Wikipedia, the world’s largest online free encyclopedia, is moving to improve the site’s experience by including images. 

A group of volunteers led by Isaac Olatunde, the Nigerian editor of Wikipedia launched a campaign, called the Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos (#WPWPCampaign) to promote the use of images on Wikipedia articles.

“Wikipedia currently exists in more than 300 languages but many of the articles are without images to illustrate them. Photos are important elements and components of any informative articles. Images inspire readers, and tell a story better than a wall of texts,” Mr Olatunde told the Gazette. 

The campaign started off in July 2020, with a group of volunteers from different parts of the world led by Mr Olatunde. 

The #WPWPCampaign now runs annually from the 1st of July to 31st of August. This year, over 31 Wikimedia affiliates from 28 countries signed up to coordinate the campaign. The final result will be released by the International Organising Team on the 1st of October 2021.

The Campaign has been launched and coordinated in about 30 countries in the world including Canada, Turkey, France, Italy, Indian, Thailand, Belgium, Philippines, North-Macedonia, Cameroon and Nigeria.

The campaign aims to add images to more than 90,000 Wikipedia articles translated to over 270 languages.  Other campaigns that have had direct impact on the quality of Wikipedia articles include Wiki Women in Red, Wikipedia Asian Month, African Cinema Contest, Art + Feminisms, Visible Wiki Women, AfroCrowd, Black Launch Table, Whose Knowledge?, Wikimedia CEE Spring, and Wiki4HumanRights.