Anton Obozhyn on Wikipedia, Wikimedia Ukraine, and Fighting Propaganda Through Open Knowledge

Anton Obozhyn is a Kyiv-based Ukrainian programmer, Wikipedian, and Wikimedian. A computer-science graduate working in game development, he has edited Wikimedia projects since 2014 and joined Wikimedia Ukraine in 2017. He chaired its Audit Committee from 2017 to 2020, became a board member in 2020, and has served as deputy chair since 2024. He helps organize wikimarathons, workshops, conferences, article contests, and community-support initiatives advancing free knowledge in Ukraine through volunteer-led public outreach and training.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen interviews Anton Obozhyn, a Kyiv-based programmer, Wikipedian, and Wikimedia Ukraine deputy chair, about his path from childhood encyclopedia reader to volunteer editor and organizer. Obozhyn describes discovering Wikipedia, joining Wikimedia Ukraine, supporting events and article contests, and seeing open knowledge as civic service after Euromaidan. He explains how Wikipedia’s neutral point of view, verifiability, community review, administrators, and collaborative scrutiny help resist propaganda and misinformation in Ukraine’s public sphere during wartime.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is your background and work in communications regarding Wikipedia?

Anton Obozhyn: I will first introduce myself and explain what we do. We handle communications related to Wikipedia. We comment on Wikipedia when topics of public interest arise, and when journalists or government bodies have questions, they turn to us.

As for how I became a Wikipedian, it started in early childhood. I stayed at my grandmother’s during the holidays and found an old Soviet encyclopedia. I began reading it and found it fascinating. I nearly memorized it.

My parents noticed this, and we went to a book market, where they bought four more encyclopedias for me.

Jacobsen: And for the record, what year were you born? That gives context as to whether you were born during the Soviet period or after Ukraine’s independence.

Obozhyn: 1995, after Ukraine became independent in 1991. That is an important distinction.

My parents bought modern encyclopedias, not Soviet ones. Later, friends gave me two more as birthday gifts, and I memorized those as well.

Eventually, I told my parents I had finished them and asked what to do next. They suggested an online encyclopedia, Wikipedia. I began reading it and found it fascinating.

I would open one article and follow links to others, three more, then more and more, until my browser could not handle it. Over time, I moved from being a reader to becoming an editor.

I began noticing things I could improve, change, or expand. As the saying goes, the greatest motivation to act is when someone is wrong on the Internet.

In 2014, during Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity, I looked for a way to contribute to society and to Ukraine. Editing Wikipedia became my contribution.

In 2017, I joined Wikimedia Ukraine, the Ukrainian regional chapter supporting Wikimedia projects and open knowledge. I joined because I enjoy organizing. I am skilled at planning and coordinating events. In 2020, I was elected to the board.

Jacobsen: How did it feel to join formal governance as part of the board? It looks good on a resume, but it is also meaningful when it involves something you care about and in which you have invested time.

Obozhyn: Yes, that is correct. Everyone has a hobby, something they can do that is useful for others. This became especially evident after the Revolution of Dignity, when many people embraced the idea: do not ask what your country has done for you; ask what you can do for your country.

Some people began helping those in poverty. Others organized charitable initiatives. Some improved their local communities, for example, by installing benches or making cities more accessible for people with disabilities. Others contributed by editing Wikipedia. People were looking for ways to support a shared cause, and that was my path.

That was not the only thing I did. At times, I was involved in a civil movement that aimed to counter Russian influence in Ukraine, particularly in the cultural sphere. We supported decommunization policies and advocated for greater representation of Ukrainian-language content in television and radio, which had previously been dominated by Russian-produced material. However, that is a separate topic.

I also participated in some environmental activism, though that is unrelated to Wikipedia.

Jacobsen: Regarding editors and administrators, those involved in administrative work within Wikipedia, does the system, by its structure, help combat propaganda?

Obozhyn: Yes, it does. Wikipedia’s principle is that it is an encyclopedia that anyone can edit, but that does not mean people can write anything they want. There is a structured set of policies and a community that enforces them.

Key principles include a neutral point of view, verifiability, and an encyclopedic style. When someone makes an edit or creates a new article, it can be seen by many other editors, sometimes dozens, hundreds, or, for widely viewed topics, even thousands.

If there are mistakes or misleading information, someone is likely to notice. Even if many readers overlook an issue, it often takes only one attentive editor to identify and correct it. This collaborative scrutiny helps limit the persistence of misinformation.

There are also studies comparing Wikipedia’s reliability with traditional encyclopedias, indicating that its accuracy is generally comparable in many areas. This is supported by its emphasis on sourcing and verification.

The system includes different roles. Some editors review recent changes, while experienced users with additional permissions, administrators, can delete pages or block disruptive users. These checks and balances help maintain Wikipedia as a resource that people can trust.

Jacobsen: Thank you very much for the opportunity and your time, Anton.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen is a blogger on Vocal with over 170 posts on the platform. He is the Founder and Publisher of In-Sight Publishing (ISBN: 978–1–0692343; 978–1–0673505) and Editor-in-Chief of In-Sight: Interviews (ISSN: 2369–6885). He writes for International Policy Digest (ISSN: 2332–9416), The Humanist (Print: ISSN, 0018–7399; Online: ISSN, 2163–3576), Basic Income Earth Network (UK Registered Charity 1177066), Humanist Perspectives (ISSN: 1719–6337), A Further Inquiry (SubStack), Vocal, Medium, The Good Men Project, The New Enlightenment Project, The Washington Outsider, rabble.ca, and other media. His bibliography index can be found via the Jacobsen Bank at In-Sight Publishing, comprising more than 10,000 articles, interviews, and republications across more than 200 outlets. He has served in national and international leadership roles within humanist and media organizations, held several academic fellowships, and currently serves on several boards. He is a member in good standing in numerous media organizations, including the Canadian Association of Journalists, PEN Canada (CRA: 88916 2541 RR0001), Reporters Without Borders (SIREN: 343 684 221/SIRET: 343 684 221 00041/EIN: 20–0708028), and others.