Wikimedia ESEAP Conference 2024 Report

by Ralff Nestor S. Nacor (User:Ralffralff)

Background

This is my first time participating in an ESEAP Conference and also being a recipient of a full scholarship from the Wikimedia Foundation. I am grateful for all the privileges provided like the transportation, hotel accommodation, and meals. I want to thank the Wikimedia Foundation for having me as one of the scholar-participants for the ESEAP Conference 2024 in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia (May 10-12, 2024)

As a scholar-participant, I represented the Pilipinas Panorama Community (PPC) which I co-founded last 2022. Our organization is a young community based in Metro Manila, Philippines with thematic activities. Aside from my personal development as a Wikimedian, I also intend to utilize all my learnings and experience in the conference for the benefit of the PPC and the Philippine Wikimedia Network as a whole.

Learnings from the conference

Language Preservation Initiatives

Wikimedia projects indeed really become a useful tool for language preservation purposes. That is why, any discussions regarding language preservation in conferences really interests me. For a background, I became an active Wikipedia contributor starting 2020 mainly because of this advocacy. My journey in Wikimedia started being a contributor of Bikol Wikipedia with the objective of contributing to the preservation, promotion, and intellectualization of the Bicolano language.

The very first discussion in which I attended in the conference was the "Can Oral Hokkien Language be Written? How Can Wikidata help?". Actually, the main reason why I chose to attend it was because of my curiosity with the Wikidata project. However, the speaker provided a background of the state of the Hokkien language in Taiwan which seems to be threatened by the Mandarin Chinese. This got my interest as this is quite similar with the Bicolano language (and other languages in the Philippines) which I believe are underpromoted due to the promotion of national language based in the Tagalog language. I also attended "Wikimedia's role in collaborating with IPGM Campus Kent to promote and preserve the Kadazandusun Language" which now focuses in the Kadazandusun language of Sabah, Malaysia. The Kent Wiki Club presented their language preservation initiatives through Wikimedia.

From Taiwan to Malaysia, which are both neighbors of the Philippines, it made me realize that there might be a lot of similar linguistic situations around the world. With the rapid globalization, I am glad that cultural volunteers are now utilizing the power of technology through Wikimedia for their language preservation advocacy.

Experiencing the Rich Cultural Heritage of Sabah

See also Kota Kinabalu Photowalk by Ralffralff

As what I am doing when I am in a new place, I always try to experience their culture in my most capacity. My visit to Kota Kinabalu will never be complete without this one. At one night of the conference, I went to the Kota Kinabalu (KK) Night Market to try their local street foods. I saw a lot of seafoods, chickens, beefs, etc. Even though I already had a dinner from the hotel, I still bought nasi goreng ayam (fried rice with chicken) and grilled chicken in the night market to experience even a bit of Sabahan cuisine.

Since I am a Filipino, the locals always mistaken me as a Sabahan and it happened from the hotel lobby up to the streets outside. When I try speaking with a local, they always ask and answer me with the local language. However, when I told them to speak in English instead, most of the locals can guess that I am a Filipino. From this, I learned that the Filipino accent of English is recognizable in Sabah, Malaysia. And it is not a surprise, since the two countries are neighbors and somehow has a shared culture in many aspects. Aside from my experiences in the streets of Kota Kinabalu, I also participated at the Cultural Village Trip in the Mari Mari Cultural Village. Here, I experienced and learned a lot about the indigenous culture of Sabah which seems similar with the Southern Philippines. A more detailed story about this trip is in the Cultural Village Trip section below.

Below is a gallery featuring some of my photographs within the city of Kota Kinabalu.

Kota Kinabalu Court Complex
Sacred Heart Cathedral
Kota Kinabalu (KK) Night Market
Nasi Goreng Ayam & Grilled Chicken from KK Night Market
Grilled Chickens at KK Night Market
Merdeka Square Grandstand
Jalan Gaya Welcome Arch
Asia City Mall
Australian Armed Forces Memorial Monument
Kota Kinabalu City Hall

Contributions & Participations

Free the Freedom of Panorama in ESEAP

Freedom of Panorama (FoP) is the flagship advocacy of the Pilipinas Panorama Community (PPC) which is my current affiliated organization. I attended this discussion to support Sir Johnny Alegre, PPC's founding head, as he is one of the speakers for this event. FoP is still a legislative work in progress in the Philippine context and this is also true for other countries within the Wikimedia region of ESEAP.

