Dear Wikimaniacs.
Please excuse the provocative title. As you might know Wikimania2014 is over right now. And it was a great event and a big success. The program was very comprehensive and had something for almost every taste. But meta themes, technical and abstract topics imho played a dominant role.
I think the most important part is still missing: program offers of (and for) contributors. There were some, but very few. The reason is undoubtedly not that there is a lack of submissions. There were a lot, but most of them were rejected. This is exactly what I do not want, and I believe it to be a development in the wrong direction. A welcome exception to this was Diego Delsos lecture "How Commons made a quality photographer out of me". Hopefully there are more such events in Mexico. In London we had a lot of sections, such as Education, GLAM, Technology, Open Data and Free Culture. Maybe we should add a fixed "Contributors Area" if only to ensure that events of (and for) contributors become an integral part of a Wikimania and have a guaranteed place at future events.
Let's go back to the roots. I would be delighted if it were possible for Diego to hold his lecture again next year. It would imho also be an excellent idea if there were events like
-how to take cheap images with a quality camera erm - I mean, how to take quality images with a cheap camera.
-How to adopt a foreign country
-Creating a bot for dummies
-my first edit in Wikipedia ever. How people come to Wikipedia and why they stay.
Workshops for Wikipedia editors, photographers, cartographers, illustrators and so on to mention only a few.
Many people I spoke with demonstrated great enthusiasm, but they had the same questions as I. What do you think?
Yours,
Matthias Süßen
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Matthias Süßen
Yorckstraße 115
28201 Bremen
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Dear Wikimaniacs.
Frst of all I would like to thank you for the discussion which has just taken place.
Every human being is unique and thus has different requirements. For example, I am sure that it is extremely important for the contributors of an international movement to share their knowledge and experience with others. I think local conferences can't afford this. Some might not agree or have a different perspective.
But imho the discussion showed that of these approaches have their place and their advocates. Thats why I suggested a fixed "Contributors Area" in the conference programme - with the knowledge that it will be very comprehensive. But today, too, we have to decide, which events we wish to attend.
Yours,
Matthias Süßen
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Matthias Süßen
Yorckstraße 115
28201 Bremen
t 0421 69 64 21 68
c 0179 7 04 27 31
info(a)pixelfehler.de
www.pixelfehler.de
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Hello everone,
I hope all is well and you have all recovered from Wikimania 2014.
In thinking about "The Wikimania Games Corner". I have a request to ask of
everyone. I was wondering if we could make this a tradition that continues
for future Wikimanias to come. I know that it's a tough asked, but here at
we've proved that anything is possible when people come together to help
out.
Also, in thinking about it, I also have some takeaways that also apply not
just to wikimedia, but to everything in life:
Takeaway number 1: Be excellent to each other. (Yes, I realise that this is
a "Bill and Ted" reference).
Takeaway number 2: Encourage positivity and kill off negativity.
Takeaway number 3: If you have an idea, don't just think about it. Plan it
out and do it.
I look forward to hearing about your takeaways from Wikimania 2014.
Kind regards,
Adi Khajuria
--
My website: http://adistechsite.co.uk
My twitter: http://twitter.com/Adiman423
My podcast: http://mhftech.net
In the evening/morning following Wikimania, I talked with over 50
Wikimedians, and took the liberty of jotting down their single favorite
session. I would like to share with you the four presentations/discussions
they thought you should definitely watch back on video. A more complete
tally is available on this page at wikimaniawiki
<https://wikimania2014.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Effeietsanders/tally> with
some more recommendations. The four most mentioned sessions were:
- Maryana Pinchuk & Steven Walling, "Creative ways to alienate women
online: a how-to guide for Wikipedians" (7 votes): *"Diversity I" video
not yet available.*
- Ralph Koster, "Wikipedia is a Game" (6 votes): *Featured speakers V on
livestream*
<http://new.livestream.com/wikimania/saturday2014/videos/58725492>
- Tobias Lutzi, "Which law applies to Wikipedia" (4 votes): *Free
Culture II on youtube*
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFX6xoeKtQE&list=UURXe4cgJPTVHcDH6ZGwOT3A>
- Dimitar Dimitrov (panel discussion), "Liquid lobbying - how could
Wikimedia change EU copyright" (3 votes): *"Free Culture VI" video not
yet available.*
All 'featured track' speakers are available on
http://new.livestream.com/wikimania/ , for other speakers you will have to
look at youtube and be lucky. I hope the organizers will be able to give
these most popular sessions some priority while uploading videos, and can
add the missing links.
Looking forward to watching some of them myself,
Best,
Lodewijk
Thank you so much to the London Wikimania organizers for putting a
wonderful Wikimania 2014. I want to recognize everyone who helped out: the
core team who proposed the bid and worked for over a year organizing a
vision and a team to carry it out; the staff at Wikimedia UK and WMF who
worked on organization; the international volunteer teams who put together
the program and multiple scholarship programs; the tech staff in-person and
online; the on-the-ground volunteers who made the event go; all the
speakers, and everyone who contributed. Thank you! Pulling off a major
international conference isn't easy, and this one rocked.
This was the tenth Wikimania (!), and we had a small session reflecting on
each of the Wikimanias to date. They have all been different, but they have
certainly all had commonalities too: each Wikimania is a chance to meet
other people who are doing intriguing, wonderful things; to sit up late
into the night brainstorming and arguing about ideas; to learn from each
other about techniques for educating and talking about our projects; to
hack together.
More than anything, Wikimania is a way to recognize that we are part of a
real community of passionate and dedicated people -- people who love to
take pictures and write and code and learn new things and drink and dance
and eat stroopwafels and talk and talk and talk.
So, a huge thank you to the London team for holding a great event both for
long-time Wikimaniacs and for a whole new group of people (this was the
first Wikimania for hundreds of people, going by the opening session).
I encourage you all to watch the videos of the talks, and to keep the
"Wikimania spirit" alive this year by learning about new initiatives,
reaching out to people you don't already know who are doing cool stuff,
visiting a project that you're not familiar with and seeing what they're up
to, and experimenting with new things.
And I hope to see you all in Mexico next year!
[[<3]],
Phoebe
--
* I use this address for lists; send personal messages to phoebe.ayers <at>
gmail.com *
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