January 2025 saw the launch of project ‘Wikipedia on Aruba – Aruba on Wikipedia’! This initiative focuses for 18 months on enriching information about Aruban and broader Dutch Caribbean culture and heritage on Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata. In addition, an important goal is to create an active Wikimedia community in Aruba.
In collaboration with various Aruban partners, we will organise online and offline activities for both new and experienced Wikipedia editors. These include training courses, photo competitions, writing challenges, hackathons and translation projects. In this way, we want to contribute to the growth of Wikipedia articles in English, Papiamento/u and Dutch, the donation of visual and audio material to Wikimedia Commons and the further expansion of Wikidata.
The project is led by the Wikimedians in Residence in Aruba: Ricardo Arends and Jeanelij Quandt. They recently paid a 17-day working visit to the Netherlands, where they worked with experienced Wikimedians and organisations such as the Royal Library, the National Archives and Naturalis. Armed with new knowledge and a strengthened network, they are committed to the further development of Wikimedia in Aruba.
Born in Colombia and raised in Aruba, Ricardo studied Event Management in the Netherlands and developed a passion for cultural heritage. He worked in the cultural and tourism sector and later at the Monuments Fund on projects such as the Eagle Refinery Project and Open Monument Day. Ricardo was made aware of the project by his colleague Mircla Nava and decided to apply. The chance to learn something new and contribute to a unique pilot project in the Caribbean appealed to him greatly.
Jeanelij is a creative lover of culture and history with a background in music. After studying in the Netherlands, she returned to Aruba and worked at the Rancho Aruba Foundation. She is currently studying Organisation, Governance and Management at the University of Aruba, where she hopes to graduate in 2026. Besides her studies, she enjoys making music, ranging from hip-hop and jazz to Caribbean sounds and Afrobeats. Jeanelij is attracted to the Wikimedia project because it gives her the opportunity to make lesser-known information about Aruba available online.
As project coordinator, Ricardo is involved in organising events, setting up collaborations and logistics to engage local institutions and communities. He enjoys sharing the project’s vision with anyone curious about its impact.
Jeanelij acts as the link between institutions and communities, aiming to increase the number of Wikipedia articles in Papiamento/u. Her mission is to strengthen Aruba’s cultural sector and develop inspiring projects that convey the island’s rich history and culture.
If you have specific questions for the Wikimedians in Residence, know that they can both be reached on LinkedIn: Jeanelij and Ricardo, via email at wikipediaonaruba@wikimedia.nl or via their user pages on meta-wiki: Jeanelij and Ricardo. More information about the project can be found via this link.
This project is an initiative of Wikimedia Netherlands in cooperation with Biblioteca Nacional Aruba, Archivo Nacional Aruba, Monumentenfonds Aruba and Union di Organisacionnan Cultural Arubano (UNOCA), and is funded by the Cultural Participation Fund.
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