Talk:Wikimania 2021

When do expressions of interest open

Looking in the past it appears to be early September 2 years prior, but I dont see it for 2021. enL3X1 ¡‹delayed reaction›¡ 15:14, 12 September 2019 (UTC)

Apologies for the unintended duplicated announcements

MassMessage suffers from a bug that hits randomly. --Elitre (WMF) (talk) 17:21, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

Free software

I hope it's taken for granted that the infrastructure for the online event will rely exclusively on free software, otherwise the event would defeat its own purpose (free culture). 2020 saw several large events run on BigBlueButton, Jitsi and whatnot, so there are really no excuses any more. If WMF doesn't have internal resources to make this happen (which is understandable), it can outsource the task to someone with experience; ideally with ample time to complete any development and stress testing well before the event. Nemo 18:32, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

I agree that abandoning free and open-source software for closed source is, or ought to be, antithetical to the free knowledge movement. We should eat our own dogfood Vexations (talk) 19:08, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

I totally second this. The large freedom-embracing hacker conference based in Germany (Chaos Communication Congress) made their online event fully free software infrastructure: both their streaming services (media.ccc.de) and the virtual world for the conference experience. It's a good example to follow Digi-ark (talk) 21:55, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

there is Wikimedia Meet, however it is not able to support many people. It didn't worked with just 10... ValeJappo【〒】 08:42, 28 January 2021 (UTC)

FYI User:Gnom reported that he seemed to have had a lot of fun with the "WorkAdventure" spatialized. I was really impressed. ([1] [2] [3]). EDITED: The main issue is that they have a strange license that is a w:en:GNU Affero General Public License (free software) + a restriction (w:en:Common Clause License). Who knows if by contacting them they can clarify their ideas. --Valerio Bozzolan (talk) 10:56, 28 January 2021 (UTC)

User:Valerio Bozzolan I would like to learn more about the current approach and debate in Wikimedia regarding the licences. In my opinion, the "strange" licence used in the project addresses an issue that needs to be resolved somehow in the free software movement. As can be seen in their faq, the aim is to make a sustainable product. I doubt that there is a way forward if all good projects end up being appropriated and commercialized by large companies that have more resources to develop them. Kspriton (talk) 09:42, 11 May 2021 (UTC)

@Kspriton: You can learn more from WikiProject remote event participation/WorkAdventure --Valerio Bozzolan (talk) 10:27, 11 May 2021 (UTC)

Totaly agree. [Debian] people hosting their conference using Jitsi and voctomixer. So we can also try the same way. The advantage is that everything is under control. We can host and run the whole software and meeting solutions our own. Also very good for people who seek more freedom. --Ranjithsiji (talk) 12:08, 30 January 2021 (UTC)

BTW I hope that the direction is clear here: Wikimedia Foundation Guiding Principles#Freedom and open source --Valerio Bozzolan (talk) 16:23, 11 February 2021 (UTC)

Virtual World (with WorkAdventure)

See also: WikiProject remote event participation/WorkAdventure

There is a freedom software for hosting online conferences in a virtual world. It's called WorkAdventure and participants there can walk around the virtual world. When people are in close proximity they join a call seamlessly. Then there are certain spaces where people would get connected to a BigBlueButton room where they could join a workshop. The world iself could be created by the event spaces in a way that each Wikipedia project could fully customize their own. The software itself is not completely polished and would need some more development work. But I think it would make an excellent experience. Read more about it here Digi-ark (talk) 21:55, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

it could be interesting, but is it open source? ValeJappo【〒】 08:43, 28 January 2021 (UTC)

Nope. The license is restricted by the "Commons Clause". --Yair rand (talk) 09:56, 28 January 2021 (UTC)

(edited) Uh... the weird part is that yesterday I was talking with one of their developers and he assured me it was «100% open source software» as they had released the latest sprites recently that was the only existing issue bla bla. But they really use that weird license (GNU AGPL + a commercial restriction) that has no sense to me and it should be considered not valid [4] [5] It would be a shame if they missed the opportunity to receive funding or donations from non-profits and non-profit volunteers who want to sustain 100% freedom. Moreover that developer shared that that's not their business model, as they do other things in life (making websites). --Valerio Bozzolan (talk) 11:28, 28 January 2021 (UTC)

