Between August 2nd-5th, Hungarian Wikipedia was calmer than usual for a few days when Wikipedians took their annual leave at the third Wikicamp, organized by three local Wikipedians in and around Veszprém in Western Hungary. Nineteen community members, aged 14 to 73, took part in 4 days of sightseeing, exhausting hikes and splashing in lake Balaton.
Wikicamp is the biggest community organized Wikipedia event in Hungary that takes place in a different region of the country every year. Editors eagerly await the camp each year and proudly display on their user pages the years they have participated in or helped organize. The camp is a chance to socialize outside the usual virtual environment in a safe place where people can bring their partners and their dogs. The exhausting hikes and excursions ensure that people do not waste any energy on quarreling, and the local chapter tries to ensure everyone has a good time by providing pins, yo-yos and financial support.
Though the programme didn’t involve any computers, discussions inevitably veered towards Wikipedia topics and some participants were caught patrolling Wikipedia even at 1AM in the morning. We had a few Wikipedia-related outcomes as members of Wikiproject China decided on coordinating their article writing plans and on the last day we had a very interesting discussion on GLAM projects in Hungary and the future of the Hungarian chapter.
Two participants, Måté (also the main organizer of the camp) and Oren, gave an update on their experience interacting with Hungarian museums and shared with the audience some of the lessons from international projects. In the following discussion it became very clear that for these projects to succeed we need not only to overcome institutional barriers, but we also need an influx of new and enthusiastic volunteers in the chapter.
Next year’s camp and our chapter are always open to local and international participants, make sure to contact us if you would like to get involved!
Bence Damokos, Vice-president, Wikimedia Hungary. Participant, Wikicamp
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