On Sun, Jan 15, 2012 at 10:21 PM, <wheredevelsdare@hotmail.com> wrote:

Minutes of Wikipedia Mumbai Meetup 14:

Coincidentally, 14 people attended the 14th Mumbai Meetup held at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Bandra earlier today :)

Wikipedia Takes Mumbai 2

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Wikimania 2013

Ansuman, Nikita, Karthik and Krutika were strongly in favour of making a bid for Wikimania 2013, Mumbai. Mehul said he would be able to help out with the internet but not much more. Pradeep, Vickram and myself were not so sure. After the WCI experience we felt that a lot more commitment and focus was required from the community since bidding for Wikimania is like bidding for the Olympics, if we botch up, we put the country to shame. Rohini pointed out that another city like (Delhi) or Bangalore could bid. I mentioned that I had brought the topic up with community members across the country and there was consensus that no city is ready to take on something the scale of a Wikimedia as we currently stand.

Pradeep suggested that we should work at the grassroot levels instead, aiming at holding regular events locally for the next year, think of 2014 realistically and involving more people - starting with the photowalk. Everyone agreed to this.

wrt the W2013 concept, unfortunately due to the higher ambient sound I don't think everything discussed was captured. What I had said about it was that it would be a good idea to put in a bid, having learned from you how the bid for WCI was stewarded.

However, as a major constraint is the lack of committed volunteers with the freedom to be able to adjust their time to do whatever was necessary, and that this scenario has been witnessed in most places, it is important to put in a bid, and then publish a calendar of physical events (such as the first point, WTM 2). The action of these physical events will help ensure that sufficient fellowship is created to generate the kind of volunteering activity needed to make a bid like this meaningful. Of course the point you have documented, that such things should be done in any case, is also a key to building a more coherent and practical community.

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Vickram
Fool On The Hill