ESEAP Strategy Summit 2025/Report/Ultron90
Hello. I'm Farouk (Ultron90), a representative of Wikimedia CUG Malaysia and Project Coordinator for the user group.
What I learned at the Strategy Summit
[edit]The Strategy Summit gave me valuable insight on the various possible ways of community engagement through discussions, brainstorming, and casual conversations.
I learned that different communities have different ways of engagement, and therefore require different kinds of support that might not be the same as the communities in Malaysia.
Some communities require adaptation to the situation in their respective countries in order to carry out their objectives related to the Wikimedia movement.
Collaboration, especially in the ESEAP region, is crucial in maintaining a healthy collective environment for the diverse communities available, as exchanging ideas and mutual appreciation can bring greater experiences for all parties involved.
The sustainability and inclusivity of various communities must be done through clear communication and shared goals.
Youth involvement in key decisions within Wikimedia communities is also important in allowing for better future-proof planning of community needs.
Storytelling can be a great asset in improving advocacy and outreach efforts by touching the hearts of various communities in order to give them a sense of belonging with the Wikimedia movement.
Participation in the Strategy Summit
[edit]I was involved in two sessions as a panelist.
22 May 2025 - Day 0
This was not my first time traveling to Manila, as I have arrived there previously as part of my transit to Zamboanga early in the year for a different Wikimedia activity. At the same time, as Project Coordinator of Wikimedia CUG Malaysia, it was my responsibility to take care of other members of the community traveling to the Summit. As such, when two members of Kent Wiki Club arrived in KLIA as transit before heading to Manila, I helped guide them to their appropriate gates since it was their first time flying there and I met with them for a quick lunch before my flight to Manila. At the hotel, we actually organized an impromptu cup noodle party to get to know some of the other participants of the Summit. It was a good icebreaking session with the various communities involved and we considered the party a success.
23 May 2025 - Day 1
1: HUB, action! Designing Governance and Strategy Together
[edit]The session mostly involved brainstorming ideas together related to solve certain needs of communities or issues presented. The session provided an opportunity to see what issues each community member emphasizes on solving. The outcome of the brainstorming could potentially shape the way the ESEAP region is organized and governed to support each community. There was also a session where the participants had to do roleplay to act as future ESEAP Hub managers/committee/liaisons/community members to better understand the potential governing system that can take place soon. It was a little confusing but I hope to learn more about it in the future.
2: Landscaping Global and ESEAP Regulatory Trends for Advocacy
[edit]This was one of the sessions that I was involved as a panelist. I presented on the current trends in Malaysia and the various regulatory policies that may or may not affect the Wikimedia movement in the country. Overall, I learned about the trends and policies of other countries that have caused the local Wikimedia communities there to adapt and restrategize their activities for better advocacy.
24 May 2025 - Day 2
1. Connecting and Collaborating between Affiliates and Countries
[edit]This was the second session that I was involved in as a panelist. I mainly explained several experiences that the Malaysian User Group had faced while engaging with communities within the country as well as outside of the country. This involved successes, challenges, and even failures.
2. Open Mic for Cross-border Collaboration
[edit]This session was for promoting and discuss any cross-affiliate collaboration plan in the future. Various communities showed exciting ideas on how to engage with more people and gain more community members. A suggestion to start the ESEAP Youth group was an interesting and promising idea that could help the region become more cohesive while maintaining diversity through the ideas brought out by youth communities.
3. Strategic Tactics for Building External Patnerships
[edit]This session focus on how communities can use certain key points to secure more partnerships reliably. It involved 5 tactics, such as identifying partnership goals and drafting a minimum viable partnership; assessing potential partners; approaching, convincing, and outreaching; partnership documentation & agreements; and managing/sustaining partnerships and evaluating impact.
4. Global Trends Workshop
[edit]This workshop basically involved discussing on AI affecting the Wikimedia movement and content creation as a whole. Various ideas were put out to possibly improve the MediaWiki infrastructure to be more robust to advances in technology.
5. Field building - from conceptualisation to actualisation
[edit]This session mostly focused on explaining what a potential standard operating procedure could be produced through testing common approaches from various test groups of difference communities to determine which works best for certain regions and cultures. This could lead to better capacity building and retention.
Sidequest
[edit]As several of the Malaysian members were Catholic, they planned to attend mass on Saturday evening to avoid skipping sessions on Sunday. I had the opportunity to join them and attend the sunset mass at the Church of St. Augustine's. Surprisingly, we were given a shock as the church was celebrating Flores de Mayo, which, as I was told, was a celebration that only happens once a year. We were lucky to witness such a beautiful gathering of women in dresses to symbolize Reyna Elena. The church itself was gorgeous and full of religious memorabilia.
25 May 2025 - Day 3
1. Collective advocacy actions in ESEAP
[edit]This session focused on discussions by community members about how to move forward in advocacy towards the free knowledge efforts. It involved community members having to give the current status of their respective communities and give suggestions on what they think should be done to improve the situation in the community through the Wikimedia movement.
2. Global Resource Distribution Committee Update
[edit]This session was mostly targeted to discuss what kinds of support can be given to communities through the GRDC so that the resources could be shared more efficiently.
3. Move into Future Conference(s)
[edit]The announcement and theme selection for the ESEAP Conference in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, came last. The ending ceremony and Quokka's transfer to the next organizer followed.
Post-Summit Activity
[edit]After the Summit ended, we went to the National Museum tour. The National Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of Anthropology are the two museums in Manila that we visited. We managed to learn about the rich culture and diversity of the Philippines. As my flight was determined to be on the same evening, I had to cut my tour short and rush to the airport instead of joining for dinner (unfortunately due to my own mishap with choosing the flight dates).
Future plans
[edit]As the Project Coordinator of Wikimedia CUG Malaysia, I plan to help steer the organization into having more collaborations not just within the country but also with other organizations outside of the country. Our previous collaborations in Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, and the Philippines have driven me to engage more with communities outside of my country in hopes that the communities are able to benefit from the success stories in Malaysia as well as Wikimedia CUG Malaysia itself learning new ways to conduct activities from communities outside of the country. We are looking forward to having collaborations with other ESEAP countries such as Cambodia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Australia,Taiwan, and many more.