WikiConference North America, formerly WikiConference USA, is an annual conference organized by the

Wikipedia community The Wikipedia community, collectively and individually known as Wikipedians, is an online community of volunteers who create and maintain Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia. Wikipedians may or may not consider themselves part of the Wikimedia mo ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. The first two events were held at

New York Law School New York Law School (NYLS) is a private, American law school in the Tribeca neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City. The third oldest law school in New York City, its history predates its official founding in 1891 by Theodore William Dwight, T ...

and

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

National Archives Building The National Archives Building, known informally as Archives I, is the headquarters of the United States National Archives and Records Administration. It is located north of the National Mall at 700 Pennsylvania Avenue (Washington, D.C.), Penn ...

in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The third conference, rebranded WikiConference North America, was held at

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

's Central Library in 2016, with a pre-conference day at Balboa Park. WikiConference North America 2017 was held in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

in 2017, as a pre-conference to

Wikimania Wikimania is the Wikimedia movement's annual conference, organized by Wikimedian, volunteers and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. Topics of presentations and discussions include Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia, other wikis, open-source ...

. The 2018 and 2019 events were held in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

and

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, respectively. Following virtual conferences from 2020 to 2022 because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the conference returned to an in-person format in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

in 2023. The 2024 conference was held at

Indiana University Indianapolis Indiana University Indianapolis (IU Indianapolis or IU Indy) is an urban public research university located in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is a core campus of the Indiana University system. It was founded on July 1, 2024 after its predecesso ...

. The next conference is scheduled to be held in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 2025.

Description

The annual conference is organized by and for

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a free content, free Online content, online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and La ...

editors, enthusiasts, and volunteers. Staff from the

Wiki Education Foundation The Wiki Education (sometimes called Wiki Edu or the Wiki Education Foundation) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Chico, California, United States. It promotes the integration of Wikipedia into coursework by educators around the wor ...

, which co-sponsored the 2015 event,Wiki Education Foundation, 2015: * * and the

Wikimedia Foundation The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (WMF) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, and registered there as foundation (United States law), a charitable foundation. It is the host of Wikipedia, th ...

also attend each year. The conference has been held in New York City; Washington, D.C.; San Diego; Montreal; Columbus, Ohio; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Toronto; and Indianapolis. From 2020 to 2022, events were primarily virtual because of the

History

WikiConference USA (2014–2015)

The inaugural WikiConference USA was held during May 30 – June 1, 2014 at

Tribeca Tribeca ( ), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Str ...

campus in

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...

. Established as a national event for the American

, the conference was "devoted to topics concerning the

Wikimedia movement The Wikimedia movement is the global community of contributors to the Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia. This community directly builds and administers these projects with the commitment of achieving this using open standards and software. ...

in the United States, as well as related topics of

free culture The free-culture movement is a social movement that promotes the freedom to distribute and modify the creative works of others in the form of free content, otherwise known as open content. They encourage creators to create such content by using ...

and

digital rights Digital rights are those human rights and Natural and legal rights, legal rights that allow individuals to access, use, create, and publish digital media or to access and use computers, other Consumer electronics, electronic devices, and teleco ...

". It was hosted by Wikimedia Foundation affiliates for the District of Columbia and New York City, with grant funding provided by the foundation and additional support from ''

Consumer Reports Consumer Reports (CR), formerly Consumers Union (CU), is an American nonprofit consumer organization dedicated to independent product testing, investigative journalism, consumer-oriented research, public education, and consumer advocacy. Founded ...

'', the Institute for Information Law & Policy at New York Law School, and the

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

. The program featured two days of keynotes, panels, presentations, and workshops about the state of Wikipedia, addressing issues such as diversity,

gender bias Gender bias is the tendency to prefer one gender over another. It is a form of unconscious bias, or implicit bias, which occurs when one individual unconsciously attributes certain attitudes and stereotypes to another person or group of people ...

, and the socialization of new editors, as well as a one-day

unconference An unconference is a participant-driven meeting. The term "unconference" has been applied to a wide range of gatherings that try to avoid hierarchical aspects of a conventional conference, such as sponsored presentations and top-down organizati ...

