Wikimania

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Wikimania International Conference
Wikimania logo
Status Active
Location Frankfurt, Germany (2005)
Cambridge, Massachusetts (2006)
Taipei, Taiwan (2007)
Alexandria, Egypt (2008)
Buenos Aires, Argentina (2009)
First held 2005
Organizer Wikimedia
Filing status Non-profit
Official website

The Wikimedia International Conference, commonly referred to as Wikimania, is a conference for users of the wiki projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. The first conference was held in Frankfurt, Germany, August 4–8, 2005; the second ran August 4–6, 2006, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; and the third conference was held August 3–8, 2007, in Taipei, Taiwan. Next Wikimania is planned to be held in Alexandria, Egypt from 17-19 July, 2008. Topics of presentations and discussions include Wikimedia Foundation projects, other wikis, open source software, and free content.

Contents

[edit] Overview

Wikimania conferences
Conference Date Place Continent
Wikimania 2005 5 August7 August 2005 Frankfurt, Germany Europe
Wikimania 2006 4 August6 August 2006 Cambridge, Massachusetts, US North America
Wikimania 2007 3 August5 August 2007 Taipei, Taiwan Asia
Wikimania 2008 17 July19 July 2008 Alexandria, Egypt Africa
Wikimania 2009 August 2009 Buenos Aires, Argentina South America

[edit] Wikimania 2005

Global Voices Panel at the 2005 conference. Shown are Hossein Derakhshan, Ting Chen, Isam Bayazidi, and Milton Ainehuranga.
Global Voices Panel at the 2005 conference. Shown are Hossein Derakhshan, Ting Chen, Isam Bayazidi, and Milton Ainehuranga.

The first Wikimania conference was held in the Haus der Jugend at Frankfurt, Germany, 2005-08-042005-08-08.

The week of the conference included four "Hacking Days", from August 1–4, when some 25 developers gathered to work on code and discuss the technical aspects of MediaWiki and of running the Wikimedia projects. The main days of the conference, despite its billing as being "August 4–8", were Friday to Sunday of that week, August 5–7. Presentation sessions were scheduled all day during those three days.

Keynote speakers included Jimmy Wales, Ross Mayfield, Ward Cunningham and Richard Stallman (who spoke on "Copyright and community in the age of computer networks"). The majority of sessions and conversations were in English, although a few were in German.

Sponsors of the event included Answers.com, SocialText, Sun Microsystems, DocCheck, and Logos Group.

[edit] Wikimania 2006

Attendees break for lunch.
Attendees break for lunch.

Wikimania 2006 took place from 2006-08-042006-08-06, at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States. It had about 400[1]-500[2] attendees.

Speakers included Jimmy Wales, Lawrence Lessig, Brewster Kahle, Yochai Benkler, Mitch Kapor, Ward Cunningham, and David Weinberger. Dan Gillmor held a citizen journalism unconference the day after.

Wales' plenary speech was covered by the Associated Press, and printed in numerous worldwide newspapers. He chronicled how the Foundation evolved from him "sitting in his pajamas" to the maturing corporate structure that it is now; the push for quality over quantity; Wikipedia will be included on computers distributed through One Laptop per Child; both Wikiversity and the creation of an advisory board were approved by the Foundation board; and that Wiki-WYG is in development thanks to private investment by Wikia, Inc. and Socialtext.[3]

Answers.com was the Wikimania 2006 Patron sponsor, while Amazon.com, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, Nokia, WikiHow were Benefactors-level sponsors, Wetpaint, Ask.com, Yahoo!, and Socialtext were Friends-level sponsors, and IBM, FAQ Farm, Elevation Partners, One Laptop per Child, and the Sunlight Foundation were Supporter-level sponsors of the conference.[4]

Three other teams submitted hosting bids, for the cities of London, Milan, Boston, and Toronto; only Toronto and Boston were passed to the second round of consideration by Wikimania organizers. Toronto would have hosted the event in the University of Toronto's Bahen Centre.

[edit] Wikimania 2007

Wikimania 2007 in Taipei
Wikimania 2007 in Taipei

As announced on September 25, 2006, Wikimania 2007 was held in Taipei, Taiwan from 2007-08-03 to 2007-08-05. It was the first to hold a volunteer training course.[5]

Three other teams submitted hosting bids, for the cities of London, Alexandria, and Turin. Official bids from Hong Kong, Singapore, Istanbul, and Orlando failed to make the shortlist. Bids for Geneva, Chicago, and Las Vegas were never made official.[6]

On August 3, 2007, New York Times reporter Noam Cohen reported: "The conference has attracted about 440 attendees, a little more than half from Taiwan, who want to immerse themselves for three days in the ideas and issues that come up making an entirely volunteer written encyclopedia. The workshops cover practical topics like how to collaborate peacefully; what importance to give 'expertise' in a project that is celebrated for allowing anyone to contribute, including anonymous editors."[7]

[edit] Wikimania 2008

Wikimania's 2008 logo.
Wikimania's 2008 logo.

Wikimania 2008 is going to be held in Alexandria, Egypt on July 17 to July 19, 2008. Three cities were in the running at the end, the other two being Atlanta and Cape Town. Karlsruhe, London and Toronto submitted official bids, but later withdrew.

[edit] Wikimania 2009

Wikimania 2009 is going to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Final selection was made between Buenos Aires and Toronto; Brisbane, Australia and Karlsruhe, Germany submitted official bids, but later withdrew from consideration.

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

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Wikimania 2005
Wikimania 2006
Wikimania 2007
Wikimania 2008
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