Welcome to Wikimedia Community Ireland’s June Newsletter!
The summer solstice has passed, and Pride is in full swing. The Summer Solstice in Irish is Grianstad an tSamhraidh.
It marks the longest day of the year, after which the daylight hours will diminish. Historically, it was significant for tracking time, celebrating agricultural festivals, and spreading fire ashes on crops to enhance yields. Some even believed the soul would temporarily leave the body as the sun seemingly stood still. Irish rural folklore popularly held that “the shadows lengthened by a cock-step” with each passing day after the solstice. These days it is still marked with rituals and celebrations, whether that’s embracing the legends and traditions of the Hill of Tara, or lighting bonfires in the west to mark St John’s Eve.
With that snippet of Irish tradition, let’s move on to what else we have been up to in June. We have relaunched our Meitheal Wiki Community editathon and are calling on our members to get involved and help increase content on Wikipedia and Vicipéid about natural heritage and climate change for Wiki Love Earth. A major highlight was our Wiki Loves Pride workshop in Waterford. We also voted on our Strategic Plan for 2025-2030, which you can now read on Meta Wiki and linked below. Read on to find out more and enter our photo contests to win some amazing prizes!
The Feast of Saint John, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Calling All Editors! There’s still time to take part in the June MeithealWiki Editathon for Wiki Loves Earth
We are calling upon our community to help build up and add to the information about climate change, the environment and Ireland’s natural heritage on Wikipedia, the world’s digital encyclopedia and Vicipéid (Wikipedia as Gaeilge!).
Each month, we will be hosting an online Meitheal or community editing event in English and Irish to improve content related to a different theme. Then at our Community meetings, we can celebrate how much we accomplished together, share any challenges or new snippets of knowledge we came across while editing! We will also be able to help each other out and share skills.
Find this month’s task list and dashboard here.
Keep an eye out for our next theme coming mid-July! Your clue is ‘bród’.
Wiki Loves Pride Workshop at Waterford Pride
As part of Waterford Pride, we hosted a bilingual “Wiki Loves Pride / Is Breá le Vicí Bród” workshop at Waterford Library.
It was a hands-on introduction to editing Wikipedia and Vicipéid, with a special focus on LGBTQIA+ culture, history, and community in Ireland. Participants also learned how to write and edit articles, upload photos, and take part in the Wiki Loves Pride 2025 photo competition. It provided participants with an insight into the history of LGBT+ in Ireland..
If you would like to host an event with us for Wiki Loves Pride at your library or cultural hub or educational centre, please reach out!
Wiki Loves Pride Photo Contest Now on!
It’s time to grab your camera, phone, or favourite old photos – Wiki Loves Pride Ireland 2025 is now open for entries!
Running from June 1st to July 31st, this photography competition invites you to document and celebrate queer life, past and present. Whether it’s a bustling Pride parade, a quiet moment of reflection, or a historic queer landmark, your photos help bring visibility to LGBTQI+ lives and stories on Wikimedia projects like Wikipedia and Vicipéid.
Upload your photos here
The goal of the day was to get a picture of everyone in the parade, yes all 40,000. Hopefully I got close. All images are free to use/print under the Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported
Judges Announced for Wiki Loves Earth Photo Contest 2025
We are thrilled to announce the distinguished judges for the Wiki Loves Earth Photo Contest in Ireland and Northern Ireland 2025!
We have a very esteemed judging panel this year including a nature photographer from Ulster Wildlife (who we are partnering with for this year’s contest), an artist based in Northern Ireland and an environmental activist from the Gaelic Woodlands Project.
Find out who’s on the panel here.
The photo contest is open until July 31st! You can find out how to enter and win prizes here.
New Podcast for WLE
Did you know that only 2% of the forest cover in Ireland is made up of native trees?
We recorded a podcast with Oisín Ó Néill, one of the Directors of the Gaelic Woodland Project, as part of the Wiki Loves Earth 2025 Campaign and photo competition. On this episode, he discusses his journey from solicitor to grassroots environmental advocate, emphasising the critical link between local action and policy change.
He tells us about the unregulated invasive species cherry laurel, and the broader issues facing Irish forestry, like non-native plantations, overgrazing by deer and why it may not be time for wolves to make a comeback in Ireland.
Gaeilge is also a central part of the Gaelic Woodland Projects’ work. We discuss how natural heritage and linguistic heritage are connected and how we are still seeing the impacts of Ireland’s colonial history manifest in our natural environment today.
Listen to the podcast here.
Art+Feminism at the National Gallery of Ireland: Blogpost
Ever wondered what happens at a Wikipedia Editathon? Our recent blogpost is a vignette into what our Art and Feminism editathon looked like at the National Gallery of Ireland. Motivated mostly newbies to Wikipedia editing giving it their all to make the internet a more equal place. Participants received a Wikipedia editing crash course and were introduced to the archives at the Gallery. We were lucky enough to have access to a wealth of information, including the Galleries’ digital databases, collection of books, and journals. We also had amazing guidance from the NGI archivists, including Anna Gavigan, who helped to organise the event.
