Organizing Wikimania 2023 : Results and Outcomes

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Butch Bustria of the Philippines (professionally working in Singapore) is the event lead of the ESEAP Wikimania 2023 Core Organizing Team (COT), also serving at the Wikimania Steering Committee. Vanj Padilla, also COT and from the Philippines assisted Butch in documenting Wikimania. This the final of the three part blog about ESEAP region’s experience in organizing Wikimedia Movement’s largest annual event.

Wikimania 2023 was the 18th edition of the annual conference that celebrates Wikimedia projects like Wikipedia and the volunteers who make them possible. This event took place from 16 to 19 August 2023 at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre and online, with the theme of “Diversity. Collaboration. Future.” The conference was hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia volunteers, chapters, user groups and allied groups from the East, Southeast Asia and the Pacific (ESEAP) region. Close to 800 participants attended the conference in person, and thousands more joined online through event platforms eventyay and YouTube as well as chatting over the Telegram messaging app and internet relay chat channels. The closing dinner and dance party happened at the Gardens by the Bay, south of Singapore.

The conference featured a rich and diverse program of lectures, open discussions, workshops, hackathons, exhibitions, and entertainment, covering topics such as the future of technology and generative AI, advancing gender equity on Wikimedia projects, preserving cultural heritage on Wikipedia, closing knowledge gaps by and for underrepresented communities, such as the ESEAP region and many more.

So… how did Wikimania turned out?

Highlights of Wikimania 2023

Among the program content and features that standout and became the highlight of Wikimania 2023 are:

AI advancements and the Wikimedia projects
Wikimania 2023 CC-BY-SA 4.0
First WikiWomen Summit at Wikimania
Wikimania 2023 CC-BY-SA 4.0
Sazau by Wikeint and Manuk Lembukun Dances from Borneo
Wikimania 2023 CC-BY-SA 4.0

For other program content including videos and slides you can visit the Wikimania 2023 program page.

Legacy of Wikimania 2023

Opening Ceremony & Wikimedian of the Year Awards 2023
Wikimania 2023 CC-BY-SA 4.0

Wikimania 2023 was a memorable and inspiring event that brought together hundreds of volunteers and free knowledge leaders from around the world. It was a celebration of the Wikimedia movement and its vision of empowering and engaging people around the world to collect and develop valuable content to disseminate it effectively and globally.

We are happy to tell you some great output of the event which includes:

  • Wider discussion on the effective use, opportunities and threats of Artificial Intelligence;
  • Opening gates of collaboration such as partnership between the youth of Japan with Türkiye and Malaysia;
  • Learning of newcomers and emerging volunteer contributors through the Wikimedia Workshops (Wikipedia, Wikidata, Commons, Wikisource, Wiktionary;
  • Greater emphasis and assistance on regional and thematic hubs such as ESEAP;
  • Solidify the advancement of the feminist cause, and created a safe and inclusive space to share strategies, debate, reflect and forge alliances and common agenda;
  • Learning best practices and initiatives of various communities from GLAM, education to technology and open data;
  • Greater interest in soft skills and leadership development through the Let’s Connect program;
  • Effective collaboration of regional community such as ESEAP together with the Wikimedia Foundation and support of the global community in organizing the most diverse and extensive Wikimania so far, and will be used as a model in future editions of Wikimania;
  • Inclusion of future hosts of Wikimania at the planning stage of Wikimania 2023 to allow them to observe, calibrate and evaluate for their organizational planning; and
  • Fully opening Wikimania to the world, wherever they are: to watch live or in the future, to present, to meet, to engage in discussions and to co-celebrate free, open, and shared knowledge.

Thank you.

Closing Wikimania 2023
Wikimania 2023 CC-BY-SA 4.0

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who contributed to the success of Wikimania 2023. It was a great opportunity to learn from the experts, exchange ideas with the peers, and network with the potential collaborators. I appreciate the hard work and dedication of all volunteers, Foundation staff and partners who made this event possible. I also thank all the participants for their active involvement and enthusiasm. I hope you enjoyed the event as much as I did, and I look forward to seeing you again in the future.

We at the core organizing team wholeheartedly appreciate all the feedback you provided in the post event survey, uploaded content on Wikimedia Commons, diff posts, and social media especially this post from X (Twitter).

