<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">
<div>I agree that it is indeed strange that taipei and buenos aires are considered more accessible destinations than australia. The "over-representation" is the same thing that happens in elite sport (e.g. Olympics) where we always punch above our weight. I think we should think of this as a positive and see the quotes that I pulled as positive rather than negative. We are a special case and that is a good thing! People take notice of us and this bodes well for how much WM-AU can achieve. Remember that the only two times the Olympics have come to the Southern Hemisphere have been to Australia!</div><div><br></div><div>So, moving to practical matters:</div><div><br></div><div>part 1 - </div><div><br></div><div>Well, if we do indeed decide to do a national event of some sorts I think there are two directions we could take it: Internal or External. </div><div><br></div><div>1) Internal - a.k.a "Capacity Building"</div><div>This would be focused on the existing wiki community with other related groups (e.g. Linux Australia or OLPC Australia). The idea would be to improve the technical expertise of Australian Wikimedians both on-wiki (with workshops on media-wiki, illustration, copyright etc.) and off-wiki (with workshops on fundraising, the australian non-profit space etc.) and some things that cross over both (such as dealing with the Australian OTRS queue). The added value of being able to meet and share experiences in the real world can also not be underestimated. </div><div><br></div><div>2) External - a.k.a. "Outreach"</div><div>This would be a different focus - one which looked at expanding our 'presence' in the australian scene. It would be about explaining to people who are not wikimedians about who we are and what we are here for. This would be to educate several key groups: the media, academics, single interest groups, cultural institutions. The media often mis-represents us but is also very interested in working with us because of how we make their research job so much easier. Academics also have a love/hate relationship with wikimedia [this is my particular area of interest]. Single interest groups - i'm thinking of people such as the world-class amateur astronomy Australia produces - need to be introduced to how sharing their passion through our projects can be achieved. Finally, cultural institutions such as museums, libraries and galleries are aware of our common aim of public education but don't know how to tie-in to what we do. </div><div><br></div><div>Both of these types of events would be difficult to achieve but also very valuable to the chapter (and the projects as a whole). But I think we would need to be clear about the purpose of the event as these two purposes cross over somewhat at Wikimania - we should start with one at a time. </div><div><br></div><div>End of part 1 - please comment on this dichotomy. </div><div><br></div><div>Part 2 -</div><div><br></div><div>As for how we might do this, it is currently my opinion (although I'm willing to have this opinion changed :-) that we should start with the former - working on as small a budget as possible - and then proceed to the latter which should be done with sponsorship and try to look snazzy. This greatly resembles Brianna's "three tier" approach of going local>national>global but this is more internal(national)>external(national)>global. </div><div><br></div><div>I propose that we try to hold two sessions of the first type (capacity building) - one in Melbourne and one in Sydney. Perhaps one of these could even be at the same time as the AGM. My hope would be that people offer to share their spare sofas/foldout beds and return the favour in the other direction. This would greatly cut down on the cost of accommodation (I'm still working on how to cut down on the cost of travel...). Along the lines of a bar-camp everyone would be encouraged to participate not just sit and watch. We don't have to all present or lead a session but we should all be engaged in growing our own skills and knowledge and sharing the knowledge that we do have to others. This would be a highly practical event that I imagine would go for 2 days 3 nights. </div><div><br></div><div>The second of the events would be held in an attempt to show ourselves to Australia. This would require an impressive venue and go for a day. We would invite people from the aforementioned areas of interest and run it like a mini conference. There would hopefully be sessions specifically tailored to each group (media, academic etc.). If we hadn't already launched an official presence by then (e.g. a Blog and website) then this would be the time. This would require sponsorship and proper planning. </div><div>Perhaps these different groups require such a different approach that they should be dealt with at different times, different events etc. </div><div><br></div><div>I wrote to Cary Bass (volunteer coordinator on the foundation staff in San Fran.) today on Skype and asked him about that discussion on the IRC chat that was posted here regarding board/staff visiting us in Australia. He said that yes indeed they would come - but we would have to provide airfares. So, the more we raise and allocate to that, the more people who would come from overseas. So, apart from actually developing our skills, experience and public awareness this would be the other factor in getting wikimania - having the foundation come to visit!</div><div><br></div><div>end of part 2. please comment on this practical application proposal. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>All in all, I think I've written too much today! Sorry for being so verbose. </div><div><br></div><div>Best, </div><div>-Liam Wyatt</div><div><br></div><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>wikipediaweekly.com</div><div>Skype - Wittylama</div><div>Wikipedia - [[User:Witty lama]]</div></div></div></div></div><div><br></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div><br><div><div>On 21/08/2008, at 6:33 PM, Craig Franklin wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">Yes, I understand now why I was fobbed off by multiple members of the jury at the time when I asked what the main issues were with the Brisbane bid! I'm disappointed, but not too surprised Its especially disappointing given that it was more or less agreed that we are "over-represented", because I really think that the AU community punches above its weight in terms of being strong contributors to the project. Especially because there seems to be the impression that Egypt and Buenos Aires (which are fantastic destinations, don't get me wrong) are somehow "more accessible".</font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">I was very enthusiastic about actually making the bid for 2010, but now I'm not so sure. If we're just going to be dismissed out-of-hand by a bid committee dominated by North Americans and Europeans, I guess we should realise that we're not wanted and direct our energies to something more constructive. If we're going to do a regional conference though (even with the board), I guess we should really ask ourselves what the purpose of such a gathering would be before we do anything else - while a meeting with all of you would be great I'm sure on a social level, I'm not sure that there's that much that would be achieved from getting us all together in the one room that we couldn't do through teleconferencing or on-wiki collaboration.</font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div> <div>-------------------<br>Craig Franklin<br>PO Box 1093<br>Toombul, Q, 4012<br>Australia<br><a href="http://www.halo-17.net">http://www.halo-17.net</a> - Australia's Favourite Source of Indie Music, Art, and Culture.</div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <blockquote style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <div style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </div> <div style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><b>From:</b> <a title="liamwyatt@gmail.com" href="mailto:liamwyatt@gmail.com">Liam Wyatt</a> </div> <div style="FONT: 10pt arial"><b>To:</b> <a title="wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org" href="mailto:wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org">Wikimedia-au</a> </div> <div style="FONT: 10pt arial"><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, August 20, 2008 6:16 PM</div> <div style="FONT: 10pt arial"><b>Subject:</b> [personal] Re: [Wikimediaau-l] Wikimania 2010 bid idea: joint-bid with iSummit?</div> <div><br></div>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><br>-- <br><a href="http://wikipediaweekly.com">wikipediaweekly.com</a><br>Skype - Wittylama<br>Wikipedia - [[User:Witty lama]] <div> <br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><hr><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div>_______________________________________________<br>Wikimediaau-l mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org">Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br>https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l<br></blockquote><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">_______________________________________________</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Wikimediaau-l mailing list</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="mailto:Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org">Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l">https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l</a></div> </div><br></body></html>