Kia ora, Wikimedia Aotearoa-New Zealand chiming in here!Absolutely agree with
the comments about more regional conferences and fewer global ones, from a
sustainability perspective (huge amount of airline travel involved in global
events) and also accessibility. For us down here, it's a 24-36 hour one way
journey to Europe and not one that many people are able to participate in -
it's a minimum of a week to 10 days away from work and life for a 2-3 day event
when travel and recovery time are factored in. The recent events in Sydney and
upcoming in Singapore are a welcome change from the Northern Hemisphere-centric
calendar of in-person events.Heather
On Tuesday, 21 March 2023 at 08:41:12 am NZDT, Evelin Heidel
<[email protected]> wrote:
+1 to what Philip & Jan-Bart shared. Maybe we should have a Wikimania every 2
years instead of every year, particularly given that we do have some more
specialized conferences (Wiki Education, GLAM Wiki, Wiki+Libraries, among
others) alongside with the regional meetings, that allow for a continued
conversation.
El lun, 20 mar 2023 a las 16:05, Philip Kopetzky (<[email protected]>)
escribió:
I can only second what Jan-Bart has written. There already seems to be a change
in the way people attend Wikimania. Many communities from Europe won't send
anyone to Singapore, but will probably attend Krakow.
Wouldn't it be time to acknowledge the change in format towards a regional
conference with an international focus, rather than a global event where we fly
a few hundred people in for a few days, in times where pandemics and global
climate emergencies don't seem as far off as they did even 5 years ago?
Best regards, Philip
On Mon, 20 Mar 2023 at 18:58, Jan-Bart de Vreede <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi All
Thanks Phoebe and the Wikimania Steering Committee for organising the selection
process and of course congratulations to the team in Poland who are going to
organise a great Wikimania.
(Disclaimer: I have been privileged enough to have been able to attend many a
WIkimania, and am perhaps one of the worst people in the world to write the
text below)
Reading your comment on hopefully announcing the Wikimania hosts for 2025 and
2026 soon makes me wonder if we are not overlooking a fundamental discussion
with regards to the continued existence of Wikimania as it currently takes
place. Are we going to continue to annually organise a global event, flying
people from all over the world to a location which limits physical
participation to those that are able to do so (regardless of the few
scholarships we manage to distribute for volunteers)?
Would it not be a good idea to start with revisiting our goals (for example:
reconnecting, exchanging experiences and sharing cool projects) and start
thinking of alternatives to the current Wikimania set up? It would also be
interesting to match these goals with the increase in regional engagement which
is taking place across our movement.
I have the feeling I might have missed some earlier discusion on this, but I
am not seeing much change in the Wikimania concept in a time that probably
demands change both from a sustainability as well as an equity perspective.
And again I am probably not the best person to point this out (coming from an
incredibly privileged position) and I love wikimania and I love seeing all of
you on a regular basis… but at the same time I have noticed that we are all
trying to adjust to a changing world…and it would seem that a movement as
unique as ours should be able to come up with a better alternative?
I hope that people take this mail in the spirit that it is intended and if I
can contribute to facilitating this discussion I am of course more than willing
to do so!
Jan-Bart de Vreede(Views expressed in this email are my personal views)
On 20 Mar 2023, at 16:32, phoebe ayers <[email protected]> wrote:
Hello everyone,
I am very excited to share that Wikimania 2024 will be hosted in the city of
Kraków in Poland! [1] Kraków had a strong submission with a collaborative
design and an experienced, enthusiastic team supporting it [2]. At the
crossroads of history, culture, and technology, we are confident that the
impact of Wikimania will be great for our projects, the movement in general,
and especially, local communities in the Central and Eastern European (CEE)
region. Read more on Diff [3].
Bringing our movement’s beloved event to life is not simple and we took many
criteria into consideration. We were grateful for the expressions of interest
received for hosting Wikimania in 2024, 2025, and beyond [4]. Announcing host
cities this far in advance is a new approach to organizing Wikimania we are
exploring [5]. In addition to the support we provide as the stewards of
Wikimania, together with the Foundation’s Movement Communications team, we see
great value in facilitating more time for organizers so they can learn from
each other in practice and strengthen their capacity [6], [7]. We hope to
announce the hosts of Wikimania in 2025 and 2026 in the coming months or at
Wikimania 2023 in Singapore.
Once again, wholehearted congratulations to the 2024 Wikimania team. We know
you will do an excellent job welcoming our global family to your timeless city.
And to our global family, we hope that you are as excited as we are returning
to the vibrant CEE region after 14 years. Looking forward to collaborating with
you all on wiki and in person.
My best wishes for all, Phoebe (Wikimania Steering Committee)
On behalf of the Wikimania Steering Committee and the Wikimedia Foundation
Movement Communications teamTranslations available on Diff
[1] Kraków is a hybrid gem of history and modernity:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krak%C3%B3w [2] Kraków expression of interest:
https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2024:Expressions_of_Interest/Central_Eastern_Europe,_Poland,_Cracow
[3] Read more about this announcement on Diff:
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/03/20/announcing-the-host-of-wikimania-in-2024/
[4] 11 expressions of interest received:
https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikimania_2024_expressions_of_interest
[5] The call for hosting Wikimania in 2024, 2025 and beyond:
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/10/27/wikimania-welcoming-expressions-of-interest-for-2024/
[6] The Wikimania Steering Committee:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Committee [7] The Wikimedia
Foundation Movement Communications team
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications/Movement_Communications
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