CEE/Newsletter/Newsroom/Report on Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2023
- By: Marija Mihajlova
Marija Mihailova was part of the Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2023 for the first time as a representative of the Aromanian community. She wrote that:
- This was my first time being part of the Wikimedia CEE Meeting and I had a great time there, because I met a lot of wonderful people, who helped me understand more about the meeting there, I learnt new things from various countries and I can’t wait to see all of the new goals from Wikimedia being realized and to be a part of the success.
The Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2023 (#WMCEE) stands as a yearly gathering dedicated to fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange within the Wikimedia community. It revolves around Wikimedia projects, which encompass Wikipedia and related initiatives, and primarily focuses on the Central and Eastern European regions, with recent expansions into Central Asia. This event showcases informative sessions on various aspects of Wikimedia projects, other wikis, free/open source software, free knowledge, free content, as well as the social and technical facets of these subjects.
The meeting of 2023 took place in the vibrant city of Tbilisi, Georgia, from September 15th to 17th and was organized by Wikimedia UG Georgia in close collaboration with the Wikimedia CEE Hub and Wikimedia Foundation (WMF).
The CEE Hub is governed by the Steering Committee that mainly consists of the members of the CEE Hub Group from countries like Ukraine, Hungary, Turkey, Serbia, North Macedonia, Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Malta and Poland.
Over those 3 days, that we passed in Georgia, I can safely say that although we had a lot of fun, we also had the chance to learn more about other country’s cultures and traditions through various projects that were presented to us. One of the main things that happened on this meeting in Georgia is that the CEE Youth Group, which was formed in May 2023, established some goals like having the first in-person meeting which is scheduled to be held during 24th and 25th of November 2023 in Prague, Czech Republic.
In the closing session in Tbilisi, a new Steering Committee was found for the upcoming event called “Wikimania 2024” (the 19th Wikimedia conference) which is planned to happen in Kraków, Poland in 2024.
This was my first time being part of the Wikimedia CEE Meeting and I had a great time there, because I met a lot of wonderful people, who helped me understand more about the meeting there, I learnt new things from various countries and I can’t wait to see all of the new goals from Wikimedia being realized and to be a part of the success.