Open Data Kerala Showcased at Wikimania 2024 in Poland

Photo Courtesy: Mujeeb

Wikimania is the annual international conference of the Wikimedia movement, where contributors, editors, developers, and supporters of Wikimedia projects like Wikipedia, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and others come together. It serves as a platform for community members to discuss and share ideas about free knowledge, open data, and the future of Wikimedia projects. The 19th edition of Wikimania took place in Katowice, Poland, from August 7th to 10th. This year’s event was a collaborative effort between the Wikimedians of the Central and Eastern European region and the Wikimedia Foundation. The conference brought together leaders in the free knowledge movement from across the globe to discuss pressing issues, share updates on new projects and innovative approaches, build networks, and exchange ideas.

I am thrilled to share that Open Data Kerala had the unique opportunity to present our community-driven projects at the international Wiki conference, Wikimania 2024. Representing the Open Data Kerala community, I had the privilege of presenting a poster showcasing our recent initiatives and collaborations.

The poster highlighted several key projects undertaken by our community:

  • Map Kerala Portal: An innovative portal created by our community using data sourced from Wikimedia projects and OpenStreetMap. This portal serves as a comprehensive resource for mapping and exploring Kerala’s diverse geography and infrastructure.

  • Collaboration with IIT Palakkad: In partnership with the IIT Palakkad Social Outreach team and the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan initiative, we have actively engaged in mapping the Pudussery panchayat on both OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, contributing to better data accessibility and community development.

  • Open Data Sets: Our community members at Open Data Kerala have published several data sets under open licenses, making them freely available for anyone to download and use. These data sets cover a range of topics relevant to Kerala and beyond, providing valuable resources for researchers, developers, and the general public interested in open data.

  • Election Map Data Collaboration with Malayala Manorama: During the Local Self-Government (LSG) elections in Kerala, we collaborated with Malayala Manorama to create detailed and accessible election map data, providing valuable insights and fostering greater public engagement.

  • ODK Wikibase Cloud Portal: Our community has also developed the ODK Wikibase cloud portal, a platform designed to facilitate the easy downloading and use of open data for various projects and research purposes.

Poster presented during the Wikimania: Link.