This week, Kenya will host Wikimania 2025. The 20th edition of the annual conference that brings together the global volunteer community behind Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. Over 1,000 participants from more than 120 countries both in-person and online will gather to share ideas, collaborate, and explore the future of open knowledge.
Nearly 300,000 volunteers contribute to Wikimedia projects each month. They create and maintain information that is viewed more than 22 billion times monthly. Wikipedia alone is available in over 300 languages. Every edit made openly and collaboratively to ensure content remains neutral, reliable, and fact-based.
Wikimania 2025 theme, “Wikimania@20: Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability.” Highlights the need to strengthen Wikimedia projects and the volunteer network that keeps them thriving. This is especially as more people around the world come online.
“Wikimania is a window into our global Wikimedia community. This conference is a celebration of the people, from every corner of the world, who contribute their time, passion, and skills to share knowledge.” Said Maryana Iskander, CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation.
20 Years of Global Knowledge Sharing
“Hosting Wikimania again on the African continent for its special 20 year anniversary is an acknowledgement of this region’s critical role in growing and shaping the Wikimedia projects for the future. As the next one billion people come online, it is more important than ever to expand Africa’s contributions to the global knowledge ecosystem through the Wikimedia projects.”
The program will feature workshops, discussions, awards, and cultural exchanges, covering topics such as artificial intelligence, cultural heritage preservation, and language diversity. Highlights include:
- Wikimedian of the Year Awards presented by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.
- A keynote panel on AI with African technology experts discussing its role in the future of open knowledge.
- Sessions on preserving cultural heritage, fostering library collaborations, and supporting underrepresented languages.
- A Hackathon for participants to work on Wikimedia-related software and database projects.
Wikimania’s hybrid format will allow thousands more to join virtually, with sessions translated into Arabic, French, English, Spanish, and Swahili, making it a truly global celebration of knowledge for everyone.
