{"id":262,"date":"2025-05-22T16:00:03","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T14:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/?page_id=262"},"modified":"2026-05-20T12:35:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T10:35:30","slug":"software","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/en\/themes\/software\/","title":{"rendered":"Wikidata & Wikibase \u2013 the mainstays of an open internet"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Wikidata is an impressively large collection of free knowledge data. Launched in 2012, it now consists of over 120 million structured items<\/a> that are both human- and machine-readable. It\u2019s not just Wikipedia that uses its data to automatically update information such as population figures or dates of birth; Wikidata also forms the backbone of numerous digital applications both inside and outside the Wikimedia world, from well-known voice assistants through platforms like Govdirectory<\/a> to travel apps and games like Wikitrivia<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\n \n Knowledge to serve humanity <\/span>\n <\/h2>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Wikidata is a mainstay of the open and transparent internet. Its importance was recognized with a special award in October 2025: The Digital Public Goods Alliance \u2014 an initiative supported by the United Nations \u2014 has recognized<\/a> Wikidata as a digital public good<\/a>. Only a few months previous, Wikipedia had been awarded the same distinction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Lydia Pintscher | Foto: VGrigas (WMF)<\/a>, Lydia Pintscher – 1<\/a>, CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a><\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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\n Wikidata shows that technology can serve people, not the other way around. It is an alternative to data monopolies and closed systems and a place where a global community works together to make knowledge openly, freely, and reliably available.\r\n\r\n <\/blockquote>\n Lydia Pintscher<\/cite>\n Portfolio Lead for Wikidata at Wikimedia Deutschland<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Worldwide, over 24,000 volunteers work to verify, update and expand Wikidata\u2019s store of knowledge. In 2025, together with the development teams at Wikimedia, these volunteers have made significant contributions to shaping an internet that is more equitable, transparent and humane.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\n \n The Wikidata Embedding Project promotes fair and open AI solutions <\/span>\n <\/h2>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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While tech companies have been training AI systems on Wikidata\u2019s open data for years, at Wikimedia Deutschland we\u2019ve concentrated on funding and volunteer support for open and fair AI solutions.<\/p>\n

A central component of this work is the Wikidata Embedding project<\/a>, launched in 2024. Its goal is to make it easier, especially for open-source developers, to access Wikidata’s data and thus promote the development of innovative AI-based applications useful to the public. As part of the project, in the fall of 2025 we released a vector database<\/a>, which processes Wikidata’s high-quality data and makes it directly usable in developing generative-AI applications. Above all this benefits smaller development teams and open-source initiatives, for whom such processing was often unaffordable in the past.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Philippe Saade (WMDE)<\/a>, Philippe Saade<\/a>, CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a> <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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\n The launch of the Embedding Project shows that powerful AI doesn\u2019t have to be controlled by a handful of companies \u2014 it can be created openly and collaboratively. <\/blockquote>\n Philippe Saad\u00e9<\/cite>\n AI\/ML Project Manager at Wikimedia Deutschland<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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In the first phase of the Embedding Project, approximately 23 million items from Wikidata were made available via the new vector database, with more to follow. Interest in the service is already high: since its launch, the vector database has seen between 100,000 and 150,000 accesses per month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\n \n Community building across continents <\/span>\n <\/h2>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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At Wikimedia Deutschland, we have set ourselves the goal<\/a> of enabling even more people to use and contribute to projects like Wikipedia and Wikidata. To that end, we intend to create easier, more equitable and accessible methods of connection and access<\/p>\n

One example of new approaches to international cooperation is the Software Collaboration for Wikidata<\/a> project, sponsored by the Arcadia Fund through June 2025. As part of this collaboration, teams of developers from Germany, Indonesia, Nigeria, Ghana and Brazil worked on developing practical tools for using the free knowledge repository with a particular emphasis on smaller language editions. Among other things, this led to the creation of the new Broomstick<\/a> tool which helps editors to identify and fix issues in Wikidata.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Rebasecodecamp<\/a>, WMA Hackathon 2025 in Cameroon Satellite Venue – Rebase Code Camp 24<\/a>, CC0 1.0<\/a> <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n
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Another product of the Software Collaboration for Wikidata was the Wiki Mentor Africa project<\/a>. This series of trainings was launched by a team from Nigeria that offered workshops and hackathons in various African countries. Through the program, many people were empowered to work with Wikidata and share their knowledge on the internet in their own language.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\n \n Award for a Software Developer from Germany <\/span>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
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Thousands of people around the world volunteer their time to ensure that knowledge is freely accessible. The \u201cWikimedian of the Year\u201d award is presented annually to recognize outstanding contributions and achievements. In 2025, the award went to Eugene Agbor Egbe, among others. A native of Cameroon, he lives in Paderborn and, as a software developer, is helping to shape the technological future of Wikimedia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n

