 line, two of our members who are going to be beaming in, hopefully, right now we're trying to get everything set up and this is my personal stuff and you are all seeing it. Can we take that off please? Either way, it's great to see you all and I'm very glad that you've come in here. Today we're going to be talking about a proposal for an idea we have to connect folks in the Wikimedia movement together. There was an opportunity when we saw that we were going to be here in Singapore that we didn't want to pass up and that opportunity was normally we at Wikimedians of the Caribbean, we are in a completely different time zone, completely far away from many of the other island focused groups that are out there in the movement and we wanted the opportunity since we're here to connect with other islanders and folks interested in island nations and knowledge coming from island nations. Now something that we thought when we got together in 2018 and Richard if you could come up to the front. This group was assembled in the Wiki Conference North America and what we did was we about a few months later organized a user group that focuses on the important contributions of island nations in the Caribbean beyond the shores. Now I was born in the Caribbean I was born in an island called Dominica it's a small island nation if you want to look at us on the map hopefully we're on the map that was one of the issues that brought us together is that you would count as maybe about four islands up from Venezuela and you'd find us in between Martinique and Guadalupe. Now I came to the United States when I was a young child and my immigrant family immigrated to New York City and sorry go ahead and something that has always been important to me and to many who are in the diaspora of their countries is staying close to your roots and staying close to the knowledge and developments of where you're from and how many of you in the audience right now are from an island nation. How many of you in the audience right now also maybe are connected in some way to someone from an island nation. Now I'm very excited here in Singapore to know the history of the country about how Singapore came to be. I know that Singapore is the only city nation right of its kind in the world. I believe there's Monaco and Vatican City and a few others that are also in a similar context but I believe Singapore is unique in some of this regard. Another group of people that I really wanted to meet while here are those from the Philippines. Now I'm bringing these things up because I know that in the last few years the island nation that I'm originally from has been dealing with similar issues as many other island nations in the world. One of them being climate change, another of them dealing with land mass issues and so forth. There's also very interesting connective tissue between island nations and that includes for example knowledge of the natural sciences, different issues that specifically deal with countries that are locked away from what many would consider the mainstream flow of information. You know sometimes there's something that might happen in, for example it might happen somewhere in one of the areas of the Caribbean for example like Haiti or I just mentioned Dominica or in other areas that may be overlooked by those looking at information coming from larger countries that are out of that context. So what we and the Wikimans of the Caribbean wanted to do was make sure that information like this wasn't overlooked and also to make sure that the Caribbean was not left out of the conversation when it came to information on Wikipedia. Now whenever you're dealing with thematic groups and situations you find that there's not only one theme area that but bonds us but many and part of that is also connecting with one another, talking to each other, learning from each other's experiences. And something that we've enjoyed doing over the last five plus years in Wikikerry has been just that we meet on a regular basis and find ways to not only amplify the Caribbean but also to amplify the issues and subject matter that have to do with the Caribbean. You're going to hear hopefully a little bit later from some of our members who are coming in from online and have been pre-recorded. And one of those areas is going to be the digital human rights and another is dealing with like I mentioned before the natural sciences and learning more about the things that make up the culture, the history, and the connective tissue of the islands of the Caribbean. But in this time we wanted to focus on a new idea. It's called Wikioasis. Wikioasis stands for Wikimedians organized in association with small island states. Now Wikioasis, we came up with that because we understand an oasis for many is a palm tree in the desert, right? But it's the opposite for us. We see island states as oases of culture, of knowledge, of information, of potential, so much more than, for example, a passing trip on a cruise ship or a few days here and there to spend time on a beach or so forth. There's so much more to know, so much more to learn, and so much more to glean from. But not only that, we have a lot that we can glean from one another. So Wikioasis is essentially a group of people within the movement, part of independent and different groups who have decided to create intentional community to support one another in the movement. Now we know that a lot of folks, especially those in this room who've traveled thousands of miles to be here, that another group to be a part of can be daunting for some. But for us, we see this as great, hey Kira, for us, we see this as an opportunity that we can make the most of, not only while we're here, but throughout the year. So we would like to try to start off with at least bi-annually meeting with one another online, and then as the group needs, we want to see if we can meet some more. Now there's been talk of things like hubs. There's also groups like affiliate communities and thematic groups. What we'd like to do today is, thank you very much, what we'd like to do today is take the opportunity to connect with you all in the room and you all online to see what do you think about the idea of a group like this coming into being. Not only that, but this is a good time to discuss this, because it allows us to connect and grow not only the idea and the thought of this, but also to help move it along where folks see the need and the desire. Now finally our technology has been fixed, and I'm going to try and move it along to where we are. So hold on one moment. And I mentioned what Wikioasis was, okay now who would be invited into this intentional community? This intentional community is not just made up of people who have been born in a small island state, but people who are interested in knowledge coming from this area. People who are interested in amplifying that knowledge and making it full and complete. For example, there are some issues that fall within small island nations especially that may overlap with issues that come from the communities that you are from. For example, access to technology. We've already covered a little bit about climate change and dramatic weather changes. Earlier last year, excuse me two years ago, Wikimans of the Caribbean connected with folks in Norway to discuss about how we're both affected folks in the Caribbean and folks in Scandinavia are affected by the melting of ice, excuse me, by climate change within our waterways. So there's a lot of ways that we can connect around the idea of what's happening in small island states. The main idea is we don't want to overlook it. There are 50 island countries and 44 island territories. So not only is this, when you think of the landmass all put together, is this significant, but it also means that these island countries, island territories also have a connection with the countries around them and with the trajectory of those communities. So sometimes when we think of island countries, we think of it's almost an afterthought