Education/News/July 2023/Renewed Community Wikiconference brought together experienced Wikipedians and newcomers/ja
コミュニティ・ウィキカンファレンスを改訂、ベテランも初学者もウィキペディアンが集合
伝統を刷新
The Wikiconference was last held before the outbreak of the Covid pandemic in 2019 in Pardubice. During past 12 years Wikiconference became a solid part of the community life of Czech WIkipedians until the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Discussions about the renewal of this tradition were held throughout the pandemic and resulted in the intention to hold the conference again in 2023. The aim was to return its organization and program to the community, so the name Community Wikiconference won out among the proposed names. The format of the so-called unconference was also chosen after the agreement of the preparatory team, i.e. an event consisting exclusively of suggestions and proposals from participants (either in advance or on the spot).
Wikiconference programme: wikidata, AI and transgender
The aim of the conference was to bring together the community, individual Wikipedians and to address topics of interest to them. The program was put together under the supervision of a program committee consisting of employees and members of the community. In total, there were 14 submissions from Wikipedians with different interests and focuses – from introducing specific Wikipedia tools, to the relationship between Wikipedia and AI, to social topics (transgender on Wikipedia, media education).
The program featured both staff members (Lucie Schubert, Pavel Bednařík) and Wikipedians ranging from experienced (Blahma, LiMr) to newcomers (v0lkanic on Discord). Newcomers, i.e. young Wikipedians, were also given a separate agenda item and discussion. As the present discussants agreed, dedicating attention to young Wikipedia editors (wikidat, photographers) is essential, as there is a generational change.
The program also included two programs focused on robots on Wikipedia – in the opening lecture he introduced the participants to the functionality and use of robots on Wikipedia, and in the follow-up workshop he showed how to start editing Wikipedia using your own robot without any programming knowledge (using the AutoWikiBrowser editor).
Various sub-communities and groups had space for presentation and discussion. Traditionally, the Wikidatist community was strongly represented. Bit surprising and unexpected group represented in the program was the community of transgender people. This group was represented by Iva Kleban with her lecture Transgender on Wikipedia. She subtly reminded why Wikimedia is organizing the Human Rights Month on (Czech) Wikipedia for the second year in June.
コミュニティから多様な人が 参加するということ
The one-day format also allowed representatives from other regions to visit. The Wikiconference was not broadcast on online platforms, but the presentations in the main Didaktikon hall were recorded and will be available on the conference website.
From the distribution of the participants into the different halls, it was evident that there were two equally sized groups. One group of more experienced Wikipedians is interested in meeting their friends and community members, finding out what's new in the development of various tools and gadgets.
The other group, consisting mainly of newcomers, was interested in overlapping topics, i.e. topics that develop their basic understanding of what they can do on Wikipedia, what practical tools to use, what projects to get involved in. The two groups naturally overlap, and the two-room program allowed for a continuous intermingling of the two groups. This was rounded off with free discussion, introductions and networking during breaks in the programme, an important part of the event.
この次には何があるの？
ウィキカンファレンスは魅力的な形式だと判明したものの、おそらく参加者数は「新型コロナウイルス感染症以前」の数値には達しなかったと思われます。継続的かつ一貫した作業とコミュニティの一貫した関与により、ウィキカンファレンスが目指すものは下記の使命達成です。グローバルおよび国内のウィキペディアンの運動に何が起こっているかニュースを広めていくと、将来には気づきがもたらされるはずです。