AI Affects Wikimedia: Insights from the Malayalam Community

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping how people search for, consume, and create knowledge. But how is it affecting the Wikimedia movement? Members from the Malayalam Wikimedia community recently shared their views through a quick survey conducted in a WhatsApp group where editors and organizers actively engage.

Survey on AI and Wikipedia

The survey explored how community members perceive AI’s impact on Wikipedia editing and usage. The results reveal both opportunities and concerns:

AI tools and Wikipedia editing: Out of 12 respondents, 10 supported the use of AI tools to assist with editing. Only 1 opposed, while 1 remained neutral.

AI for rewriting content: There was overwhelming support here, with 12 members agreeing that AI can help rewrite content for Wikipedia. Only one person preferred manual rewriting.

Sources for instant information: When asked where they go for quick information, responses were split—6 members use AI tools, 6 use Google, and only 2 reported turning to Wikipedia first.

What Does This Mean?

The responses suggest that while the Malayalam community is open to experimenting with AI in editing and rewriting, there’s a real concern about how AI might reduce the direct usage of Wikipedia as a knowledge source. The shift toward AI and Google for instant answers shows a challenge Wikimedia faces: staying relevant in a world where information is increasingly consumed through summarized, AI-driven platforms.

Looking Ahead

For Wikimedia to thrive in the AI era, communities may need to:

Develop guidelines for responsible use of AI in editing.

Encourage contributors to combine AI tools with human judgment and reliable sourcing.

Explore new ways of presenting knowledge that match the changing habits of readers.

The Malayalam Wikimedia community’s reflections highlight both the hope and caution in embracing AI—an issue that resonates far beyond one language group and speaks to the future of the Wikimedia movement as a whole.

A lightning talk on Wikipedia at PMSM

A lightning talk was organised by PMSM students who study for journalism . There was a short presentation on wikipedia .Mr.Kamarudhin Elankur welcomed the function.

Wikimedia workshop 2019 - Bukhari College

It is immense pleasure to find out time to organise and lead wikimedia workshops for students and teachers in India. This year we organise a one day workshop at Kondotty Bukhari College .The workshop will be covered major Wikimedia projects like Wikipedia, Wikisource, Wiktionary, Wikiquotes etc. The expecting participants are graduate students at the same college. This event is organized by Wikimedians of Kerala in associations with the Bukhari College Kondotty. 

I have created its event page. It is available here

• Introduction to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects
• How to edit in Wikipedia
• Create a new article in Wikipedia
• Introduction to Wikisource
• Add content in Wikisource
• Introduction to Commons
• How to add photographs into commons
• Licenses of Photographs and Articles
• Introduction to Wiktionary, Wikiquote
• Introduction to Wikidata

After the programme.

WikidataConf 2019

Very happy to share that we received mail regarding wikidataconf 2019 participation which will be held on October in Berlin

.

What would I like to learn during the conference?

I want to see how other people use Wikidata in educational level, schools and college level and exchange experiences.
I also would like to meet many great Wikidata contributors in person, share ideas, and perhaps discuss with other language community to begin new collaborative projects.

My favorite projects/topics of interest

Wikidata, Wikidata Query Service (SPARQL), Wikibase, WikiProject Education.

Innovative learning

DM. 29 -9-18

Introduction to Wikipedia - students

Bilal from Kerala Creates account in en.wikipedia.

Wiki Loves Monuments 2018 in United Arab Emirates/Heritage Walk in Ajman

The wikiloves UAE project introduced to Ajman school students as well as teachers. They expressed very much interest towards this project.Social Studies department incorporates this event as part of their curricular activity since they have to research and study about UAE History, Monuments, Heritage , culture etc. So It is a innovative project for teachers and students ,how wikipedia, wikicommons use in teaching learning process. So students and few teachers visited some of the historic important places and will upload photographs in to commons.

More details in event Page 

Participants

• Abdul Shafeek --Abdul shafeek (talk) 15:13, 29 September 2018 (UTC)
• Faisal Ummath
• Winston
• Vivek
• Noufal Khan
• Raheef - Raheefm (talk) 17:23, 29 September 2018 (UTC)
• Ajeeb Abbas
• Riyas Palazhi 

Wikimania 2018

I have been an active Wikipedian editor since 2010
My first edit in a Wiki platform was in Malayalam wikipedia in the year 2010 as user name Akbarali . I have now made over 2,317 edits. I contributed over 966 new articles in to wikipedia. I have made many different types of edits over the years, including article writing, copy editing, translation etc. I have been contributing to ml.wikipedia.org, commons.wikimedia.org, en.wikipedia.org, wikidata.org, meta.wikimedia.org.More detail is given here

Wikipeida In Class Room

I’m really a fan of using Wikipedia in the classroom. Wikipedia brings the outside world into my classroom. With Wikipedia, there seems to be no limit to learning. I usually use Wikipedia as part of my class, especially on special topics .

I have to thank Malayalam Wikipedia Community, where many teachers and IT experts are available to connect and share many informative things. I started by connecting them in the year of 2009 onwards. After sending a doubt regarding IT they helped me a lot.This is a really interesting .

Now I think to hold a connection by inviting speaker to my classroom from different parts of the world. By using skype or any other software. 

My Wikipedia Life

Tell us about your involvement in your home wiki or the broader Wikimedia movement. What have you built or contributed to in order to improve your wiki or community? Have you led or organized any of these activities?

I first edited the Malayalam Wikipedia in 2010, where I have now made over 2000 edits. I have made many different types of edits over the years, including article writing, copy editing, translation, , and administrative activities (since 2015). Most recently, I have been working language translation.

Wikimedia in Education - WikiConference India 2016

I am happy to write this blog post. Participating in an international conference for Wikipedians is a wonderful experience. It is more rewarding when the conference is for Wikimedians to discuss and contribute new ideas related to wikimedia and other free open source. 

 I got scholarship to participate in WikiConference India 2016 Which held at Chandigarh group of College, Punjab. It was held on Aug 5,6,7. During this day I had a presentation on the topic Wikimediaas disciplinaryproject.
It was my first experience in my life as attending a national conference. Members from Bangladesh, Nepal, Israel, USA etc were participated in this conference.

ml.wiki Community participants with WMF

Executive Director Katherine Maher

I could build good friendship with many wikipedians from different parts of India. Currently they share many tips and new ideas with us. We were 14 members who represented from Malayalam Wikipedia. Active Wikipedian Vishwan was our team leader. He opened outer world of wiki to us.

On the first day, we began by an inauguration ceremony. Following to that there was a Punjabi traditional cultural programme was there. It was amazing.

There were sessions on hack thone, Wikidata, Wikipedia Asian month, Wiki source and School wiki, Taking Better Photographs Postcard Guide, many

other topics which dealt outreach in Wikiprojects.

All most all every session was a new learning experience. Mean while there was a edit a thone competition. It was a tight competition to create more article in regional language about Punjab. During the conference days at midnight we were spending time to write maximum article from our Hotel. I had written around 100 article during these days. At last we got third prize in edit thon. English & Telungu wikipedia achieved first and second prize respectively. 

I would like to express my sincere thanks to CIS and Wik conference organising committee for granting me scholarship to attend my first Wiki India conference .

After the wiki conference we moved to Delhi and visited many important historical places and captured hundreds of photos which will upload to wiki commons in very soon days. 
 

WikiConference India 2016/Report/Akbarali

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:WikiConference_India_2016