Dearest Wikimaniacs,
I've found myself this week catching myself at various times feeling melancholy. Yes, there's a lot (a lot) of stuff going on the world and it's been a very, very hard year. But there's one particular thing that I've been thinking about this week, which is - this was supposed to be Wikimania week, starting in a few days.
If the pandemic hadn't happened, I (and perhaps you) would be on our way to Bangkok soon, to celebrate the 16th Wikimania. We'd be connecting in person about all the things our movement does, online and off. We'd be making new friends and renewing old friendships and getting rejuvenated once again for the work we do.
I miss you all terribly, and I also want to celebrate that we've had 15 -- and counting -- amazing, life-changing movement-wide conferences, held all around the world.
Andrew, Richard and I are starting a new podcast series to celebrate Wikimania and our history, called "Wikipedia: year by year". We'll be chatting with invited guests to discuss the world of Wikimedia each year, seen through the lens of Wikimania. We're starting with Wikimania 2005, of course -- the very first Wikimania, held this week (well, August 4th) in 2005 in Frankfurt, Germany.
Tune in this Sunday, 19:00 UTC (3PM EST) to listen to us and some special guests talk about that Wikimania, why it was so cool, and what the world of Wikimedia was like in 2005. Send us questions and comments on social media, add your own experiences to the etherpad, and watch live (or watch the stream afterwards).
Info on tuning in:
etherpad for comments & story-telling, before or during the episode:
And regardless of whether this year would have been your 16th Wikimania, your first Wikimania, or you weren't going to attend in person: let's remember and celebrate the strength and the joy of our movement in any way we can. Let's celebrate the late nights and the dance parties and the multilingualism and the hacking and... staying up to make just one more edit.
I miss you!
Phoebe
p.s. our hope is to not stop with 2005, but go through all of the years, building towards the 20th anniversary of Wikipedia on Jan 15, 2021. Help us build out the series and ideas for episodes (and guest suggestions) on meta!