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Expression of interest Objectives Context analysis Stakeholders Programme Logistics History Organisers
Please refer to 2029:Expressions of Interest/Open Movement Global

Expression of interest: Open Movement Global (possibly with FOSDEM, Brussels, Belgium)

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Abstract/description

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Open Movement Global is a global event of the open movement inviting all institutions, groups and events already focusing on the open to gather and collaborate.

The event incorporates Wikimania 2029 and the idea is to have the event in February 2029 in Bruxelles together with FOSDEM with over 10'000 participants.

  • Why a global event. We have been talking for many years to make a joint open event, we already tested many important and relevant collaborations and now is maybe time to produce such a collaborative global event.
  • Why a large scale event with more than 10'000 participants. We need to show the word that we are big and mainstream. The open is where the world is going or where the world can go: it is an important and central working direction, and it is a vision which already involves many people and institutions. Making a collaborative large scale event is a way to state, show and communicate to a large audience the value of what we do and our mainstream position.
  • Why something different. This is an experiment: if it is a successful experiment we could replicate it maybe every 4 years. In any case, we do not aim to centralise all open events every year, because communities also need tribal gatherings and they need to have their specific spaces. It is also healthy to allow Wikimania to transform itself, to test new working directions, to reflect on what is most useful and relevant for the movement and to work to have the greatest impact, not only in the moment but also in the world.
  • Why 2029. 2029 allows to have sufficient time to communicate the proposal and invite and involve as many institutions, groups and events as possible.
  • Why FOSDEM in Bruxelles (Belgium) in February. Because FOSDEM is currently the largest conference focussed on the open. It already involves over 11'000 participants. We need of course to check if FOSDEM likes the idea and if it is feasible. The collaboration with FOSDEM would also make realistic the idea of producing a large scale event with over 10'000 participants. Read the diff article about FOSDEM and listen to the audio by its technical team about how the event is produced.

Requirements

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Venue + lodging

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The proposal - to be checked with potential organisers and partners - is to organise Wikimania 2029 as a global event in collaboration with many organisations and in particular with FOSDEM. Their interest and involvement need to be checked, but it can provide the event with a vast audience and a specific strength.

Date: possibly - 1-4 February 2029
Location: possibly - Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Bruxelles, Belgium.

Travel + visas

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The advantage of organising a global event in Brussels Belgium is taking advantage of a series of European policies supporting active citizens, cultural participation, democracy, open science, open government, and free and open software. The event would take advantage of a long experience of FOSDEM always yearly organised in Brussels at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)and with a wide number of off events already disseminated among the city. Brussels offers all the facilities of a large city and airport, well connected also with the airports and cities of France, The Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany. The involvement of the university can facilitate the visa requirements (universities and academic event have specific support for visa management). The collaboration of the Wikimedia Foundation can support scholarships

Facilities + services

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The most astonishing characteristic of FOSDEM - organised every year in Brussels with over 11'000 participants - is their capacity of organising the entire event with over 30 tracks all managed with free and open software. The entire event is streamed and recorded; the presenters are requested to edit their presentations on the same day after their session (they receive an email with a link to the video to edit it directly, approve it or ask for help). This capacity is far beyond the experience of Wikimania and it can really allow our event to collaborate with a very relevant and experienced reality, to gain experience and to take advantage of existing tools and practices.

The Université libre de Bruxelles which regularly hosts FOSDEM could be invited to join the organising team with a specific focus on Open Science. The direct involvement of the university could facilitate the availability of further spaces.

Safety + security

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The "Open Movement Global" event will be implemented considering all risks and the best practices to guarantee a safe and respectful environment.

Differently from the Wikimedia events, FOSDEM doesn't require registrations, fees and it doesn't ask for personal data; nevertheless, the event has a code of conduct and a friendly space policy and the organisers report a very positive atmosphere without specific episodes of harassment or difficulties.

Alternate locations

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In case FOSDEM is not available to collaborate in an "Open Movement Global" event, it is possible to consider an off participation (parallel to FOSDEM) or another location to be defined in collaboration with the other stakeholders.

Hybrid format and remote participation

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Online participation, streaming and recording of all sessions will be guaranteed, and online active participation will be facilitated by a specific "online COT" devoted specifically to facilitating exchanges and a fulfilling online experience.

Time

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If organised in collaboration with FOSDEM, the event needs to be organised at the beginning of February. Since the objective of the collaboration with FOSDEM is also to take advantage of the large visibility and involvement that this event is capable of triggering, it is essential to not change dates and location, to build on their experience and regular followers.

