A series of MediaWiki user conferences has been held since 2008, generally twice a year, alternating between Europe and North America. These conferences began with a specific focus on the Semantic MediaWiki extension, before broadening to include all of the software around MediaWiki. They have been held under a variety of names, most notably the Semantic MediaWiki Conference (SMWCon), the Enterprise MediaWiki Conference (EMWCon), and, most recently, the MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference (MUDCon).

The conferences are for anybody interested in MediaWiki, including users, developers, consultants, business or government representatives, students, researchers, and staff members of the Wikimedia Foundation. They are a great way to meet members of the third-party MediaWiki community, especially if you are new to MediaWiki.

Past conferences have included speakers from a wide variety of backgrounds; notable past keynote speakers include Ward Cunningham (the inventor of the wiki), Håkon Wium Lie (primary inventor of CSS and former CTO of Opera), Denny Vrandečić (co-creator of Semantic MediaWiki, Wikidata and Wikifunctions), and Markus Krötzsch (co-creator of Semantic MediaWiki and Wikidata).

Mission

The conferences aim 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.

Events

The next planned event will be:

• MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference Fall 2025, October 28-30, in Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany

Below is a list of previous events, in reverse-chronological order.

2024

• 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

2016

• SMWCon Fall 2016 – 28 to 30 September 2016 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany
• EMWCon Spring 2016 – May 25-27, 2016 in New York City, USA

History

A long-running series of conferences for third-party MediaWiki uses has been held since 2008—though discussion of Wikimedia usage of MediaWiki has always played a part in the conferences as well. These conferences began with a specific focus on the Semantic MediaWiki extension, before broadening to include all of the software around MediaWiki. They have been held under a variety of names, most notably the Semantic MediaWiki Conference (SMWCon), the Enterprise MediaWiki Conference (EMWCon), and the MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference (MUDCon). Despite the different names and focuses, they have been fairly consistent in their structure and frequency. Since 2009, the conferences have been held twice a year, once in North America and once in Europe.

SMWCon began in 2009 as a twice-yearly event. It initially had a near-total focus on Semantic MediaWiki, but gradually came to encompass MediaWiki as a whole. In 2016, the North American events, held in the spring, were renamed to EMWCon. In 2024, both conferences were renamed to the 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.

Beginning with the 2021 conferences, the conferences have been organized with the backing of the MediaWiki Stakeholders' Group.

Notes

See also

• Events
• MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference/FAQ
• MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference/International travel
• MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference/Location ideas
• MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference/Scholarships
• SMWCon - Contributions
• SMWCon Organization