2029:Expressions of Interest/Open Movement Global
Expression of interest: Open Movement Global
[edit | edit source]Abstract/description
[edit | edit source]Open Movement Global is a global event of the open movement that invites all institutions, groups and events that already focus on the open to gather and collaborate at the same time in the same space.
The event incorporates Wikimania 2029. The core proposition is to host Wikimania 2029 as part of Open Movement Global in February 2029 in Bruxelles, Belgium. This timing intentionally synchs with FOSDEM an annual event of over 10'000 participants from the open source community.
Wikimania 2029
[edit | edit source]The "Open Movement Global" event will be run as a federated model, where the open movement's leading events, such as Wikimania, FOSDEM, MozFest, CC Summit, State of the Map, OEGlobal, etc., would be held simultaneously in the same city at the same time (preferably in nearby venues). Each participating event, including Wikimania 2029, will retain their specific identity. Their program, focuses and attending community will be managed by their organisations.
The "Open Movement Global" event will be seen in the coordination of these simultaneous events. There will be a track of scheduled talks that spans the relevance of the Open Movement and binds all the participating events together. There is also the opportunity for a collaborative communications campaign.
- Why showcase Wikimania in a global event. We have been talking for many years to make a joint open event, we already tested many important and relevant collaborations and now is maybe time to produce such a collaborative global event.
- Why a large scale event with more than 10'000 participants. Wikimedia is part of something much larger than just the Wikimedia projects. We need to show the world that collectively, the open movement (in our case, Wikimedia), are big and mainstream. The world already relies on the open movement, they just don't know it. The open is where the world is going or where the world can go: it is an important and central working direction, and it is a vision which already involves many people and institutions. Making a collaborative large scale event is a way to state, show and communicate to a large audience the value of what we do and our mainstream position.
- Why something different. This is an experiment: if it is a successful experiment we could replicate it maybe every 4 years. In any case, we do not aim to centralise all open events every year, because communities also need dedicated gatherings and they need to have their own spaces to discuss their specific and community-relevant topics. It is also healthy to allow Wikimania to transform itself, to test new working directions, to reflect on what is most useful and relevant for the movement and to work to have the greatest impact, not only in the moment but also in the world.
- Why 2029. 2029 allows sufficient time to communicate the proposal and invite, involve and collaborate with as many institutions, groups and events as possible.
- Why FOSDEM in Bruxelles (Belgium) in February. Because FOSDEM is currently the largest conference focussed on the open. It already involves over 10'000 participants. We need of course to check if FOSDEM likes the idea and if it is feasible. The collaboration with FOSDEM would also make realistic the idea of producing a large scale event with over 10'000 participants. Read the diff article about FOSDEM and listen to the audio by its technical team about how the event is produced.
Organizers
[edit | edit source]History of the proposal
[edit | edit source]The proposal of an "Open Movement Global" was launched during Wikimania 2024 in Katowice. The first discussion was among Iolanda Pensa, Isla Haddow Flood and Valerio Bozzolan. The proposal was then presented to many people during Wikimania to collect feedback and to check interest and potential feasibility.
- Iolanda Pensa has organised Wikimania Esino Lario, conceived the project and directed its implementation; it was a specifically complex Wikimania organised in a mountain village of 700 inhabitants which has required the implementation of local transport, safety adjustments on buildings, distribution of the broadband, organisation of food and accommodation with all the local providers, the involvement of sponsors and grantmakers and the activation of a very wide community of partners, stakeholders and volunteers; the project lasts 4 years with preparatory work and a wide number of local activities in schools and GLAMs. Iolanda Pensa has been chair of the Wikimania Committee and chair of Wikimedia Italia (2022-2024, Wikimedia Italia is also Italian chapter of OpenStreetMap); she is now the national coordinator for GLAMs for Wikimedia Italia and she involved 4'000 Italian museums in a very large campaign to promote open access and cooperation with the Wikimedia projects. She has experience, as a volunteer and professionally, in managing large and complex international projects.
- Isla Haddow Flood is co-lead of Wiki in Africa and the co-creator of large-scale campaigns to produce and collect open content in Africa, promoting ICT skills and open content in African schools, and activating and engaging Wikimedia communities in many (including new) countries. She is a contributor to Creative Commons and Open Education Global. She has extensive experience in managing cross-border international cooperation, international communications campaigns, and collaborating with international partners and networks.
- Valerio Bozzolan is chair of the Italian Linux Society and active member of the Wikimedia tech communities. He contributes to international open and free software and he is involved in national and international communication campaign supporting the use and production of free and open software. He is specifically active in Italy and collaborates with FSFE Free Software Foundation Europe. He is also an active participant and organiser of free software events.
The idea was proposed to active members of the Wikimedia movement, to some members of the board of Creative Commons, to Wikimedia Europe, to members of the Wikimedia movement who are also active the open source communities and tech activities.
