Wikimania 2024 report from Eugene, Taufik, and Caner

In this article, User:Eugene Ormandy from Japan, Taufik Rosman from Malaysia, and Caner from Turkey introduce the experiences at Wikimania 2024 in Katowice, Poland, which is the second time for all of us to gather offline (the first is Wikimania 2023 in Singapore).

Authors

User:Eugene Ormandy: A member of Toumon Wikipedian Club Japan and one of the organizers of the Wikimedia Japan-Malaysia Friendship and Wikimedia Japan-Türkiye Friendship. Newcomer of the Year 2023.

Taufik Rosman: Member of Wikimedia Community User Group Malaysia. Wikimedian of the Year 2023.

Caner: Member of the Wikimedia Community User Group Turkey, Turkic Languages User Group, CEE Youth Group, and Communication committee. Founder of Istanbul Bilgi University Wiki Student Club and one of the organizers of the Wikimedia Japan-Türkiye Friendship. Media Contributor of the Year 2024.

Q1 What did you learn from Wikimania 2024?

User:Eugene Ormandy: I learnt about various things, such as useful editing tools, collaborations between GLAM and Wikimedia movement, preservation of languages on Wikimedia projects, and open culture movements in some countries. Among all, what impressed me most was every participant, who was a kind of “expert” of something. Wikimania would be one of the ideal place for people who are eager to learn about Wikimedia projects and Wikimedia movement.

Taufik Rosman: I mainly attended sessions related to education and language which are the fields that I focus when engaging Wikimedia activities in Malaysia.

Caner: I attended many sessions and learned many new interesting things. But I want to tell you about one of the most interesting sessions for me.

It was a session on materials used by Wikimedia Czech Republic (WMCZ) in educational activities for students. During the session I learned that WMCZ has 3 main training programs: “Education Programs”, ‘Programs for the Community’ and ”Programs for Partnerships” They explained in detail the subject of “Media Education” in their education program. They stated that Wikimedia projects are a great tool for media education. As part of this education, they organize educations and workshops for future librarians at universities in Prague and Brno.

The most interesting part for me was a Wiki education handbook, which I have been thinking about doing in Türkiye for a long time. This training book contains 5 activities for teachers. I would like to talk to the people involved in this project at WMCZ and get more detailed information from them. This may help me in designing a similar book for the Wikipedia Education Program in Türkiye.

Q2 How did you interact with Wikimedians from other communities at Wikimania 2024?

User:Eugene Ormandy: I made a lot of new friends all around the world and shared our interests. This was a great opportunity to learn about something new. In addition, I also met Wikimedians whom I met before at some international conferences such as Wikimania 2023 in Singapore or ESEAP Conference 2024 in Malaysia. We enjoyed our reunion and shared recent activities. I think such happy reunions motivate us to continue to edit Wikimedia projects and join Wikimedia movement.

It was a great pleasure for me that other Japanese Wikimedians also made international connections at the conference. In general, Japanese Wikimedians had not joined the “GLOBAL” Wikimedia movements even though they edited a lot and held various Wikimedia events in Japan. I was happy to see the things have been changing.

Taufik Rosman: There were many Wikimedians I get to meet for the first time and catching up with fellow Wikimedians I met in previous conferences. I enjoy meeting new people in the Collectors’ Room where I get to try snacks from around the globe and Wikimedia swags.

Caner: For me, Wikimania 2024 Katowice was a conference where I consolidated the friendships I made at Wikimania 2023 Singapore and made new friends. It was exciting for me to meet other Wikimedians from Japan and Malaysia, and to renew our friendship with Eugene and Taufik from the past years.

Also this year, I met Wikimedians from Armenia, Indonesia, Ukraine, Greece, Kyrgyzstan, Czech Republic, Poland and many other countries. I hope that these friendships will not only remain as friendships, but also that we will work together to remind us of the theme “Collaboration of the Open”.

I can say for myself that very soon we can start good collaborations with communities in Malaysia and Indonesia. Making new friends in the Wikimedia Movement and strengthening our friendship with my existing friends motivates me to be more active in the movement!

