As 2024 draws to a close, we reflect on a year of growth, collaboration, and shared accomplishments within Wikimedia Community Ireland.
This year, our community has continued to shine, building connections, sharing knowledge, and championing open culture across Ireland and beyond.
As we celebrate the season, it’s worth noting an Irish Christmas tradition that speaks to our spirit of openness and community: the lighting of a candle in the window. Historically, along with the religious traditions, this symbolised hospitality, guiding travellers and welcoming loved ones home—a fitting reminder of the warmth and inclusivity that defines our community.
We thank you for your passion, commitment, and enthusiasm throughout the year. Here’s to an even brighter 2025 as we continue building our community and working toward knowledge equity and positive digital empowerment!
Nollaig Shona agus Athbhliain faoi Mhaise Daoibh!
(Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!)
Walking in the snow in Dublin, by Giuseppe Milo, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Highlights of 2024
As we prepare for the festivities and say goodbye to 2024, it’s a perfect time to reflect on the year gone by. 2024 was a true whirlwind for our small but mighty team at WCI. Here are some highlights;
- The WikiWomen Erasmus+ Exchanges: we travelled to the Basque Country and Friesland alongside our partners to learn more about cultures, other minority languages and closing the gender gap in information. We made friends, learned lots about remarkable women in each region, cultural traditions and worked together to produce an impactful educational programme.
- WikiWomen Erasmus+ Toolkits: We also launched the WikiWomen Erasmus+ Toolkits which are now available to teachers and educational officers from Galleries, Libraries Archives and Museums to use for free. Find out how to get involved here.
- Wikimedia Community Ireland Podcast: we launched the podcast as a platform to explore all things Wiki and the free knowledge movement, showcase the exciting projects we are working on, and continue to elevate the Irish language in the digital space.https://wikimedia.ie/podcast/ We spoke to some fantastic guests working on impactful projects. Our discussion reneged from environmental conservation to feminist narratives in folklore to digitising heritage. You can listen to all of this year’s episodes here.
- Celtic Knot Minority Languages Conference: We co-hosted Celtic Knot with Wikimedia UK and supported by Lea La Croix of Mindful Projects. This was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the Irish language and culture, connect with the international Wikimedia Community and showcase Projects that are helping to preserve and elevate Minority Languages in the Digital Space. Read all about Celtic Knot 2024 here.
We also expanded our education outreach and our Irish language outreach and took part in countless international campaigns including; Art+Feminism, Wiki Loves Folklore, Wiki Science, Wiki Loves Earth, Queering Wikipedia and more!
2024 at Wikimedia Community Ireland
Wiki Loves Monuments 2024 Winners Announced!
2024 marked the 15th edition of Wiki Loves Monuments the international photo contest that aims to celebrate and document built heritage from all over the world. Ireland was one of 53 countries participating with a whopping 1,270 entries this year!
The competition brings together people who value their local historic environment, calling on amateur and professional photographers alike to capture images of the world’s historic monuments. The photos are then shared under a free licence via Wikimedia Commons, a free media repository which along with other things provides most of the images for Wikipedia.
This year we held a special edition of the Wiki Loves Monuments Photo Contest to celebrate hosting the Celtic Knot Minority Languages Conference in Waterford. Overall we awarded 950 euros worth of prizes!
The top ten images will move forward to the international level of the contest. Check out all of the Irish winners here.
Wiki Women After Movie and Teacher’s Resources Out Now!
Ever wondered what being part of the WikiWomen Erasmus+ Project looks like? We are delighted to share a vignette into our recent trip to Friesland created by our partners at Afûk. The aftermovie, shared below features interviews with our student Wikipedians who describe what it was like to be part of the project and shows what the cultural exchanges and Wikithons look like as part of Erasmus+.
You can also check out all of the WikiWomen Erasmus+ Toolkits below;
They are open to all and free to use! If you would like to join the WikiWomen Erasmus+ Project in 2025 reach out (info@wikimedia.ie)
Dr Crystal Fulton, our longtime Collaborator at UCD Retires
After a fantastic ten-year collaboration with Dr Crystal Fulton and the School of Information and Communication Studies at UCD we would like to celebrate her retirement and of course her successful career. She was a true advocate for digital citizenship and empowered digital literacy, and her talent for motivating and inspiring students is unmatched!
Crystal has been a great supporter of our goals at Wikimedia Community Ireland and helped us to guide a huge cohort of students to become digital activists on Wikipedia over the last decade.
We will really miss working with her and wish her all the best in her retirement. Thank you, Crystal!
Queering Vicipéid Writing Contest 2024 Winners Announced!
Queering Wikipedia is part of the global Wiki Loves Pride campaign to expand and improve LGBT-related content across all Wikimedia projects, in all languages. This year Wikimedia Community Ireland focused on creating and improving LGBT content on Vicipéid through Irish and on improving content on Irish LGBT histories and biographies. Aiteachas a chur ar Vicipéid (Queering Vicipéid) was a writing contest that took place from June to October as part of this campaign.
Creating new content for Vicipéid is essential to enriching the Irish language and making it more relevant within the Irish-speaking community. Check out the winning articles for 2024 here.
Goals and Vision for 2025
As we approach the new year we have been busy tying up loose ends, finishing reports and setting new plans in motion. In 2024 our main resolution was to up the ante when it came to our Irish Language promotion. We plan to take this with us into the new year and hope to begin to turn our focus to conservation and digital activism projects moving forward. So watch this space! We will also kick off the year with our Art+Feminism Campaign and Wiki Loves Folklore in the coming months. If you are interested in collaborating with us in 2025 please feel free to reach out!
This year brought many opportunities to contribute to Wikimedia projects, celebrate Irish heritage, and make the internet a more positive and equal place. Whether through events, workshops, or individual contributions, it’s been a wild year of progress and learning.
Nollaig shona daoibh go léir agus athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh – Happy Christmas to you all and a very happy new year!
Tá súil agam go dtiocfaidh Daidí na Nollag!
Le dea-ghuí,
Wikimedia Community Ireland
Image by Mike Pennington, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
