Wikimania 2014 bids/London/The City
When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life;
for there is in London all that life can afford.
– Samuel Johnson
| Introduction | The City | Your Journey | The Team | Logistics | Legacy |
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London & the UK Wikipedia community[edit]Overview[edit]
Our City[edit]London is a leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transport all contributing to its prominence. It has the most international visitors of any city in the world[1] and London Heathrow is the world's busiest airport.[2] London's 43 universities form the largest concentration of higher education in Europe.[3] In 2012 London became the first city to host the modern Summer Olympic Games three times.[4] London will host the World Science Fiction Convention and the Hugo Awards in mid August 2014, just after Wikimania. [5] London is one of the greenest and most scenic major cities in the world. Famous landmarks in Central London include (in no particular order) St Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben, The Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square, The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, the London Eye and the 'Gherkin', the main shopping streets of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road, as well as public squares, many museums and a very wide range of restaurants at all price ranges serving all the world's cuisines. Our community[edit]The United Kingdom is home to one of the largest Wikimedia communities in the world. The local chapter, Wikimedia UK, which has recently been granted registered charity status, is one of the larger and more experienced Wikimedia chapters. It has supported a wide array of events in the United Kingdom, and has a strong track record of productive collaborations with cultural institutions such as galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM) as well as in broader outreach and educational projects. In 2011, Wikimedia UK supported events at the British Museum, National Maritime Museum and the British Library in London, and collaborations with the Victoria and Albert Museum, The National Archives and the Imperial War Museum are in the works. Outside the capital, events have also been held in Bristol, Coventry, Derby, Manchester, Brighton, Cambridge and Liverpool, as well as Scotland. The chapter has an ambitious schedule of events lined up for 2013 and beyond, including smaller conferences and an OTRS workshop in addition to more GLAM and outreach events. The UK Wikimedia community is most active in and around London. The community is tight-knit, and the regular London meetups often attract a good turnout, including Wikimedians from a wide array of on-wiki and off-wiki backgrounds. These meetups started with the first ever Wikipedia meetup and have for some years been monthly. The London meetup is among the most regular as well as being the longest-running Wikimedia meetup in the world (our fiftieth was in October 2011) and are an excellent venue for discussing grand ideas like this one. Some of the sights of London[edit]Notes[edit]
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