[Wikimania-l] Re: Wikimania-l Digest, timVol 176, Issue 1

[Kerry Raymond]

I too would prefer Wikimania to be an in-person event rather an online event, 
but I agree that Wikimania 2022 needs to be online. As well as all the good 
reasons Risker mentions, there is the simple reality that even 
double-vaccinated people can both catch and transmit COVID. To come together in 
a single venue means hundreds of people on flights, passing through other 
countries on route, picking up whatever new variant might come along, and 
sharing it at Wikimania, and then carrying it home. And obtaining travel 
insurance to cover such a trip just in terms of flight cancellations, border 
rule changes, hospitalisation in a foreign country etc would be either 
impossible to obtain or extremely expensive.

 

Looking ahead to the happy year if/when COVID ceases to be an issue, I think a 
good balance might be an in-person event one year, then an online event the 
next, and repeat. Trying to combine the two would be extremely challenging 
logistically (just think about the time zones for a start), so I don’t think 
it’s worth doing. But each format has its strengths and its weaknesses, so 
alternating between the two might give the best outcome for the movement 
overall. And each event could be designed to maximise the strengths of its 
delivery format, not try to be the same thing each year delivered in a 
different format.

 

Kerry

 

From: Risker [mailto:risker...@gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, 16 December 2021 12:07 PM
To: Wikimania general list (open subscription) 
Subject: [Wikimania-l] Re: Wikimania-l Digest, Vol 176, Issue 1

 

I really look forward to being able to meet with people in person in the 
future.  I am concerned, however, that requiring "full vaccination" may 
unintentionally restrict attendance.  Huge parts of the world still do not have 
vaccine availability, and so many people aren't even able to get a first dose, 
let alone a complete series.  As well, there is a big variance between 
countries on what vaccines they consider "acceptable" in order to enter that 
country; people who are considered fully vaccinated in their home country may 
not be considered vaccinated at all by the receiving country.  In other cases, 
some countries require two vaccination doses, while others are quickly moving 
to require three.   Many countries also have requirements for rapid covid tests 
within a certain number of hours before arrival; those tests aren't free (and 
in some countries aren't even available), and that will have an effect on the 
ability to travel.  Some countries restrict visitors from other countries 
entirely.  In just the last 24 hours, my country's government has issued a 
travel advisory strongly discouraging all international travel for at least the 
next month with the exception of emergencies, and has considerably increased 
restrictions on admission to our country.  

 

We're still in the middle of a pandemic, and the ability to (a) predict what 
the situation will be many months down the line and (b) ensure that we are able 
to provide equitable opportunities for our entire global community to 
participate are big question marks right now.  Much as I want  to see more of 
my colleagues in person as soon as it's safe to do so, I don't think we're 
anywhere near that point yet.  I think planning for the next Wikimania to be 
virtual is the only sensible thing to do right now, since the planning needs to 
be done *now*.

 

Risker/Anne

 

 

 

On Wed, 15 Dec 2021 at 20:47, Betty Wills mailto:atsmethat...@gmail.com> > wrote:

It’s time to bring the live event back and restrict it to fully vaccinated 
attendees only.  Others can attend virtually.  Perhaps we should have a poll??

Happy Holidays!

Betty Wills (Atsme on Wikipedia)
atsmethat...@gmail.com  



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>   1. volunteers needed for Wikimania 2022! (phoebe ayers)
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> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2021 14:15:25 -0500
> From: phoebe ayers mailto:phoebe.w...@gmail.com> >
> Subject: [Wikimania-l] volunteers needed for Wikimania 2022!
> To: "Wikimania general list (open subscription)"
> >
> Message-ID:
> 

Re: [Wikimania-l] Wikimania 2019 Early Bird Registration is Now Open!

[Kerry Raymond]

Well, as someone who has worked at a number of universities and organised 
events at others, I am well aware that many universities are short of cash and 
expect to be paid by others to use their facilities so I would not assume that 
being “on campus” is a free or low-cost venue for Wikimania. A university *may 
*decide that an event is sufficiently in-line with their own goals that they 
may reduce/waive the cost, but holding events at  a university does incur real 
additional costs to the university, such as cleaning and security at a minimum, 
so it is not unfair to charge for their use. 

 

Kerry

 

From: Wikimania-l [mailto:wikimania-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of 
Paulo Santos Perneta
Sent: Monday, 3 June 2019 8:21 PM
To: Wikimania general list (open subscription) 
Subject: Re: [Wikimania-l] Wikimania 2019 Early Bird Registration is Now Open!

 

Sorry, in the first sentence it should read "wikimania" , not "Wikimedia" 

A segunda, 3 de jun de 2019, 11:19, Paulo Santos Perneta 
mailto:paulospern...@gmail.com> > escreveu:

For us in Portugal joining wikimedia, even in a relatively close city like 
Stockholm, without a scholarship stands at a minimum cost of 1000€, which 
really is a prohibitive cost for the great majority of people here, 
corresponding to way more than a regular full month wage (two minimum wages, 
actually).

 

25% of that cost corresponding to fees that even wikimedia volunteers have to 
pay does seem quite obscene to me.

 

If a significant amount of the cost is going to fancy luxury hotels and parties 
- those last ones barred to wikimedians below 18 years, in this years event - 
this really should be something to be reviewed. Also, I agree that it is quite 
difficult to understand such an high fee in this year wikimania, where most of 
the stuff seems to be organized on campus.

 

Paulo 

 

A segunda, 3 de jun de 2019, 00:32, Gnangarra mailto:gnanga...@gmail.com> > escreveu:

As has in previous years been suggested if we want Wikimania to be truly 
inclusive and encourage more people to attend then the WMF should just extend 
the fundraising by a week and use that to subsidise the event making it more 
accessible to everyone. 1,000 particiants at 250€ is just an extra 250,000€ to 
collect, collecting enough to allow 200 scholarships would enable greater 
participation from more communities.

