Wikipedia:Meetup/Kuala Lumpur 18



The Wikipedia Kuala Lumpur Meetup 18 (the 70th Wikipedia meetup in Malaysia) was the 18th Wikipedia meetup held at the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur and the 2nd meetup hold as an exhibition and information booth as part of the event. It was also the 5th meetup held in conjunction with a cosplay and animation, comics and games (ACG) event, NOiZUcon 2023. The meetup was held on:
 * Event name: NOiZUcon 2023
 * Date: Friday–Sunday, 29 September – 1 October 2023
 * Time:
 * 10:00 a.m. – 06:00 p.m. (exhibition, in which Wikimedia booth participate at)
 * 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. (stage activities and performance)
 * Venue: Booth C40, Hall 8, Level 4, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
 * Available medium of communication: English, Malay or Chinese
 * Entry ticket fee: RM60 (one time for 3 days event access)

Participants

 * Dody Ismoyo (exhibitor)
 * Ultron90 (exhibitor)
 * HanameLai (exhibitor and Wikipe-tan cosplayer)
 * Mizuki26 (exhibitor)

Visitors

 * DcdX10 (existing editor)
 * DfectHuman (new editor)
 * Doufuhua (new editor)
 * Ija Chan (new editor)
 * InciseInfinity (existing editor)
 * Kendylife (new editor)
 * Pinky98pandA (existing editor, attended Wikipedia Kuala Lumpur Meetup 11)
 * Shin (veteran editor who knows Wikipe-tan in 2006 and use Wikipe-tan in his FYP)
 * Tofu (booth exhibitor, didn't register her Wikipedia username)
 * Zikri zol (new editor)

Topics of discussion

 * This will be the second time Wikimedia Community User Group Malaysia participate by opening booth at an exhibition (after Wikipedia Kuala Lumpur Meetup 9), but this will be the first time in a grand scale in a 3 full days event. The booth will act as the information center for visitors to know anything about the user group and our outreach works for free knowledge movement in Malaysia.
 * We shall have a Wikipe-tan cosplayer and exhibitors to dress up in three different theme of dress:
 * Friday: traditional Malaysia dress (kebaya or batik)
 * Saturday: maid or butler dress
 * Sunday: casual/free dress

Minutes of meeting



 * There was a welcoming dinner for all of the guests and booth participants of Noizucon 2023 which we think it was really awesome for get a long, networking and ice breaking session before the start of the event.
 * Had a networking session with Gebu Cat Hotel on possible collaboration of Wikimedia Malaysia with them in the future, or participating in the event together. I had an insight from him also to have promotion of our branding/product using memes to reach wider audience and that it can go viral worlwide.
 * Had a networking session with Yuji Koi, a Switzerland-based Vietnamese cosplayer. She told that every event is different and that what are being displayed on the booth must be suited to the needs for each visitors in each country, because different country demography different preference.
 * Generally most of the people know about Wikipedia only, but not Wikimedia Foundation and other Wikimedia projects. They know Wikipedia can be edited, but most of them do not edit and do not have Wikipedia account.
 * We have a Wikipe-tan manned the Wikimedia booth throughout the event.
 * We met a guy who has a friend which ones a 3D printing shop, a chance for us to buy 3D print to print any Wikimedia-related stuffs (e.g. 3D Wikipedia logo, 3D Wikipe-tan) in the future outreach events of Wikimedia Malaysia.
 * We displayed the Wikipedia pin at the exhibition booth (originally created for Wikimania 2023, but due to the late arrival time, we could not bring them to the conference)
 * The leaflet of the upcoming Wikidata Con 2023 in New Taipei, Taiwan is also displayed on the booth and being promoted.
 * Portable modem is extremely important to have for an exhibition for new user Wikipedia account creation, especially for those editors whose IP is banned from creating username.
 * My (Dody) name cards were displayed on the booth, for both name card as Wikimedia editor and as cosplayer. This display of name card is very important during booth exhibition display, because we can easily give our information to the interested parties for any further follow ups.

