ESEAP Conference 2024/Report/Tbm

Things learned at the conference

This was my first ESEAP Conference and I learned many things.

First, I have a much better understanding how the Wikimedia communities are organized in the ESEAP region. I learned more about the Movement Charter and the ESEAP's Hub. I also particularly enjoyed the session on the Board of Trustees as I served on some boards myself.

Second, I made many good contacts and had interesting and stimulating conversations, including (but not limited to):

• Rafli (Raflinoer32) and other community members from Indonesia. We met at the airport and Rafli was extremely welcoming. Also, in the bus I heard the word "balik", which reminded me of a Cebuano word. I looked it up and it has the same meaning in several languages. I read more about Indonesian and Malay (which again made me regret not learning Cebuano, the language spoken in Cebu, where I'm currently based).
• Johnny Alegre (Buszmail): I learned a lot about activities in the Philippines and we discussed Freedom of Panorama, which I'm very interested in (as some photos I uploaded to Wikimedia Commons were deleted because of this issue).
• Butch Bustria from Wikimedia Philippines (whom I briefly me at Wikimania in Singapore)
• Alan Ang from Wikimedia Deutschland. We discussed Wikidata, which I'm a great fan of, and how it would be useful for Wiktionary. He gave me some interesting pointers, such as the Austrian Transition to Open Access (AT2OA) project, which is useful as I'm hoping to get some useful resources from Austria contributed to Wiktionary.
• Taufik Rosman, who is probably the best known Wiktionary contributor in the ESEAP region. We discussed Wiktionary and he answered some questions I had about Malay on Wiktionary.

Third, this was my first time in Malaysia and I enjoyed learning about the country and its diverse culture. The visit of the Mari Mari Cultural Village was very interesting.

Unfortunately, I hurt my leg in a motorbike accident just a few days before the conference and had to skip a few sessions due to exhaustion/pain. However, I'm glad I was able to attend the conference and didn't have to cancel my trip, even though it was slightly challenging to attend.

Things the participant contributed or participated in since the conference

I mostly attended the conference to learn but I actively participated in some activities related to Wiktionary. Also, I discussed some Wiktionary issues with Indonesian and Malay, in particular with Taufik Rosman.

Prompted by this conference, I ran my QA checks for Wiktionary on Indonesian and Malay and fixed a few hundred issues. I also fixed some issues that new contributors from the ESEAP Conference made.

Plans after the conference (from what was learned or contributed in the conference)

I promised Taufik Rosman to generate a list of wrong hyphenation patterns with Malay on the English Wiktionary.

I want to follow-up on some leads given to me by Alan Ang related to Wikidata.

I intend to look more into Freedom of Panorama, the lack of which is a real problem in the Philippines.

Comments / suggestions about the conference

The organization was outstanding. My only complaint is the lack of information about the trip to Mari Mari Cultural Village (it was far away, dinner was served too late, and it involved a lot of walking, which was challenge for me due to hurting my leg a few days before the conference).

The venue was good and food, too (in fact, I think they served too much food, especially during the breaks).

The flight booking process was a real challenge. I provided detailed feedback to the Wikimedia Travel Manager but never heard back. Also, I find it disappointing that we were not able to extend our stay longer so we could have learned more about the country.