The proposal for 2029 is to have sufficiently time to involve stakeholders and networks, to put some distance from other events organised in Europe, and to organise the event within the current Wikimedia movement strategy which already highlights the value of the collaboration with partners, like-minded organisations and other stakeholders.

Additional

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History of the open movement global event

Improve Global Open Movement/History

The proposal of an "Open Movement Global" was launched during Wikimania 2024 in Katowice. The first discussion was among Iolanda Pensa, Isla Haddow Flood and Valerio Bozzolan. The proposal was then presented to many people during Wikimania to collect feedback and to check interest and potential feasibility.

Iolanda Pensa has organised Wikimania Esino Lario, conceived the project and directed its implementation; it was a specifically complex Wikimania organised in a mountain village of 700 inhabitants which has required the implementation of local transport, safety adjustments on buildings, distribution of the broadband, organisation of food and accommodation with all the local providers, the involvement of sponsors and grantmakers and the activation of a very wide community of partners, stakeholders and volunteers; the project lasts 4 years with preparatory work and a wide number of local activities in schools and GLAMs. Iolanda Pensa has been chair of the Wikimania Committee and chair of Wikimedia Italia (2022-2024, Wikimedia Italia is also Italian chapter of OpenStreetMap); she is now the national coordinator for GLAMs for Wikimedia Italia and she involved 4'000 Italian museums in a very large campaign to promote open access and cooperation with the Wikimedia projects. She has experience, as a volunteer and professionally, in managing large and complex international projects.
Isla Haddow Flood is co-lead of Wiki in Africa and promoter of large-scale campaigns to produce and collect open content in Africa, promoting ICT skills and open content in African schools, and activating and engaging Wikimedia communities in many and new countries. She is a contributor to Creative Commons and Open Education Global. She has extensive experience in managing cross-border international cooperation and collaborating with international partners and networks.
Valerio Bozzolan is chair of the Italian Linux Society and active member of the Wikimedia tech communities. He contributes to international open and free software and he is involved in national and international communication campaign supporting the use and production of free and open software. He is specifically active in Italy and collaborates with FSFE Free Software Foundation Europe. He is also an active participant and organiser of free software events.

The idea was proposed to active members of the Wikimedia movement, to some members of the board of Creative Commons, to Wikimedia Europe, to members of the Wikimedia movement who are also active the open source communities and tech activities.

We received positive feedback from many people, and other people helped us identify risks and possible threats.
Organisers

Improve Global Open Movement/Credits


Documentation on Open Science Framework https://osf.io/sm3cb
Stakeholders of the open movement

Improve Global Open Movement/Stakeholders

A list of the current stakeholders and events in the open movement.

Using the definition of Open Future, the open movement consists of people, communities, and organizations who (1) contribute to shared resources online that are available for everyone to use and reuse, (2) and/or advocate for non-exclusive access and use of information resources[1].

In general, for the event "Global Open Movement" we will emphasise the value of:

  • Open licenses and tools which do not restrict commercial reuse and derivative works.
  • The use of tools, products, services and infrastructures based on open and free software.
  • Processes of engagement of volunteers which consider issues related to inclusion, diversity, privacy and produce resources made available with the principle of the share-alike.
  • No additional restrictions on content under the public domain or not covered by copyright; data in CC0.
Stakeholders Current events
Open content - Free-culture movement Wikimedia

