Wikimedia Summit 2019/Wikisource Community User Group
Report for the Wikisource Community User Group at the Wikimedia Summit 2019, written by Gurlal Maan.
Wikimedia Summit 2019 took place on 29–31 March 2019 in Berlin, Germany.
Uncertainty about Participation
editFirst of all, my participation in Wikimedia Summit was not confirmed until 2 days before my flight because my visa got rejected twice. Most of my time before the Summit was spent in preparing the documents and visiting German Embassy in New Delhi. I got my visa in my third attempt and as I mentioned just 2 days before my flight.
I wasn’t sure how Wikimedia Summit works and with my visa troubles I couldn’t even communicate with the Wikisource community for best practices around participation in such a conference.
Participating in Wikimedia Summit as a Newbie
editAs it was my first conference, I didn’t know that I could have self-organized a Wikisource meetup but I still participated in the discussions around Strategy. Such as, I participated in a group discussion about Roles and Responsibilities and stressed on the importance of focus on Wikisource in Movement Strategy.
I think members of Wikisource Community User Group should guide any future participant around different ways in which he/she can engage at Wikimedia Summits or even other Conferences.
Challenges and Best practices of Indic Wikisources: Next steps
editAs I promised in my proposal that I want to take the User Group forward, I started discussions with Wikisourcers from India to identify major challenges they are facing. This will help the Wikisource Community User Group to create strategy.
Communities responses as per survey are below-