MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference
The MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference, or MUDCon, is a twice-yearly event featuring talks, workshops, and tutorials relating to the use and development of MediaWiki. The event has a special (though not exclusive) focus on the use of MediaWiki outside of Wikimedia sites. It is generally held in North America in the spring and Europe in the fall/autumn. It is generally co-organized by the MediaWiki Stakeholders' Group.
The conferences are for anybody interested in wikis and open knowledge, especially in MediaWiki, e.g. users, developers, consultants, business or government representatives, students, researchers, and staff members of the Wikimedia Foundation. It is a great way to meet members of the third-party MediaWiki community, especially if you are new to MediaWiki.
Past keynote speakers have included Ward Cunningham, the inventor of the wiki. The preceding conferences, EMWCon and SMWCon, featured keynote speakers such as HĂ„kon Wium Lie, the primary inventor of CSS.
Mission
This conference aims to:
- inspire/onboard new users,
- inform on where and how MediaWiki is used,
- convey and consolidate best practices,
- initiate/foster/integrate application and development and
- strengthen the community of stakeholders and its service portfolio.
Dates
The next MUDCon events will be:
- MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference Spring 2025, tentatively May 14-16, in Sandusky, Ohio, USA
- MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference Fall 2025, October 27-30, in Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany
Previous MUDCon events have been:
- MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference Fall 2024, November 4-6, in Vienna, Austria
- MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference Spring 2024, April 17-19, in Portland, Oregon, USA
Spring conferences are usually held from Wednesday to Friday, whereas fall conferences are typically scheduled from Monday to Wednesday.
History
The MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference began in 2024, and is the successor to two conferences: EMWCon, or the Enterprise MediaWiki Conference (2016-2023), which was held annually in North America in the spring, and SMWCon, or the Semantic MediaWiki Conference (2009-2023), which since 2016 was held annually in Europe in the autumn. Both of those conferences covered MediaWiki more broadly than their name implied, and their purposes overlapped significantly, so the two conferences were merged and renamed to MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference to reflect reality and streamline branding. The rebranding also aims to invite a wider audience to the conference than the previous conference names implied.
See also
- Events
- /FAQ
- /International travel
- /Location ideas
- /Scholarships (draft - unofficial)
- Wikimedia Hackathons, which are separate from the MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference and are organized by the Wikimedia Foundation