List of Wikimedia Conferences and Events

Wikimania
Wikimedia conference / Wikimedia summit
Hackathons - https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Events
GLAM conferences - GLAM Wiki Global GLAM/Conferences
Eduwiki conference - Wikimedia + Education
Wikimedia Diversity Conferences
Wikidata
Research - Research:Events
Regional conference Africa - WikiIndaba
Regional conference - WikiArabia
Regional conference - WikiConference USA / WikiConference North America
German WikiCon
Regional conference - Latin America + - IberoConf
Regional conference - WikiConvention francophone
Italian Wiki Con
WikiConference India
Regional conference - Wikimedia CEE Meeting
Regional conference - ESEAP Conference & Strategy Summit
National conferences - many
Wikipedia Academy
Wikipedia Day
Wikimedia Europe assembly
WikiSym - International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration 2005-2022 https://opensym.org/archives/
Internet Archive
Open maps and geographical data OpenStreetMap Foundation State of the Map https://stateofthemap.org/ - https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/State_of_the_Map reports/overview
Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) https://www.osgeo.org/ FOSS4G https://foss4g.org/ (https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Past_FOSS4G_Reports)
OGC Open Geospacial Consortium
Open Geo Hub - open data culture for open development communities https://opengeohub.org
Ushahidi
Free and open software - Free software movement / Open-source-software movement FOSDEM (Free and Open Source Software Developers' European Meeting)
Open Source Day
Linux Day + Software Freedom Day
FSF Free Software Foundation and FSFE Free Software Foundation Europe LibrePlanet
Linux Foundation Open Source Summit
Mozilla Foundation MozFest (Mozilla Festival)
Companies producing free and open software: Blender https://www.blender.org/ Strong presence at events; also financial and technical support.
Open Hardware The Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) Open Hardware Summit / OSHWA Summit
Open Hardware Month October
Companies producing open hardware such as Arduino, SparkFun
FabLabs The Fab Foundation (+ The Fab City Global Initiative) FABx (Fab Conference)
Fab City Summit
Hackerspaces and Maker culture Chaos Computer Club (CCC) Chaos Communication Congress (CCC)
The Hacker Quarterly Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE)
Online community of Hackaday Hackaday Superconference
BornHack - community in Denmark BornHack
European and Dutch communities SHA (Still Hacking Anyway)
community in Italy ESC End Summer Camp
Make Community LLC (formerly Maker Media) Maker Faire
EMF Electromagnetic Field (UK-based association) EMF Camp (Electromagnetic Field)
Open design - Open-design movement Universities Design OPEN https://www.designopen.it/ (conference in 2022 Parma)
Open source design https://opensourcedesign.net Open source design summit (last 2018 Tirana) https://opensourcedesign.net/summit/
Pordenone Open Design Conference (last edition 2020 Italy Pordenone)
Ushahidi Open UP Global Summit (last Taipei 2019) https://opendesign.ushahidi.com/
Hackathons
Open licenses and tools, public domain Creative Commons Creative Commons Global Summit
Open Source Initiative (OSI)
Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest (last in 2019)
Communia association - the International Association on the Public Domain Digital Knowledge Act campaign
Communia Salon
Communia International Conference (seems not active)
Advocacy (+ digital democracy, digital sovereignty, internet neutrality) Open Knowledge Foundation Open data day https://opendataday.org/
Open Knowledge Festival (OKFestival) - last in 2018
Free Culture Forum (last in 2015) https://fcforum.net/en/
Open Future Foundation
Public Knowledge
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Civic Hall and Personal Democracy Media Personal Democracy Forum (PDF) https://personaldemocracy.com/
International Conference on Digital Democracy (E-Democracy) - ICEDEG. Next in 2025 https://edem-egov.org/
Global Digital Compact (network)
European Union The future of Europe 2022
Access Now RightsCon
The Internet Freedom Festival Community Internet Freedom Festival (IFF)
Global Voices Global Voices Summit
Republica GmbH Re:publica https://re-publica.com/en
Collaboration on International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa (FIFAfrica)
UN United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
Paradigm Initiative https://paradigmhq.org/ Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (DRIF)
Global Partners Digital
Journal Platoniq https://journal.platoniq.net
EuroDIG Foundation European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG)
Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University https://cyber.harvard.edu/
Fight for the future https://www.fightforthefuture.org/
SUPERRR Laboratory for feminist digital futures https://superrr.net/
Open education, OER Open Educational Resources - Open education Open Education Global (OEGlobal) OEGlobal Annual Conference: https://conference.oeglobal.org/2024/
SPARC Open Education Conference (#OpenEd) https://openeducationconference.org/
UNESCO Digital Learning Week

International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI) 2024 Global education meeting

Open Science, open access, open research CoARA Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment https://coara.eu/,

Universities

UNESCO

OpenAIRE

SPARC Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition https://sparcopen.org/ - Sparc Europe. Open access, open education, open data

Right to Research Coalition )R2RC)

International Open Access Week
OpenCon https://www.opencon.community/ (last event 2018)
Center for Open Science (USA) Year of open science https://www.cos.io/yos-conference

Metascience 2025 London https://metascience.info/

Open Science Conference https://www.open-science-conference.eu/
OPERAS – Open scholarly communication in the European research area for social sciences and humanities
Knowledge Rights 21: access to culture, learing and research https://www.knowledgerights21.org/ (advocacy)
OASPA Open Access Scholarly Publishing association
F1000 an open research publisher and services provider
Plan S coalition https://www.coalition-s.org/ (promoted by European Science Foundation)