We received positive feedback from many people, and other people helped us identify risks and possible threats.
Mehrdad Pourzaki (former coordinator of the Wikimania Steering Committee and communication officer of Wikimedia Foundation) and Alek Tarkowski (member of the board of Creative Commons and Director of Strategy at Open Future), Chiara Somajni (journalist specialising in culture and technology), Deborah De Angelis (Creative Commons Italy) already confirmed their interest in supporting the event and being involved.
We have already contacted Wikimedia Europe and presented the proposal, and we will certainly involve the groups of Wikimedians in Belgium and across Europe.
Potential partners if the conference succeeds in being organised in Bruxelles, Belgium.
- Wikimedia Europe
- Wikimedia Belgium
- Wikimedia European region
- Former organisers of Wikimania
- FOSDEM
- Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
- European Commission
- Wikimedia Foundation advocacy team
Considering the size of the network and the necessary international cooperation, the lead organiser of the event should be Wikimedia Foundation, as institution supporting the Wikimedia movement and as umbrella organisation of all affiliates.
Team
[edit | edit source]The event involves the widest team with members from the Wikimedia movement and all the stakeholders of the open movement. At the moment there is a small core team who has been launching and discussing the event. The team is designed to grow.
Structure of the team
[edit | edit source]The core organising team (COT) of the event "Open Movement Global" is composed of a small working team and of representatives of the groups and institutions involved in the event.
There are specific teams for the areas
- Communication
- Networking
- Programme
- Scholarships
- Location
- Volunteers
- Partnerships
- Co-host coordination
- Online (we plan to have also a specific core organising team for the online event - online COT
Considering the complexity and the specific extension of the project (in particular in the networking requested), we would like to invite all former organisers of Wikimania to actively contribute to the project and share and use their experience.
Stakeholders
[edit | edit source]A list of the current stakeholders and events in the open movement.
Using the definition of Open Future, the open movement consists of people, communities, and organizations who (1) contribute to shared resources online that are available for everyone to use and reuse, (2) and/or advocate for non-exclusive access and use of information resources.
In general, for the event "Global Open Movement" we will emphasise the value of:
- Open licenses and tools which do not restrict commercial reuse and derivative works.
- The use of tools, products, services and infrastructures based on open and free software.
- Processes of engagement of volunteers which consider issues related to inclusion, diversity, privacy and produce resources made available with the principle of the share-alike.
- No additional restrictions on content under the public domain or not covered by copyright; data in CC0.
| Area | Stakeholders | Current events |
|---|---|---|
| Open content - Free-culture movement | Wikimedia | Wikimania |
| Wikimedia conference / Wikimedia summit | ||
| Hackathons - https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Events | ||
| GLAM conferences - GLAM Wiki Global GLAM/Conferences | ||
| Eduwiki conference - Wikimedia + Education | ||
| Wikimedia Diversity Conferences | ||
| Wikidata | ||
| Research - Research:Events | ||
| Regional conference Africa - WikiIndaba | ||
| Regional conference - WikiArabia | ||
| Regional conference - WikiConference USA / WikiConference North America | ||
| German WikiCon | ||
| Regional conference - Latin America + - IberoConf | ||
| Regional conference - WikiConvention francophone | ||
| Italian Wiki Con | ||
| WikiConference India | ||
| Regional conference - Wikimedia CEE Meeting | ||
| Regional conference - ESEAP Conference & Strategy Summit | ||
| National conferences - many | ||
| Wikipedia Academy | ||
| Wikipedia Day | ||
| Wikimedia Europe assembly | ||
| WikiSym - International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration 2005-2022 https://opensym.org/archives/ | ||
| Internet Archive | ||
| Open maps and geographical data | OpenStreetMap Foundation | State of the Map https://stateofthemap.org/ - https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/State_of_the_Map reports/overview |
| Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) https://www.osgeo.org/ | FOSS4G https://foss4g.org/ (https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Past_FOSS4G_Reports) | |
| OGC Open Geospacial Consortium | ||
| Open Geo Hub - open data culture for open development communities https://opengeohub.org | ||
| Ushahidi | ||
| Free and open software - Free software movement / Open-source-software movement | FOSDEM (Free and Open Source Software Developers' European Meeting) | |
| Open Source Day | ||
| Linux Day + Software Freedom Day | ||
| FSF Free Software Foundation and FSFE Free Software Foundation Europe | LibrePlanet | |
| Linux Foundation | Open Source Summit | |
| Mozilla Foundation | MozFest (Mozilla Festival) | |
| Companies producing free and open software: Blender https://www.blender.org/ | Strong presence at events; also financial and technical support. | |
| Open Hardware | The Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) | Open Hardware Summit / OSHWA Summit |
| Open Hardware Month October | ||
