Hello, everyone.
I hope you're comfortably seated,
I hope you realized you had time to grab a cup of coffee
or tea before joining the room.
If not, you'll be able to have one later.
Good morning!
I am Léa Lacroix, proud member of the Wikidata team
at Wikimedia Germany, and I am very, very excited
to welcome you to the second WikidataCon.
(applause)
Thank you.
So most of you already know me because I've been spamming you
with a lot of emails recently,
and I am glad to tell you that in the next 20 minutes,
I'll provide you with more practical information
about the conference, but I hope that after this opening session,
you'll be able to know everything that you need to know about the conference
and you'll have a great time here in this awesome venue
that is Urania Berlin, I hope you will enjoy it.
So, let's go straight away with the most important things.
We have a photography policy.
Two important things to know, people who wear an orange lanyard,
they don't want to be taken in pictures at all.
They don't want to appear on any kind of screen or device
which means be especially careful to not take pictures of these people.
And the people wearing a regular lanyard, just like me--
this is something that is, maybe, slightly different
from the Wikimedia events that you know,
but basically, the rule is if you want to publish a picture
of people on Commons or on social media,
please make sure that you obtain the consent of the people
before publishing it.
So you can do that in different ways,
you can ask beforehand, before taking the picture--
it doesn't have to be out loud-- you can just--I mean,
if the person sees you taking the picture
and starts behaving like this,
it's probably that they consent to be taken in picture.
People who are on stage during a session,
usually agree with being taken in picture,
and what you can also do is ask afterwards--
you take the picture of people generally doing things
and then you quickly go to them and you ask,
"Is that okay if I publish this?"
This is really important because we want to be more careful
about people's privacy.
We probably don't need pictures
of every single participant of the conference on Commons.
I think we have enough pictures of people typing on computers,
so I will really ask you to follow these rules,
so everyone can feel comfortable at the conference.
So, another important part.
Most of the content of the conference will be live-streamed in this room
and also in the two other session's rooms, Kepler and Einstein.
This is great because that allows people who are not participating
to actually follow the content of the conference
or being able to watch it afterwards.
That's actually for you also if you are afraid of missing a session,
you can watch it later.
But that also means that people onstage will be filmed and recorded
and also people, for example, walking just in front of the stage
can be recorded as well.
So if you really don't want to appear on camera,
actually, the best spot is to be next to the camera
or slightly behind the camera, depending on the room
because here you're pretty sure that you're not going to be filmed.
And in the room Kepler, don't be surprised when you enter the room
if it looks like the camera is filming the entrance,
it's actually not, the camera is set up so it's not filming people entering,
so you can enter the room,
you can walk around and you won't be streamed.
It's only focused on the speaker who is in this room.
Alright.
So I wanted to have a quick overview of the building together
because we didn't print a floorplan for everyone
in order to avoid too much printing.
And the venue is very nice but it can be also--
it takes a bit of time to just understand
how it's working.
So, let's go through it very quickly.
You arrive through the main entrance in where the registration is.
This is also where you can come and ask any questions,
and there is also a wardrobe here.
If you want to leave your valuables somewhere safe,
it's a nice place to go.
And this is also where the dining area,
this is also where part of the catering will happen.
If you want to take some fresh air or a cigarette,
you can go out through the main entrance
and also through what is mentioned here,
Emergency Exit, which is the backyard of the venue
that you can access through the ground floor.
And you have various staircases that--be careful of that--
don't necessarily lead to all the floors in the venue.
But you'll figure that out very soon.
On the first floor where we are right now, these are the three main session rooms.
Let's say the formal part of the program is taking place here.
This is also the dining area that we also call cafeteria sometimes.
It's this place where you'll also be able to have lunch and dinner.
Then on the second floor,
this is the part where the self-organized part of the program takes place,
which is also going to be very interesting.
So in Edison, you have a hacking space
where you can go anytime during the opening hours
and just sit down and work on some stuff.
You're going to have the workshop room Darwin
just next to it, and going to have this nice Newton room
that is really made for just relaxing, discussing,
having all kinds of informal discussion.
And you have an extra meetup room that is called Austen.
Some stuff is already planned in there, some stuff can still be planned,
feel free to walk around, there are also some posters.
This is also where some exciting things are going to happen tonight,
during the evening.
So feel free to make sure that you check the second floor.
And finally, the third floor is not going to be widely used,
but I wanted to mention that we have a quiet room in the venue
where you can go and take a nap, take some rest,
just escape a bit from the noise and a lot of social interaction,
so you can access it through the stairs in the corner,
and you can reach the room Curie which is the quiet room.
This is also where tomorrow morning
the yoga and meditation session will take place,
but I will talk more about this in a minute.
Please, mind that we have elevators, however, we'll want to make sure
that they are available for people who really need it.
So, if you are able to take the stairs,
I would like to ask you to take the stairs.
And at any time, you can find the pictures of these maps
at this URL *map.wikidatacon.org*,
so you will never get lost.
