CEE/Newsletter/Newsroom/CEE Hub at the Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2023 in Tbilisi
- By: Toni Ristovski (CEE Hub)
CEE Hub used the CEE Meeting to have two additional in-person meeting days, one before and the other just after the Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2023. During these two days, two staff members and nine steering committee (SC) members prepared and/or fine-tuned sessions dedicated to the CEE Hub which were presented during the CEE Meeting 2023, discussed upcoming as well as strategic activities of the CEE Hub.
During the CEE Meeting 2023, CEE Hub representatives organised workshop with focus on a CEE Hub Year 2 Plan, which was officially approved just before the closing ceremony. During this session, the composition of the new Steering Committee was presented as well. Compared to the year before, one SC member left the steering committee and two new members joined making it a body of 10 members.
Additionally, during the CEE Meeting 2023, CEE Hub representatives (staff and SC members) talked with many representatives from the CEE region and attended many workshops and sessions.
CEE Hub was presented at the Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2023 by both staff members Barbara Klen and Toni Ristovski and nine Steering Committee members: Anton Protsiuk, Tisza Gergő, Kiril Simeonovski, Klára Joklová, Michał Buczyński, Philip Kopetzky, Toni Sant, Wojciech Pędzich and Käbi Laan.
CEE Hub meeting days
CEE Hub organised separate in-person meetings day before and day after the meeting, where Steering Committee members and both staff members had an opportunity to discuss various things, such as scheduled sessions during the CEE Meeting, preparation for the upcoming grant proposal, feedback from the participants of the CEE meeting about the CEE Hub, strategic activities of the hub, and many others.
Sessions
Barbara Klen as a CEE Hub coordinator was part of the opening ceremony where she briefly presented the CEE Hub.
CEE Hub staff (Barbara Klen and Toni Ristovski) held own presentation dedicated to the overview of the programmes per community in the CEE Region. This was our first attempt of grouping and finding similarities and differences between CEE communities. The session was extremely well attended and we plan to continue researching and exploring of this topic in the future as well.
CEE Hub Steering Committee members and the staff members held a workshop with focus on a CEE Hub Year 2 Plan, where we divided ourselves into eight different topics/working groups which correspond with the working packages of the CEE Hub's year 2 plan. We invited the workshop participants to go from one group to the other and to attend as many as they want and to comment or suggest what they think CEE Hub should incorporate into the year 2 plan. Each group used a separate Etherpad link, where we noted many new suggestions and comments, which helped us to fine-tune and finalize the annual plan for Year 2.
CEE Youth Group held their third meeting during the first day of the conference, where they had a chance to invite some new members to join the group as well. Additionally, during the second day of the conference, members of the Youth group had a separate session aimed to present both the Youth group and their individual work in their own communities/countries to the participants of the conference (slide deck from the session).
Approval
Just before the closing ceremony, CEE Hub had a separate session where all participants of the conference were invited to take a part in, where CEE Hub Year 2 was approved. Before the official approval, CEE Hub representatives presented once again the main points of the new annual plan.
Approved grant proposal for the CEE Hub Year 2 is already submitted on Meta. Stronger CEE Hub will be a continuation of the ongoing project "Building a CEE Hub" which has been implemented since June 2022.
Additionally, during this session, new Steering Committee members were presented; it was announced that one SC member will no longer be part of the committee, and it was also announced that the committee will have two new members. You can find current SC composition on the Meta page (2023/2024).
Käbi Laan thank you for your time invested into the activities of the CEE Hub, and welcome Başak Tosun (Türkiye) and Ivana Madžarević (Serbia).
Other
Violeta Firmu-Patel, freelancer who works for the CEE Hub, was participating in the CEE Meeting 2023 as well. As a part of her research, during the CEE Meeting she conducted several interviews and talks with selected individuals from underrepresented CEE communities. Once finalized, Violeta's research results and recommendations will be used by the Wikimedia CEE Hub during 2024 to create new approaches when working on community building in underrepresented CEE communities.
Additionally, during the meeting CEE Hub was working on defining members of the CEEM 2024 Selection Committee (SelCom), which has a task to chose a host for a Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2024. You can find their names on the Meta page.
At the closing ceremony, Vera from Slovenia received a barnstar WikiCelebrate as a sign of appreciation for her Wkimedia related work.
Gallery
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CEE Youth Group after the meeting -
CEE Youth Group after the session at the CEE Meeting -
Approval session of the CEE Hub -
New Steering Committee (2023/24) -
Group photo at the Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2023 -
Group photo from the drone -
CEE Hub staff members -
Vera from Slovenia received barnstar WikiCelebrate
