Youth Conference 2025
Welcome, friends of Wikimedia Youthǃ
editWikimedia Youth Conference 2025 is a three-day event for young Wikimedians from all over the world, which takes place on 16-18 May 2025 in Prague. The main focus of this conference will be How to attract young people to Wikipedia?
The event is primarily organized by the Wikimedia Czech Republic with the support by the Wikimedia CEE Hub, as the Hub already has experiences with the young members. CEE Youth Group is an initiative of the CEE Hub to informally connect young people from the Central and Eastern Europe across the region to support capacity building in this area.
The main contact person is Klára Joklová, WMCZ ED and WM CEE Hub steering committee member who is a co-founder of CEE Youth group.
Origin
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In the spring of 2023, we established an informal CEE Youth group under the umbrella of the CEE Hub. We reacted to the simple fact that there was no good space to support the development of young wiki-talents in the region. Some volunteer with the support of a local organization, but many do not. The group soon grew and started meeting regularly. The first opportunity to meet in person was the CEE Meeting 2023, and the first youth-only event was the Youth Meeting in November 2023 in Prague. There, the participants worked out the content of the meeting the following year, which imaginatively culminated at Wikimania 2024, held in Katowice, Poland. There, CEE Youth members organized a youth meeting that had such an open and stimulating atmosphere that inspired us not to let the moment fall asleep and to build on it on a larger scale.
The idea was widely supported, with Wikimedia Austria, Wikimedia Armenia, Wikimedia Germany, Wikimedia Poland, Wikimedia Serbia, Wikimedia UK, Wikimedia Ukraine, in addition to the CEE Hub, which has supported it from the beginning.
And that will hopefully be the first global Wikimedia Youth Meeting in Prague.
Goals
edit- Make it more attractive for young people to get involved in the development of the Wikimedia movement.
- Create a support network that they can rely on for their long-term efforts and give them the tools to become more involved.
- Give a voice to young Wikimedians and support the development of their skills, especially their organisational skills.
Friendly Space Policy and Code of Conduct
editAll participants in the Conference are expected to respect and abide by the Wikimedia Friendly Space Policy and the Code of Conduct. Individuals not cooperating with these policies may be asked to leave the event.
Sustainable event
editWe will organize the event with maximum sustainability and locality in mind. We will prepare and test a Sustainability Manual.
Organizing team
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CET/CEST
Czech, English, Spanish
Klára Joklová (WMCZ)
klara.joklova
wikimedia.cz
CET/CEST
Russian, English, Czech
Anna Mayfat
anna.mayfat wikimedia.cz
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WMCZ
CET/CEST
Czech, Slovak, English
Lucie Schubert (WMCZ)
lucie.schubert wikimedia.cz
CET/CEST
Croatian, English
BKlen-CEEhub
barbara.klen wmceehub.org
We will be supported by a group of the most active young people from the CEE region who have already dedicated a preparatory meeting in November 2024 to prepare the benefits of this event.
Scholarship committee
edit- Barbara Klen (CEE Hub)
- Toni Ristovski (CEE Hub)
- MRB Rafi (Wikivibrance)
- Euphemia Uwandu (WMF/Wikivibrance)
- Francesc Fort (Wikivibrance)
- Martin Rulsch (Wikimedia Deutschland)
- Beverly Jiang (WMF)
- Enriqué Tabone (WM Malta)
- Olesia Lukaniuk (Wikimedia Ukraine)
- Zana Strkovska (GLAM Macedonia)
- Klára Joklová (WMCZ)
CET/CEST
Macedonian, English
TRistovski-CEEhub
CET/CEST
Croatian, English
BKlen-CEEhub
barbara.klen wmceehub.org