Requests for comment/Wikimedia Asia Conference

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This RfC seeks community input on a proposal for hosting the Wikimedia Asia Conference in early 2027 or early 2028 (exact dates and venue to be determined through community consensus and an open call for hosts).

Overview

For more than a decade, the Wikimedia community across Asia (East, Southeast, South, Central and West Asia) has envisioned a dedicated regional conference to strengthen collaboration, share knowledge, and amplify our collective impact.

The proposed event will integrate multiple thematic gatherings into one cohesive program:

Asia Hackathon — advancing technical skills, tools, and Wikimedia tech innovation.
Asia Language Meeting — strengthening collaboration between language communities, whether large or small.
Asia GLAM Meeting — fostering partnerships with Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums.
Asia Commons Meeting — focusing on Wikimedia Commons, media contributions, and open licensing.
Asia Wikisource Meeting — enhancing collaboration on digitization, OCR, and free knowledge texts.
Asia Public Policy Meeting — addressing policy, advocacy, and free knowledge frameworks.
Asia Wikidata Meeting — sharing structured data practices, projects, and innovation.
Asia Youth Meeting — cultivating the next generation of Wikimedia leaders.
Asia Women’s Meeting — tackling gender equity and representation in the Wikimedia movement.

Background and Rationale

Historical aspiration: Since the creation of the Wikimedia Asia Project in 2010, a regional conference has been a shared community goal to coordinate efforts, foster skills, and build solidarity.
Missed opportunities: While Asian Wikimedians have met at Wikimania and other events, a fully Asia-focused conference has never materialized.
Renewed momentum: At the Wikimedia Asia meetup during Wikimania 2023, 2024 and 2025, participants reaffirmed the urgency of a regional event, highlighting common challenges, opportunities, and the benefits of thematic integration.
Inspiration: The Porto Meeting 2025 demonstrated how a regional gathering can mobilize communities, pool resources, and inspire collective action.

Proposed Objectives

Strengthen regional collaboration and cross-border partnerships.
Integrate thematic tracks for deeper, more inclusive engagement.
Enhance capacity in governance, technology, content creation, and outreach.
Promote knowledge equity for underrepresented languages, cultures, and communities.
Support sustainable leadership pipelines through youth and gender-focused programs.

Tentative Structure

Plenary Sessions: Movement updates, strategy discussions, keynote panels.
Parallel Tracks:
- Asia Hackathon : Collaborative coding, tool development, API integration.
- Asia Language Meeting : Language revitalization, localization tools, cross-language projects.
- Asia GLAM Meeting : Digitization, metadata sharing, open access advocacy.
- Asia Commons Meeting : Media upload workflows, licensing, and Commons community building.
- Asia Wikisource Meeting: OCR workflows, proofreading sprints, and public domain advocacy.
- Asia Public Policy Meeting : Copyright reform, online safety, movement-wide policy alignment.
- Asia Wikidata Meeting : Data modeling, query service workshops, linked open data collaborations.
- Asia Youth Meeting : Leadership skills, peer mentorship, cross-border youth campaigns.
- Asia Women's Meeting : Gender gap strategies, inclusive campaign design, representation metrics.
Community Showcase: Lightning talks, poster sessions, edit-a-thons.
Cultural Exchange: Performances, storytelling, regional cuisine.

Host Location & Dates

When: Early 2027 or early 2028 (final choice informed by feedback and planning timelines).

Rationale: The calendar of activities after a Wikimania is very crowded and may limit resource & travel arrangements. Late December and early January are not ideal due to Foundation staff holiday plans.

Where: To be determined. We encourage community groups, affiliates and user groups to express interest in hosting.

Participation

Open to Wikimedia contributors, affiliates, partners, and allies across Asia.
Scholarships (if any) will to be prioritized for participants from emerging and underrepresented communities.

Call for Feedback

We welcome community input on:

Necessity / need to have an Asia-focused conference at all.
Program design and thematic integration.
Preferred year (2027 or 2028).
Potential host cities and venues.
Strategies, impact and sustainability.

Please share comments on the talk page, relevant community pages or chat groups (TG, FB). Your participation will help shape a long-awaited milestone in our region’s Wikimedia journey.