Dear Wikimedia Community Members,
We have been so hard at work that we are just now peeking our heads out of
our computer screens! However, we have some exciting news to share with you
around Wikimania 2021!
Here are some updates and important information:
1.
Session Submission forms are now live! If you’re looking to lead a
session at Wikimania 2021, please review the following links:
1.
Program Submissions
<https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Submissions>
1.
Session Submission Guidelines
<https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Submission_Guidelines>
2.
FAQ <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania:2021_FAQ>
2.
Wikimania 2021 Wiki Page <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania> is
now LIVE, you can now refer to this page for all information regarding
Wikimania 2021! However, it is a live and under construction page - any
suggestions on how to improve it? Message us!
We look forward to receiving your submissions and suggestions.
Have a great weekend and see you all soon.
Best Wishes,
Winnie Kabintie (User:Ms_Kabintie
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ms_Kabintie>), on behalf of the
Wikimania 2021 Core Organizing Team.
Dear Wikimedia Community Members,
It’s finally here! The session submission guidelines for the first ever
virtual Wikimania are live! You can view them here
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/tag/wikimania-2021/> on DIFF. The Wikimania
2021 Event Wiki will also go live next week, we’ll start to host all
further updates there!
Session submissions will open on Monday 24th of May! We will share where
you will be able to do this.
Reading all of this information could leave you with questions. We
therefore will be making ourselves available for office hours. More
information on when and how to engage with us will be provided next week.
In the meantime you can leave your questions for the Core Organizing Team
here:
https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Wikimania_Submission_help_desk
Best Wishes,
Winnie Kabintie (User:Ms_Kabintie
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ms_Kabintie>), on behalf of the
Wikimania 2021 Core Organizing Team.
Dear Wikimedia Community Members,
As promised, here we are providing more updates around the development of
Wikimania 2021!
With only 2 months and 26 days left, we are walking steadfast into the
first-ever virtual development for the biggest Wikimedia community event of
the year!
Without further ado, here are a few updates to kick start the week:
-
Session submissions:
-
Program submissions will open on May 21st. Proposals can be submitted
as a Movement Group, Affiliate, Individual or as a Collective of
individuals.
-
More details will be coming later this week, so please be on the
lookout for updates.
-
Scheduling Principles:
-
We are taking into consideration all time zones for Wikimania and
will have a broad mix of UTC start and end times.
-
We plan to have a more elaborate programme on the weekend, less heavy
program on weekdays to accommodate diverse individual schedules.
-
There will be a combination of live and on-demand content.
-
The first day of the five days of Wikimania is dedicated to the
Hackathon.
-
There is a two-hour break each day.
-
On-demand content will be available during the event.
-
Programming principles:
-
Unconference and Networking activities run concurrently during all
five days.
-
The Collective & Individual Submissions tracks are running
concurrently.
-
Level of participation and expertise level will be taken into
consideration (Three levels of content for: newcomers, intermediates, and
experts).
-
There will be on-demand content and support dedicated to newcomers.
-
Wikimania registration
-
Since this year will be our first-ever virtual experiment for
Wikimania, and we want to maximize attendance; there will be no
registration costs for event participants! Registering for the 2021
virtual Wikimania will be free of charge!
-
We are opening up an additional Call for volunteers: Fill out the survey
here. <https://survey.wikimedia.it/index.php/778836?lang=en>
-
Trust and Safety tasks (Session Moderation, Help Desk Support and
enforcing Trust and Safety Policy)
-
Session Submissions Peer Review (Reviewing Session Submissions and
logistics)
This is all folks! We’ll be back with more news next Monday and on Friday
the 21st with details around session submissions!
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Best Wishes,
Winnie Kabintie (User:Ms_Kabintie
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ms_Kabintie>), on behalf of the
Wikimania 2021 Core Organizing Team.
Dear Wikimedia Community Members,
We’re so excited to share some updates with you around Wikimania 2021!
We’ve been hard at work, getting things running and putting things in place
and realized we have so much we’d like to share with you. Thank you for
your flexibility and understanding, as we navigate through this rapidly
moving ship.
1.
Wikimania 2021 will be happening! We’ve already announced the dates
(August 13-17) but wanted to remind you - in case you had any doubts - that
the first ever virtual Wikimania will be happening - and we want you there!
[1]
1.
We noticed that all though we’ve been going full speed on the back end
at organizing Wikimania 2021, we haven’t updated you as frequently as we
would like… So, we will be sending out a weekly update email to all of you
on Monday’s - until the event goes live. Which in case you were wondering,
is in 3 months and 2 days! (Yes, that soon!)
1.
We will be having a Scholarship Program this year as well! We’d like to
remove most barriers of participation for those who would otherwise not be
able to join. More information will be coming soon around Scholarships - so
stay tuned!
1.
This year's theme is: Celebrate 20 years of Wikipedia and the humans who
make it happen. We will also be opening up submission proposals for
sessions - you can apply as an individual, a collective or a Community
Organization.
