Re: [Wikimania-l] UK budget plan for 2014 Wikimania bid
I am surprised at the reaction here. Is it so necessary for UK to have a bid or a winning bid at that, that you are willing to break convention, and spend this huge amount on a paid bid. This is unfair. I don't know the history about the bidding process, but bids that I saw were written by volunteers, some with or without a chapters support, or even knowledge in some cases. What about competing bids, since they can't afford to hire a team to just make a bid that won't be on equal footing, should they just not bother? or ask for the same grant? What if the UK still loses the bid? that would be donor money down the drain. If WMUK members personally finance this, it is one thing, but using this much money raised in the name of Wikipedia, to finance a bid for a single chapter to host the annual volunteer-run conference, seems very irresponsible, and antithetical to the entire spirit of a volunteer-run event. Regards Theo On Sun, Aug 26, 2012 at 1:12 AM, Thomas Dalton thomas.dal...@gmail.comwrote: On 25 August 2012 20:28, Itzik Edri it...@infra.co.il wrote: Sorry, it's undiplomatic to interfere with others budget plans - but I just can't ignore how the future of Wikimania will look like if others will follow UK plans to invest £40,000 only for the bid process (about 62,000$). To be clear, that plan is still in draft, and that particular item has received plenty of opposition. I am in favour of spending money on bids - it is necessary if we want to get professional quality bids. I am not in favour of spending that kind of money on bids, though. ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
Re: [Wikimania-l] UK budget plan for 2014 Wikimania bid
On Sun, Aug 26, 2012 at 1:43 AM, Joseph Fox josephfoxw...@gmail.com wrote: Would would money even buy at the bidding stage? Absolutely nothing, unless you count the venue? When did the DC team book their venue? How much was it? (Guessing they got it for nothing, but probably wrong) I'm not sure I follow, but, your assumption here is that the amount would pay for the venue, even before it is decided which city would host the conference? Again, wouldn't every bidding city needed to be afforded the same privilege? or is there actually a reason why the UK bid would be special? Do I really need to point to Meta and every past wikimania budget, which hardly ever required an upfront amount for the venue, even before a venue was decided, or a bid was considered. Regards Theo Joe On 25 August 2012 21:10, Theo10011 de10...@gmail.com wrote: I am surprised at the reaction here. Is it so necessary for UK to have a bid or a winning bid at that, that you are willing to break convention, and spend this huge amount on a paid bid. This is unfair. I don't know the history about the bidding process, but bids that I saw were written by volunteers, some with or without a chapters support, or even knowledge in some cases. What about competing bids, since they can't afford to hire a team to just make a bid that won't be on equal footing, should they just not bother? or ask for the same grant? What if the UK still loses the bid? that would be donor money down the drain. If WMUK members personally finance this, it is one thing, but using this much money raised in the name of Wikipedia, to finance a bid for a single chapter to host the annual volunteer-run conference, seems very irresponsible, and antithetical to the entire spirit of a volunteer-run event. Regards Theo On Sun, Aug 26, 2012 at 1:12 AM, Thomas Dalton thomas.dal...@gmail.comwrote: On 25 August 2012 20:28, Itzik Edri it...@infra.co.il wrote: Sorry, it's undiplomatic to interfere with others budget plans - but I just can't ignore how the future of Wikimania will look like if others will follow UK plans to invest £40,000 only for the bid process (about 62,000$). To be clear, that plan is still in draft, and that particular item has received plenty of opposition. I am in favour of spending money on bids - it is necessary if we want to get professional quality bids. I am not in favour of spending that kind of money on bids, though. ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
Re: [Wikimania-l] visa denied ... what to do?
On Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 4:16 PM, Richard Symonds richard.symo...@wikimedia.org.uk wrote: I suspect that there may be pushback from the community about it being taken over by the WMF, if it were run by staff. There's also the issue with other countries - if we hold Wikimania in London, the WMF would not really be able to help, as they'd have no contacts and would be running the whole event at a year's notice, which isn't very long at all in conference terms. The UK chapter has an events organiser who handled all our scholarships this year. People had their hotels, hostels, and flights booked for them, and she sent out the details to everyone. Having a WMF person in charge of some of the process would be very useful, but having the WMF run the entire event may not be an ideal solution. Personally, I'd like to see a core WMF events team who help all major events (Wikimania-sized), but liaise with volunteers on them. Very difficult to do in practice, but better than the current system of unsupported volunteers running a conference. James Hare is doing a wonderful job, but running a conference AND being a student is a very, very difficult thing to do, and I fear we'll start to burn out valuable volunteers if we're not careful - or adversely impact their studies. I'd also like to see Wikimania moved to a two-year-in-advance system, rather than a one-year-in-advance as we have now. One year is *not *enough time to plan a conference. I never suggested a take-over. The problem is majority of the framework, or lack thereof, has remained the same years after the first Wikimania. Every year someone from the community, most commonly James, takes a lead to announce a jury, and wikipedians with no experience organizing international events, bid, the jury picks and they are on their own from that point onward. Every year, there are more or less the same problems with visas, accommodations. And every year a discussion ensues after the event with the suggestion of adding a gap year or de-emphasizing Wikimania for local event. I don't think a two-year-in-advance system will change anything, as long as its the same embassies, the same visas, and the same issues. One year is plenty of time, most countries don't permit visa application more than 3 months before the departure date, many venues don't allow booking 2 year in advance, same for caterers and hotels. Whatever quote you receive that far in advance is likely to change months before the actual event. In the mean time, Wikimanias have become larger and larger with more people from more countries attending. There are issues that need professional help at this point, even partly would help. At the end of the year, we don't have to throw away the know-how acquired, and then start fresh the next year. I never suggested WMF should organize the event, the organizing team should, but that is all they should be expected to do - organize the event in their city, the rest of the administrative tasks before the event should be shared by someone more experienced. Certain administrative tasks, things like bulk-bookings, paper-work, visa issues can be handled centrally. They can even generate a lot of cost-savings in the process if done right. This doesn't mean de-emphasizing or taking away anything from the ground team, but facilitating them, giving them options, or taking care of the tasks they don't want, so they can focus on the actual event itself, not the pre-event arrangements. I'm not even talking about an events team, just a single person to begin with. Regards Theo ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
Re: [Wikimania-l] visa denied ... what to do?
On Sun, Jun 24, 2012 at 6:19 AM, rupert THURNER rupert.thur...@gmail.comwrote: hi, what is the proceeding if somebody from ghana, africa, got the visa for the wikimania denied at the us embassy in accra? Not a lot. Embassy are at their discretion to reject anyone they want. Depending on the country, they do usually cite a reason, or hand some rejection letter with an abstract reasoning. There used to be a process to challenge that, but it differs from country to country and is usually quite lengthy, and legal. Re-application too, might not change much. Unless, the exact reason for the rejection are addressed, perhaps more documents, or support provided by sponsors. But at this stage, it might be too late. Regards Theo ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
Re: [Wikimania-l] Wikimania 2013 - Request for Bids and Jury nominations
On Fri, Dec 30, 2011 at 5:45 PM, James Forrester ja...@jdforrester.orgwrote: OK, well, given the lack of movement on this issue[0], and given some discussion here, on wiki and on IRC, I propose to proceed with the plan and announce a Jury for Wikimania 2013 later today/tomorrow. James? I was looking at the page on Meta for Wikimania 2013, it still mentions December 1st as the Jury selection date. The bidding closes later this month. Has a decision been made? or can we update the page about when the jury is likely to be decided? I know the holiday season and the end of the year was a busy time. I completely understand that others might be busy, but I'd love to help out if I can. Regards Theo ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
