well, with phrases like:<br>- "The Australian problem" <br>- Australians being "
unusually over-represented on our projects"<br>-.au people are disadvantaged.<br><br>I can see where a society can start to develop an inferiority complex!<br><br>I disagree with them that it would be a good idea to have an australia-specific scholarship fund - we are in no more need than New Zealand or any other nation that happens to be far away from the wikimania of that year. I can see us being looked down upon by the rest of the world for being considered a special case (especially since we're a developed country). I certainly not want scholarships to be given out as a consolation prize or as hush-money to stop us from applying for the conference. Any application - no matter where it is from - should stand or fall on its own merits!<br>
<br>I personally do not think Australia will get it this year for one main reasons:<br>- they've not been to either N.America nor Europe for 3 years (by 2010) and the vast majority of regular participants to wikimania are from there. <br>
- there are three bids from Europe lining up that look like they'll all be very strong.<br clear="all">The rotation thing was never an official policy and in no way do we "deserve" to have this. No country is "owed" a wikimania. - I'm not saying that anyone has said this, but after a while we might start to think along these lines. This is where Turin ended up, and Vancouver to a degree. <br>
<br>I would dearly love to see Wikimania in Australia. But I think we should be pushing for 2011 instead. There, I said it. If we do indeed have a bid, I will support it and help wherever possible - I'm not going to play the spoiler like that. But if we spend the intervening year building our capacity and experience - especially by hosting a national conference of some sorts (where we invite the board etc. as suggested in that IRC discussion) then we'd have:<br>
a) a much better chance becuase we'd have "runs on the board"<br>b) better knowledge of where we are strong and relatively weak which would make for an improved bid and ultimately improved conference.<br>c) a stronger Australian community. Starting with building the Chapter. <br>
<br>We need to work UP to wikimania, not start with it. I believe that Brianna's 3 step plan formulated last year is still our best model and, despite our best efforts, I think we'll be barking up the wrong tree trying to justify the costs of hosting wikimania here before we can show there is a demand, local capabilities and skill capacity. <br>
<br>Like I said, I will support the consensus, but this is what I think. <br>Yours in Wikiness, <br>-Liam Wyatt<br><br>-- <br><a href="http://wikipediaweekly.com">wikipediaweekly.com</a><br>Skype - Wittylama<br>Wikipedia - [[User:Witty lama]]