Dear all,
Wikimania is finally live!!
The Wikimedia Foundation's Global Advocacy team has picked a few that closely align with the advocacy priorities of the free knowledge movement.
The array of sessions is incredible. You can see the full schedule here: https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/Program/Schedule. Registration is free & most sessions are virtual. Selecting only ten to share was, of course, an impossible task. There are many sessions beyond this list that feature knowledge equity, access, privacy, human rights, etc...so we'd love to hear from you!
Which sessions are on your radar?
Below are ours. Enjoy the festival, Ziski & the Global Advocacy team
*** GLOBAL ADVOCACY'S WATCH-LIST ***
1) Digital Security Basics (Thursday @ 10:35 UTC)
Overview: Join us for a beginner-friendly session on digital security best practices. Garner a basic understanding of digital security best practices and steps you can take to protect yourself online. Engage in a discussion session about experiences with digital security from fellow Wikimedians.
Session details: https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022:Submissions/Digital_Security_Basics. ____
2) Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement Guidelines Roundtable (Thursday @ 14:05 UTC)
Overview: Wikimedians will join Revisions Committee members as well as members of the Trust & Safety Policy team staff in a roundtable to discuss. Main topics will include discussion of some changes to the UCoC and the revisions to the enforcement guidelines currently being worked on by a staff-volunteer Revision Committee.
Session details: https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022:Submissions/Universal_Code_of_Conduct_Enforcement_Guidelines_Roundtable. ____
3) Documenting the Chilean constitutional convention on Wikipedia (Friday @ 14:40 UTC)
Overview: This session aims to share experience working inside the Chilean Constitutional Convention’s facilities where the new Constitution is written, documenting this historical event on the web’s largest encyclopedia. To contribute to creating and diffusing relevant, reliable, and easy-to-understand information about the Convention, Wikimedia Chile created a series of strategies to support local volunteers who document this process in Wikipedia, including signing an agreement to have me as a Wikimedian in Residence.
Session details: https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022:Submissions/Documenting_the_Chilean_constitutional_convention_on_Wikipedia:_My_experience_as_a_Wikimedian_in_Residence. ____
4) Evolving Threats of State-Led Censorship and Response Strategies (Saturday @ 00:45 UTC)
Overview: In the last few years, we have witnessed people in positions of power engage in legislative and legal jiu-jitsu to shape the Internet, which has led to platforms to cave into governmental requests and resort to the slicing of the Internet through geo-blocking. This session delves into the unique challenges the Wikimedia Foundation is currently facing as the authorities backed by legislative mandates attempt to compel the movement to fall in line. We will discuss the Russian Government's demands, censorship in Indonesia, the recent resolution of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. v. Turkey, and the strategies the Foundation is adopting to respond to such threats.
Session details: https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022:Submissions/Evolving_Threats_of_State-Led_Censorship_and_Response_Strategies. ____
5) Copyright and the Wikis roundtable: know your rights when using copyrighted material for the public good (Saturday @ 10:45 UTC)
Overview: Copyright related concepts that provide for copyright exceptions for public benefit, such as Fair Use and Freedom of Panorama, are important to both Wikipedia editors and contributors to Wikimedia Commons. Many of these concepts remain poorly understood within the Wiki Community creating confusion and uncertainly which hurts our ability to edit the Wikis for the public good. This round table event intends to discuss and clarify copyright exceptions when editing Wikipedia.
Session details: https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022:Submissions/Copyright_and_the_Wikis_roundtable:_know_your_rights_when_using_copyrighted_material_for_the_public_good. ____
6) Responsible community governance: Equity and access to mental health information on Wikimedia projects (Sunday @ 10:45 UTC)
Overview: How can community governance models adapt to subjects that require additional expertise, including mental health-related topics? Join us for a virtual card game show focused on Wikipedia-specific challenges related to community governance issues, sensitive topics, and content moderation, followed by an open discussion with expert panelists. Learn how community governance models can be extremely effective at handling content moderation at scale and in ways that are less biased than top-down models...and at the same time, how inconsistent communication among subject matter experts, platform representatives, regulators, and volunteer editors can result in policies which fail to address the actual needs of users.
Session details: https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022:Submissions/Responsible_community_governance:_Equity_and_access_to_mental_health_information_on_Wikimedia_projects. ____
7) Open Culture, Brighter Future? An international policy outlook (Sunday @ 8:15 UTC)
Overview: Cultural heritage institutions face many difficulties in realizing their missions in digital environments as copyright laws often represent a significant barrier to the missions of cultural heritage institutions, limiting individuals' rights to culture and education. Creative Commons argues that copyright must be reformed to be conducive to GLAMs’ missions. This session aims to gather experiences of on-the-ground national reform to help us move from a theoretical policy document to a practical resource that addresses the urgent need of realizing open culture for all: the forthcoming CC copyright guide for policymakers on open culture.
Session details: https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022:Submissions/Open_Culture,_Brighter_Future_-_An_international_policy_outlook. ____
8) Growing WikiForHumanRights: Learning from a Global Topics for Impact Campaign (Sunday @ 15:55 UTC)
Overview: In this panel conversation, we will share what we learned from running the second version of the Earth Day \Right to a Healthy Environment campaign\ and how it can help us think about. We will present first what happened this year, invite several local event organizers to describe their experience working with at the intersection of human rights and environmental issues, and how to iterate the campaign and combine it with a pilot Wikimedia Foundation training later this year focused on what we have learned from the campaign and topic for impact organizing.
Session info: https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022:Submissions/Growing_WikiForHumanRights:_Learning_from_a_Global_Topics_for_Impact_Campaign. ____
9) Democracy and Wikimedia - sharing insights on how our work strengthens civil society (Sunday @ 17:25 UTC)
Overview: Join for a reflection on how Wikimedia activities increase information literacy skills, which in turn boosts people's capacities to become engaged, skilled, and informed citizens - something that the world needs at this moment. This session highlights how important Wikimedia programme activities are in the context of fake news and the shrinking civil society space globally.
Session info: https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022:Submissions/Democracy_and_Wikimedia_-_sharing_insights_on_how_our_work_strengthens_civil_society. ____
10) Workshop: Community-Centered Implementation of the Wikimedia Foundation’s Human Rights Policy (Sunday @ 17:45 UTC)
Overview: Learn about the progress the Foundation is making to implement its Human Rights Policy and discuss solutions to addressing specific human rights challenges facing our platforms - including harmful content, harassment, government surveillance and censorship, and challenges to knowledge equity.