​The ESEAP Conference 2024 will be the third regional conference for Wikimedia communities throughout the ESEAP region. ESEAP stands for East, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. The conference will take place in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia from the 10th to 12th of May, 2024.
The conference aims to bring together the ESEAP movement for three days of meet ups, training, workshops, and discussions to further strengthen the collaborations between its community.
ESEAP 2024 will aim to build on the momentum driven through the ESEAP Conference 2022 and Wikimania Singapore where the ESEAP Strategy Summit was also hosted.
Through this blog we will unveil the logo and concept for this year’s conference, and the central theme to share the conference COT’s objective, vision  and ambition behind the same.

Conference Theme

In order to celebrate the growth and commitment of the movement in the region and draw a connection between the theme of 2022 and the 2024 conference, the Core Organizing Committee (COT) has adopted Collaboration Beyond the Horizon as the central theme of the conference.

The theme aims to celebrate the limitless possibilities that lie beyond our current boundaries of collaboration. In a world where innovation knows no bounds, this theme encourages attendees to look beyond familiar horizons and embrace new frontiers of cooperation. Whether it is forging partnerships across the movement, creative approaches to connect contributors across the region, or addressing present movement challenges through collective action, this conference serves as a platform to embark on a journey to expand the horizons of collaboration and unlock the full potential of collective action, movement impact and sustained growth.

Unveiling the logo of the ESEAP Conference 2024

The conference Logo is based on the Warriors Monument in Kota Kinabalu and is designed by Ahmad Ali Karim, who’s also the External Relations Ambassador and graphic designer for Wikimedia Community User Group Malaysia.

The monument was chosen for its unique design, yet mysterious and unsung background, with many people even in Malaysia not knowing of its existence. In fact, as ironic as it is, at the time this post was made, the monument does not even have its own Wikipedia article in English and Malay (as well as Kadazandusun Incubator).

The logo takes great inspiration from the sky, linked to the central theme by presenting the horizon – the purple depicting sunset, dark blue being night, and the light blue resembling the day.
The conference logo incorporates the dots seen in the actual monument, with 11 dots positioned in a strategic manner to represent the 11 nations that make up the formal communities under the ESEAP region; these dots also represent stars in the night sky.

The merging of colors echoes the beautiful dynamics reminiscent of the gradual change of light during the day, symbolizing our united regional togetherness and collaborative attitude. This picture highlights even more how important it is to coordinate efforts and remain committed to advancing regional development.
Over the course of the next few weeks the COT will share more information on our approach and thinking behind the conference. So stay tuned for more! 

To know more about the conference or to get in touch with the COT, please visit our meta-wiki page.

​​Image:

1. ESEAP Conference 2024 – logo by EmpAhmadK (CC-0)
2. ESEAP Kota Kinabalu 2024 logo-vert-colo.svg by EmpAhmadK (CC0 1.0)

​On November 24, 2023, a meeting transpired between the Wikimedia Community User Group Malaysia and the Ethnic Language Unit of the Ministry of Education Malaysia (KPM) in Putrajaya.

The central focus of this meeting was a profound exploration of strategies aimed at fortifying ethnic languages in Malaysia, with a particular emphasis on contributing substantively to the International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032—a global initiative championed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

During the meeting, our representatives introduced Wikimedia projects to the KPM, elucidating the various ongoing Wikimedia initiatives implemented in schools and educational institutions. These discussion, notably centered around ethnic languages, included activities such as Wikikata. A primary concern addressed was the accessibility of ethnic language words, with the aspiration that collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Culture could facilitate an increase in word entries on the Wikimedia project, mainly Wikikamus, along with the inclusion of pronunciation audio for these words. The ultimate goal is to establish Wikipedia content for the ethnic languages present in Malaysia, with an initial focus on those in Sabah.