Also, if you are really lost you can ask someone,
especially people wearing green T-shirts like me
who can help you figure out your way in the venue.
So as I said, at the info desk you can ask any question,
you also have the Lost & Found box if necessary.
You can get some stuff printed if you really need it,
and for the scholars, this is also where the reimbursement is going to happen.
Be aware it's going to run until noon,
after that, it's going to be more complicated,
so if you have some stuff to get reimbursed, please, do it soon.
There is also a wardrobe that is open at the opening times of the venue,
so feel free to leave your valuables there.
Anything you don't need, actually, for the conference is very safe there.
Just don't forget to take them back when you leave on Saturday.
Then, I am not going to go through the whole schedule
because if you already had a look at it
it's very full of a lot of interesting stuff.
I just wanted to mention some important things.
So today until 11, the things are going to take place only here,
and after that the rooms will one after the other open,
and the venue is open until midnight today.
Tomorrow we open the doors at 8:30,
and then the first session starts at 10, just like today.
At 2 p.m, we are going to have the group photo
in the backyard of the venue if everything goes right,
you will get some reminders about this when the time comes.
The rooms will start closing at 6:30
and then, tomorrow, the venue is closing at 8:30.
So make sure that you get everything you need before that.
So, again, you can have a look at the program
either on *program.wikidatacon.org*
or *mobile.wikidatacon.org*
for the awesome mobile version that we have.
Now, let's talk a bit about food because that's important.
Today and tomorrow, we will offer you lunch and dinner.
It will take place between 1:00 and 2:30
on the ground floor in Arnheim-Foyer
and in the cafeteria dining area that I presented to you earlier
and dinner between 6:30 and 20:00.
I am really glad to tell you
that we decided to have fully vegetarian meals
for this edition of the conference.
(cheers)
Of course-- Thank you.
Of course, a vegan version will be available,
and we tried to make sure that it's suitable for everyone
so if you have any specific needs feel free to ask the staff there,
and they will make sure that you get something to eat.
You will also get something to drink,
of course, warm and cold drinks are available at anytime,
and we'll also have some snack breaks.
And as usual in Wikimedia events, we have a sweets table
so if you ever brought some candies from your home region,
you can put them down there on the counter basically
at the end of the counter right down in there,
and also try some interesting stuff that the other people brought.
Now, apart from the formal program that is taking place on this floor
and that's getting streamed,
we also have a lot of self-organized things
that's happening because I think the core of the conference
is actually between the interaction with people
and all the spontaneous or not so spontaneous meetups
that are happening,
and people gathering around topics that they all care about.
So, we have the hacking room for that
that's going to be open as much as possible.
There are tables there that have a number,
so you can just sit down at the table at some point and tell all the people,
"Hey, I'm table No. 5 and I am working on--
I don't know--importing data about this topic. Please, join."
So, for that, you can go to the Wiki page
that is called "Self-organized session"
and you can just write down something here explaining where you are.
You can advertise it also on the discussion channels like Telegram
and make sure that people can join.
The Newton room, the discussion room that you will discover soon,
is also made for that purpose,
and you can also use the cafeteria when it's not lunch time.
Alright. Now, I wanted to present to you quickly the social events
that we have for you.
So first of all, today is going to be the Birthday celebration.
So, of course, like any birthday celebration,
we are going to have some cake at the dinner,
and then we are going to have two very exciting sessions.
We are going to have the birthday presents demo,
because I don't know if you know but it's kind of a tradition
in the Wikidata community when it's Wikidata's birthday,
people prepare some little presents.
It can be a piece of code, it can be a new tool,
but it can be also something non development-related,
so we are actually super excited to present that to you.
If you plan to present something, please, talk to Lydia
because she's going to be coordinating a bit everything
that's happening there.
And then, for the first time,
we're going to have the WikidataCon Awards ceremony.
This is going to be very exciting, I think you should all be here
because a lot of surprises will happen here.
Some of the most enjoyed tools and projects in the Wikidata
and Wikibase community have been selected
and will be presented to you.
I say no more--you will see it's going to be awesome.
And after that, tonight,
we are offering you basically some space
to just relax and network and discuss.
There is going to be a nice light and sound installation here,
nothing too loud so you can continue just having discussions
and talking to people.
As for tomorrow, another experimentation that we have this year
is the yoga introduction and the guided meditation session.
Basically, we are aware that this kind of event
can be extremely intense
and after a first day, you are already like,
your brain is so full of all the content, all the discussions that you had
so in order to relax a bit, we are offering you two options
to just clear your mind before starting a new day of the conference.
So both happen at the same time, tomorrow at 8:45 on the third floor,
you can choose either a yoga introduction, really easy, it's made for newcomers,
same for the guided meditation session.
So feel free to come a few minutes before
and enjoy this time before you start the conference again.
And finally, tomorrow we are going to have dinner
here in the venue and after that
we are going to go for a goodbye drink at 8:00
in a venue that is called Alte Pumpe-- it's a very, very nice place.
What? Okay.
Actually, I will give you more information about where to go and stuff like this
during the closing session
because you don't need to have all the details now,
but it's also going to be a very nice moment.
