<b>MEXICO JOINED THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF WIKIPEDIA</b><br><br>Mexico
City, January 15, 2011. In a festive atmosphere with an attendance of
over 400 people, the celebration for the first decade of Wikipedia was
held in Mexico, adding to the 411 commemorations made across the globe.<br><br>Wikipedians,
citizens and journalists gathered at lounge Pasagüero, located in the
historic downtown of Mexico City, to join this global celebration.
Around 18:00 h. on Saturday 15, January 2011. Attendees began to witness
the celebration in Mexico with the documentary <i>Truth in
Numbers? Everything, According to Wikipedia</i>, which outlined the birth
and evolution of the fifth most visited site on the Internet.<br><br>Then, a
welcome video by the founder of Wikipedia and president emeritus of
Wikimedia Foundation, Jimmy Wales, was presented. Wales thanked the
attendees for their participation and urged them to continue to engage
with the world's largest collaborative project.<br><br>Thanking citizens
who have maintained and sustained this project based on human
knowledge, Wales said: "It's great to see that such donations are
voluntary and each one of the readers can contribute to enlarge them
freely. Unlike a physical encyclopedia, which has a limited number of
volumes, Wikipedia has an unlimited space because it is so infinite as
the Internet."<br><br>The day went on with interactive conference
attendees, offered by Miguel A. Solís, a wikipedian and a member of the
Free Software Foundation (FSF), followed by Pablo Nieto and Hugo Mercado
Chávez Carvajal, from Conaculta-Joven Alas y Raíces, who spoke about
the project Wikidf; then Cecilia Estrada Borde, a historian
by UNAM, addressed the issue of the benefits of collaborative online
education. Finally, the attendees listened to Jorge Hidalgo, a professor
and researcher from Universidad Anáhuac, who spoke about hypermedia
identities, and Iván Martínez from Wikimedia Mexico, on the benefits of
using and participating in Wikipedia, including a discussion with the
audience, with whom he engaged in an exchange of ideas about the
importance of Wikipedia.<br><br>During his speech, Iván Martínez,
wikipedian and formal organizer of the Wikipedia 10 event in Mexico,
said: "Wikipedia has changed the way you can organize a organization. We
do not receive any payments for editing, controlling or creating new
articles. It's a people's project for the people." Martínez urged all
Mexican citizens to collaborate, with emphasis for women: "Only three
out of 10 wikipedians are women." Finally, Iván urged everyone: "Please
don't be afraid to press the button 'Edit'. Both you and the whole world
have a lot of knowledge, share it."<br><br>Also, speakers agreed that
one of the main objectives of this project is that everyone living in
the world can have access to a source of easy and reliable information.
"We know there are many people in Mexico who don't have access even to
electricity, a computer or the Internet. This is the real challenge for
those who perform this project. We want knowledge to be for everyone,
without distinction of wealth, creed, ethnic origin, sex preferences,
ideology or country of birth. In Wikipedia all should participate, it is
for everybody", Martínez said to the audience.<br><br>Around 22:00 h.
on Saturday, January 15, 2011, Jimmy Wales, in a videoconference from
London, England, spoke to attendees at Pasagüero in Mexico City. "I
thank each and every one of you have attended, celebrated, and follow
everyday working with Wikipedia. Only with the support of all this is
possible," said the founder of Wikipedia to the Mexican public. He
added: "Wikipedia demonstrates the power of people like us to do
extraordinary things. Wikipedia is written by people like us, word by
word. People like us provided the funds, donation after donation. It's
the proof of our collective potential to change the way we do things."
Iván Martínez added: "This is another step to concrete the Mexico
chapter of Wikimedia, so that all Mexicans can collaborate with this
global project. Mexico is a strategical country in the continent.
Therefore, Mexico will promote Wikimedia projects, in order to make more
people join it; we can all make contributions to support these
projects, as well as helping other organizations to use the contents of
The Free Encyclopedia.<br><br>The celebration closed with more than 400
people who celebrated and danced with the rythm of Sonido Changorama,
DaPuntoBeat and the dj set of Camilo Lara by Instituto Mexicano del
Sonido, and finally with sound mixes by DJ Clapping Hand and VJ The
Offland Graphics.<br><br>During the following days the upcoming activities in Mexico by Wikimedia Mexico future chapter will be announced.<br><br><b>Wikimedia México<br><a href="http://www.wikimediamexico.org">www.wikimediamexico.org</a><br>
Twitter: Wikimedia_mx</b><br>