WASHINGTON, D.C., March 30, 2012:  Wikimedia, District of Columbia (Wikimedia DC) is pleased to announce that WikiHow has joined Wikimania 2012 as a Bronze Level sponsor.

“Wikimania is the preeminent gathering of the world’s knowledge philanthropists,” says Jack Herrick, founder of WikiHow. “Every year, people from all over the world convene to share ideas on how to accelerate the spread of free knowledge around the world. wikiHow.com has sent attendees to Wikimania since 2005. We are proud to support it again.

“The support of the great donors, sponsors, and volunteers, is what makes it possible for us to bring people from all over the globe to Washington, DC in support of global knowledge” says James Hare, coordinator of Wikimania 2012. “WikiHow has been a consistent supporter of Wikimania and of global collaboration, and we welcome their participation in Wikimania 2012.

WikiHow is a collaborative effort to build and share the world’s largest, highest quality how-to manual. Like Wikipedia, wikiHow is a wiki, in that anyone can write or edit a page on the site. Thousands of people from all over the world have collaboratively written 135,446 how-to articles. Over 35 million people a month read wikiHow according to Google Analytics and Quantcast ranks WikiHow as the 150th most popular website. For more information, please visit www.wikihow.com

WIKIMANIA has been, since 2005, the premier annual international gathering of experts, academics, and enthusiasts whose vision is to empower people around the world through free access to global knowledge. Wikipedia and Wikimedia Projects are the principal tools of the Wikimedia movement, encompassing resources that span more than 280 languages and include, aside from Wikipedia, a repository of more than 12 million free-use media files (Wikimedia Commons), a library of free and open source educational textbooks (WikiBooks), and a vast library of online library of free content publications (WikiSource), amongst others. It has been previously held in Frankfurt, Germany; Boston, Mass.; Taipei, Taiwan; Alexandria, Egypt; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Gdańsk, Poland; and Haifa, Israel. For more information and to join Wikimania 2012’ www.wikimania2012.org

WIKIMEDIA DC is the official regional chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation in the District, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Delaware. A non-profit educational organization, Wikimedia DC is dedicated to the advancement of general knowledge and the collection, development, and dissemination of educational content under a free license or in the public domain.

Contact: Nicholas Michael Bashour, Wikimedia DC President and Wikimania 2012 General Manager

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 30, 2012:  Wikimedia District of Columbia (Wikimedia DC) is pleased to announce that the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) has joined Wikimania 2012 as a Copper-Level sponsor.

“The success of Wikimania depends on the kind support of donors, sponsors, and volunteers, and we’re extremely grateful for Encyclopedia of Life’s support,” says Nicholas Michael Bashour, Wikimedia DC President and General Manager of Wikimania 2012. “EOL is an invaluable resource that contributors across Wikimedia Projects can use to expand and enhance content on Wikimedia Projects that are accessible to millions of users around the globe. We are certain that the global Wikimedia community will benefit from EOL’s presence at Wikimania and we invite attendees to connect with EOL’s staff during the conference to learn more about this wonderful resource.”

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE (EOL) aggregates data on living organisms stored in databases around the world into an open, freely-accessible and trusted resource.   On EOL species pages – one for every form of life known to science – users will find text, maps, videos, sound and literature references, as well as active communities of volunteer scientists, educators, students and nature enthusiasts who work together to review, organize and extend EOL content. Organized as a consortium of leading research institutions and museums from across the world, EOL is pleased to collaborate with the Wikipedia community to provide global access to knowledge about life on Earth.  To learn more and get involved, please visit eol.org

WIKIMANIA has been, since 2005, the premier annual international gathering of experts, academics, and enthusiasts whose vision is to empower people around the world through free access to global knowledge. Wikipedia and Wikimedia Projects are the principal tools of the Wikimedia movement, encompassing resources that span more than 280 languages and include, aside from Wikipedia, a repository of more than 12 million free-use media files (Wikimedia Commons), a library of free and open source educational textbooks (WikiBooks), and a vast library of online library of free content publications (WikiSource), amongst others. It has been previously held in Frankfurt, Germany; Boston, Mass.; Taipei, Taiwan; Alexandria, Egypt; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Gdańsk, Poland; and Haifa, Israel. For more information and to join Wikimania 2012’s list of elite sponsors, visit www.wikimania2012.org

WIKIMEDIA DC is the official regional chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation in the District, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Delaware. A non-profit educational organization, Wikimedia DC is dedicated to the advancement of general knowledge and the collection, development, and dissemination of educational content under a free license or in the public domain.

