A Festival thank you: Wikimania 2022

As Wikimania events wind to a close across the globe, we wanted to extend a huge thank you to the thousands of Wikimedians who brought the Festival to life. From movement members who organized local events, to the speakers who shared their knowledge or led us in fun activities during a virtual session, to the volunteers who helped keep the event safe and running smoothly, Wikimania was a movement-wide effort and celebration of our mission to share free knowledge with the world.

Hundreds of speakers led over 120 sessions. From talks about GLAM and cybersecurity, to workshops about translations and partnerships, to games using free knowledge on Wikimedia projects, these sessions brought us together and fostered new contributions and collaborations. Sessions are now available to watch individually on YouTube (Commons coming soon).  Thank you to the virtual event speakers for sharing your knowledge with us, and thank you to the virtual event attendees for bringing your enthusiasm and curiosity to each session. 

Volunteers gathered together to support logistics throughout the virtual Festival, working to maintain a friendly space, welcome newcomers, document sessions, and make sure content is available on-wiki. Thank you to the 50+ volunteers who dedicated many hours of their time to keep the event flowing.

In-person events were a big part of the Festival. Wikimedia community members worked for months to plan and, in many cases, secure Foundation grants for over 50 events across the globe, ranging from local meetups to large, multi-day independent gatherings. They hosted their own informative and interactive programming, planned outings, and broadcasted live to the virtual event to share with other Wikimedians. Thank you to the local event organizers and participants for your tireless efforts in building vibrant events that gathered communities together—often for the first time in years—to connect and celebrate.

As we do every year at Wikimania, we celebrated the outstanding contributions of members of our community through the Wikimedian of the Year award. This year, we recognized seven awardees and two affiliates for their work – you can read about them here. Thank you to the Wikimedians of the Year and Affiliate Spotlights for all the work you do to promote free knowledge within your communities and around the world!

We want to also acknowledge the technical difficulties that arose during Wikimania. Despite this, so many of you showed up and continued to engage, connect, listen and share ideas and insights. Special thanks to speakers for persevering despite the challenges. The Foundation is examining the lessons from this year’s Wikimania to ensure that next year’s Wikimania showcases knowledge from all of you in the best way possible.

A more detailed report and evaluation of Wikimania 2022 is coming soon. Take our post-event survey to be part of the evaluation. We also encourage you to watch sessions back on YouTube, and flip through the fun photos of the in-person events that have been uploaded to Commons (don’t forget to upload yours if you hosted one!).

Thank you again for a wonderful Festival. See you next year in Singapore and online!

Photo credits:

• Karavali Wikimedians Wikimania, Ashay vb, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Wikimania 2022 Festival in Esino Lario, Iolanda Pensa, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Wikimania 2022 in Uganda, Kyakwera, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Mesa de trabajo en WikidíaCol2022, Ana Maria Gutierrez (WMCO), CC BY-SA 4.0
• Wikimania BD 22 Rono (Wikimania in Bangladesh), Ruhan, CC BY-SA 4.0