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Grants:PEG/WM US-NYC/Wiki-Conference New York 1/Report

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The Wikimedians are teeming

Project Goal:

Description of actual activities:

w:Wikipedia:Meetup/NYC/Wiki-Conference/2009 was a two-day conference held over the weekend of July 25-26 2009, at NYU Law School.

What lessons were learned that could help others succeed in similar projects?

The "modified unconference" format worked surprisingly well:

http://www.stuartgeiger.com/wordpress/wikis/2009/09/07/wikiconference-new-york-an-open-unconference/

This same format has also been taken up as a model by the 'West Coast Wikiconference':

http://2011.westcoastwikicon.org/

Walking to Central Park for a Sunday afternoon picnic unfortunately did not work so well, and we will not again make our wikiconference plans so dependent on the weather.

What impact did the project have on WMF mission goals of Increased Reach, Increased Quality, Increased Credibility, Increased and Diversified Participation?

We had over 100 attendees, a fairly large percentage of whom actually made a presentation of some sort. The breakdown was about 3/4 Wikimedians, and 1/4 non-Wikimedians (or rather, aspirant Wikimedians), most of the latter being affiliated with academia or educational non-profits.

While most participants were from the Northeast US, we had several from the US South, a couple from the US West Coast, and one each from Brazil, Canada and the Netherlands.

We had a markedly increased diversity among the non-Wikimedians (or rather, aspirant Wikimedians), especially as regards gender and age.

Detail of expenditures:

$750 reimbursement to Matt Bisanz for lunch, dinner
$250 reimbursement to Sam Klein for breakfast, supplies

Amount underspent in US Dollars:

$0

Will you be requesting re-allocation of remaining grant funding?

None remaining.