[Wikimedia-l] Purpose of WMConf ( was: Cost of Wikimedia Conference 2014)

2014-04-02 Thread Chris Keating
Great! We are starting to have the conversation we need to have! So: What is the purpose of the Wikimedia Conference? This has never been clearly defined, in my view. I certainly found attending last year useful as it was a chance to get to know face-to-face people I only knew over email, to

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Purpose of WMConf ( was: Cost of Wikimedia Conference 2014)

2014-04-02 Thread
On 02/04/2014, Chris Keating chriskeatingw...@gmail.com wrote: Great! We are starting to have the conversation we need to have! So: What is the purpose of the Wikimedia Conference? This has never been clearly defined, in my view. I certainly found attending last year useful as it was a

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Purpose of WMConf ( was: Cost of Wikimedia Conference 2014)

2014-04-02 Thread sydney . poore
Point of information and a comment: This year 2 members of the FDC will attend the conference as representatives of the FDC. The full FDC will not be attending any part of Wikimedia Conference this year because the date of the FDC meeting do not align with the conference. Next year if

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Purpose of WMConf ( was: Cost of Wikimedia Conference 2014)

2014-04-02 Thread Jan-Bart de Vreede
Hi, To provide some perspective. The Board of Trustees has traditionally had its Board meeting at the Wikimedia Conference. This year is the first year we decide to change that and have our board meeting a couple of weeks later so that we could actually attend the sessions and have more

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Purpose of WMConf ( was: Cost of Wikimedia Conference 2014)

2014-04-02 Thread Chris Keating
I am genuinely puzzled as to why, if nobody on the WMUK board (such as the CEO or the current Chairman) is sure what the purpose of the conference is, they should chose to invest the donor's money in sending 5 trustees and 3 full time employees to it (presumably the employees are being

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Purpose of WMConf ( was: Cost of Wikimedia Conference 2014)

2014-04-02 Thread Cornelius Kibelka
Yes, finally the discussion we need! Pity that it happens only one week before the conference itself. My point of view: We have different types of conference: GLAMCamp, EduWiki, Wikimania, whatever. Beside Wikimania, which is quite a fruit salad of topics and themes and seen as *the* gathering

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Purpose of WMConf ( was: Cost of Wikimedia Conference 2014)

2014-04-02 Thread Risker
I'm not sure that people think the conference is unnecessary; I think it has value. It is, however, the only one of all those listed for which almost everyone is explicitly excluded and cannot attend - even though I can think of several who have strong interest in movement governance and

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Purpose of WMConf ( was: Cost of Wikimedia Conference 2014)

2014-04-02 Thread Balázs Viczián
https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3AFuture_of_the_Wikimedia_Conferencediff=5611433oldid=5611349 imo. Vince 2014-04-02 20:32 GMT+02:00 Cornelius Kibelka jckibe...@gmail.com: Yes, finally the discussion we need! Pity that it happens only one week before the conference

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Purpose of WMConf ( was: Cost of Wikimedia Conference 2014)

2014-04-02 Thread Itzik Edri
What the purpose of this discussion? The program committee already scheduled a session about the future of the WMCON. And as we are a week before, and I believe it's too late to cancel flights and hotels booking, nothing will probably going to be changed, even if there will be consensus about the

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Purpose of WMConf ( was: Cost of Wikimedia Conference 2014)

2014-04-02 Thread Nicole Ebber
Itzik, I am sorry that I did not reply to this earlier. I am just kind of baffled that we are having this discussion now, months after all these questions where asked (see Future of the Wikimedia Conference) and all the information about the scope and the slight loosening of the attendee ratio

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Purpose of WMConf ( was: Cost of Wikimedia Conference 2014)

2014-04-02 Thread Risker
While I don't think this discussion should change the process or the attendance for this specific conference, particularly as it is just around the corner, it would be useful to take some of these points into consideration for future planning. Risker/Anne On 2 April 2014 17:08, Nicole Ebber

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Purpose of WMConf ( was: Cost of Wikimedia Conference 2014)

2014-04-02 Thread Nicole Ebber
Right, sorry, what I meant was that these arguments can be collected for the preparation of the Future of the WMCON session at WMCON itself, not for changing the current setting. Nicole On 2 April 2014 23:14, Risker risker...@gmail.com wrote: While I don't think this discussion should change

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Purpose of WMConf ( was: Cost of Wikimedia Conference 2014)

2014-04-02 Thread Risker
I appreciate your clarification, Nicole - thanks. There is a certain irony in the fact that those who are making the argument that there should be some rethinking of the future of the WMCON are all (as best I can tell) people who will not be present. I hope that those who are present will be