29 September 2023

 * As of Friday, 11:40 a.m., there has been 10 people inquired to our booth on Wikipedia, with 1 people created his/her Wikipedia username. Those who simply passed by and didn't inquire anything deep/meaningful about Wikimedia or Wikipedia, we did not take into account those visitor.
 * As of 3:55 PM, one additional visitor inquired about Wikimedia and Wikipedia. The visitors throughout the convention are very scarce, probably due to it being a work day.
 * 04:30 PM, a lady (one of the booth exhibitor) interested in Wikimedia movement and inquire more on what we do.
 * 04:45 PM, a guy from Kedah is interested in Wikimedia. He has been editing between English and Malay Wikipedia, although without username (use IP address only), and he inquired if we know any Wikimedian based on Penang or Kedah. I showed him our Kedah 1 Meetup at Northern University of Malaysia last time in 2019.

30 September 2023

 * Morning time, there were 2 people visiting our booth in which Ultron90 explained about Wikimedia movement to them in details.
 * Discussion with medical student from MAHSA University for future collaboration with Wikimedia Malaysia in medical-related outreach works.
 * Discussion with a cosplayer (Doufuhua) in which she was really really interested in knowing more on Wikimedia projects for cosplay & ACG related documentation works in Wikimedia projects. She also invited me (Dody) for The Simpsons group cosplay collaboration next year .. yeah ~ :D
 * A visitor came to ask about Wikimedia Community User Group Malaysia. He was a regular user on Wikipedia and wanted to know more on the activities that can be participated in. He had some good understanding on Wikimedia user group already.
 * A cosplayer in Spiderman is a Wikipedia editor (InciseInfinity), and he knows about us. He and his friends also know about Wikipedia. So I took photo of him and his friends (in cosplay) to be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons lter.
 * Met a lecturer from University of Nottingham Malaysia, and he is interested to have Wikimedia meetup at the university, especially under the university Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers student chapter.
 * Inquiry from a html-based web developer (who used to see a Wikimedia Foundation job vacancy, thus he knew Wikimedia Foundation) to ask more detail about Wikimedia movement. We had a detailed discussion on the detail Wikimedia movement in Malaysia, PHP programming, and showing him to download Wikipedia app from Android app store.
 * Discussion with Multimedia University ((MMU) Cyberjaya campus alumni student with specialty in marketing, and that she will forward our Wikimedia detail to the head of faculty of MMU for the dead of faculty to contact us and have future collaboration.
 * Discussion with a cyber security expert (DfectHuman), in which he is showing his deep interest in Wikipedia movement, and that he is asking when is the next Wikimedia meetup in Malaysia, then we pointed out our meetup page. We said he also can invite us to have meetup with them, just get a group of people and provide venue with wifi (and preferably projector).
 * Discussion with a tech enthusiast asking for more information on Wikimedia meetups in the future, and also with alumni of MMU Cyberjaya who is IT graduate, asking for future Wikimedia meetups around Klang Valley, and what kind of the usual topics we have at meetup.
 * Got a couple asking more about Wikimedia, the guy even knew Wikipe-tan! He asked more detail about Wikimedia and our movement, and also the future meetup. And the lady since she is in Seremban, she can join the Wikipedia Negeri Sembilan Meetup 1. They have booth at the Content Creator Festival 2023, the event at the hall below Noizucon 2023.
 * At 4:00 p.m., we joined the online meeting between Wikimedia Community User Group Malaysia and Wikimedia Indonesia live from the event venue.
 * Initially we decided to display QR code on our booth to link people to download Wikipedia app in Play Store. But since it was mostly for reading purpose (and not account creation or editing), we had to change the QR code to the registration page of English-language Wikipedia user creation (not app).

