Regional conferences are easier to attend for the locals, but... * There would be less mixing of people and thematic organizations from different regions * WMF's travel costs would skyrocket if it tried to send the same number of people to several regional events, and WMF would also likely have significant duplication of effort and need to invest a lot more of its staff time attending diverse conferences.
Regional conferences can certainly happen, but they would be less efficient and effective if their goal is to have cross-pollination of ideas among thematic organizations and WMF. A smaller number of conferences would be more efficient. Perhaps a happy medium between having lots of regional conferences and a smaller number of international conferences would be to hold several regional conferences simultaneously and invest in some excellent teleconferencing hardware and high-speed internet bandwidth so that it's possible for participants in multiple locations to virtually participate in the same meetings. However, there would be a significant up-front investment in hardware and the bandwidth costs might be substantial, so I'm not sure how cost-effective this would be. Pine On Fri, Sep 12, 2014 at 1:18 AM, Ilario Valdelli <valde...@gmail.com> wrote: > Wikimedia is a community of communities. > > So basically Wikimania can be the unique Wikimedia Conference. > > But we can come back to the first question. Would we really have a second > Wikimania in the first quarter of any year because the name Wikimedia > Conference should exclude no one? > > Would we really have a second big event calling people from all the world > and spending a lot of time in the organization and setup? > > Or probably the best solution would be several (less expensive) regional > and thematic conferences called "Wikimedia conference X"? Where people > coming will focus on a thematic agenda? > > There is no problem in my opinion to close the discussion saying that > Wikimedia Conference is a name released in cc-by-sa 3.0 and people can use > it and redistribute it and modify it. > > So the Wikimedia Conference as is can become "Wikimedia Conferences 2015 > for affiliated", and there may be "Wikimedia Conference 2015 for Asia" and > "Wikimedia Conference 2015 for GLAM" and so on. > > > > On Fri, Sep 12, 2014 at 4:43 AM, Risker <risker...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On 11 September 2014 22:07, Charles Gregory <wmau.li...@chuq.net> wrote: > > > > > ... but the conference has been running for a few years, and has > > gradually > > > evolved over that time, from primarily chapters, to other affiliate > > > organisations, AffCom itself, FDC in recent years, etc. I don't think > > > anyone is suggesting any revolutionary changes for the next one? Just > a > > > change in name to suit the current audience. > > > > > > What's the problem with the name "Wikimedia" being used? It is, after > > all, > > > a conference involving Wikimedians. It appears the main complaint is > the > > > over-generic title "Wikimedia Conference". > > > > > > Charles (User:Chuq) > > > > > > > > > > You are correct, Chuq. "Wikimedia" by itself is the entire movement. > It's > > not a subgroup of the movement, which is what the chapters and affiliated > > organizations are as a group. We don't call the hackathons "Wikimedia > > Conference", nor do we call the diversity conferences "Wikimedia > > Conference", yet arguably they are even more representative of Wikimedia > > (the movement) than this particular conference is; while attendees are > > largely self-selected, they are open to anyone who has the means and will > > to attend. What's been known in the past as the "Wikimedia Conference" is > > essentially a by-invitation conference that is not representative of the > > movement. > > > > It's a big movement with lots of parts. A better argument could be made > > for renaming Wikimania the Wikimedia Conference than using that term for > a > > conference restricted to one small branch of the movement. Many > > Wikimedians over the years, particularly those who are highly active in > > core movement activities but not chapter/affiliate activities, have felt > > disenfranchised and marginalized by having the name of the movement to > > which they make their contributions used for a conference at which they > > will never be welcome. > > > > And the other reason for changing the name to be more representative of > > what the conference is that it sets the tone for the agenda. The focus > of > > the conference is, at least in theory, chapters and affiliated groups: > what > > they can learn from each other, sharing of tools and ideas, making > > connections within and external to the Wikimedia movement, etc. It's not > > Wikimedia as a whole; it's far too exclusive (and exclusionary) for the > > movement as a whole to be the focus of the conference. > > > > From a different perspective, let's compare ourselves to other > conferences > > that succeed because of their focus: A conference for > gastroenterologists > > isn't going to call itself the "medical conference", nor would a > conference > > for neurosurgeons. They're going to wave the flag that they're focusing > on > > a specific aspect of medicine. It's what we do with the diversity > > conference, and with the hackathons, too. You're not losing anything by > > changing the name: you're recognizing the specialty focus of the > > conference. > > > > Risker/Anne > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > > > > -- > Ilario Valdelli > Wikimedia CH > Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens > Association pour l’avancement des connaissances libre > Associazione per il sostegno alla conoscenza libera > Switzerland - 8008 Zürich > Wikipedia: Ilario <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ilario> > Skype: valdelli > Facebook: Ilario Valdelli <https://www.facebook.com/ivaldelli> > Twitter: Ilario Valdelli <https://twitter.com/ilariovaldelli> > Linkedin: Ilario Valdelli <http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=6724469 > > > Tel: +41764821371 > http://www.wikimedia.ch > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
