Press releases/Wikimania 2009 media advisory

Wikimania 2009 kicks off this week in Buenos Aires
Fifth annual conference takes place August 26, 27, 28, 2009

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA August 24, 2009 - The Wikimedia Foundation is pleased to announce the commencement of the fifth annual Wikimania conference this week. Wikimania is the annual gathering of volunteer editors and contributors with Wikipedia and the Foundation's open, collaborative projects. This year's keynote speakers include Richard Stallman, father of the global Free Software movement, as well as Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia. This year's Wikimania is the first fully bilingual conference, with sessions taking place in both Spanish and English. Sessions span five topic tracks: Communities, Content, Latin America, Technology, and Education.

The conference organizers and the Wikimedia Foundation wish to thank the [//wikimania2009.wikimedia.org/wiki/Sponsors 2009 Wikimania sponsors] for their generosity and support: Telefónica, Terra, Speedy, The Richard Lounsbery Foundation, Answers.com, Kaltura, Wikimedia Deutschland, The Government of the City of Buenos Aires, Open Society Institute, wikiHow, Wikia, and Banco Credicoop.

All of conference's events take place in or around the Centro Cultural General San Martín in downtown Buenos Aires.

The full program schedule for the event, with over 89 separate presentations, can be found online: http://wikimania2009.wikimedia.org/wiki/Schedule

A kick-off press conference will take place the day before Wikimania, Tuesday, August 25 at 16:00 (local time), room C, at the Centro Cultural General San Martín. Media registration for the event is still available online: http://prensa.wikimedia.org.ar/

Live updates and information from Wikimania 2009:


 * Follow live updates and twitter and identi.ca activity throughout Wikimania by following the keywords #wikimania and #wikimania2009
 * Wikipedia Weekly, the podcast for Wikimedians, will be podcasting directly from Wikimania: http://wikipediaweekly.org/
 * Photos will be updated regularly to the Wikimedia Commons page for Wikimania 2009: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikimania_2009