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UNESCO joins the 2023 Wikimedia Movement in Singapore
On 18 August 2023, UNESCO Jakarta participated in the 2023 Wikimedia Global Conference held in Singapore on 16 - 19 August 2023, as the event鈥檚 official partner.
The first in-person gathering of global Wikimedia communities in over four years witnessed the active participation of over 2,100 attendees from 138 countries, making it the biggest global Wikimania conference held since its establishment in 2005.
UNESCO is proud to jointly celebrate the progress made by the Wikimedia movement and provide an opportunity for dedicated knowledge contributors to share their unique experiences, best practices, and valuable insights to foster new partnerships and collaborative initiatives.
Director and Representative of UNESCO Jakarta, Ms Maki Katsuno-Hayashikawa attended the onsite conference and delivered a keynote address entitled 鈥淓mbracing Open Knowledge: Preserving Diversity and Access for Future Generations.鈥 Her presentation highlighted the importance of open knowledge and educational resources, as well as challenges and opportunities for ensuring access to information and the preservation of our cultural heritage in the digital era. The collaboration between UNESCO and the Wikimedia Foundation for the preservation and accessibility of knowledge was discussed, with a focus on documentary heritage and indigenous languages.
The Wikimania 2023: 鈥淒iversity, Collaboration, and Future鈥 is in line with UNESCO鈥檚 spirit of building inclusive knowledge societies through open access to knowledge and information. Together, we must build a knowledge-based society that is based on the principles of inclusivity, diversity, and accessibility, and embrace access to Open Knowledge as a fundamental human right.
Ms Katsuno-Hayashikawa and Wikimedia鈥檚 partners visited two mini-exhibitions located in the Conference area, on rescuing endangered manuscripts in Indonesia under the Wikisource Loves Manuscripts and WILMA Project. She also visited the portable exhibition by the National Heritage Board of Singapore, accompanied by the Senior Director of Heritage Policy, Dr Yeo Kirk Siang.
The conference allowed face-to-face interactions for the first time between UNESCO Jakarta and the Wikimedia communities in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste. The Wikimedia activities for the preservation of cultural heritage and indigenous languages through Wikimedia platforms, as well as the challenges and opportunities encountered by Wikimedia communities in their region were highlighted.
I express my sincere gratitude for UNESCO Jakarta鈥檚 support in ensuring the event鈥檚 success. We would love to continue our collaboration post-Wikimania, through several areas of collaboration that we can further explore, around intangible cultural heritage, indigenous languages, and collaboration with Wikimedian communities from Southeast Asia, particularly from the Philippines and Timor-Leste.
Mr. Jaco Du Toit, Chief of the Section for Universal Access to Information and Digital Inclusion at UNESCO headquarters spoke about the promotion and preservation of Indigenous Languages within the framework of the Global Action Plan of International Decades of Indigenous Languages (IDIL), through a recorded message. He discussed how the Wikimedia movement, through collaborative content creations and its digital platforms, could play a significant role in the successful implementation of IDIL worldwide.
The Wikimania conference has provided the grounds for significant exchange on the state of Indigenous languages, and to expand the possibilities of digital empowerment of Indigenous language users. This will not only lead to the development of a richer, more culturally and linguistically diverse world, both online and offline, but has the potential to aid us in fostering sustainable development and building open, peaceful, and participatory societies for the future.
Ms. Ester Dina Sihombing from UNESCO Jakarta presented UNESCO Jakarta and Bangkok Offices鈥 initiatives in promoting, preserving, and safeguarding the Indigenous Languages.
Moving forward, Ms Katsuno-Hayashikawa and the CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation Ms Maryana Iskander will discuss potential collaborations between the UNESCO Jakarta Office and the Wikimedia Foundation.
