Wikimania

Wikimania

The Wikimania logo
Status Active
Genre Conference
Frequency Annually
Location(s) various
Inaugurated August 5, 2005 (2005-08-05)
Most recent June 21-28, 2016
Next event August 9-13, 2017
Organized by Local volunteer teams
Filing status Non-profit
Website
wikimania.wikimedia.org

Wikimania is the official annual conference of the Wikimedia Foundation. Topics of presentations and discussions include Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia, other wikis, open-source software, free knowledge and free content, and social and technical aspects related to these topics.

Since 2011, the winner of the Wikipedian of the Year award has been announced at Wikimania.

Overview

Wikimania conferences
Logo Conference Date Place Attendance Archive of presentations
Logo of the Wikimania 2005 conference, held in Frankfurt, Germany
 Wikimania 2005 August 5–7 Frankfurt, Germany 380[1] slides, video
Logo of the Wikimania 2006 conference, held in Cambridge, Massachusetts
 Wikimania 2006 August 4–6 Cambridge, Mass., United States 400[2] slides and papers, video
Logo of the Wikimania 2007 conference, held in Taipei, Taiwan
 Wikimania 2007 August 3–5 Taipei, Taiwan 440[3] Commons gallery
Logo of the Wikimania 2008 conference, held in Alexandria, Egypt
 Wikimania 2008 July 17–19 Alexandria, Egypt 650[4] abstracts, slides,video
Logo of the Wikimania 2009 conference, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina
 Wikimania 2009 August 26–28 Buenos Aires, Argentina 559[5] slides, video
Logo of the Wikimania 2010 conference, held in Gdańsk, Poland
 Wikimania 2010 July 9–11 Gdańsk, Poland about 500[6] slides
Logo of the Wikimania 2011 conference, held in Haifa, Israel
 Wikimania 2011 August 4–7 Haifa, Israel 720[7] presentations, video
Logo of the Wikimania 2012 conference, held in Washington DC, US
 Wikimania 2012 July 12–15 Washington, D.C., United States 1,400[8][9] presentations, videos
Logo of Wikimania 2013
 Wikimania 2013 August 7–11 Hong Kong, China 700[10] presentations, videos
The logo of Wikimania 2014
 Wikimania 2014 August 6–10 London, United Kingdom 1,762[11] presentations, videos
Logo of Wikimania 2015
 Wikimania 2015 July 15–19 Mexico City, Mexico 800 presentations, videos
Logo of Wikimania 2016
 Wikimania 2016 June 21–28 Esino Lario, Italy 1,200[12] presentations, videos
The logo of Wikimania 2017
 Wikimania 2017 August 9–13 Montreal, Quebec, Canada - presentations, videos

Conferences

2005

Wikimania 2005, the first Wikimania conference, was held from 4 to 8 August 2005 at the Haus der Jugend in Frankfurt, Germany, attracting about 380 attendees.[1]

The week of the conference included four "Hacking Days", from 1 to 4 August, 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, from 5 to 7 August. 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,[13] and Logos Group.

2006

Attendees break for lunch, 2006

Wikimania 2006, the second Wikimania conference, was held from 6 to 8 August 2006 at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society in Cambridge in Massachusetts, United States, with about 400[2]–500[14] 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 frequent 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.[15]

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.[16]

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. In Toronto's case the event would have been hosted in the University of Toronto's Bahen Centre.

2007

Chunghwa Telecom press conference, sponsor of Wikimania 2007 in Taipei

As announced on September 25, 2006, Wikimania 2007,[17] the third Wikimania conference, was held from 3 to 5 August 2007 in Taipei, Taiwan. It was the first Wikimania event to hold a volunteer training course.[18]

Three other teams submitted hosting bids, for the cities of London, Alexandria, and Turin. Bids for Hong Kong, Singapore, Istanbul, and Orlando failed to make the shortlist.[19] The winner was announced on 25 September 2006.[17]

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.[3] 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".[3]

2008

Group photo after the 2008 closing ceremony

Wikimania 2008, the fourth Wikimania conference, was held from 17 to 19 July 2008 at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt, with 650 attendees from 45 countries.[4] Alexandria was the location of the ancient Library of Alexandria.[20]

Three proposed cities were in the running at the end, the other two being Atlanta and Cape Town. Proposals for Karlsruhe, London and Toronto were also submitted, but later withdrew. There was a controversy about the conference, and even a call to boycott Wikimania 2008 because of Egypt's alleged censorship and imprisoning of bloggers during Mubarak's era.[21][22] Mohamed Ibrahim, a graduate of Alexandria University who worked to bring the conference to Alexandria, told the BBC "I think we have the right to develop and to make freedom of expression on a larger scale."[23] One of his goals was to help grow Arabic Wikipedia which he contributes to since early 2005. An Egyptian cabinet minister spoke at the opening ceremonies on Mubarak's behalf.[20]

2009

2009 group photo

Wikimania 2009, the fifth Wikimania conference, was held from 26 to 28 August 2009 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with 559 attendees.[24] The final selection was made between Buenos Aires, Toronto, Brisbane and Karlsruhe, with the final selection coming down to Buenos Aires and Toronto.

