User:Deryck Chan/2023/Cantonese Wikipedia submission

17 years of Cantonese Wikipedia, the Written Cantonese literary movement, and the Wikimedia movement

Short abstract

Founded in 2006, Cantonese Wikipedia has grown in a way that reflects two influences: wider events in the Written Cantonese literary movement and global Wikimedia movement initiatives. This session will look at Cantonese Wikipedia's history and invite a discussion on how Wikimedians contributing to languages with emerging literary movements can learn from each other.

Description

The editorial style and newcomers' attitudes towards the Cantonese Wikipedia have shifted since its foundation in 2006, mainly in response to events in the wider Written Cantonese literary movement and current affairs in Hong Kong and its diaspora, more so than events on Wikipedia itself.

The initial foundation of Cantonese Wikipedia was met with skepticism, at a time when Cantonese was seen as a tributary spoken language to Modern Standard Written Chinese, represented by the Chinese Wikipedia. The early editor community went to great depths to differentiate Written Cantonese from Standard Chinese. Over the years though, culture change in Hong Kong and the Cantonese diaspora, especially the cultural response to political events of 2014-2020, has put the Written Cantonese literary movement into the mainstream. The Cantonese Wikipedia's editorial style converged with the wider literary movement and the community gradually found a group identity that relied less on being different from major world languages like Chinese and English, and more on an authentic Cantonese identity around Hong Kong and its diaspora.

Over the years, the Cantonese Wikipedia community navigated these changes by selectively aligning itself with global Wikimedia initiatives, both technological and curatorial, in a way that reflects the uniqueness of Cantonese culture but encompasses as much diversity within the literary movement as possible.

This session will explore the history of the Cantonese Wikipedia and open up a discussion about the iteraction between Wikipedia culture and world events, and how Wikipedians from different language communities can learn from each other, as we seek to maintain diversity and collaboration in the Wikimedia movement.

How does your session relate to the event themes Diversity, Collaboration, Future?

This session examines how the diversity of editors on the Cantonese Wikipedia is shaped by the world. On each Wikimedia project, we collaborate within the constraints of world politics, culture, and the wider Wikimedia movement's governance structure. By looking at how the past led to where we are today as a movement, the session invites a discussion on how to navigate small to medium sized Wikipedias into the future, particularly in the context of Movement Strategy priorities.

Do you have any experience in public speaking, leading workshops or trainings, participating on a panel or delivering sessions? If yes, please elaborate.

I presented in many Wikimanias over the years, most recently in 2021:　https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Submissions/Cross-wiki_ideological_conflict_and_Wikimedia%27s_vision_of_knowledge_equity

Other recordings of my past presentations can be found in my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/deryckchan

Have you presented on this topic before or have any related references? If yes, please share a link.

I published an article in Cantonese about how the Cantonese Wikipedia's history had been shaped by the Written Cantonese literary movement in 2019, covering events from 2006 to 2019. The article was published on Gongjyuhok, a Cantonese-language news site about the language: https://gongjyuhok.hk/articles/2184

This proposed session aims to extend the topic to 2023 and also include the wider Wikimedia movement's influence on the Cantonese Wikipedia.