Q3 What surprised you the most at Wikimania 2024?

User:Eugene Ormandy: Needless to say, the selection of Caner as the Media Contributor of the Year 2024, one of the Wikimedian of the Year 2024 winners. In the respect of his abilities and activities, I had no doubt that Caner would be awarded soon, but actually, he told me and Taufik that “I don’t think I’ll get the award this year” just before the conference! We will ask Caner to buy us snacks for cheating us!

Taufik Rosman: Of course I was quite shocked that our friend Caner here received the Media Contributor of the Year. I remembered he jokingly said to me he wished that he will receive the award this year. I admired his designs and I even asked him before to create some designs.

Caner: First of all, in my 10th year in the Wikimedia Movement, being awarded by Jimmy Wales as Media Contributor of the Year was one of the things that surprised me. I never thought it would come to this when I was making designs that would keep the cultures of communities alive within the Wikimedia Movement. When I saw Taufik, who was awarded Wikimedian of the Year at Wikimania 2023, and Eugene, who was awarded Newcomer of the Year 2023, I wished to that I would win this award next year.

Q4 What will you do after Wikimania 2024?

User:Eugene Ormandy: As an editor, I will contribute to Wikidata more and more using some useful tools such as OpenRefine. As an event organizer, I will encourage Wikimedia Japan-Malaysia Friendship and Wikimedia Japan-Türkiye Friendship in various ways. Friendship Editing Month September 2024, just after the Wikimania 2024, is one of the examples. In addition, I joined the CEE Meeting 2024 in Istanbul from Japan and communicated with a lot of Wikimedians.

I hope such activities will strengthen the ties between ESEAP Hub (East, South East and Pacific region) and CEE Hub (Central and East Europe region).

Moreover, as the Newcomer of the Year 2023, I want to get in touch with the Wikimedian of the Year winners of all the years. So I am planning something collaborative between the winners. Their knowledge, experiences, and passion will surely impress me.

Taufik Rosman: I promised a lot with the fellow Wikimedians I met in Wikimania 2024 with Wikimedia friendships and collaborations between Malaysia. I have to focus on many reports and applications for the user group right after the conference. Wikimania is just a short break for me before dealing with these documents. There are many ideas come out from this conference. For instance, I need to add collaborations into next year’s annual grant application. I need to write event proposals to partners like embassies for upcoming events.

Caner: After this year’s Wikimania, I plan to further collaborate with my existing Wikimedian friends and establish new collaborations with new friends. I also worked on the conference as a member of the organizing team of CEE Meeting 2024 Istanbul. In addition to all these, I need to support the Wiki student clubs in Türkiye in their activities for the 2024-2025 academic year. Honestly, I think the student clubs will do a lot of good work this year.

Q5 When someone says “Why does Wikimedia Foundation spend a lot of money to host Wikimania?”, how will you answer?

User:Eugene Ormandy: The reason is that hosting Wikimania is one of the best ways to make Wikimedia project and Wikimedia movement sustainable. This event makes Wikimedians learn more and continue to edit by nurturing the sense of belonging to Wikimedians’ network. This would be a good reason for Wikimedia Foundation and volunteers to put in serious efforts to hold the large event annually.

Taufik Rosman: I personally do not see it that way as this is the biggest Wikimedia conference which is crucial for the Wikimedia movement. Experienced in organising a regional conference few months before Wikimania 2024, I quite understand the struggle in managing a conference especially a conference of this scale.

I often found on YouTube of videos saying Wikipedia has too much money. The money is not only for the maintenance of the website but it is also to support the many volunteers out there in organising Wikimedia engagements and activities to attract more editors and narrow the content gap.

Caner: I think Wikimania is a necessary event for Wikimedians. If I give the simplest example, the Japan-Türkiye and Japan-Malaysia friendship projects emerged thanks to Wikimania. If we had not met each other at Wikimania, maybe we would never have realized these projects. It is also a very useful event for the exchange of experience among Wikimedians. We learn a lot of interesting knowledge in sessions on dozens of different topics, and we learn first-hand about the activities of other communities.