 

On Mon, 3 Jun 2019 at 03:16, Mykola Kozlenko mailto:mycol...@ukr.net> > wrote:

In 2015, 2017 and 2018 we had Wikimanias in really upscale hotels. I can 
perfectly understand why renting conference rooms and arranging catering for 
all participants in a Sheraton or a Hilton is expensive. For instance, Montréal 
experience in 2017 was pretty much worse 233 USD indeed given that we were in a 
centrally-located Sheraton.

 

This year we are having a Wikimania on a university campus. Yes, Stockholm is 
an expensive city, but Montréal is not really cheap either. I can't really 
understand how a university campus in Stockholm is more than 50% more expensive 
than a Sheraton in Montréal.

 

I don't say I want these costs unbundled, I am happy to pay for the full 
experience, but with a price tag that high I would really like to know where 
all this money will go.

 

Best regards,

Mykola (NickK)

--- Оригінальне повідомлення ---
Від кого: "Isarra Yos" mailto:zhoris...@gmail.com> >
Дата: 2 червня 2019, 18:19:17

 

On 01/06/2019 19:44, effe iets anders wrote:
> You're claiming that this year is a higher rate than usual, I don't 
> think this is actually true. Some context:
> - 2016: 500 euro, but this included accommodation and full board
> - 2017: 315 CAD (~233 USD)
> - 2018: 275 USD
 
2016 is indeed when it first went up, but even then the 500€ value was 
fairly consistent with how much one could expect the whole thing to cost 
when including fairly decent food and accommodation. What was concerning 
was that then the cost stayed relatively high, without any of the 
included stuff - if the 250€ is only the registration price, there's not 
much to decouple. For instance, is there any food to not include? Lunch 
being included has pretty much always been standard, for good reason, 
and we're not doing breakfast and dinner for everyone in the first 
place, are we? (As I recall, 2015 did include dinner, though, which may 
indicate part of why it was also more expensive.) And even in terms of 
fanciness, I'm not sure how much value that has, or if they even have 
been meaningfully more so than they used to be. Comparing to the 
Wikiconference USA/NA events I attended some of the same years (I don't 
think any were over $50, definitely not more than $100), the Wikimanias 
were mostly just... bigger. Higher volume.
 
For reference, prior wikimanias cost the following for Wikimedians:
 
2015: $95
2014: £50.00
2013: $45
2012: $35
2011: $45
2010: 30-40€
2009: $45
2008: $45
2007: $40-60
2006: $90
2005 I can't find, but it was the first and thus organised a bit differently
 
So what 

Re: [Wikimania-l] Wikimania 2019 Early Bird Registration is Now Open!

[Kerry Raymond]

Indeed! It is Euro-centric thinking. If I booked a flight today to come to 
Wikimania, it would cost me AUD 2218 (USD 1539). If you look at the 
whole-of-event cost (that is, not worrying about who is paying for any 
particular component), then for an international event, the flights costs are 
the dominant cost for any destination you choose.

 

Regarding unbundling the coast, I would agree though that it should be possible 
to unbundle some of the costs. I know from running events myself that when 
using a hotel as the conference venue, that generally they want to do a package 
deal of room hire and catering. If you try to unbundle these costs to make the 
meals optional for some attendees, they will then price the separate components 
at a higher rate so that it becomes a financial disincentive to the conference 
overall to take that option. So that kind of unbundling is unlikely to work as 
it allows some people to opt-out and save money at the expense of those who 
choose to opt in (that is, it’s not neutral on other people if you opt out). 
But you can more easily make the offsite activities a separate charge as they 
are generally not bound up in the main venue deal, although again there may be 
economies of scale in the pricing for a larger number of guests or if you want 
exclusive use of the venue, you may have to commit to a certain number of 
people attending etc. So again it’s not a completely neutral matter but as the 
offsite parties are not the primary reason for attending Wikimaina, then such 
events can be more reasonably positioned as an “optional” extra without 
subsidisation from others. Also give  the wide range of people who attend 
Wikimania, I can imagine the off-site parties are not to everyone else’s taste 
in any case (as much as I enjoy a glass of alcohol, I realise that participants 
from other cultures/religions may not want to participate in a nightclub style 
party), so if we want Wikimania to be inclusive, perhaps we should make these 
events optional for that reason alone.

 

Kerry

 

From: Wikimania-l [mailto:wikimania-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of 
effe iets anders
Sent: Sunday, 2 June 2019 5:44 AM
To: Tisza Gergő 
Cc: Wikimania general list (open subscription) 
Subject: Re: [Wikimania-l] Wikimania 2019 Early Bird Registration is Now Open!

 

 

 

On Sat, Jun 1, 2019 at 5:20 AM Tisza Gergő mailto:gti...@gmail.com> > wrote:

On Sat, Jun 1, 2019 at 1:12 PM effe iets anders mailto:effeietsand...@gmail.com> > wrote:

I would even argue that for by far most people, the registration cost will not 
be the limiting factor - other components of the trip would likely be (unless 
they are local to Stockholm, maybe). The travel to Stockholm alone will 
outweigh this fee by a factor of 2, maybe 4 for most, and a week of 
accommodation with the remaining dinners will probably set you back at least 
the same amount (if you go very low budget). 

 

Those estimates are way off. Most of our volunteer base is in Europe, where 
flight costs are typically below $100; you can find accomodation in the 
immediate vicinity of the conference for $200 (and you can probably go way 
cheaper with hostels, or by being in a more distant part of the city); if you 
actually want to go very low budget and skip on restaurants / pubs / etc, food 
costs are minimal (and obviously people do need to eat outside of Stockholm as 
well, so it's not really an extra spending). So the conference fee would be 
about half of your total costs.

 

That depends what you're using as your base, of course. I'm trying to think a 
little beyond our traditional community, which is why I was talking about 
'people'. Even if we would take a highly Eurocentric approach and only think 
about Europeans without any visa requirements, living nearby airports that are 
well-connected to Stockholm (mind you, these are quite a few assumptions we're 
making), we would be talking about airfare of often more than $100, 
accommodation for $200 would still be on the low end of the spectrum (six 
nights, hostels cost $31 per night, although there are a few further away that 
cost less), you would still have to include all kinds of smaller expenses 
though (dinners that will definitely more expensive than at home. Are you 
planning to take public transportation or walk for a few hours each day? Will 
you join in evening events and buy a drink? Do you plan to get a data plan for 
your phone?) And let's not forget that you have to take a week off to be able 
to attend the conference and pre-conference. 

