Dear colleagues,
Registration is now open for the ‘Celtic Knot’ – Wikipedia Language
Conference<https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Celtic_Knot_Conference_2017> taking place
Thursday 6 July 2017 at the University of Edinburgh Business School.
“If you want to know what’s important to a culture, learn their language.” Joanne Harris
The University of Edinburgh and Wikimedia UK are delighted to invite you to join us at
this event<https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Celtic_Knot_Conference_2017> showcasing
innovative approaches to open education, open knowledge and open data that support and
grow Celtic and Indigenous language communities.
Announcing our keynote speakers
* Jason
Evans<https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Celtic_Knot_Conference_2017#Keynotes> -
Wikimedian in Residence at the National Library of
Wales<https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Expert_outreach/Wikipedian_in_Residence_at_the_National_Library_of_Wales>,
now the longest running Wikimedia residency in the World. Jason has been responsible for
implementing and leading a number of innovative projects designed to increase public and
institutional engagement with Wikimedia projects. A passionate advocate for open access,
he has published case studies and produced a business case on the subject, drawing on the
successful implementation of open access policies at The National Library of Wales. Jason
has spoken widely of the importance of the Welsh language Wikipedia and the multilingual
nature of Wikidata in developing Welsh as a digital language and has recently began
exploring the use of multilingual data to create Welsh language Wikipedia content.
* Professor Antonella
Sorace<https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Celtic_Knot_Conference_2017#Keynotes> -
Professor of Developmental Linguistics at the University of
Edinburgh<http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/%7Eantonell/> and founding director of
Bilingualism Matters<http://www.bilingualism-matters.org.uk/>. Antonella is a world
leading authority on bilingualism over the lifespan and is particularly well known for her
studies of exceptionally talented ("near-native") adult second language
speakers; for her research on the changes ("attrition") that take place in the
native language of advanced second language speakers; for her investigation of bilingual
language acquisition in early and late childhood, and of the effects of bilingualism in
non-linguistic domains.
Confirmed speakers also include:
* Robin Owain<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-23402054> –
Wales Manager for Wikimedia UK
* Astrid Carlsen – Executive Director, Wikimedia
Norge<http://www.wikimedia.no/en/about-us/>.
* Susan
Ross<https://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2017/01/wikimedia-uk-and-national-library-of-scotland-announce-new-gaelic-post/>
– Gaelic Wikipedian in Residence, the National Library of Scotland.
* Alex Hinojo – Executive Director, Amical Wikimedia presenting on the Catalan
Language project.
The main objective for Celtic Knot 2017 is the coming together of practitioners in the
same room at same time; strengthening the bonds of those working to support language
communities into a 'knot' and leading into action. We welcome diverse attendees
and presenters working in Celtic and Indigenous languages ranging from Wikimedians,
educators, researchers, information professionals, media professionals, linguists,
translators, learning technologists and more coming together to share good practice and
find fruitful new collaborations to support language communities as a result of the
event.
To find out more about the conference themes and how to book your place to join us in
Edinburgh in July then please visit the Celtic
Knot<https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Celtic_Knot_Conference_2017> page. To assist with
seeing areas of commonality and links between your work and the Wikimedia
projects<http://thinking.is.ed.ac.uk/wir/2017/03/10/seeing-the-links-at-the-celtic-knot-wikipedia-language-conference/>
you can click
here<http://thinking.is.ed.ac.uk/wir/2017/03/10/seeing-the-links-at-the-celtic-knot-wikipedia-language-conference/>.
It promises to be a great event – including a panel on the ‘Politics of Language Online’,
excellent papers, workshops and discussion spaces. Please feel free to forward this event
to interested colleagues in your network.
If you would like to learn more then please contact me direct at
ewan.mcandrew@ed.ac.uk<mailto:ewan.mcandrew@ed.ac.uk>.
Very best regards,
Ewan
Ewan McAndrew
Wikimedian in Residence
Tel: 07719 330076
Email: ewan.mcandrew(a)ed.ac.uk
Subscribe to the mailing list: wikimedia(a)mlist.is.ed.ac.uk
My working hours are 10.30am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday.
Wikipedia Project Page for the residency:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:University_of_Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, Floor H (West), Argyle House, 3 Lady Lawson Street,
Edinburgh, EH3 9DR.
www.ed.ac.uk
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.