WikiIndaba conference 2018/Report/Douglas Scott

Event Name

WikiIndaba Conference 2018

My Input

I participated both in my role as President of Wikimedia ZA and in my role as lead organiser for Wikimania 2018.

As president of Wikimedia ZA I was there to represent the South African chapter and get a better understanding of broader African issues affecting other African usergroups, chapters, and editors.

As lead organiser for Wikimania 2018 I did three things. One was to increase awareness of Wikimania and what to expect whilst attending the event. Answer questions about Wikimania 2018. Get feedback that will help us as Wikimania 2018 organisers prepare and measure impact.

Participant Connections

Some of the people I met for the first time at WikiIndaba 2018:

Outcome

Wikimania 2018 workshop

WikiIndaba workshop attendees working what they would like to see coming out of Wikimania 2018.

I ran the last exercise of WikiIndaba which was focused on getting feedback concerning Wikimania 2018 and its theme. There event went well; it was well attended and positive feedback was given. We also got some valuble feedback on:

What exactly are the problems facing Wikipedia and free knowledge projects generally in Africa?
What can Wikimedians in Africa do to promote free knowledge projects like Wikipedia?
How can Wikimania in Cape Town help?

A poster presented at WikiCon in Berlin. The poster is about the theme of Wikimania 2018 in Cape Town and why it is important. Also presented are the top three issues that attendees at Wiki Indaba voted that they would most like to get from attending Wikimania.

Part of the process was to help attendees with getting a clearer idea of what they would like to present at Wikimania, what they want to do whilst there, and what they want to get out of attending the event when they do go.

Three of the most popular points of feedback recieved from this process was:

Empowering volunteers
Ongoing engagement before, during, and after Wikimania
Establishing alternative delivery and referencing methods

This data was used both to better prepare for Wikimania 2018 and for the creation of a poster presented at WikiCon Berlin a few months later articulating the theme of Wikimania 2018.

Other outcomes

Was able to extend the deadline for submissions to present at Wikimania based on feedback from WikiIndaba attendees that they were unable to put in their applications to present due to also having to attend Wikimania. The original deadline was on the last day of WikiIndaba, this deadline was extended by one week. This would likely not have happened had I not been in attendance to receive this feedback.
A number of very productive face-to-face meetings were done with Emna and Felix who are on the program committee for Wikimania 2018.
Learned how to build bots, something I have always wanted to learn!
Worked on organising the Libraries pre-conference event with Alex and Felix

Overall I feel that WikiIndaba was very very well organised and effective in both allowing for network development between attendees and knowledge sharing between usergroups and organisations. Great work team Tunisia!

Photos

My Photo Appearances
Wikimania 2018 Workshop - one of the top three voted important issues: Empowering volunteers
Wikimania 2018 Workshop - one of the top three voted important issues: Ongoing engagement before, during, and after Wikimania
Wikimania 2018 Workshop - one of the top three voted important issues: Establishing alternative delivery and referencing methods
Discussions at WikiIndaba
Douglas at the Wikimania 2018 workshop
Douglas and Andrew talking.