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This is the annual activity report of Wikimedia Belgium over the year 2017.

After the founding in October 2014 and 2015 our first official year, 2017 is our third full year in what we existed. This year we focussed on setting up activities and started building a network.

Statistics

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Wikimedia Belgium in the year 2017 in statistics:

  • 39 open edit-a-thons organised
  • 9 workshops for closed public
  • 2 collaborations with educational institutions
  • 39 presentations given about Wikipedia/Wikimedia
  • 31 other open events organised/participated
  • 2 wikimeets organised
  • 1 general assembly organised
  • 4 board meetings & sessions
  • 73 organisational meetings with external partners or internal meetings as part of a project
  • 1 newsletter published (in 3 languages)
  • 12 reports published (including plans)
  • 14 other publications (including press releases, announcements, official letters)
  • 25 people participated in/presented at 10 conferences or conference like events
  • 1 photo contest organised
  • 2 photography sessions organised
  • 1 double writing week organised

Large activities

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Brussels Writing Weeks

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Wiki Loves Brussels
Wiki Loves Brussels

The writing weeks about the Brussels Capital Region was held from 22 April to 6 May 2017. There is a long tradition of writing weeks in the Dutch language Wikipedia, but also on other Wikipedias. This year it is the second edition of the writing weeks around Brussels, the first edition was in 2016. The writing weeks are organised by local users, supported by Wikimedia Belgium and the Flemish Community Commission and coordinated on the Dutch language Wikipedia and Meta a call for volunteers was placed on the general forum of de.-, en.-, fr.- and nl.wikipedia. Over 34 contributors were found to write and expand articles. During the event 125 new articles related to the Brussels-Capital Region were created, over 44 already existing articles were majorly expanded.

The Brussels Network of Public Libraries and the Flemish Community Commission helped to organise 6 wikimeets, where staff of the libraries in Brussels learned how Wikipedia works, what they need to think of when writing an article, and an understanding of what Wikipedia and Wikimedia are about. The Wikimeets were held in the Royal Flemish Theatre, and the libaries of Anderlecht, Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Koekelberg, and Muntpunt. A part of the meetings was dedicated to dance.

Wiki Loves Public Space

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In July and August we organised the photo contest Wiki Loves Public Space around modern buildings, public artworks, memorials and monuments. We organised this contest to use the momentum as this was in Belgium the first full summer in what we had Freedom of Panorama. Freedom of Panorama came into force on 15 July 2016 thanks to our efforts and the parliament members who took it up. To celebrate Freedom of Panorama, we organised this photo contest in what we finally could depict Belgium as it is seen every day.

On 20 July we also gave a lecture about Wikipedia and uploading in the public library of Ternat.

Due to personal circumstances the award ceremony was delayed to February 2018. The winning photos of the photo contest were announced at the new year's event 2018 in Brussels.

See also:

Workshops & presentations

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Volunteers and members of Wikimedia Belgium give/organise during the year various workshops, edit-a-thons and presentations about Wikipedia, (uploading photos to) Wikimedia Commons, editing and using Wikidata, and more. As well as how to edit Wikipedia and write an article.

A series of sessions were for a limited public only, mostly for GLAMs and our partners.

During Wiki Loves Public Space an open lecture was organised.

During the Brussels writing weeks another six open writing sessions were organised in the various libraries and theater of Brussels. To prepare these sessions a closed sessions for library staff was organised to provide them a basic training in editing Wikipedia.

Sharing is Caring & closing event Wiki Loves Art

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Starting presentation
Totebags for all participants

On 20 June we organised the closing event of the project Wiki Loves Art 2016 and GLAM seminar Sharing is Caring - Brussels Extension - 2017 together with our partner PACKED vzw. In July-August 2016, anyone interested could go to the participating museums and heritage libraries and take photos for on Wikipedia and beyond. We organised the project to get better Wikipedia articles and more online visibility for the participating institutions, and to have extra attention for the Belgian cultural heritage on Wikipedia. Wiki Loves Art also has been organised to show cultural institutions how easy it is to work together with Wikipedia and Wikimedia, and that collaboration is possible.

Sharing is Caring is a conference platform focused on collaboration and sharing in the cultural heritage sector, bringing together practitioners, researchers, and users of culture. In analogy to the TED conferences and local TEDx extensions, the format is spreading from the core-event in Denmark to other countries, where local extensions address the topics that are close to their heart and their community. After the first extension in Hamburg, Wikimedia Belgium and PACKED vzw framed their closing event for the Wiki Loves Art 2016 within this platform as ‘Sharing is Caring – Brussels Extension: Opening up with Wikimedia’.

The ’Sharing is Caring – Brussels extension’ conference introduced the Belgian heritage sector to the possible applications of the various Wikimedia platforms for opening up digital collections. The conference showcased examples from museums, libraries and archives from Belgium and abroad. Besides showcasing Wiki-GLAM cooperations, the goal of the conference was to find motivated individuals and institutions with whom to organise content donations, promote reuse and remix.

At the seminar we had speakers from multiple fields in the GLAM world sharing their experiences and best practises with Wikipedia and Wikimedia. Visitors at the seminar came from various parts of Belgium and from the various GLAM fields. More information about the seminar can be found at the page WMBE: Sharing is Caring Brussels 2017 and the website. (photos)

  • Presentation about Open Data Formats
    Presentation about Open Data Formats
  • Presentation about collaboration, inclusing Wikipedian in Residence
    Presentation about collaboration, inclusing Wikipedian in Residence
  • GLAM-WIKI 2015
    GLAM-WIKI 2015
  • Catch 22
    Catch 22

Just For The Record

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The team of Just For The Record organised twelve events in what participants could learn about the gendergap on Wikipedia and edit articles to improve the gender equality. The events were mostly organised in various locations throughout Brussels.

