Wikimedia Community User Group Malaysia/Reports/Wikimania 2023/23jvvn

Things learned at the conference

Wikimania 2023 was such a great experience for me. As a newcomer, I am still learning and adapting to Wikimedia communities. This conference opened my eyes to a whole new world about presevering language.

I got to know more about projects on Wikimedia. Before this, I only knew about Wiktionary and Wikicommons. After attending many sessions, I got to know many other projects, such as Wikipedia Simple English, Wikidata, and Wikitounges.
I got to exchange ideas with many people around the world on how to work on our Wiki project.
I learned and strengthened my basic skills in editing and writing for the Wikimedia projects.
I learned how other friends on Wiki work on conserving and promoting their own local languages, which is very useful for us to work on our own local languages too.
The people were so lovely that I thought we were such long-lost best friends.

Things the participant contributed or participated in or since the conference

16 AUGUST 2023

WIKIPEDIA BASIC WORKSHOP

This workshop was held in room 310 from 10 in the morning until 1:15 in the afternoon. I learned how to create articles in English and I had create an article about Changi Beach Park. With this new knowledge, I plan to create articles in Kadazandusun in the future.

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS BASIC WORKSHOP

This workshop was held in room 310 from 2:15 to 4:25 in the evening. In this workshop, I learned the basic on how to upload images to Wikimedia commons. I also got the opportunity to upload the photo of St.Joseph Church in Singapore that I took myself. By doing so, I learned that I can upload more images here about my culture and language.

WIKIMANIA 2023 OPENING RECEPTION & WIKIMEDIAN OF THE YEAR

The opening ceremony event was held in the plenary hall from 5 to 6:25 in the evening. During this session, the announcement of the Wikimedian of The Year had me amazed by their effort and contributions throughout the year. I am motivated to do so.

17 AUGUST 2023

WIKI LOVES LIVING HERITAGE BAZAAR

This session was held in the Plenary Hall from 10:40 to 11 in the morning. I got to know more about the culture of Singapore and their heritage development plan for the future.

HOW TO EDIT 'AMIWIKI'

This session was held in room 3.25 from 12:25 to 12:45 in the afternoon. The Taiwanese presenters introduced the Paiwan language, which is one of their country's extinct ethnic languages. We were able to hear their amazing traditional song and dance at the end of the session.

WIKIMANIA 2023 GLOBAL GROUP PHOTO

From 4:45 to 5:00 in the afternoon, the Global Group Photo was taken in the Plenary Hall. I got to meet a lot of Wikimedians and even snap pictures with people from other countries.

18 AUGUST, 2023

INAUGURATION OF WIKI KENT CLUB

From 9 a.m. until 10 a.m., the Wiki Kent Club has been officially launched. Dr. Hamidah binti Samsudin, Director of the KENT Campus Teacher Education Institute, had officially launched the Wiki Kent Club. There are also fellow Wikimanians from other countries joining this session.

WIKITONGUES PRESERVING LANGUAGE DIVERSITY & EMPOWERING COMMUNITIES THROUGH LANGUAGE DOCUMENTATION

This session was held in Room 326 from 11:35am to 12:25pm. The speaker in this workshop shows how languages can be documented in WikiTongues to prevent them from becoming extinct. I created an account on Wikitongues and discovered that there is already a file for Kadazandusun languages, however it lacks audio.

19 AUGUST, 2023

SAZAU BY WIKEINT AND MANUK LEMBUKUN DANCES FROM BORNEO

In this session, I and seven other IPG KENT Campus participants had the opportunity to exhibit and promote three forms of cultural dances from the Sabah community to other Wikimania attendees. From 1:40 to 1:55 p.m., this session was conducted in the Plenary Hall. Later that, three other performers from Sabah joined us and they performed the Manuk Lebukun dance from Bajau culture. We had the opportunity to dance with other Wikimania participants here. They seems to enjoy our performance very much.

WIKIMANIA 2023 DINNER

A meal was held at Gardens by the Bay for the last evening event. Wikimania participants attended the event for Wikimania 2023's final dinner. During the event, we were able to see the Flower Show in honor of Singapore's 58th birthday.

Plans after the conference

To become more active in Wiki Kent activities for promoting and globalizing our native language.
To learn and know more about Wikimedia communities.
To become a contributor to Wikimedia for many different projects because it was enjoyable and beneficial.

Comments/suggestions about the conference

Comment

The Wikimania conference in Singapore was a lot of experience. I'm grateful to the Malaysian Wikimedia User Community Group (WUCG) for providing me with a scholarship to learn more about the Wikimedia movement on a worldwide scale. The meeting also provided me with further inspiration to continue contributing to Wikimedia projects starting with Wiki Kent Club.