Program Story: Wikipedia Day NYC 2019

Wikipedia Day has been a special event organized by Wikimedia NYC every year since 2010. The first Wikipedia Day celebrated by Wikimedia NYC had 24 attendees; the event in 2019 had over 300. It is traditionally the largest event we organize, combining elements of a conference, unconference, meetup, editathon/hackathon, and celebration. For many of us, it's our favorite event of the year, providing an opportunity to share, learn, build, brainstorm, and socialize with people who engage with Wikimedia projects in a variety of ways. For some local Wikimedians, it is the only event they attend with regularity. For others, it was the event that introduced them to the Wikimdia NYC community.

The 2018 event marked ten years since our chapter elected its first president, and we used the event to reflect on how far we had come both locally and as a global movement. In 2019, inspired by the Wikimedia 2030 strategic planning process, we looked not to the past but to the future, focusing on current trends, where we're headed as a movement and a chapter, where we want to go, and how we can get there.

The agenda: maps, data, translations, universities, and strategies for a global movement

After a welcome and introduction from chapter president Megan Wacha, Phoebe Ayers set the tone for the event with a talk on "Wikipedia at 18," looking back on the 18 years since Wikipedia's founding. Importantly, she didn't just look back for the sake of celebration, but also to reflect on the present, looking at how conversations, priorities, strategies, and challenges have evolved in that time. Other speakers elaborated on these themes throughout the day. Our first panel was on the topic "Wikipedia as a Global Project," showcasing translation projects and other initiatives aiming to bring underrepresented groups to Wikipedia. "Translate-a-thons" have been a particularly exciting development in our community over the last year, with several events focused just on translating articles on Wikipedia, with frequently spectacular results. We also wanted to highlight the exciting activities going on in our local higher education institutions with a "Wikipedia in the University" panel. Participants presented on recent classes, learning outcomes, academic projects, and GLAM initiatives aimed at bridging Wikipedia and academia together. These are crucial not just in the way they bring students to Wikipedia, but also in the way they bring rich knowledge stores in academic libraries and archives to Wikimedia projects.

Carwil Bjork-James delivered the afternoon keynote titled "New Maps for an Inclusive Wikipedia: Plotting Strategies to Counter Systemic Bias." In it, he examined maps as a fascinating, understudied site of systemic bias on Wikipedia -- one with potential for intervention. The talk made an impression on attendees, sparking discussions and leading people to share the talk on social media.

Wikidata is a project many in the New York City area have been enthusiastic about and look forward to continuing to work with in the future, so we wanted to be sure to include it as one of the major sessions, "Wikidata and Wiki Tech." Finally, we had a session on "Public Domain and the Commons," celebrating the first major Public Domain Day, an event near and dear to many Wikimedians' hearts.

At two points both before and after lunch we reserved time for lightning talks, which are always popular on Wikipedia Day.

Throughout the day, in addition to the main conference room, we had a parallel track in the smaller Board Room, which included sessions on conflict of interest editing, language and translation, a WikiProject New York City meetup, and an introduction to Wikipedia for beginners.

"We're going to need more food."

Three days before Wikimedia NYC's annual Wikipedia Day conference, organizers moved quickly to adapt to a surprising influx of RSVPs, ordering more food (and cake!) and checking on venue capacity. On the day of the event, January 13, 2019, more people showed up than ever before, filling the conference rooms of the Ace Hotel.

One of the topics that has come up increasingly over the past several years is the concern about harassment within the Wiki* community. At the time of the event, Wikimedia NYC was in the process of developing a code of conduct for the chapter and discussing how to handle harassment at our events. Those documents were not yet in place at the time, but we as a chapter committed to making our events a safe and friendly space for our members and other attendees. As such, Wikipedia Day was the first major event we ran for which we had a detailed plan involving (a) a schedule to ensure designated chapter volunteers would be present in all conference rooms throughout the day, (b) strategies to handle harassment and other potential conflicts, and (c) a communication strategy to articulate what was expected of attendees and whom to ask for help, if needed. Thankfully, the event went smoothly, without incident, but the processes we put in place were helpful as we continued to develop our code of conduct and evolve our thinking about harassment.

Thanks to the Internet Society, recordings of all of the talks and panels in the main conference room are available to view on Wikimedia Commons.

Attendee Feedback

Attendees commented that the overall program was excellent, including the WikiTech talks and the lightening talks. Attendees also reported that having time to speak with other attendees was a highlight of the event and appreciated the large turnout, the venue, and the food.

Question: What was your favorite thing about Wikipedia Day?

The program was excellent as were the lightning talks.

Carwil Bjork-James's talk about maps and systemic bias, and the breakout sessions about COI and WikiProject NYC in the board room.

A big turn-out. High attendance gave this the feeling it was important. It was.

The number of attendees was great, as were the talks. The lightening talks were really interesting.

Question: What didn't you like so much, or what could've been improved?

I really hate to quibble about free lunch, but they did run out before they reached the end of the line.

It would be nice if there was time in the schedule for a social activity. (Especially helpful if you're awkward and don't know anyone at the event yet.) I brought Wikipedia: The Game About Everything, but we didn't get a chance to play.

I noticed that you covered a lot of topics. There weren't any topics about accessibility or the disabled.

The future of Wikipedia Day for Wikimedia NYC

The attendance to the Wikipedia Day celebration in New York City grows exponentially each year. Because the audience is so mixed in terms of experience with Wiki* projects and Wiki* interests, the challenge to curate talks and content that are useful across these demographics is one that the chapter will continue to address. For Wikipedia Day 2019, there was a good mix of more general and technical content. However, future iterations of this event may benefit from more dedicated project and technical tool discussion and training. Typically, organizers do not formally survey attendees before the event to learn about their expectations or desired content. Perhaps this is something that can be folded into the planning process moving forward. Additionally, there is also a need for event organizers to continue to look outside of the Wiki* world to bring in speakers who are able to speak about related projects and initiatives in various domains, such as libraries, museums, private industry, and distributed open source projects and repositories. Thankfully, owing to the continuity of the program planning team, future Wikipedia Day celebrations in New York City are likely to be informative, inclusive, and a great gathering place for experienced editors, new editors, and those who are simply curious to learn more about how Wikipedia and its sister projects function. Wikipedia Day 2020 marks the tenth anniversary of the Wikimedia NYC celebration, and we look forward to reporting on the event as well as other successful community events in FY2020.