Wikimania 2008
Wikimania 2008 awarded to Alexandria
The annual Wikimania conference will be held in Alexandria next year, taking the event to its fourth continent in as many years of existence. The decision was not without controversy afterward, however, as it met with vocal objections over the Egyptian government's human rights record, particularly with respect to issues of sexual orientation.
The choice of Alexandria was announced Tuesday, 9 October, by Wikimedia Foundation volunteer coordinator Cary Bass. Bass served as a neutral moderator for the jury that made the selection, picking Alexandria over bids from Atlanta and Cape Town. Additional bids from London, Toronto, and Karlsruhe, Germany, had withdrawn prior to voting.