Re: [Wikimania-l] CD
It's always the visitors, or the outsiders who get that treatment. Airport authorities, airlines hardly ever focus on local or people who look like of local origin. I have hardly ever seen any locals being held for questioning in any country that I have ever visited. It's just who looks more like an outsider than the rest of the group. Also, as Liam mentioned I'd strongly suggest keeping your tags, badges, schedules, any documentation to prove you actually attended the conference and provide them as proof. Have a safe trip back everyone! Theo On Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 12:43 AM, Harel Cain harel.c...@gmail.com wrote: All credit goes to Arthur Schnitzler and his beautiful novella Traumnovelle, on which Kubrick's movie is based. It never ceases to amaze me what a huge diffrence between the treatment that visitors and locals get at TLV. Even though I fly out quite often, for many years now my longest questioning was maybe 2 minutes, and my luggage was not manually searched at all. Harel On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 22:04, Marcin Cieslak sa...@saper.info wrote: Who told the security staff at Ben Gurion that CDs have been distributed as part of the welcoming pack of Wikimania? Jeromy and I were requested to show the CD you received from Wikimania and we haven't got any. One of the psychological techniques used by the security agencies is to explicitly ask for something not true and wait for denial. The truth (whether there were CDs or not) is not really relevant to this question - it's how you react. Probably you are suspicious if you answer 100% questions correctly and without any hesitation. Those interviews shouldn't be treated like a school test - it's not about getting as much correct answers as possible. For an example of a successful use of this technique, see Stanley Kubrick's movie Eyes Wide Shut, the scene during the party at the manor (not recommended for people sensitive about explicit scenes, usual disclaimers apply). //Marcin ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l -- Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur. ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
Re: [Wikimania-l] CD
On Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 1:36 AM, Casey Brown li...@caseybrown.org wrote: On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 4:03 PM, WereSpielChequers werespielchequ...@gmail.com wrote: I'll see if I can find an Internet Cafe that burns backups to CD. Last time I went backpacking in New Zealand there were several places with that sort of service. Then if I slap one of those stickers in the centre it should look the ticket. I don't really think lying or deliberately trying to mislead them is the best option. If you didn't get a CD, then just say that. But I guess it's your call. I'm def. with Casey on this one. Don't try to mislead them deliberately, this can only bite you back. It would look very odd when all your fellow attendees insist there were no CDs handed out and you're the only one with a CD, no matter how legitimate those stickers make it look. ;) Theo On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 3:53 PM, Theo10011 de10...@gmail.com wrote: It's always the visitors, or the outsiders who get that treatment. Airport authorities, airlines hardly ever focus on local or people who look like of local origin. I have hardly ever seen any locals being held for questioning in any country that I have ever visited. Yeah, or if there's something that stands out with a local, such as someone from Germany or who has a German-sounding name. (Using German based on experiences I've noticed and because someone mentioned a similar issue with a German-sounding name on another thread, on some mailing list. :-)) -- Casey Brown Cbrown1023 ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
Re: [Wikimania-l] Fw: [Wikimania-jury] [Wikimania-planning-l] What to do about 2012, and the future
I agree with lodewijk's assumptions to a certain extent. But we shouldn't keep expectations low by design, there should be no bar set to judge the event, whatever happens, happens, but we should always strive to make it as professional as we can. There are many organizations who hold annual international events, who don't have nearly the same resources and reach as we do. As for what Delphine suggested, about having more local and regional events, its an great idea but the sad reality is most chapters can't organize regular meetups, let alone a national conference every year. A lot of the chapters aren't organized to pull even a national event of every year, plus the preparations and the planning would be very similar to the Wikimania in its current incarnation. So it probably might make more sense to just go through a large event once rather than multiple events every year. I have a feeling that most chapters would not be supportive of more events instead of the one large event where we all get together. Regards Theo On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 6:42 PM, Deror Avi deror_...