<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div id="yiv293401291"><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: garamond,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div id="yiv293401291yui_3_2_0_16_131407931032148"><span id="yiv293401291yui_3_2_0_16_131407931032175">For 2012 and future Wikimanias I'm gathering this information on these holidays<br>that might overlap with Wikimanias in the summer. <br></span><span><br>From this conversation I saw the view expressed that with Ramadan it's better to avoid overlap <br>(as the 2012 dates do) and if there is an overlap there are some (not yet specified) actions<br>to make it easier on observant attendees. For some, Ramadan means avoiding daytime<br>food/drink/music/films it seems. Got it. <br><br>Regarding [[The Three Weeks]] and the Orthodox fasting period below I'm not
getting<br>a sense that there is a specific benefit from avoiding an overlap, or what actions the<br>conference organizers should take if an overlap is going to happen.<br><br></span><span id="yiv293401291yui_3_2_0_16_131407931032175"> If any of you have other specific action-oriented advice on what organizers should DO about potential<br>overlaps, which has not already been expressed in the emails, please email me.<br>(or post to the whole list, but the topic may have exhausted the interest of others). <br></span></div><div>We can't do all things perfectly but we can develop a list of the holiday conflicts and your collective<br>advice about managing them in advance of facing the problem again.<br><br>Thanks to Haifa team for trying hard and making such a good conference! -- peter<br id="yiv293401291yui_3_2_0_16_131407931032151"></div><div class="yiv293401291yui_3_2_0_16_131407931032152" id="yiv293401291yui_3_2_0_16_131407931032154"
style="font-family: garamond,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div id="yiv293401291yui_3_2_0_16_131407931032178" class="yiv293401291yui_3_2_0_16_131407931032157" style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> KIZU Naoko <aphaia@gmail.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> Wikimania general list (open subscription) <wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Tuesday, August 23, 2011 6:14 AM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [Wikimania-l] CD<br></font><br>Please remind Westerner friends, not only Muslims and Jews but also<br>some parts of Christianity also observe Fasting either early- or<br>mid-August, which is as severely observed as Great Lent before Pascha<br>(Easter). East Christianity observes this summer fasting
from August 1<br>to 15th, in honor of The Theotokos and her dormition, aka also Blessed<br>Virgin Mary. On the other hand, however I didn't remember no Greek, no<br>Serb, no Romanian or no Russian has complained the Wikimania<br>conferences have been held in this season.<br><br><POV><br>Personally it would be a challenge to decide how to observe the<br>fasting while one attends principally festive events, but then the<br>person he or she first counsel should their priests, neither the<br>organizing team or fellow Wikimedians. It's quite personal things<br>between the Lord and that person, even from friendly concern,
with<br>help of the church who is Corpus Christi herself and guided by the<br>Holy Spirit, no other people can intervene.</POV><br><br>I guess things might not be different upon our Jew or Muslim friends.<br>Some has come, others not, and if I recall correctly no one has<br>claimed the coincidental meeting of Ramadan and Wikimania. They have<br>their tongue and wisdom, if they felt it unease, they could speak on<br>their own behalf. I believe that our Muslim and Jew friends are not so<br>weak as they need someone else criticize without asking for.<br><br>Last but not least I'd thank the organizing team specially for their<br>kind treatment on Wednesday meals. Most of attendees might not have<br>noticed, they had changed the catering plan of that day in last<br>minutes, consequently which fulfilled Wednesday Fasting rule of<br>Eastern Orthodox completely, if meals are rightly selected. As a<br>person who was greatly helped by their attentive
preparation to all<br>addressed need, they did all their best, I would like to say.<br><br>Cheers,<br><br>On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 5:51 PM, Amir E. Aharoni<br><<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:amir.aharoni@mail.huji.ac.il" target="_blank" href="mailto:amir.aharoni@mail.huji.ac.il">amir.aharoni@mail.huji.ac.il</a>> wrote:<br>> Having Wikimania during Ramadan doesn't prevent people from attending.<br>> Out of memory, i can recall at least seven Muslim people, at least two<br>> of them from Israel, who attended Wikimania 2011. There were probably<br>> more. They had special requirements related to Islam and Ramadan and<br>> we fulfilled them. (Also, the driver of the tour bus on the Nazareth<br>> tour was Muslim and didn't eat or drink. It didn't seem like a big<br>> deal.)<br>><br>> That said, it is probably nice to try to plan Wikimania not to fall on<br>> the Ramadan, but it's far from being the biggest
problem.<br>><br>> There was at least
one person from Iran (strangely enough i didn't<br>> meet him myself, but other people on the team did). There were<br>> practicing Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Jews on Wikimania 2011, even<br>> though it fell on the [[The Three Weeks]]. At least two of them even<br>> attended some of the activities on Sabbath.<br>><br>> All in all, it is mostly a matter of motivation. Despite our best<br>> efforts, there were very few unfortunate cases when people didn't get<br>> visas or permits for Wikimania 2011 (not only from Muslim countries).<br>> Nearly all the people who asked to attend, did.<br>><br>> And please let me use this opportunity to personally salute the people<br>> who wanted to come and came in spite of the high cost, the political<br>> hurdles, the Israeli bureaucracy and their own country's bureaucracy.<br>> (The surprisingly weird bureaucracy of *commercial* travel agencies in<br>> some countries
deserves its own parentheses.) This good kind of<br>> stubbornness is in our spirit.<br>><br>><br>> 2011/8/22 Gerard Meijssen <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:gerard.meijssen@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:gerard.meijssen@gmail.com">gerard.meijssen@gmail.com</a>>:<br>>> Hoi,<br>>> Having Wikimania during Ramadan will prevent people from attending. The<br>>> dates for Wikimania next year are also likely during Ramadan.<br>>><br>>> One way of looking at the absence of the Muslim world is that in Alexandria<br>>> there was a sizable group from Israel. In the end it is about taking the<br>>> opportunity. The opportunity for most was there with the exception from for<br>>> instance our Iranian friends who are expressly forbidden to come.<br>>> Thanks,<br>>> Gerard<br>>><br>>> 2011/8/21 WereSpielChequers <<a rel="nofollow"
ymailto="mailto:werespielchequers@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:werespielchequers@gmail.com">werespielchequers@gmail.com</a>><br>>>> . . . . . However I don't think<br>>>> this was really a completely Global Wikimania. As some of us feared it would<br>>>> be, this was a Wikimania that largely missed the Muslim world. I don't think<br>>>> that this is the fault of the organisers, but clearly holding our annual<br>>>> conference in Israel during Ramadan was not the best
way to encourage people<br>>>> from Islamic countries to attend. I hope that in future we can make sure<br>>>> that Wikimania is more inclusive than that.<br>>>> WSC<br><br><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>