Wikimedia meetup Central and Eastern Europe/Archive

Other languages: Română (Please translate into as many languages as possible)

The Romanian Wikipedia is planning a meetup of the entire Central and Eastern European Wikimedia community in early 2005, significantly before the Wikimania 2005 conference. This meetup will be less formal than Wikimania and focus more on CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) issues.

Who can participate?

Actually, anyone who's part of a Wikimedia community can. But only the Wikipedias listed below are considered to be Central and Eastern European Wikipedias, and will be the main focus of this meetup.

Note: Some of the countries/communities listed below do not really lie in Central or Eastern Europe as far as geography is concered but are included in this list and invited to take part in this meetup for various reasons (lited in breckets next to each such entry).

Large communities

• Bulgarian (13 836)
• Czech (6 092)
• Estonian (8 910) (OK, so Estonians are Northern Europeans, but come on... why not be part of this?)
• Hungarian (6 750)
• Lithuanian (2 559)
• Polish (58 081)
• Romanian (11 384)
• Serbian (10 545)
• Slovakian (4224)
• Slovenian (10 867)
• Ukrainian (16 070)

Smaller communities

• Aromanian (17)
• Belarusian (1063)
• Latvian (1027)
• Macedonian (59)
• any other country/language group in CEE - please add

Bosnian (188 users, 1 532 articles)

Kaszëbsczi (279)

Ossetian (54)

Chuvash (222)

Perhaps

• German (225 000) (it's in Central Europe, after all - why not?)
  • Pro: It's in Central Europe and a very valuable member of the Wikimedia community
  • Con: It doesn't share the common history with the rest of Central and Eastern Europe and, wiki-wise, it doesn't have the same issues - it is a much larger Wikipedia with a different series of issues.
    • It shares a lot of common history! Just look at those Polish-German edit wars. Inviting our German colleagues might help hammer out some badly needed consensuses.
      • Many of the nationalists, both Polish and German ones, are not based in Germany or Poland, but rather in the USA and other countries.
      • He probably meant Germany culturally has more in common with Western Europe (other Germanic countries etc.) and doesn't share the communist past. At least those living in Western Germany are quite ignorant about Eastern Europe. But of course other parts of Germany, not to mention Austria, has a common history with the Eastern Europeans and would be very interested in our developments. I'm sure the Hungarians would be delighted to talk to their old Austro-Hungarian fellows, for example.
        • Correct me if I'm wrong... I thought that Eastern Germany belonged to the Communist states and does share some of their history.
          • You are correct, although the vast majority of the German-speaking people lived in West Germany, Austria and Switzerland (yes, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein too :-)). Also, the former German Democratic Republic was always somewhat different. It was much richer and more advanced than the other Warsaw Pact countries, and it became part of a rich Western block state and thus the EU and NATO immedeately after the fall of the Soviet Union while countries like Poland had to wait 10-14 years to be allowed.
• Russian (13 160 articles, 2355 participants, 11 admins)
  • the Russian Wikimedia community can be considered to have relatively few things in common with the CEE Wikis, but nonetheless, it could be included
  • Pro: it's in East Europe (at least parts of Russia)
  • Pro: same scale as Bulgarian, Romanian, Slovenian, Ukrainian
• Esperanto (21 210 articles)
• Tatar (3 638)

What will we discuss?

Firstly, our aim for this meetup is emphasizing the fact, that together we can achieve a lot more. CEE wikis are currently in very good shape - although we are a small region, we have many Wikipedias in the top 20 and some of the fastest growth rates. The Polish Wikipedia's performance is commendable as it is in the top 5 Wikipedias for a language only spoken by around 45 million people. The Bulgarian Wikipedia is also doing excellently. And so is the Romanian Wikipedia, renowned far and wide for its campaigns to secure Wikimania Cluj-Napoca 2005 (shameless self-promotion ;-) and not a very NPOV, too :P --TOR 20:47, 3 Jan 2005 (UTC)).

We will be discussing the experiences of each CEE Wiki, and learning from each set of experiences. We will also be presenting strategies for further growth, and ways in which Wikipedias can further the growth of an emerging IT environment such as that of most CEE countries.

Most importantly, we need good spirit and a positive attitude.

Why this meetup?