| Companies producing open hardware such as Arduino, SparkFun | ||
| FabLabs | The Fab Foundation (+ The Fab City Global Initiative) | FABx (Fab Conference) |
| Fab City Summit | ||
| Hackerspaces and Maker culture | Chaos Computer Club (CCC) | Chaos Communication Congress (CCC) |
| The Hacker Quarterly | Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) | |
| Online community of Hackaday | Hackaday Superconference | |
| BornHack - community in Denmark | BornHack | |
| European and Dutch communities | SHA (Still Hacking Anyway) | |
| community in Italy | ESC End Summer Camp | |
| Make Community LLC (formerly Maker Media) | Maker Faire | |
| EMF Electromagnetic Field (UK-based association) | EMF Camp (Electromagnetic Field) | |
| Open design - Open-design movement | Universities | Design OPEN https://www.designopen.it/ (conference in 2022 Parma) |
| Open source design https://opensourcedesign.net | Open source design summit (last 2018 Tirana) https://opensourcedesign.net/summit/ | |
| Pordenone Open Design Conference (last edition 2020 Italy Pordenone) | ||
| Ushahidi | Open UP Global Summit (last Taipei 2019) https://opendesign.ushahidi.com/ | |
| Hackathons | ||
| Open licenses and tools, public domain | Creative Commons | Creative Commons Global Summit |
| Open Source Initiative (OSI) | ||
| Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest (last in 2019) | ||
| Communia association - the International Association on the Public Domain | Digital Knowledge Act campaign | |
| Communia Salon | ||
| Communia International Conference (seems not active) | ||
| Advocacy (+ digital democracy, digital sovereignty, internet neutrality) | Open Knowledge Foundation | Open data day https://opendataday.org/ |
| Open Knowledge Festival (OKFestival) - last in 2018 | ||
| Free Culture Forum (last in 2015) https://fcforum.net/en/ | ||
| Open Future Foundation | ||
| Public Knowledge | ||
| Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) | ||
| Civic Hall and Personal Democracy Media | Personal Democracy Forum (PDF) https://personaldemocracy.com/ | |
| International Conference on Digital Democracy (E-Democracy) - ICEDEG. Next in 2025 https://edem-egov.org/ | ||
| Global Digital Compact (network) | ||
| European Union | The future of Europe 2022 | |
| Access Now | RightsCon | |
| The Internet Freedom Festival Community | Internet Freedom Festival (IFF) | |
| Global Voices | Global Voices Summit | |
| Republica GmbH | Re:publica https://re-publica.com/en | |
| Collaboration on International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) | Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa (FIFAfrica) | |
| UN United Nations | Internet Governance Forum (IGF) | |
| Paradigm Initiative https://paradigmhq.org/ | Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (DRIF) | |
| Global Partners Digital | ||
| Journal Platoniq https://journal.platoniq.net | ||
| EuroDIG Foundation | European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG) | |
| Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University https://cyber.harvard.edu/ | ||
| Fight for the future https://www.fightforthefuture.org/ | ||
| SUPERRR Laboratory for feminist digital futures https://superrr.net/ | ||
| Open education, OER Open Educational Resources - Open education | Open Education Global (OEGlobal) | OEGlobal Annual Conference: https://conference.oeglobal.org/2024/
OEWeek: https://oeweek.oeglobal.org |
| SPARC | Open Education Conference (#OpenEd) https://openeducationconference.org/ | |
| Alternative Learning Technologies (ALT) | ALT Annual Conference | |
| UNESCO | Digital Learning Week
International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI) 2024 Global education meeting | |
| Open Science, open access, open research | CoARA Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment https://coara.eu/,
Universities UNESCO OpenAIRE |
|
| SPARC Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition https://sparcopen.org/ - Sparc Europe. Open access, open education, open data
Right to Research Coalition )R2RC) |
International Open Access Week | |
| OpenCon https://www.opencon.community/ (last event 2018) | ||
| Center for Open Science (USA) | Year of open science https://www.cos.io/yos-conference
Metascience 2025 London https://metascience.info/ | |
| Open Science Conference https://www.open-science-conference.eu/ | ||
| OPERAS – Open scholarly communication in the European research area for social sciences and humanities | ||
| Knowledge Rights 21: access to culture, learing and research https://www.knowledgerights21.org/ (advocacy) | ||
| OASPA Open Access Scholarly Publishing association | ||
| F1000 an open research publisher and services provider | ||
| Plan S coalition https://www.coalition-s.org/ (promoted by European Science Foundation)
COAlition S |
||
| AmeliCA . Open Science for Common Good (Latin America) http://amelica.org | ||
| Open Access 2020 https://oa2020.org/ | ||
| Eurodoc - European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers | ||
| Young academy of Europe https://yacadeuro.org/ | ||
| Liber research library community https://libereurope.eu/ | ||
| FORCE11 (The Future of Research Communications and e-Scholarship) | FORCE2023 every 2 years, now annual FORCE2024 https://force11.org/conference/ | |
| EOSC association (European Open Science Cloud) https://eosc.eu | EOSC Symposium (European Open Science Cloud) | |
| diamond open access global summit (first in 2023 in Toluca Mexico) | ||
| Crossref https://www.crossref.org/ | ||
