Annual Report 2025/Story: The Berlin meeting takes the Hub work forward

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In this story, we focus on the workshop that Wikimedia Sverige organized in Berlin in May 2025 to move forward the work on the thematic Content Partnerships Hub. It is an example of how well-organised events can enable advanced international projects.

For several years, Wikimedia Sverige has been laying the groundwork for a so-called thematic hub for content partnerships. The idea has been to develop models and methods for how we, as a global movement, can become better at collaborating when it comes to making content, such as photographs, data, video, and so on, digitally accessible through the Wikimedia platforms.

During the first years, our main focus was on experimenting with models, testing different functions, and building the work from the ground up - building up content rather than structures.

As the project has grown, however, we have increasingly felt the need to also start thinking about structures: how the project should be governed and managed, how decisions should be made and by whom, and so on. In other words, a structure adapted to the content, rather than the other way around.

That is why, in May 2025, we organised a workshop in Berlin, with participants from Chile to Indonesia and from South Africa to Finland. In total, around a dozen participants took part, representing almost as many Wikimedia affiliates, civil society organisations, and networks.

The workshop was a great opportunity both to take stock of the work that had been done so far and discuss it with a global community, and to reflect on future structures and formats.

It was also an opportunity to spark wider interest and engage more Wikimedia organisations and volunteers in the practical work of the Hub. The workshop led to a hub application to the Wikimedia Foundation, a proposed decision-making structure for the Hub, and an idea of how to get there.

Above all, however, the workshop led to the emergence of a group of Wikimedians who are passionate about the Hub, and who during the fall collaborated closely on drafting applications, developing working methods, and becoming a shared group rather than a number of interested Wikimedia affiliates.

Together, we will take this work forward in the coming years.