Last week, I was at the Wikimedia+Libraries convention in Mexico City, where a pressing theme was the battle against disinformation. Notably, Elon Musk was a topic of concern, especially with his public discouragement of donations to Wikipedia.
Fast forward to today at the Political Tech Summit in Berlin, and it's a similar story. Numerous speakers have cited Musk as a fountainhead of hate and disinformation.
Lots of people are talking about him, I guess this is what he wants.
These folk dancers in Mexico City remind me of Morris dancers. For those who don't know, Morris dancing is a vibrant English folk dance characterized by rhythmic stepping and choreographed moves, performed by dancers clad in costumes adorned with bell pads.
Just wrapped up a brilliant nine-day stint in Mexico City for the Wikimedia+Libraries Convention 2025. The conference was not only well-organised but also packed with fascinating talks and attendees. It was great to catch up with familiar faces and equally fantastic to meet some inspiring new ones. Beyond the conference, Mexico City itself was a revelation. Its vastness meant that I've only just begun to uncover its many layers. I stayed in three different Airbnbs across various neighbourhoods, each brimming with its own character. Stay tuned for more posts where I'll share insights into the local culture and public transport.
I enjoyed a brilliant spin around Mexico City on a municipal rental bike. The deal? Just 123 MXN (around €5.70) for a full day, with rides up to 45 minutes included in the price. Pushed my luck slightly and rode for 45 minutes and 15 seconds, landing a minor overage fee of 22.41 MXN (about €1). Absolutely worth it for the freedom to explore the city.
Today, I experienced the Cablebús Line 2 in Mexico City alongside @eta_kivilih. This cable car route provides a striking aerial view of Iztapalapa, a bustling district known for its dense population. Gliding at about 20 km/h, the journey offers a serene escape from the usual urban congestion, presenting a scenic panorama of the city below. All this for just 7 pesos per ride—a small price for such a unique perspective.
Enjoying a few quiet moments on my Airbnb roof terrace on my final day in Mexico City.
My Airbnb has a sophisticated Breville espresso machine, which I’ve never used before. After reading some instructions online, I managed to get it working, but the results weren’t exactly a triumph. The coffee didn’t brew properly, leaving me with a wet sludge in the portafilter and not enough liquid in the cup. Clearly, my technique needs some improvement.
W for Wiki (red circle around me with my red backpack)
#WikiLibCon25 #NationalAutonomous UniversityOfMexico #MexicoCity #DronePhoto
What you find represented in media will influence what you think is important:
Núria Ferran-Ferrer and Miquel Centelles of #universitatbarcelona analyzed the front page content of #Wikipedia from 7 different language communities. They found a quite shocking overload of represented Western men. #WikiLibCon25 #diversity
You can now find my presentation on the machine learning driven classifier for disinformative text style on #wikimediacommos
#WikiLibCon25
https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia%2BLibraries_International_Convention_2025/Programme/nlp-information-literacy
Did you know that in Mexico, obtaining a driving licence doesn't require a test? Simply complete a form, pay a fee, and you're set to drive.
By the way: This is the cool tool I mentioned in my talk. Applying NER #Wikifier will link terms in a given text to #Wikipedia articles: "Wikifier. Semantic Annotation Service for 100 Languages" (by Januz Brank)
https://www.wikifier.org/
#WikiLibCon25
This is Estadio Olímpico Universitario where the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute took place
"For librarians #Wikimedia is not a nice-to-have, but an essential part of being an information specialist." (Gea Zohar) #WikiLibCon25
Cool! #Wikimedia Israel created a dashboard covering all uploads and contributions to Wikimedia projects from an institute. Gea Zohar is presenting the contributions by #NationalLibraryIsrael. #WikiLibCon25
Hoy en la conferencia Wikimedia + Libraries #wikilibcon25 voy a presentar el proyecto Paulina ( https://paulina.toolforge.org ), que busca facilitar el acceso y mejorar la información sobre el dominio público.
Acá está la descripción de la charla y las láminas que voy a usar: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia%2BLibraries_International_Convention_2025/Programme
Gemeinsam gegen Desinformation: Wikimedia+Libraries International Convention 2025! 
Unser Kollege Alan Ang hat an der WikiLibCon25 in Mexiko-Stadt teilgenommen und u. a. eine Keynote und einen Workshop zu Wikidata gehalten. Die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Wikimedia und Bibliotheken spielt eine Schlüsselrolle im Kampf gegen Desinformation – eine Aufgabe, der wir uns mit voller Kraft widmen. 
Alan Ang of #WikimediaDE emphasized the potential of knowledge graph database and vector databases as additional sources for LLM training to improve the accuracy of LLM's answers. #wikidata #WikiLibCon25 #wikimediadeutschland
