Wikimedia CEE Meeting
Wikimedia CEE Meeting is an annual conference centered on the Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia and similar projects) in countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It features presentations on Wikimedia projects, other wikis, free/open source software, free knowledge and free content, and the social and technical aspects which relate to these topics.
The idea was conceived at an informal meetup that took place on 6 August 2011 at Wikimania 2011 in Haifa. Most of the attendees from the countries of the region were present, and shared their experience in the efforts to establish a more global community.
Background Edit
Many countries of Central and Eastern Europe are not only related with their geographical proximity, but also share some traditional and historical issues. The region covers an area that has previously used to be a part of a wide cooperation among the peoples living there.
Justification/goals Edit
- a lot in common:
- shared cultural heritage from previous eras (and in many cases also from present co-operation)
- similar legal environment (many EU members or striving to be EU members)
- common copyright problems related to socialist/communist era (e. g. orphan images from dissolved organizations)
- NGO sphere underdeveloped, little willingness for donations
- many languages used only in a single country
- easy & relatively cheap to travel between many of these countries
- great opportunity to exchange experiences, learn best practices, create a meta community that spans country borders but has tighter connections than the global Wikimedia community
- could be used for chapters to learn from each another & to coach new/planned chapters
- could be used to combine national narratives into NPOV on various historical and political topics
Overview Edit
Wikimedia CEE Meeting Edit
- future events are denoted in italics
Other events Edit
It would be nice to have a large event where all CEE Wikimedians can meet at the same time, but also have a lot of smaller events like joint wikimeetups for two neighbouring countries, or even just inviting people from neighbouring countries for local wikimeetups. (Maybe we should have a separate Meta page for more general CEE collaboration topics?)
New ideas and recent discussions Edit
Older discussions Edit
- Old discussion (from 2005) (also some discussion at CEEWikiLink)