The BA Hosts Wikipedia's Annual Conference in July 2008
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Alexandria—
The BA will host Wikimania 2008 Conference, the annual conference of Wikimedia Foundation; an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual content, from 17 to 19 July 2008.
Florence Devouard, Wikimedia Foundation Board Chair, said “We are honored that the Library of Alexandria, one of the most prestigious and historical libraries in the world, has provided the Wikimedia Foundation with this great opportunity. This is a very symbolic gesture. Today, Wikipedia and our other free content projects, play an important part in empowering world citizens to share in the sum of all human knowledge."
Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director of the Library of Alexandria, stated "We are delighted to secure the Wikimania 2008 event in Alexandria, for we believe in the Wiki Phenomenon. It is the harbinger of a revolution suited to the new age of the internet, and by supporting it, we are helping give birth to a new era and a new world where access to knowledge is a fundamental right and the sharing of knowledge is a fundamental duty”.
Wikimania 2008 will be Wikimedia's fourth annual conference. The event brings together international users from various Wikimedia projects, as well as individuals interested in learning about Wiki technology, free content, and educational and social trends in the internet culture. In previous years, Wikimania was held in Germany, the United States and Taiwan.
Following formats from previous years, Wikimania 2008 will consist of seminars and workshops. The Wikimania 2008, comprised primarily of volunteers, will be organizing the event.
It is worth mentioning that the Wikimedia Foundation Inc. operates some of the largest collaboratively-edited reference projects in the world, including Wikipedia, one of the world's 10 most-visited websites. The Foundation was created in 2003 by Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia.