Thanks for the answer Winnie
This is a challenging solution...
If this is the path to go, then I think it would need clarifications on
that page : https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2021/Scholarships
1) First, it would require a clarification to the individual people
looking for support that they should consider contacting one of the
approved group to ask them for individual support (taken into account
geography, currency, language, thematic... )
Right now... any person living in Europe, or in USA, or in Asia... would
rightfully wonder who they can ask to.
If I lived in Japan... what would be my best bet... should I ask
Wikimedia Polska or Wikimedia Ghana ? How much chance do I stand of
getting a favorable answer ? Probably none.
So if members were more aware of that, perhaps members would have the
time to make sure a UserGroup that would agree to support them, make an
application.
I think it would be a good idea to do that rapidly so that individuals
get to realize that they probably can ask no approved group. It might
give them to idea to contact their nearest UserGroup to ask them to apply.
2) I think the UserGroups which applied should be informed that they
might get some requests some completely unknown people from all over the
world. And they should make sure they have the mecanisms to actually
answer and support. Do they know that ?
So again, that means that... if I live in Japan... and I contact the
Ghana UserGroup to get supported... then the Ghana UserGroup would not
be surprised and would consider my request with appropriate interest and
willingness to support. Even though we do not speak the same language,
do not use the same currency, do not work on the same project etc.
Many usergroups do not have staff, nor even a bank account, and may not
be set-up to do international wire transferts.
For example, I am contact member of the offline usergroup. It would make
sense for the offline usergroup to receive some participation requests
since our operations are largely in countries where connexion data could
be big.
But the usergroup is just a group. There is no legal entity behind it;
nor staff to manage request; no bank account to wire money to anyone. So
can not help in anyway.
If you want my honest feedback on the solution you mention ("pick up one
of the affiliates which got funding and ask its team for support"), that
will generally NOT work.
Which means that the current system will only serve those with good
connexions and lucky enough that an affiliate they are members of, will
actually make the request.
Under an appearance of super cool Wikimania participation support (data,
childcare etc.), we are setting up a really unfair system, where people
will be supported based on their understanding and knowledge of the
ropes, and based on their involvement as members of an affiliate, and on
the proactiveness of the usergroups.
I am not blaming you, the COT team does within the constraints forced on
them. I do understand that and I fear there isn't much option to fix
that in less than a month. I do get that and if you have no solution to
offer, again, no blame.
But _for the record_, I think it is really a non-equitable process and
_I hope that it does not set the grounds to operate this way in the
future in simular circonstances_. I do not consider it a good governance
solution that a handful of affiliates make the decision on who gets
support and who does not, with no other built-in mecanisms at all.
Florence
Le 08/07/2021 à 22:07, Winnie kabintie a écrit :
Dear Florence,
You raise a valid concern that the COT has tried to mull over and the
current proposal at hand is to have the affiliates extend support to
any individuals or groups beyond their envelope.
Kind Regards,
Winnie
On Thu, Jul 8, 2021 at 4:37 PM Florence Devouard <fdevou...@gmail.com
<mailto:fdevou...@gmail.com>> wrote:
Hello Winnie
I would like a clarification
Given that this year, scholarships are only open to Affiliates,
and given that only 12 Affiliates actually submitted requests,
where can the actual individuals that will participate to
Wikimania ask for support ?
I do understand the point of tasking the affiliates to deal with
scholarship requests rather than having to deal with them at the
Wikimedia Foundation level.
But in the end... 12 Affiliates will possibly cover the needs of
their own members.
What about the several hundreds of participants that are not
members of one of those 12 affiliates ? And who have no choice to
turn to ?
Did I miss something entirely ?
Florence
Le 14/06/2021 à 20:12, Winnie kabintie a écrit :
Hello Hello!
We are pleased with the program submissions, for Wikimania 2021,
that have come through so far and even the planning discussions
we’ve seen going on in various groups.
SUBMISSION PROPOSALS DEADLINE APPROACHING: The deadline to submit
your proposals is approaching rapidly, Friday, 18th June, 12am
PSTand we would not like to see anyone locked out. Please make
sure you submit your session proposals
<https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Submissions>for the
first ever virtual Wikimania.
Office Hours
Thank you to everyone who has joined the Submission Office Hours
we’ve had last week. We have one more this week on 15th June at
12:00 UTC <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Organizers>.
More Office Hours around Wikimania 2021 will become available
soon… Stay tuned.
Scholarships Program Now Open
As announced last week, the scholarship program is now open until
30th July. This year, scholarships will only be issued to
Affiliates, who will then distribute to their respective
community members.
Read More about theScholarship Program for Wikimania 2021
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2021/Scholarships>(https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2021/Scholarships
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2021/Scholarships>)
Best Wishes,
Winnie Kabintie (User:Ms_Kabintie
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ms_Kabintie>), on behalf of
the Wikimania 2021 Core Organizing Team.
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