. Approximately 250 people attended. According to ''O'Dwyer's'' magazine, sessions about

conflict-of-interest editing on Wikipedia Conflict-of-interest (COI) occurs when editors use Wikipedia to advance the interests of their external roles or relationships. The type of COI editing that compromises Wikipedia the most is paid editing for public relations (PR) purposes. Seve ...

were "front and center". WikiConference USA 2015 Group Photo 51

The second WikiConference USA was held at the

in Washington, D.C., during October 9–11, 2015. The conference was co-sponsored by the

National Archives and Records Administration The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...

(NARA), which was a sponsor of

when the event was held in Washington, D.C., in 2012, and the Wiki Education Foundation; Wikimedia Foundation affiliates for the District of Columbia and New York City were also WikiConference partners. Activities included panels, presentations, speeches, and workshops related to Wikipedia's community, collaborations with cultural institutions, role in education, and technology development. Attendees also had access to the National Archives Museum and the Innovation Hub, where records are digitized. The conference featured presentations by Pamela Wright, NARA's chief innovation officer;

Andrew Lih Andrew Lih (; born 1968)Andrew Lih
"

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH, ) is the List of United States federal agencies, United States federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related occ ...

;

David Ferriero David Sean Ferriero (; born December 31, 1945) is an American librarian and library administrator, who served as the tenth Archivist of the United States. He previously served as the director of the New York Public LibraryOder, Norman. "NYPL Reo ...

Archivist of the United States The archivist of the United States is the head and chief administrator of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) of the United States. The archivist is responsible for the supervision and direction of the National Archives. The ...

; Alice Backer of the organization

AfroCrowd AfroCROWD (Afro Free Culture Crowdsourcing Wikimedia), is an initiative founded in 2015 by Alice Backer in New York City. Its mission is to increase awareness and participation of people of African descent in the Wikimedia and free knowledge, c ...

, which seeks to improve coverage of Africans and African Americans in Wikipedia and other projects; and

Danielle Citron Danielle Keats Citron is a Jefferson Scholars Foundation Schenck Distinguished Professor in Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, where she teaches information privacy, free expression, and civil rights law. Citron is the author of " ...

, a law professor at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

who spoke about

hate crimes Hate crime (also known as bias crime) in criminal law involves a standard offence (such as an assault, murder) with an added element of bias against a victim (individual or group of individuals) because of their Physical appearance#Physiological ...

cyberspace Cyberspace is an interconnected digital environment. It is a type of virtual world popularized with the rise of the Internet. The term entered popular culture from science fiction and the arts but is now used by technology strategists, security ...

. Diversity was a central theme throughout the conference, which inspired NARA to host a Wikimedia Diversity Conference in June 2016.

WikiConference North America (2016–present)

Kevin Gorman memorial edit-a-thon at Wikiconference North America 2016

The third annual event, called WikiConference North America, was held in

's Central Library during October 7–10, 2016. The conference's scope was increased to include Wikimedians in Canada and Mexico, and the event featured a series of edit-a-thons. Alex Madva, an assistant professor at

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona California State Polytechnic University Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) is a Public university, public Institute of Technology (United States)#Polytechnic universities, polytechnic research university in Pomona, California, United States. It is the l ...

and contributor to the

American Philosophical Association The American Philosophical Association (APA) is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarl ...

's blog, coordinated one on October 8 to improve articles about philosophy and philosophers. The

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

sponsored another to improve coverage of chemistry and notable chemists. Mike Connolly Miskwish of the

Campo Indian Reservation The Campo Indian Reservation is home to the Campo Band of Diegueño Mission Indians, also known as the Campo Kumeyaay Nation, a federally recognized tribe of Kumeyaay people in the southern Laguna Mountains, in eastern San Diego County, Califo ...

, who also serves as an adjunct faculty member of

Native American studies Native American studies (also known as American Indian, Indigenous American, Aboriginal, Native, or First Nations studies) is an interdisciplinary academic field that examines the history, culture, politics, issues, spirituality, sociology and co ...

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

, facilitated an edit-a-thon in conjunction with

Indigenous Peoples' Day Indigenous Peoples' Day may refer to: * International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, a United Nations event recognised as a public holiday in various countries observed annually on 9 August * Indigenous Peoples' Day (United States) Indi ...

to improve Wikipedia articles about

indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

Katherine Maher Katherine Roberts Maher ( ; born April 18, 1983) is an American non-profit executive. She has been the chief executive officer (CEO) and president of the National Public Radio since March 2024. Prior to NPR, she was the CEO of Web Summit and ...

, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, facilitated a Wikimedia movement strategy session, and Kelly Doyle, who was hired by

West Virginia University Libraries The West Virginia University Libraries at West Virginia University consist of seven individual libraries located on various WVU campuses. The Downtown Campus library is on the WVU Downtown Campus. The Evansdale Library is located on the WVU's Evansd ...

as the first

Wikipedian in residence A Wikipedian in residence or Wikimedian in residence (WiR) is a Wikipedia editor, a Wikipedian (or Wikimedian), who accepts a placement with an institution, typically an art gallery, library, archive, museum, cultural institution, learned soc ...

for focusing on

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making, an ...

, also presented at the conference. On the day preceding the conference, a "Wiki Culture Crawl" was organized at Balboa Park, allowing editors to visit affiliated museums free of charge for the purpose of improving Wikipedia articles related to local

GLAM Glam is a shortened form of the word glamour. Glam or GLAM may also refer to: Film * ''Glam'' (film), a 1997 experimental drama film Institutions * University of Glamorgan, founded in 1913 and merged into the University of South Wales in 2013 ...

s and other cultural institutions. ''Convene'', a monthly journal published by the Professional Convention Management Association, said the 2016 event was "organized just the way you might expect that contributors to the world’s largest online encyclopedia would approach the task: using the '

wiki A wiki ( ) is a form of hypertext publication on the internet which is collaboratively edited and managed by its audience directly through a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages that can either be edited by the public or l ...

' collaborative approach." The journal's Barbara Palmer also noted that Sydney Poore,

Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight Dame Rosie Gojich Stephenson-Goodknight (born December 5, 1953) is an American Wikipedia editor, known on the site under the pseudonym Rosiestep, who is noted for her actions addressing gender bias on Wikipedia, gender bias in the encyclopedia b ...

, and other organizers all lived outside California. On the conference's final day, attendees created the "WikiConference North America User Group" to document

best practice A best practice is a method or technique that has been generally accepted as superior to alternatives because it tends to produce superior results. Best practices are used to achieve quality as an alternative to mandatory standards. Best practice ...

s for organizing Wikimedia events. WikiCon North America 2017 - preparing for Culture Crawl

The 2017 event was held at

Le Centre Sheraton Hotel The Le Centre Sheraton Montreal Hotel is a skyscraper hotel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 1201 René Lévesque Boulevard West in downtown Montreal, between Stanley Street and Drummond Street. Le Centre Sheraton has 825 rooms an ...

during August 9–10, as a pre-conference to

, the official annual conference of the Wikimedia Foundation. In 2018, WikiConference North America was held in

, October 18–21, at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

Thompson Memorial Library The Frederick Ferris Thompson Memorial Library is the main library building at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. Background When Vassar opened in 1865, the library was a mere single room in Main with a collection of only three thousand ...

and other campus locations. The 2019 event was held at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, mainly in the

Ray and Maria Stata Center Ray or RAY may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), the bony or horny spine on ray-finned fish Science and mathematics * Half-line (geometry) or ray, half of a line split at ...

, during November 8–11. WikiConference North America was virtual from 2020 to 2022 because of the pandemic. The 2020 event was held during December 11–13. The 2021 event was held during October 8–10 and saw a Wiknic in New York City. The 2022 event was held in November with Mapping USA in collaboration with

OpenStreetMap OpenStreetMap (abbreviated OSM) is a free, Open Database License, open geographic database, map database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveying, surveys, trace from Ae ...

. WikiConference North America returned to an in-person format in 2023. It was held at the

Toronto Reference Library The Toronto Reference Library is a public reference library in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the corner of Yonge Street and Asquith Avenue, within the Yorkville neighbourhood of downtown Toronto and is the largest and most visited br ...

in Toronto,

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, from November 9–12. The 2024 conference was held at

. The theme was "Crossroads", inspired by the Indiana state motto and also alluding to the multiple meanings of the word—as the place where Wikimedians from across the continent. The first day of the conference—October 4—was declared as "Wikipedia Day" in Indianapolis through a proclamation by mayor

Joe Hogsett Joseph Hadden Hogsett (born November 2, 1956) is an American attorney, prosecutor, and politician who is the 49th mayor of Indianapolis, Indiana. Prior to being elected mayor, Hogsett served as the secretary of state of Indiana from 1989 to 1994 ...

. On the final day of the conference it was announced that the 2025 conference would be held in

, and will be themed as a "Wiki World's Fair" to celebrate the city's 400th anniversary.

References

External links