We are excited about all the work and progress happening so far to make
this event happen. We're looking forward to hearing about your amazing
session proposals to help bring Wikimania 2021 to life. We can't wait to
convene to celebrate two decades of free knowledge.
Best Wishes,
Winnie Kabintie (User:Ms_Kabintie
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ms_Kabintie>), on behalf of the
Wikimania 2021 Core Organizing Team.
[1]
https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Save_the_date_and_the_Core_Organi…
Dear Wikimedia Community Members,
The Core Organizing Team (COT) [1] is excited to take on organizing our
first-ever virtual Wikimania! Many thanks to the Wikimania Steering
Committee [2] for entrusting us with the task of bringing our community
together and celebrating the movement.
This year marks Wikipedia’s 20th birthday [3], and the theme for the 2021
Wikimania will be centered around this fantastic milestone. We want to make
this edition a celebration of all the humans that have made achieving it
possible.
As the COT, we find it important to keep you informed and involved
throughout the process of organizing Wikimania 2021 and we would appreciate
your great support.
We will be reaching out to the wider community for your input on various
aspects to inform some of our decisions. To begin with, we would like to
ask for your opinion on a few things;
-
Entertainment
What kind of entertainment options would you ideally like to see during a
virtual Wikimania? Do you have any ideas for singers, dancers, or any
suggestions for other types of entertainment?
-
Swag
How would you propose we go about swag for a virtual Wikimania? What are
some good ideas for virtual conference swag?
Let us know your thoughts using this LimeSurvey link
<https://survey.wikimedia.it/index.php/479123?lang=en> [4]. The survey will
collect anonymous responses and will remain open until the 5th of May 2021.
We are looking forward to hearing your ideas and suggestions, and will be
sharing more with you as we move towards making a decision on these aspects
for our virtual Wikimania!
Thanks and speak soon!
*Winnie Kabintie (User: Ms_Kabintie), on behalf of the Wikimania 2021 Core
Organizing Team *
[1]
https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Save_the_date_and_the_Core_Organi…
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Committee
[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_20
[4] https://survey.wikimedia.it/index.php/479123/lang/en/newtest/Y
Dear Wiki Community,
It is with great pleasure that we - the Wikimania Steering Committee[1] - announce that Wikimania will be hosted virtually from August 13-17th, 2021 [2] and that the Core Organizing Team (COT) has been selected and fully onboarded. Since 2021 marks the 20th anniversary of Wikipedia, Wikimania 2021's theme is 20 years of Wikipedia and all the humans that make it possible. We'll look back at our history and celebrate our future.
We thank everyone who applied to the call for volunteers [3] - it was a tough selection process given the impressive number of strong applicants we received. However, The Wikimania Steering Committee is pleased to announce that after due deliberation and assessment, we selected a total of 9 individuals from our broad community who will lead the way in organizing the first ever virtual Wikimania.
The official Core Organizing Team members are the following:
Vanj Padilla
Anna Torres (Anna Torres (WMAR)
Susanna Mkrtchyan (WikiTatik)
Winnie Kabintie
Lea Lacroix (WMDE)
Yamen Bousrih (Yamen)
Gnangarra
Bodhisattwa
Lodewijk (Effeietsanders)
We trust that each COT member has the skills, dedication and willingness to come together and bring to life our very first virtual edition of Wikimania and to help create the necessary spaces for our community to continue to thrive and work together. We had originally foreseen the need for 4-6 individuals to form the COT but after such strong applications, we decided to extend that number to 9 individuals, given the great team that we identified could work together and flourish.
We invite you all to participate in Wikimania 2021 and to contribute to its content and success. The COT will be reaching out to some applicants who marked their availability to be volunteers in their application, but we also encourage you to let us know if you would like to be considered for volunteer roles and opportunities for Wikimania 2021.
With this said, as the functioning Wikimania Steering Committee, we would like to make public our endorsement of the Core Organizing Team and our trust that they will move forward with the great responsibility and excitement of bringing to life Wikimania 2021.
The COT will soon be announcing more information around Wikimania 2021 and how you can get involved - so please stay tuned. Please save the dates in your calendars, we hope to see you there!
Sincerely,
The Wikimania Steering Committee
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Committee <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Committee>
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2021 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2021>
[3] https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Call_for_volunteers <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Call_for_volunteers>
Hello everyone,
Following the recent news that 2021 Wikimania will be virtual
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2021-January/096141.html>
[1], the Wikimania Steering Committee
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Committee>[2] wanted to follow
up with some updates and opportunities to be involved in the planning for
Wikimania 2021.
TL;dr: *The Wikimania Steering Committee has begun planning for Wikimania
2021, and we are looking for 5-6 people to be on the core organizing team,
plus additional volunteers for other roles.* If you would like to be part
of the core team for organizing this year's virtual Wikimania, please let
us know by applying by *March 1.* Details are here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2021/Call_for_volunteers
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2021/Call_for_volunteers>or read
on!
==Hosting Wikimania 2021==
As there’s no physical location for this year's Wikimania, there are no
geographically based hosts. Instead, the Wikimania Steering Committee and
the Core Organizing Team (details below) will serve as an international
team of community organizers for Wikimania 2021. The Foundation will be
providing infrastructure, logistics and organizational support.
