Iberocoop:Ibero-American Wikimedia Summit 2011
- This English-language presentation page is merely informative. For further or updated information, please refer to Encuentro Wikimedia Iberoamericano 2011 (in Spanish) or Encontro Wikimedia Ibero-Americano 2011 (in Portuguese).
The Ibero-American Wikimedia Summit is an Iberocoop initiative aimed at organizing a regional conference where Wikimedia chapters, chapters-to-be and working groups in Latin America, Spain and Portugal can get in touch and work on an Ibero-American agenda towards shared challenges and common goals, in line with the results of the Strategic Planning process and the current emphasis on helping growing and empowering the Wikimedia movement in developing countries —or the Global South, as some prefer to call them. The conference will have Spanish and Portuguese as its working languages.
Wikimedia Argentina is in charge of organizing this first Ibero-American Wikimedia Summit. Plans are to host the conference in Buenos Aires, from Friday 24 to Sunday 26 June, 2011. WMAR is supported in this effort by the National University of La Plata (UNLP), one the biggest Argentine national universities, who will provide a proper venue and conference infrastructure WMAR. The acommodation for attendees will be provided, as was the case for Wikimanía 2009, by the Bauen Hotel, which is located at a five-minutes walking distance from the proposed venue.
Minor details are yet to be defined. We expect to present WMF and the Chapters Committee an official proposal in the weeks to come. The schedule is yet to be decided by Iberocoop participants: we want not only a regional conference, but a useful one. For further information, please refer to the Spanish-language version of this page at Encuentro Wikimedia Iberoamericano 2011, which will be the official reference for accurate and updated information on this proposal.
- On Iberocoop
Iberocoop is a cooperation framework that puts together most of the Wikimedia chapters and working groups in the region. Current participants are Wikimedia Argentina, Wikimedia España, Wikimedia Italia and Wikimedia Portugal, as well as working groups from Bolivia (soon), Chile, México, Uruguay and Venezuela. For further information, please refer to our presentation page.
Why a regional summit?
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- The range of the Wikimedia movement is increasing, with more and more chapters, working groups and initiatives developing. Global conferences, while useful to keep in touch and synced, make effective participation of all attendees increasingly difficult.
- Although English is the prime global communication language, not everyone speaks it —and, among those that do, not with the same fluency. As a consequence, the possibility of expressing themselves is significantly restricted for many people. Entire groups are excluded from participation in global discussions or prevented from doing so on equal foot with others. A regional conference in native languages of its participants can help overcome this obstacle and promote the use of alternative languages in the organizative level of the Wikimedia movement.
- Each region faces common problems, challenges and opportunities which have to do with a shared culture, language or a particular socio-economic configuration. Regional summits allow for a specific approach, adapting to each region's particular features.
- Regional summits, per above, can be a good opportunity for those that drive the creation of a chapter in their country but do not yet have the conditions for participating in global instances. Attendees can this way contact directly with established chapters or other organizations in their region, share experiences and have their advice. It also allows organized groups to coordinate and promote joint projects, from outreach to fundraising initiatives.
- Why calling it a summit and not a conference?
- Both terms mean the same to a good extent, and we mostly use the terms interchangeably. However, calling the event formally Conference would suggest a more structured and formal approach than the one we plan for the event, which has to be as inclusive as possible. Therefore, because we want to include the new working groups are just being formed or in their first steps, captains withous a crew and crews without a captain, we choose to talk about a summit.
- Why an Ibero-American summit?
- The reasons for considering Ibero-America a regional unity are developed in the original proposal for Iberocoop.
Who will be attending?
[edit]- The plan is to have in attendance
- two representatives per chapter or working group participating in Iberocoop and willing to take part of the Summit,
- representatives from the WMF Chapters Committee,
- representatives from the WMF Board of Trustees,
- WMF staff, invited according to the contribution they could provide.
Depending on the program that is being brainstormed, we could also invite scholars, representatives from the free knowledge movement or representatives from other collective efforts on the global level. We plan puede ser conveniente invitar a participar a académicos, referentes del movimiento por el conocimiento libre o representantes de otros esfuerzos colectivos a nivel global. The organizers would cover the attendees' travel and accommodation expenses.
Why doing it in Argentina?
[edit]The Argentine community has a long-time commitment with and within the Wikimedia movement. In 2007, Argentina was the first country in America —the continent— to form its own local Wikimedia chapter. Wikimedia Argentina has a broad experience of participation in several meetings and organization of different Wikimedia events, among which we should highlight the successful celebration of Wikimania 2009. That Wikimania edition, which took place in Buenos Aires, is to date the only time that this important event was organized in an Ibero-American country. Wikimedia Argentina has the necessary experience, capacity and infrastructure to provide the best possible conditions for this first Ibero-American Summit.
Is there any program? What issues to you plan to discuss?
[edit]- We are working on that. We invite you to edit the proposed agenda. While we can also discuss this on that page, later on we will evaluate which approach is the best for each of the proposed problems, challenges or issues: workshops, panels or presentations can be more or less useful depending on the topic.
Contact
[edit]I want to participate
[edit]The Ibero-American Wikimedia Summit will take place in Spanish and/or Portuguese, so you'd better be able to speak or at least understand any of these languages if you are planning to attend :). Please refer to the Spanish-language or the Portuguese-language version of this page for further information.