FYIs
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: WIKIMEDIANS AROUND THE WORLD PREPARE FOR WIKIMANIA 2008
Date: Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:07:32 -0700
From: Jay Walsh <jwalsh(a)wikimedia.org>
Reply-To: jwalsh(a)wikimedia.org
Organization: Wikimedia Foundation
To: press-release(a)lists.wikimedia.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wikimedia Foundation
http://wikimediafoundation.org
*WIKIMEDIANS AROUND THE WORLD PREPARE FOR WIKIMANIA 2008*
''The fourth annual Wikimania conference takes place July 17 to July 19, 2008 at
the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt''
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – July 9 – Next week hundreds of Wikimedia volunteers and
enthusiasts will converge at the historic center of global knowledge and wisdom,
the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt, for the annual Wikimania
conference. The Wikimania conference is the official conference of Wikimedia's
free knowledge projects, which include Wikipedia, the largest free knowledge
encyclopedia in human history. Presentations and discussions at this year's
conference will address topics related to public collaboration, open source
initiatives, free knowledge, wiki technology, open education, and the theme of
this year's conference 'changing the shape of wisdom.'
Since the first official gathering in 2005 in Frankfurt, Germany, Wikimania has
served as the main opportunity for project volunteers, staff, and enthusiasts to
meet and discuss the technology, impact, and future of wiki-based, free knowledge
projects. Organized by a local team of Wikimedia volunteers, Wikimania also acts
as the primary opportunity for local populations to explore free knowledge and
public collaboration, and the growth of Wikimedia projects in local languages.
"Wikimania is the one time each year when Wikimedia volunteers from all over the
world gather together in a single location," said Wikimedia Foundation Executive
Director Sue Gardner from the Foundation's headquarters in San Francisco,
California. "This year is particularly special, because we will be in Alexandria,
at what was once the site of the largest library of the ancient world. It's an
exceptional opportunity for us to explore topics around reach, participation, and
quality of the Wikimedia projects in one of the world's most important centers for
wisdom and knowledge."
Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director of Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the entireplanning
team from the library have been actively involved in development of Wikimania 2008
alongside the volunteer team. “Free-content projects such as Wikipedia are an
essential tool for the collection and dissemination of knowledge, especially in
the developing world," offered Dr. Serageldin. "We hope that Wikimania 2008 will
raise local awareness of new possibilities and indeed take us towards changing the
shape of wisdom. In hosting this event, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina upholds the
values of its ancient namesake.”
Alexandria volunteer organizing committee lead Mohamed Ibrahim has been leading
efforts on the ground with the Wikimedia Foundation and the volunteers toensure
conference attendees have an excellent experience. "We're hoping that ourmain
goal of increasing awareness of free knowledge and the free software movement
among Arabic speakers is going to be a success. The Arabic Wikipedia is getting a
lot of attention, Wikimania is an ideal opportunity for all attendees to start
thinking about how to improve both quality and quantity of our projects,"said Ibrahim.
Highlighted speakers at this year's conference include:
.Florence Devouard, Chair of the Wikimedia Board of Trustees
.Schuyler Erle and Mikel Maron from Open Street Map - The free editablemap of the
whole world, created by volunteers
.Eliane Metni, director of the International Education Association on The Global
Educators’ Open Course
.Jimmy Wales - Founder of Wikipedia
.Ismail Serageldin, Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina
.Tim Spalding - Creator of LibraryThing
.Usama Fayyad – Yahoo!’s Executive Vice President of Research and Strategic Data
Solutions
.As well as multiple sessions from Wikimedia Foundation staff, board oftrustees,
and advisory board members including: Sue Gardner and Erik Möller- Executive
Director and Deputy Director, with a forecast for the Wikimedia Foundation's
upcoming year; Brion Vibber - Chief Technology Officer - discussing the current
state of the MediaWiki software; and advisory board member Benjamin Mako Hill
speaking on the topic of Free Network Services.
