2022:Submissions/The Future of Wikimania
- Language: English
- Status: Live
Speaker(s)[edit source]
Joël Letang, Winnie Kabintie
Abstract[edit source]
Learning Outcomes[edit source]
Biography[edit source]
Speakers[edit | edit source]
- Winnie Kabintie, WMF (Moderator)
- Joël Letang, WMF Event Strategy Lead (Intro)
- Linda Lenrow Lopez, WMF Risk Manager (panelist 1)
- Gnangarra, Wikimania Steering Committee (panelist 2)
- Anna Torres, Wikimania 2021 organizer (panelist 3)
Abstract[edit | edit source]
“The Future of Wikimania: Reimagining Wikimania in a post-covid world”
The efforts for a Wikimania that is planned to take place in the East South East Asia & Pacific region has been a collaborative effort within the region since before the event got canceled back in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, The Wikimedia Foundation partnered with the ESEAP collective of communities to develop a holistic process of assessing country-specific risk, relating the mobilization of our international communities to attend Wikimania. Criteria were established to best ensure the safety, wellbeing, and access to a country for our vast community of diverse people. With the help of a Risk Assessment Matrix that was developed, the ESEAP region was able to identify 9 countries in the region, and narrow it down to two: a host country and a back up location.
Going through this process, and working through all of the variables we have no control of (pandemics, political unrest, etc) we learned that we will need to be able to look and plan with a minimum of a 3-year runway. This allows us to plan effectively for contingencies and pivot wherever required.
Looking ahead into the future - we need to solve a puzzle with the help of the wider movement:
- Puzzle 1: If Wikimania is going back to an in-person format, we need a way to determine and plan the next 3 years. How do we continue to grow, shift and develop our practices? How can we ensure a true equitable regional rotation of where the event can be hosted globally?
- Puzzle 2: How do we narrow down to countries, once a region has been selected? Do we ask countries in a selected country to place a bid? Is there a different way to narrow down to a country?