ESEAP Conference 2024/Report/MargaretRDonald

(This was my first in-person overseas Wiki conference and our hosts did everything right)

Things learned at the conference

The things learned were many, but the most notable and inspiring things for me, wereː

1. The most notable thing for me at the confeerence was the youth of most of the other countries' delegates. It was inspiring and an indication of where WM_AU has been less than successful. (The Australians would have formed the most elderly group at ESEAP.)
2. the report of the survey of contributors to jpwiki (Japanese Wikipedia). 330 Wikimedians were surveyed, of whom just 24 (7.3%) were women. 9 had started editing before they were 12, and 4 were over 70. The survey was extremely detailed and gave a detailed picture of who edits Japanese Wikipedia. Further information is given here.
3. the most useful session for me was the workshop on Open Street Map (OSM) where I finally discovered why I was frequently unable to edit. (I am trying to link rivers, bridges, places to their relations on OSM to allow more meaningful mapping of these in their related wiki articles.)
4. How to edit Wiktionary. This was taught us at a pre-conference session at the Sabah State Library where we worked on additions to the Kadazanusan Wiktionary.
5. We also had the privilege of watching many cultural performancesː The singing, dancing and martial arts displayed were extraordinary (and all performed by youthful Wikipedians).

Things the participant contributed or participated in or since the conference

I attended every session, and was privileged to present a workshop on Mix'n'match for Korean wikidata. In retrospect, this was over-ambitious for a one-hour workshop. I probably would have done better to present something on Korean Wikidata and why supplementing the Wikidata for Korean items is important. However, there is a problem in pitching a presentation in that it seems it must always be new, regardless of whether the message has been spread.

I am currently working with Wikimedia Australia on the shape of our next WikiCon and the pages which will allow Wikimedians to make their submissions (using the ESEAP 2024 pages as a basis for my pages).

Plans after the conference (from what was learned or contributed in the conference)

I believe it would be very useful for WM-AU to undertake a survey Australian Wikimedians, asking much the same questions as the Japanese. (Recruitment of respondents to such a survey could be via a central banner). (Such a survey would not target those who edit articles about Australian topics, but rather Wikimedians living & working in Australia,)

Comments/ suggestions about the conference

The preparations by our hosts for conference participants were superbː at the end of our long journey we were picked up at the airport and whisked to the hotel; and at all times we were well looked after (in particular this participant was very grateful to have been speedily evacuated at no cost from Mari Mari village); the hotel also had a business centre (a tiny room) which permitted me to print conference materials. In addition, the hotel staff were always most welcoming and helpful.

Others things you would like to add

Things which should have been done better

Voting on the final day for

1. the next city for ESEAP and
2. the next host city for the ESEAP council

was something of a shambles. The mechanisms should have been decided on by the council members present at the conference, and shown on a slide, together with the reasons for the choices made, prior to the vote being taken. As it was, the various choices made appeared to be a function of who had the microphone.

Images

General

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  view of South China Sea in the morning
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  Xanthostemon chrysanthuʂ in the heroes' park
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  Mesua ferrea (Ceylon Ironwoood) in the Warrior memorial park
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  burning egg carton (mosquito repellent at Mari Mari village

Ahmad's tanjak

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