We invite you to join us and help produce this event for the community, by
the community.
==What we've done==
In order to help imagine and design a virtual event, in January 2021 the
Wikimania Steering Committee engaged in a series of design sprints that
were facilitated by event design experts. The goal of our design sprints
was to collaboratively start designing a few formats for a virtual
Wikimania experience to bring back to the wider community. You can read
more about the process, the people involved, and the outcomes of our design
sprints here
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2021/Event_design_process_narrati…>.[3]
==Theme & Dates==
Since this year marks the 20th anniversary of Wikipedia, and celebrations
are ongoing, Wikimania 2021’s theme will also celebrate 20 years of
Wikipedia. We’ll look back at our history and imagine our future.
We’re planning for the conference to be held in August 2021, following the
precedent set by past Wikimanias. Exact dates will follow soon.
==What about scholarships?==
Since an in-person event scholarship cannot be awarded for a virtual event,
there is an opportunity for us to look into repurposing the scholarships
program to enable participation and promote accessibility. A feasibility
study will be completed to develop how the scholarships program can be
repurposed, and the Core Organizing Team will help decide on the best
course of action.
==How to get involved==
For supporting the organization of Wikimania, we will need help from
community members around the world. To begin, we've identified roles that
will be part of the Core Organizing Team.
We are inviting nominations and self-nominations for the Core Organizing
Team for Wikimania 2021. This team will help lead the development and
production of the overall event, focused on the conference program, and
will be supported by technical and project staff at the Wikimedia
Foundation and the Wikimania steering committee. Volunteers will need to
commit time each week between now and August to make the event a success.
There will be additional calls for volunteers in other roles in the coming
months as well. If you have an idea for how you might be able to contribute
to Wikimania organization in other ways, please let us know by filling out
the application form
<https://survey.wikimedia.it/index.php?r=survey/index&sid=856642>.
If you have organized past events in person or online, or are interested in
hosting international Wikimedia events in the future, we need you! Planning
Wikimania is an amazing way to meet and collaborate with other Wikimedians
from all over the world. This group will need people who are strong
collaborators, communicators, and solution-oriented and who are able to be
consistently involved through the conference.
If you have thoughts, ideas, or questions before applying, feel free to add
your comments on this meta page:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimania_2021 [4]
==So what are we looking for?==
Total number of people we are looking for
- Organizing core team members: minimum of 2, maximum 3 community
representatives
- Programming core team members: minimum of 2, maximum 3 community
representatives
- These will be joined by 1-2 steering committee liaisons and staff from
the WMF, including a project manager and virtual event producer
What are the responsibilities of Organizing core team members (2-3
people)?:
-
- Help choose the right format for a virtual Wikimania - using prior
design work to set the length and outline of the event
- Help shape/decide the outcome of the recommendations of the
Scholarship Feasibility Report
- Keep our international community up to date and involved throughout
planning phase
- Help coordinate communications, the Wikimania wiki, and other
volunteers
What are the responsibilities of Programming core team members (2-3
people)?
- Create and manage the call for program contributions
- Manage programming and establish programming framework
- Coordinate community submission/acceptance process
- Assist with programming logistics and communications
- Help coordinate program volunteers
What does the commitment look like?
- 60-90 mins active weekly participation (possibly more or less in some
weeks depending on tasks). Times and dates for meetings will be chosen by
Core Organizing Team members, and will be inclusive of all timezones.
- Starting in March 2021, ending in September
If you would like to help but do not want to be a part of the core team,
you can also use our volunteer form below to let us know!
Is there an incentive for volunteering my time?
- For active core team members (as detailed above), a full scholarship
<https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/Scholarships/FAQ> [5] (travel,
lodging, registration fees) to the next in-person Wikimania will be
awarded.
What kind of qualifications are we looking for?
- For organizing members: event organization experience of virtual,
in-person or hybrid events; previous organizers of events such as regional
events, thematic events, meetups or Wikimanias
- For programming members: experience with the programming of
international community events; experience as previous program chairs,
program committee members
- Past or future Wikimania organizers are welcome
- Collaborative approach as a principle
- In good standing with the community and the Foundation
- Members from anywhere in the world are welcome; the working language
of the committee will be English
*How to apply*
- Send your application to WMSC using this form
<https://survey.wikimedia.it/index.php?r=survey/index&sid=272925&lang=en>
[6]
- You can use the application form for the Core Organizing Team
- You can also use the form to provide your availability for other
volunteer roles
- By March 1 2021
- Members announced by March 8th 2021
[1]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2021-January/096141.html
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Committee
[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2021/Event_design_process_narrati…
[4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimania_2021
[5] https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/Scholarships/FAQ
[6] https://survey.wikimedia.it/index.php?r=survey/index/sid/856642&lang=en
<https://survey.wikimedia.it/index.php?r=survey/index/sid/856642&lang=en>
--
* I use this address for lists; send personal messages to phoebe.ayers <at>
gmail.com *