| Citizen science | The Citizen Science Association | Citizen Science Association Conference (CSA) |
| European Citizen Science association https://www.ecsa.ng | ECSA conference https://www.ecsa.ngo/conferences/ | |
| Open data | Open data day (May) | |
| Open Data Institute (ODI) | ||
| The European Union’s Open Data Portal | ||
| Open Data for Development OD4D | ||
| Open Data Science Conference (ODSC) | ||
| The International Development Research Centre (IDRC), World Bank, and Open Data for Development (OD4D) | The International Open Data Conference (IODC) - biennial | |
| The Open Data Research Network | Open Data Research Symposium - http://odresearch.org/ (3rd in 2018) | |
| Connected by data https://connectedbydata.org (advocacy) | ||
| Global data barometer https://globaldatabarometer.org/ | ||
| Open Data Charter https://opendatacharter.org/ | ||
| Open repositories | Zenodo | |
| COAR Confederation of open access repositories https://coar-repositories.org/ | ||
| SCOSS - Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services - help sustaining open infrastructures | ||
| Open government | Open Gov Week May | |
| International Conference of Information Commissioners (ICIC) https://www.informationcommissioners.org/ | ||
| Open Government Partnership (OGP) https://www.opengovpartnership.org/ | OGP Global Summit 2023 | |
| The Feminist Open Government (FOGO) | ||
| OpenGLAM, Open Culture, digital strategies of cultural institutions | Creative Commons, Wikimedia, UNESCO | |
| Libraries - IFLA | IFLA congress https://www.ifla.org/congress/. The IFLA World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) takes place during August each year in a city selected through a competitive process. The congress typically attracts between 3000 – 4000 attendees from over 100 countries. | |
| Libraries Futures https://www.libraryfutures.net/ | ||
| EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries) - Knowledge without boundaries – information without borders - involved also in the Open Climate Campaign | ||
| Museums - ICOM International council of museums | Museum day 18 May
A triennial conference 2023, next 2026, 2029 Specific working groups on digital strategies | |
| Archives - ICA International council of archives https://www.ica.org/ | ICA conference - International Council on Archives Congress - 2027 (every 4 years) | |
| DARIAH-EU Digital research infrastructure for arts and humanities https://www.dariah.eu | ||
| Europeana | ||
| NGOs | NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network) | Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC) - supported by corporate sponsors |
| CIVICUS | International Civil Society Week (ICSW) | |
| Council of Europe | Conference of International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) | |
| Social innovation | Social Innovation Exchange (SIX) | Social Innovation Summit |
| Ashoka | Global Social Innovation Summit | |
| Impact Hub | Social Innovation Week | |
| Social Innovation Exchange | ||
| Mashable - media | Social Good Summit | |
| European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) | Open Social Innovation Conference | |
| Open innovation | Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley. | World Open Innovation Conference (WOIC) |
| Innovation Enterprise | Open Innovation Summit | |
| European Commission and Open Innovation Strategy and Policy Group (OISPG) | Open Innovation 2.0 Conference | |
| Global Open Innovation Conference | ||
| Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan School of Management | Open and User Innovation Conference | |
| Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft | Open Innovation Week | |
| Innovation Roundtable | Innovation Roundtable Summit | |
| International Society for Professional Innovation Management | ISPIM Innovation Conference (International Society for Professional Innovation Management) | |
| Sustainability and environment | Apropedia - The sustainability wiki | |
| Wiki Green Initiatives https://wikigreeninitiative.org/ Accra Ghana | ||
| Green Web Foundation https://www.thegreenwebfoundation.org/ | ||
| Open Source Circular Economy Days https://oscedays.org/ (2015-2018) | ||
| Open Climate Campaign | ||
| Open data for life science | EU-Life Alliance of research institutes advocating for excellent research in Europe in life sciences research | |
| Wiki project Med | ||
| ZonMw https://www.zonmw.nl/en | ||
| EMBO https://www.embo.org supporting open research in life sciences | ||
| Funds - supporting open initiatives | Open Society Foundations (OSI) | |
| The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation | ||
| The World Wide Web Foundation | ||
| Welcome Trust | ||
| Knight Foundation | ||
| The National Science Foundation (NSF) | ||
| Skoll Foundation | ||
| Open Technology Fund OTF https://www.opentech.fund/ | ||
| MacArthur Foundation | ||
| Fundacion Karisma (Colombia) | ||
| Robert Bosch Stiftung (global issues) | ||
| Bertelsmann Stiftung (social change) | ||
| Stiftung Mercator https://www.stiftung-mercator.de/en/ | ||
| DFG Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) | ||
| Omidyar Network | ||
| Global Philanthropy Forum | Global Philanthropy Forum |
Requirements
[edit | edit source]Venue + lodging
[edit | edit source]The proposal - to be checked with potential organisers and partners - is to organise Wikimania 2029 as a global event in collaboration with many organisations and in particular with FOSDEM. Their interest and involvement need to be checked, but it can provide the event with a vast audience and a specific strength.
