Wikimania

Infobox Convention
name = Wikimania


caption =
status = Active
genre =
venue =
location = Frankfurt, Germany (2005)
Cambridge, Massachusetts (2006)
Taipei, Republic of China on Taiwan (2007)
Alexandria, Egypt (2008)
Buenos Aires, Argentina (2009)
country =
first = 2005
last =
organizer = Wikimedia Foundation
filing = Non-profit
attendance =
website = http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Wikimania is a conference for users of the wiki projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. The first conference was held in Frankfurt, Germany, August 4–8, 2005; the second ran August 4–6, 2006, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; the third conference was held August 3–8, 2007, in Taipei, Taiwan; and the fourth conference was held in Alexandria, Egypt from July 17-19, 2008. Topics of presentations and discussions include Wikimedia Foundation projects, other wikis, open source software, and free content.

Overview

Wikimania 2005

The first Wikimania conference was held in the "Haus der Jugend" at Frankfurt, Germany, August 4 to August 8 2005.

The week of the conference included four "Hacking Days", from August 1–4, when some 25 developers gathered to work on code and discuss the technical aspects of MediaWiki and of running the Wikimedia projects. The main days of the conference, despite its billing as being "August 4–8", were Friday to Sunday of that week, August 5–7. Presentation sessions were scheduled all day during those three days.

Keynote speakers included Jimmy Wales, Ross Mayfield, Ward Cunningham and Richard Stallman (who spoke on "Copyright and community in the age of computer networks"). The majority of sessions and conversations were in English, although a few were in German.

Sponsors of the event included Answers.com, SocialText, Sun Microsystems, [http://www.doccheck.com DocCheck] , and Logos Group.

Wikimania 2006

Wikimania 2006 took place from August 6 to August 8 2006, at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States. It had about 400 [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/technology/07wiki.html?ex=1312603200&en=c7f5a3bc5ad54239&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss The Many Voices of Wikipedia, Heard in One Place] ] -500 [ [http://www.reason.com/news/show/36969.html Reason Magazine - The Neutrality of this Article is Disputed ] ] attendees.

Speakers included Jimmy Wales, Lawrence Lessig, Brewster Kahle, Yochai Benkler, Mitch Kapor, Ward Cunningham, and David Weinberger. Dan Gillmor held a citizen journalism unconference the day after.

Wales' plenary speech was covered by the Associated Press, and printed in numerous worldwide newspapers. He chronicled how the Foundation evolved from him "sitting in his pajamas" to the maturing corporate structure that it is now; the frequent push for quality over quantity; Wikipedia will be included on computers distributed through One Laptop per Adult; both Wikiversity and the creation of an advisory board were approved by the Foundation board; and that Wiki-WYG is in development thanks to private investment by Wikia, Inc. and Socialtext. [ [http://www.supload.com/listen?s=SI0OG2vN04i MP3 of Jimmy Wales' plenary speech at Wikimania 2006] ]

Answers.com was the Wikimania 2006 Patron sponsor, while Amazon.com, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, Nokia, WikiHow were Benefactors-level sponsors, Wetpaint, Ask.com, Yahoo!, and Socialtext were Friends-level sponsors, and IBM, FAQ Farm, Elevation Partners, One Laptop per Child, and the Sunlight Foundation were Supporter-level sponsors of the conference. [ [http://wikimania2006.wikimedia.org/wiki/Sponsors Wikimania 2006: Sponsors] ]

Three other teams submitted hosting bids, for the cities of London, Milan, Boston, and Toronto; only Toronto and Boston were passed to the second round of consideration by Wikimania organizers. Toronto would have hosted the event in the University of Toronto's Bahen Centre.

Wikimania 2007

As announced on September 25, 2006, [http://wikimania2007.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikimania 2007] was held in Taipei, Republic of China on Taiwan from August 3, 2007 to August 5, 2007. It was the first to hold a volunteer training course. [http://wikimania2007.wikimedia.org/wiki/Volunteer_training/20061209]

Three other teams submitted hosting bids, for the cities of London, Alexandria, and Turin. Official bids from Hong Kong, Singapore, Istanbul, and Orlando failed to make the shortlist. Bids for Geneva, Chicago, and Las Vegas were never made official. [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimania_2007/Bid_list]

On August 3, 2007, "New York Times" reporter Noam Cohen reported: "The conference has attracted about 440 attendees, a little more than half from Taiwan, who want to immerse themselves for three days in the ideas and issues that come up making an entirely volunteer written encyclopedia. The workshops cover practical topics like how to collaborate peacefully; what importance to give 'expertise' in a project that is celebrated for allowing anyone to contribute, including anonymous editors." [ [http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/03/in-taipei-wikipedians-talk-of-fundraising-and-wikiwars/ New York Times] article "In Taipei, Wikipedians Talk Wiki Fatigue, Wikiwars and Wiki Bucks" report by Noam Cohen and edited by Saul Hansell published August 3, 2007]

Wikimania 2008

was held in Alexandria, Egypt from July 17 to July 19, 2008. The venue was the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Three cities were in the running at the end, the other two being Atlanta and Cape Town. Karlsruhe, London and Toronto submitted official bids, but later withdrew. There was a controversy about the conference because of Egypt's alleged censorship and imprisoning of bloggers. [ [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/07/boycott-wikiman.html Is there a boycott of Wikimania 2008? | Technology | Los Angeles Times ] ] [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/21/business/link21.php In Egypt, Wikipedia is more than hobby - International Herald Tribune ] ]

Wikimania 2009

is going to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Final selection was made between Buenos Aires and Toronto; Brisbane, Australia and Karlsruhe, Germany submitted official bids, but later withdrew from consideration.

Wikimania 2010

The process for choosing the for is currently underway.

Notes and references

External links

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;Wikimania 2005
* [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania05 Wikimania 2005 proceedings]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,,1546162,00.html "Worldwide Wikimania"] Sean Dodson, The Guardian, August 11, 2005
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4152860.stm "Rewriting the rule books"] Alan Connor, the BBC, August 15, 2005

;Wikimania 2006
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* [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/technology/07wiki.html?ex=1312603200&en=c7f5a3bc5ad54239&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss "The Many Voices of Wikipedia, Heard in One Place"] Robert Levine, The New York Times, August 7, 2006
* [http://www.thephoenix.com/article_ektid19620.aspx "Anybody can edit: A weekend of Wikimania"] Ian Sands and Jess McConnell, The Boston Phoenix, August 11, 2006
* [http://www.reason.com/news/show/36969.html "The Neutrality of this Article is Disputed"] Katherine Mangu-Ward, Reason, August 15, 2006

;Wikimania 2007
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* [http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/2007/08/06/117187/Wikipedia-founder.htm The China Post - "Wikipedia founder rewards volunteers" Monday, August 6, 2007 - By Dimitri Bruyas]

;Wikimania 2008
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* [http://www.kaltura.com/devwiki/index.php/Wikimania_Sessions Videos of Wikimania sessions on Kaltura's devwiki]

;Wikimentary Project
* [http://globalvision.wikia.com/ Home page - a documentary covering Wikimania that users can create and edit themselves]