@yahoo.com wrote: I completely and adamantly disagree with Harel. Although some bbids are better then others, there are good suggestions already on the 2012 bid list (the Istanbul bid for example - considering the early stage) and other groups are considering bidding. I believe that wikimania should remain an annual event, and although it is complicated in time investing it is doable annually. We should consider a mechanism which will provide each winning time with the experience and knowledge of previous years to make things easier and to enable annual improvement, but there are many chapters and groups who want to host wikimania, and I am sure, that as the number of chapters annually increase, and the number of volunteers annually grow – there will be more and more competitors wishing to host wikimania. Deror -- *From:* Lodewijk lodew...@effeietsanders.org *To:* Coordination list for Wikimania. wikimania-plannin...@lists.wikimedia.org *Cc:* Wikimania jury list wikimania-j...@lists.wikimedia.org *Sent:* Wed, January 19, 2011 1:53:37 PM *Subject:* Re: [Wikimania-jury] [Wikimania-planning-l] What to do about 2012, and the future Yes, that is all very true. But whether or not we should have a Wikimania every year, is something that has impact on all those visitors, so they should have at least a say in that :) Also, they are your potential bidders for the future years, and all the experts are there /too/. You have the best of both worlds there imho. Lodewijk 2011/1/19 Harel Cain harel.c...@gmail.com Wikimania-l is a public mailing list with hundreds of members whose relation to wikimania organizing and bidding can be quite remote. I don't mind moving it there, but my feeling is that most Wikimania experts and stakeholders are on one of the two lists I wrote to in my first mail. Harel On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 1:44 PM, Lodewijk lodew...@effeietsanders.orgwrote: I think that this is not the right list to bring up this discussion. Perhaps you could re-send your email to wikimania-l ? For now, although I have strong opinions, I will keep them to myself to avoid confusion :) Best, Lodewijk 2011/1/19 Harel Cain harel.c...@gmail.com Hi all, I'm not a member of this list (so include me in your replies, should you reply), and my comments below express my personal opinion only, which is not necessarily representative of the opinion of WM Israel or of the WM Haifa local team. I'm also copying the wikimania-planning-l list in case they're interested. As someone who attended Wikimania 2007, 2010 and is now spending countless hours together with other team members on preparing WM 2011, I wanted to raise a somewhat controversial idea, namely that in future years, Wikimania will be held once every two years (biannually) and not annually. The reason I'm saying this is not only the huge effort that has to be invested by the local team year after year, but what is potentially a lack of strong bids to host Wikimania 2012, as witnessed by this year's jury. Even if strong bids emerge for 2012 eventually, I'm sure that in years to come the problem will repeat and again we might face a situation where there are no strong bids at all. To me, the lack of strong bids is an indicator that holding a big, expensive and complex international conference in a changing location year after year is not very realistic in the long term - and Wikimania is just becoming ever more big, expensive and complex (for example, WM2011 will see at least three side events preceding/co-locating with it). Few international organizations do that. In fact, many international conferences such as the International Congress of Mathematicians are held every 4 years! I don't think it will be a bad sign for the Wikimedia movement / foundation to decide to hold Wikimania
Re: [Wikimania-l] What to do about 2012, and the future
Exactly, the majority of the successful chapters don't hold regular national events or maybe limit themselves to a single International event. if we go by the rule of established chapters, then the onus lies on the most successful chapters in Europe first before any other. A large majority of the chapters are still not well organized, having a full time staff member to deal with event planning might not be a smart decision for everyone. Also, about what Dalton said above, about hiring a single event planner/manager in the chapter, I think it's still far from being able to manage a Wikimania style event professionally. Unless they are experienced with International event planning, its still going to be a very large task for any single chapter. A suggestion that I heard a while ago, was bringing in outside event Managers for Wikimania, while the chapter provides oversight. I think that might also be a viable solution to consider. Theo On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 8:03 PM, Asaf Bartov asaf.bar...@gmail.com wrote: On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 4:21 PM, Thomas Dalton thomas.dal...@gmail.comwrote: effort, but you could get away with a Wikimania that was no bigger than the national events that chapters hold on a regular basis anyway, Actually, it seems to me that less than a third of the established chapters do, in fact, hold national events [...] on a regular basis. I'm point this out to remind everyone that it is far from easy to assert that all (or even most) chapters can pull of a Wikimania. Asaf -- Asaf Bartov asaf.bar...@gmail.com ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