Well, I think all of you remember Cluj-Napoca's outspoken bid for Wikimania 2005. We lost that bid by the skin of our teeth and yet we would like to have a more local meetup in Cluj. That's the impetus behind this move. That doesn't mean this is a Romanian event. It is an event for every CEE wiki community. We will select cities in the same way they were selected for Wikimania.

I think it would also be great to have a meetup in order to open up collaboration between CEE wikis. Wikipedia has really taken off in this region, even despite fairly limited Internet access and relatively low computerization.

I think having such a meeting would be a really great thing. Each of the meeting I participated to were really special moments. I wish many of you will be able to come. Anthere 08:53, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)

But how about rivalries?

Our aim is to foster an environment where CEE wikis can work together... this meetup will help us in this. Rivalries are not helpful in any way between CEE wikis (this is not to say that CEE wikis should aggresively compete with other wikis). For all those who are jealous of their neighbouring country for having a larger Wikipedia (this sounds silly, but it does happen), CEE meetup seeks to abolish that! Let's work together to make Central and Eastern Europe the prime example when it comes to wiki.

Good humour and acceptance is the key here!

Formality

This meetup is intended to be a lot less formal than Wikimania (you can probably sense this by the writing style here ;-) It's basically both a community meetup and a conference, but not a very formal event. We still need conference facilities though...

Speeches

Points of view

• Ronline - a review of major CEE wikis and their achievements

Language

OK, a big issue.

The tri-language option

One option: We have three world languages which are interesting:

• English
  • Con: no CEE country speaks English as an official language
  • Pro: but many people speak it as a foreign language

• German
  • Con: not counting Germany, Austria, Switzerland etc., no CEE country speak it as official language
  • Pro: many people speak it as a foreign language (in some countries as first foreign language), good knowledge of it partly because historically official language of quite alot CEE countries and ties to the German cultural area.
  • Pro: German Wikipedia is one of the largest and, for geographical and cultural reasons, are German-speaking Wikipedians more likely to be interested in Eastern European developments, which we may benefit from.

• Russian
  • Pro: Due to Soviet influence many people speak Russian
  • Con: Due to the fall of the Soviet Union, not so many young people speak Russian anymore, especially in non-Slavic countries like Romania, Hungary and Greece (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, though non-Slavic, still have important Russian-speaking populations).
  • Con: not written in the Latin alphabet
  • Some countries may not take it particularly well if Russian is an official language of this conference (e.g. Estonia, Greece or even Romania and Hungary)
  • Con: contrary to English and German, the Russian Wikipedia and wiki community is very small and unimportant.

• The local language
  • Pro: This is important because local attenders are set to make up an important part of the base of participants. It would also be strange to, for example, host the conference in Romania but not have Romanian as a working language

We could use Esperanto... but not everyone knows Esperanto. We could use a few widely-spoken CEE languages like Polish and Romanian, but that would cause problems. Possibly both English and German could be used. But, this is an event where it is compulsory for all attenders to leave with a knowledge of every CEE language (only joking, but it would be good to acquaint ourselves with other CEE languages)

Where do I express my opinion about this

This page's discussion page. Write what you think about this meetup, any proposals and ideas are also welcome, except for proposed location, which should be listed below.

Location

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Advantages

• Located in the heart of Central and Eastern Europe - easy access from both Ukraine and Bulgaria, as well as The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia, as well as the Western Balkans. A lot more central than a Baltic states location.
• High level of facilities, especially in comparison to Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
• Lower prices than in Central Europe (Hungary, The Czech Republic, etc)
• Large base of supporters

Disadvantages

• Harder to access from outside Europe, since it is not a capital city. Even from Central & Eastern Europe, you may have to connect somewhere (usually Budapest or Bucharest) before reaching Cluj-Napoca.
• Not part of the European Union - does not cater to passport-less travel.

Getting there

Cluj-Napoca is located in Transylvania, in central-west Romania.

Prague, The Czech Republic

Advantages

• The wealthiest and most visited city in Central and Eastern Europe, meaning lots of good infrastructure and tourism opportunities
• Wonderful setting
• Very good transport links from Western and Eastern Europe

Disadvantages

• Fairly small or inactive Wikipedia community
• Hard to access from Ukraine and Baltic States
• Fairly expensive by CEE standards

Warsaw, Poland

Note: Discussion about the possible orgamization of WMMCEE is currently under way on /Poland. Please see the discussion page for details in English.

