Benutzer:F3RaN/Wikimania2019
In this page you will find my comments, feedback and considerations about the Wikimania in Stockholm. It is not a report or a summarize of what I did and what happened. For this purpose I wrotte an article for Amical some weeks ago, but unfortunatelly it is in catalan:
I could have written this page in german, which is a language that I love. I have not done it because the communication language in the Wikimania was not german but english. In fact, I can not even remember than in the 3 days of the Wikimania I spoke german, but catalan, spanish, english or even french instead. In coherence with this I have decided to writte my comments in english. Thanks for your understanding.
- Short Feedback
- A. Positive
This was the Wikimania with the most defined and clear aim ever: the Sustainable Development Goals and our Strategy debate in order to achive them. This was also the most participative Wikimania, with much more debate and dialogue than ever. This all made this Wikimania very special and different from the others. It was definitely a very positive developement of this annual event.
It was not my first Wikimania, it was not as much attended as in London and it did not take place in such a wonderful location like Esino Lario. However, for the previous mentioned reasons, probably this was the best Wikipedia ever. It was a very important step on how Wikimania should develope in the future: more focus oriented, more participative and with more time for meetups.
- B. Negative
I wish the attendance to the Wikimanias would consist mainly on volunteer editors. Unfortunatelly, this was not the feeling I had. A too high portion of the attendees were people working for the Foundation and professionals of the free knowledge. Worst example was Wikimedia DE, which sent more staff than volunteers to the event.
Of course I am aware that a lot of the Foundation and Wikimedia DE staff was participating actively in the organisation of the event. It is also very positive that all this staff attends the Wikimania, as this shows their interest and commitment with the movement. However, if most of the attendees are not volunteers but staff and professionals then the Wikimanias are not plural, divers and representative enough of our community. We should avoid this and make sure much more volunteers attend the event. There should be much more scholarships and help to motivate and encourage the community to attend the Wikimanias.
Reading the reports form the other colleagues, I remember somebody spoke of apparatchiks. I found it very funny. Exactly this is what I mean and what I was thinking about. Apparently, I am not the only one who thinks the Wikimanias should be more divers, plural and open.
- What bring I back from Wikimania for me and my work in Wikipedia?
The Wikimanias are the only place where you can meet, know and have personal contact with other wikimedians from all over the world. The programme of the Wikimanias may change, evolve and become as good as possible. However, the biggest value of a Wikimania for me personally will remain always this direct exchange of ideas, experiences and knowledge with other Wikimedians. This is what I always bring back most from a Wikimania. Concerning the programme, I was mainly participating in the Strategy sessions, and it was very interesting, enriching and positive. However, the best moments will remain still these spontaneous and not expected meetups with other members of the community.
- What have I learned in the chosen topic area (international exchange or movement strategy)?
As said, I participated mainly in the Strategy: diversity, roles & responsibilities, advocacy, revenue streams, partnerships and resource allocation. My main goal was to listen very carefully and respectfully the opinion and comments of the other colleagues. I found very interesting and exciting to find out, which was the general opinion in other communities/countries/regions about the strategy. Unfortunately, we must admit that often there is a big ignorance about what other communities -which we do not belong to- think about the Strategy. There is an obvious lack of communication between the communities, projects, charters, etc. The attendance in the Wikimania contributed definitely to overcome this boundary and therefore I found it very useful and my feedback can only be very positive.
After the Wikimania I made a summary and informed about it to the community of Amical Wikimedia. In addition, previously to the Wikimania, some members of Amical had put some questions or expressed some doubts about the strategy. In the space reserved to debate about the Strategy, I tried to transmit this questions and doubts as well.
Finally, Amical had a meeting in order to give feedback about the recommendations on the strategy and write a report about it. From my point of view, my attendance to the Wikimania helped mainly so that the feedback from Amical about the recommendations could be more complete and open minded.
Please, understand that these exchanges of information where only with Amical because I am mainly editor of the catalan Wikipedia and I belong mainly to the catalan community. The feedback and report was written in catalan. Do not think I would not like to share it in German or English, but in this case I should translate it all, which would take me a lot of time.
Summarizing, what I have learned is mainly a lot of point of views, opinions, problems, doubts and debates –all this around the strategy- which were unknown or just ignored to the community I belong to.
- What have I contributed to the conference? What worked out well and what not?
I gave the feedback about the strategy from my colleagues who could not attend the Wikimania, this was my main goal and contribution. I also participated very actively in the strategy debates.
Finally, I made also many pictures, which I will upload to Commons. In fact, have already begun, but for the moment just with very few of them (see them on the right side of this page).
- Which contacts to international Wikimedians have I made or foster, on which topics? How do they affect my activities in Wikipedia or its sister projects, and how do I intend to carry on dialogue?
In one of these so special moments in the Wikimanias I was speaking about before, I was unexpectedly invited to a spontaneous meetup for indigenous and minority languages. This meetup was attended mostly by Wikimedians from the Southeast Asia, Spain and East-Europe -among them Farhad Fatkullin, who the following day was declared wikimedian of the year 2018. From this meetup, a Telegram channel was born so we all stay in contact, exchange information and share projects. We will see in the next months which is the evolution and growth of this group, and if it comes to something bigger, more structured and useful.
- How have I shared my Wikimania experiences with my local community? Which activities are still planned for sharing?
The best example is probably the public article, which I wrote for the blog of Amical Wikimedia. Unfortunatelly it is written in catalan but I am mainly speaking about the Sustainable Development Goals, the Strategy and finally -very related to diversity and equality- the next Wikimedia in Bangkok. Here is the link to the article:
My photos uploaded in Commons are another example of sharing. And there is also the report on the strategy, which I wrote and shared with the catalan speaking community.