Re: [Wikimania-l] What to do about 2012, and the future
On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 8:26 PM, Casey Brown li...@caseybrown.org wrote: On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 9:48 AM, theo10011 de10...@gmail.com wrote: Also, about what Dalton said above, about hiring a single event planner/manager in the chapter, I think it's still far from being able to manage a Wikimania style event professionally. Unless they are experienced with International event planning, its still going to be a very large task for any single chapter. It's a large task for a single chapter to plan Wikimania with the help of a paid event professional? Our Wikimanias have been planned by a lot less -- usually just a group of hard-working Wikimedians, some with the help of a chapter, some not. :-) Allow me to reiterate, I meant its a demanding task for any group, let alone an individual planner. :-) Our Wikimanias have also been getting larger and more complicated, I think thats one of the central issues. I only suggested, maybe its time to consider outside/professional help? Theo ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
Re: [Wikimania-l] What to do about 2012, and the future
Excellent point James. I agree with Harel about possible reason the enthusiasm fizzles away. Its a very common thing usually witnessed in stressful fields, the organizers tend to have a high burnout rate. So the next logical question becomes How do we attract and retain that kind of talent? Joseph seddon made efforts last year to get a Wikimania committee off the ground but the effort didn't go anywhere, maybe we should reconsider it again. Also, one thing I wondered about, how about a designated staff personnel to handle Wikimania bidding and event planning, its the biggest thing we have in the entire year, it would make sense if there was a dedicated personnel who could help the hosts through the bidding process and then support the event with the team and the committee. Theo Salmaan Haroon On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 11:47 PM, Harel Cain harel.c...@gmail.com wrote: James, even if Wikimania is a chapter builder (or improves and grows existing chapters), I think those who have been on the ground planning and doing (just to set up the registration site is a lot of work, and that's one of a few dozen tasks to accomplish) almost inevitably get into a lot of infighting and quarreling, volunteers want their opinion heard as that's the only reward they get from their participation. Running such a team of opinionated volunteers is super hard, and the smallest issue can cause someone to leave or lose his motivation. In a sense, it's like throwing together the volunteers into some pressure pot and letting them cook there for a year - they might get to know each other really well, but at the same time they might also be at each other's throats when the conference is done and never want to talk to each other ever again. Add to that the anti-climax effect which I'm sure local teams experience when Wikimania is over. Having delivered such a huge achievement, maybe such prosaic tasks as lecturing at schools and meeting with libraries doesn't seem as exciting anymore. Teams are bound to ask themselves Well, now what?. Harel On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 8:05 PM, James Owen jo...@wikimedia.org wrote: On Jan 19, 2011, at 9:16 AM, Amir E. Aharoni wrote: 2011/1/19 Steven Walling steven.wall...@gmail.com 2. Even if Wikimania is not relatively big when it comes to technology conferences, the problem is growing a strong local team of volunteers in a new place every year. That's very, very hard. We're not unique in having that difficulty as a movement, but I don't think it means we should abandon volunteer-based organization for the event. This is an important point. It's hard to grow such a team in a new place every year, but if you do, then after X years you will have grown X strong local team of volunteers, ready to take on new challenges and to teach their experience to other teams. This may be a worthy goal. It would be interesting to check previous Wikimanias and to see whether the team that organized them went on as a team. I believe that hosting and organizing a Wikimania should be a stepping stone toward professionalization and development for a chapter or group of emerging volunteers. One would hope that hosting Wikimania in your region would allow a chapter or group to pull from outside the editing community and to engage local individuals to volunteer who may not wish to edit wikipedia but