Learning through Celtic Knot 2024: Perspectives from Malaysians

In September 2024, three members of Wikimedia Community User Group Malaysia (Ultron90, a Malay speaker; Rombituon, a Kadazandusun speaker; Rumandawii, a Kadazandusun speaker) participated in the Celtic Knot Conference 2024, held in Waterford, Ireland. This international gathering brought together diverse groups of Wikimedia language enthusiasts and experts committed to the preservation and promotion of minoritized and endangered languages.

Most of the presenters focused on their use of Wikimedia projects to document and preserve their languages, which were quite interesting and could serve as valuable examples to many other language communities who have not yet utilized Wikimedia projects. However, many communities in Malaysia face major challenges, including a lack of skills, committed contributors, technological connectivity, and overall support from the communities themselves. Continuous effort is needed to build awareness and support in hopes of encouraging more people to engage in language preservation and expansion.

We were inspired by Ester Bonet, who shared her experience in promoting Catalan terminology through Wikipedia. Her approach to using accessible platforms for language preservation resonated with us, as we are also passionate about using such platforms to support minority languages in our country, like Kadazandusun, Mendriq, Kensiu, Iban, West Coast Bajau, Semai, and many others. Eddie Avila highlighted the impact of online engagement by sharing insights on boosting participation on Wikimedia language projects through digital activism. Musah Fuseini’s efforts in developing an open educational resource for Dagbani language learning demonstrated how Wikimedia can support local languages and education. Their works were truly motivating and showed the potential of Wikimedia projects in empowering communities of various backgrounds. Listening to the experiences shared by other language advocates helped us identify practices and strategies that could support our own language initiatives.

In addition to the presentations, we had the opportunity to participate in various other interesting activities outside the conference. These include a Guided City Walk with Waterford Treasures, where we explored the historic city of Waterford, and a Lino Print Workshop with artist Aoife Cawley, giving us the opportunity to try out the lino print technique. We also experienced the joy of traditional Irish dance with a Sean-nós Dance Workshop led by Stéip le Tura (Cuthbert Arutura). During the Conference Dinner, we even got the chance to listen to Irish musician Ushmush perform with Afro-Caribbean beats and Irish rap. It was our first time in Waterford, so these activities were not only fun but also enriched our cultural experience throughout the conference.

We built meaningful connections that we truly value, and we look forward to future opportunities to collaborate and learn from other communities. We hope to reconnect with these individuals in the future as our community explores ways to achieve balanced and mutually beneficial outcomes for everyone involved.

We are also happy to have had the opportunity to organize an online satellite event for Wikimedians worldwide to participate in as part of conference. Pitabangan Waterford was an online event where Wikimedians from around the world were invited to create articles in their respective language Wikipedias, contributing information about Waterford, the host city of Celtic Knot 2024. Pitabangan is a Kadazandusun word that means “to collaborate or work together in achieving a common goal.” As many as 24 contributors from 13 Wikipedia language editions participated in the activity, resulting in 96 new articles being created across the different languages. Additionally, aside from Wikipedia articles being created and improved, new files on Wikimedia Commons and new data items on Wikidata were created and improved as well. Kent Wiki Club also organized their own Pitabangan Waterford and managed to create 20 new articles in the Kadazandusun language. This activity highlighted the importance of collaboration and collective effort in sharing knowledge through Wikimedia platforms. Not only were we surprised with the amount of people and diverse languages that took part in Pitabangan Waterford, we were also given an honorable mention by the Metropolitan Mayor of Waterford for organizing the online exchange activity.

Attending Celtic Knot 2024 has given us new perspectives and practical insights that we can bring back to our communities. Moving forward, we aim to strengthen our local efforts, increase community engagement, and build awareness of our language projects. We hope to foster an environment that encourages more contributors to join us, making the preservation of our linguistic heritage a shared community goal.

As part of Wikimedia Community User Group Malaysia, we hope to engage with more communities around the world to come together and protect our cultures and languages through Wikimedia projects.