The on-wiki version of this newsletter is here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2021-08-20
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Last weekend was Wikimania 2021 <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/>, and it
was a blast! There were more than 4000 registrations for the virtual event,
making it the largest Wikimania by far. If you missed it, don't worry!
Sessions have been recorded and can all be watched online at your leisure.
The work of the team on building Wikifunctions and Abstract Wikipedia was
represented at a session
<https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Submissions/Wikifunctions_and_Abstract_Wikipedia>
where
we first had a short presentation and then over an hour of questions and
comments with most of the team and associated volunteers. It was brilliant
to hear from so many interested people, and there were a lot of insightful
questions, comments, and concerns.
I think we got people excited and had good answers for their questions, but
that's of course for you to decide. I would encourage everyone who missed
it to watch the overview introduction
<https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimania_2021_Abstract_Wikipedia_and_Wikifunctions_Introduction.webm>
and the longer full session <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LecYqXHvHfg> if
they have time. We'd be delighted to follow-up on any thoughts you might
have.
Beyond our session, there were many brilliant sessions exploring our
communities, our priorities, and our futures. Here is a small selection of
sessions which I think were particularly relevant to people interested in
Wikifunctions and Abstract Wikipedia:
- Radhika Mamidi led a great session
<https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Submissions/To_translate_or_not_to_translate_by_the_machine_is_the_question>
(video <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb9XCVMiSZ8>) on the use of
machine translation to create articles, and particularly their use on the
Indic language wikis.
- Deryck Chan presented
<https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Submissions/Cross-wiki_ideological_conflict_and_Wikimedia%27s_vision_of_knowledge_equity>
(video <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6zRuU6DqXY>) about the
challenges that different wikis' and language communities' backgrounds may
have on what we consider "reliable sources", how this leads to cross-wiki
conflict, and how this may need to change.
- A panel talked about integrating Wikidata into the Wikimedia projects
<https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Submissions/Integrating_Wikidata_into_the_Wikimedia_projects>
(video <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AveonN5pHwY>) which discusses
the use of Wikidata as a central knowledge base within different Wikipedia
language projects. This is a path that Abstract Wikipedia will explore even
more, which is why these experiences are crucial to what we are building.
- In a similar vein is the presentation on Domain Specific Content
Generation using Human Bot Collaboration
<https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Submissions/Domain_Specific_Content_Generation_using_Human_Bot_Collaboration>
(video <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6T_UygofSw>) by Praveen
Garimella and Vasudeva Varma. They were guiding students to work with bots
in order to scale up the creation of good content in underrepresented Indic
languages. We certainly hope that they will become early adopters of the
Abstract Wikipedia framework.
- Wikidata: What happened? Where are we going?
<https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Submissions/Wikidata:_What_happened%3F_Where_are_we_going%3F>
(video <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymMxPsNGI64>) was led by Lydia
Pintscher, and particularly relevant to Abstract Wikipedia fans covered the
state of Wikidata's lexicographic data and the plans for improving that.
- There was a great panel on English as a lingua franca of the Wikimedia
movement
<https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Submissions/English_as_a_lingua_franca_of_the_Wikimedia_movement:_how_do_we_ensure_people%27s_inclusion%3F>
(video <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X6UJ25TiN8>) which raised some
important points around how we as a movement can better involve and engage
with all people regardless of the languages they speak. Ensuring that we
make decisions for all languages and wikis is key to making Wikifunctions
and Abstract Wikipedia a success.
- The round-table on Wikimedia's Universal Code of Conduct
<https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Submissions/Universal_Code_of_Conduct_Roundtable>
(video <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAiYUdXRV6E>) was a great
opportunity to discuss the introduction of the Code of Conduct to the
projects. This is directly relevant for Wikifunctions as it will also be
covered by the Code.
Right now videos of all sessions are on YouTube; they will be copied to
Wikimedia Commons by the organising team in the coming weeks. My thanks
again to the organisers of Wikimania 2021, and to all the speakers and
participants that made it so great.
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The Grammatical Framework Summer School was held from 26th July to 6th
August. The Wikimedia community was invited to join the Summer School, and
ten Wikimedians took the time and the opportunity to join and learn about
Grammatical Framework, Natural Language Generation, and related topics.
There were a total of 51 registered students. We are very excited to see
this kind of knowledge transfer.
You can catch up with all recorded sessions through the GF Summer School
2021 playlist
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7VkoRLnYYP6EZngakW7lNNCTjfC93uh0>.
If you are either one of the few who participated, and want to repeat
something, or if you want to browse the videos and learn about the
technologies and topics, feel free to take a look and enjoy the talks. Many
hours of material are available.
Thanks to the Grammatical Framework community, the people at CCLAW in
Singapore <https://cclaw.smu.edu.sg/>, and Dr Inari Listenmaa for the
opportunity for Wikimedians to join and for organizing the summer school.
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We have started a documentation page for external outreach
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/External_outreach>
coordination
and advice. There are notes on the talkpage, and any feedback is
appreciated. The list is not exhaustive yet. Please contact us in case we
missed you.