Introducing a Milestone for Wikidata Botswana
In 2025, the Wikimedia Community User Group Botswana marked a significant milestone: 13 years of Wikidata. The celebration wasn’t a quiet anniversary but a vibrant, month-long campaign designed to boost local participation, improve data quality, and strengthen Botswana’s representation on the global knowledge graph. This initiative, titled Wikidata 13 Years Birthday, brought together editors from across the country to collaborate, learn, and contribute in a sustained, community-led effort.
The Month-Long Editing Campaign
From the first day of the campaign, volunteers organized activities that invited both seasoned editors and new contributors to work in tandem. The goal was not only to edit but to cultivate a culture of data accuracy, open collaboration, and shared learning. Participants focused on adding, revising, and linking data about Botswana’s geography, demographics, institutions, cultural heritage, and notable figures. The editing drive emphasized reliable sources, verifiable claims, and clear metadata, aligning with Wikidata’s role as a central, multilingual knowledge base.
Why Botswana Needs More Wikidata Edits
Wikidata’s strength lies in its structured data, which powers search, research, and educational tools worldwide. For Botswana, expanding Wikidata entries means better visibility for local projects, museums, universities, and government initiatives. The Botswana community recognized that richer, well-sourced data can help researchers, journalists, and educators tell accurate local stories. The month-long effort aimed to fill gaps, standardize terminology, and improve cross-linking with related databases like Wikimedia Commons, Wikipedia in Botswana’s official languages, and national libraries’ catalogs.
Community-Driven Growth and Mentorship
A central theme of the campaign was mentorship. Experienced editors volunteered to coach newcomers, sharing best practices for citing sources, structuring statements, and ensuring data reliability. Community discussions explored how to manage multilingual data, given Botswana’s linguistic diversity, and how to handle sensitive cultural information with respect and accuracy. The collaborative approach helped broaden participation beyond the usual contributors, inviting educators, students, researchers, and cultural enthusiasts to join.
Key Achievements and Highlights
Although the campaign spanned a full month, several tangible outcomes emerged quickly. New Wikidata items related to Botswana’s districts, historical sites, and public institutions were created or expanded. Existing entries received updates with better sources and more precise dates. A stronger network of Botswana editors formed, enabling ongoing collaboration beyond the birthday period. The initiative also sparked conversations about data stewardship, licensing, and the ethics of data representation in public knowledge bases.
What This Means for the Future
Celebrating 13 years of Wikidata in Botswana is more than a retrospective; it’s a blueprint for sustainable community growth. The campaign demonstrated that a coordinated, community-led effort can successfully increase data coverage and quality while building local expertise. As Botswana’s Wikidata community looks ahead, plans include recurring editing sessions, more partnerships with academic institutions, and outreach to schools to introduce students to the power of structured data. The overarching message is clear: Botswana’s knowledge is strongest when its people contribute, review, and curate it together.
Getting Involved
Whether you’re a seasoned editor or curious learner, there are routes to participate in ongoing Wikidata projects in Botswana. Join the Botswana Wikimedia Community User Group, attend editing sessions, and connect with mentors who can guide you through the basics of creating items, adding qualifiers, and linking to authoritative sources. Your contribution helps ensure that Botswana’s stories, data, and cultural heritage are accurately represented in Wikidata for generations to come.