I hope that this discussion brought awareness to every attendee of the conference as FoP is still little-known yet a very important legal right especially to the Wikimedia community. Overall, the ESEAP Conference 2024 is a great venue for FoP promotion among advocates and we are hoping that there will be an increase in the appreciation of FoP as years goes by.

Let's Connect Campaign

About a month before the conference, fellow Filipino Wikipedian Anthony Diaz reached out to the Pilipinas Panorama Community for the Let's Connect Campaign. Upon learning that he will present this at the ESEAP Conference 2024, I with a group of Filipino Wikipedians attended his presentation to know more about the campaign.

The Let's Connect Campaign is a peer-to-peer program which aims to hone the skills, share knowledge and promote connections & support between different communities which is aligned with the Movement Strategy. I got interested with topics like writing grant proposals, utilization of wiki tools, managing organizations, building user groups, and other skills development. I believe that I still lack in these aspects as a Wikimedian, and the Let's Connect Campaign may help me improve on these things. I already signified my intention to participate in the campaign and I am hoping that this will connect different Wikimedia communities in the Philippines.

Cultural Village Trip

The first day of the conference concluded with a cultural village trip in Mari Mari Cultural Village in Sabah, Malaysia. Tour guides told us that the word "mari" in their language means "come" in the English language, and this is the same case with the Legazpi dialect of the Central Bicolano language in my home region in the Philippines. Personally, this is the most fun part of the whole conference. By this trip alone, I experienced the other side of the urban life of Kota Kinabalu. I learned about the indigenous culture of Sabah which is very similar with what I know about the Southern Philippines. From the Bajau tribe, musical instruments, folk dances, head-hunting practices, and many more; these are all familiar concepts being taught in social studies classes in the Philippines. Below is a gallery featuring some of my photographs in this cultural village trip.

Cultural Performance at Mari Mari Cultural Village
Rice Wine Making in Sabah, Malaysia
Pandan Juice from Sabah, Malaysia
Welcome Banner to Mari-Mari Cultural Village

Plans after the conference

Wikidata for Cultural Heritage Preservation

Ever since I attended the Wikimania 2023 in Singapore, I realized that there is a trend on the full utilization of the Wikidata project. With this take away from the aforementioned conference, I planned to incorporate the concepts of Wikidata on my initiatives in Wikimedia. I chose the Philippine Panorama Project to benefit for this learnings.

My curiousity for Wikidata is the main reason why the very first discussion I attended in this conference was the "Can Oral Hokkien Language be Written? How Can Wikidata help?". My objective is to learn more about Wikidata and eventually applying it to any of my initiatives. Aside from the technical side of Wikidata, I also learned about the state of the Hokkien language in Taiwan which seems a similar situation with a lot of languages around the world. For my plans as a Wikidata contributor, I intend to update photos in Wikidata as what I am focusing in Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. I am also planning to create and/or edit new Wikidata items related to cultural heritage in the Philippines.

The Philippine Wikimedia Network

The conference is also an opportunity to meet fellow Filipino Wikimedians. It is great to speak and share stories with other affiliated and individual contributors from my home country. This is great chance to connect and plan collaborations for the benefit of the whole Philippine community.

After the conference, in behalf of the Pilipinas Panorama Community, I already signified our organization's intention to support and collaborate with the Philippines' Wikimedia affiliate user group, Wiki Advocates Philippines. As an individual editor, I am also interested in participating to their language preservation projects especially in Bikol Wikipedia, Bikol Wiktionary, and Wikimedia Incubator.

I am very optimistic for the future of the whole Philippine Wikimedia Network. Notable communities and individual contributors from the Philippines recently agreed to support the hosting of Manila for the ESEAP Summit 2025. I am hoping that this will be the beginning of a stronger and unified Philippine Wikimedia Network.

Comments & Suggestions

Overall, the conference is a big success. Aside from the learnings, it is great to meet and connect with Wikimedians outside of my home country. As a scholar-participant, I want to thank the Wikimedia Community User Group Malaysia for their warm hospitality in our five (5) days in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. I also want to congratulate them for the successful hosting of ESEAP Conference 2024.

Terima kasih!