This press release is also available online here:
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Annual_Wikipedia_confer…
And as a blog post in English and Spanish here:
https://blog.wikimedia
.org/2015/06/22/wikimania-conference-2015/
ANNUAL WIKIPEDIA CONFERENCE “WIKIMANIA” COMES TO MEXICO CITY
Featured speakers include Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, Wikimedia
Foundation executive director Lila Tretikov; entrepreneur Luis von Ahn and
other leaders in technology, culture and society
Event gathers volunteers and digital rights leaders to discuss access to
knowledge, participation in the Wikimedia projects, and the role of
Wikipedia in education
Wikimania 2015 <https://wikimania2015.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page>, the
annual conference celebrating Wikipedia and its sister free knowledge
projects, will take place in México City from June 15-19. Digital rights
leaders and hundreds of volunteer editors will come together to learn about
new projects and approaches and discuss issues at the heart of the Wikimedia
movement. The event will be held at the Hilton México City Reforma.
Wikimania focuses on the Wikimedia vision: to make the sum of all knowledge
available to everyone on the planet. Unfortunately, access to knowledge
around the world is not equal. In some places, people do not have Internet
access or cannot afford access. In México, for example, only 40% of people
<https://www.amipci.org.mx/images/AMIPCI_HABITOS_DEL_INTERNAUTA_MEXICANO_2015.pdf>
have access to the Internet. In other places, access to knowledge is
censored or constrained. These issues, which directly impact our ability to
fulfill the Wikimedia mission, will be at the center of conversations at
the conference.
“One billion people will come online in this decade,” said Wikipedia
founder Jimmy Wales. “And the opportunities to consume and produce
knowledge are going to change and evolve as radically as the technology
that creates them. We need to work together as a global community to
leverage this growth to advance our mission of freely sharing in the sum of
all knowledge.”
Other themes to be addressed at Wikimania 2015 include the the state of
free knowledge, the role of Wikipedia in education, privacy and digital
rights, using technology to grow participation, and more. This year’s
conference, which is co-organized by the local Wikimedia México
<https://wikimania2015.wikimedia.org/wiki/Conference_organizers> and the
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home>, will also
feature a special focus efforts in Latin America and other countries
including Brazil, Spain and Portugal to grow the quality and amount of
knowledge on Wikipedia and the other projects.
“People across México read 44 million Wikipedia articles every month. While
we have made great strides in making knowledge available, we have a long
way to go to achieve our mission,” said Iván Martinez, president and
founder of Wikimedia México. “Wikimedia communities in Latin America and
other countries are increasingly finding solutions for growing quality
information on Wikimedia projects, including through partnerships with
educational, government, cultural, and civil associations. Wikimania is a
chance for us to share these kinds of experiences with each other to make
Wikipedia and its sister projects stronger.”
With more than 35 million articles in 288 languages, Wikipedia is the
largest shared knowledge resource in human history. Nearly half a billion
people turn to Wikipedia every month for everything from preserving
cultural heritage, to improving cancer detection, to researching homework.
This remarkable scope and scale was recognized this month by the
prestigious Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation, awarded
by the Princess of Asturias Foundation in Spain. The jury recognized
Wikipedia as an "important example of international, democratic, open, and
participatory cooperation—to which thousands of people of all nationalities
contribute selflessly."
"Wikimedians collaborate digitally with each other from far corners of our
planet all of the time," said Lila Tretikov, executive director at the
Wikimedia Foundation. "Once a year we have a chance to gather in person and
we are so excited to meet this year in México City, and share our passion,
knowledge, and experiences.”
With the goal of ensuring that any person can access, share and contribute
to knowledge, the event has been organized globally for the last 10 years
to bring people together around this mission.
