Grants:TPS/Góngora/Wikimania/2017/Report

Welcome back from Wikimania 2017!

Participant[edit]

Góngora (Ombudsman Commission)

Spanish Wikipedia (es.wiki), Catalan Wikipedia (ca.wiki), and Norwegian Bokmål Wikipedia (no.wiki)

Outcome[edit]

Option 1: Shared Experience: What is one way you shared something from your experience with your community (either locally or globally), after the event?

Wikimania 2017 in Montreal was my seventh Wikimania. Many things have changed since my first Wikimania back in 2009. Aside from meeting long-time friends and acquaintances, I attended several meetings. I am particularly interested in crosswiki translation, so I am glad I had the chance to speak to the content translation tool software developers. I shared my thoughts with Pau Giner and Amir Arahoni. I also attended the Wikimedian in Residence talk, and I learned a lot about what Wikimedia UK has done so far in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh. I found the whole experience fascinating. As a linguist and Wikipedia translator, I believe that most chapters should follow the Wikimedia UK example and try to take the Wikimedian in Residence program out of the libraries. Much could be achieved if different universities opened their spaces and signed agreements with local chapters. Both professors and students would benefit from this exchange. Wikimedia España and Wikimedia Deutschland have also launched similar projects with universities (.e.g. Universitat Jaume I in Valencia) and museums (e.g. in Heidelberg).

I attended an open talk on Wikimedia Research grants and what has been done in North America.

Last but not least, I joined a group discussion on minority languages. Many speakers from languages such as Creole, Basque, Catalan, Eastern European languages and Estonian shared their experience. We did some brainstorming and came up with possible plans for future implementation. We came to the conclusion that there is still room for improvement and that as speakers and users of minority languages, we should coordinate tasks and join efforts. A common space on Metawiki was suggested. We regretted the fact that no African Wikipedians were there. Their voice is necessary. Hopefully this will change next year as the event will be held in South Africa. Our philosophy is compatible with what Wikimedia projects stand for: Union in diversity. This diversity was felt in a series of editathons that were promoted during the event. I went to the National Archive of Quebec and participated in the First Nations edit-o-thon. I co-wrote the article on the Atikamekw people on ca.wiki. At the end of the editathon we were shown the library/archive premises and we had a fantastic guided tour.

For more information about my participation at Wikimania 2017, read my tweets. I used the hashtags #wikimania and #wikimania2017.

Connections[edit]

I took the wiki train in New York City (see Wikimania Takes Manhattan II). I met a group of Wikipedians from all around the globe, but especially from the U.S. During Wikimania, I also had a few words with people from Russia, Norway, Spain, Latin America, and Asia. It was interesting to know how freedom of speech, which is taken for granted by most people, is at risk - and threatened - in some parts of the world, especially in Western Asia. For instance, the news on Bassel Khartabil's execution were heartbreaking. Finally, I met with people from Wikimedia UK and we talked about Wikipedia in education.

Anything else[edit]

.