For the complete Wikimania 2008 program, visit:
http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/wiki/Schedule
This year conference participants, as well as volunteers not able to attend the
conference, will be encouraged to upload and share related video content on
Kaltura's Wikimania video site. Kaltura's collaborative video-editing process
allows users to create new videos, or edit, improve, re-organize other videos.
http://www.kaltura.com/devwiki/index.php/Wikimania_Video_Site
Principal sessions such as those of the keynote speakers and the invited speakers
will be webcast live through the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Webcast website:
http://webcast.bibalex.org
Wikimedia Blog, the Foundation's official blog, will be updated frequently during
the conference with ongoing podcasting information, participant activities, and
media coverage:
http://blog.wikimedia.org/
The Wikimania 2008 official wiki will be updated regularly with pictures,
information, and logistical details:
http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/
Wikimania 2008 is possible thanks to the generous financial support of this year's
sponsors. Our sponsors subsidize a number of Wikimania scholarships to assist
participants in covering the cost of attending and participating in the
conference. Sponsors are also actively engaged in providing related support to
Wikimania through use of their own open-source, collaborative tools.
Guardians and Grants
WikiHow, http://www.wikihow.com/
Open Society Institute, http://www.soros.org/
Benefactors
CISCO, http://www.cisco.com/web/siteassets/contacts/offices/africa.html
Kaltura, http://www.kaltura.com/
HP (Middle East), http://welcome.hp.com/country/emea_middle_east/en/welcome.html
Microsoft (Egypt), http://www.microsoft.com/middleeast/egypt/english/default.mspx
Raya Corp, http://www.rayacorp.com/
Intel Egypt, http://www.intel.com/cd/corporate/middleeast/emea/english/364108.htm
Advanced Computer Technology, http://www.act-eg.com/
Sun Microsystems, http://catalog.sun.com/index.xml?site=EG_ENG
Friends
Onkosh, http://www.onkosh.com/
Supporters
Wikia Entertainment, http://entertainment.wikia.com/
Wikia Gaming, http://gaming.wikia.com/
eSpace, http://espace.com.eg/
About the Wikimedia Foundation
http://wikimediafoundation.org
The Wikimedia Foundation Inc. is a nonprofit, charitable organization dedicated to
encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual
content, and to providing the full content of its wiki-based projects to the
public free of charge. It operates some of the largest collaboratively-edited
reference projects in the world, including Wikipedia, one of the world's 10
most-visited websites.
All projects of the Wikimedia Foundation are collaboratively developed by
volunteers using the MediaWiki software. Their content may be freely used, freely
edited, freely copied and freely redistributed subject to the restrictions of that
license.
About the Bibliotheca Alexandrina
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the New Library of Alexandria, was inaugurated in
2002 and is dedicated to recapturing the spirit of the ancient Library of
Alexandria, a center of world learning from 300 B.C. to A.D. 400, by serving as a
center of excellence in the production and dissemination of knowledge through the
use of digital technologies.
Media contacts
For the Wikimedia Foundation
Jay Walsh
Head of Communications
jwalsh(a)wikimedia.org
+1 415 839 6885
For the Bibliotheca Alexandrina
wikimania(a)bibalex.org
+2 03 4839999
-30-
(To be removed from the Wikimedia Foundation press release email list, simply
reply to this message with the words 'unsubscribe' in the subject line.)
--
Jay Walsh
Head of Communications
WikimediaFoundation.org
+1 (415) 839 6885 x 609
Hello,
some of you were so kind to give me advice about the Esperanto
Wikipedia flyer, so I want to say thank you again and present this
link:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Esperanto_Wikipedia
I am now in Rotterdam at Universal Esperanto Association Headquarters.
At the World Congress, here in Rotterdam in July 2008, everyone of the
1800 participants will have this flyer in his or her congress
materials.
Kind regards
Ziko
--
Ziko van Dijk
NL-Silvolde