Wikimania 2023 Group photo.
Image taken by Don Wong for Tiny Big Picture, uploaded by User:Selsharbaty (WMF)

Fellow Core Organizing Team

  • Andrew Lih (United States) Lead Adviser, Liaison to the Wikimania Steering Committee
  • Gnangarra (Australia) Scholarships Chair, Exhibitions Chair
  • Robert Sim (Singapore) Technical Subcommittee Chair, Event Technology Infrastructure Chair
  • Nur Fahmia (Indonesia) Communications Subcommittee Chair, Social Media & Visual Designs
  • Vanj Padilla (Philippines) Chair, Events related to Equity and Inclusion Social Media & Public Relations Event documentation
  • Venus Lui (Hong Kong/ Germany) Trust and Safety Subcommittee Chair
  • Agus Damanik (Indonesia) Volunteer & Human Resource Coordination
  • Athikhun Suwannakhan (Thailand) ESEAP Community Relations Wikimania 2020 Event Lead

Others include:

    • Ameisenigel as Wikimania Wiki Translation Admin

    • Gisca Syalindri (WMF) for Wikimania Scholarship Coordination

    • Naila Rahmah Adien Gunarta for the Wikimania Visual Designs

Wikimedia Foundation led by Maryana Iskander, Chief Executive Officer

Wikimedia Foundation Movement Communications that helped on the Main Logistics

    • Mayur Paul

    • Lisa McCabe

    • Elena Lappen

    • Mehrdad Pourzaki

    • Rachit Sharma

Sakti Pramudya on Partnerships

Kelsi Stine-Rowe on Event Evaluation

Lucas Pasqual on Social Media

Brooke Camarda, Lauren Dickinson, Johan Jönsson on Press and Digital Media

Trust and Safety Team

Digital Safety Team

My fellow members on the Wikimania Steering Committee

    • Iolanda Pensa, Chair

    • Phoebe Ayers, Vice-Chair

    • Andrew Lih, our liaison

    • Florence Devouard

    • Iván Martínez

    • Eric Luth

    • Gnangarra (my fellow ESEAP)

Wikimania 2023 Program Subcommittee which I am Chair

    • Alan Ang

    • Angie Cervellera

    • Anna Torres

    • Adélaïde Calais

    • Rémy Gerbet

    • Antanana

    • Ardzun

    • Arupako

    • Avicenno

    • Ciell

    • GhoziSeptiandri

    • Gopavasanth

    • JarrahTree

    • Jayprakash12345

    • Joycewikiwiki

    • K2suvi

    • Kunokuno

    • Mako

    • Nadzik

    • Rachmat04

    • Rju2022

    • Rosiestep

    • Ruby D-Brown

    • Ryuch

    • Shanluan

    • Tarunno

    • Wojciech Pędzich

    • Slavina Stefanova (WMF)

    • Leila Zia (WMF)

    • Andrew Lih

Wikimania 2023 Scholarships Subcommittee which Gnangarra is Chair

    • DerHexer

    • *Youngjin

    • Anntinomy

    • Dsvyas

    • Joycewikiwiki

    • Kitanago

    • Luisina Ferrante

    • Slashme

    • RamzyM

    • T Cells

    • Violetova and Виолетова

Wikimania 2023 Technology Events Subcommittee (Hackathon) which Robert Sim is Chair

    • Slavina Stefanova (WMF)

    • Onyinyechi Onifade

    • Andrew Lih

    • Jay Prakash

    • Vasanth Gopa

    • Szymon Grabarczuk

    • Kenrick Angarra

    • Omar Sansi

    • Joris Darlington Quarshie

Wikimania Event Technology Selection Subcommittee which Robert Sim is Chair

    • Bachounda

    • Joris Darlington Quarshie

    • Imelda Brazal

    • João Alexandre Peschanski

    • Kayode Yussuf

    • Wasi

    • zBlace

    • Abigail Agbenomba

1st WikiWomen Summit team

    • Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight

    • Vanj Padilla

    • Masana Mulaudzi (WMF)

    • Tila Cappelletto (WMF)

