From WikiSym 2008

Contents 1 What is WikiWalk? 2 When WikiWalk will happen? September 11, 9:00 3 Which points of interest will WikiWalk pass by? 4 Are you interested on doing the WikiWalk?

What is WikiWalk?

WikiWalk is a new post-conference activity that aims to extend WikiSym 2008.

On September 11, we'll take the wiki way into the historic streets of Porto, joining with Porto's vibrant intellectual and Web communities to explore the city and its networked art and media.

At the start of the day, we'll discuss topics of particular interest -- including new topics raised at WikiSym -- over cups of strong Portuguese coffee. And then we'll walk through interesting parts of Porto, perhaps visiting some notable Web studios, bookstores, cafés, notable buildings, and other venues of new and old media.

Inspired by the very successful BlogWalk meetings, WikiWalk extends the international symposium to the community and brings conferees out of the lecture hall for more casual and spontaneous discussion.

When WikiWalk will happen? September 11, 9:00

WikiWalk is planned for the whole morning of Thursday, September 11th, 9:00-13:00, the first post-conference day.

It will consist of a visit to downtown Porto and 4 stops for topic raising.

Each stop will have a 10 minutes address and the discussion can go on freely while walking.

Although the discussion and conversations will be completely free, there are however some proposed topics:

• Wikis and mass media - a stop at a leading national newspaper Porto premises ("Público") and address by a journalist;
• Wikis, arts, education and tourism - stop at a romantic garden near the Fine Arts Faculty with address by the librarian;
• Virtual space and urban space - stop at the rector house and address by an architect;
• Wikis and cultural heritage - stop at the Portuguese Photography Archive and address by an archivist.

These topics may still change until the event, but these are already a start.

Which points of interest will WikiWalk pass by?

The city visit will start at the conference location (FEUP) and we will go by bus to the Público newspaper offices.

After the first stop, we will go, still by bus, to the S. Lázaro Garden, for the second stop.

Here, the actual walk starts.

We go to a nice Art Nouveau café to take some refreshment, to the old cinemas Águia d'Ouro and Batalha, to the small Baroque church of Santa Clara, to the railway station of S. Bento, with nice tiles, to the popular market of Bolhão, the avenue in front of the Town Hall, the world’s third-best bookstore (Livraria Lello), and the Rector House.

Here we have the third stop.

An architect will be with the group all along and will draw the attention to some very different buildings, which will include the fantastic Koolhaas' Casa da Música.

The walk finishes with a look at the neoclassic Clérigos tower and a visit to the old prison, now the Portuguese Photography Archive, where we have the final stop.

This route is aimed to complement the riverfront points since the social event before the conference dinner is already scheduled to that area.

The walking distance is about 3Km and we start at a high spot, so hill climbing is minimized and I think we have plenty of time to enjoy the city while talking about the experiences evoked and provocative questions raised at the stops.

Are you interested on doing the WikiWalk?

Wikiwalk is open to the community and free, whether you are registered, or not, for WikiSym 2008!

If you want to join us in the WikiWalk, just write a line with your name and affiliation and send it to wikiwalk@wikisym.org.