Sligo celebrates Wikipedia 10

Wikipedia celebrates its tenth birthday and to mark the event Sligo VEC and volunteers from Open Coffee Sligo will be hosting an Open Source Fair and ‘Wiki Wander’ on Saturday 22^nd January 2011, the only event nationwide to recognise the occasion. This event is free, there will be great prizes and giveaways on the day and it is open to all members of the community, young and old, technologically savvy or not.

The event will kick off with a ‘Wiki Wander’ Photography Time Challenge beginning at 10am at Co. Sligo VEC, Quay Street. The quest is simple. Anyone who can get their snap happy hands on a digital camera or camera phone can participate. A list of items will be given to each photographer/team with a time deadline to return with all items photographed. The focus of the day is to create an archive of open source pictures from Sligo and its’ environs – a scrapbook of community generated images that will be available online showing off your town and county as you see it.

Photographers should be aware that all images will need to be in jpeg format and memory sticks should preferably be clear, but help will be on hand on the morning for anyone unsure of the technicalities. The time challenge will finish at 1:00pm whereon all photographers/teams must be back at base to download their images. Images will then be printed and exhibited that afternoon.

This event was the brainchild of Heather James, who has worked with IT Sligo and is a founding member of Open Coffee Sligo. Heather and her team of dedicated volunteers will be holding short workshops and talks from 2pm onwards to familiarise people with open source and its’ role in providing freely available, user generated content built from the community for the community. There will also be some workshops on basic computers and image editing. Giveaways will be available to participants.

In the week running up to the 22^nd January, a further photography event will take place. ‘Share Ireland’ will be looking for photographs, not just of Sligo, but from all over Ireland to build an open source archive.

So why not brush off the January blues? Enjoy some free fun with family and friends and maybe even learn something new! This event is free of charge and is open to all. Anyone who is interested in finding out more should contact  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , check out www.sligovec.ie, telephone 086-8277018 or find Sligo VEC on Facebook.