifted from discussion to practical experimentation, with projects ranging from data reconciliation exercises to speculative design proposals.

Not every challenge was technical. One librarian from Deakin University reflected on how daunting it felt to traverse complex hierarchies and data models – even as a trained professional. If experts struggled, what would this mean for non-specialists? The insight prompted discussion around developing clearer tooling and guidance to support those new to Wikidata.

Other conversations turned to equity and cultural sensitivity. How can First Nations peoples be engaged to co-design data models that respect cultural protocols while still enabling discovery? What are the risks of encoding categories like ethnicity without due care? These were not questions with easy answers, but they reinforced the necessity of dialogue between technologists and cultural communities.

One of the standout projects of the day grew directly from State Library Victoria’s Women Writers Fund 8 which since 2021 has acquired over 170 works by under-represented women and gender-diverse authors. Inspired by a staff talk, participant Jessica Locke (Philanthropy Lead at State Library Victoria) proposed exploring how Wikidata could support the fund’s aims. With input from Alex, the group developed a query to identify women writers active during Jane Austen’s lifetime. This exercise showcased the potential of Wikidata to surface new acquisition opportunities and also demonstrated how linked open data could extend the fund’s impact by situating these authors within broader literary networks.

The project exemplified WikiFest’s ethos: small experiments with real-world implications for collection development and cultural redress.

By the end of the day, each team presented their explorations. Some were polished prototypes; others were provocations or thought experiments. All reflected the potential of Wikimedia platforms to:

• expose hidden biases in data (for example, the difficulty of spotting missing records and the risk of reinforcing existing exclusions)
• encourage collaboration between GLAM professionals and open knowledge communities
• inspire practical tools that bridge expertise gaps and lower barriers for entry.

As one facilitator noted, the process itself – experimenting, questioning and learning in public – was as valuable as any tangible outcome.

Wikimedia and Wikidata are becoming essential infrastructures for cultural discovery. They allow institutions to publish data not as isolated catalogues but as part of a global web of knowledge.

This has profound implications. Wikidata’s structured, queryable model makes it possible to link Victorian women writers to international bibliographies, film archives to global ontologies, or local photographs to broader histories of place. At the same time, Wikimedia Commons offers a platform where digitised images can reach audiences far beyond institutional websites.

Importantly, these platforms are not controlled by any single organisation. They are maintained by communities committed to free and equitable access to knowledge – a mission that aligns closely with the values of libraries, archives and museums.

For SLV LAB, the event reinforced the value of prototyping and community collaboration. For Wikimedia Australia, it demonstrated the appetite across GLAM for deeper engagement with Wikimedia platforms. And for participants, it offered a glimpse of what becomes possible when curators, coders, rights managers and researchers come together in service of open knowledge.

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Further reading

'WikiFest at the State Library of Victoria', by Tim Sherratt. Published 1 September 2025 on Wikimedia Australia.