might wish to advocate for our projects and organize events. Both skills sets are vital, and different types of people require different types of work to keep their interest in the movement. For example I have often said, if I had come to Wikipedia to edit I do not think I would be a strong volunteer or a volunteer at all, but if i came to wikipedia to organize conferences, and to advocate for our projects to local schools and universities that is a way my skills could be utilized as a volunteer and I would feel richly engaged with the Wikimedia projects. This being said, I do not know if we have been very good at outreaching and obtaining some of the vital skills to help grow our community and to fill some of the gaps which our core contributors might not be interested. This could be a reason why bids are not strong, the type of individual who is interested to organize and run a conference is not always the type of individual who is interested in editing an encyclopedia. As a movement we need to start to welcome the skills of individuals who might not meet our standard type of volunteer and engage them, give them projects let them feel valued. This all being said I will get back to my point. My point is that I believe Wikimania should be an opportunity for a chapter or group of volunteers to grow, however because we do not always engage with the type of volunteer who likes to organize and develop conferences we find Wikimania becomes a huge energy drain on a local community. Most locations which have hosted Wikimania (Boston, Gdansk, Alexandria,
Re: [Wikimania-l] What to do about 2012, and the future
I think this has been a very productive discussion so far. In summary some points from the discussion- 1. Having a dedicated staff member at the foundation to co-ordinate and help with Wikimania bidding and planning is something we should consider. Its the biggest event we have every year, having some one familiar with the community and the requirements for Wikimania is probably a good idea, just a single point of contact (one-stop-shop person as Harel put it) would be helpful for the hosts. 2. We definitely need a committee to oversee wikimania planning, and take over the entire process from planning to execution. The jury is not that connected to the entire process, a committee can provide a lot of support. Considering all the committees we have or have had, this one seems like a no-brainer. 3. Hiring outside staff or a manager for the event is also an option. 4. We don't want to burn-out the organizers, so getting them as much help as possible should be our priority. it would be advisable to avoid new or forming chapters and focus in on areas which holds conferences regularly. I believe Harel and Avi can provide us a lot of feedback about what they need from the community and the foundation as they go through their planning, I assume we can count on your support James for a Wikimania Committee or maybe even a designated staff personnel in future? Theo Salmaan Haroon On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 12:14 AM, aude aude.w...@gmail.com wrote: On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 1:27 PM, James Owen jo...@wikimedia.org wrote: Harel, We as a community and the people on this list who care about Wikimania need to do our part, to put in some work and actual hours, maybe have some face to face meetings... and find way to elevate some of the pressure for the local teams, and to help them realize what to do with their new found energy once the conference is completed. Maybe we discover the best way is to hire outside organizers who are managed and supported by a local team, maybe we create a system where Wikimania bidding teams get a grant to hire a staff person for a year to help with organizing, there are many options we could explore. I would be very open to having help with some of the event planning. Speaking from experience organizing conferences for the government, we did have an event planner working with us to help negotiate with the venue, the caterer, etc., to scope out the venue and handled logistics for travel / scholarships. The help with negotiating costs helps offset the cost of hiring the person. My role for myself and my colleague were to organize the program (where knowing about the subject matter was important) and we had ultimate authority to make decisions. If we could hire her (or someone) to help our local team in DC, then I would be much more comfortable with going forward with a bid for Wikimania. Though, having such help doesn't alleviate the need for a strong local team of volunteers to handle key aspects of organizing. Cheers, Katie (@aude) But in general we need a group of 5-10 individuals to really do some work and think of this strategically, a Wikmania committee not to manage the bids, or organize wikimania but to be responsible for the future of the conference. * James Owen Executive Assistant Board Liaison Wikimedia Foundation Office +1.415.839.6885 x 6604 Mobile +1.415.509.5444 Fax +1.415.882.0495 Email- jo...@wikimedia.org Website- www.wikimediafoundation.org * ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l ___ Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
