This report has been written only in order to share my experience and gratitude with the rest of the community. An interview about my experience in Wikimania has also been given, as part of the requirements for the scholarship I was awarded, and can be found here.
Option 3: New Creation: What was one useful outcome that was created at the event for the Wikimedia movement?
Add a link to something new that was created as a result of your participation in this event (for example, you might link to a new tool that you and your co-participants worked on at the Hackathon, or to pages created in a workshop you participated in).
To begin with, Wikimania had an enormous effect on me. Volunteering has always been one of my passions and I have been actively pursuing it since 2014 by taking part in various activities. Wikimania helped me realise that I share this passion with an incredibly large number of people in every corner of the Earth. Combined, the power of all these people, can change the world; it can make it a better place. Being among experienced (and not so experienced) Wikimedians, sharing stories, tips, and experiences with them as well as getting advice on how to stay active in the movement, improve our events, and recruit new Wikimedians to our User Group was truly amazing. On a personal level, the stimuli helped me come up with exciting new ideas about how I can actively participate in the movement and what I, as an individual, can do to make the world a better place.
More specifically, my participation in Wikimania resulted in my contribution of code to the Commons Android app and WikiFemHack, which is a Gender Gap Editathon/Hackathon, coming to life.
Hackathon Showcase Wikimania 2017 - My presentation is at 52:55Regarding my contribution to the Commons Android app, the first two days I attended the hackathon where I fixed an issue on the Android Commons app. Up until that point if a user took a picture inside the app to upload to Commons, it would not be saved on the device. That would mean that if the upload failed or was cancelled, the picture would be lost. Following the suggested approach, as was discussed on GitHub, I added a setting option and wrote the code for it, giving the user the choice of saving pictures taken from the app on their device’s storage. If the setting is on, in case of a failure to upload or if the user cancels it for some reason, they are able to try again. I happily showed my work at the Hackathon Showcase (minute: 52:55).
Regarding WikiFemHack, all the information, tips and all the new ideas that were open-handedly offered to me during Wikimania shaped an event that I was already organizing as a member of the Wikimedia Community User Group Greece into WikiFemHack. Throughout Wikimania I was so excited and inspired that I couldn’t wait to go back home to share my ideas that instead, I was constantly sending ideas and notes back home. WikiFemHack turned out to be a very successful Gender Gap Hackathon/Editathon with a very high percentage of women participants (almost 70%).
I met so many people from Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, France, Namibia, the US, Germany, Austria, Poland, the UK, Sweden, Armenia and many more countries. Some of the highlights were the fact I got to know Anna Torres, one of the organizers of WikiWomenCamp 2017 from whom I got excellent advice about WikiFemHack, Victoria Coleman, to whom I told that our User Group would be very happy to help organise and/or co-host an event if she ever wanted to have one in Greece, Katherine Maher, Moriel Schottlender, Matthew Flaschen, Siebrand Mazeland, and Nichole Saad.
But besides goats, among other things I really enjoyed the sessions about WikiData, Gender Gap, Cool Projects of Wikimedia Chapters, and learnings from Wikimedia Conferences organization.
Wikimania was the perfect opportunity for me to learn, get ideas and tips on what works and what doesn’t, learn about partnerships that work for others and might work for us too, make friends, and of course one of my favourite things: contribute code. Last but not least, I got the chance to volunteer some of my time at the main conference registration desk and at the hackathon help desk.
I would like to end with a huge THANK YOU to all the organisers and volunteers that made this Wikimania not only possible but a forever-lasting memory.
.jpg)
.jpg)