You can read all about the event here and check out some of the Irish artists we wrote Wikipedia articles about!
New Strategic Plan for 2025-2030 Voted into Action
We’re thrilled to share our Strategic Plan for 2025- 2030, which we have discussed and refined together as a community and finally voted into action.
The plan gives a comprehensive overview of our initiatives and plans for the next five years. It also outlines our future directions.
The Wikimedia Community Ireland Strategic Plan is openly accessible to read on Wikimedia Commons. You can view the full strategic plan for 2025-2030 here.
We hope you find it informative and inspiring. The plan will serve as a roadmap for our continued commitment to open knowledge and community. It details the existing projects, partnerships, and programmes we will continue to work on, along with new opportunities emerging for us to further our goal of protecting and promoting Irish heritage in all forms and championing education in the area of open knowledge and digital literacy.
As we look forward to the next five years, we are wholeheartedly committed to our ongoing programmatic goals of enhancing and promoting content on Wikipedia and Vicipéid and promoting knowledge equity. We will continue to work in partnership with cultural heritage organisations, education institutions, research bodies and our European partners, particularly in the area of minority language preservation and activism.
Nuacht ón Oifigeach Gaeilge
Tá súil agam go bhfuil sibh ag baint taitneamh as an samhradh go dtí seo. Seo cúpla nuashonrú uaimse maidir leis an obair atá ar siúl againn le Pobal Éireann Wikimedia i mí an Mheithimh. Tá neart tionscadal spreagúil ar bun faoi láthair a bhaineann le Vicipéid, an Ghaeilge agus pobail LADTAI+ – tá súil agam go mbeidh spéis agaibh iontu!
Tionscnamh WikiMeitheal – Is Breá le Vicí an Domhan
Tá clár WikiMeitheal reatha againn mar chuid den fheachtas Is Breá le Vicí an Domhan, ina bhfuil liosta tascanna curtha le chéile d’ailt a theastaíonn uathu a bheith cruthaithe, curtha in eagar nó feabhsaithe ar Vicipéid. Tá na hailt seo dírithe ar oidhreacht nádúrtha, cultúr pobail agus éagsúlacht chultúrtha. Is bealach iontach é seo chun tacú leis an eolas oscailte agus leis an Ghaeilge ar líne. Chuir mise agus Sophie liosta le chéile le haghaidh roinnt inspioráide!
Faigh an liosta agus cláraigh ar an deais anseo – cuir do chuid scileanna in úsáid agus bain triail as!
Ceardlann Bród i Leabharlann Phort LáirgeAr an 12ú Meitheamh, reáchtáladh ceardlann dátheangach i Leabharlann Phort Láirge mar chuid de Fhéile Bhród na nDéise. Ba chuid í den fheachtas Is Breá le Vicí Bród agus thug sí léargas do rannpháirtithe ar stair LADTAI+ in Éirinn agus ar conas ábhar a chur leis an gCómhaoin (Wikimedia Commons) agus le Vicipéid. Bhí spéis agus rannpháirtíocht iontach ag an lucht freastail.
Campa Vicí Dátheangach – Tionscadal Píolótach
Táim tar éis campa samhraidh dátheangach 8 lá a thabhairt i gcrích do dhéagóirí 13–17 bliain d’aois. D’fhorbraíomar leagan comhdhlúite den phróiseas WikiWomen, ag cur béime ar litearthacht dhigiteach, obair thaighde, cruinneas gramadaí na Gaeilge, agus forbairt scileanna sóisialta. Bhí an cur chuige bunaithe ar obair óige agus bhí an fhoghlaim spreagúil agus idirghníomhach. Tá súil againn gur tús é seo le sraith eile campaí in 2026!
Meachbrúchán: Comórtais Grianghrafadóireachta Ar Siúl!
Ná déan dearmad go bhfuil dhá chomórtas grianghrafadóireachta ar siúl faoi láthair:
Is Breá le Vicí an Domhan (go dtí 31 Iúil) – dírithe ar oidhreacht nádúrtha agus tírdhreacha.
Is Breá le Vicí Bród (go dtí 31 Lúnasa) – ag ceiliúradh saol LADTAI+ in Éirinn, san am atá caite agus sa lá atá inniu ann.
Is féidir grianghraif a uaslódáil chuig an gCómhaoin (Wikimedia Commons) agus páirt a ghlacadh sna feachtais!
Oifigeach Gaeilge & Daoine ag Ceardlann Is Breá le Vicí Bród 2025 ag Féile Bhród na nDéise 12 Meitheamh 2025, OifigeachWMIE, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Monthly Community Meeting
Don’t forget to RSVP to attend our meeting on Tuesday, July 22nd at 6 pm. Interested in getting involved with Wikipedia editing or digital activism, but not sure where to start? Drop us an email if you would like to get involved or RSVP here!