COAlition S

AmeliCA . Open Science for Common Good (Latin America) http://amelica.org
Open Access 2020 https://oa2020.org/
Eurodoc - European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers
Young academy of Europe https://yacadeuro.org/
Liber research library community https://libereurope.eu/
FORCE11 (The Future of Research Communications and e-Scholarship) FORCE2023 every 2 years, now annual FORCE2024 https://force11.org/conference/
EOSC association (European Open Science Cloud) https://eosc.eu EOSC Symposium (European Open Science Cloud)
diamond open access global summit (first in 2023 in Toluca Mexico)
Crossref https://www.crossref.org/
Citizen science The Citizen Science Association Citizen Science Association Conference (CSA)
European Citizen Science association https://www.ecsa.ng ECSA conference https://www.ecsa.ngo/conferences/
Open data Open data day (May)
Open Data Institute (ODI)
The European Union’s Open Data Portal
Open Data for Development OD4D
Open Data Science Conference (ODSC)
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC), World Bank, and Open Data for Development (OD4D) The International Open Data Conference (IODC) - biennial
The Open Data Research Network Open Data Research Symposium - http://odresearch.org/ (3rd in 2018)
Connected by data https://connectedbydata.org (advocacy)
Global data barometer https://globaldatabarometer.org/
Open Data Charter https://opendatacharter.org/
Open repositories Zenodo
COAR Confederation of open access repositories https://coar-repositories.org/
SCOSS - Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services - help sustaining open infrastructures
Open government Open Gov Week May
International Conference of Information Commissioners (ICIC) https://www.informationcommissioners.org/
Open Government Partnership (OGP) https://www.opengovpartnership.org/ OGP Global Summit 2023
The Feminist Open Government (FOGO)
OpenGLAM, Open Culture, digital strategies of cultural institutions Creative Commons, Wikimedia, UNESCO
Libraries - IFLA IFLA congress https://www.ifla.org/congress/. The IFLA World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) takes place during August each year in a city selected through a competitive process. The congress typically attracts between 3000 – 4000 attendees from over 100 countries.
Libraries Futures https://www.libraryfutures.net/
EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries) - Knowledge without boundaries – information without borders - involved also in the Open Climate Campaign
Museums - ICOM International council of museums Museum day 18 May

A triennial conference 2023, next 2026, 2029 Specific working groups on digital strategies

Archives - ICA International council of archives https://www.ica.org/ ICA conference - International Council on Archives Congress - 2027 (every 4 years)
DARIAH-EU Digital research infrastructure for arts and humanities https://www.dariah.eu
Europeana
NGOs NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network) Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC) - supported by corporate sponsors
CIVICUS International Civil Society Week (ICSW)
Council of Europe Conference of International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs)
Social innovation Social Innovation Exchange (SIX) Social Innovation Summit
Ashoka Global Social Innovation Summit
Impact Hub Social Innovation Week
Social Innovation Exchange
Mashable - media Social Good Summit
European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) Open Social Innovation Conference
Open innovation Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley. World Open Innovation Conference (WOIC)
Innovation Enterprise Open Innovation Summit
European Commission and Open Innovation Strategy and Policy Group (OISPG) Open Innovation 2.0 Conference
Global Open Innovation Conference
Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan School of Management Open and User Innovation Conference
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Open Innovation Week
Innovation Roundtable Innovation Roundtable Summit
International Society for Professional Innovation Management ISPIM Innovation Conference (International Society for Professional Innovation Management)
Sustainability and environment Apropedia - The sustainability wiki
Wiki Green Initiatives https://wikigreeninitiative.org/ Accra Ghana
Green Web Foundation https://www.thegreenwebfoundation.org/
Open Source Circular Economy Days https://oscedays.org/ (2015-2018)
Open Climate Campaign
Open data for life science EU-Life Alliance of research institutes advocating for excellent research in Europe in life sciences research
Wiki project Med
ZonMw https://www.zonmw.nl/en
EMBO https://www.embo.org supporting open research in life sciences
Funds - supporting open initiatives Open Society Foundations (OSI)
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The World Wide Web Foundation
Welcome Trust
Knight Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF)
Skoll Foundation
Open Technology Fund OTF https://www.opentech.fund/
MacArthur Foundation
Fundacion Karisma (Colombia)
Robert Bosch Stiftung (global issues)
Bertelsmann Stiftung (social change)
Stiftung Mercator https://www.stiftung-mercator.de/en/
DFG Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)
Omidyar Network
Global Philanthropy Forum Global Philanthropy Forum

References

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  1. Tarkowski, Alek; Keller, Paul; Warso, Zuzanna; Goliński, Krzysztof; Koźniewski, Jakub (2023-07-06). "Fields of open. Mapping the open movement.". Open Future. 

Bibliography

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  • Tarkowski, A., Janus, A., & Warso, Z. (2023). Shifting tides: the open movement at a turning point. Open Future. Retrieved from https://openfuture.pubpub.org/pub/shifting-tides.
Objectives of a open movement global event

Improve Global Open Movement/Objectives

The event "Global Open Movement" aims at contributing to an open movement, and to increase the impact of the open. More specifically the event aims at triggering the collaboration among groups, institutions and events already contributing to the open movement and communicating and making visible the power and value of the open.

