Hi folks,

As you may know, Oscar and I had attended the Chapters Meeting 2011 in Berlin to represent Wikimedia Kenya. My trip report is below. Please note that this report is from my point of view, since I attended the Movement Roles Meeting prior to the Chapters Meeting as well as a bit of Global Melt after the Meeting. And at the Meeting, Oscar and I had split ourselves into different sessions, so we both have our own stories J

Please also note that I am writing this report pretty quickly at the airport and I don’t think I’ll do any rigorous fact-checking: it’s just intended for you to have an overview of my experience. If you’ve got any comments/criticisms/feedback, feel free to respond to this thread, or privately

Sincerely,

Trip Report

==Movement Roles Meeting (March 24, 2011)==

I am a member of the Movement Roles project, which aims to clarify the roles and responsibilities of different entities, groups, and people working to support the international Wikimedia movement. It is working on recommendations for the development of Wikimedia as a global network of organizations.

For more details about MR, see: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_roles_working_group

For those of you who might be interested, please participate in this survey: https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dHFGSEljVlBjUDlOdVZPWGV6TmRkaGc6MQ

== Chapters Meeting ==

===State of the Chapters===

I made a presentation [ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abbas_iv.JPG ] about the state of Wikimedia Kenya within the time-limit of 3 minutes. For the slides on my presentation and more presentations about other chapters, see: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2011/Schedule#State_of_the_Chapters_I

===Building a stronger partnership between WMF and Chapters===

This was basically a discussion about WMF-Chapter communication, the problems that Chapters face and possible solutions to improve better communication amongst the two parties. The following mind-map summarises what was discussed in that session: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Conference_2011_(DerHexer)_2011-03-26_005.jpg

===Wiki Loves Monuments===

I attended this session that was moderated by Lodewijk. I took keen interest in this session since we are in the planning of a similar contest: Wiki Takes Nairobi. My most memorable line from this session is: “Create an upload system on Commons that is so simple that even your grandma can use it to upload photos”. The notes for this session are here: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2011/Documentation/Common_Projects_II:_Wiki_loves_monuments

===Developing World Working Group===

I co-facilitated and presented on Wikimedia in the Developing World. Participants of this session basically shared the experiences that they undergo in their respective countries. We discussed the lack of volunteer culture as well as the potential of mobile technology in India and Kenya. Also, we deliberated on the controversial term “Global South” as well as internet affordability/accessibility in these countries. More details can be found at: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2011/Documentation/Working_Groups:_Developing_World

This is me making a recap: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abbas.jpg

A flip-chart image can be found at: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Conference_2011_(DerHexer)_2011-03-26_090.jpg

===Editor Trends Study===

Erik Möller made a presentation on alarming trend of edits in the last couple of years. The study revealed that Wikipedia Communities are ageing and the most notable drop in retention of editors was around 2005-2006. The retention rate in 2004 was 40% while the retention rate in 2009 is 12%!!! The slides of this presentation can be found at: http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Editor_Trends_Study/Results

A mindmap of this presentation can be found here: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Conference_2011_(DerHexer)_2011-03-26_089.jpg

===Grants===

Asaf Bartov made a presentation that gave a debrief about WMF Grants. Detailed notes can be found at: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2011/Documentation/Grants

==Media Coverage==

I was also interviewed by a German TV show: http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/video/sendungsbeitrag101886_res-.html

==Summary==

Overall, I think that the Wikimedia Conference was beneficial since, IMO, it:

a)      Encourages healthy competition amongst chapters. By listening to what other chapters are doing, it motivates you to do more J

b)      Is a platform on which partnerships can be made amongst chapters.

c)       Is an opportunity for chapters as a whole to voice over their complains/compliments to the WMF.

d)      Encourages networking!