Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2006-07-24/Wikimania series

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The Wikipedia Signpost


Events: Contests, parties, and the local area

By brassratgirl, 23 July 2006.
Wikimania 2006
A Signpost series
Apr. 10 Introduction
Apr. 17 Three years of meetups
Apr. 24 About Wikimania
May 1 Community involvement
May 8 Retrospective: 2005
May 15 Retrospective: 2005 pt.2
May 22 2006 themes
May 29 2006 project content
Jun. 5 Other international meetups
Jun. 12 Wikimania speakers
Jun. 19 Hacking Days
Jun. 26 Wikimania speakers II
Jul. 3 Posters and updates
Jul. 10 Wikimania panels
Jul. 17 Wikimania workshops
Jul. 24 Wikimania events
July 31 Wikimania last minute information
Aug. 7 Wikimania highlights
Aug. 14 Wikimania report and wrapup
Aug. 28 Other August wiki conferences

This week, the Signpost takes a look at some of the events and contests that are happening during Wikimania, and some of the attractions in the local area.

Contests

There are several contests at Wikimania. The Wikimania awards is a free content contest for the best video, audio, image, and textual content created for use on Wikimedia projects over the past year. Any content that was created after August 8, 2005 is eligible for entry in the contest. A special category is set aside for content created on the way to, or at, Wikimania 2006. The contest particularly needs more writing entries; submit those great articles today! The closing date is August 1. See the Awards page for more details.

Events

Among other events, an attendee's party will be occurring on Saturday night, 5 August, from approximently 7:30 to 11:30 PM, at the MIT Museum. In addition to the museum's own attractions, which include robots and holograms, there will be music and a bar (please bring photo id). The theme of the party is "Web 1.0", or "1999 revisited." There will be a business plan contest with special celebrity judges -- bring your best 1.0 business plan, as if it were still the height of the dot-com bubble; perhaps you will have the next successful dot-com idea. Note that wikis are generally not considered part of Web 1.0. Aeron chairs may also make an appearance.

Local area

MANIA is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just north of Boston, which is one of America's oldest cities. Both cities are packed with things to do. Here are a few ideas for ways to spend time before or after Wikimania. Many more ideas are listed on the field trips page.

In Cambridge

  • The Harvard Museum of Natural History [1], including the famous Glass Flowers exhibit, which is free on Wednesdays and well worth the trip.

In Boston

  • Walking tours: there are many areas to walk in Boston, including the Freedom Trail, a marked path that leads to many historical sites.

CWMC update

In a previous MANIA column, we profiled the Chinese Wikimedia Conference, or CWMC 2006. Plans are coming along for the conference, and they now have a site with more information on it and a registration form.

Next week: Last article before Wikimania -- last minute information, highlights, and tips for getting around Boston.


Also this week: From the editorBlockingLawsuitM.A.N.I.A.New YorkerElectionGerman WikipediaNews and notesPress coverageFeatures and adminsT.R.O.L.L.