- Date: possibly - 1-4 February 2029
- Location: possibly - Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Bruxelles, Belgium.
Travel + visas
[edit | edit source]The advantage of organising a global event in Brussels Belgium is taking advantage of a series of European policies supporting active citizens, cultural participation, democracy, open science, open government, and free and open software. The event would take advantage of a long experience of FOSDEM always yearly organised in Brussels at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)and with a wide number of off events already disseminated among the city. Brussels offers all the facilities of a large city and airport, well connected also with the airports and cities of France, The Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany. The involvement of the university can facilitate the visa requirements (universities and academic event have specific support for visa management). The collaboration of the Wikimedia Foundation can support scholarships. Further, the long lead time for scholarship applications and acceptance (and the potential involvement of the relevant EU departments) will ensure higher visa success rates for non-EU participants.
Facilities + services
[edit | edit source]The most astonishing characteristic of FOSDEM - organised every year in Brussels with over 10'000 participants - is their capacity of organising the entire event with over 30 tracks all managed with free and open software. The entire event is streamed and recorded; the presenters are requested to edit their presentations on the same day after their session (they receive an email with a link to the video to edit it directly, approve it or ask for help). This capacity is far beyond the experience of Wikimania and it can really allow our event to collaborate with a very relevant and experienced reality, to gain experience and to take advantage of existing tools and practices.
The Université libre de Bruxelles which regularly hosts FOSDEM could be invited to join the organising team with a specific focus on Open Science. The direct involvement of the university could facilitate the availability of further spaces.
Safety + security
[edit | edit source]The "Open Movement Global" event will be implemented considering all risks and the best practices to guarantee a safe and respectful environment.
Differently from the Wikimedia events, FOSDEM doesn't require registrations, fees and it doesn't ask for personal data; nevertheless, the event has a code of conduct and a friendly space policy and the organisers report a very positive atmosphere without specific episodes of harassment or difficulties.
Alternate locations
[edit | edit source]In case FOSDEM is not available to collaborate in an "Open Movement Global" event, it is possible to consider an off participation (parallel to FOSDEM) or another location to be defined in collaboration with the other stakeholders.
Hybrid format and remote participation
[edit | edit source]Online participation, streaming and recording of all sessions will be guaranteed, and online active participation will be facilitated by a specific "online COT" devoted specifically to facilitating exchanges and a fulfilling online experience.
Time
[edit | edit source]If organised in collaboration with FOSDEM, the event needs to be organised at the beginning of February. Since the objective of the collaboration with FOSDEM is also to take advantage of the large visibility and involvement that this event is capable of triggering, it is essential to not change dates and location, to build on their experience and regular followers.
The proposal for 2029 is to have sufficiently time to involve stakeholders and networks, to put some distance from other events organised in Europe, and to organise the event within the current Wikimedia movement strategy which already highlights the value of the collaboration with partners, like-minded organisations and other stakeholders.
Additional
[edit | edit source]Objectives
[edit | edit source]The event "Global Open Movement" aims at contributing to an open movement, and to increase the impact of the open. More specifically the event aims at triggering the collaboration among groups, institutions and events already contributing to the open movement and communicating and making visible the power and value of the open.
By involving many groups, institutions and events and by focusing on a large-scale global gathering, the event aspire at having a larger impact than the single events and at experimenting and having fun while doing it :)
| Objective | Expected impact |
|---|---|
| Triggering the collaboration among groups, institutions and events already contributing to the open movement | Increasing the connections and interactions among groups, institutions and events already contributing to the open movement. |
| Exposing members of different groups and institutions already contributing to the open movement to different open projects and initiatives, to facilitate knowledge transfer and engagement in multiple initiatives. | |
| More efficient use of the resources, by focusing on scholarships to increase participation, inclusion and diversity at one large-scale event. | |
| Using the preparatory time of the event to work on knowledge transfer among groups and institutions already contributing to the open movement. Increasing the interoperability among open content, open software and open hardware and the interactions around common working areas (research, GLAMs, education, medicine, sustainability, climate change, inclusion and diversity, advocacy...). Supporting the creation and further development of joint actions. | |
| Communicating and making visible the power and value of the open | Communicating to a wide audience the value and power of the open. |
| Producing a communication which goes beyond the active communities and engages a larger audience. |
| People contributing to the open movements | Large public and communication | |
|---|---|---|
| Opportunities | Opportunity to gather and discuss with other communities.
