Talking about “The Wikimedia Movement Today”

This is a summary of the talk I gave on 6 November 2024 at the Forum of the Library Fair&Forum 2024 at Pacifico Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, entitled ‘The Wikimedia Movement Today’. The fair and forum was organised under the auspices of the Wikipedia Exhibition and with the cooperation of the Wikipedia Bungaku Executive Committee. The Library Fair&Forum has been held annually since 1999 and attracts tens of thousands of library professionals to this Japanese event. The Wikipedia Exhibition started here in 2022 and offers a wide range of Wikipedia-related information. The forum was simultaneously broadcast on Zoom on the day of the event.

Outline of the Forum

• Title: The Wikimedia Movement Today: examples of collaboration with GLAM in abroad and in Japan
• Date and time: Wednesday 6 November 2024, 10:30-12:00
• Venue: Pacifico Yokohama, Room 8 (E25)
• Organiser, Speaker: Yuriko Kadokura (author of “The 70-Year-Old Wikipedian”)
• Website: https://www.libraryfair.jp/forum/2024/1166

Contents of the forum

In my introduction, I first indicated that the content of the forum was how I became involved in the Wikimedia movement after the publication of The “70-year-old Wikipedian” last year, and how it has expanded my world globally. I then spoke on the following five topics: ‘What is Wikimedia?’ ‘Wikimedia projects’, ‘Wikimedia communities’, ‘Community events’ and ‘The globalised world’.

What is Wikimedia?

Japanese Wikipedia states that ‘the Wikimedia movement, or Wikimedia, refers to the global community that contributes to the projects of the Wikimedia Foundation‘. And I spoke about the goal of the Wikimedia movement, it is to create a world where everyone on Earth has free access to the sum total of human knowledge. I then gave an overview of the Wikimedia Foundation, which was founded in 2003 and is responsible for the management of the Wikimedia movement.

Wikimedia projects

Among a number of projects, I introduced Wikipedia, an encyclopaedia launched in 2001; Meta-Wiki, a discussion forum; Wiktionary, a dictionary; Wikisource, a collection of texts; Wikimedia Commons, a collection of images, audio and video; and the knowledge base Wikidata. I also spoke about how each of these is connected like a web, creating the magnificent world of Wikimedia.

Wikimedia communities

As Wikimedia communities, I mentioned the communities for each Wikipedia language edition, User groups and Chapters as Affiliates, and ESEAP and CEE as regional hubs, which are not subordinate to the Wikimedia Foundation, but work together as independent organisations. I spoke about the Wikimedia movement is actually driven by volunteer Wikimedians from all over the world, and the Wikimedia Foundation does not give direction but provides administrative support to the activities.

Community events

I first mentioned ESEAP 2024, which I attended in May this year. I visited the host city of Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, and attended Wiktionary workshop, where I was surrounded by Wikimedians from Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, and quickly found myself in the middle of the Wikimedia movement. I also had the opportunity to present about my book and tried my hand at presenting in English. The organisers also offered me a travel grant to attend, and in return I became very aware of the significance of presenting my experiences to the community.

I have been doing personal blogs for a number of years, but I started to contribute energetically to Diff, the Wikimedia Foundation’s blog, in both Japanese and English. In addition to writing about my own experiences, I translated English-language Diff articles that caught my interest into Japanese. Encouraged by ESEAP participants who wanted to read the English versions of my book, I also gradually began to translate of my book into English on Diff. One of the reasons I continue to contribute to Diff is that a personal blog cannot be a source for Wikipedia, but Diff can be a source as a public media outlet.

The second community event was Wikimania 2024 Katowice, which I attended in August. I mentioned how my travel grant application was successful but my presentation about my own book, which I had submitted to the programme, was not, and how I joined the Wikikorchestra, which is an orchestra of Wikimedians. I also spoke about my actual visit to Katowice, Poland, where I was able to meet many Wikimedians from all over the world. I also mentioned Wikimedia record-keeping, where information about the event is compiled on the WikiOrchestra webpage, which is constantly updated and available for reading at any time.

The globalised world

I first showed that the Wikipedia articles I have written or translated, arranged by country, span the globe. I also talked about the WikiGap and Wikipedia Bungaku edit-a-thons I have participated in many times, where I translate foreign articles that are red-linked in the themed people articles. I also actively participated in edit-a-thons related to Malaysia, Turkey and Ukraine, and introduced how these activities are opening up worlds that I did not know existed. I also mentioned that the Facebook group ‘Diff Japanese Edition Club’ (Diff日本語版同好会), which I started in May, has a growing number of participants from abroad as well as Japanese, and that the group chats with foreigners, which started at two overseas events, continue on a daily basis.

In closing, I once again mentioned the goals of the Wikimedia movement and talk about the significance of the collaboration-based Wikimedia movement in today’s increasingly fragmented society. I hope that this will encourage as many people as possible to join the Movement.