By involving many groups, institutions and events and by focusing on a large-scale global gathering, the event aspire at having a larger impact than the single events and at experimenting and having fun while doing it :)

Objective Expected impact
Triggering the collaboration among groups, institutions and events already contributing to the open movement Increasing the connections and interactions among groups, institutions and events already contributing to the open movement.
Exposing members of different groups and institutions already contributing to the open movement to different open projects and initiatives, to facilitate knowledge transfer and engagement in multiple initiatives.
More efficient use of the resources, by focusing on scholarships to increase participation, inclusion and diversity at one large-scale event.
Using the preparatory time of the event to work on knowledge transfer among groups and institutions already contributing to the open movement. Increasing the interoperability among open content, open software and open hardware and the interactions around common working areas (research, GLAMs, education, medicine, sustainability, climate change, inclusion and diversity, advocacy...). Supporting the creation and further development of joint actions.
Communicating and making visible the power and value of the open Communicating to a wide audience the value and power of the open.
Producing a communication which goes beyond the active communities and engages a larger audience.
People contributing to the open movements Large public and communication
Opportunities Opportunity to gather and discuss with other communities.

Possibility to consider how to scale current experiences and solutions within the frame of the global movement.

Possibility to consider more broadly open content, software and hardware.

One track dedicated to the large public.
Risks People tend to stay in their own group, do not exchange practices, do not truly have the chance to talk to people they do not know.

A large-scale event is difficult to navigate and to take advantage of: too many talks, events and gatherings.

Too many people wanting to participate in the same events. Rooms packed and no opportunities to participate.

The large public sees the open movement as small tribes and a niche.

Increasing connections and interactions

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What it does for Wikimedia Software Licenses OER Geodata Academia Government Hardware OpenGLAM
Wikimedia - Better documentation/content/data on the Wikimedia projects, visibility of their policies / content / approaches Disseminating the value of open licenses and tools (CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA and alike) The Wikimedia projects as OER (free and accessible in over 300 languages) Synergy with open geodata (links with Wikidata for taxonomies and other data)) Wikimedia as a research infrastructure Visibility of content from public administrations and public institutions Dissemination of information about open hardware Visibility of content from GLAMs, collaboration with the open communities
Software Use of free and open software in all activities (also by affiliates) - Use of open and free software
Licenses Training, procedures, support to VRTS Open licenses also on content - Use of open licenses and tools on content (avoiding NC and ND); use of CC0 for data Open licenses also on content Use of open licenses and tools on content (avoiding NC and ND); use of CC0 for data
OER Synergy with open educational resources released under open licenses and tools Training and resources made available in the frame of OER - Training and resources made available in the frame of OER
Geodata Synergy with OpenStreetMap (issue related to the licenses) Providing open geodata
Academia Wikimedia and in particular Wikidata as research infrastructures Development of free and open software within research projects and other services Use of open licenses, in particular CC BY (avoiding NC and ND and use of CC0 for data) Production of OER Production of geodata - Support to public administrations (within research and services) Development of open hardware Research based on data from GLAMs (universities are also GLAMs :)
Government Synergy with data and content from public administrations and public institutions released under open licenses and tools Request to use free and open software among public administrations and institutions, support to the development of open and free software Use of open licenses and tools (avoiding NC and ND); use of CC0 for data Supporting training made available as OER Providing open geodata from public administrations Providing public data for research - Support to the development of open hardware Support to open access among GLAMs
Hardware Better documentation/content/data on the Wikimedia projects; Use of open and free software Use of open liceses Providing training material as OER; producing training in the fields of robotics, digital fabrications and practical applications of coding Using open geodata Providing open hardware for research and services (also within academic fablab) Supporting the open strategies of governments - Developing 3D reproductions, involving citizens in fablabs, use of open hardware to produce museum design and installations
OpenGLAM Synergies with open communities, uploads on the Wikimedia projects Use of open and free software Use of open liceses - in particular CC0 Production of OER in their didactic programmes Use of open geodata Production of research Production of open government data (as public institutions) Use of open hardware for installation design and participatory projects -

Risk mitigation

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Risks Mitigation plan
People tend to stay in their own group, do not exchange practices, do not truly have the chance to talk to people they do not know. Involving many volunteers to support and welcome participants. Organising games and activities which can facilitate socialisation.
A large-scale event is difficult to navigate and to take advantage of: too many talks, events and gatherings. The program can be redesigned according to interests and communities.
Too many people wanting to participate in the same events. Rooms packed and no opportunities to participate. Rooms with screens to attend talks also outside. Looking for larger rooms. Increasing the number of rooms. Estimated number of seats for the event.
The large public sees the open movement as small tribes and a niche. Creating short videos to present people and communities. Communication campaign to explain key concepts.
Context analysis a open movement global event

Improve Global Open Movement/Context

Short analysis of the current Wikimania and other events of the open movement to identify element to consider for Wikimania 2029.