Possibility to consider how to scale current experiences and solutions within the frame of the global movement. Possibility to consider more broadly open content, software and hardware. |
One track dedicated to the large public. |
| Risks | People tend to stay in their own group, do not exchange practices, do not truly have the chance to talk to people they do not know.
A large-scale event is difficult to navigate and to take advantage of: too many talks, events and gatherings. Too many people wanting to participate in the same events. Rooms packed and no opportunities to participate. |
The large public sees the open movement as small tribes and a niche. |
Increasing connections and interactions
[edit | edit source]| What it does for | Wikimedia | Software | Licenses | OER | Geodata | Academia | Government | Hardware | OpenGLAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikimedia | - | Better documentation/content/data on the Wikimedia projects, visibility of their policies / content / approaches | Disseminating the value of open licenses and tools (CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA and alike) | The Wikimedia projects as OER (free and accessible in over 300 languages) | Synergy with open geodata (links with Wikidata for taxonomies and other data)) | Wikimedia as a research infrastructure | Visibility of content from public administrations and public institutions | Dissemination of information about open hardware | Visibility of content from GLAMs, collaboration with the open communities |
| Software | Use of free and open software in all activities (also by affiliates) | - | Use of open and free software | ||||||
| Licenses | Training, procedures, support to VRTS | Open licenses also on content | - | Use of open licenses and tools on content (avoiding NC and ND); use of CC0 for data | Open licenses also on content | Use of open licenses and tools on content (avoiding NC and ND); use of CC0 for data | |||
| OER | Synergy with open educational resources released under open licenses and tools | Training and resources made available in the frame of OER | - | Training and resources made available in the frame of OER | |||||
| Geodata | Synergy with OpenStreetMap (issue related to the licenses) | Providing open geodata | |||||||
| Academia | Wikimedia and in particular Wikidata as research infrastructures | Development of free and open software within research projects and other services | Use of open licenses, in particular CC BY (avoiding NC and ND and use of CC0 for data) | Production of OER | Production of geodata | - | Support to public administrations (within research and services) | Development of open hardware | Research based on data from GLAMs (universities are also GLAMs :) |
| Government | Synergy with data and content from public administrations and public institutions released under open licenses and tools | Request to use free and open software among public administrations and institutions, support to the development of open and free software | Use of open licenses and tools (avoiding NC and ND); use of CC0 for data | Supporting training made available as OER | Providing open geodata from public administrations | Providing public data for research | - | Support to the development of open hardware | Support to open access among GLAMs |
| Hardware | Better documentation/content/data on the Wikimedia projects; | Use of open and free software | Use of open liceses | Providing training material as OER; producing training in the fields of robotics, digital fabrications and practical applications of coding | Using open geodata | Providing open hardware for research and services (also within academic fablab) | Supporting the open strategies of governments | - | Developing 3D reproductions, involving citizens in fablabs, use of open hardware to produce museum design and installations |
| OpenGLAM | Synergies with open communities, uploads on the Wikimedia projects | Use of open and free software | Use of open liceses - in particular CC0 | Production of OER in their didactic programmes | Use of open geodata | Production of research | Production of open government data (as public institutions) | Use of open hardware for installation design and participatory projects | - |
Risk mitigation
[edit | edit source]| Risks | Mitigation plan |
|---|---|
| People tend to stay in their own group, do not exchange practices, do not truly have the chance to talk to people they do not know. | Involving many volunteers to support and welcome participants. Organising games and activities which can facilitate socialisation. |
| A large-scale event is difficult to navigate and to take advantage of: too many talks, events and gatherings. | The program can be redesigned according to interests and communities. |
| Too many people wanting to participate in the same events. Rooms packed and no opportunities to participate. | Rooms with screens to attend talks also outside. Looking for larger rooms. Increasing the number of rooms. Estimated number of seats for the event. |
| The greater public sees the open movement as niche manned by small groups of specialist people. | Creating short videos to present people and communities. Communication campaigns to explain key concepts and show how the public already benefits from them. |
Structure of the programme
[edit | edit source]The Global Open Movement event aims at addressing a wide number of topics. The event addresses with different approaches and formats active members of the open movement and the general public. A communication campaign is specifically designed to communicate the global open movement, its vision, projects and communities.
Critical issues
- Digital democracy, digital rights.
- Privacy, misuse of data, digital sovereignty, transparency.
- Humans and machines.
- Access to knowledge.
- Creativity and innovation.
- Contribution to sustainability and to fighting climate change.
- Inclusion, diversity, care principles. Open what and for whom.
- Public benefit (vs. products).
