Future of Wikimania
Speakers
Andrew Lih has been a contributor to Wikipedia since 2003 and serves as an administrator on both the English Wikipedia and Wikidata. He is the author of The Wikipedia Revolution (2009), a chronicle of the platform’s early history and growth.
He has played a leading role in fostering collaboration between the Wikimedia community and cultural heritage institutions. In the United States, he currently serves as Wikimedian at Large at the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum and research complex. He previously worked as a Wikimedia strategist at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, helping to integrate its open access collections into Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons.
In 2024, he led the GLAM CSI (Contributor Study Initiative) project at the Smithsonian, funded by the Wikimedia Foundation, to analyze and improve the technical contribution workflows and document key user experiences within the GLAM Wiki community. In recognition of his contributions, he was named one of the first Wikimedia Laureates in 2022 for his lifetime work in advancing the Wikimedia movement.
Butch Bustria is a Filipino Wikimedian and a person from the East, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific (ESEAP) region. Based in Northern Luzon in the Philippines and was in Singapore as an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW), he has transitioned from being a prolific content contributor to a strategic organizer who bridges the gap between local communities and the global Wikimedia movement.
He has been part of first ESEAP Conference in Bali (2018), the Strategy Summits in Bangkok (2019), Singapore (2023), Manila (2025) and subsequent conferences in Sydney (2022), Kota Kinabalu (2024) and Kaohsiung (2026).
He serves on the ESEAP Regional Funds Committee (since 2021), and also involved in the strategic push to formalize an "ESEAP Hub."
He served as the Event Lead and Program Subcommittee Chair for Wikimania 2023 and has been a member of the Wikimania Steering Committee since 2020, ensuring the continuity of the conference's legacy.
He was one of the co-founders of Wikimedia Philippines in 2010.
While based in Singapore, he utilized his experience to mentor neighboring communities. He assisted the community to establish the Wikimedia Community User Group Malaysia and Wikimedians of Singapore User Group by transferring knowledge on governance and community building.
He actively conducts outreach, such as explaining Wikimedia projects to emerging local communities in Northern Luzon, Mindanao, Central and Western Visayas, and advocating for the use of government websites as public domain resources.
His editing journey began in December 2005 and still an active contributor in diverse Wikimedia online projects.
Effeietsanders is currently the chair of the Wikimania steering committee and is active on the Dutch Wikipedia since 2005. See also https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Effeietsanders
Username:Anthere (she/her).
French. Languages : FR N; EN-4.
- Co-Executive Director of Wiki in Africa
- Consultant for the Community Care Programme of Wikimedia CH
- Wikipedian-in-Residence at World Intellectual Property Rights (WIPO)
- Former Chair of Wikimedia Foundation
- Co-founder, former Vice-Chair and currently member of Wikimédia France
Key words : Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Africa, IP rights, Open Movement, Community Building, Open Source, Creative Commons, Life-long learning, accountability, Gender Gap, Equity, Care
More info and contacts
* fdevouard//@//anthere.org
* https://www.linkedin.com/in/devouard/
Over 20 years as a Wikimedian, and 20 years of contributions to Wikimedia Commons. I consider myself a dinosaur who has been involve with the growth of the movement over many years.
And I occassionally take the odd photo, now even the odd video
Luis Carrasco is a Chilean marine biologist and public policy professional, active in the Wikimedia movement. He works on content partnerships, community strategy, and international collaboration, and serves in leadership roles within Wikimedia Chile and global initiatives.
Abstract
🎥 Session recording: https://youtu.be/YKOImdtm9jg?list=PLfq0CVoHfK80&t=11727
ETHERPAD notes link/ online attendee's feedback pad: https://w.wiki/SbGh
The Future of Wikimania session is designed as a direct listening board for the Wikimania Steering Committee. We want to hear from you, the attendees, to help shape the next trajectory of our global conference. Acknowledging past discussions from 2009 to 2025, we see a very optimistic future for Wikimania. However, as our movement grows, the conference must adapt. This open town hall is a space to share your experiences and ideas. The goal is simple: the Wikimania Steering Committee will use this feedback to create helpful policies that will guide how we meet, share, and celebrate over the succeeding years. We will focus on exciting new challenges like emerging technologies and improving our presentations, while also addressing common community concerns regarding the scholarship process, program development, facilities and how we communicate.
Additional information
Liberté (𝙇𝙞𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙮): We will discuss how our Wikimanias continue to serve as an avenue to freely discuss our open-source values and the rights of our contributors, especially as emerging technologies continue to change how information is shared. Équité (𝙀𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙩𝙮): We want to ensure fairness for all attendees. This means finding the best ways to blend in-person and remote participation, better communication reach across the diverse Wikimedia movement, and making sure the scholarship process is fair, accessible, and supports true global and thematic representation. Fiabilité (𝙍𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮): A sustainable conference needs a strong foundation. By gathering your feedback on clear communications and community-driven program development, the Steering Committee can build reliable policies and procedures that support future host collaborative groups and prevent volunteer burnout.
This session will be highly useful to a variety of groups within the Wikimedia movement including but not limited to: the Wikimania Steering Committee, Future Host/ Collaborative Groups such as Regional, Lingustic or Thematic, Remote and Onsite Participants, Scholarship Applicants and Recipients, and the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF).
Everyone can participate in this session