This year, when more than 2300 Wikimedians from 143 countries got together remotely and in person in Katowice, Poland, they were welcomed to a Wikimania made with love.
The Core Organizing Team poured 20 months of planning into a program in 6 languages1 that encompassed 4 days, 300 sessions, 12 tracks, and offered numerous meetups and parallel events, like the WikiWomen Summit and the Hackathon. It was an opportunity for us to celebrate the new Wikimedians of the Year, welcome the next generation of contributors, and put our heads together to improve and share knowledge about our product and technology. We sang together, we danced together, and, when the conference rooms got hot, we even built fans together.
During the opening ceremony, we talked about bringing gratitude and appreciation into our work as Wikimedians. Over half of the people registered to attend Wikimedia this year were attending for the first time, a new milestone for our movement. Throughout the conference, newcomers and veterans came together to appreciate and learn from each other and the strength of being in this mission together.
On the last day, celebrations continued at the closing ceremony, with the Coolest Tool Awards and the winners of an editing contest to enrich content on Wikipedia about Silesian history. We ended this year’s Wikimania in harmony, with the inaugural performance of the Wiki Orchestra and a Wiki Wedding at the closing party.
The Wikimedia projects are a testament to the generosity of Wikimedians, and what we can achieve when we come together for the sum of all human knowledge. This year’s Wikimania was a celebration of that generosity and love of knowledge. We can’t wait for Wikimania 2025 in Nairobi, Kenya!
- The love languages of this year’s Wikimania were Arabic, English, French, Russian, Spanish and Ukrainian. ↩︎
Can you help us translate this article?
In order for this article to reach as many people as possible we would like your help. Can you translate this article to get the message out?
Start translation