This year we hosted the third edition of "Wikipedia for Peace", a two-week project organized as a "workcamp" in cooperation of Service Civil International (SCI) Austria and Wikimedia Austria. In the course of the project 15 people from different countries and language backgrounds came together in order to edit Wikipedia articles about peace and a particular focus on Women for Peace. This year's peace camp took place in from July, 22 to August, 1 in Jenbach, Tyrol. Three developments of this year's workcamp were particularly notable: Firstly, two former participants (one in Austria and one in Germany) became active camp hosts this year, also as a result of the train the trainers event in March. Secondly, the participants collaboratively worked out and agreed upon their friendly space policy for the event, which creates more understanding and commitment among participants then a simple link on an event page that many people don't even read. Thirdly, the 2017 camp was extremely successful in terms of productivity with more than 100 new articles in 14 languages!
Beyond Austria the idea of the peace camp also gets more and more positive attention: A German attendee who participated last year, hosted another work camp in July in Berlin, Germany and a Wikipedia for Peace spin-off which took place in June during World Pride in Madrid. For next year, communities in Switzerland, Poland, and Bulgaria expressed interest.
WMAT sent seven scholarship recipients, one winner of the 2016 editing contest, as well as two staff members to Wikimania 2017 in Montreal, Kanada. Over 40% of the participants were first-time Wikimaniacs.
Some highlights of this Wikimania from our perspective:
Three Hackathon newbies from Austria also attended the Hackathon in Montreal (only one of them was a scholarship holder).
Our new contest WikiDaheim started in July and some improvements on the code were made during Wikimania.
We could share our learnings around the mentoring program and the extensive documentation around the Hackathon in an official session and numerous meetings and informal discussions.
As every year, Wikimania was a great bonding experience between volunteers, staff and volunteers with the Austrian team and in relation to the wider movement. It was also very helpful for onboarding one of our new board members into the international aspects of Wikimedia, especially this year, where the movement strategy played a very prominent role throughout the event.
Nine of eleven members of the German-language Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee met in Frankfurt, Germany from August 25th to August 27th. Such in-person meetings take place every one or two years. They are dedicated especially to the discussion of problems which can't be solved in the normal online routine of the committee. The German-language Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee went through a major crisis last year. WMAT supported an Austrian member with travel costs.
We support Wikimedia Commons contributors with equipment from our tech pool, accreditations for events, travel grants, post-processing software and skill transfer activities.
Selected files
Austria women's national football team for UEFA Euro 2017, reception by the federal president
Austria women's national football team for UEFA Euro 2017, reception by the federal president
Photography in Montreal during Wikimania
Soccer: TuS Koblenz vs. SG Dynamo Dresden
Photography in Hawaii
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