The idea

 

Are you coming to Wikimania 2018? Bring books with you to share!

There will be a corner where you can swap your books with books other participants will bring; or leave your books for Cape Town Library.

Swapping books is not just a fun activity: those could be a source of good references for content on our sites, or just items you'd like to donate/bring back home because they're cool anyway—maybe they feature gorgeous pictures, or a language/script many people may have never seen before, etc. Any language is welcome—books in english. are more likely to be reused by several attendees, though!

Have you found a book released in Cape Town? Yay! Add a note to the table below.
Want to help with this initiative? Find out how!


The books' corner in Cape Town is supported by m:The Wikipedia Library, which helps editors access reliable sources to improve Wikipedia, and also helps knowledge professionals share their collections with the public.
Find out more about the Library, our goals, what we do and how you can get involved on Meta!

How it works

  1. Bring your book(s) to Cape Town;
  2. Label them, specifying if they are meant to be freely taken by others, or if you want them to be donated to the Cape Town Library;
  3. Leave them at the swapping corner at the Community Village, and/or
  4. Pick other books to create Wikipedia articles and to share with your circles once you go back home.
  5. Add your book to the table below just so that we can track how many of them were shared.

At Wikimania Cape Town

We hope to create a corner where everyone can:

  1. wild-release books they brought to Cape Town and maybe collect others they're interested in; and/or
  2. bring books to be donated to Cape Town Library and leave a mark of the event in local culture, (we can't guarantee all books will be accepted and kept, though).

These books could be a source of good references for content on our sites, or just items you'd like to donate/bring back home because they're cool anyway (gorgeous pics, a language/script people may have never seen before, etc.)

If you're familiar with the international treats table at the Wikimedia Conference, think of this as slightly similar (but, you can bring the books home!).

Table is by the Community Village.

Other tips

  • If you don't feel like giving away a book of yours, how about just buying a new one to donate? :)
  • You can pick a book even if you haven't brought one;
  • Help yourself at the table even when it's not attended!

Participants

I will participate by bringing books

I can create a label and share it on Commons

  • ...

I can let other people know about this initiative (on social media etc.)

  • ...

I can help at the books'corner

I will stop by at the table

Interested but not sure I can participate

  • ...


books donation

  • This list is incomplete, we received more than 50 books during wikimania thanks for all those who brought us their Books.
# Book title I brought this book to Wikimania! Brought to share? Y/N Brought for "Wikimania Archive"? Y/N Notes (at Wikimania) I got this book in Cape Town! I'll use this for... and will release it... (where/when) (after Wikimania) I found this book! (where) I'll use this for... and will release it... (where/when)
1 Tile xxxx Y/N Y/N
2 Artemis Quiddity Y N
2 Volpone Play in English Reem Al-Kashif Y N
3 Poems in Arabic inspired by Pablo Neruda Reem Al-Kashif Y N

(Tip: use the visual editor to easily edit the table above, even on your mobile device and while logged out.)

Report

Wikimania 2018 - Book swapping Cape Town, and all others was takes a books from the table, I was surprised by the success of this initiative, I saw this action at wikimania Esino Lario 2016 and I repeated in Indaba Tunisia 2018 and Wikiarabia Cairo in 2017.

commons:Category:Book Swapping at Wikimania 2018

See also