Grants:TPS/nwhysel/IASummit2016/Report

Event name

Information Architecture Summit 2016 IA Summit Game Night Hosted by the ASIS&T, Atlanta, GA

and

Architecting the Information of Georgia HB757 an Information Architecture Institute workshop held at the Center for Civil and Human Rights, Atlanta, GA

Participant connections

On Saturday May 7 I represented Wikipedia at two events, a workshop hosted by the Information Architecture Institute at the Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, and IA Summit Game Night which took place the same evening at the Omni Atlanta Hotel. The workshop, "Architecting the Information of Georgia House Bill 757" was the Institute's response to the proposal of a bill that would potentially discriminate against the LGBT community. About 30 IAI members attended. The format was primarily discussion. My input centered on Wikipedia as an information architecture tool that describes and related concepts internationally through its articles and Wikidata and I proposed that the IA Institute and its members should take a greater role in editing, not simply to make a political statement, but primarily to offer expertise in the structure of information to the Wikipedia community.

IA Summit Game Night, held immediately after the IAI workshop at the Omni Atlanta Hotel, hosted 85 attendees. Players selected from ten tables, one which was dedicated to Wikipedia. We set up the unofficial Wikipedia game and also used it as a way to introduce information architect practitioners to Wikipedia editing. The evening went from 8-11pm and we played several rounds of the game. Most of the people who stopped by the table who inquired about my role with Wikipedia turned out to already be editors, but mostly on a very casual level. I encouraged them to continue to edit and discussed the structure of Wikidata as a tool that IAs can use in developing information spaces outside of Wikipedia.

Wikipedia Gamers at IA Summit 2016 Game Night

Wikipedia Swag at IA Summit 2016 Game Night

Outcome

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

Add a link here to a blog post or newsletter you wrote about your participation afterwards, or to a meet-up you organized to share your experience with your local community.

My participation was proposed as a gentle, social introduction to Wikipedia and the tools available to web designers and information architects via Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata and other WMF properties. Game night was a lot of fun and opened a conversation about the ways that IAs can participate in local Wikipedia activities in their areas as well as generally as editors and developers of tools that utilize Wikidata. I handed out pins and stickers throughout the three day conference. The IA Institute event was a further opportunity to promote involvement of the IA community. My input centered on Wikipedia as an information architecture tool that describes and related concepts internationally through its articles and Wikidata. I proposed that the IA Institute and its members should take a greater role in editing and offer their expertise in the structure of information to the Wikipedia community. I further made an appeal for information architects to take greater ownership of the structure of language and concept relationships as defined in Wikidata and its tools and APIs.

Marianne Sweeny has a great deal of interest in expanding the relationship between the IA community and Wikipedia. Marianne will be one of three co-chairs at the 2017 Information Architecture Summit in Vancouver, March 22-28. She is very interested in developing a greater role for Wikipedia at the 2017 event and has asked me to prepare a proposal for engagement next year. Thoughts include an ongoing Wikipedia booth or table in the exhibition hall, train the trainers events, weekend long Editathon related to the conference theme, Game Night participation and other activities TBD.

I shared a report of the event at the May 25 meeting of the NYC Wikipedia meetup, which was held at the Enterprise MediaWiki Conference at NYU.

NYC WikiWednesday at Enterprise MediaWiki Conference

Blog Post: [1]
IA Summit Session Notes: [2]

Option 2: Learning Pattern: What is one useful learning pattern you can share with the Wikimedia movement?

Add a link to a learning pattern - either a new pattern you created with insights from your participation, or an existing pattern to which you added your endorsement and some significant new "considerations" or “examples” from your experience.

Option 3: New Creation: What was one useful outcome of the event for the Wikimedia movement?

Add a link to something new that was created as a result of your participation in this event (for example, you might link to a new tool that you and your co-participants made as a result of attending this event, or to a set of articles that the participants in your workshop created at the event).

Finances

• I spent more than I requested. I had originally requested $1000 but felt perhaps it was too much so cut the request in half. I was also able to put some of a speaking fee I received at a separate event toward the costs of this event to make it more affordable for WMF to help fund.

Airfare/United: $213.20
Hotel/Doubletree: $301.56
IA Summit Registration: $625.00

Amount left over

None.