All in all, I am pretty confident that even for these well-connected Europeans, 
the conference fee will be a smaller part of the amount that traveling will 
cost them. Finding a cheaper hotel than the recommended hotel (at $115/night) 
would definitely do a good job at that.

 

 

There are two ways that our movement can try to address this hurdle: one way 
would be to reduce the price even further for everyone, the other 

Re: [Wikimania-l] Suggestion on details in scholarship emails

[Kerry Raymond]

Perhaps I am missing something in this conversation. The conference website 
clearly states what is funded by a scholarship (round trip travel, 
accommodation, registration):

 

https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/Scholarships#Scholarship_details

 

The accommodation and registration costs will be published on the Wikimania 
website. Divide the accommodation cost by the number sharing. A quick look at 
any online flight booking service or a visit to a local travel agent will get 
you the cost of cheapest airfares on  the relevant dates (I presume WMF uses 
the cheaper airfares). 

 

As someone who has attended Wikimania at my own expense, I have had to do those 
same calculations to see if I can afford it. It’s not that hard to.

 

Kerry

 

 

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[Wikimania-l] Cable car, Was: Raining in Cape Town

[Kerry Raymond]

Yes, the cable car is closed for annual maintenance from Mon 23 July to 5 
August, so do not delay your visit until after Wikimania.

https://www.tablemountain.net/blog/entry/cableway-announces-2018-annual-maintenance-dates

Kerry

Sent from my iPad

> On 14 Jul 2018, at 9:55 pm, Romaine Wiki  wrote:
> 
> Hi Andy,
> 
> I took the CitySightseeing tour as it took me also to other interesting 
> places I wanted to see and to have an overview of the city. It brings you 
> directly to the lower station of the cable car.
> Besides the clouded mountain I especially enjoyed the beach with rushing 
> waves.
> 
> Romaine
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2018-07-14 20:21 GMT+02:00 Andy Mabbett :
>> How did you get to Table Mountain from the city centre?
>> 
>> -- 
>> Andy Mabbett
>> @pigsonthewing
>> http://pigsonthewing.org.uk
>> 
>>> On Sat, 14 Jul 2018 18:49 Romaine Wiki,  wrote:
>>> Hi Mina,
>>> 
>>> Depends on what you plan to do. In the city it is a reasonable temperature 
>>> and a lighter jacket will do. But on top of Table Mountain it was very cold 
>>> and very windy today. 
>>> 
>>> Casual meetups certainly take place every evening at the bar of the 
>>> Southern Sun Cape Sun hotel. I can buy you a drink if you come there.
>>> 
>>> Romaine
>>> 
>>> 2018-07-14 0:09 GMT+02:00 Mina Theofilatou :
 Hello Romaine!
 
 Rain is not a problem... when there are happy faces :)
 
 I will be packing tomorrow and I was wondering whether I will be needing 
 my heavy winter jacket, or whether a lighter one will do... is it just 
 rainy, or also cold and windy?
 
 Looking forward to seeing everyone again. I will be there on the 16th 
 around noon, if there are any casual meet-ups for the evening I will be 
 happy to be there :)
 
 Best, 
 Mina (Greece)
 
> On Fri, 13 Jul 2018, 23:24 Romaine Wiki,  wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> An hour ago I arrived in Cape Town, in the rain!
> People with happy faces in the rain.
> 
> Even while it is dark here, the Table Mountain in full dark is extremely 
> beautiful thanks to the clouds behind it.
> 
> The staff of the hotel is exited for all you to come next week!
> 
> Welcome all to South Africa!
> 
> Greetings,
> 
> Romaine
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Re: [Wikimania-l] Raining in Cape Town

[Kerry Raymond]

Here are the options 

https://www.tablemountain.net/content/page/getting-here

Sent from my iPad

> On 14 Jul 2018, at 8:21 pm, Andy Mabbett  wrote:
> 
> How did you get to Table Mountain from the city centre?
> 
> -- 
> Andy Mabbett
> @pigsonthewing
> http://pigsonthewing.org.uk
> 
>> On Sat, 14 Jul 2018 18:49 Romaine Wiki,  wrote:
>> Hi Mina,
>> 
>> Depends on what you plan to do. In the city it is a reasonable temperature 
>> and a lighter jacket will do. But on top of Table Mountain it was very cold 
>> and very windy today. 
>> 
>> Casual meetups certainly take place every evening at the bar of the Southern 
>> Sun Cape Sun hotel. I can buy you a drink if you come there.
>> 
>> Romaine
>> 
>> 2018-07-14 0:09 GMT+02:00 Mina Theofilatou :
>>> Hello Romaine!
>>> 
>>> Rain is not a problem... when there are happy faces :)
>>> 
>>> I will be packing tomorrow and I was wondering whether I will be needing my 
>>> heavy winter jacket, or whether a lighter one will do... is it just rainy, 
>>> or also cold and windy?
>>> 
>>> Looking forward to seeing everyone again. I will be there on the 16th 
>>> around noon, if there are any casual meet-ups for the evening I will be 
>>> happy to be there :)
>>> 
>>> Best, 
>>> Mina (Greece)
>>> 
 On Fri, 13 Jul 2018, 23:24 Romaine Wiki,  wrote:
 Hi all,
 
 An hour ago I arrived in Cape Town, in the rain!
 People with happy faces in the rain.
 
 Even while it is dark here, the Table Mountain in full dark is extremely 
 beautiful thanks to the clouds behind it.
 
 The staff of the hotel is exited for all you to come next week!
 
 Welcome all to South Africa!
 