for many because we're so focused on, for example, when you're when I'll just give you an example that that's close to my heart at Wikimedia. You know when you go upstairs and you put your your little pin on the wall and you look for the country that you're from. And so one year when I was, you know, still new to the movement, I went and I looked for my country of birth and I went, where is it? I see Hispaniola as a line and I see, I think they had Cuba and that was it. Okay, so what what message does that send you when you're not even included in the picture? What messages that send you when when you're literally not on the map, right? Thankfully today, that's completely different. And I'm not going to say it's because of little old Wikimedians of the Caribbean. But what I will say is that it's a wonderful to see that that expansion has happened because it sends a message now, not only are you literally on the map, but also that you matter, that you're what comes from your country matters. I'm also from originally from a developing country. And we used to be called, and I think we still are called Third World. We've been called, like I mentioned, developing nations. It always speaks to us of you have a ways to go to meet the standard. But I think in many ways, the standard is being met in many all of our everywhere you go, because you are your standard. What you know is just as important as the larger context of information. And I think that's an important to send, regardless of where where we fall in, whether it's economics or otherwise. Okay, before I begin to trail off, I want to see if we have been able to reach the folks online. Okay, okay. Well, I want to just continue with what we have before you today. Hold on, it's still connected. So basically, in the end, what we're trying to do is to forward the idea of the use and value of groups like this within the movement. All right, should I just continue here? Great. So going back to the idea of issues dealing with severe weather and climate change, I just wanted to continue to show some of the areas that we identified were important for island communities, especially, and that includes climate change, environment, and so forth. Areas that we're dealing with that not only is this information important, but it also is important for in the larger context of the globe as well. Now, one of the reasons why the focus on island nations is important is because oftentimes in this area, especially of the effects of changes in climate and severe weather, is that we deal with it first. So especially low-lying island nations will see the effect of some of these areas before other populations that are on land, excuse me, non-island nations. I want to also continue. These are some of the areas that we wanted to identify with you as well. That's digital human rights, island-focused knowledge sharing, and the use and value in the movement. Now, one of the areas that I wanted to highlight was not only that this year there's something called the digital compact. It was led by the United Nations, and we were very pleased to be able to be a part of that conversation. For many dealing with, for example, in the context of severe weather like hurricanes and so forth, infrastructure is very strongly affected. And when you're talking about improving access to larger communities, and of course this conference focuses on diversity, the future, and so forth in collaboration, how can you ensure collaboration, greater participation and diversity without the infrastructure and the ability to access the internet in the first place? Now, this is not something I'm saying we will solve, but it's something that I think is important to take a second and third look at in the movement. If you are dealing with access to the technology in the first place, if you're dealing with, for example, many in the wiki human rights community and are looking at is, okay, what happens in the follow-up to an event? What can we do to ensure that people dealing with these areas are going to be able to reconnect to the community and be able to continue their work within the community? Then what you're looking at is something that not only affects one area. For example, let's say there's an event happening in one part of the community in the world, but it's something that potentially also affects many other areas. Now, in the case of wiki oasis, a group like this can connect folks who are looking at these issues and we can collectively find solutions that not only meet the needs generally, but focus on the specific areas that will inevitably come to specifically those in island communities. A large brush stroke, at least there is a brush, but with communities like this you can prepare, you can also glean on best practices, knowledge and information within those communities. Now, we did have two people in the wings waiting and a video and unfortunately those are not available at the moment, but what I want to do is say that the group of folks that we've come together and come up with this idea, there is a particular commitment to the movement and to not only amplifying information in the Caribbean community and island community, but they come from different communities as well. For example, Ian Ramchen comes from the education community. They're coming from different communities. I run Afrocrowd, which is a group focused on amplifying representation on wikipedia, especially in the African diaspora. We have already met Richard who has been with wikipedia in the wiki community since what it's been almost 13 years. He has been involved in many different groups and you're about to hear from Brandon Sullivan who comes to us as well as our communications lead who even as a new wikipedia has gone into a scholarly direction and is coming to us from Harvard right now. Hi Brandon, how are you? Hello Singapore. Hello Sherry, I'm not too bad. So glad to join you guys. The point is he exists. So Brandon, we can't hear you for some reason, but let's see. But I do want to point out that Brandon was one of the people who spoke at the UN on our behalf. He has been working tirelessly on issues like digital human rights and we have also connected with people who have been tirelessly working for example on issues dealing specifically with the Caribbean in Latin America as well. And in the coming months we're looking forward to doing more of this and expanding it, our connectivity with not only any of you in this room who may be interested, but those who may be interested in island nations from all over the world. I'm talking about you Cape Verde, Rey Union, I'm talking about you in the Philippines and you here in Singapore and elsewhere. We want to collaborate with you in ways that we can not only tackle some of these issues using knowledge sharing and building community within Wikipedia in ways that I think only a global movement of this kind can do is in ways that we have not only been interested in doing but have already done. I'm looking at Netha Hussain and I remember when we during the pandemic when we did work together around the effects of the pandemic. So we only have about one minute 49 seconds Brandon, but what I'm thinking is for the final portion of this time we had been hoping to connect with you to with any questions you had or any information you wanted to to collaborate. If we can switch over to my slides. Thanks Brendan. Love the glasses. If we can switch over to my slides please. I just want to finalize with some information that we have for you. We prepared this QR code. If you'd like to connect with us please do by using the QR code. You can also connect by going to bit.ly slash wiki oasis just for an information. It's just an information form to say that you're interested in this idea. And also you can find us on Twitter at wiki carry and you can also find us on wiki as well using the bit.ly that you see here. One other thing as well is that we are also you can also find us by going to wiki carry info at gmail.com. So thank you very much folks.