2023:Program/Submissions
16–19 August 2023, Singapore and Online
Diversity. Collaboration. Future.
Theme
The theme for Wikimania 2023 is Diversity, Collaboration, Future. It is intended to be cross-cutting and to apply as a lens to all programming ideas. Your submission should have elements connecting to at least one of these. A lot of what we do every day in Wikimedia – on the projects or in the community – is already reflective of the theme and very much in line with how the ESEAP regional collaboration identifies and operates.
- Diversity. Wikimania will be an opportunity to showcase regional and thematic groups such as ESEAP as examples of inclusion: different volunteer groups, individuals, and affiliates, at different stages of development and from different cultures closely involved and collaborating in an equitable way.
- Collaboration. As a distributed, global event, Wikimania will be a way to learn from each other and share knowledge like community initiatives, tools usage, organizing events, governance, online campaigns and edit-a-thons, solving Wiki-related problems, and more.
- Future. Wikimania 2023 will be significant to many Wikimedians as a forum to discuss implementing the 2030 Wikimedia Movement Strategy (#Wikimedia2030), and other current and future priorities facing our movement, from technology to policy around the world.
Tracks
To make the program submissions easier to organize and review, with the help of the programming subcommittee of volunteers, we have suggested 11 program tracks. Please see below for more information about the categories and their sub-categories. Think about which one best fits your program idea. If you think your submission applies to more than one track, you can specify a secondary track in the submission form.
| Program track | Description | Sub-categories / suggested topics |
|---|---|---|
| Community Initiatives | This track welcomes affiliates and communities to present their content development campaigns and programs. | ■ Campaigns
■ Editathons |
| Education | This track provides a space for initiatives and programs in education and academia. | ■ Wikipedia in the classroom
■ Partnership with educational institutions or teachers' association |
| Equity, Inclusion, and Community Health | This track provides a space to discuss equity, inclusivity, and belonging as ways to improve community health. | ■ Diversity centric discussions ■ Equity, Inclusion and belonging ■ Knowledge equity ■ User interface accessibility ■ Languages (& translations) ■ Gender gap and other gender diversity topics ■ IP address range blocks in countries with limited/ shared infrastructure ■ The Wikimedia Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC) ■ Safety of volunteer contributors |
| ESEAP (East, South East Asia, and the Pacific) Region | This track is meant to highlight initiatives by affiliates, communities, and individual contributors in improving content or concerns related to the East, South East Asia and the Pacific region. | ■ Multicultural collaborations in ESEAP countries ■ Community developments ■ Capacity development in Small and Incubator language Wikimedia projects |
| GLAM, Heritage, and Culture | This track provides a space for initiatives and programs in heritage and cultural conservation, collaborations with cultural institutions that include Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums. | ■ Digitalization programs ■ Open access advocacy ■ Working with Indigenous communities |
| Governance | This track supports community discussions focused on governance, structures and reform, key initiatives from the Movement Strategy. | ■ Movement Charter ■ Regional and thematic hubs ■ Roles and responsibilities in the movement ■ Decision-making processes ■ Wikimedia Global Council ■ Administrative specific governance (projects, community, affiliates) |
| Legal, Advocacy, and Risks | This track includes established topics of discussion, such as copyrights and digital accessibility, and newly emerged issues, such as rising censorship and misinformation in the world, as well as public policy and human rights. | ■ Blocking of Wikipedia in certain countries ■ Misinformation ■ Censorship ■ Legal threats, takedown requests ■ Government relations ■ Copyright reforms (Freedom of Panorama, free licenses, etc.) ■ Digital accessibility ■ Environmental sustainability and climate crisis |
| Open Data | This track gives space for community initiatives in data use and reuse, linking different Wikimedia projects together and beyond. | ■ Publicly accessible statistical data ■ Data use/ reuse ■ Open data and transparency ■ Interlinking geographic data, socio-economic data, demographic data ■ Wikidata or Structured Data on Commons |
| Research, Science, and Medicine | This track welcomes works of research with topics relevant to Wikimedia and the theme of Wikimania. It is also a space to discuss various content initiatives in the fields of science, nature, and medicine. | ■ Environmental studies and climate crisis
■ Studies on behavioral patterns in contributing content |
| Technology | The classic track dedicated to discussing everything product and technology in the Wikimedia movement. | ■ Latest products and features ■ Tool demonstration or tutorials ■ Tools in development or testing stage ■ Technological innovations |
| Wild Ideas | A future-oriented open track for Wikimedians to discuss wild ideas and predictions of the future... for good or bad. | ■ Scenarios in the near or far future ■ Black Mirror scenarios ■ Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning ■ The chatbot take over!!! |
Submission types
There will be several formats, including lectures, panel presentations, discussions, and workshops focused on skill development. There will also be sessions of lightning talks and social interaction. We are also open to new and original program format ideas, including combinations of types.
| Type | Description | Standard allocated time | Visual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workshops | These are sessions where the audience is actively interacting with the topic, usually focused on practical work, acquiring or strengthening a specific skill, or accomplishing a specific task. | 60 minutes | 
|
| Demonstration | In these sessions, the audience is given a live presentation or demonstration, such as technological innovation. | 30 minutes |
|
| Lecture | This is an oral presentation intended to introduce information, share ideas about a particular subject, or summarize the results of a project. | 30 minutes |
|
| Panel | This is a small group of subject matter experts or those with real lived experience speaking before an audience. It often includes a moderator who guides the discussion and sometimes elicits audience questions. Audiences are invited to interact with the panel and ask questions | 30 minutes |
|
| Roundtable /
open discussion |
This is a structured conversational process for discussing specific topics, sharing knowledge, and often collective decision-making. | 90 minutes |
|
| Lightning talk | This is a short, sharp presentation to enable a speaker to share a concept or idea, often as a teaser or a starting point for the audience to learn more. Lightning talks are often organized as a succession of speakers one after another. | 10 minutes (or less) |
|
| Poster session | Whether in-person or remote, you will have a dedicated time to present your poster topic and for the audience to ask you questions. Poster sessions can cut across topics and themes, usually presenting a project report or initiative, study results, research, or technology. | TBD |
|
| Entertainment session | Activities such as cultural demonstrations, games, movement, food, talk shows, podcasts, and other forms of entertainment can go here. | 30 minutes |
|
| Other | These are all other activities such as outdoor activities, photography walks, editathons, datathon, resource, and citation hunts, etc. | 30 minutes (duration may vary) |
|
Hybrid, Satellite events, Video on Demand
Movement groups can think about self-organizing watch parties and other remote events with the possibility of connecting live with Singapore during dedicated times each day. Not everyone in the community can or wants to travel to connect with other Wikimedians. You and your colleagues can organize a satellite event during a specific day or time of Wikimania. For Wikimedia affiliates, satellite events can be scheduled and funded as part of General Support Funds. Even if not initially included as a proposal, moving funds around in your budget might be possible to create an event. Find out more and please use its talk page for discussing ideas in advance.
Questions?
We have set up a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page for you. If you have other questions and they are not in the FAQ, you can email the program subcommittee at: wikimania