Dostępność w projektach Wikimedia i MNK [Accessibility in Wikimedia projects, PL] (PDF, 1,4 MB)
Representatives of the National Museum in Kraków attended “Wzlot 2025” – the annual conference of the Polish-language Wikipedia community and those involved in open culture, education and science. The meeting took place from 28 to 30 March 2025 at the Arche Hotel in Lublin. This time, the event coincided with the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Wikimedia Polska hotel, under the slogans: we spread knowledge, we open up culture, we bring communities together.
The Wikimedia Polska Association, the organisation responsible for the Polish-language Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and other sister projects, is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2025. Wzlot 2025, the meeting in Lublin, provided an opportunity to reflect on the experiences of the past decades and the changes that have taken place in the online space.
The attention of those gathered focused on topics related to the future of open knowledge repositories, the use of local data resources on a global scale, and the promotion of open science. We discussed initiatives in the areas of social trust and knowledge exchange, based on the values of diversity and inclusion. The experience of the meeting was uplifting, offering a ‘deep dive’ into Wikipedia and a discussion on the changes that could make Wikipedia an even better and more universal tool for sharing free heritage resources.
Participants at Wzlot 2025 attended nearly 30 lectures, panels and workshops dedicated to the key challenges and opportunities of opening up culture to new technologies. How can artificial intelligence contribute to the sum of human knowledge? What role can Wikidata play in creating alternative descriptions for web page readers? What can we do to make Wikipedia articles more accessible?
Throughout the two days of the conference, representatives from the National Museum in Kraków and the National Museum in Poznań were active participants. Two items on the agenda were dedicated to the collaboration between these institutions and the Wikimedia Polska Association: the workshop WikiChełmoński: Nature through the Master’s Brush and the session Accessibility in Wikimedia Projects: Tools and Standards, organised in connection with the wiki residency and wiki project at the MNK Czartoryski Museum.
The presentation by Agata Jabłońska (MNK Czartoryski Museum) and Agata Stadnicka (Wiki-resident at the Czartoryski Museum) focused on accessibility for blind and visually impaired people in Wikimedia projects and tools for creating accessible content on Wiki. The speakers presented the project The MNK Czartoryski Museum – extension and refurbishment of the National Museum in Kraków branch and discussed one of its key components – the wiki residency, dedicated to the MNK Czartoryski Museum’s collections and the development of accessibility solutions for the GLAM-Wiki project centred on the MNK BC.
During the workshop, a film was shown, documenting a blind person navigating Wikipedia pages using a screen reader. The test of the article on the National Museum in Krakow on Wikipedia was prepared by Adrian Wyka, an accessibility consultant involved in numerous MNK initiatives. The recording, viewed together, served as a starting point for a discussion on potential improvements that would make using Wikipedia simpler and more intuitive for blind and visually impaired people. A recording of the discussion will be published on the Wikimedia Polska YouTube channel. Comments and conclusions were voiced both in the conference room and behind the scenes – we will certainly have the opportunity to see just how effectively this conversation captured the imagination of the Wiki community.
The presentation featured a video by Adrian Wyka – a test of browsing Wikipedia using a screen reader.
WikiChełmoński: a call to action
Marta Tomczyk’s (National Museum in Poznań) workshop, entitled WikiChełmoński: Nature through the Master’s Brush, served as a preview of the launch of an editing campaign as part of the WikiChełmoński project. It was an invitation to join the initiative organised by museums in Poznań and Kraków and the Wikimedia Polska Association. The aim of these activities, linked to this year’s monographic exhibitions of the artist’s work in both cities, is to supplement, expand and translate articles concerning his painting… and more.
A multisensory journey through Chełmoński’s life and creative output was prepared for the workshop participants. The group worked together to solve a quiz, deepening their knowledge of nature and painting, and also took on an ornithological challenge, created using materials available in the public domain.
Join, edit, win
WikiChełmoński is a major project based on the collaboration between two institutions and the Wikimedia Polska Association, focused on exploring and sharing knowledge about painting, history, symbolism and the contexts of his work. An editing competition as part of the initiative will recognise the most comprehensive and best-researched articles. In addition to prizes and joint activities for all participants, we are raising the stakes: the best texts and translations created as part of the project will be featured in the Józef Chełmoński exhibition at the MNK Main Building in Kraków (8 August 2025 – 30 November 2025). Details regarding the rules and prizes can be found on the wiki-project pages.
Project: “The MNK Czartoryski Museum – extension and refurbishment of a branch of the National Museum in Kraków” is co-financed by the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund under the European Funds for Infrastructure, Climate and the Environment Programme 2021–2027, PRIORITY VII: Culture, Area 1: Development of cultural infrastructure (listed and non-listed). Implementation period: March 2024 – March 2028 | Total project cost: PLN 56,194,788.50 | Co-financing from the European Regional Development Fund: PLN 37,181,150.41 ||| #EUFunds #EuropeanFunds
Photo: Robert Drózd, Participants in WZLOT 2025 in Lublin, CC BY-SA 4.0
