Re: [Wikimania-l] Non-scholarship Wikimania support by Wikimedia affiliates (was earlier posted on [Wikimediaindia-l] list)

[Bodhisattwa Mandal]

Rahul was not a WMF scholarship recipient, he was sent by affiliate
organization CIS -A2K, which declared that they will send first 3
Wikimedians from India who were in the waiting list of WMF scholarship
recipient list, 2 of them declined to attend the conference. Instead of
arranging for the next person in the waiting list to attend the conference,
Rahul was sent without any transparency or documentation.

I repeat, this specific topic is not suitable for this mailing list as many
will not understand the perspective and community dynamics in India, and
thus the question was asked in India mailing list. I hope, further
discussions in this mailing list will be confined to the general questions
asked by Subhashis.

Regards,
Bodhisattwa


On Wed, 1 Aug 2018, 12:25 Peter Southwood, 
wrote:

> Any person not specifically banned from attendance is “allowed” to attend
> Wikimania. Do you have evidence that he was awarded a scholarship from WMF?
> If not, I don’t understand what this is about.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Peter Southwood
>
>
>
> *From:* Wikimania-l [mailto:wikimania-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] *On
> Behalf Of *Bodhisattwa Mandal
> *Sent:* 01 August 2018 08:36
> *To:* Wikimania general list (open subscription)
> *Subject:* Re: [Wikimania-l] Non-scholarship Wikimania support by
> Wikimedia affiliates (was earlier posted on [Wikimediaindia-l] list)
>
>
>
> Hi,
>
>
>
> My question was not whether, the presence of Rahul was useful or not in
> the Wikimania. My question was, why he was allowed to attend Wikimania
> depriving other Wikimedians who were in the waiting list of scholarship
> recipients in India, as the scholarship was said to be given to those who
> were in the waiting list from India. Where was the documentation or
> transparency? Even the WMIN EC members didn't knew about his tour. I
> question about the validity of his selection over other Wikimedians from
> scholarship waiting list.
>
>
>
> Secondly, I posted the question in India mailing list, not here, because
> some Indian Wikimedians are familiar with what's going on, has insight
> about the matter. It would not be possible for others to understand the
> scenario without knowing the perspective. So, I request to comment in India
> mailing list and not here. Like other Indian Wikimedians attending the
> conference, I heard many things which question if WMIN should get any
> future support of volunteer community members of India or not, but that
> also, I don't intend to discuss in this mailing list. I hope, someone will
> definitely raise them in India mailing list soon.
>
>
>
> So, let's start our discussion here what Subhashis wants to discuss in
> general. For specific discussions related to WMIN and Rahul, the India
> mailing list is open.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Bodhisattwa
>
>
>
> On Wed, 1 Aug 2018, 11:28 Anirudh S. Bhati,  wrote:
>
> This is an issue of internal governance and management.  Rahul is a member
> of the Executive Committee of Wikimedia India which constitutes six other
> members who are collectively responsible for decision-making in the best
> interests of the organization, as well as maintaining certain standards of
> accountability and transparency.  Has there been an attempt to bring this
> to the attention of Rahul and the WMIN Executive Committee first?
>
>
>
> That being said, I recall having a very productive meeting with Rahul at
> Wikimania, who gave me a thorough appraisal of the current status of
> Wikimedia India, recognizing that I am one of the founding members.  My
> impression is that Rahul also effectively acted as the ambassador for
> Wikimedia India in several discussions, as other participants can also
> probably attest.  Personally, I appreciate his enthusiasm and efforts
> towards keeping WMIN relevant in the broader Wikimedia movement.
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 8:52 PM Subhashish Panigrahi <
> psubhash...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Though I’m not sure if it’d be right to take names here, but this is
> probably an opportunity to discuss about:
>
>
>
> - if there is a need for consensus when a Wikimedia affiliate provides
> support to one person from another affiliate
>
> - if an affiliate provides support if they share it on wiki for
> transparency or not
>
> - Wikimania scholarship recipients generally create Learning Patterns and
> write reports. These are good practices in general but making it mandatory
> for the scholarship recipients brings out a really valuable pool of
> knowledge which otherwise might not be the case because of the
> post-Wikimania fatigue. There is a need for more clarity if non-Wikimania
> participants (individual/affiliate reps) who travel because of support from

Re: [Wikimania-l] Non-scholarship Wikimania support by Wikimedia affiliates (was earlier posted on [Wikimediaindia-l] list)

[Bodhisattwa Mandal]

Hi,

My question was not whether, the presence of Rahul was useful or not in the
Wikimania. My question was, why he was allowed to attend Wikimania
depriving other Wikimedians who were in the waiting list of scholarship
recipients in India, as the scholarship was said to be given to those who
were in the waiting list from India. Where was the documentation or
transparency? Even the WMIN EC members didn't knew about his tour. I
question about the validity of his selection over other Wikimedians from
scholarship waiting list.

Secondly, I posted the question in India mailing list, not here, because
some Indian Wikimedians are familiar with what's going on, has insight
about the matter. It would not be possible for others to understand the
scenario without knowing the perspective. So, I request to comment in India
mailing list and not here. Like other Indian Wikimedians attending the
conference, I heard many things which question if WMIN should get any
future support of volunteer community members of India or not, but that
also, I don't intend to discuss in this mailing list. I hope, someone will
definitely raise them in India mailing list soon.

