ESEAP Strategy Summit 2025/Report/Elliott Bledsoe
Report by Elliott Bledsoe
Profile
[edit]I’m Elliott Bledsoe, President of Wikimedia Australia, and a long-term advocate of Creative Commons. It was great to attend the ESEAP Strategy Summit and to be joined by such a significant Australian cohort. The Summit was a valuable opportunity to engage with communities across our ESEAP region and contribute to the strategic direction of the ESEAP Hub. This was especially important for me as it was the first time I had attended a Wikimedia event outside of Wikimedia Australia’s events.
Things learned at the strategy summit
[edit]Participating in the Summit provided me with important insights:
- Stronger connections with the region: I gained a deeper familiarity with key people and entities across ESEAP. Meeting in-person allowed for more meaningful engagement, building trust and understanding that will support future collaboration.
- Understanding diverse priorities: It was particularly valuable to hear directly from regional affiliates and user groups about their local realities. These included challenges around access, capacity, digital safety, and representation – many of which are shaped by national policy environments, funding constraints and cultural and linguistic diversity.
- Identifying common ground: Through these conversations, I was able to better map both the commonalities and the differences between other ESEAP communities’ priorities and those of Wikimedia Australia. This helped highlight areas of synergy where we can share resources, knowledge and advocacy efforts – for example, in GLAM partnerships, support for marginalised communities, and particularly in coordinated responses to public policy issues like Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property (ICIP) and online safety.
Overall, the summit reinforced to me that while ESEAP is a diverse region, there is immense potential in working together to support each other’s growth, build shared tools and advocate with a collective voice. And there is strong good will to collectively pursue shared goals.
Things the participant contributed or participated in or since the strategy summit
[edit]I had the pleasure of participating in a session on regulatory trends for advocacy in the ESEAP region, facilitated by Rachel Irini Judhistari and speaking alongside other key presenters from the region. I provided an overview of recent government policy and regulation in Australia. In particular, I discussed significant policy areas relevant to Wikimedia Australia and the Wikimedia movement. I focused specifically on the social media minimum age, including the potential that Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia platforms could fall within the scope of the definition of an age-restricted social media platform. I also mentioned other highly active policy and regulatory areas in Australia, including:
- digital duty of care
- other online safety matters
- Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) and Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDSov) and the stand-alone legislation to protect ICIP
- copyright, including areas of reform identified by the Attorney-General’s Department and the Ministerial Roundtable on Copyright
- artificial intelligence (AI), including the proposed mandatory guardrails for AI in high-risk settings
- Towards a Recommendation of Open Cultural Heritage (TAROCH)
My Slide deck for this session is [on Wikimedia Commons], and has been added to the ESEAP Hub Public Policy meta-wiki page.
Plans after the strategy summit (from what was learned or contributed in the strategy summit)
[edit]Following the Summit, Wikimedia Australia plans to continue our involvement in ESEAP regional initiatives. We will remain involved in the trial of the pilot governance system and setting up the Hub as an organisation, this includes contributing to the development of the ESEAP Hub Annual Plan, and Belinda (WMAU EO) will support the onboarding of the new ESEAP Project Manager. We will also support the finalisation of the Skills Mapping, and participate in the newly formed ESEAP Public Policy group.
We will explore ways to pilot or adapt some of the shared tools discussed at the Summit – such as contributing to the “Newbie Affiliate Handbook” to assist emerging communities, and adapt the Partnership Playbook for our own programs. There is discussion around adapting these specifically to our region, while sharing back lessons learned. Additionally, we will look to deepen bilateral collaborations with aligned affiliates on GLAM and advocacy projects, and encourage Australian community members to connect with ESEAP-wide efforts leading up to ESEAPCon 2026 in Kaohsiung.
Comments/ suggestions about the strategy summit
[edit]Attendance in-person was particularly important for strategic planning, networking and fostering stronger regional collaboration within the Wikimedia movement. Wikimedia Australia was pleased to participate and support discussions on advocacy, governance, training, and collaboration. The Summit strengthened connections across the region and reinforced the value of working together to address shared challenges and opportunities.