A beginner’s guide to a remote Wikimedia conference

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Perhaps you’re busy with your daily lives and have no time for a physical conference. You’re maybe that kind of guy that can end up being frozen just by looking at a large crowd of people. Or perhaps you failed to obtain that scholarship to travel to your dream conference.

Whatever it is, sometimes we have to resort to going for a virtual Wikimedia conference, whether it’s Wikimania, a regional conference or anything in particular. A blessing from disguise from the coronavirus pandemic; the Wikimedia movement’s embrace of remote conferences enable the movement to go beyond the venues into our gadget screens, bringing up a much more rapid and open dissemination of conference content within the movement, individual or organizational, wherever they are.

Landmarked by the offline edition of Wikimania in 2021, the hybrid system has stayed since, embraced by later Wikimania editions and other conferences such as ESEAP Conference 2024, where I proudly participated in person. However, that’s not the case for this year’s Wikimania in Katowice, where I participated merely behind my laptop screens.

However, it should never be seen as a bad thing after all! Despite missing chances from a few only in-person streams, having active communications and tons of side cultural activities, one can make the most of their remote times in a way that satisfies themselves and brings apparent impacts for their local Wikimedia communities.

Here, I would like to share my remote experiences in Wikimania 2024, so you can make the most out of your at-home Wikimedia conference, and beyond!

Before the conference

Register for the conference!

At the first of the list: register, of course! Two good things about being virtual is: 1) it’s free, and 2) you can just register anytime! Just go to Meta-Wiki, search for the conference name that you want to participate in, and follow the steps for registration. Likely (as in the case of Wikimania for example), you’ll be given an e-mail with your registration details, i.e. the “ticket”, where you’ll access the virtual conference.

Well, to be fair, you can just go under the radar and join virtually without registration; Wikimania 2024 for example, also has live streams directly in YouTube, but there’s some drawbacks:

  • You won’t have access to a more immersive virtual interface. Virtual Wikimedia conferences are held in virtual presentation platforms such as Eventyay and Zoom, where you have the chance to share your thoughts and inquiries live rather than if you just watch it through YouTube.
  • You won’t be counted within the official attendance statistics! Yes, you’re just a single person and it’ll mostly won’t make a large dent, but basically you’ve missed (officially) being part of something bigger.

Planning on what streams to watch

Cool, now you’ve registered! Then, you’d probably have to wait for a bit until the presentation list is announced? How do you know this? Just look at their social media! (take Wikimania’s Instagram account for example).

You’ve (probably) waited, and now the schedule is out! You’ve entered the next step: choosing what conference to join live! Why? Sadly, you can only taste one timeline, but there’s many sessions occurring at the same time-you’ve got to choose! (But it’s not the end of the world, don’t worry; more on this later).

Determine the part of the conference that suits your timezone—the part that suits your sleep schedule and other things (we don’t want to make you tired, you know, plus it’ll make your conference experience less effective). Then, from the sessions that occur at the same time, pick the ones that:

  • You have a great interest on;
  • You probably have a lot of knowledge of so you can share your knowledge together in the session;
  • The ones presented by your friend(s) just for support.

During the conference

You’ve waited and it’s time! It’s time to storm yourself, become the Wikimedian weekend warrior and enter the Wikimedian uhh … “holy grounds” … behind the screen. Anyway, here’s some steps to enhance your virtual experience, and give a larger impact to your community, even beyond the conference weekend.

Note-taking

You’ve probably been told of note-taking during class, or heard of the journaling trend in recent times. Note-taking is a serious deal; our memory isn’t perfect, and note-taking complements that. More than that, taking notes gives you a bigger movement impact; it enables you to easily re-read what you’ve learned, pondering on it, and enhancing it with further actions. Take notes when watching the streams. Maybe you can leave some personal tidbits later on, insert examples that you know of, or probably ask something over your notes to the presenter(s).

What I do is pull out a Google Sheets blank page, and just start writing notes during a session—it’s that simple. It’s up to you on how you want to write and customize your notes; it’s fully yours, after all. If you like it on paper, sure. Make it colorful or you’re a black-and-white dude, it’s up to you. Probably put a meme or two, why not … yes, I did that in my notes.

Discuss with your group

You’re in a Wikimedia group? Cool! Now you can share your experience and what you’ve learned with them! They’re likely joining the fun, perhaps even physically, and as excited as you are for the conference!

Oh wait, you don’t have any groups to start with? You can start looking for your project’s Internet groups, perhaps in your main wiki page, or in Meta-Wiki. Or you can just search it up in your searching engine such as “Wikimedia Indonesia” etc., you’ll find it, eventually.

Hyping up the participants

“Hyping up the participants” is just my cool word for “socializing”. Well, how can you socialize in a virtual conference? Firstly, we have various online groups for Wikimania itself, for example! Here are some Telegram groups that you are more than welcome to enter:

As usual, per above, you can refer to the official sites in Meta-Wiki for localized groups on your hometown. (Or you can ask the members in the groups above!)

Then, be kind! Greet the members, share some tidbits, discuss notes, or just simply know each other. They’ll definitely be more cheerful to you! Just remember to not push them too much; they’re likely to be tired during the conference, anyway. That’s how I feel sometimes in a Wikimedian conference.

After the conference

Ok, now the conference’s over, so what are you gonna do now? Don’t worry; the weekend’s maybe over, but Wikimedian conferences (and conferences in general) are about impact-the impact that’ll drive your projects, and your movement forward.

Watching other streams

Remember just now when I said don’t worry about not being able to watch all the sessions live? Oh well, you can find the sessions on YouTube! The Wikimedia Foundation channel will host all recorded streams of Wikimania. Do remember that it’ll take some time for the responsible committee to upload each stream into it, so just subscribe to it, and be patient while they’re managing and uploading the records.

Have further discussions

Now that your friends are back in their homes, it’s time for subsequent actions from your movement! You can discuss more on what you’ve learned, figuring out what’s the best for your team, and act on it. Perhaps you can host a post-mortem session, a sharing meet-up, it’s up to you. Just keep the ball rolling, and don’t let your experience be kept in vain.

Share!

Share your findings! Let other people (i.e. the public) know what you’ve up to and join in the fun. Do it through your LinkedIn, your social media accounts, your personal blogs, anything on your reach. My friend, for example, shared his experience in his weekly periodical in one of Malaysia’s prime newspapers. Perhaps it’ll not go that far, but likely, there’s some people who will support and follow you in your movement. As people said, failure is not by not succeeding, but not trying.

Conclusion

Wikimedia conferences, as with academic conferences in general, are the hearts of our movements, and it’s imperative that the spirit of it continues and expands beyond it. With the upbringing of hybrid sessions, the spirit of knowledge is more than easier to thrive. In the end, it’s up to us on how to maximize its potential, and accelerate the progress of our noble movement forward. And of course, have some fun as the weekend warriors of knowledge. I really hope to see you soon in a Wikimedia conference, between faces or online! Of course, if you have any more tips that you would like to add up to this post, feel free to share!

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