Indian Wikipedia volunteer recognised at annual global conference in Kenya

News18

2 days ago

Nitesh Gill among the Global Honourees for Wikimedian of the Year Awards at Wikimania 2025
Nairobi, Kenya, August 11, 2025: In a moment of pride for India, Nitesh Gill, a dedicated Wikipedia contributor from Punjab, has been recognised with an 'honorary mention' as part of the Wikimedian of the Year Awards 2025. The recognition was awarded to Nitesh by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales during the 20th edition of Wikimania, held at Nairobi, Kenya, under the theme 'Inclusivity, Impact, Sustainability." The annual conference celebrates Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, and the community of volunteers (Wikimedians) who make it possible.
Nitesh was recognised for her exceptional contributions on the Wikimedia projects, particularly for her work in expanding Punjabi Wikipedia and promoting the representation of
women on Wikimedia projects. She was selected from a shortlist of global volunteers based on nominations from fellow Wikimedia volunteers and Wikimedia Foundation staff from across the world.
Nitesh, a PhD scholar in Punjabi Literature, began contributing to Punjabi Wikipedia in 2014 as a student and has since grown into one of its most prolific members of the volunteer
community. A decade later, she stands out as the only woman administrator (trusted Wikipedia volunteer with advanced permissions to protect Wikipedia) on Punjabi Wikipedia and a lead member of the Punjabi Wikimedians User Group, which has created over 58,000 articles in the regional language.
'I love my language, and that love motivates me to serve and contribute to it in every possible way," Nitesh said. 'I want to break the myth that speaking your language makes you less intelligent. If you cannot respect your own language, in many ways, you are questioning your own identity."
Her writing is rooted in passion and purpose, with a focus on writing biographies of women. After completing the #100wikidays challenge, where volunteers create one new Wikipedia article every day for 100 days, she went on to write over 500 articles to ensure Punjabi Wikipedia contains more content on women.
'I am proud of the work I have done for the Punjabi language, especially in creating content about women's personalities and women-related topics. Today, Punjabi Wikipedia has more content about women than any other gender, and I feel proud to have helped bridge that gap, which is an issue in the wider knowledge landscape." She added.
Her global contributions include having key roles in organising several in-person events for the global Wikimedia communities, including WikiConference India 2023, the WikiWomen Camp 2023 and the Wikisource Conference 2025 in Indonesia. Nitesh also led the She Leads program that helps empower South Asian women to take on leadership roles within Wikimedia. She also co-developed a Punjabi-translated Oral Culture Transcription Toolkit, partnering with Himachal University to document cultural heritage.
Wikipedia is among the top ten most-read websites in the world, and the only one that is run by a non-profit, the Wikimedia Foundation. Nearly 260,000 volunteers create information in over 300 languages on Wikipedia based on reliable sources, which is viewed more than 15 billion times every month. India ranks amongst the top 10 countries with the highest number of views to Wikipedia in the world, with over 1 billion page views per month. It leads in content creation within the South Asia region, representing over 70% of the region's information on Wikimedia projects. Out of over 300 languages present on Wikipedia, more than 25 Indic languages are rooted in the Indian subcontinent. This includes nearly all of the 22 scheduled languages of India; the largest number of languages represented from one country on the online encyclopedia.
Reflecting on the values of Wikimedia projects and volunteer communities (collectively referred to as the Wikimedia movement), Nitesh believes that while the Wikimedia movement
is rooted in open knowledge, its core spirit lies in volunteerism, sharing, and collaboration. She emphasises the importance of passing the legacy forward to those who are ready and deserving.
About Wikimania
Wikimania is the annual gathering bringing together Wikimedians around the world to connect with one another, share new projects, and shape the future of Wikimedia projects. Everyone is invited to join and learn more about the humans that make Wikipedia possible for free. The first Wikimania was held in Frankfurt, Germany, from 4 to 8 August 2005. It has been an annual event ever since.
About the Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia and other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. Our vision is a world in which every single human can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. We believe that everyone has the potential to contribute something to our shared knowledge and that everyone should be able to access that knowledge freely. We host Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects; build software experiences for reading, contributing, and sharing Wikimedia content; support the volunteer communities and partners who make Wikimedia possible. The Wikimedia Foundation is a United States 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization with offices in San Francisco, California, USA.
(Disclaimer: The above content is a press release and PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.). PTI
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First Published:
August 11, 2025, 16:30 IST
News agency-feeds Indian Wikipedia volunteer recognised at annual global conference in Kenya
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