Wikimania 2013 in Hong Kong: Expanding Wikipedia participation throughout Asia

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Every year Wikimedians from around the world gather in person to celebrate free knowledge and collaboration during the annual Wikimania conference, which was held in Washington, DC, in 2012. The next Wikimania will be in Hong Kong, August 2013 and the organizing committee from Wikimedia Hong Kong is very excited about it. We were also quite happy with the positive reaction from Wikipedians to our presentation in Wikimania in DC, where we showed a video about sightseeing on our tram, as well as photos of our beautiful natural environment and our impressive city, including the skyline, the Hong-Kongcrete, shopping districts, and of course our food (which we think is the most original in the world).

Wikimedia Asia Lunch at Wikimania 2012
Wikimania 2013 Hong Kong team members at Wikimania 2012

But a Wikimania in Hong Kong is not just about food and touristy things. As with every Wikimania, we have important goals we would like to achieve as we welcome the Wikimedia movement to Hong Kong. One of the biggest objectives, which we detailed in our Wikimania bid, is the development of further cooperation within Southeast Asia and beyond. There are quite successful chapters in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and also activities and chapters in Taiwan and Macau. Beyond this work though, we see a great opportunity to organize activities and support the development of more Wikimedia communities in more countries in Asia.
During Wikimania in Washington DC, we had a Wikimedia Asia lunch, with attendance by people from Thailand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore, who all demonstrated the desire to plan for further activities. In addition, we had Wikipedians from language communities such as Khmer , and also we have seen activities and meetups among Vietnamese Wikipedians in Vietnam.
Beyond these Wikipedia communities, we see opportunities for growth and support in Myanmar, a country with active communities of like-minded people. We have heard that 4700 people showed up in Barcamp Rangoon last year, and more than 2,000 participated the one in 2010. Imagine if we could empower a few of them to edit Wikipedia and create knowledge in their languages. It could be a huge addition to our broader community.

The organizing team of Wikimania 2013 is willing to help out with any outreach in the region, especially building bridges between Wikipedians and organizations willing to support Wikipedia activities. No matter whether you belong to the groups mentioned above, we are always willing to hear from you. Try to connect with us in the Wikimedia Asia List, or contact the Wikimania HK organizing team directly at wikimania-p @ wikimedia.hk.

Coordinators General Jeromy-Yu Chan, Tango Chan
http://wikimania2013.wikimedia.org

Archive notice: This is an archived post from blog.wikimedia.org, which operated under different editorial and content guidelines than Diff.

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