Wikimania 2014 images

Here are some of my images from the final day of Wikimania 2014; I used my phone and my brother's camera for this photography:

I took this from the Barbican Centre's squared spiral stairs looking out; the domed building in the background in St Paul's Cathedral. I forgot to mention this in my previous post, but the venue for Wikimania 2014 was the Barbican Centre, which is a performing arts centre located in the City of London (the City of London is a separate entity to London itself; look it up and you'll see).

This is the guide to all of the Barbican's levels; I visited up to floor four and I think -1 was the lowest I visited.

This is the "village" from an above balcony. The village featured gift shops and a coffee shop, as well as representatives from several Wikimedia local chapters. Chapters help to promote Wikipedia on a local level.

These are two posters and a pillow within the village, which were located next to the desk for Wikimedia UK's representation at Wikimania 2014.

The two highest floors featured this refreshing conservatory. There weren't many people in the conversatory itself; instead, most were in the two nearby seating areas.

The Barbican's main hall as people awaited the closing speech. Shortly after the hall was filled, the audience was shown a short film about Wikipedia Zero. Wikipedia Zero is a project started by the Wikimedia Foundation to ensure that everyone in the world can access Wikipedia via their phones without having to incur any mobile/cell phone data charges.

The man of the hour: Jimbo Wales, there to deliver the closing speech. Much of his speech focused on the need to improve civility on Wikipedia; in particular, he talked about users who contribute large amounts of content but are hostile towards other people. Mr. Wales expressed his opinion that such users, while adding plenty to Wikipedia, are net-negatives to the site because they drive away others.

This is Ihor Kostenko, whom Mr. Wales announced as the "Wikipedian of the Year". He was Ukrainian and was a significant contributor to the Ukrainian Wikipedia, as well as a promoter of Wikipedia on social media; Kostenko was killed back in February when a sniper shot him during his participation in the Ukrainian protests.

These two women are Cynthia Ashley-Nelson (see bottom of link) and Adrianne Wadewitz, who were two highly influential and respected Wikipedians; both of them died this past April and their losses were felt throughout the community on the English Wikipedia. I thought it was fitting for a tribute to them to be included in Mr. Wales' speech.

After Mr. Wales' speech officially closed Wikimania 2014 and set the stage for Wikimania 2015 in Mexico, the rest of the evening and night featured a party. I met several more Wikipedians - including more people I'd known online for years - in the first two hours after the speech; most attendees left the venue during this time to eat elsewhere, so I was fortunate to meet as many as I did while I had the chance.

At last, I was able to see The Shard, which is the tallest building in the United Kingdom and European Union. I missed seeing this tower during my previous two trips to London but luckily for me, it was visible through a gap in the buildings near the Barbican Centre. This was taken after 7:00pm and, as you can see, it was still fairly light outside.

At around 9:15, I left Wikimania 2014 and the Barbican Centre; by this time, most people had already exited and everyone I knew had gone. I had to take a picture of Barbican Centre before I returned to my train station; this picture was taken with my phone on its low light setting.

I have numerous other pictures of Wikimania 2014, but I consider the overwhelming majority of them to be unsuitable to post here because they are either similar to the above or are close-up images of people, such as a few that I took in the diversity workshop and a few selfies with a friend. I was selective with my photography because I wanted to enjoy the conference rather than see everything with my cameras while experiencing nothing.

Finally, there is also this group photo of many of the conference's attendants (enlarged version here); it was taken just prior to Mr. Wales' speech. I am in the picture, but good luck trying to find me!