 Greetings,
 
 Romaine
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[Wikimania-l] Lack of clarity around the arrangements for "Decolonizing the Internet conference"

[Kerry Raymond]

 

On 26 May, information was added to the conference website 

 

https://wikimania2018.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania

 

about a pre-event (18-19 July) called "Decolonizing the Internet
conference". The link provided 

 

https://whoseknowledge.org/decolonizing-the-internet-conference/

 

talks about being co-located with Wikimania, but provides no clarity to what
this means, saying nothing about a specific venue other than being "in Cape
Town". Nor does this link provide any information about how to register, the
costs, times of day, what the program is and whether there is any way you
can submit a request for a presentation at the conference. But being on the
Wikimania home page as part of the pre-conference program, I figured that I
needed to go to the Wikimania's Eventbrite page at least to register and
pay, but when I went there to register for the event, but found there was no
mention of it at all. My first thought is that the Eventbrite site had not
been updated yet to reflect this pre-event, so I have been checking back
every day or so, but still no sign of it. In the meantime, we have now
passed the deadline for Early Bird Registration (4 June) for these
pre-conference events, so if it is to be booked via Wikimania's Eventbrite
arrangements, the cost to attend just increased by an extra USD 50 through
failure to update the Eventbrite page in a timely way. And I presume many of
us have booked flights and hotel arrangements at our own expense and may
have difficulty (or increased costs) involved in changing these to
accommodate pre-conference events announced in such a last minute way with
so little detail.

 

Can anyone clarify if this "Decolonizing the Internet conference" is
actually being held as part of the Wikimania pre-conference at the same
hotel as Wikimania? How do we register for it? Can we propose a talk etc?
And if it is a part of the official Wikimania pre-conference, can we still
register at the cheaper Early Bird rate once it is added to the Eventbrite
site?

 

Thanks

 

Kerry

 

 

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Re: [Wikimania-l] Mini edit-a-thon and Wikidata matching at Wikimania

[Kerry Raymond]

I am at the hostess station at level B. They will not let me go any further. 
Can you come to me please.

Thanks

Kerry

Sent from my iPad

> On 11 Aug 2017, at 7:36 am, Lodewijk <lodew...@effeietsanders.org> wrote:
> 
> Hey Kerry,
> 
> would be great! I'm headed down for breakfast in a few minutes, hopefully we 
> can meet there? :)
> 
> Lodewijk
> 
>> On Thu, Aug 10, 2017 at 8:57 PM, Kerry Raymond <kerry.raym...@gmail.com> 
>> wrote:
>> When?
>> 
>> Sent from my iPad
>> 
>>> On 10 Aug 2017, at 10:52 am, André Costa <andre.co...@wikimedia.se> wrote:
>>> 
>>> For any of you who are attending Wikimania this year and already here on 
>>> Thursday please consider joining us for our mini cultural heritage 
>>> edit-a-thon and Wikidata matching workshop!
>>> 
>>> With your help we aim to do two things:
>>> (1) improve the amount of cultural heritage sites we can add to Wikidata by 
>>> mapping existing Wiki Loves Monuments data and
>>> (2) enrich articles with images that have been uploaded as part of the 
>>> Connected Open Heritage project.
>>> 
>>> If you are wanting your countries WLM lists to be migrated to Wikidata then 
>>> show up and help us make that possible!
>>> 
>>> When: Aug 10 from 12:00-16:00
>>> Where: Level 7, Room 720
>>> 
>>> You can sign up at 
>>> https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mini_cultural_heritage_edit-a-thon_and_Wikidata_matching_workshop
>>> 
>>> 
>>> André Costa | Senior Developer, Wikimedia Sverige | 
>>> andre.co...@wikimedia.se | +46 (0)733-964574 
>>> 
>>> Stöd fri kunskap, bli medlem i Wikimedia Sverige.
>>> Läs mer på blimedlem.wikimedia.se
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Re: [Wikimania-l] Mini edit-a-thon and Wikidata matching at Wikimania

[Kerry Raymond]

I am on level 4 now. 

Sent from my iPad

> On 11 Aug 2017, at 7:36 am, Lodewijk <lodew...@effeietsanders.org> wrote:
> 
> Hey Kerry,
> 
> would be great! I'm headed down for breakfast in a few minutes, hopefully we 
> can meet there? :)
> 
> Lodewijk
> 
>> On Thu, Aug 10, 2017 at 8:57 PM, Kerry Raymond <kerry.raym...@gmail.com> 
>> wrote:
>> When?
>> 
>> Sent from my iPad
>> 
>>> On 10 Aug 2017, at 10:52 am, André Costa <andre.co...@wikimedia.se> wrote:
>>> 
>>> For any of you who are attending Wikimania this year and already here on 
>>> Thursday please consider joining us for our mini cultural heritage 
>>> edit-a-thon and Wikidata matching workshop!
>>> 
>>> With your help we aim to do two things:
>>> (1) improve the amount of cultural heritage sites we can add to Wikidata by 
>>> mapping existing Wiki Loves Monuments data and
>>> (2) enrich articles with images that have been uploaded as part of the 
>>> Connected Open Heritage project.
>>> 
>>> If you are wanting your countries WLM lists to be migrated to Wikidata then 
>>> show up and help us make that possible!
>>> 
>>> When: Aug 10 from 12:00-16:00
>>> Where: Level 7, Room 720
>>> 
>>> You can sign up at 
>>> https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mini_cultural_heritage_edit-a-thon_and_Wikidata_matching_workshop
>>> 
>>> 
>>> André Costa | Senior Developer, Wikimedia Sverige | 
>>> andre.co...@wikimedia.se | +46 (0)733-964574 
>>> 
>>> Stöd fri kunskap, bli medlem i Wikimedia Sverige.
>>> Läs mer på blimedlem.wikimedia.se
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>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>> 
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Re: [Wikimania-l] Mini edit-a-thon and Wikidata matching at Wikimania

[Kerry Raymond]

Where is "breakfast"? I am not staying at the hotel.

