Wikimania is the official annual conference of the Wikimedia Foundation. It focuses on Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikibooks, Wikinews, Wikiquote, Wikisource, Wikiversity, Wikivoyage, Wikimedia Commons) as well as open source software, free content and free knowledge.
The inaugural edition of Wikimania was held in August 2005 in Frankfurt, Germany. It attracted around 380 attendees. Keynote speakers at the conference included Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Socialtext Incorporated Ross Mayfield, developer of the first wiki Ward Cunningham, and founder of the GNU Project Richard Stallman.
Wikimania is hosted by a new country every year. Past host countries have included Germany, the United States, Taiwan, Egypt, Argentina, Poland, Israel, China, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Italy, and Canada. Attendance may vary from year to year. As of 2016, the latest attendance record was set at the 2014 conference in London that attracted a little over 1,700 participants.
Wikimania aims to promote the advancement of free knowledge. It hosts a wide range of activities including lectures, workshops, discussions, training, meetings and encounters, parties, unconferences, a hackathon, and other events and activities for wiki enthusiasts from around the world. Hundreds of people from different countries gather to discuss issues related to the Wikimedia movement, exchange ideas, and report on new approaches and programs.
Since 2011, the Wikipedian of the Year award has been presented at Wikimania. The award is presented by Jimmy Wales to highlight major contributions to Wikipedia by an individual user. Past recipients have included French historian Rémi Mathis, Ukrainian journalist and Euromaidan activist Ihor Kostenko (awarded posthumously), and American gender equality activists Emily Temple-Wood and Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight.
In 2021 (August 13-17) and 2022 (August 11-14), the event was held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Photo: Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
