Wikidata

Wikidata is a free and open knowledge base that can be read and edited by both humans and machines. Launched in 2012, Wikidata acts as central storage for the structured data of its Wikimedia sister projects including Wikipedia, Wikivoyage, Wiktionary, Wikisource, and others.

You can get started by visiting Wikidata here: wikidata.org

Introduction to Wikidata

Know nothing about Wikidata? Or just want to know more? Watch our one-hour Introduction to Wikidata session on YouTube. Experts Alex Lum and Mike Dickison are your hosts and will get you started with Wikidata.

Learning Wikidata

There are many Wikidata tutorials online, from videos to interactive websites. Here's some we've found useful.

• Take a Wikidata Tour - The tours will show you how Wikidata works and teach you how to add data.
• Wikidata Training on WMF Labs - This set of modules covers the basics of contributing to Wikidata through slides and interactive tasks.
• Learn Wikidata: An Interactive Course - Aimed at librarians, these videos teach Wikidata basics and also include how to edit bibliographic information on Wikidata.
• Wikidata's Help page - With resources for all levels
• Wikidata Query Service Tutorial - Learn how to visualise Wikidata.

Wikidata in action in Australian GLAM

There are so many opportunities for galleries, libraries, archives, museums and record management (GLAMR) to grow their impact through Wikipedia and other Wikimedia platforms.

WikiFest 2025 unlocks open knowledge Blog post from SLV's Dilan Gunawardana with links to resources from other presenters. Dilan reflects on the value of prototyping and community collaboration, as well as the appetite across GLAM for deeper engagement with Wikimedia platforms, specifically Wikidata.

Linking ACMI to Wikidata As part of Wikimedia Australia’s Partner Projects, ACMI has hosted Paul Duchesne as their Wikimedian in Residence to link ACMI's catalogue items to Wikidata.

The Wiki-GLAMR Training Program Wikimedia Australia has developed a special four-part training program for GLAMR organisations in our region. We can either offer this training to your staff or your can download the following resources and either undertake the training yourself or guide your team.

Wikidata Events

• Drop in and Wikidata - November 2025 — Thursday 27 November 2025
  Join our monthly Wikidata drop in!
• WikidataCon 2025 — Friday 31 October 2025
  An online conference to bring Wikidata enthusiasts together.
• Drop in and Wikidata - October — Thursday 30 October 2025
  Wikidata turns 13 years old!!
• Drop in and Wikidata - August 2025 — Thursday 28 August 2025
  Join our monthly Wikidata drop in!
• Drop in and Wikidata - July 2025 — Thursday 31 July 2025
  Join our monthly Wikidata drop in!

Fun ways to get involved

• The Distributed Game
• Coordinate Me 2024 Wikidata Competition

Wikidata News in Australia

Wikidata turns 13! This year for Wikidata's 13th birthday, Wikimedia communities around the globe are organising birthday meetups, workshops, edit-a-thons, livestreams, hackathons, and much more!