Sent from my iPad

> On 11 Aug 2017, at 7:36 am, Lodewijk <lodew...@effeietsanders.org> wrote:
> 
> Hey Kerry,
> 
> would be great! I'm headed down for breakfast in a few minutes, hopefully we 
> can meet there? :)
> 
> Lodewijk
> 
>> On Thu, Aug 10, 2017 at 8:57 PM, Kerry Raymond <kerry.raym...@gmail.com> 
>> wrote:
>> When?
>> 
>> Sent from my iPad
>> 
>>> On 10 Aug 2017, at 10:52 am, André Costa <andre.co...@wikimedia.se> wrote:
>>> 
>>> For any of you who are attending Wikimania this year and already here on 
>>> Thursday please consider joining us for our mini cultural heritage 
>>> edit-a-thon and Wikidata matching workshop!
>>> 
>>> With your help we aim to do two things:
>>> (1) improve the amount of cultural heritage sites we can add to Wikidata by 
>>> mapping existing Wiki Loves Monuments data and
>>> (2) enrich articles with images that have been uploaded as part of the 
>>> Connected Open Heritage project.
>>> 
>>> If you are wanting your countries WLM lists to be migrated to Wikidata then 
>>> show up and help us make that possible!
>>> 
>>> When: Aug 10 from 12:00-16:00
>>> Where: Level 7, Room 720
>>> 
>>> You can sign up at 
>>> https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mini_cultural_heritage_edit-a-thon_and_Wikidata_matching_workshop
>>> 
>>> 
>>> André Costa | Senior Developer, Wikimedia Sverige | 
>>> andre.co...@wikimedia.se | +46 (0)733-964574 
>>> 
>>> Stöd fri kunskap, bli medlem i Wikimedia Sverige.
>>> Läs mer på blimedlem.wikimedia.se
>>> ___
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>> 
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> 
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Re: [Wikimania-l] Mini edit-a-thon and Wikidata matching at Wikimania

[Kerry Raymond]

When?

Sent from my iPad

> On 10 Aug 2017, at 10:52 am, André Costa  wrote:
> 
> For any of you who are attending Wikimania this year and already here on 
> Thursday please consider joining us for our mini cultural heritage 
> edit-a-thon and Wikidata matching workshop!
> 
> With your help we aim to do two things:
> (1) improve the amount of cultural heritage sites we can add to Wikidata by 
> mapping existing Wiki Loves Monuments data and
> (2) enrich articles with images that have been uploaded as part of the 
> Connected Open Heritage project.
> 
> If you are wanting your countries WLM lists to be migrated to Wikidata then 
> show up and help us make that possible!
> 
> When: Aug 10 from 12:00-16:00
> Where: Level 7, Room 720
> 
> You can sign up at 
> https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mini_cultural_heritage_edit-a-thon_and_Wikidata_matching_workshop
> 
> 
> André Costa | Senior Developer, Wikimedia Sverige | andre.co...@wikimedia.se 
> | +46 (0)733-964574 
> 
> Stöd fri kunskap, bli medlem i Wikimedia Sverige.
> Läs mer på blimedlem.wikimedia.se
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Re: [Wikimania-l] Sim card in Canada

[Kerry Raymond]

FWIW, I used GigSky last year when travelling for about 5 weeks in Canada and 
USA. They seemed to offer better deals that some of the traditional telcos did 
and I found their speed and coverage quite satisfactory. I am planning to use 
GigSky again on this visit. Of course you get a better deal for a week/month 
than you do for a day. So if you are a big data user looking for a few days of 
coverage, you will find the week/month deal better than multiple daily deals.

 

Note I did not have to purchase a separate SIM card as I have one of those 
embedded SIMs in an iPad Pro that can have a data plan downloaded onto it (so I 
could buy my data from anywhere with a wifi signal, a most convenient 
arrangement rather than running around looking for a shop). For a traveller, 
this is a very convenient arrangement and yet many people (even Apple fanatics) 
seem unaware of it. If you are an Apple user, you may want to read more here:

 

https://www.apple.com/au/ipad/apple-sim/

 

Kerry

 

 

From: Wikimania-l [mailto:wikimania-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of 
Zhou Zhou
Sent: Wednesday, 26 July 2017 9:54 AM
To: Wikimania general list (open subscription) 
Subject: Re: [Wikimania-l] Sim card in Canada

 

Here's an informative site that I have used before with various options:

 

  
http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Canada

 

Zhou

 

On Tue, Jul 25, 2017 at 4:49 PM, risker.wp  > wrote:

Oops, I should specify 5 dollars per day.

 

Risker/Anne 

 

 Original message 

From: "risker.wp"  > 

Date: 2017-07-25 7:47 PM (GMT-05:00) 

To: "Wikimania general list (open subscription)" 
 > 

Subject: Re: [Wikimania-l] Sim card in Canada 

 

While I don't have a specific suggestion, because availability varies from 
province to province, I will warn you that any option that includes data is 
quite expensive in Canada. In some cases, it may be more cost effective to buy 
your home provider's traveling plan. If your home provider's plan costs less 
than the equivalent of 5 Canadian dollars, you are getting a good deal.

 

Risker/Anne

 

 Original message 

From: Mardetanha  
> 

Date: 2017-07-25 5:48 PM (GMT-05:00) 

To: "Wikimania general list (open subscription)" 
 > 

Subject: [Wikimania-l] Sim card in Canada 

 

Dear fellow wikimedian specially those who reside in canada, could please let 
me/us know what is cheapest sim card availabe there with data package in Canada?

Thanks

-- 

Sent from iphone using Gmail mobile


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-- 

 

Zhou Zhou
Legal Counsel
Wikimedia Foundation
149 New Montgomery Street, 6th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105

zz...@wikimedia.org  

 

NOTICE: This message might have confidential or legally privileged information 
in it. If you have received this message by accident, please delete it and let 
us know about the mistake. As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for 
legal/ethical reasons I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, 
community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. For 
more on what this means, please see our  
 legal disclaimer.

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Re: [Wikimania-l] Visa rejections

[Kerry Raymond]

So an organisation P in country Q writes a letter of support to country R to 
grant a visa to person S from country T on the basis that organization P thinks 
that person S is actually the pseudonymous user U?