Registration is open for Wikimania 2015. To register, please visit:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wikimania-2015-mexico-city-registration-164212…
Program Summary
Notable sessions and workshops from prominent contributors to digital
rights and open source culture include:
-
"Bringing Free Education to the World
<https://wikimania2015.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bringing_Free_Education_to_the_World>
" by Luis von Ahn, Guatemalan
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemala> entrepreneur
and academic, founder of reCAPTCHA
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReCAPTCHA> and co-founder and CEO of
Duolingo <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duolingo>
-
“Wikipedia and the collective construction of knowledge
<https://wikimania2015.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_y_la_construcci%C3%B3n_colectiva_del_conocimiento._M%C3%A1s_all%C3%A1_del_fetichismo_tecnol%C3%B3gico>”
by César Rendueles, Spanish sociologist, researcher, and social critic
-
“Wikipedia Five Pillars Panel” featuring members of digital humanities
organization Red de Humanidades Digitales (RedHD)
<http://www.humanidadesdigitales.net/index.php/acerca-de>
-
A panel on “Latin America Internet Freedom”
<https://wikimania2015.wikimedia.org/wiki/Latin_America_Internet_Freedoms_Panel>
featuring Carlos Brito of Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales
<http://r3d.mx/> (R3DMX, Digital Rights Defense Network), Darío Ramírez
of Article 19 Mexico,
<http://www.article19.org/pages/es/resource-language.html>Katitza
Rodríguez of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
<https://www.eff.org/> (EFF),
Renata Ávila Guatemalan Human Rights and Intellectual Property Lawyer with
Web we want <https://webwewant.org/> and and country lead for Creative
Commons Guatemala, Paz Peña Chilean researcher and promoter of digital
rights in Latin America with Derechos Digitales, and Yana Welinder,
Senior Legal Counsel at the Wikimedia Foundation
<https://www.derechosdigitales.org/>
-
A lecture from Carlos A. Scolari, renowned digital media researcher from
Argentina who studies new ways of communication that originated from the
rise of the Internet
-
“State of the Wiki” address from Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia
-
Opening Plenary by Lila Tretikov, Executive Director of the Wikimedia
Foundation
All Spanish-language sessions will be simultaneously translated into
English for the international audience.
Special events include:
-
Welcome reception at the Hilton México City Reforma
-
Reception at the Museo Soumaya
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museo_Soumaya>, which contains 66,000
works from 30 centuries of art
-
Pre-conference hackathon, where anyone is welcome to spend their time
hacking on anything related to MediaWiki or one of the Wikimedia projects
-
Education pre-conference where Mexican teachers will be trained by
experts about using Wikipedia to teach in the classroom as others 74
countries in the world
-
Closing reception at the Laboratorio Arte Alameda sponsored by Ache
Entretenimiento agency and Time Out México Magazine
Follow Wikimania 2015 on social:
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/wikimania2015
Twitter
https://twitter.com/Wikimania2015
Follow Wikimedia México on social:
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/wikimediamx
Twitter
https://twitter.com/Wikimedia_mx
GNU Social
https://social.mayfirst.org/wikimediamx
Diaspora Wikimedia México <https://diasp.net/u/wikimedia_mx>
Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv614ar6uOFcbpI1ocCbgfw
# # #
About the Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikipedia consists of more than 34
million articles in 288 languages. Every month, tens of thousands of active
volunteers contribute to Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects. With
nearly half a billion monthly users, projects operated by the Wikimedia
Foundation are one of the most popular web properties in the world. Based
in San Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation is a 501(c)(3)
charity that is funded primarily through donations and grants.
About Wikimedia México
Wikimedia México A.C. (WMMX) is a local chapter of the Wikimedia movement
and one of the most active in the Spanish speaking countries. Since its
recognition in 2011, it has been involved in almost 300 events, including
workshops, conferences and more. WMMX has strong ties with the culture,
education, TI companies, government sectors, as well as other volunteer
organizations that actively support the chapter’s work in the Mexico. Among
the institutions that WMMX have worked with are: Fine Arts Palace Museum
(Museo Palacio de Bellas Artes), Center for Digital Culture (Centro de
Cultura Digital), Chopo University Museum (Museo Universitario del Chopo),
and Soumaya Museum (Museo Soumaya) to name just a few. WMMX is working on a
wide variety of projects this year including their current support of
the Wikipedistas
en Puebla initiative to form a future Wikimedia User Group in that state.
About Wikimania
Wikimania is an annual conference centered on the Wikimedia projects
(Wikipedia and its sister projects) and the Wikimedia community of
volunteers. It features presentations on Wikimedia projects, other wikis,
free and open source software, free knowledge and free content, and the
social and technical aspects which relate to these topics. Wikimania 2015
marks the 11th year of the conference.
About Wikipedia
Wikipedia is the world’s free knowledge resource. It is a collaborative
creation that has been added to and edited by millions of people from
around the globe since it was created in 2001: anyone can edit it, at any
time. Wikipedia is offered in 288 languages containing a total of more than
34 million articles, and visited by nearly half a billion people every
month. It is the largest collection of free knowledge in human history, and
today its content is contributed and edited by the community of more than
75,000 volunteer editors each month.
Press Contacts
Martha Oliver
Another Company México City.
(55) 6392 1100 ext. 2416
55-28800940
moliver(a)anothercompany.com.mx
Katherine Maher
The Wikimedia Foundation
+1 415-839-6885 ext 6633
press(a)wikimedia.org
--
*Samantha Lien*
Communications | Wikimedia Foundation
149 New Montgomery Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
slien(a)wikimedia.org