So, we are 250 participants here
at the conference,
from 46 different countries-- that's super exciting.
A lot of people interested in a lot of different topics.
So, we will love you to engage with participants as much as possible.
We all have at least one common point
is that we're interested in Wikidata or Wikibase,
so you can start discussion with that-- that's a good point.
So we have a few discussion channels, we have, for example, a Telegram channel.
You can use the #WikidataCon
and also #WikidataBirthday on social networks.
You can access the list of participants, add yourself if you're still not there,
so people can find you by topic of interest, these kind of things,
and the best moment, we suggest you to engage with each other
is actually during the brakes-- we have lots of brakes,
lunch and dinner, the meetups and so on.
Also, you all received a little wallet as a present for the participants.
Feel free to collect some business cards or other contacts from people
that you meet during the conference.
And since you're also in the community you received a pen with the wallet,
I would like to suggest you to actually add your name on the back of the wallet--
there is a space for that--
because since you're now 250 people having the same wallet in the room--
(laughing)
if I find a wallet on the table and there is no name,
I have no clue of whose is that, so please do that before it's too late.
Alright.
We have--since we are all here interested in Wikidata,
and Wikibase, of course we want to talk to you
about these topics.
We want to gather your input
on what should be the future of Wikidata and Wikibase.
So, in general, the whole event it is actually made for that
but there are some specific sessions that can be interesting.
We have a workshop today that is called, "Envisioning Wikidata in the future."
It's a two-hour workshop and I want to tell you right now,
the idea of this workshop is that you attend to the whole two hours
so there is no "can I come only for the first hour"
or something like this.
It's an experience in itself so you have to go there.
There are still some spaces free,
so feel free to just go the room when you arrive.
We also have a booth that is dedicated to user experience
and my colleagues here will be there to talk with you about Wikidata features
and all kind of other things.
So feel free to jump by, it's on the ground floor.
You can also get some interviews about various Wikidata features.
And if you want to talk about anything related to Wikidata and Wikibase strategy,
I have two colleagues here who will be listening to you
and very glad to talk to you-- this is Lydia and Elena.
You can find them in the event, during the event,
feel free to reach for them.
Very, very shortly on Sunday, we're going to have some side events
if you want to join, this is not mandatory.
This is open to everyone, including people who are not registered to the conference.
You can find them on the page here.
I just to wanted to mention one thing
that's important for people who are not from a European country--
during the night between Saturday and Sunday,
we're going to have this time change
where basically the clock is going to go backward of one hour.
So if you want to attend an event,
or if you have a flight or transport to catch,
be aware of the new hour, check your device
and ask random people in the street if you don't know what time is it.
Feel free to do so.
- (man) They don't know either. - (Léa) Maybe they don't know either.
(laughing) Alright.
(man) Or if you want to go earlier.
(laughs)
Quick note about documentation, we love documentation.
Please, help us documenting-- it's very important.
You have links to notepads in all the Wiki pages of the sessions.
If you can still take a few notes when you are there,
also helping collecting the summaries of the sessions,
it would be so, so useful for us.
The link of the live-stream, I already shared it on various networks,
so feel free to share it for people who are outside this conference,
and I've put the hashtags in the Common category again.
Okay. Two important things.
Don't forget to take care of other people.
Try to be kind and supportive.
Make sure you leave space for everyone to express their opinions and ideas.
I also want to mention that since we are a very diverse audience
at this conference, and it's awesome.
We have people from the editors of the community.
We have people from institutions
who just come and try to learn more about Wikidata,
and since you all know a bit of Wikidata,
you also know that it covers a very large amount of different skills
and maybe people don't have the same skills,
or the same knowledge as you,
so try to embrace this diversity, be welcoming to people,
and I am pretty sure that you can always learn
at least one thing from the person in front of you.
So try to highlight that.
And, of course, don't forget to take care of yourself.
We're going to have plenty of water and food for you.
If you want to avoid the usual post-conference flu,
we would suggest that you try to watch your end,
and get enough sleep and get enough fresh air.
Speaking about taking care of each other,
we have a friendly space policy that you all complied to
by signing up to this event,
and we'll ask you to respect it.
So, we really want to have an event that has no harassment or discrimination.
So, we have here four different people
who are part of the friendly space policy reference
that you can contact them anytime, anytime you can go to them--
Amir, Lucie, Tpt, and Rosalie.
And you can also report an issue directly by email.
So, again, there is a link to the full page,
it's on Wiki anyway, you can have a look, and really,
if you feel uncomfortable at any time, feel free to talk to them.
And finally, if you need any kind of help,
feel free to ask the organization team-- that's us here.
Feel free to ask the volunteers wearing this beautiful green T-shirt.
And if you also want this beautiful green T-shirt,
we actually need a few more volunteers,
so if you willing to help, feel free to come to me after this session.
Thank you very much.
I hope you enjoy this conference, as much as we enjoyed preparing it.
Have a nice time. Thank you!
(applause)