A few days ago, I came back from the very first international Wikimedia event ever held in Central Asia – in Tashkent, to be more precise. I must admit I returned home as energized and inspired as back in 2009, when I attended my first Wikimania in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Yes, I’m that old – in both Wikimedia and real-life terms.
Now that we are talking about age, the communities in Central Asia are very young at the organizational level, with the existing affiliates in the region not being older than 5 years, and their members are also very young, with many of them in their early 20s. Some may think that young people lack experience but forget that with a young age, comes determination, energy and enthusiasm, and this is what the over 90 participants brought to the conference, along with a thirst for collaborating, for sharing knowledge and for making new friends. Why is friendship so important in the movement? Your Wikimedian colleagues become part of your family, and that type of connection, generated by collaboration, fosters even more collaboration -it’s a virtuous cycle.
The level of the presentations was very appropriate, open to all levels of experience and with meaningful content that anyone could learn from, with greatly appreciated interpreters who worked non-stop to translate to/from Russian and English; there were some sessions in Uzbek as well, catering to the plurality of the attendees, as many were locals. The sessions covered a number of issues that impact the communities in the region, from improving localization of Media-Wiki (the software you see in the interface of the Wikimedia projects) to how to do fundraising more effectively, and from how to keep volunteers motivated to how to maintain digital safety. On each session I attended, the level of participation was pretty high, with the attendees eager to learn more about the topic. I personally gave my two cents talking about how to empower the less represented language communities, by sharing the success story of my beloved brothers and sisters in the Wayuu community.
The conference also showed that volunteers in the Wikimedia movement share very similar challenges, despite living in different regions with sometimes opposite contexts; however, we took the opportunity to share our own experiences and learn from each other on how to overcome these challenges, not just during the sessions but also during each and every break, lunch, dinner and other social activities. Not unexpectedly, we enjoyed the true Silk Road hospitality; that was something we experienced all the time, from the very moment we arrived in Tashkent, until the moment we left the hotel on our way to the airport to go back home; our Uzbek colleagues went above and beyond to make us feel at home and feel welcome. The support received from the WMF was crucial, but the hard work of the Core Team and the local volunteers made a difference; you guys did a great job, so feel proud of yourselves as much as we are proud of you!
I am still processing all the experiences, all the learning and all the great ideas that popped up during our discussions, and I am grateful for every second spent in Tashkent -and want to come back. This is the beginning of a new era of development for free knowledge in Central Asian communities. Yalla amigos, let’s do this together!
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