Movement Strategy team

    • Yop Rwang Pam

    • Belinda Mbambo

    • Natalia Szafran-Kozakowska

    • Junko Nakayama

    • Vivien Chang

    • Kaarel Vaidla

Let’s Connect & Leadership Development team

    • Beverly Jiang

    • Jessica Stephenson

    • Nitesh Gill

    • Chinmayee Mishra

    • Jan-Bart de Vreede

    • Nada Alfarra

    • Asaf Bartov

    • Anthony Diaz

Pre-conference at Google Asia Pacific

    • Sakti Pramudya

    • Stefan Fussan

    • Bodhisattwa

    • Taufik Rosman

    • Anthony Diaz

    • Ilham Mufti

Post conference at National Library

    • Rachit Sharma

    • Alan Ang

    • Pru Mitchell

    • Silvia Gutiérrez de la Torre

    • Angie Cervellera

    • Alice Kibombo-Ekanya

    • Omorodion Okuonghae

    • Mike Dickison

    • Dr Tamsin Braisher

Wikimedia Basic Workshops

    • Arjuna Fiqrillah

    • Asaf Bartov

    • Rafli Noer Khairam

    • Joris Darlington Quarshie

    • Jan Beranek

    • Leon Liesener

    • Dreamy Jazz

    • Mike Dickison

    • Dimas Hardijanto

    • Taufik Rosman

    • Benny Lin

    • Ahmad Ali Karim

    • Satdeep Gill (WMF)

    • Farouk

    • Nur Fahmia

    • Sam Wilson

    • Agus Damanik

WikiMapathon

    • Susanna Ånäs

    • Eugene Alvin Villar (seav)

    • Dennis Raylin Chen

    • Rxerself

Photowalk at Wikimania 2023

    • Suyash Dwivedi

    • Commons Photographers User Group

Affiliates and Community Groups in the ESEAP Region who helped in the decision making process and other support

    • Wikimedia Australia

    • Wikimedia Indonesia

    • Wikimedia Korea

    • Wikimedia Thailand

    • Wikimedia Community User Group Hong Kong

    • Myanmar Wikimedia Community User Group

    • Wikimedia Community User Group Malaysia

    • Wikimedia User Group of Aotearoa New Zealand

    • Vietnam Wikimedians User Group

    • Wikimedia Taiwan

    • Wikipedia Asian Month User Group

    • Paiwan Wikimedians User Group

    • Philippine Wikimedia Community User Group (PhilWiki)

    • Wiki Advocates Philippines User Group

    • Wiki Society of the Philippines

    • Shared Knowledge Asia Pacific

    • Pilipinas Panorama Community

    • Bikol Community

    • Hablon

    • Hopengiu

    • Amis

Event Partners

    • UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

    • Creative Commons

    • Open Knowledge Foundation

    • Google & Google Asia Pacific

    • Mozilla Foundation

    • National Heritage Board Singapore

    • National Library Board Singapore

    • Singapore Tourism Board

    • Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau

    • National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre

    • MyCommunity

    • NETS

Special Thanks to

    • Ms. Joon-Nie Lau Singapore Press Club

    • National Youth Advancement Award Council for the Youth Volunteers, Wiki Loves Living Heritage Singapore, Social Media Photo Scavenger Hunt, and guided tours

Technical partners

    • THE MASTERPLAN LLP Event Technical Planning and Project Management

    • Suntec Singapore Convention an Exhibition Centre Conference Venue

    • Unearthed Productions Audio Visual Production

    • Eventyay, FOSSASIA Event Management and Virtual Platform

    • Pretalx Conference Management Application

    • Gardens by the Bay

    • IdeaInk for the Highlight Sketch of the Conference

Digital Ambassadors from

    • Malaysia

    • Philippines

    • Indonesia

    • Singapore

    • Japan

Accommodation

    • PARKROYAL on Beach Road

    • Village Hotel Bugis

    • Pan Pacific Singapore

Image taken by Chinmayee Mishra
Uploaded by me CC-BY-SA 4.0

and to all Wikimedians who supported us in our journey!

Thank you!

Maraming salamat po!

Terima kasih!

Matur nuwun!

Mauruuru koe!

Agyaman la unay!

Dios mabalos!

どうもありがとうございます

謝謝

감사합니다

ကျေးဇူးတင်ပါသည်

ขอบคุณ

សូមអរគុណ

ຂອບ​ໃຈ

Баярлалаа

On a personal note, thank you Wikimedians for celebrating my birthday at Wikimania.

The first part of the series narrates ESEAP’s journey to Wikimania 2023.

The second part of the series covers the program design of Wikimania 2023.

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#104015

[…] Author: Butch Bustria Source […]

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#104063

Thank you for hosting the fabulous event and sharing your stories. My memories of Wikimania 2023 become more beautiful thanks to your wonderful Diff articles. I appreciate the efforts you made.

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