ESEAP Conference 2024/Report/Wadakuramon

ESEAP Conference 2024 Report

This is the first time I have attended an ESEAP Conference. So I started by finding out what ESEAP is. Therefore, my report is divided into three parts: before, during and after the conference.

Before the Conference

1. I learned about the guidelines of ESEAP, so I posted them to my blog.

• ESEAPとは (What is ESEAP)
• ESEAP2024プログラム (Program of ESEAP 2024)

2. I translated Diff articles about ESEAP 2024 into Japanese.

• ESEAP会議2024のテーマとアイデンティティが発表される (Unveiling the Theme and Identity of the ESEAP Conference 2024)
• ウィキメディアESEAPの航海は地平線を超えたコラボレーションへ向かう (Navigating Wikimedia ESEAP’s Voyage Towards Collaboration Beyond the Horizon)

3. I translated Wikipedia articles about Kota Kinabalu into Japanese.

• Taufic Rosman ; Sabah Museum ; Sabah State Library

During the Conference

1. My contribution was to give a lightning talk at the conference.

A 70-year-old Wikipedian talks about the charm of libraries (Aliceinthealice, CC BY 4.0)

• A 70-year-old Wikipedian talks about the charm of libraries

This presentation was made during I2 - Community Spotlight: Japan. There were three presentations in this session with a focus on Japan.

ESEAP Conference 2024, Day 2 (9) (Jason Liow, CC BY-SA 4.0)

2. I learned about the implementation of the Wikimedia movement in many countries. For exanple:

• Wikisource Loves Manuscripts: A Partnership Perspective on Collaborative Efforts to Preserve Cultural Heritage: Most Indonesian manuscripts are in England and the Netherlands. To access them, they need to be digitized. This is where Wikisource comes in.

• Bridging IPGM Campus Kent’s Collaboration Network With the Community through Wikimedia: The Kent Teacher Training Institute in Sabah is working on the preservation by Wiktionary of the local indigenous language, Kazadandusun, a central Dusun language. 2022 saw the beginning of activities by Taufik Rosman, and the creation of the Kent Wiki Club in 2023. It is also working with the Universiti Malaysia Sabah and the University of Brunei Darussalam.

• Wikimedia's role in collaborating with IPGM Campus Kent to promote and preserve the Kadazandusun Language: The presentation by Dr. Linah Bagu, a teacher at the Kent Teacher Training Institute, began with a song in the indigenous language. Her love for their language was beautifully conveyed. She talked about the practice of incorporating Wikimedia into school education.

• Women@Work: More than just a Wikimedia contribution: The Women@Work project focuses on the working conditions of women in the Philippines, extracting topics from numerous interviews and documenting them on Wikimedia.

• How to Encourage Women in Mainland China to Actively Participate in the Wikimedia Global Movement: Interviews with three female Wikipedians in China were conducted to explore ways to expand their activities in the future.

• What about WANZ?: WANZ stands for Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand, and Aotearoa is the Maori word for New Zealand. It is a new community that is taking on the challenge of documenting its own history and cultural characteristics using Wikimedia.

• Awareness of copyright issue in South Korea: In South Korea, Namuwiki, which is separate from Wikipedia, was established in 2015 and is very popular because it has more articles with a looser stance on copyright than Wikipedia. It has become a problem not only in terms of copyright, but also in terms of the authenticity of its content.

3. I also learned about the Wikimedia projects with which I had been less familiar.

• Wiktionary Workshop@Sabah State Library (Pre-conference): In this workshop, participants learned how to add Coastal Kadazan words to the Wiktionary.

• Korean wikidata & Mix'n'Match: Although the presenter does not speak Korean, she discussed how she uses Mix’n’Match to enhance the content of Korean Wikidata. This is a peculiarity of languages that use non-Roman characters. Even researchers who do not speak such languages can practice improving Wikidata items by using Mix’n’Match.

After the Conference

1. I will share my experiences to write some articles on Diff, my blog, e-mail magazine, and so on.

• ESEAP 2024 was featured in a Japanese E-mail magazine|Diff
• Writing articles about Malaysia on Wikipedia and Diff|Diff
• Learned Congka game in Malaysia|Diff

2. I will exchange information and share experiences (e.g. translating Diff) with people I meet at the conference.

• メダン・ウィキメディア・コミュニティ：成長し続ける！|Diff (Medan Wikimedia Community: Keep Growing!)
• ウィキメディア生態系へパートナーを迎える：ESEAPカンファレンス2024からの学び|Diff (Welcoming Partners into the Wikimedia Ecosystem: Lessons from ESEAP Conference 2024)

3. Some of Wikipedians have asked to read translations of my book, so I have decided to translate bit by bit into English, which I have been posting on Diff.

• A 70-year-old Wikipedian (1) Meet the Encyclopedia

4. To encourage community activity, I have created a Japanese Diff Facebook group.

• Diff日本語版同好会|FB

Comments about the Conference

It was a happy time for me, as I felt that everyone I met, without exception, shared the values of the Wikimedia movement. I was able to see and hear the voices of many of the actual people who are responsible for this movement.

Teamwork of Wikimedia Malaysia is wonderful. I can not forget their hospitality, kindness, and sense of beauty. The many cultural performances presented during the conference were also amazing. My eyes were particularly glued to the young performers who performed their beautiful dance moves. I was happy to be able to experience Malaysia's rich culture.

Thanks to all participants in the conference.