Training modules/dashboard/slides/12602-wikimedia-ecosystem

The Wikimedia ecosystem

First, let's define how Wikidata fits into the Wikimedia ecosystem.

Wikidata is the linked data project for Wikimedia projects. The Wikimedia Foundation is the organization that runs all Wikimedia projects. The Wikimedia Foundation has chapters all over the world, including Germany. Wikimedia Deutschland is the non-profit organization that built and maintains Wikidata.

There are other Wikimedia projects (sister projects) that you may come across as you edit, such as Wikipedia, Wiktionary, or Wikibooks, among others.

Since Wikidata items can use media you may also hear about Wikimedia Commons, which is the media repository that all Wikimedia projects use. It's similar to Wikidata in that all other Wikimedia projects pull images and other media from this central repository. It is different from Wikidata in that Commons is exclusively for media.

Wiki Education (that's us!) is a non-profit organization, separate from Wikimedia, that teaches individuals how to contribute to Wikimedia projects. We envision a broader and more diverse Wikimedia ecosystem that welcomes public and academic participation, in which students, scholars, and institutions of higher learning are actively engaged in investigating and representing knowledge.