Potential targets of the event
[edit | edit source]| Community | Aligned communities | Specialised public | General public | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Description | Active contributors of their specific community who would be keen to attend their own community event | Active contributors of other open communities | Critical minds, readers, people interested in the topic (i.e. professionals of cultural institutions, people working in ICT, artists, students and teachers, researchers, journalists, people working in and with media...) | Readers with no specific interest on the topics |
| Needs | They want to gather with their own tribe: sessions, discussions, special events
They want to feel they belong to their own group. They want to feel the conference belongs to them. They don't want to feel new and disorientated: they want to feel a connection with previous events and to find in this event something familiar. They want to present and be actively involved in the production of the conference. Often they do not like photos and they want to protect their privacy and their specific spaces |
They want to take advantage of the conference and feeling that the conference is serving them and providing them with something new and meaningful: knowledge, exchanges, new ideas, involvement.
In general they like to be active and involved and they like a feeling that the event belongs to them. They want to easily find the interesting sessions. |
They have a general curiosity on the topic and they want to know more.
They want to attend engaging and well-presented sessions. They enjoy being entertained with good and relevant content and possibly with good stories. |
They are probably not interested in the event, but they might be surprised by the news about it and by some good stories.
They can find information online and they might connect dots: getting a sense of what is behind the scene of Wikipedia, the Internet, the computer they use. They can get more aware of critical issues such as democracy of the Internet, misuse of personal data, proprietary software... |
| How to reach them | Tracks, dev rooms, list of conferences devoted to specific communities
Specific programme Specific website (their own website) Their own graphic design or connection to their visual identity Easy to identify in the programme their sessions (logo). |
General programme
Sessions conceived for a general audience without specific background on the topic Easy to identify in the programme relevant sessions (logo) |
A specific track (and highlight of recorded sessions?). It is important to involve in the event specific groups for specific sessions: schools, educators, GLAMs, politicians, | Communication on social media, in the press. The more the event is large and surprising, the more it is likely to be visible and communicated. It is also important to involve in the event media partners, sponsor and other stakeholders which can increase the communication among their networks |
| Participation in the event | They probably prefer to attend their own conference or their own sessions. | They are likely to be interested to browse sessions related to other topics and communities. At the moment there are already a lot of overlapping among communities (i.e. licenses, advocacy, GLAMs, education, research, tech, infrastructures...): they can be engaged in the organisation of shared sessions | They could be interested in general sessions in particular if they have been invited specifically. | A guided tour of the open. Organising a visit to the conference to present what people are doing, meeting some of the contributors, visit the stands, maybe try a small game or experience of involvement (i.e. adding an information on StreetComplete https://streetcomplete.app/ or adding something on Wikidata) |
| Risks and critical issues to consider | Clear sign where photos are not authorised and maybe a specific green sticker for people allowing photos.
Clear sign if there are closed sessions or avoiding closed sessions |
Programme designed for different levels of expertise and interest in getting involved | They could take photos where not authorised. | We don't want the open communities to be observed as monkeys |
Logistics
[edit | edit source]| Most of the time at Wikimania | Wikimania 2029 at Open Movement Global | Why this change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | A COT Core organising team collaborating with the Wikimedia Foundation | A COT Core organising team involving a larger group representing also the different organisations involved. A specific COT for the online conference. | Groups and institutions involved need to be fully involved and being part of the decision-making process.
The online participation needs to have a specific programme and focus. |
| Venue | Conference centres, conference facilities at hotels. | University campus. | More sober, large and cheaper solution. |
| Programme | Around 6 tracks. | Over 30 tracks with at least one track conceived and designed collaboratively by all the institutions and groups involved. | The programme need to include new participants and interests. |
| Hybrid programme | Most of the sessions (or all the sessions) streamed and recorded. Limited active participation by online participants. | All sessions streamed and recorded and made available rapidly.
An independent COT core organising team for the hybrid conference with a specific event designed for online participation. |
Online participation needs to be designed specifically for its participants; if we want an hybrid conference, it is not sufficient to stream and to include comments and online participation.
Postproduction needs to be improved and made more efficient. |
| Registration | Registration fee of around 100 dollars (from 2024 set at 100 dollars; in the past was also more expensive). | No registration. Free and open conference. | The approach of FOSDEM with the collection of personal data and a more open and free (as freedom) participation |
| Food | Lunch is included in the registration fee and provided for all attendees at no additional costs.
Some dinners offered within the event or organised directly by the participants. |
People pay for their food. They can buy food at food tracks with different proposals, they can but sandwiches or they can eat in restaurants near-by.
People with scholarships can be provided with vouchers or other support. |
It would not be possible to provide meals without registration.
It is a cheaper and more sustainable solution. |
| Accommodation | Accommodation is organised for people receiving a scholarship and for Wikimedia Foundation staff. Other participants organise their own accommodation. | No significant changes. | |
| Travel | Travel is organised for people receiving a scholarship and for Wikimedia Foundation staff. Other participants organise their own travel. | No significant changes. | |
| Scholarshops | Around 200-240 scholarships provided, with a growing attention to increase the number. The scholarships also provide some pocket money to cover all the expenses of the participants (also evening meals) | Probably scholarships can be significantly increased with a specific focus on inclusion and diversity.