SWOT analysis

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SWOT analysis of Wikimania
Strengths Weaknesses
Almost 20 years of experience.

Regular yearly event with its passionate communities.

Support of the Wikimedia Foundation for the logistics with experienced staff.

Development of a collaboration with FOSSAsia for the online open platform.

Scholarships to support participation from many different countries.

Members of the Wikimedia communities involved in other like minded organisations.

Already extensive programme with many sessions and 5 days of events.

Already wide programme with sessions in many areas: tech, education, GLAMs, advocacy, open science...

Already collaboration with like-minded organisations at Wikimania.

Experience in experimenting ;-)

A wide team of previous organisers of Wikimania with extensive experience and interest in supporting the event.

Desire to organise a global event in collaboration with like-minded organisation never fully achieved.

Limited number of in-person participants. The maximum number of participants was in London with around 2'000 participants. Normally the event range from around 600 to 1'200. The event addresses essentially the Wikimedia communities with limited impact on other open communities.

Some experiments in providing general presentations designed for non-active users (in local languages), but with limited number of participants and impact.

A lot of other events in the Wikimedia movement: regional, thematic, hubs...

Expensive event organised in formal venues (often in hotels and conference centres), which do not represent in the best way a collaborative and open atmosphere.

Limited experimentation in the last years.

The communication of the event is very limited since it is essentially a tribal event.Limited social impact.

Need of more technical contributors in the Wikimedia projects.

Opportunities Threats
Good relationships with like-minded organisations.

Interest in collaborating with like-minded organisations, stakeholders and partners. Interest in increasing outreach, engagement, involvement of new contributors and impact. Selection of the venues ahead of time (even 3 years).

Growing importance of the hybrid component.

Previous organisers of Wikimania can actively contribute to a large-scale complex event with their experience, network and active engagement.

Very difficult to scale from 1'200 participants to 10'000 unless the event is organised with partners which already involve a large number of participants

A wide and global communication about "the power and value of the open" can only be achieved with a large-scale event or an innovation.

Overview of some major events contributing to the open

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Current topics in the different events dedicated to the "open"
Wikimania (article with issues) FOSDEM (article with issues) Creative Commons Global Summit (no article) State of the map (no article) International Open Access Week
Promoted by Volunteers and the Wikimedia Foundation Volunteers Volunteers and OpenStreetMap Foundation
Period August First week of February July / September October
Participants in person 600-1'200 11'000
Number of tracks
Website https://stateofthemap.org/ https://www.openaccessweek.org/
Open Content It is the core topic of Wikimania
Open Software It is the infrastructure of the Wikimedia projects and there are already many conferences about its technical needs. Wikimania also traditionally hosts an Hackathon. There is also a specific need of technical contributors in the Wikimedia projects It is the core topic of FOSDEM with conferences and stands.
Open licenses and legal tools Open licenses and tools are central to all content and projects presented at Wikimania Open licenses and tools are central to all projects and services presented at FOSDEM It is the core topic of Creative Commons Global Summit
Advocacy Conferences devoted to legislations Dev rooms devoted to European legislation
Open Education and OER Open Educational Resources The Wikimedia projects are OER and there are many sessions at Wikimania about education, training and the use of Wikimedia projects in schools and universities
Open science / Open research Conferences devoted to open access, open science and research. WMF implements research and there are communities of researchers engaged in the Wikimedia projects There is a dev room devoted in particular to research infrastructures It is the core topic of the Open Access Week
GLAMs and their open repositories and content Many events about how to develop and support partnerships. Synergies with Creative Commons Many events about how to develop and support partnerships

Synergies with Wikimedia projects.

Medicine and health A thematic group in this area.
Sustainability and climate change Some informal groups interested on those topics.
Inclusion and diversity Several thematic groups in this area.

Scholarships and grants contributing to inclusion and diversity. Code of conduct.

Open hardware nn There are stands and conferences about it
Trust and safety Code of conduct

Trust and safety team at Wikimedia Foundation.

