Just one not about the subject: If WMIN don't use that money to WCI, it needs to be returned to WMF. This money was not "given" to WMIN for no reason, was given *to be used in WCI* - if that would not be the case anymore, the money need to be returned.
So all those arguments that "We have better things to do with that money" are not true. _____ *Béria Lima* <http://wikimedia.pt/>(351) 925 171 484 *Imagine um mundo onde é dada a qualquer pessoa a possibilidade de ter livre acesso ao somatório de todo o conhecimento humano. É isso o que estamos a fazer <http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Nossos_projetos>.* On 25 August 2011 08:59, Ravishankar <ravidre...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi all, > > I appreciate the transparent, detailed and professional planning of > conference and I am sorry I couldn't take part in WikiConference related > planning earlier. > > For those who don't know, I am a Tamil Wikimedian since 2005 with 20,000+ > edits. My major interest lies in outreach and policy decisions concerning > Tamil Wikimedia projects. > > http://toolserver.org/~quentinv57/sulinfo/Ravidreams > > Am I qualified to express my opinions now ? ;) > > I have two major concerns: > > 1. The overall budget. It is huge even if we get 100% commercial > sponsorship. We could do more useful things with this budget. > > 2. The amount of money that is being granted from the foundation. > > Given the indication that this may be an annual event, here are my ideas on > *how a WikiConference shall be arranged. * > > * WikiConference need not be an annual event. > > * It should be planned well in advance ( a year in advance at least to > allow time for planning and fund-raising ) > > * Let's not have an ambitious plan and wonder for funding. We should have a > realistic estimate for non-grant funding and plan accordingly. *Bidding > city / community should show guarantee to meet at least half the budget by > means of commercial sponsors and other revenue sources.* If they cannot > provide this guarantee, they should revise the budget. > > * Tie up with local universities / academic institutions for free venue / > dorms and look for the dates when these can be available. WikiConference is > a media event and I am sure there will be many hosting partners for a brand > like Wikipedia. If we can convince schools to run campus ambassador programs > why not they be convinced to host this? > > * Need not be a 3 day event. Even a 1 or 2 day event will be good. (will > cut down logistics, accommodation costs) . > > *What if this is 2001 with no WMF and grants? How will we plan and > organize?* > > *This is not a corporate conference to have 100% professional and rocking > experience at any cost. This is a community conference and that spirit > should be kept. * > > *Here are some ways to minimise expense and generate revenue:* > > * We are getting lakhs of eyeballs for sponsorship / participation > announcement and they all land in WikiConference India home page. But > http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiConference_India_2011/Sponsorship has > no info and I couldn't find sponsorship related info anywhere else. This > should be the highlighted info in conference homepage asking for sponsors. > > * Why not convert the conference itself into a fund-raiser? Open a donation > booth. Have an agreement with chapter / foundation to get 50% donations for > conference expenses and donate the rest to the movement. Can we place a > banner of this budget in the conference venue? Will our expenses be > justified to a common man? Will people be motivated to donate? If not, we > are doing something the wrong way. > > * Registration cost should be at least 300 INR per day. ( The current > budget allots 200 INR plus per day for food alone). The value of the > conference is in the knowledge they gain and not in the goodies we give. > Meritorious candidates can apply for sponsorships. We don't need a crowd. > The local crowd may come and forget it as yet another event. The prime focus > should be to bring together best minds already active in Wikimedia at one > place. The attendees party can be free for scholarship recipients but others > can pay. If you compare that a movie going experience in Mumbai should cost > at least 200 INR per head, we need not feel shy to charge where it is due. > > * Sell Wikipedia souvenirs including T-Shirts, mugs etc.,. Or give them as > a freebie when people make large donations. > > * If we can make the event a two-day conference, we can cut down logistics > and accommodation costs. Even an international event like Wikimania has some > less quality presentations. Have four tracks: Language Wikipedia projects, > English Wikipedia, Tech and General. ( I found only two seminar rooms in the > budget and assume only 2 or 3 tracks) Have only the best papers and move the > rest to lighting talks. > > Personally, I am not so happy with some of the ways WMF, chapters are > spending the donated money and I know there are more people feeling this > way. If even regular Wikipedians feel like this, we should be more > responsible in how we project ourselves for the public. I have been a > regular donor to WMF but will reconsider from this year on. A good idea will > be to apply to join the grants committee or take part in the discussions > there. So, this is nothing personal against WikiConference India. > > Personally, I have experiences running a whole day blog camp for 200 people > with less than 50,000 INR with no registration cost and free lunch. In > another instance, Tamil Wikipedians ran a 3 day Wikipedia workshop for 1000s > of people with less than a 20,000 INR budget. So, I can't help compare the > value brought forth by some of the items in the current WikiConference > budget. There have been tens of outreach programs by local communities so > far with zero grants and zero cost. Special mention can be made of annual > Wikipedia meetup, CD releases by Malayalam Wikipedia and State wide article > contest by Tamil Wikipedia. Just because we have a chapter and grants now > doesn't mean we can spend it somehow. > > We shall look for unconventional ways to invest wisely which will have > maximum ROI. Here are some examples: > > * Once, a financially striving Tamil Wikipedian was contributing regularly > by spending his own money from a browsing center. We managed to collect some > cash from the community and presented him a PC with internet connection. > Cost: 25,000 INR. You can guess his edit activity now and the lifetime value > it brings. > > India is still a developing country and there may be many more such > Wikipedians. Why not develop a Laptop scholarship program for qualified > Wikipedians? > > * http://www.noolaham.org is a volunteer driven NPO that aims to digitize > Tamil resources from Sri Lanka. Their annual budget for 2010 was roughly > 8 lakh INR and they have digitized 1000s of books so far. This is a > significant achievement for a regional language given their civil war > situations. When we wonder about lack of citations for Indian languages, > imagine the impact of similar projects bootstrapped for all Indian > languages. > > * A resource center with one or two full-time professionals can be run for > each Wikipedia with an annual cost of less than 10 lakh INR and this will > have a huge impact on the quality and quantity of the Wikipedias. > > Finally, every Wikimedian has his own way of contributing to the movement. > He cannot and need not take part in all activities but if he has an opinion > on what is done in the name of community, I believe it should be discussed > with an open mind. > > I will not be able to attend this year's WikiConference due to personal > reasons. > > My best wishes for the event and special kudos for the organisers. > > Regards, > > Ravi > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimediaindia-l mailing list > Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l > >
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