I am not surprised immigration officials don't find this an entirely compelling 
reason to grant a visa. WMF is not a Canadian organization, and it is not clear 
to me that WMF is actually in a position to confirm the real life identity of 
the user they want to attend in any case.

Kerry 

Sent from my iPad

> On 24 Jun 2017, at 12:19 am, Jean-Philippe Béland  
> wrote:
> 
> As per WMF directions, Wikimedia Canada was not involved in anything in 
> relations to visas. The WMF is taking care of that themselves. They did not 
> ask us to write anything to embassies.
> 
> I am sorry that Canada has strict rules on visa requirements for a lot of 
> countries.
> 
> Jean-Philippe Béland
> Vice President, Wikimedia Canada
> User:Amqui
> 
> 
>> On Thu, Jun 22, 2017 at 11:03 PM, Ranjith S  wrote:
>> My visa is also got rejected. So I am not coming to Canada this year. I 
>> think Canada is a bad place for Wikimania due to their strict rules. And 
>> thinking that is not a tourist friendly country. 
>> 
>>> On 23-Jun-2017 12:52 AM, "Jayanta Nath"  wrote:
>>> I think Wikimedia Canada not send any intimation to their Embassy of 
>>> respective countries. 
>>> 
>>> Jayanta Nath
>>> 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> Jean-Philippe Béland
> 
>   Vice-président — Wikimédia Canada, chapitre national soutenant Wikipédia
> Vice president — Wikimedia Canada, national chapter supporting Wikipedia
> 535 avenue Viger Est, Montréal (Québec)  H2L 2P3,jpbel...@wikimedia.ca
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Re: [Wikimania-l] Granting Scholarship to same persons every year

[Kerry Raymond]

This observation has been made by a few people (some of them involved in the 
scholarship decision-making process) is that past recipients often continue to 
out-perform others in terms of the criteria in subsequent years. What hasn’t 
been commented on is why this is so?

 

If we believe that an attendee to Wikimania benefits in terms of learning new 
skills, hearing new ideas, making new contacts, then we should hardly be 
surprised if an attendee is then in a position to “grow” as a Wikimedian and 
hence be more able to “out-compete” others who didn’t have the benefit of 
attending. (And If we don’t believe that attendees benefit or grow from 
Wikimania attendance, then we should stop running Wikimania). Also the 
scholarship recipient has an expectation to share with their community what 
they have learned, even that process of sharing adds to their list of 
activities that they can use as evidence as subsequent scholarship applications.

 

Aside. If you have read the book Freakonomics or followed their blog, you will 
be aware 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freakonomics

 

of their study of how professional footballers tend to have their birthdays 
clustered in a few months of the year and how this phenomenon has its roots in 
spotting football talent in very young players and then training them. Because 
junior sport is usually based around age limits with a specific cut-off day, 
the children who just exceed the age limit by a month or two will usually be 
less physically developed than those who exceed the age limit by 10 or 11 
months. Thus, the older children in the cohort are more likely to be selected 
for the team and receive coaching. Next year (still with a relative age 
developmental advantage AND with one year of extra coaching) these older 
children in the cohort are again appear the most able and again selected for 
the team (giving them yet another year of coaching benefit over those not 
selected). This cycle repeats throughout their childhood ensuring the older 
ones within the “age year” are disproportionate represented in both junior 
sport and then into college and professional sport, giving rise to the observed 
clustering of birthdays in professional footballers.

 

This is exactly the same phenomenon as we are seeing with Wikimania 
scholarships.

 

How can the playing field of Wikimania scholarships be made a little fairer? I 
don’t think the answer lies in deducting some points from those who have had a 
scholarship before. I think the solution lies in having two streams of 
scholarships, one for the first timers who compete among themselves on criteria 
that assesses their *potential* to “grow” through the Wikimania experience and 
a second set of scholarships for those who are applying to come for a 
second/third/… time with criteria more appropriate  to that group, how much did 
they “grow” and how much did they “share” relative to the number of Wikimania 
opportunities they have had (note one might also want to include attendance at 
Wikimedia Conference and other similar movement events in this regard)?

 

Note in both streams it is still possible to include factors like the Global 
North/South issue, minority groups, etc in the criteria as consistent with the 
movement’s strategic goals. The key difference is whether you are assessing 
only potential for growth from attending for the first-timers as opposed to 
observed growth from past attending and likely potential for further growth 
from additional attendance for the repeaters.

 

If that approach is taken, then the only question that remains is the relative 
number of scholarships (or amount of funds) available in each of the two 
streams. Obviously there’s a range of possibilities, but I would be tempted to 
operate on a simple pro-rata principle at least in the first year of operation. 
After the weeding out of the ineligible or people who show poorly against the 
criteria (however many phases there are to do that), look at the size of the 
two remaining groups and go pro-rata. That is, if after the preliminary 
cull(s), there are 200 potential first-timers and 100 potential repeaters, then 
allocated twice as many scholarship (or twice as much funding) to the 
first-time group as to the repeater group. If that does not seem to produce a 
good mix of attendees, then tweak it whichever way seems appropriate the next 
year.

 

My key point is to stop comparing a basket of mixed apples and oranges and 
start comparing apples with apples and oranges with oranges. That should give 
you mix of  the best apples and the best oranges.

 

Kerry

 

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Re: [Wikimania-l] Video recording of Wikimania sessions

[Kerry Raymond]

Now that’s a good idea!

 

The possible problem is that the criteria for awarding scholarships does not 
necessarily mean any particular competency in video recording (I’m guessing 
journalism students might be a bit more capable in this area) but it’s worth a 
try.

 

And why limit it to scholarship holders? Why not extend it to anyone attending 
on donor money including WMF staff? With that total number of people, then the 
obligation on any individual isn’t large (doesn’t overly interfere with their 
ability to attend the sessions they want) and the risk of failure of an 
individual to do it well enough doesn’t expose the exercise as a whole to too 
much risk.