Advantages

• Large Wikipedia community - by far the largest in CEE (excluding Germany)
• Fairly easy to access and centrally-located
• Relatively good infrastructure and large city (Warsaw)

Disadvantages

• Hard to access from Southern Balkans (Greece, Macedonia)

Kraków, Poland

Note: Discussion about the possible orgamization of WMMCEE is currently under way on /Poland. Please see the discussion page for details in English.

Advantages

• Large Wikipedia community - by far the largest in CEE (excluding Germany)
• Fairly easy to access and centrally-located
• Relatively good infrastructure and also large city (Krakow) -second international airport in Poland, rail and speedway
• One of the most visited Polish city, old capital of Medieval Poland, one of the most beautiful European city, on UNESCO list, with excelent climate, close to Tatry Mountains.

Disadvantages

• There are no disadvantages ;-)

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Advantages

• Beautiful city which not many people have visited - a new experience
• Slovenia is fairly wealthy and built-up

Disadvantages

• Harder to access than larger cities such as Warsaw, Bucharest and Prague
• More expensive than Romania, Western Balkans, Poland, etc.

Participants

List your name under the country that you live in.

NOTE： if you do not have an account on Meta and do not want to create one, please sign yourself this way: [[:zh:user:vipuser|vipuser]], which will be displayed as vipuser.

Romania

• Ronline
• sp1ri
• Danutz

Poland

• TOR
• PioM - if in Poland, but in city Kracow, not in Warsaw
• Kpjas - possibly
• Blueshade - if in Poland, then maybe...
• Chepry - if in Poland
• Jerry - possibly, maybe, but only in Poland :)
• Ausir
• Taw - I could go if it was in Prague, Krakow or a place like that.
• Polimerek - Krakow (preferable), Warsaw, Prague is OK for me.
• Macieias - 99,9% if breathtaking & magnificent Kraków
• Holek - 100% IF in Wroclaw, Poland :)
• Tukan - 100% If in Kraków, maybe Warsaw or Prague.
• Kpalion - as Tukan.
• Trance - in Kraków
• Jadwiga
• User:Atreyyu - i wish it had organized in Poznan
• MatthiasGor Talk - if in Poland (probably)
• Datrio - probably
• A_Bach - if in Poland, (probably)
• Drpap - if in Poland
• Wulfstan - if in Poland, (probably)
• VanDut - if in Poland, in Kraków
• Gdarin - if in Poland
• Claygirl - if in Poland

Bulgaria

• Emil Petkov

The Czech Republic

• Timespacemon
• Mormegil – if in Czechia, or maybe some really near location
• onovy – same as Mormegil

Lithuania

Jakro64 if in Lithuania, Latvia or North Poland.

Belarus

• Czalex 10:51, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC): the closer to the East, the better :) Krakow or Warsaw from the listed would probably be possible

Slovenia

• Quite an active Wikipedist, I've contacts with the Wikipedia France association, the first European legal association and thus with some experience and background in the legal and other boring stuffs. I also organise some merging (oops, teaser inside). Of French nationality (I speak English fluently too), I'll be in Ljubljana in the time of the meeting.
  I also write quite a lot about Wikipedia on my blog (French only).
  Feel free to ask questions!
  ✒ Reply to David Latapie 15:56, Mar 17, 2005 (UTC)
  • The first and largest European chapter is Wikimedia Deutschland

Croatia

• SpeedyGonsales - For meetup I prefer Ljubljana, Prague and Cluj-Napoca, in this order. And for language, english is usually the first solution, and on place we will see if some other language solution is feasible. Russian is my second choice (Ja govoru malenko po ruski :-)

Serbia and Montenegro

• Millosh. Maybe if it is around Serbia (west Romania and Slovenia sound OK).
• Gorann Andjelkovic. I prefer in Serbie, maybe if it is around Serbia (west Romania and Slovenia sound OK).
• Sasa Stefanovic
• Ivan Svircevic - I prefer Cluj because it's cheepest and thus acceptable for us from Serbia