1 October 2023

 * In the early morning at 10:30 a.m., there was a returning editor from the previous Wikipedia Kuala Lumpur Meetup 11, which is Pinky98pandA visiting our booth.
 * At 11:00 a.m., there were 3 cosplayers visiting our booth to show their huge interest in Wikipedia, and one of them register her username Doufuhua. We had to use modem to bypass her blocked IP from her mobile phone. I explained to them on the rules and regulations of photo uploads to Wikimedia Commons. The other 2 male cosplayers seemed to fully understand the privacy aspect of it, and also de minimis rules in case in the photo there is any minor depiction of a corporate logo. A huge corporate logo/brand is not permitted in the photo because that is straight away copyright violation. We showed that Wikimedia wish to be the centralized and complete database for any cosplay and ACG-related stuffs in Malaysia, by example showing the article of AniManGaki which has a complete historical information and detailed venue, date and number of attendees throughout its full history.
 * At 12:45 pm, I showcased to the guest online streamer on the Wikidata page and photos uploaded to Wikimedia Commons linked to the event and the online streamer profession, and that I informed her that one needs to have more and more online presence (especially from online news, not from social media or blog) to have higher notability for one to be eligible to have his/her Wikipedia article created.
 * At 1:05 pm, two cosplayers visited our booth and inquire more about Wikipedia. Then I showed them the ACG event database in Malaysia in Wikimedia Commons, especially about AniManGaki and its Wikimedia Commons category pages and the cosplayers visiting the event.
 * At 1:20 pm, there was a photographer interested in Wikimedia projects, especially Wikimedia Commons.
 * At 1:50 pm, a new editor registered for Wikipedia, named Ija Chan. I explained to her on the full database of Wikipedia, such as Category:Anime conventions in Malaysia or Category:Johor.
 * At 2:00 pm, a lady from the entertainment and gaming industry inquire us on Wikipedia contribution to the gaming industry, especially in Malaysia. So I showed her this category Category:Games by country and pointed out that gaming in Malaysia has not yet been fully developed, and that will be a good chance for us to contribute more knowledge to it.
 * 3:50 pm, two people inquire more about Wikipedia and photo database uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.
 * 4:40 pm, detailed discussion with new editor Kendylife. He is an anime convention event organizer for Sabah and Sarawak, currently based in Kota Kinabalu. Can have future collaboration with him for any Wikimedia events or anime convention in Sabah.
 * 5:10 pm, discussion with a cosplayer when he inquired on what needs to be done (rules of notability) for someone to have their Wikipedia articles, e.g. coverage in online news (not social media) etc.
 * 5:20 pm, discussion with a visitor inquiring on how Wikipedia can be easily vandalized with all of the jokes. Then we counterback him with all of the mechanism to ensure the reliability and truthfulness of Wikipedia contents to the public. English Wikipedia may have better mechanism, but less for Malay Wikipedia.
 * 5:45 pm, discussion with veteran long editor of Wikipedia who knew Wikipe-tan and used Wikipe-tan in his FYP project of his university.
 * 6:05 pm, discussion with a photography talking about the detailed rules of Wikimedia Commons photo taking and uploading, as well as Creative Commons (3.0 and the current 4.0).

Booths

 * The layout of the booth which combines two booth in one section is a bit confusing to the visitors to know which one is which one
 * Due to the corner location of the booth backdrop, the Wikipedia logo was not that apparent to the visitors
 * Need to have more number of chairs for the exhibitors of our booth, so that we don't have to keep exchanging on who stand or who sit (to write on the computer)

QR codes

 * The Wikipedia QR code displayed on the booth should link to English Wikipedia new account creation, instead of Wikipedia Android/iOS app download, because the app is only for article reading, not new user creation
 * The Noizucon QR code for visitor does not really serve the point for visitor to visit each booth and have meaningful discussion for what that booth can offer. Instead, many of them just simply scan the booth QR code in their visitor ID for the sake of the lucky draw at the end of the event day

Improvement for Wikimedia outreach events after learning from Noizucon 2023

 * We can have Wikimedia real-time online competition on a stage platform shape
 * Need to find a 1-minute pitching of what Wikimedia can offer to the visitors to attract them more, instead of just passing by our booth

Public transport

 * KLCC LRT station of Rapid KL.

Self driving
- Key-in Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in Waze or Google Map - Address: Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Kuala Lumpur - Coordinate: 3°09'13.4"N 101°42'47.4"E

Disability access
The meetup venue was located on the fourth floor with lift and ramp at the ground floor entry for easy wheelchair access, equipped with toilet on the same floor. The venue, especially the location of our booth, was very disabled user friendly. There was a people in wheelchair as part of the booth exhibitor, and there was a people in crutches visiting our booth.