Contact: Mike Halterman<br/>                                                                          
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br/>
E-mail: mike.halterman@cota-atlanta.org<br/>
Phone: +1 (850) 261-1693<br/>
http://www.cota-atlanta.org/wiki/Main_Page<br/>
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<p><i><b>WIKIPEDIA HOLDS ITS FIRST AMERICAS-CENTRIC CONFERENCE IN ATLANTA</b></i><br/>
The Wikimedia Foundation, with the cooperation of many sponsors with multinational aims, will hold the first-ever Conference of the Americas in Atlanta, Georgia.
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<p>ATLANTA, Oct. 13-The Wikimedia Foundation, best known for overseeing the popular internet encyclopedia Wikipedia, is holding an event called Conference of the Americas, or COTA, the first large-scale conference specifically relating to the Wikimedia and free culture community in Western Hemisphere. The conference will be held from May 15-18, 2008, at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.</p>
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<p>While other similar conferences have been held in Europe and Asia to much success, a concerted effort to have the same kind of encompassing community meeting has never occurred in the Americas until now. According to Alexa, the English Wikipedia's #1 audience is the United States, with Mexico and many South American nations devoted followers of the Spanish-language equivalent. The event seeks to unify all the communities, different in many ways but strikingly similar in their main goals.</p>

<p>The theme of COTA is "unity through good works." Both community members and prominent members of society across the Americas are planned to speak on the work they have done or witnessed by Wikimedia and other free culture movements, and how that work impacts everyday life. Speakers considered range from Wikimedia and free culture enthusiasts, to humanitarians and politicians. Each large segment of community members (U.S., Canadian, and Latin American) will be able to talk about their experiences specific to their community, with opportunities to further discuss their implications in the world community. While English is the main language of the conference, speakers are also welcomed to present in French, Spanish and Portuguese, the three other main languages in the Americas.</p>

<p>COTA is organized by a core team of eight Wikimedians in the Southern United States, with help from numerous volunteers across the United States, Canada and Latin America. The people behind COTA were previously the organizing team for the Wikimedia International Conference 2008, which will be held in late July 2008 in Alexandria, Egypt. In moving in the direction of a more nationalistic community-oriented conference, the COTA team seeks to bring specific recognition to the good works done by Wikimedia and the free culture movement in the Western Hemisphere, long overlooked as a single viable entity of their own.<p>

<p>The Wikimedia Foundation, founded in June 2003, oversees Wikipedia, Wikinews, Wikimedia Commons, Wikiquote, Wikiversity and many other free-content, open-source projects aiming to share knowledge with the world. Wikipedia, the first project created by founder Jimmy Wales, is also the most popular; Alexa's internet ranking study shows that in the final week of September 2007, an average of 92 million unique visitors from around the world use Wikipedia every day. A non-profit organization under the tax laws of the State of Florida, the Wikimedia Foundation offices are based in St. Petersburg, Florida.<p>

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<p>Additional information about the bid team and more details regarding the bid and proposed events can be found at http://www.cota-atlanta.org/wiki/Main_Page. Any questions can be directed to the lead organizer of COTA, Mike Halterman, via phone at +1 (850) 261-1693 (mornings and afternoons) or via email at mike.halterman@cota-atlanta.org. Please only use the phone for contact if you are based in the United States.</p>