2010

Jimmy Wales gives the keynote address at Gdańsk

Wikimania 2010,[25] the sixth Wikimania conference, was held from 9 to 11 July at the Polish Baltic Philharmonic in Gdańsk, Poland. The starting day on July 9 overlapped with the end of the WikiSym academic conference. Bids for Amsterdam and Oxford for Wikimania 2010 lost by a small margin.[6]

It was the first conference which included a big focus on the cultural aspects of the hosting nation, particularly a concert of a philharmonic orchestra, celebrating the tenth anniversary of the death of the most important contemporary Polish composer Władysław Szpilman and the premiere of the film Truth in Numbers?. At the conference, Sue Gardner, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, said that the foundation's aim was to grow the number of visitors to Wikimedia sites from 371 million to 680 million a month, over the next five years.

2011

Opening session of Wikimania 2011

Wikimania 2011, the seventh Wikimania conference, was held from 4 to 7 August 2011 in Haifa, Israel.[26] The conference venue was the Haifa Auditorium and adjoining Beit Hecht cultural center on Mount Carmel. Keynote speakers at the conference included Yochai Benkler, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University and Joseph M. Reagle Jr. of MIT, author of Good Faith Collaboration: The Culture of Wikipedia.[27] Head of the Science and Technology Committee at the Knesset, Meir Sheetrit, also spoke at the conference, as did Yonah Yahav, the Mayor of Haifa.[28] One of the sponsors of the event was Haifa University.[29] The conference featured 125 sessions in five simultaneous tracks and was attended by 720 Wikimedians[7] from 56 different countries,[28] including some that have no diplomatic relations with Israel.[30]

In an interview with Haaretz, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales noted that there had been boycott calls against the conference in Israel, as there had been against having it in Egypt in 2008. He said that despite conflicts among editors on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and efforts by a pro-Israel group to recruit more Wikipedia editors, he believes Wikipedia articles largely remained neutral on the topic; he stated "NPOV is non-negotiable."[31]

Wikimedia Foundation executive director Sue Gardner spoke to the conference about the Western, male-dominated mind-set characterizing Wikipedia.[32] At the end of the August 7 closing ceremony, Jimmy Wales was presented with the first day cover of a special stamp edition issued by the Israeli postal service in honor of Wikipedia's 10th anniversary.[33] Among new projects discussed was collaboration with cultural institutions such as galleries, libraries, archives and museums.[34] After the conference, participants were offered a free tour of Haifa, Jerusalem, Nazareth or Acre. Shay Yakir, outgoing chairman of Wikimedia Israel, said that for Israel, holding the conference in Haifa was like hosting the Olympic Games.[35]

2012

2012 group photo

Wikimania 2012, the eighth Wikimania conference, was held from 12 to 15 July 2012 at The George Washington University in Washington, DC, United States, with over 1400 attendees from 87 countries.[36] In addition, the U.S. Department of State, in conjunction with Wikimania 2012, hosted a conference labeled Tech@State:Wiki.Gov which focused on "Collaborative knowledge and the use of wikis in the public sector".[37]

Prominent conference themes were the need to update the old and "dowdy" interface[38] with new Wikimedia tools in order to attract and retain more editors and to make Wikimedia sites more inviting and friendly to users, including especially women.[39] The Atlantic featured charts displayed at the conference which showed how the number of new administrators has dropped precipitously over the last few years.[40]

During the opening plenary founder Jimmy Wales commented on Wikipedia Blackout of January 2012, stating "When I go and visit government officials now, they’re a little bit afraid." However he reiterated Wikimedia’s commitment to political neutrality except regarding "the most serious things that directly impact our work."[41][42] Wales agreed with keynote speaker Mary Gardiner, co-founder of the Ada Initiative, that Wikimedia had to do more to increase the number of women editors. She stated: "As a project of social change, even if it's not an activist project, the Wikipedia community has a responsibility both to its mission and to the people out there in the world to always be on a journey toward diversity — to increase the size of the umbrella of the world."[43][44]

2013

Wikimania 2013, the ninth Wikimania conference, was held from 7 to 11 August 2013 at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, with 700 attendees from 88 countries. Candidate cities were London (UK), Bristol (UK), Naples (Italy) and Surakarta (Indonesia).

