Wikimania is an annual event which is held in a different city in the world, surrounding the works of Wikipedia, Wikimedia and their related projects. This year it was held in London, UK. It’s is in the 10th year with attendees from 83 countries in attendance this year. It was held in the Barbican Centre between Thursday 7th to Sunday 10th August 2014.
Below is the round ups of what went down in Wikimania 2014:
- Hackathon was held on 6th to 7th August 2014 which was a day where people with no experience to fluent users of the MediaWiki software come together to build and develop projects.
- The Opening Ceremony was held on Thursday 7th August 2014 at 19:00 with introductory greetings from executive and directors from Wikipedia and Wikimedia as well as keynote from Salil Shetty from Amnesty International.
- All attendees were provided with a t-shirt and a goody bag (choice of red or blue).
- Themes of the event: The Future of Education, Open Data, Open Scholarship, Democratic Media, Social Machines and State of the Wiki.
- Community Village had Wikimedia and open-knowledge-related organisations with stalls set up to socialise and to find out different projects anew and ongoing.
- There were 200 talks covering many diverse topics surrounding Wikipedia and any related contents covering from humanitarian topics or getting technical for the beginners. There was something for everyone!
- At the end of the day, there are entertainment running through the evening with music, shows and stand-up comedians.
- The Closing Ceremony was held on 10th August 2014 which the Wikimania torch was handed over to Mexico City.
There have been many discussions during the event and the main ones that struck me were the “monkey selfie” which became the starlight topic of the year attracting controversy left, right and centre. The other issue raised was “The Right to be Forgotten” which is not what Wikipedia or Wikimedia stands for. You can find further information on their Wikimania London’s website.
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