So here I am again to update on life, the universe and everything.
Life has been good once again, and intense. I haven't written anything besides my personal journal but this time is only because I have a lot on my plate right now, including many good news that I prefer to share privately.
Also, today is the last day of Wikimania 2022, an event deeply embedded in my soul. In 2020, Wikimania was canceled entirely because no one foresaw a global pandemic hitting us only months prior. In 2021 we switched to a fully online event, a laudable effort that unfortunately fell short, but it was definitely better than nothing.
Wikimania is important to us because it's the time and place when we connect with friends from around the world and get to know new ones, all of us working in what is probably one of the largest collaborative efforts in history. Wikimedia as a whole is a universe unto itself, large enough that almost no one knows everything happening inside. Wikimania was often a way of going deep into the rabbit hole, so to speak; we could always learn something new, a nwe project, a new insight, a different way of working and oranizing our work. We all work in our small niches that, while conceptually isolated, are often related in unexpected ways. Such serendipity happens in Wikimania.
This year it was decided that Wikimania would still stay an online event, with optional in-person events organized by whoever wanted to. Given that we (in this country) have done our homework in regards to vaccination and public health, we decided to host an event of our own. Right now we're in a villa of sorts with a private pool, a garden suitable for carne asada and at least 3 access points for a bunch of nerds. These past few days, we've watched the sessions together, had workshops on our own and enjoyed the summer with a few beers and calimochos. It's the strangest thing ever, mostly because it's a mixture of an academic conference, a professional retreat and a long weekend with friends (most of whom I hadn't seen since 2019)
We're wrapping things up as I write this. I'm about to go and have a swim before I lose the chance to do so. I'll sip beer, I'll share stories and I'll go home having had too much alcohol, too little sleep, too many laughs, and too many notes to process. We'll all be exhausted and reflect on how hard these things are to organize.
And, if all goes well, we'll do it all again next year.