One of the parties for the event was held at the tallest building in Hong Kong, the International Commerce Centre. A closing party was held at Shek O Beach. Topics discussed included Wikipedia's gender disparity[45] and Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales' proposal for Wikipedia to begin using Secure Socket Layer to encrypt its pages.[46]

2014

Wikimania 2014 attendees

Wikimania 2014, the tenth Wikimania conference, was held from 8 to 10 August 2014[47] at the Barbican Centre in London, England, United Kingdom. Bidding officially opened in December 2012. London was chosen in May 2013 as the host city[48] with the only other bid coming from Arusha (Tanzania). The conference was held from 8–10 August 2014 at the Barbican Centre.[49][50] The keynote address was given by Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.[51] The event was also the first Wikimania addressed by the Wikimedia Foundation's new Executive Director, Lila Tretikov.[51] The event was preceded by a two-day hackathon, and a series of fringe events.[51]

The conference had five tracks, alongside the annual 'State of the Wiki' round up. These were: Social Machines, The future of Education, Democratic Media, Open Scholarship, and Open Data. The conference was documented by the television program 60 Minutes in a program titled 'Wikimania'.[52]

2015

Wikimania 2015, the eleventh Wikimania conference, was held from 15 to 19 July 2015[53] at the Hotel Hilton Mexico City Reforma in Mexico City, Mexico. Bidding officially opened in December 2013.

Other candidate cities were: Arusha, northern Tanzania; Bali, a province in Indonesia; Cape Town, in South Africa; Dar es Salaam, in Tanzania; Esino Lario, province of Lecco, Lombardy, Italy, and Monastir, in Tunisia.[54][55] Shortlisted were Mexico City, Cape Town and Monastir.[56] Mexico City was selected in April 2014.[54][55]

The main venue was the Hilton Mexico City Reforma hotel.[57][55] The organising entity was Wikimedia México, A.C., the Mexican local chapter representing the interests and goals of the Wikimedia Foundation.[58]

2016

Wikimania 2016, the twelfth Wikimania conference, took place from 24 to 26 June 2016, with peripheral events from 21-28 June, in the mountain village of Esino Lario, Italy.[59] Esino Lario had bid unsuccessfully for the 2015 Wikimania. The venue is the first that is not a major city. During the event, it was announced that the Wikimedia Foundation's interim Executive Director, Katherine Maher, was appointed permanently.

2017

Wikimania 2017, the thirteenth Wikimania conference, is being held in Montreal, Canada, from 9 to 13 August 2017.[60]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Main Page – Wikimania 2005. wikimedia.org
  2. 1 2 "The Many Voices of Wikipedia, Heard in One Place". New York Times. August 7, 2006.
  3. 1 2 3 "In Taipei, Wikipedians Talk Wiki Fatigue, Wikiwars and Wiki Bucks". New York Times. Noam Cohen, Saul Hansell (ed). August 3, 2007.
  4. 1 2 James Gleick, Wikipedians Leave Cyberspace, Meet in Egypt, Wall Street Journal, August 8, 2008.
  5. ↑ 2009 Wikimedia.org
  6. 1 2 Wikimania 2010 site – Attendees. wikimedia.org.
  7. 1 2 Wikimania 2011 in Haifa
  8. ↑ "Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2011–12". WikimediaDC. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  9. ↑ "Wikimania 2012". groundreport. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  10. ↑ "[Wikimania-l] 2013 attendance figures?". wikimedia.org. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  11. ↑ "[Wikimania-l] Wikimania 2014". wikimedia.org. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Il bilancio di Wikimania a Esino: Oltre 1200 presenze, di 70 nazioni". La Provincia di Lecco (in Italian). 27 June 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  13. ↑ DocCheck Medical Services GmbH. "Europe's biggest community for healthcare professionals – DocCheck". DocCheck.
  14. ↑ "The neutrality of this article is disputed". Reason Magazine. August 15, 2006.
  15. ↑ Jimmy Wales' plenary speech at Wikimania 2006 (MP3). supload.com.
  16. ↑ Wikimania 2006: Sponsors. wikimedia.org.
  17. 1 2 Wikimania 2007. wikimedia.org.
  18. ↑ "Volunteer Training 2006". wikimedia.org.
  19. ↑ "Talk:Wikimania 2007 Bid List". Wikimedia.org.
  20. 1 2 Noam Cohen, Wikipedia Goes to Alexandria, Home of Other Great Reference Works, New York Times, July 17, 2008.
  21. ↑ "Is there a boycott of Wikimania 2008?". Los Angeles Times. July 2008.
  22. ↑ "In Egypt, Wikipedia is more than hobby". International Herald Tribune. July 21, 2008.
  23. ↑ Spreading the wiki footprint, BBC, July 23, 2008.
  24. ↑ "Wikimania". wikimedia.org.
  25. ↑ Wikimania 2010 main page. wikimedia.org.
  26. ↑ Wikimania 2011 main page. Wikimania2011.wikimedia.org. Retrieved on April 20, 2012.
  27. ↑ Avigayil Kadesh (July 14, 2011). "Israel hosts Wikimania 2011". mfa.gov.il. Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
  28. 1 2 Levin, Verony (August 5, 2011). "Wikimania Conference at Its Peak; Founder Jimmy Wales to Speak Tomorrow". TheMarker (in Hebrew). Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  29. ↑ Editor (Aug 7, 2011). "Wikimania 2011-Haifa". University of Haifa. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
  30. ↑ Wikimania hits Israel as conference opens. The Jewish Chronicle (2011-08-05). Retrieved on April 20, 2012.
  31. ↑ Aliyana Traison, Wikipedia founder: Israel-Palestine is heavily debated, but we're vigilant on neutrality, Haaretz, August 5, 2011.
  32. ↑ "When Knowledge Isn’t Written, Does It Still Count?". The New York Times. August 8, 2011. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  33. ↑ Israel Philatelic Federation
  34. ↑ Yaron, Oded. (2008-04-02) Wikipedia leaders outline their vision as conference opens in Haifa. Haaretz.com. Retrieved on April 20, 2012.
  35. ↑ El-Chai, Lior (2011-05-08). "Haifa hosts Wikimania conference". Ynetnews. Retrieved 2017-02-17.
  36. ↑ Nicholas Bashour, Wikimania 2012 swan song, Wikimedia Foundation website, July 17, 2012.
  37. ↑ U.S. Department of State Hosts Tech@State:Wiki.Gov Conference, press release issued by U.S. Department of State on July 9, 2012.
  38. ↑ Wikipedia hits defining moment in social Web era Agence France-Presse, July 14, 2012
  39. ↑ Hayley Tsukayama,Wikimania hits D.C. as Wikipedia faces changes, Washington Post, July 14, 2012.
  40. ↑ Robinson Meyer, 3 Charts That Show How Wikipedia Is Running Out of Admins, The Atlantic, July 16, 2012.
  41. ↑ Jennifer Martinez, Wikipedia co-founder: Officials 'afraid' when our site goes dark, The Hill, July 12, 2012.
  42. ↑ Jason Koebler, Wikipedia Open to Future Blackout Protests of SOPA-Like Bills, U.S. News and World Report, July 12, 2012 .
  43. ↑ Amar Toor, Jimmy Wales, Mary Gardiner address Wikipedia's gender gap at Wikimania conference, The Verge, July 15, 2012.
  44. ↑ Wikimania 2012 tackles diversity issues, Wikinews, July 14, 2012.
  45. ↑ Zara, Christopher (19 August 2013). "Wikipedia’s Gender Gap Persists: Why Don’t More Women Contribute To The Online Encyclopedia?". International Business Times. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  46. ↑ Chan, Wilfred (9 August 2013). "Wikipedia founder calls for new model of journalism in 'era of Snowden'". CNN. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  47. ↑ "Wikimania 2014 London".
  48. ↑ "Announcement on ''Wikimania-l'' mailing list". Lists.wikimedia.org. Retrieved 2014-08-08.
  49. ↑ "Wikimania 2014 London".
  50. ↑ Kiss, Jemima (23 July 2013). "Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales explains its mission to be mainstream". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
  51. 1 2 3 "Programme – Wikimania 2014 in London". Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  52. ↑ "Wikimania". cbsnews.com.
  53. ↑ "Wikimania 2015 in Mexico". Wikimedia Mexico. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  54. 1 2 "Wikinoticias note about the election of Mexico City as the venue for Wikimania 2015" (in Spanish).
  55. 1 2 3 "Wikimania 2015 bids/Mexico City". wikimedia.org. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  56. ↑ Young, Ellie. "[Wikimedia-l] Announcement regarding Host for Wikimania 2015". Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  57. ↑ Wikinoticias note about the election of Mexico City as the venue for Wikimania 2015 (in Spanish)
  58. ↑ Related links:
  59. ↑ Wikimania 2016 bids/Esino Lario, retrieved 2015-05-17
  60. ↑ Forrester, James (2015-12-22). "[Wikimania-l] Wikimania 2017 to be held in Montréal in Canada". lists.wikimedia.org. Retrieved 2017-02-17.

News reports

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