// foss.events

The WikidataCon is an event focused on the Wikidata community in a broad sense: editors, tools builders, but also 3rd party reusers, partner organizations that are using or contributing to the data, the ecosystem of organizations working with Wikibase. The content of the conference will have some parts dedicated to people who want to learn more about Wikidata, some workshops and discussions for the community to share skills and exchange about their practices, and some space left to include side events for specific projects (WikiCite, Wikibase, GLAM, etc.).

Important: as the global COVID pandemic is still hitting the world, and the forecast for 2021 doesn’t indicate much improvement, the situation doesn’t allow us to plan a traditional onsite international conference. In 2021, we will not gather all participants in Berlin, and we will avoid any international travel. Instead, we are experimenting with a hybrid format for the conference: most of the content and interactions will take place online, and small, local gatherings will be possible, if the situation allows it.

In a similar way to the distributed Wikidata birthday events (2018, 2020), we will encourage Wikimedia chapters, local groups and communities to organize their part of the event, to support and gather people inside their country, and to contribute to the content, for example with running talks, workshops and discussions. Wikimedia Germany will provide the technical infrastructure and support the coordination of these distributed events.

The organization and coordination of the WikidataCon will be run by Wikimedia Germany in partnership with another organization: Wiki Movimento Brasil joined the organizing team and will bring their experience in running Wikidata community events. Together, we will make sure that the program includes a great diversity of speakers and we will prepare a physical event to gather the Wikidata community in Brazil. (announcement)

In these quite unpredictable times, organizing an event is a challenge, and the WikidataCon 2021 will definitely be one of a kind: we will have to adapt, to be agile, to make the best out of the situation, and to work closely with the local Wikidata groups all over the world. We’re looking forward to running this exciting experiment with you!