ESEAP Conference 2024/Report/WAqil (WMYS)

Things the participant learned/contributed or participated in or since the conference

This was my first time to organize such a big conference. There are so many things I learn in terms of management of the venue, people, equipments and everything. It was my first time also to serve as Trust & Safety team and it was such an invaluable experience on how do I handle and response to cases, thank to Venus and the T&S team.

Contributed

I was the Conference Lead and the Core Organizing Team for the ESEAP Conference 2024, meaning I would be in everything, be it Trust & Safety, Scholarship, Programme and etc.

I am very thankful to all our ESEAP Conference 2024 team for all their hardwork, support and dedication that we manage to organize this big event as a success. I was very exhausted, but I am happy with what all our team had invested in. From planning to running the event, they all did an amazing job. Every detail was handled well, and any problems were quickly solved. It is a pleasure to work with such a talented and committed team.

Participated

I could not participate all session as I am monitoring and managing the whole conference. Most of the time was spent to walk in different room to ensure everything works smoothly in terms of technical, security, program flow and etc. But I was able to join few session even though it was very hectic. Some were:

All ESEAP Hub session: I joined all the session and submitted my vote on the ESEAP Preparatory Council, which questioned either to extend the mandate or proceed now timeline. I also added few of my opinions on the whiteboard provided, and suggest Malaysia as a host for the next ESEAP 2025 meeting.

The Wikimedia Foundation’s Annual Plan Conversation with ESEAP: Even though I had already familiar with the Annual Plan as I was the one translating in Malay language, still I learn a lot from the dialogue. I learned about how Community Wishlist process is managed, explained by WMF Product and Technology, like how they are supporting support to experienced editor who mostly makes the Wikipedia as a safe place. They supports idea and get votes for the idea then get prioritized, how they also heard feedback to figure out what community needs and which to spent best on resources. Also I take noted on question from Venus Lui who asked the Foundation about what resources can Foundation provide to our region. The people from Foundation answered that they support in many ways for ESEAP region including grants, regional grant committee, human resources which is Jacqueline Chen, partnership support, communication support in ESEAP, also centralized team for best practice and etc.

Harmonizing Voices with WikiTutur: Wiktionary and Lingua Libre Collaboration for Language Preservation: I love to see the efforts of the Indonesian community in preserving and digitizing regional languages in Indonesia through this WikiTutur. The community Minangwiki, based in Padang, hosted many WikiTutur events focusing on the Minangkabau language. Volunteers were trained to input Minangkabau words into the Minangkabau Wikipedia and create audio recordings of these words. The goal is to make the language more accessible and easier to learn for those interested. WikiTutur helps in the preservation of languages that are at risk of becoming extinct. This digital archive ensures that future generations can access and learn these languages.

Bridging IPGM Campus Kent’s Collaboration Network With the Community through Wikimedia: I joined this session for a while and I am very eager to learn how the presenters which are lecturers of teacher's institute in Malaysia, using their education platform to intergrate Wikimedia for students. I would say they are still new to Wikimedia world but they had move in another leaps ahead. They have their own wiki club and organize many activities related to Kadazandusun language. I hope they will keep up the momentum and success in the future.

Indonesian Vulgarities in Wiktionary: The presentation discusses how people use swearing both to express anger and to provoke laughter. Rima introduce a method for editing vulgar terms in Wiktionary, including swearing, gay or queer slang, and terms related to illegal activities. I was shocked the first time I went into the session. Despite being commonly used and possessing unique linguistic traits, these words are often excluded from general dictionaries due to their taboo nature.

Hatch A Wikimedian is a talk briefing on leadership training program aimed at transforming participants from simple contributors to Wikipedia project administrators or campaign organizers. It is based on the 2023 Leadership Development Plan created by the Leadership Development Working Group, aligning with the Movement Strategy's focus on skill and leadership development. The program invites experienced Wikimedians from around the world to share their expertise with local volunteers, piloting the Leadership Development Plan. This initiative is intended to serve as a model for other regional affiliates, who can replicate the series of lectures and activities upon successful implementation.

Automoderator: Make fighting vandalism more easier for administrators and patrollers: This is a talk on The Wikimedia Foundation's Moderator Tools and Android teams which introduced features to help administrators and patrollers combat vandalism more efficiently. The "Automoderator" tool introduced help to automate the reverting of vandalism, and the Android app will include a native patrolling tool for reviewing new edits. This initiative is being piloted on the Indonesian Wikipedia, with an invitation extended to other ESEAP communities to participate and provide feedback. The session aims to foster collaboration among patrollers and administrators, addressing their needs and introducing a training task on the Android app to support new patrollers joining the experienced editor community.

Plans after the conference (from what was learned or contributed in the conference)

I'm planning to expand our usergroup members inclusively, restructure our organizational structure
Do a research on Malaysian communities on patterns of activities and interests (pending since 2022)
Expand WikiProject Medicine in Malay Wikipedia among Malaysian communities
Public outreach - increase our visibility in Malaysia

Comments/ suggestions about the conference

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