Hi friends,

I hope everyone has had a lovely and caffeinated start to the week. It's a busy time of year between UN events in New York and regional Wikimedia conferences.

Here's your recap of where in the world to find us during the next two weeks, and who might be at a Wikimedia conference near you. _____

*29–30 September | Big Fat Brussels Meeting in Brussels, Belgium *

➡️ Big Fat Brussels https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Big_Fat_Brussels_Meeting_9 is an annual convening of Wikimedia chapters based in Europe. The convening will cover topics like child safety online, artificial intelligence, and how to combat lawsuits meant to strategically censor, intimidate, and silence civil society organizations.

✋ Team attending: Rebecca MacKinnon (Vice President of Global Advocacy), Costanza Sciubba Caniglia (Anti-Disinformation Strategy Lead) and Ricky Gaines (Human Rights Policy and Advocacy Lead).

3–6 October | WikiConference North America https://wikiconference.org/wiki/2024/Main_Page in Indianapolis, US

➡️ WikiConference North America is the eleventh annual gathering of Wikimedians, institutions, and professionals from Canada, the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America.

🗓 “Current trends in public policy that could impact Wikipedia https://wikiconference.org/wiki/Submissions:2024/Current_trends_in_public_policy_that_could_impact_Wikipedia” | 5 October @ 10:15 GMT-4

✋ Stan Adams (Lead Public Policy Specialist for North America) will host a session in which he describes the current trends in public policy that could impact Wikipedia (such as protecting kids' safety and regulating content moderation), makes clear some of the political rhetoric around those trends, and illustrates some of the potential impacts for Wikipedians.

4–6 October | WikiIndaba Conference https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiIndaba_conference_2024 in Johannesburg, South Africa

➡️ WikiIndaba is the annual regional conference for Africans both within the continent and in the diaspora. The focus of this gathering is on building capacity for and connections between African Wikimedians so they can turn ideas into action.

🗓️ ”Building the internet we want in Africa through policy advocacy” https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiIndaba_2024/Proposal/Building_the_Internet_we_want_across_Africa_through_policy_advocacy | 4 October @ 16:00 GMT+2

✋ Ziski Putz (Senior Movement Advocacy Manager) will be co-hosting a roundtable discussion with Wikimedians from across the continent. They will share what motivated them to pursue policy initiatives, the misconceptions about Wikimedia they have encountered, what they’ve learned from these experiences, and how they plan to take their momentum forward.

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Please come find us if you're at any of the above mentioned events.

All the best & have a great week,

Ziski

Franziska Putz (she/her)

Senior Movement Advocacy Manager

Global Advocacy, Wikimedia Foundation

Fputz@wikimedia.org

UTC Timezone