 

Kerry

 

From: wikimania-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org 
[mailto:wikimania-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Lih
Sent: Thursday, 6 August 2015 3:33 AM
To: Wikimania general list (open subscription) wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: Re: [Wikimania-l] Video recording of Wikimania sessions

 

I think a good use of our scholarship money would be to ask for service 
obligations, such as being part of the video recording crew.

 

I've been part of professional journalism organizations and this is done 
annually with great results -- we call it the student newsroom. Applicants 
who are accepted get a full scholarship to attend, have a well-defined set of 
service obligations around reporting on the conference, and the benefit is that 
they get to see other sessions and rub shoulders with people they would have 
otherwise never get to meet.

 

-Andrew

 




-Andrew Lih
Associate professor of journalism, American University
Email: and...@andrewlih.com mailto:and...@andrewlih.com 
WEB: http://www.andrewlih.com
BOOK: The Wikipedia Revolution: http://www.wikipediarevolution.com 
http://www.wikipediarevolution.com 
PROJECT: Wiki Makes Video 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Wiki_Makes_Video

 

On Mon, Aug 3, 2015 at 11:59 AM, WereSpielChequers werespielchequ...@gmail.com 
mailto:werespielchequ...@gmail.com  wrote:

I suspect if we put out a call in advance we would be able to get a lot of the 
equipment we need. I would have brought a tripod for this wikimania if I'd 
known in advance it was needed  (not so likely to be possible next year as I 
may need to bring a tent and sleeping bag). 

 

 

On 3 August 2015 at 19:40, Ellie Young eyo...@wikimedia.org 
mailto:eyo...@wikimedia.org  wrote:

There will be videos of the featured speakers, some of the hackathon, and a 
documentary available soon.   People involved in this will presumably be 
posting when these are available and up on Commons, etc.

 

I think in the future we might want to consider having cameras/tripods and 
especially good audio recording in each of the session rooms.  (I think that 
might be something WMF could provide equipment and make sure A-V service has 
good audio especially.)   We could then ask for volunteers on site to handle 
logistics/recordings.   This wouldn’t involve a lot of editing or 
post-production work/expense…  as long as people know that it would be pretty 
“basic”, but making sure we have good audio especially.   

 

I wil ask the upcoming Wikimania organizing team what they think of this idea 
and perhaps they will come up with a plan and/or put out a call for 
partcipation to make this happen next year?

 

Ellie

WMF Conference Coordinator

 

On Aug 3, 2015, at 11:30 AM, Joseph Fox josephfoxw...@gmail.com 
mailto:josephfoxw...@gmail.com  wrote:

 

I believe at least one press outlet was recording some talks, presumably to 
serve as b-roll. Perhaps what you saw was one of those?

 

Joe

 

On Mon, 3 Aug 2015 at 19:21 とある白い猫 to.aru.shiroi.n...@gmail.com 
mailto:to.aru.shiroi.n...@gmail.com  wrote:

Andrew++

I find it odd that we are willing to have a huge budget for Wikimania and none 
for recording videos of talks for non-attendees to view. I think we owe it to 
them. It can be crowdfunded if need be. 

An interesting idea perhaps is to group video if we have a reliable way to 
crowd source this.

I did notice a video cam recording the talk after mine. I am unsure if mine was 
recorded as well. Does anyone know who was operating the tripod camera? I seen 
it in other talks too.




  -- とある白い猫  (To Aru Shiroi Neko)

 

On 18 July 2015 at 23:17, Asaf Bartov abar...@wikimedia.org 
mailto:abar...@wikimedia.org  wrote:

Andrew++.

   A.

 

On Sat, Jul 18, 2015 at 9:52 AM, Andrew Lih and...@andrewlih.com 
mailto:and...@andrewlih.com  wrote:

I'm trying to guerrilla video record as many Wikimania sessions that I can 
attend, so I cannot respond at length.

 

But I do want to say: the cost/benefit analysis needs to consider the quality 
of the viewers and not just the quantity. 

 

When a Wikipedian in Residence can show their institution the video of their 
Wikimania presentation as evidence of impact and engagement, it can lead to 
renewal of their positions and more initiatives.

 

When the video of a 

Re: [Wikimania-l] Video recording of Wikimania sessions

[Kerry Raymond]

As someone who has never attended a Wikimania but would like to, I don’t think 
videos are the solution. As someone who has organised conferences and had this 
issue of videoing come up, again I don’t think videos are the solution.

 

Folks who can’t attend events for whatever reason do ask for videos (I’ve done 
it too!). However, I would suggest looking hard at the stats on how often 
videos are viewed (and if there is a way to know if they are viewed all the way 
through or not). I know that I might look at videos of a couple of keynotes and 
maybe some talk that someone really recommends to me knowing my interest, but I 
would be genuinely unlikely to look at a whole lot of them. When people say “I 
wish I could go to Wikimania”, I don’t think they are saying “I wish I could 
listen to those talks”.  Conferences are much more about the opportunity to 
interact, including the opportunity to interact in relation to the talks. Also, 
when you go to a conference, you are committed to setting aside those days of 
your life to focussing on the conference (well, that used to be the case, now 
with mobile devices and wifi, everyone sits in conferences reading their email, 
checking FaceBook, and keeping on top of their job back home, and generally 
misses hearing the talks even though they are in the same room!). If you aren’t 
going to the conference, you don’t have the big block of time in your life set 
aside to watch all the videos. Also a conference generates its own excitement, 
you’re there and your endorphins are working overtime. With watching videos 
after the event, you don’t have that buzz. When I watch videos, I know I often 
give them my attention for a couple of minutes, then have them going while I 
read email or whatever – the video finishes and I haven’t heard it as my mind 
has been elsewhere.

 

And, no matter what people say, there is a lot of work involved in creating 
videos both during the event and in postprocessing after the event. People say 
“quality doesn’t matter” in advance but then  people complain afterwards if the 
quality isn’t perfect (can’t see the speaker clearly, can’t hear the speaker 
clearly, can’t see the slide projection). Again people say this can be done 
with volunteers, but actually your volunteers are wanting to engage with the 
conference, not spend the whole conference messing around with video equipment. 
And if the videos are not captured well in the first place, it’s hard to fix 
those problems after the event.

