31 December 2007

Alexandria to Host Wikimania 2008 - Bringing Wikimania to the Library of Alexandria

After months of preparation, Alexandria was finally chosen as the winning bid for the Wikimedia Foundation’s fourth annual international conference, Wikimania 2008. Chosen by the Wikimania jury as the winner over two other exceptional bids, Atlanta and Cape Town, Alexandria will be hosting the event in the summer of 2008 at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), the newly reconstructed library of Alexandria, by its research center ISIS (International School for Information Science) and the ICT department. Wikimedia and the BA are brought together by a goal of spreading knowledge and information, and making them available for all mankind, regardless of their background.

Wikimedia Foundation is a non-profit organization based in St.Petesburg, Florida, USA, with local chapters in several European cities. It was founded in 2003, since when it has acted as  a portal for developing and maintaining multilingual open content through several Wiki based projects. Its annual Wikimania conference is intended to provide a venue for discussing various Wiki projects, their possible evolution, and to discuss several related research papers and topics. The conference typically consists of hacking days, workshops, panel discussions and presentations. The conference also acts as a meeting point for Wiki users, providing them with an opportunity to interact and exchange expertise.

Bibliotheca Alexandrina was inaugurated in 2002 to recapture the spirit of the ancient Library of Alexandria. The new Library and its affiliated research centers are devoted to using the newest technology to preserve the past and to promote access to the products of the human intellect. It is committed to work with partners all over the world, and is a center for intercultural dialogue, learning and understanding. ISIS was founded in 2002 to initiate, develop, carry out and promote research and development of activities and projects related to building a universal digital library. The Institute is viewed as an incubator of IT projects that will ultimately contribute to the knowledge capacity of Egypt and the world.

Alexandria was chosen by the jurors based on 12 criteria, of which it Alexandria led in six areas, and was placed second in five others. In the Foundation’s official press release, it is stated that Alexandria was favored due to “[its being] particularly strong in the areas of reflecting the Wikimedia Foundation's roots in geo-diversity and multi-lingualism, [the] very exciting nature of the proposed venue and its local facilities, and of the particularly advanced nature of the financial planning.”

The Alexandria bid team, which consists mainly of eager youthful volunteers, will start work immediately at making next year’s Wikimania an outstanding event. The venue of the conference provides  a good start, as the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Conference Center is a fully equipped, state of the art structure, and the involved ICT department will be providing its full range of technical support throughout the entire conference.

This conference will be made possible by sponsorship from several parties; confirmed sponsorships have been given from the BA, Microsoft Egypt, governmental authorities, and several local companies, such as eSpace and Gawab.

For future updates, please refer to Wikimania official website: http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/