Contact: Nicholas Michael Bashour, Wikimedia DC President and Wikimania 2012 General Manager

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 30, 2012: Wikimedia District of Columbia (Wikimedia DC) is pleased to announce that Google has joined Wikimania 2012 as a Diamond Level sponsor. Google’s support of Wikimania helps bring hundreds of people around the world who support open source, open culture, and free access to global knowledge.

“Google has been a strong advocate of open source, and we welcome their support of Wikimania 2012,” says Nicholas Michael Bashour, President of Wikimedia DC. “Through their Open Source Programs Office, Google has supported open source organizations and developers through such programs as Google Summer of Code and Google Code-in. Their support of Wikimania 2012, an international conference attended by hundreds of open source developers and advocates, shows a continued commitment to help expand and maintain an active, vibrant, and global open source community.”

WIKIMANIA has been, since 2005, the premier annual international gathering of experts, academics, and enthusiasts whose vision is to empower people around the world through free access to global knowledge. Wikipedia and Wikimedia Projects are the principal tools of the Wikimedia movement, encompassing resources that span more than 280 languages and include, aside from Wikipedia, a repository of more than 12 million free-use media files (Wikimedia Commons), a library of free and open source educational textbooks (WikiBooks), and a vast library of online library of free content publications (WikiSource), amongst others. It has been previously held in Frankfurt, Germany; Boston, Mass.; Taipei, Taiwan; Alexandria, Egypt; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Gdańsk, Poland; and Haifa, Israel. For more information and to join Wikimania 2012’s list of elite sponsors, visit www.wikimania2012.org

WIKIMEDIA DC is the official regional chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation in the District, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Delaware. A non-profit educational organization, Wikimedia DC is dedicated to the advancement of general knowledge and the collection, development, and dissemination of educational content under a free license or in the public domain.

Contact: Nicholas Michael Bashour, Wikimedia DC President and Wikimania 2012 General Manager

Mary Gardiner, Co-founder & Director of Operations and Research at the Ada Initiative, to keynote Wikimania 2012

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 23, 2011:  Wikimedia, District of Columbia (Wikimedia DC) is pleased to announce Mary Gardiner as the keynote speaker for Wikimania 2012, the international Wikimedia conference. Mary will be speaking at the opening session of the conference on Thursday, July 12, 2012.

“We’re very excited to have Mary Gardiner open the conference this year,” says James Hare, coordinator of Wikimania 2012. “Mary has been a strong advocate for open source and has worked extensively to elevate the role of women and increase their participation in open source and open culture. Her work fits perfectly within our vision of empowering individuals around the world through free and open access to the sum of human knowledge. We look forward to welcoming her to Washington, DC.”

MARY GARDINER is co-founder and Director of Operations and Research at the Ada Initiative and founder of the first and largest women in open source organization in Australia, AussieChix, which she subsequently expanded into Oceania as Oceania Women of Open Technology. Mary has served as a council member for Linux Australia, the largest non-profit funder of open source projects in Australia and as program chair for linux.conf.au, the largest Linux conference in the southern hemisphere.

THE ADA INITIATIVE is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing participation of women in open technology and culture, which includes open source software, Wikipedia and other open data, and open social media. Co-founders Mary Gardiner and Valerie Aurora each have ten years of experience in open source software, open culture communities, and women in computing activism. The Ada Initiative is named for Countess Ada Lovelace, widely acknowledged as the world’s first computer programmer. She is also the world’s first open source programmer. For more information, visit adainitiative.org

WIKIMANIA has been, since 2005, the premier annual international gathering of experts, academics, and enthusiasts whose vision is to empower people around the world through free access to global knowledge. It has been previously held in Frankfurt, Germany; Boston, Mass.; Taipei, Taiwan; Alexandria, Egypt; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Gdańsk, Poland; and Haifa, Israel. Additional information on the conference can be found at www.wikimania2012.org

WIKIMEDIA DC is the official regional chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation in the District, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Delaware. A non-profit educational organization, Wikimedia DC is dedicated to the advancement of general knowledge and the collection, development, and dissemination of educational content under a free license or in the public domain.

Contact: Nicholas Michael Bashour, Vice-President

Phone: (313) 377-4589, E-Mail: Press@wikidc.org

Contact for Ada Initiative: press@adainitiative.org