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\n \n How Wikidata facilitates projects: Insights from WikidataCon <\/span>\n <\/h2>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Each year, many events take place that serve to demonstrate the versatility of Wikidata\u2019s data, such as Wikidata\u2019s Data Reuse Days<\/a> and the Wikidata and Sister Projects<\/a> event. Another important gathering for the international Wikidata community is WikidataCon<\/a>, where volunteers, developers, researchers and organizations who work with Wikidata gather annually to exchange ideas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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At the 2025 WikidataCon, which took place virtually at the end of October, one of the participants was a volunteer known as “Cookroach”. He presented Digitale Stolpersteine<\/a>, a project he co-initiated. To date, over 116,000 memorial stones across Europe have been laid in dedication to the victims of National Socialism; the project compiles photos of the memorial stones, the biographies of those who were murdered and additional historical context, then links them all in Wikidata. This creates a unique, freely accessible digital network of remembrance.<\/p>\n

Among the other projects presented at WikidataCon is an auditory training app, based on Wikidata lexemes<\/a>, which provides support for people with difficulty hearing.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\n \n Work on the Wikibase ecosystem <\/span>\n <\/h2>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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In 2025, Wikimedia Deutschland also focused on the expansion of the Wikibase ecosystem. Wikibase<\/a> is the software that underlies Wikidata. A diverse, decentralized network of data entities is emerging here. This network will allow tech communities, research groups, and libraries, among others, to operate their own knowledge bases along the lines of Wikidata \u2013\u00a0 instances of Wikibase \u2013 to maintain collections of specialized data independently.<\/p>\n

One of many examples<\/a> is a project by a group in Peru that uses Wikibase to document the indigenous Quechua language family and build a freely accessible dictionary. The National Library of Nigeria also uses Wikibase<\/a> to make data on Nigerian editors more accessible, strengthening connections within Nigeria\u2019s knowledge landscape.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\n \n The future is free and open <\/span>\n <\/h2>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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All these developments demonstrate the importance of free and open knowledge projects like Wikidata and Wikibase. Not only is the amount of accessible data continuously growing, but more and more people and initiatives are joining in on these projects. Going forward, Wikimedia Deutschland will continue providing support for these developments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Jason Kr\u00fcger f\u00fcr Wikimedia Deutschland, FranziFranziska Heine, Portrait<\/a>, CC BY 4.0<\/a><\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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\n Through open-source projects such as Wikidata, we can prevent knowledge monopolies and ensure that knowledge as a common good benefits all people in equal measure. <\/blockquote>\n Franziska Heine<\/cite>\n Executive Director of Wikimedia Deutschland<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ruben Tognetti, Lydia Pintscher receiving a European Open Source Award 2025<\/a>, CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a> <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n \n Open Source Award for Wikidata <\/span>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
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A great honor for open source and free knowledge: Lydia Pintscher was awarded the European Open Source Award in January 2025! As one of the driving forces behind Wikidata, she has played a key role in creating an open and interconnected database for the world. In this interview, she discusses the significance of Wikidata, the role of open source, and why this award is also an important milestone for the community.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n

\n \n \n\n \n<\/svg><\/span> Interview with Lydia Pintscher <\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Free Knowledge needs free software \u2013 because only if the tools used to collect, structure and share knowledge are openly accessible to everyone, everyone can really participate. Wikimedia Deutschland is therefore not only committed to open content, but also develops the technical foundations that make knowledge available worldwide. Whether through open interfaces, transparent development or collaborative cooperation, the software department at Wikimedia Deutschland has continued to work at full speed in 2024 to strengthen Free Knowledge as a common good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6326,"featured_media":944,"parent":309,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"class_list":["post-262","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nicht-kategorisiert-en"],"acf":[],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":262,"de":176},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6326"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1340,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/262\/revisions\/1340"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}