Maybe the business model of Wikimedia is worth a debate as well? I am not saying that their licence is the definite way to go, but I think that there is a underlying issue with regard to the sustainability of the free software movement. I don't think that insisting on 100% freedom is going to resolve economic shortcomings in the long run. Kspriton (talk) 10:03, 11 May 2021 (UTC)

I hope the licensing stuff checks out! Thanks for investigating. Digi-ark (talk) 06:56, 3 February 2021 (UTC)

Update. A kind guy from WorkAdventu.re sent me an economic quote, promising a call with me to assure a 100% free software solution. I think I can share some economic details in private. (again, I'm not speaking for Wikimania but just reporting FYI). In the meanwhile I would suggest to the next Wikimania organizers to stay ready to officially collect similar economic quotes to that and those Free software providers and developers. --Valerio Bozzolan (talk) 16:15, 11 February 2021 (UTC)

FYI today at 02.00 PM (CEST) I have obtained a call with WorkAdventu.re and I've invited User:Lea Lacroix (WMDE) to be together to ask for clarification from several fronts and needs. Anyone who has any other question to forward to them, feel free to ask us in time. --Valerio Bozzolan (talk) 00:33, 22 February 2021 (UTC)

We can continue in the talk page of WikiProject remote event participation/WorkAdventure that now collects some information in one place. This page was born after a very interesting meeting with the WorkAdventure's lead developer. The meeting was fixed three days ago by Italian Linux Society (again we did not attempt to override any Wikimania organizer) inviting User:Lea Lacroix (WMDE) (also not trying to override Wikimania organizers), to just, uhm, crossfire WorkAdventure with questions together. Spoiler: they seemed very willing and collaborative. asd --Valerio Bozzolan (talk) 09:45, 24 February 2021 (UTC)

Wikimania 2021 Updates: Save the date and Core Organizing Team

It is with great pleasure that we - the Wikimania Steering Committee - announce that Wikimania will be hosted virtually from August 13-17th, 2021 and that the Core Organizing Team (COT) has been selected and fully onboarded. Since 2021 marks the 20th anniversary of Wikipedia, Wikimania 2021's theme is 20 years of Wikipedia and all the humans that make it possible. We'll look back at our history and celebrate our future.

We thank everyone who applied to the call for volunteers] - it was a tough selection process given the impressive number of strong applicants we received. However, The Wikimania Steering Committee is pleased to announce that after due deliberation and assessment, we selected a total of 9 individuals from our broad community who will lead the way in organizing the first ever virtual Wikimania.

The official Core Organizing Team members are the following:

• Vanj Padilla
• Anna Torres (Anna Torres (WMAR)
• Susanna Mkrtchyan (WikiTatik)
• Winnie Kabintie
• Lea Lacroix (WMDE)
• Yamen Bousrih (Yamen)
• Gnangarra
• Bodhisattwa
• Lodewijk (Effeietsanders)

We trust that each COT member has the skills, dedication and willingness to come together and bring to life our very first virtual edition of Wikimania and to help create the necessary spaces for our community to continue to thrive and work together. We had originally foreseen the need for 4-6 individuals to form the COT but after such strong applications, we decided to extend that number to 9 individuals, given the great team that we identified could work together and flourish.

We invite you all to participate in Wikimania 2021 and to contribute to its content and success. The COT will be reaching out to some applicants who marked their availability to be volunteers in their application, but we also encourage you to let us know if you would like to be considered for volunteer roles and opportunities for Wikimania 2021.

With this said, as the functioning Wikimania Steering Committee, we would like to make public our endorsement of the Core Organizing Team and our trust that they will move forward with the great responsibility and excitement of bringing to life Wikimania 2021.

The COT will soon be announcing more information around Wikimania 2021 and how you can get involved - so please stay tuned. Please save the dates in your calendars, we hope to see you there!

Sincerely, on behalf of the Wikimania Steering Committee iopensa (talk) 19:41, 9 April 2021 (UTC)

Need of trainings

Multiple of trainings and awareness of Wikimedia to members. Training sessions should train members in how to us, edit Wiki pages. Gilbert Ndihokubwayo (talk) 16:27, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Gender and other personal data required for registration

Hi, where can we read about who has access to the registration data, what legal terms apply to which data processing or data holding organizations (e.g. GDPR compliance), and what guarantee we have that this data will be deleted after Wikimania?

This is particularly useful to make clear as participant's full legal name is required to join, along with their on-wiki account and though gender is an optional field, this may be information that could be misused.

Thanks --Fæ (talk) 16:23, 12 July 2021 (UTC)