WikiConference UK 2012/Talk Submissions

This year, Wikimedia UK will be hosting WikiConference UK 2012 along with our Annual General Meeting in London on Saturday, 12th May 2012. The deadline for talk proposals is 1 May 2012.

To submit a talk, simply use the template below to specify the title of your talk, your name, how long it will be and a short blurb as to what it is about. Whilst you are here comment on other people's suggestions as to whether you think it is a good idea. You will be contacted in the coming weeks if your talk is selected.

If you have any questions, please post them on the talk page, and/or contact daria.cybulskawikimedia.org.uk

Please see the talk submissions from last year for some examples.

Template

Please use the template code below

{{subst:SubmissionsWikiCon
| Talk title  = 
| Username    = 
| Length      = 
| Description = 
}}

Talks

DiffDeck

• Presenter Name: Yaris678
• Talk Length: 15 minutes (or 8 minutes if you want a short one)
• Talk Description: A presentation of a technical idea known as DiffDeck. The general idea is that it is a bit like TweetDeck in that it uses columns to show you lots of information at once, allowing you to scroll backwards and forwards. In this case, each column is a diff of a particular edit of an article, allowing the user to scan across and see which edits have been undone, and so on. Various features will be described that will make understanding the history of an article easier.
  The presenter has no immediate way to put this idea into practice. But maybe some interested parties will come forward at the conference or maybe this idea will spark further ideas.

See also: A fuller description of DiffDeck

Richard Sennett

I think it would be cool if we could get Richard Sennett to speak at the conference. I am currently reading his book "Together: The Rituals, Pleasures, and Politics of Cooperation". He has some very interesting thoughts on cooperation... which is, after all, what a wiki is all about. For example, I think that his distinction between dialogical and dialectical thinking could really help us to improve how we deal with decisions that are prone to wikidrama. I don't know to what extent he has participated in wiki stuff, but he seems pretty tech-aware. In the introduction to the book, he talks about how he was involved in a trial of Google Wave and why he thinks that software was ultimately discontinued. Apparently, in his book "The Craftsman" he has talked about how people work together on both Linux software and Wikipedia.

Sennett is a professor of sociology at the London School of Economics. If we would like him to give a talk then I would suggest that someone on the board of WikiMedia UK should contact him. Yaris678 (talk) 13:37, 12 March 2012 (UTC)

I have had communication from Daria Cybulska to the effect that it is probably too late to ask Sennett now. Maybe next year... or at WikiMania if London or Bristol get it! Yaris678 (talk) 12:32, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

OpenStreetMap for Wikimedians

• Presenter Name: Tom Morris
• Talk Length: 20 minutes
• Talk Description: It takes a bit more work than just hitting 'edit' to become an efficient contributor to OpenStreetMap, but with the arrival of GPS-enabled smartphones, it is now easier than ever to help chart out where you live. Especially now the Wikipedia mobile apps have switched to using OSM from Google Maps, Wikimedians are potentially really valuable contributors to this project, especially if they are working on local history or other topics. I'll give a very practical talk about how exactly you can start contributing to OSM whether you are living in a city or out in the countryside, whether you walk, drive, cycle, ride a horse, or just like noodling with data.

Wikimedia and World War I

• Presenter Name: Chris Keating (The Land)
• Talk Length: 15 mins (longer and shorter options possible!)
• Talk Description: In 2014, we'll see the centenary of World War I. Wikimedia UK is starting a programme to commemorate this immensely and globally important anniversary. This talk will quickly run through about why this is a massive opportunity for the Wikimedia movement, the work Wikimedia UK is doing with its partners, and plans for the future.

Monmouthpedia

• Presenter Name: John Cummings (and maybe Roger Bamkin?)
• Talk Length: 15 mins (longer and shorter options possible!)
• Talk Description: Presentation on Monmouthpedia the first Wikipedia project to cover a whole town, what's been achieved, problems, opportunities for other Wikimedians etc.

Science Museum initiative

• Presenter name: Dan Evans, Head of Web, Science Museum
• Talk length: 15 mins
• Talk Description: Presentation our collaboration over the next 2 years with communications technology innovation, a WIR project and making e-volunteering a regular part of the museum's outreach programme.

Wiki Loves Monuments

• Presenter name: one or more of the steering group, eg John Byrne
• Talk length: 10-15 mins, or longer
• Talk Description: Explanation of WLM, and where we are with UK WLM 2012; last call for a project leader.