Wikiconference Australia 2015

WikiConference Australia 2015
Celebrate - Inspire - Excel

Wikimedia Australia is proposing a national Wikimedia conference to be held at the State Library of Queensland (our venue partner) in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia on 3-5 October 2015. It will be 3 day event, consisting of two separate events with flexible registration options:

Saturday and Sunday (3-4 October): the main conference will offer two parallel tracks in adjacent auditoriums (with attendees being able to switch between them according to their interests):
a Wikimedia track focussed on the interests of active Wikimedians in the Australasian area and with a focus on contribution to Australian content on WMF platforms, including English Wikipedia and Commons. The aim of this track is to celebrate the achievements, collectively and individually of Australian contributors and of Australian content to date, and to inspire our Wikimedians into the future, by exploring the challenges we face and seeking innovative solutions.
an Open Knowledge track focussed on the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives & Museums) sector, Government agencies providing open data, educational use of open knowledge. While the use of open content in Wikimedia Foundation projects will be the primary focus, other open content initiatives will be welcome. In 2009, Wikimedia Australia hosted the GLAM-WIKI conference which sought to build collaboration between the Australian cultural sector and WMF projects around open content. This track will include an opportunity to review the progress so far and chart the future.
Monday (5 October): a specialist day focussing on in-depth topics. The goal here is to allow people to improve their skills for better contributions. This day will feature tutorials and hands-on sessions to learn to work with Wikimedian and researcher tools, e.g. AutoWikiBrowser, Wikipedia Python Library, WikiData and WMF research tools like Quarry. “Unconference” sessions will be held on this day to support small group discussions, e.g. WikiProject members can meet and discuss their projects.
A strong element of WikiConference Australia 2015 will be the opportunities for social interaction as many Australian Wikimedians get little opportunity for face-to-face interaction with other Wikimedians with shared topic interests due to our national geography. It will also provide opportunities for face-to-face interaction with others involved in open knowledge to explore mutually-rewarding opportunities.

Please note that Mon 5 October 2015 is a public holiday in some states of Australia (ACT, NSW, QLD, SA) but not in NT, TAS, VIC, and WA. Note also that daylight saving commences on Sunday 4 October 2015 in ACT, NSW, SA, TAS, and VIC but not in NT, QLD, and WA, as this may impact on travel arrangements.

Important Note: This is a proposed event but we cannot guarantee it will take place. Wikimedia Australia wants to have as many Australasian Wikimedians at the event as possible by making registration affordable and offering some assistance with travel expenses, but the extent to which this cross-subsidisation is possible depends on obtaining financial support, which might or might not be successful.