Hi Luis, we will have a track devoted to Open projects. I will share in their list our Call for Submissions.
Thanks for sharing! El feb 4, 2015 10:52 a.m., "Luis Villa" <[email protected]> escribió: > FYI that the Open Knowledge Foundation is not having their annual > conference this year; may be worth reaching out to the Open Knowledge > community to have a track or space at Wikimania. > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Naomi Lillie <[email protected]> > Date: Wed, Feb 4, 2015 at 5:06 AM > Subject: [okfn-discuss] Open Knowledge Festival update > To: Open Knowledge Foundation discussion list <[email protected]>, > Open Knowledge Foundation Local Coordinators Mailing List < > [email protected]>, "[email protected]" < > [email protected]> > > > Hello all, > > I have bad news and good news to share: > > The bad news: > > Open Knowledge will not run a large international event in 2015 > (OKFestival or OKConference) - boo! :-( > > The good news: > > Open Knowledge will be supporting our Local Groups in running events > around the world in 2015 and looking to hold future large international > events outside of Europe - yay! :-) > > Why isn’t Open Knowledge running an OKFestival in 2015? > > I’m very sorry for the disappointment I know this will cause - along with > many of you, OKFest 2012 / OKCon 2013 / OKFestival 2014 were the highlights > of my years since joining this organisation and network in 2011… But we’ve > been thinking hard here at ‘OKI’ (meaning ‘Open Knowledge International’, > the informal name for the organisation that supports Local Groups and > Working Groups, and the rest of the network) and it really came down to > asking ourselves ‘how can we best support our groups around the world?’ > > Point 1: representing an international network <https://okfn.org/network/> > > Towards the end of last year, Rufus asked the question ‘where should the > next OKFestival be held?’ and members of the community on the > OKFN-Discuss mailing list > <https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss> responded, as well > as leaders of Working Groups and Local Groups who were specifically invited > to share thoughts (see here for the original message > <https://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/okfn-discuss/2014-October/010627.html> > and search the archives <https://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/okfn-discuss/> > for responses). A theme appeared in the answers: people don’t want another > European event, unless other parts of the world are being seriously > considered for future events. That means we can’t go ahead with ‘business > as usual’, but need to rethink how we do things for our next event. > > It’s clear that, while the organisation seeks to support a global network > of people passionate about open knowledge, historically we haven’t been > very good at extending in-person support beyond Europe, despite the growing > representation of areas of the globe through Local Groups, projects and > staff hires. The School of Data <http://schoolofdata.org/> has been a > brilliant flagship for reaching beyond Europe, with Partnership for Open > Data <https://okfn.org/projects/partnership-for-open-data/> doing > excellent work in broadening awareness and access of work already happening > in the Global South, but generally the overall organisation’s efforts in > running in-person events have been in Berlin, with the occasional foray > into countries such as Switzerland, Finland and the UK (see our events > page <https://okfn.org/get-involved/events/> for more information). We > want that to change, and are committed to exploring how we can enable that > to happen for future events. > > Point 2: supporting the international network <https://okfn.org/network/> > > Open Knowledge has arranged a fair few gatherings over the years, and > enjoyed the partnerships with the Finnish and Swiss Chapters in running the > 2012 and 2013 events respectively as well as liaising with the German > Chapter over several years, but generally there hasn’t been much room for > supporting events around the community network beyond some promotion (such > as here <http://okfncommunity.tumblr.com/>, here > <http://blog.okfn.org/2014/12/10/a-round-up-of-open-knowledge-community-events-around-the-world/> > and here <https://twitter.com/okfn>). Here at “OKI” we do our best to > empower others to lead, and it’s pretty hard to lead when someone else > takes all the attention! So, rather than effectively asking our Local > Groups and Working Groups to compete with us if they want their own events > (going up against Open Knowledge the organisation for scheduling, attendees > and sponsorship), we want to step aside and encourage