The pocket money will cover also all the costs related to food. |
By not providing catering and selecting a more sober venue, the event will probably cost significantly less and it can greatly benefit from more scholarships with a specific focus on inclusion and diversity. |
| Visa | An invitation letter is provided to people receiving a scholarship by the organisation affiliated to the local team and by the Wikimedia Foundation to facilitate access to visa. | We need to eventually ask support to Wikimedia Europe as local partner for visa. The event could be endorsed by a university and be facilitated by the international agreements for academic conferences. | There is a change in the structure of the organisation. |
| Volunteers | Volunteers involved in the COT Core organising team and during the event. | A large team of volunteers from all the groups and institutions involved. | The event will need a significant number of volunteers and people can be interested in participating in such a peculiar event as volunteers. |
| Party | There is normally a welcome party and a farewell party at Wikimania with food, some drinks, music and dance. | Participants will enjoy Bruxelles pubs to gather after the conference. There can be a programme of meetups, excursions and games. | Some games and activities can be organised. It will be difficult to manage numbers. At FOSDEM people often gather in the same pubs and most of the people hang out outdoors in the February weather with a surprising capacity to adapt to the adverse climate. |
| Trust and safety | Participants sign the code of conduct when they register. The code of conduct is enforced by trust and safety. | the code of conduct is presented on the website of the conference and it is printed and available in the venue. There is a team working on trust and safety during the event. | The event aims as usual at a respectful and pleasant atmosphere; the code of conduct shared by the partners is enforced. |
| Communication | The event is communicated on Wikipedia site-notice, through the Wikimedia communication channels. The communication is essentially internal. There are often some articles coming out on national newspapers about Wikimedia with interviews to Jimmy Wales. Local press highlights the presence of the event in their territory. | The aim is to increase the international communication and visibility of the open movement. The focus is not on the event but on the power and value of the open. We expect a larger event with a large participation of groups and institutions can drive a specific interest. Having time ahead can facilitate a stronger communication with a crescendo. | The event aims at increasing the international communication and visibility of the power and value of the open. It aims at showing that the open movement is not a niche but a mainstream, large, sustainable, powerful and existing presence. |
| Funds | Supported by Wikimedia Foundation and volunteers. Involvement of partners and some technical sponsors. | Wikimedia Foundation would provide the normal support but funds would rather go on scholarships than in expenses. Work to involve partners and sponsors. | The size and the involvement of many groups and institutions can attract partners and sponsors. Wikimedia Foundation is asked to not reduce its support to Wikimania but to use it as much as possible to support scholarships. |
Possible questions and remarks
[edit | edit source]- Why it is not called Wikimania Bruxelles? The event is not centred around Bruxelles, but around the open movement. The goal of the event is to organise the largest gathering we ever produced. To do it Bruxelles is strategic, because of FOSDEM and because Europe and the US are where the largest Wikimedia communities live; Bruxelles can also provide a collaboration with the European Union; at the moment the US don't seem to be the best option for visa reasons.
- Why February? FOSDEM takes place in February and if we want to collaborate with the largest existing open event on earth, we need to adjust to their schedule and take advantage of their well-known regular calendar.
- How about two Wikimanias, one in February and one in August? We can not have two Wikimania because we can not duplicate efforts nor dilute our communication. We can have only one large Wikimania, reframed in a global event of the open movement. But we can have in the other months regional and thematic events (also in August).
- Do we need to decide now? Yes, to be able to manage all the contacts and networking it is necessary that the Wikimania Committee and the Wikimedia Foundation team take a decision. We can not launch an global event and then having Wikimania deciding it is not supporting it.
- Is it going to be more expensive than usual? No, the event can be organised with the same resources invested for the other wikimanias in the last years. The event will probably cost less compared to other venue, but it is important to invest the same amount of resources in scholarships, with attention to inclusion and diversity.
Request to the Wikimania Steering Committee
[edit | edit source]To be able to start implementing this proposal, it is necessary to receive from the Wikimania Steering Committee and the Wikimedia Foundation event team a first expression of interest and support, which allows to contact the network, invite people to join the organising team, and express their support or remarks.
The feasibility of this proposal depends on many elements, but the event can only be organised if the value and relevance of a “Open Movement Global" event is recognised and supported.
Bibliography
[edit | edit source]- Tarkowski, A., Keller, P., Warso, Z., Goliński, K., & Koźniewski, J. (2023). Fields of open. Mapping the open movement. Open Future. Retrieved from https://openfuture.pubpub.org/pub/fields-of-open
- Tarkowski, A., Janus, A., & Warso, Z. (2023). Shifting tides: the open movement at a turning point. Open Future. Retrieved from https://openfuture.pubpub.org/pub/shifting-tides.
What do you think?
[edit | edit source]Please add your endorsement, comments and suggestions in the discussion page. Thanks :)