Strengths Very nicely organised

Itinerant with experience in doing things differently ;-)

Scholarships to increase participation and diversity

Wide and wild event,

huge and mainstream with over 30 tracks

great open infrastructure, streaming, recording, post-production

Weaknesses Limited participation

It could have a wider impact Complex and expensive organisation

Wild and wide ;-)

February in Bruxelles

Limited number of rooms at ULB

Limited diversity of participants

Format

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Format of the event

  • Congress
  • Conference
  • Gathering
  • Festival
  • Fair

Format of the sessions

  • Presentations: lightening talks
  • Interactive sessions: discussions, round tables, sessions with moderators
Possible programme

Improve Global Open Movement/Programme


Structure of the programme

[edit]

The Global Open Movement event aims at addressing a wide number of topics. The event addresses with different approaches and formats active members of the open movement and the general public. A communication campaign is specifically designed to communicate the global open movement, its vision, projects and communities.

Critical issues

  • Digital democracy, digital rights.
  • Privacy, misuse of data, digital sovereignty, transparency.
  • Humans and machines.
  • Access to knowledge.
  • Creativity and innovation.
  • Contribution to sustainability and to fighting climate change.
  • Inclusion, diversity, care principles. Open what and for whom.
  • Public benefit (vs. products).

Potential targets of the event

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Tribes Like-minded communities Specialised public General public
Description Active contributors of their specific community Active contributors of other open communities Critical minds, readers, people interested in the topic (i.e. professionals of cultural institutions, people working in ICT, artists, students and teachers, researchers, journalists, people working in and with media...) Readers with no specific interest on the topics
Needs They want to gather with their own tribe: sessions, discussions, special events

They want to feel they belong to their own group. They want to feel the conference belongs to them. They don't want to feel new and disorientated: they want to feel a connection with previous events and to find in this event something familiar. They want to present and be actively involved in the production of the conference. Often they do not like photos and they want to protect their privacy and their specific spaces

They want to take advantage of the conference and feeling that the conference is serving them and providing them with something new and meaningful: knowledge, exchanges, new ideas, involvement.

In general they like to be active and involved and they like a feeling that the event belongs to them. They want to easily find the interesting sessions.

They have a general curiosity on the topic and they want to know more.

They want to attend engaging and well-presented sessions. They enjoy being entertained with good and relevant content and possibly with good stories.

They are probably not interested in the event, but they might be surprised by the news about it and by some good stories.

They can find information online and they might connect dots: getting a sense of what is behind the scene of Wikipedia, the Internet, the computer they use. They can get more aware of critical issues such as democracy of the Internet, misuse of personal data, proprietary software...

How to reach them Tracks, dev rooms, list of conferences devoted to specific communities

Specific programme

Specific website (their own website)

Their own graphic design or connection to their visual identity

Easy to identify in the programme their sessions (logo).

General programme

Sessions conceived for a general audience without specific background on the topic

Easy to identify in the programme relevant sessions (logo)

A specific track (and highlight of recorded sessions?). It is important to involve in the event specific groups for specific sessions: schools, educators, GLAMs, politicians, Communication on social media, in the press. The more the event is large and surprising, the more it is likely to be visible and communicated. It is also important to involve in the event media partners, sponsor and other stakeholders which can increase the communication among their networks
Participation in the event They probably prefer to attend their own conference or their own sessions. They are likely to be interested to browse sessions related to other topics and communities. At the moment there are already a lot of overlapping among communities (i.e. licenses, advocacy, GLAMs, education, research, tech, infrastructures...): they can be engaged in the organisation of shared sessions They could be interested in general sessions in particular if they have been invited specifically. A guided tour of the open. Organising a visit to the conference to present what people are doing, meeting some of the contributors, visit the stands, maybe try a small game or experience of involvement (i.e. adding an information on StreetComplete https://streetcomplete.app/ or adding something on Wikidata)
Risks and critical issues to consider Clear sign where photos are not authorised and maybe a specific green sticker for people allowing photos.

Clear sign if there are closed sessions or avoiding closed sessions

Programme designed for different levels of expertise and interest in getting involved They could take photos where not authorised. We don't want the open communities to be observed as monkeys
Logistics of the event

Improve Global Open Movement/Logistics

Overview of the logistics
Most of the time at Wikimania Wikimania 2029 Global Open Movement Why this changement
Team A COT Core organising team collaborating with the Wikimedia Foundation A COT Core organising team involving a larger group representing also the different organisations involved. A specific COT for the online conference. Groups and institutions involved need to be fully involved and being part of the decision-making process.

The online participation needs to have a specific programme and focus.

Venue Conference centres, conference facilities at hotels. University campus. More sober, large and cheaper solution.
Programme Around 6 tracks. Over 30 tracks with at least one track conceived and designed collaboratively by all the institutions and groups involved. The programme need to include new participants and interests.
Hybrid programme Most of the sessions (or all the sessions) streamed and recorded. Limited active participation by online participants. All sessions streamed and recorded and made available rapidly.

