MEXICO JOINED THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF WIKIPEDIA

Mexico City, January 15, 2011. In a festive atmosphere with an attendance of over 400 people, the celebration for the first decade of Wikipedia was held in Mexico, adding to the 411 commemorations made across the globe.

Wikipedians, citizens and journalists gathered at lounge Pasagüero, located in the historic downtown of Mexico City, to join this global celebration. Around 18:00 h. on Saturday 15, January 2011. Attendees began to witness the celebration in Mexico with the documentary Truth in Numbers? Everything, According to Wikipedia, which outlined the birth and evolution of the fifth most visited site on the Internet.

Then, a welcome video by the founder of Wikipedia and president emeritus of Wikimedia Foundation, Jimmy Wales, was presented. Wales thanked the attendees for their participation and urged them to continue to engage with the world's largest collaborative project.

Thanking citizens who have maintained and sustained this project based on human knowledge, Wales said: "It's great to see that such donations are voluntary and each one of the readers can contribute to enlarge them freely. Unlike a physical encyclopedia, which has a limited number of volumes, Wikipedia has an unlimited space because it is so infinite as the Internet."

The day went on with interactive conference attendees, offered by Miguel A. Solís, a wikipedian and a member of the Free Software Foundation (FSF), followed by Pablo Nieto and Hugo Mercado Chávez Carvajal, from Conaculta-Joven Alas y Raíces, who spoke about the project Wikidf; then Cecilia Estrada Borde, a historian by UNAM, addressed the issue of the benefits of collaborative online education. Finally, the attendees listened to Jorge Hidalgo, a professor and researcher from Universidad Anáhuac, who spoke about hypermedia identities, and Iván Martínez from Wikimedia Mexico, on the benefits of using and participating in Wikipedia, including a discussion with the audience, with whom he engaged in an exchange of ideas about the importance of Wikipedia.

During his speech, Iván Martínez, wikipedian and formal organizer of the Wikipedia 10 event in Mexico, said: "Wikipedia has changed the way you can organize a organization. We do not receive any payments for editing, controlling or creating new articles. It's a people's project for the people." Martínez urged all Mexican citizens to collaborate, with emphasis for women: "Only three out of 10 wikipedians are women." Finally, Iván urged everyone: "Please don't be afraid to press the button 'Edit'. Both you and the whole world have a lot of knowledge, share it."

Also, speakers agreed that one of the main objectives of this project is that everyone living in the world can have access to a source of easy and reliable information. "We know there are many people in Mexico who don't have access even to electricity, a computer or the Internet. This is the real challenge for those who perform this project. We want knowledge to be for everyone, without distinction of wealth, creed, ethnic origin, sex preferences, ideology or country of birth. In Wikipedia all should participate, it is for everybody", Martínez said to the audience.

Around 22:00 h. on Saturday, January 15, 2011, Jimmy Wales, in a videoconference from London, England, spoke to attendees at Pasagüero in Mexico City. "I thank each and every one of you have attended, celebrated, and follow everyday working with Wikipedia. Only with the support of all this is possible," said the founder of Wikipedia to the Mexican public. He added: "Wikipedia demonstrates the power of people like us to do extraordinary things. Wikipedia is written by people like us, word by word. People like us provided the funds, donation after donation. It's the proof of our collective potential to change the way we do things." Iván Martínez added: "This is another step to concrete the Mexico chapter of Wikimedia, so that all Mexicans can collaborate with this global project. Mexico is a strategical country in the continent. Therefore, Mexico will promote Wikimedia projects, in order to make more people join it; we can all make contributions to support these projects, as well as helping other organizations to use the contents of The Free Encyclopedia.

The celebration closed with more than 400 people who celebrated and danced with the rythm of Sonido Changorama, DaPuntoBeat and the dj set of Camilo Lara by Instituto Mexicano del Sonido, and finally with sound mixes by DJ Clapping Hand and VJ The Offland Graphics.

During the following days the upcoming activities in Mexico by Wikimedia Mexico future chapter will be announced.

Wikimedia México
www.wikimediamexico.org
Twitter: Wikimedia_mx