ESEAP Conference 2022/Report/Dimas H (WMID)

Four years after ESEAP Conference 2018 in Bali, Indonesia, the second regional conference finally happened in Sydney, Australia. I'm pleased we have many new faces in our movement, which I met during the conference. I believe ESEAP Hub will be sustainable in the future.

Lessons learned

I learned several points as I got new perspectives from other countries' situations, cultures, etc.

The importance of ESEAP Hub and our voice within the global movement

The ESEAP region has enormous cultural and language diversity, which may become a double-edged sword. Our movement will become thriving as many Wikimedia projects can be developed into several languages, but to make it cohesive will require a powerful will. Communication between members and transparency of decision-making will play a vital role.

ESEAP region has another disadvantage when we want to be more active in the global scope, language barrier and time zones. English is not our native language, which hinders us from effectively communicating our thoughts. The language barrier may be improved at the individual level. The time zones, however, are a systemic issue as several office hours or crucial meetings are organized at midnight in the ESEAP region. We hope all sessions will be scheduled two times, the first being Asia and America-friendly and the other one Europe, Africa, and America-friendly.

Human rights issues

The democracy index within the ESEAP region is varied. Some countries are full democracies. Others are flawed democracies and also many authoritarian regimes. Within flawed democracy countries, democratic backsliding is happening. Of course, within authoritarian regimes, Wikipedia is blocked and we don't have voices inside those countries. However, even in democratic countries, some contributors feel unsafe editing Wikipedia, especially editing political articles.

As WMF noticed this concern and has a Public Policy Specialist for Asia, each affiliate or user group needs to prepare the worst-case scenario for this phenomenon.

Affiliates leadership development

It always fascinates me to listen to stories about communities or user groups passionate about contributing what they love. Paiwan Wikimedians User Group that wants to revitalize the Paiwan language or Wikimedia User Group of Aotearoa New Zealand pioneering their program.

Language diversity

Words from WhisperToMe resonates within my thought. Using English may be exhausting for some people, so we must respect their choice to use their native language in some situations. As an inclusive movement, Wikimedia needs to consider this.

Wikimedia projects in education

As a pharmacist, I was inspired by Athikhun and Wafiq by using and actively contributing to anatomy and medicine topics. Athikhun researched the correlation between views of anatomical features in Wikipedia and the importance of that feature to learning and knowing.

On the other hand, Wafiq's effort to increase the availability of medicine topics on Malay Wikipedia needs to be learned. As Malay and Indonesian Wikipedia has a shortage of medicine-related topics.

My participation

As a competition coordinator of Wikimedia Indonesia, we have many experiences executing competitions in Indonesia. I shared some of these experiences with the conference participants on creating simple contests. I also give some tips if they want to collaborate with other organizations during the competition.

During ESEAP Hub sessions, I gave my opinions and some suggestion for the future of ESEAP Hub.

Future plans

These are my plans for the next program in Indonesia based on ideas and participants' presentations.

Audio competition in local language projects

Kunirasem's presentation on WikiSwara inspires me to conduct another audio contest. Instead of Wikipedia articles, it will be better suited in Wiktionary.

Education

As a former deputy coordinator of the education program, some of the presentations may still be relatable to me. Venus's presentation of some cases is what happens during Wiki Training. Too much jargon in the Wikimedia environment. It is challenging for us to explain these terms to the newcomer adequately. We may need to create a glossary of Wikimedia-related terms for the general public.

Wikipedia in the Classroom module is already translated into Indonesian. But we need to deploy this to educators yet. Imelda's story of this successful program in several countries may motivate us to continue this program in Indonesia.

Web2Cit tools also help write references in a correct manner easily. We may integrate this tool during Wiki Training.

Comments

Accommodation and venue location are within walking distance, which is excellent.
I appreciate one person per room. As for introverts, sometimes you need to be alone.
It may be challenging, but for the next conference, it will be nice to have live interpretation during sessions.
I enjoyed every social event. Sometimes, interesting stories can be found at these social events.