Re: [Wikimania-l] What to do about 2012, and the future
Thanks James, I apologize for putting you on the spot and for misconstruing your opinion as a volunteer. I understand that the community needs to take up the effort now. So with that in mind, is someone from the list willing to take on the responsibility of forming or discussing a potential for a committee? or should we do an announce on the foundation-l list to see if there are more participants. I can help if needed. Theo On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 1:20 AM, James Owen jo...@wikimedia.org wrote: 1. Having a dedicated staff member at the foundation to co-ordinate and help with Wikimania bidding and planning is something we should consider. Its the biggest event we have every year, having some one familiar with the community and the requirements for Wikimania is probably a good idea, just a single point of contact (one-stop-shop person as Harel put it) would be helpful for the hosts. Although the Wikimedia Foundation is happy to support and guide (when needed) the wikimania organizing teams I want to call out that Wikimania is a conference created by and for the Wikimedia community and is not a conference of the Wikimedia Foundation. It is my personal belief that the conference is a rich and meaningful experience for the Wikimedia community because it is created by the community for the community. This being said, the individuals who hold the most knowledge of Wikimaina is not the Wikimedia Foundation or its staff, a committee of individuals who have been involved in Wikimania in the pass would be a better point of contact for Wikimania organizing teams. 2. We definitely need a committee to oversee wikimania planning, and take over the entire process from planning to execution. The jury is not that connected to the entire process, a committee can provide a lot of support. Considering all the committees we have or have had, this one seems like a no-brainer. 3. Hiring outside staff or a manager for the event is also an option. 4. We don't want to burn-out the organizers, so getting them as much help as possible should be our priority. it would be advisable to avoid new or forming chapters and focus in on areas which holds conferences regularly. I believe Harel and Avi can provide us a lot of feedback about what they need from the community and the foundation as they go through their planning, I assume we can count on your support James for a Wikimania Committee or maybe even a designated staff personnel in future? I am happy to help as a volunteer and must of my work with the wikimania jury is as a volunteer and not as a paid employee of the Wikimedia Foundation. It is not my position to allocate resource on behalf of the organization so I can not speak to my ability to support a committee as a primary role of my position as a paid staff. Again I think this is best organized by the Wikimedia volunteer community and not as an initiative of the WMF staff. This all being said I am sure any committee that could form would be support in some ways by WMF (for example WMF might support some travel cost for the committee members to hold meetings, or travel to hold a site visit with the local team) but the committee should form as a community initiative not a staff initiative. I should also clarify my earlier statement about a possibility for a grant, this statement again is me as a volunteer not as a paid staff. It is simply an example of how a committee could make a recommendation to the Foundation. The committee would outline and suggest responsibilities and roles for the team, WMF, jury, and community as a whole. In my opinion someone from the community should work toward creating a committee, put out a call for participation and start to hold meetings and create a strong list of recommendations for what will need to happen to improve the future of Wikimania and support bidding and organizing teams. The committee could ask for resources from WMF if they wish to hold a face to face meeting to complete some of this work. It all seems within the scope of how WMF can support the work of the volunteers. Regards, James Theo Salmaan Haroon On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 12:14 AM, aude aude.w...@gmail.com wrote: On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 1:27 PM, James Owen jo...@wikimedia.org wrote: Harel, We as a community and the people on this list who care about Wikimania need to do our part, to put in some work and actual hours, maybe have some face to face meetings... and find way to elevate some of the pressure for the local teams, and to help them realize what to do with their new found energy once the conference is completed. Maybe we discover the best way is to hire outside organizers who are managed and supported by a local team, maybe we create a system where Wikimania bidding teams get a grant to hire a staff person for a year to help with organizing, there are many options we could explore. I would be very open to having help
