Wikimania 2014 feedback Fabio Rinnone

I have had the opportunity to participate in both and Wikimania conference through a Wikimedia CH scholarship. I have been entirely satisfied of logistics and organization of the conference (schedule, sessions, catering, convention center, etc.). For me it was the first experience at Wikimania, so I was quite interested in the sessions that were held during the conference.

During the first day of hackhaton I was a little confused, probably because I had never attended an event like this even though I'm a computer scientist, even during my college years, and then I did not know what to do. Maybe I had difficulty because there were no other Italians, as well as me and Ilario.

However during the first day of hackhaton I had the opportunity to know the group of Wikipedians from Armenia, including two administrators hy.. They were not specialized in the computer programming and programming languages and therefore we have taken the time to agree on the modalities of integration between it.wiki and hy.wiki, in particular for the translation from Italian to English and toArmenian and viceversa of voices on issues on our common interest. I continued to maintain relationships with this group of Wikipedians even after the event, in particular through the social networks (expecially Facebook).

During the second day I decided to participate to workshops because I had difficulties the day before. Overall, I was satisfied of the two workshops that I followed: "Mobile Apps: Going Native & workshop presentation" and "Media Viewer Discussion". In the first I learned the state of the development of native applications for mobile devices (Android and iOS mainly) and I had a chance to make small experiments on the public code taken from Github; in the second I learned in detail the characteristics of the Media Viewer, the new platform to enhance the browsing experience of multimedia content and particularly the photos.

The sessions that I attended at the main conference, however, were mainly those in the field of technology. The choice of topics was very wide and especially suited to all profiles of Wikipedians and volunteers present (both those with more technical skills like me who those with other skills different from mine). But I preferred more technical sessions even if they were not quite advanced because they probably also aimed to an audience with basic skills.

During the first day I followed the session titled "Fixing grammar errors semi-automatically" in which was described the LanguageTool for correction of errors in semiautomatic wiki in order to improve the quality of texts. Then I followed the session titled "Machine aided translation article" on automating translation of articles wiki. On the same day I attended the session titled "Multimedia Overview" in which they were treated with the following topics: Upload Wizard, Structured Data, Media Viewer (already I followed during the hackhaton). The purpose of the session was to describe the methods to improve the user experience of interacting with media files. The two subsequent sessions were devoted to the problem of efficient management of the video on the wiki: "The State (and Fate) of Wikimedia Video" and "Freedom in motion: the state of open video and audio at Wikimedia." Finally I followed session titled "Structured " focuses on a proposal for a new version of structured and multilingual Wikiquote and "CirrusSearch": the evolution of the internal search engine of Wikipedia.

The second day of the conference was the most interesting to me, because I am a computer scientist interested in GIS and digital mapping and occasionally I collaborate on OpenStreetMap project. During the morning sessions I was able to learn in detail the state of the OpenStreetMap project and its integration with Wikimedia projects, but mostly I learned of the existence of many tools in support of the programmer, such as Java OpenStreetMap.

This is the complete list of sessions that I followed: • API Roadmap • Mobile Apps: Going Native presentation & workshop • Media Viewer Discussion • Hackathon: Reflection and closure • Technology I (Language): Fixing grammar errors semi-automatically • Technology I (Language): Machine aided article translation • Technology II (Language): Multimedia Overview • Technology II (Language): The State (and Fate) of Video in Wikimedia • Technology II (Language): Freedom in motion: the state of open video and audio at Wikimedia • Technology III (Language): Structured Wikiquote – The future of the free quote compendium that anyone can edit • Technology III (Language): CirrusSearch: How we've replaced a great search engine with an awesome search engine • Maps (OpenStreetMap): OpenStreetMap – what is it and what does it mean for Wikimedians? • Maps (OpenStreetMap): Wikimedia and OpenStreetMap: History, Current Status, and Challenges • Technlogy VI (Views): Replaying Edits & Visualising Edit History • Technlogy VI (Views): Testing internationalized applications for Wikimedia content • Technlogy VI (Views): FastCCI: Taming the Commons Category Tree • Social Machines VI (Patterns): Hi, my name is 192.195.83.38: unmasking anonymous editors on Wikipedia • Keynote Speakers III

As for accommodation I am overall very satisfied beacuse I think it was a good idea to prefer the College Hall as accommodation, either because it was equipped with WIFI connection and because the rooms were singles. The room was quite clean, the staff friendly and courteous. In addition, the nearest metro station (Russell Square) was not far away.

Finally, it is important for me to thank all the members of Wikimedia CH that were available at any time for questions, concerns, support and patience, especially Ilario that being the only Italian member had to have enormous patience with me.