So, let's start our discussion here what Subhashis wants to discuss in
general. For specific discussions related to WMIN and Rahul, the India
mailing list is open.

Thanks,
Bodhisattwa


On Wed, 1 Aug 2018, 11:28 Anirudh S. Bhati,  wrote:

> This is an issue of internal governance and management.  Rahul is a member
> of the Executive Committee of Wikimedia India which constitutes six other
> members who are collectively responsible for decision-making in the best
> interests of the organization, as well as maintaining certain standards of
> accountability and transparency.  Has there been an attempt to bring this
> to the attention of Rahul and the WMIN Executive Committee first?
>
> That being said, I recall having a very productive meeting with Rahul at
> Wikimania, who gave me a thorough appraisal of the current status of
> Wikimedia India, recognizing that I am one of the founding members.  My
> impression is that Rahul also effectively acted as the ambassador for
> Wikimedia India in several discussions, as other participants can also
> probably attest.  Personally, I appreciate his enthusiasm and efforts
> towards keeping WMIN relevant in the broader Wikimedia movement.
>
>
> On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 8:52 PM Subhashish Panigrahi <
> psubhash...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Though I’m not sure if it’d be right to take names here, but this is
>> probably an opportunity to discuss about:
>>
>> - if there is a need for consensus when a Wikimedia affiliate provides
>> support to one person from another affiliate
>> - if an affiliate provides support if they share it on wiki for
>> transparency or not
>> - Wikimania scholarship recipients generally create Learning Patterns and
>> write reports. These are good practices in general but making it mandatory
>> for the scholarship recipients brings out a really valuable pool of
>> knowledge which otherwise might not be the case because of the
>> post-Wikimania fatigue. There is a need for more clarity if non-Wikimania
>> participants (individual/affiliate reps) who travel because of support from
>> another affiliate should also produce the same
>> - If an affiliate decides to provide support, should they announce
>> publicly (on regional mailman lists and meta/village pumps) if there is any
>> conflict. If there was a rationale that the former used to identify certain
>> individuals, should they share that as well?
>>
>> I think discussing these above would be useful in general.
>>
>> Bodhi, didn’t want to steal your thunder but I think some of the general
>> points (above) can be discussed which in someway would be useful for all
>> such future supports.
>>
>> Subhashish
>>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>>
>> *From:* Bodhisattwa Mandal 
>> *Date:* July 27, 2018 at 12:32:20 PM GMT+5:30
>> *To:* wikimediaindia-l 
>> *Subject:* *[Wikimediaindia-l] Wikimania tour of Rahul Desmukh*
>> *Reply-To:* Wikimedia India Community list <
>> wikimediaindi...@lists.wikimedia.org>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> WMIN chapter president Rahul Deshmukh attended Wikimania 2018 in Cape
>> Town without being selected for any type of scholarship. My question is why
>> was he sent to the conference depriving other community members from India
>> who were in the waiting list.
>>
>> He spoke in the informal chairpersons' meetup for few minutes. The
>> meeting doesn't require president of the organization's presence, and
>> already there were 2 EC member of WMIN present, who could have attended the
>> meeting.
>>

Re: [Wikimania-l] Wikimania-l Digest, Vol 135, Issue 1

[Bodhisattwa Mandal]

I am hearing news about visa rejections from Armenia and Africa.
On Jul 2, 2017 1:02 AM,  wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
>
>1. Re: Visa rejections (Mardetanha)
>
>
> --
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2017 00:01:42 +0430
> From: Mardetanha 
> To: "Wikimania general list (open subscription)"
> 
> Cc: Daniela Gentner 
> Subject: Re: [Wikimania-l] Visa rejections
> Message-ID:
> 

[Wikimania-l] Visa rejections

[Bodhisattwa Mandal]

Hi,

The main topic of discussion among the scholarship recipients from global
south this month is the high visa rejection rate by Canadian embassies from
these countries.

This year, we had 7 scholarship recipients from Bengali community, 4 from
India and 3 from Bangladesh. Already 3 out of 4 scholarship recipients from
Indian part of the communities got their visa rejected, others are waiting.
Although I am hoping for the best for all the scholarship recipients, but
may be news of more rejections are coming soon.

Wikimania should be organised in a visa friendly country, and not in those
countries where global south citizens are not allowed to enter even for a
6-days conference. Otherwise, a global community is not truly presented.

Best wishes,
Bodhisattwa
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[Wikimania-l] Return journey

[Bodhisattwa Mandal]

Hi,

I was filling up the travel details form (
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1M5iU2fn38sLxYOlb-PkVzneZiVHc9pwbgzVxeRFCfYo/viewform
the travel details form) and got stuck in the return journey section. The
following line is written in that section of the form

 - *Return Journey; you will be departing from Milan on 27th June,
Travelling to which city/airport?*

Now, what if, someone want to travel for few days after conference or
attend for the post-conference events and return from another airport other
than Milan. It seems that there is no such option in the form to plan for
the travel. Its a bit confusing. Can someone from the scholarship team help
with this.

-- 
Bodhisattwa
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