  • 29 January - Just For The Record: Elles Tournent / Dames Draaien in MundoB, Brussels
  • 8 March - Just For The Record: Art+Feminism on International Women's Day in the Royal Library of Belgium (KBR) in Brussels
  • 22 March - Just For The Record: Memory Factory in La Bellone, Brussels
  • 25 March - Just For The Record: Relocation : Queer and Feminist Archives in La Bellone, Brussels
  • 6 May - Just For The Record: Wives and daughters of, at Ladyfest in Maastricht
  • 27 May - Public Domain Day 2017 including Just For The Record: Public Domain Day
  • 6 May - Just For The Record: Wives and daughters of: Changing the narrative on Wikipedia at Ladyfest Maastricht 2017
  • 1 October - Just For The Record: changing the narrative, empowering collective writing session on Wikipedia at The F Word Festival 2017 in Amsterdam
  • 18 October - Just For The Record: Chanting & Recording 1
  • 22 October - (Female) Pioneers at Festival Voix de Femmes in KulturA in Liège
  • 22 November - Just For The Record: Chanting & Recording 2
  • 20 December - Just For The Record: Chanting & Recording 3
View See the project page for more information

Civic Lab Brussels & Ghent

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In April 2017 we started together with Open Knowledge Belgium with the Civic Lab Brussels meetings. Free knowledge thrives the best when free knowledge enthusiasts have an open space where they can present initiatives and work together on projects. During 2017 we organised 18 meetings for the presentation of projects and working group sessions to work on projects. In October a spin-off of the Brussels edition started in Ghent: Civic Lab Ghent. In 2017 Civic Lab Ghent organised four meetings.

Conferences and conference like events

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Volunteers active in Wikimedia Belgium visit regularly conferences and conference like events (study days, symposiums, seminars, workshops, etc) inside and outside Belgium to stay informed, to inspire organisations to release materials on Wikimedia Commons, to get ideas for new activities, and more, all to improve the content of Wikipedia and her sister projects.

FOSDEM

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On 3-4 February the annual conference FOSDEM took place at the ULB in Brussels. Wikimedia had no stand at the conference, but many Wikimedians from various countries visited the conference.

GLAMwiki coordinators meeting

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On 15 to 18 February the GLAMwiki coordinators meeting took place in Paris. During the meeting various people from affiliates in Europe came together to talk about the various projects organised about GLAM in Europe. See also: 2017 European GLAMwiki Coordinators meeting

Open Belgium

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Open Belgium is an annual conference about open knowledge, open data and more in Belgium. This year's edition was organised in Brussels. At the conference we gave a presentation about The Gender Gap on Wikipedia and presented the winning photos of Wiki Loves Art were presented at a photo wall.

Wikimedia Conference

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The Wikimedia Conference (WMCON) is an annual meeting of representatives of Wikimedia Chapters and Affiliates, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees and other movement groups. The conference is used to exchange experiences, share best practices, and learn about tools and projects. This year the conference was organised in Berlin from 31 March to 2 April. From the board of Wikimedia Belgium two participants joined the conference.

Free Knowledge Advocacy Group EU annual meeting

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On 22-23 April the 4th annual meeting for the Free Knowledge Advocacy Group EU took place in Brussels. Representatives from multiple Wikimedia affiliates came to Brussels to talk about what is going on in the EU policy making and Wikimedia's perspective on it. See also the Free Knowledge Advocacy Group EU on Meta.

Wikimania

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Wikimania is the annual conference for the Wikimedia movement. This year the conference was organised from 9-13 August in Montreal, Canada. From Wikimedia Belgium only two volunteers were present at the conference.

WikiCon

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On 8-10 September 2017 the yearly conference for the German speaking community called WikiCon took place in Leipzig. At a local venue Wikipedians from all over the German language area and beyond came together to talk about projects, initiatives, policies and more. Also a volunteer from Wikimedia Belgium participated in the conference.

WikiConvention francophone

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On 19-21 October the second edition of the WikiConvention francophone took place in Strasbourg. Also a volunteer from Wikimedia Belgium participated in the conference.

WikidataCon

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On 28-29 October the first edition of the conference WikidataCon took place in Berlin. Also a volunteer from Wikimedia Belgium participated in the conference.

Wikimedia Conferentie Nederland

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The annual conference of Wikimedia Nederland was organised this year again in Utrecht. The Wikimedia Conferentie Nederland (WCN) took place at 4 November and attracted many volunteers from the Netherlands, Belgium and also Germany. During the conference volunteers from Wikimedia Belgium gave two presentations on various subjects.

Publications and Public broadcasting

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In 2017 Wikimedia Belgium published multiple announces, press releases, and official letters.

Social media

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Wikimedia Belgium is also active on social media to reach out to the world about our activities, projects, and to promote the vision of free knowledge with the people in Belgium and beyond. So far, the Wikimedia BE Twitter account posted 2014 posts (1361 in 2017), follows 378 accounts, has 1233 followers, liked 427 posts, and is added to 3 lists.

View See our Twitter account and follow us!

Governance

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General Assembly

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In 2017 Wikimedia Belgium had its fourth General Assembly since the founding of the Wikimedia chapter. It was organised in Brussels on 28 January.

View See General Assembly for more information

Board meetings

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During the year the board had two board meetings to discuss and decide on the various topics that needed to be organised. In the rest of the year we communicated through e-mail and Whatsapp.

View See board meeting for more information

Metrics

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In 2017 we recorded the following metrics. As we depend on the time of local volunteers, the core of activities is providing a good introduction and providing support to participants, due limited time for a lot of activities no or incomplete metrics have been recorded.

Participants Newly registered Content pages Number of edit-a-thons and workshops Number of other activities
1280 242 20612 51 35

See also

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