 

Also video postprocessing is mostly done after the event (it’s too busy during 
the event). What people (who don’t organise conferences) don’t seem to 
understand is that for organisers, the end of the conference means a return to 
their normal activities. For months, they’ve been putting off their boss, 
colleagues, family and friends with “please, can this wait until after the 
conference”. Of course, there are post-conference actions that have to be done 
(payments and accounts finalised, thank you letters written, reports written, 
etc) but, as far as your boss/colleagues/family/friends are concerned, the 
conference is OVER – you have no favours left, you have to make it up to them. 
It’s hard enough to fit in the minimum post-conference actions that you have to 
do, let alone extra things like high quality videos. And  the adrenaline that 
allowed you and your volunteers to get everything done before and during the 
conference has now deserted you; you’ve run your race and have nothing left in 
your tank.

 

So videoing and postprocessing often ends up being done by professionals, 
meaning a lot of money spent. It’s so easy to say “use volunteers” but the 
thing about volunteers is that they do the things they want when they feel like 
doing them to the extent of their ability. And doing them in the middle of the 
conference and after the conference is not a great time for that (they want to 
engage with the conference and they need to return to their normal duties after 
the event too). And you might have the volunteers but who just don’t have that 
skill set. Also unless you get those videos out quickly, nobody will watch them 
– the momentum is lost.

 

In summary, I think it is much cheaper and easier to collect presentation 
slides or speaker notes or whatever other material the presenter has and make 
them available as a way to get conference content to non-attendees and this 
should be the preferred strategy for the bulk of presentations. Videos should 
be limited to keynotes or talks expected to be of particular interest. Stats on 
viewing and perhaps surveying on how much of the videos are being viewed should 
be collected to see how much the videos are actually used. And look at using 
professionals to do the video work, unless you really do have suitably skilled 
volunteers available (and not committed to other tasks), if you want the videos 
to be of good quality and be available quickly.

 

Kerry

 

 

From: 

Re: [Wikimania-l] Fwd: Wikimania Scholarship

[Kerry Raymond]

I think you put your finger on a key point here. We have a large community of 
“totally deserving people” but mostly get little/no recognition of their 
contribution.

 

Most organisations that rely on volunteers have a range of ways to recognising 
their efforts. In the world of WMF, other editors can give you a “thanks” or a 
barnstar/Wikilove but WMF itself does not seem to do much to recognise 
volunteers.  So when “totally deserving” people apply for a Wikimania 
scholarship, of course people are going to see this as a chance to  be 
recognised by WMF for their contributions. As most of the “totally deserving” 
will be unsuccessful in gaining a Wikimania scholarship, of course they are 
going to  feel it as “demotivating”, “unfair” and “likely to reduce their 
contributions” as the surveying suggests. Sure there’s disappointment at not 
going to Wikimania, but I suspect the bigger issue is that the apparent lack of 
recognition of their contribution that comes as part and parcel of it. And a 
standard rejection letter that says “We appreciate your contribution, but alas 
there aren’t enough scholarships” fall a little short on the “recognition” 
front!

 

Perhaps if the WMF looked at ways of recognising the “totally deserving” 
volunteers in other ways, then the Wikimania scholarships would not become as 
big an issue. One example might be cheaper scholarships to attend a national 
event (which also avoids visa issues) or funding towards hosting a local event 
within their community at which their contribution can be recognised among 
their peers. Announcing an award to them in their local media might be 
something people might value. Others might like a trophy for their mantelpiece 
suitably inscribed. I am sure others can think of more ideas and I note that we 
may need different ideas for different communities as what people value is 
different. For example,  although the merchandise giveaway is well-intended,

 

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Merchandise_giveaways/Nominations

 

has anyone considered if short-sleeved thin T-shirts are something everyone in 
the world sees as a recognition? What about the countries were the arms are 
kept covered for modesty or sun exposure? What about the countries where 
T-shirts are seen as a “low status clothes”?

 

I also note that a return to partial scholarships would mean more people were 
recognised wrt to Wikimania. The comment that the administration of partial 
scholarships was too much work for WMF staff sends an unpleasant signal about 
how WMF values its staff time relative to the time spent by “totally deserving” 
volunteers. 

 

In summary, I think WMF has a problem with its “totally deserving” volunteers 
feeling unappreciated which is much larger than Wikimania. Given the cost and 
effort of running annual Wikimanias for a relatively small number of people, 
perhaps they should be less frequent with other kinds of events and forms of 
recognition using the equivalent cost and effort in between in order to spread 
the “wikilove” a bit more widely?

 

Kerry

 

 

From: wikimania-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org 
[mailto:wikimania-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Osmar Valdebenito
Sent: Friday, 31 July 2015 11:24 PM
To: Wikimania general list (open subscription) wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: Re: [Wikimania-l] Fwd: Wikimania Scholarship

 

The problem is myths and rumours will arise always in a process that is not 
(and should not) be objective. We can't just give some 

It is a subjective process where you evaluate so many people, with different 
backgrounds and different contributions. What is more important? Founding a 
chapter or making 100,000 edits on English Wikipedia? 5,000 edits on a smaller 
Wikipedia or 10,000 images on Wikimedia Commons? How do we make also possible 
to bring people outside our movement or with very few edits, but that are great 
promoting free knowledge? And how do we ensure gender balance? Do we prioritize 
new attendents than can bring new ideas to our movement or do we support 
experienced members that have a proven record of great presentations and 
activities?

When you have a very limited number of scholarships and a lot of great 
applicants, every time you make a decision to give a scholarship to someone, 
you are taking it from someone else. And usually, that other person totally 
deserve it. So, even though the committees have tried to have a balance of all 
these factors, someone will complain and consider it not fair. General numbers 
will help to reduce these rumours, but they will always come up again.
 

 

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