Wikimania 2021: Program topics

With Wikimania going virtual this year it gives the movement an opportunity to consider topics from every corner of the movement. The Core Organizing Team has put some thought into how these topics will be organized in this year’s program. We want to allow for enough freedom for attendees to choose from a wide variety of topics, and for applicants to find an area that aligns with their interests. In this blog post we want to talk about how the program will be organized.

PROGRAM TOPICS

We want to be able to give enough freedom to choose from a wide array of session topics, as there are many cross-cutting themes that affect all of our communities. See some examples below:

Education & GLAM	New Voices & Newcomers
Partnerships	Innovation & Research lab
Advocacy, Safety & Community Health	Gender, Diversity & Inclusion
Strategy 2030	Language
Community Topics	Other?
Our stories

Education & GLAM: Initiatives and projects of the last 20 years focused on the use and access of Wikimedia projects in educational spaces at all levels and working with GLAM institutions.

Partnerships: Collaborations with movement partners, governmental institutions, technology partners, open source organizations. Learnings, opportunities, case studies, best practices and new ideas.   

Advocacy, Safety & Community Health: Initiatives focused on Human Rights work, advocacy, misinformation + disinformation, building safer communities both online and offline, codes of conduct. Initiatives that address past, present and future challenges, learnings etc. 

Gender, Diversity & Inclusion: Gender, diversity and inclusion projects that contribute to the creation of a more diverse and inclusive movement and/or Internet, both online and offline.

Strategy 2030: Initiatives, discussions, meetings, roundtables regarding the 2030 movement strategy, especially related to the implementation phase. 

New voices & Newcomers: Initiatives, ideas, projects etc to involve, identify, attract + retain incorporate new voices/voices currently underrepresented as part of the Wikimedia movement. Initiatives led by historically underrepresented groups. Initiatives led by emerging communities.

Innovation & Research lab: Lab to present new innovative projects and initiatives. Per example: what future project would you like for Wikimedia?

Community Topics: Policies, best practices, tools and lessons that support interwiki + on-wiki work.

Language: All language issues, indigenous or others. A few potential topics include Wikidata lexicography, outreach to underserved languages and wiki’s, sessions on re-use of material (templates, modules, etc.) across several language wikis etc.

Our Stories: A reflection on our own personal journeys within the movement. Reflection on the people who got us to where we are. See https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:The_Impact_of_Wikipedia for ideas

Other: A space for any other topic that is deemed cross-cutting in our movement. 

PROGRAM TOPICS & APPLICATION

The official guidance for all topics is to choose a lens of either PAST – PRESENT – FUTURE. Where we would like to briefly reflect on the past but want to emphasize where we are in the present, and more importantly, where we are heading in the future.

WHAT TYPES OF SUBMISSIONS? FOR WHO?

There is no single host for this year’s virtual Wikimania, but rather an experiment in which our whole community can be involved: by and for the community. 

We wanted to give the space for our communities and individuals to participate in the program, and have therefore created a few pathways in which you can curate a piece of the program by allocating 2 separate and concurrent tracks. The content in these tracks can be presented live, or you can submit pre-recorded content for us to include in the programming. 

This year peer-reviewed submissions will be open to: 

• Movement Groups & Affiliates (user groups, chapters,thematic organizations) – from the huge independent chapters to the small user groups
• Individuals or a collective of individuals – any person, duo, trio, quartet or larger group of individuals

LIVE & PRE-RECORDED SESSIONS

There are two ways into how you can approach your session:

1. Live Session: Your session would be hosted live, which would allow for live contributions, questions and dialogue from the attendees.
2. Pre-Recorded Session: Your session can also be pre-recorded – it will be live streamed at Wikimania 2021. This option reduces the amount of attendee interaction you would have with your content but you can also host a live dialogue or Q&A after your recorded session. Our production team has been instructed to manage and support you in recording your session and making sure deadlines are met. In case you are unable to meet the recording deadlines and requirements, your session will have to be live or withdrawn.