An independent COT core organising team for the hybrid conference with a specific event designed for online participation.

Online participation needs to be designed specifically for its participants; if we want an hybrid conference, it is not sufficient to stream and to include comments and online participation.

Postproduction needs to be improved and made more efficient.

Registration Registration fee of around 100 dollars (from 2024 set at 100 dollars; in the past was also more expensive). No registration. Free and open conference. The approach of FOSDEM with the collection of personal data and a more open and free (as freedom) participation
Food Lunch is included in the registration fee and provided for all attendees at no additional costs.

Some dinners offered within the event or organised directly by the participants.

People pay for their food. They can buy food at food tracks with different proposals, they can but sandwiches or they can eat in restaurants near-by.

People with scholarships can be provided with vouchers or other support.

It would not be possible to provide meals without registration.

It is a cheaper and more sustainable solution.

Accommodation Accommodation is organised for people receiving a scholarship and for Wikimedia Foundation staff. Other participants organise their own accommodation. No significant changes.
Travel Travel is organised for people receiving a scholarship and for Wikimedia Foundation staff. Other participants organise their own travel. No significant changes.
Scholarshops Around 200-240 scholarships provided, with a growing attention to increase the number. The scholarships also provide some pocket money to cover all the expenses of the participants (also evening meals) Probably scholarships can be significantly increased with a specific focus on inclusion and diversity.

The pocket money will cover also all the costs related to food.

By not providing catering and selecting a more sober venue, the event will probably cost significantly less and it can greatly benefit from more scholarships with a specific focus on inclusion and diversity.
Visa An invitation letter is provided to people receiving a scholarship by the organisation affiliated to the local team and by the Wikimedia Foundation to facilitate access to visa. We need to eventually ask support to Wikimedia Europe as local partner for visa. The event could be endorsed by a university and be facilitated by the international agreements for academic conferences. There is a change in the structure of the organisation.
Volunteers Volunteers involved in the COT Core organising team and during the event. A large team of volunteers from all the groups and institutions involved. The event will need a significant number of volunteers and people can be interested in participating in such a peculiar event as volunteers.
Party There is normally a welcome party and a farewell party at Wikimania with food, some drinks, music and dance. Participants will enjoy Bruxelles pubs to gather after the conference. There can be a programme of meetups, excursions and games. Some games and activities can be organised. It will be difficult to manage numbers. At FOSDEM people often gather in the same pubs and most of the people hang out outdoors in the February weather with a surprising capacity to adapt to the adverse climate.
Trust and safety Participants sign the code of conduct when they register. The code of conduct is enforced by trust and safety. the code of conduct is presented on the website of the conference and it is printed and available in the venue. There is a team working on trust and safety during the event. The event aims as usual at a respectful and pleasant atmosphere; the code of conduct shared by the partners is enforced.
Communication The event is communicated on Wikipedia site-notice, through the Wikimedia communication channels. The communication is essentially internal. There are often some articles coming out on national newspapers about Wikimedia with interviews to Jimmy Wales. Local press highlights the presence of the event in their territory. The aim is to increase the international communication and visibility of the open movement. The focus is not on the event but on the power and value of the open. We expect a larger event with a large participation of groups and institutions can drive a specific interest. Having time ahead can facilitate a stronger communication with a crescendo. The event aims at increasing the international communication and visibility of the power and value of the open. It aims at showing that the open movement is not a niche but a mainstream, large, sustainable, powerful and existing presence.
Funds Supported by Wikimedia Foundation and volunteers. Involvement of partners and some technical sponsors. Wikimedia Foundation would provide the normal support but funds would rather go on scholarships than in expenses. Work to involve partners and sponsors. The size and the involvement of many groups and institutions can attract partners and sponsors. Wikimedia Foundation is asked to not reduce its support to Wikimania but to use it as much as possible to support scholarships.

Location

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Potential partners if the conference succeed in being organised in Bruxelles, Belgium.

  • Wikimedia Europe
  • FOSDEM
  • Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
  • European Commission
  • Wikimedia Foundation advocacy team

Request to the Wikimania Steering Committee

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To be able to start implementing this proposal, it is necessary to receive from the Wikimania Steering Committee and the Wikimedia Foundation event team a first expression of interest and support, which allows to contact the network, invite people to join the organising team, and express their support or remarks.

The feasibility of this proposal depends on many elements, but the event can only be organised if the value and relevance of a Open Movement Global" event is recognised and supported.