Hi, I am KITAMURA Sae, a Wikimedian from Japan and author of ‘Don’t Turn Me into Petunias: Confessions of a Wikimania Program Reviewer‘. This year, I worked as a scholarshop reviewer of ESEAP 2026 Conference in Kaohsiung. I am very happy that I was able to work with various wonderful Wikimedians from ESEAP regions at the scholarship committee, and I cannot thank more for the COT of the conference. Now that all the scholars arrived at the conference, I would like to talk briefly about my experience as a scholarship reviewer again unless it borders on an invasion of privacy, since I noticed a striking point during the scholarship review process, which might be helpful for future scholarship applicants. In short, I have one (perhaps important) piece of advice for future scholarship applicants.
My advice is to boast youself more seriously and ostentatiously. What was most striking for me during the review process was how humble East Asian scholarship applicants were, especially Japanese and Korean Wikimedians. Wikimedians in these areas achieved interesting things and the Wikimadia community wants to know more about that – however, most of East Asian applicants were too modest about their activities. Judging from the applications documents, some of you look like beginners with little experience in organising events or governance, although, in fact, you are among the most respected and active members of your communities. Application documents from other regions, however, looked much more flashy – lists of endless achievements, diff entries, and names of big projects. They are very specific about each achievement, with references and links (which is so Wikimedian). I felt the ‘all eyez on me, I’m the best Wikimedian in town’ vibe from these application documents. It is, in my opinion, a good thing.
I understand why we, East Asians, are so polite and humble. Humility is one of the most imporant virtues in East Asian culture. We are brought up to think that bragging is an unpleasant vice. When you are praised about your work, your standard reply would be ‘Oh, it is nothing’.
This mindset, in a sense, goes well with Wikimedia culture. Wikimedians are volunteers. We all contribute to Wikimedia for free, and the results are public goods and fruits of collaboration. We should not treat public goods created by collaboration as one person’s achievement or property. Good things should be shared by everyone, and a spirit of service is closely associated with humility. There is nothing wrong about being polite when you volunteer during daylight.
Well, however, when you write applications for money under the moonlight, that would be different. Your application documents will read by reviewers who have no idea at all about your achievements. You must show how good you are, what you have achieved, and what kind of wonderful projects you are going to do in the future. Self-boasting is a must-do in the application process.
On 4 March 2026, at the 25th birthday event of Wikipedia in Tokyo, I gave a lightning talk about this issue, and said to my fellow Japanese Wikimedians, ‘Unleash your inner gangsta rapper!’. I am not telling you to buy luxurious sneakers or to write articles with complicated rhymes, but I am telling you to try the gangsta rapper-level self-boasting. Hiphop musicians, especially gangsta rappers, are very good at braggadocio. They have infinite vocabulary to brag about their rapping skills. Most East Asian Wikimedians could not master that level of self-boasting rhetoric if they tried, but that kind of mindset would help us to be confident in praising ourselves.
Perhaps some of you might think that encouraging East Asian Wikimedians to brag about themselves in application documents is a deplorable symptom of Westernisation or globalisation. Others might say that Wikimedians should not succumb to vanity by pimping a butterfly. As an East Asian Wikimedian, however, I have rarely respected this humility culture. I would rather go with gangsta rappers than not getting funded or not feeling good about myself. As Wikimedians, we have done amazing things to the world and will continue to do that. How could we not brag about that? So, my fellow East Asian Wikimedians, contribute to Wikimedia like a paragon of humility, and brag about yourself like a gansta rapper in writing applications.
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