Wikimedia Community User Group Malaysia/Reports/Meetup/Kuala Lumpur/22/Enko Zhuo

Overall experience

I attended the WikiGap 2024 event at Naza Tower, KLCC. This event was held in conjunction with International Women's Day and marked the fourth edition of WikiGap, organized in collaboration with the Embassy of Sweden in Kuala Lumpur.

WikiGap aims to address the content gender gap on the internet, particularly on platforms like Wikipedia. Participants included representatives from various women's rights non-profit organizations in Malaysia. My role involved guiding them through their first experience of editing Wikipedia and contributing to articles on notable women, thereby helping to narrow the internet gender gap.

This year's event was particularly significant as it was held in Kuala Lumpur, with simultaneous online participation from Penang and Sabah via Zoom. One notable achievement was the successful creation of Wikipedia user accounts for all participants. A total of 47 user accounts were created on the event day, March 11th, 2024.

As a facilitator of the event, I welcomed guests as they arrived at the venue, assisted them in creating accounts when they encountered difficulties, and provided guidance on editing articles of interest, such as their own company pages.

Feedback & improvements for future events

I gained valuable insights while fulfilling my role during the event. One instance stands out: when my teammates hesitated to inquire about lunch arrangements from the embassy. It was then that I realized the embassy was providing food for all event attendees.

A particularly memorable moment was the speech delivered by Mr. Timo Goosmann from the Delegation of the European Union to Malaysia. His words were truly inspiring, advocating for the increased presence of women in the workplace. He emphasized the unfairness and unreasonableness of assuming that women possess lesser work ability than men. As most of the event participants were women, his message resonated deeply with us, prompting enthusiastic applause throughout his speech.

During the individual guidance and training sessions for each group of participants, we successfully published articles, fostering a sense of engagement among everyone involved.

Personally, I believe it would have been a great idea to take a group photo with the ambassador from the embassy. Unfortunately, he left the event earlier, so we missed the opportunity.

Would you like to attend more events?

The event venue had an excellent environment, boasting a prime location with speedy WiFi access. Moreover, attendees could easily access the upper floors without having to register at the ground floor receptionist, which added to the convenience. Frankly speaking, I am eager to participate in similar events whenever possible. I am passionate about contributing my knowledge to Wikipedia and encouraging others to do the same, thus fostering a culture of knowledge-sharing and collaboration.

Any other comments?

Next time, we should announce to participants that they will receive certificates from the embassy. This will help prevent them from leaving the venue early.