In 2024, we launched Arabic Wikidata Days as part of Wikidata’s 12th Birthday celebrations, with the goal of empowering Arabic-speaking contributors to engage more deeply with Wikidata. The event was organized into complementary tracks tailored to diverse contributor needs: a Data Science Track for researchers and developers exploring advanced tools and queries, and Wikimedia Contributor Tracks focused on practical editing, data modeling, and integration skills, together providing a comprehensive learning journey for the Arabic Wikidata community.
This presentation will share the story of how the event was developed, organized, and delivered by the Wikidata Arabic Community (MENA) in collaboration with Wikimedia affiliates and universities across the region. We will highlight the challenges we faced, the strategies we used to engage volunteers, and the concrete benefits for participants, from new contributors who learned the basics of Wikidata to researchers who applied Wikidata tools in data science projects.
Looking ahead, we will also present our plans for Arabic Wikidata Days 2025, focusing on how we intend to expand partnerships, scale training opportunities, and further integrate Arabic-language knowledge into the global open data ecosystem.