others to facilitate > significant events that attract people from around the world to attend > where they are located. > > Furthermore, this organisation has its own agenda, goals, strategy and > vision - it clearly won’t be exactly the same as groups in the Africa, the > Americas, Antarctica, Asia, Australia and indeed the rest of Europe! Open > Knowledge “International” doesn’t claim to represent the UK, we just happen > to be (mostly) UK-based; however we recognise that being primarily in the > UK brings bias and assumptions, and we need the network’s help to ensure > other agendas and priorities are given centre-stage. Moving to the > side-lines, to allow others to step in with their plans, is the right thing > for this time - and, very excitingly, other groups are already starting to > do just that. > > Summary: > > While the organisation bounces enthusiastically from one big international > event in one year to the next, we haven’t stopped to address how better to > reflect our growing global network. We’d like to do that - but that means > putting other things to one side; that is why we’re not running a big > flagship event this year. We’re stopping, breathing, surveying the scenery > and thinking about what Open Knowledge should be representing through its > events and in-person hands-on activities. We’re already in touch with some > of our amazing Local Groups, thinking about how they want to convene the > network in areas local to them, and looking to see how we can best support > from afar rather than assuming control. At present we’re considering our > options in terms of how to investigate support structures for the Local > Groups and opportunities for outside Europe in 2016 - be assured we'll be > asking you all for your input. > > We’re excited about what the year ahead will bring! > > What events can we look forward to instead? > > Open Knowledge continues to support events throughout the Open movement, > both remote (such as Open Data Day <http://opendataday.org/>) and in > person, and are excited to be looking into supporting events from around > the Open Knowledge community network in 2015. Various projects have > geographic focus - such as Partnership for Open Data > <https://okfn.org/projects/partnership-for-open-data/>, and FCO Macedonia > <http://blog.okfn.org/2014/09/18/launching-a-new-collaboration-in-macedonia-with-metamorphosis-and-the-uk-foreign-commonwealth-office/> > - and of course the organisation will support events through the projects’ > endeavours in those areas, too. In the meantime, keep an eye on our blog > <http://blog.okfn.org/> for announcements, twitter > <https://twitter.com/okfn> for updates and the community stories tumblr > <http://okfncommunity.tumblr.com/> for local news. > > Any questions? > > Please feel to reply on this thread (as I’m sure many will) or drop me a > private message at this email address. I might not have all the answers, > but I’ll do my best! > > Note on who I represent in this message: I am writing as > Naomi-the-Open-Knowledge-[organisation]-staff-member, using ‘we’ and ‘our’ > to mean the organisation rather than the network as a whole, and giving the > ‘official line’ rather than reflecting individuals’ opinions (this can get > confusing, so I hope that clarifies). > > With thanks for your kind attention over a long email, > > Naomi > > > -- > > Naomi Lillie > > Network Director > > skype: n.lillie | @naomilillie <https://twitter.com/NaomiLillie> > > Open Knowledge <http://okfn.org/> - See how data can change the > world > > http://okfn.org/ | @okfn <http://twitter.com/OKFN> | Facebook > <https://www.facebook.com/OKFNetwork> | Blog <http://blog.okfn.org/> > > > > Open Knowledge Community Stories | http://okfncommunity.tumblr.com/ | see > how people are changing the world > > > Open Knowledge is a not-for-profit organisation. It is incorporated in > England & Wales as a company limited by guarantee, with company number > 05133759. VAT Registration № GB 984404989. Registered office address: Open > Knowledge, St John’s Innovation Centre, Cowley Road, Cambridge CB4 0WS, UK. > > > _______________________________________________ > okfn-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss > Unsubscribe: https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/okfn-discuss > > > > > > -- > Luis Villa > Deputy General Counsel > Wikimedia Foundation > 415.839.6885 ext. 6810 > > *This message may be confidential or legally privileged. If you have > received it 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 > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer>.* > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l > >
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