ALEXANDRIA: Soaring from Frankfurt to Boston to Taipei, Wikimania s fourth annual conference has landed this year at Bibliotheca Alexandrina, extending the global dream of free access to knowledge to the Arab and African world. Los Angeles Times reported that "Alexandria. beat out Atlanta and Cape Town in a process, that, much like the Olympics, was voted on by a panel, and whose decision, again much like the Olympics, angered many. Objections arose as to the suitability of holding a conference concerned with free media in a country which is criticized by international watchdogs for censoring and imprisoning bloggers and restricting freedom of speech. Despite controversy, the Wikimedia International Conference, also known as Wikimania, was held from July 17 to 19, in the metropolitan city of Alexandria and in its "new Library, whose credo remains to be "all information, to all people, at all times. Faithful to its voluntarily nature, Wikimania, primarily organized by wiki-loving volunteers, was attended by more than 650 knowledge enthusiasts, software developers and wiki contributors who have flocked from some 45 countries. Hailed as a meeting point for wiki savants, the conference opened a window on the latest improvements taking place in Wikimedia projects, giving an opportunity to explore the heights reached by free knowledge and internet-based collaboration. For the period of three days, the bee-hive platform welcomed different speakers who have gathered to discuss the promises and predicaments of open source software and the leverage of free knowledge. Seminars, lighting talks, poster sessions and workshops broached interrelated subjects, gyrating around Wiki projects as well as educational and social trends in the internet culture. The extensive program covered more than 80 sessions from the Wikimedia community in addition to a wide range of high profile speakers among whom were Tim Spalding, creator of LibraryThing, a prominent social cataloguing web application for storing and sharing personal library catalogues and book lists. Eliane Metni, director of the International Education Association onThe Global Educators' Open Course, was also present. In a lecture entitled "Wikipedia, Wikia, and the Future of Free Culture , Jimmy Wales, the proud founder of Wikipedia, spoke profusely about how his story with the Wiki world began. He traced the early beginnings of his far-reaching online encyclopedia, which founded with a little budget, has became one of the most visited sites in the world, keeping hold of articles in 155 languages and reaching now a total expenditure of $2.9 million. The "21st century inventor with a visionary mind - as described by Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director of the BA - announced that "Wikia Search engine will be launched in a year and a half. In order to launch the Arabic version, he added, linguistic support will be required. Comparing Wikipedia's 2.5 million-article English section to its Arabic counterpart, which contains no more than 64,504 articles, Wales emphasized the importance of imagining a world through which we can access the entire gamut of human knowledge. At the conference's closing session, Wales addressed a fervent audience, asking them all to be international in their focus and overcome rising challenges as they seek Wiki sustainability while holding on to the values they so passionately believe in. Ending on a hopeful note, Wikimania opened new horizons of informational exchange, anticipating the beginning of a much-needed outreach to the Arabic-speaking world. As its motto this year suggested, the world of Wiki changed the shape of wisdom and, in the process, changed the means through which it's gained. "Members of this marvelous community are artisans of a global revolution where access to knowledge is a fundamental right and where the sharing of knowledge is a fundamental duty. . Let us promise ourselves that, from this day forward, we will continue to follow our path, reach the unreachable, serve the un-served, think of the forgotten and by our actions help create better tomorrows, said Serageldin in the closing moments of Wikimania 2008.
