P.S. the usernames of the people who got the WMF and WMDE scholarships this year are public, here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Wikimania_scholars#2015_WMF_Schol...
On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 11:18 AM, Asaf Bartov abartov@wikimedia.org wrote:
I will help share the stories about programs in Africa as much as I can, during the event.
I wanted to add a thought about the scholarship process. There is no need to speculate how it's decided (e.g. the "visa problems" theory, which is certainly incorrect). The scholarships process is documented on the Wikimania site[1] and there's an FAQ document too[2] the *criteria* by which the volunteer committee[3] -- which only has one member from Mexico -- makes a decision are spelled out there[4].
The Wikimania scholarships are a competition between many deserving people for very few spots (91 scholarships from WMF, another 15 from WMDE, and a few from other sources). The *criteria* are what the committee uses to pick the people it would be *most* useful to send to Wikimania this year. What the committee does *not* do is make representational calculations like "not enough people from Africa" or "not enough women".
It is of course frustrating to not get this great opportunity. But there's always next year, and paying close attention to the criteria[4] (which I dare guess not all of you who applied did) and building your application to demonstrate how you meet them (if you do) would greatly increase your chances next time.
Cheers,
Asaf
[1] https://wikimania2015.wikimedia.org/wiki/Scholarships [2] https://wikimania2015.wikimedia.org/wiki/Scholarships/FAQ [3] https://wikimania2015.wikimedia.org/wiki/Scholarship_Committee [4] https://wikimania2015.wikimedia.org/wiki/Scholarships#Selection_criteria
On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 5:25 AM, Douglas Scott douglas.i.scott@gmail.com wrote:
Hello everyone,
Sorry for only replaying now. As both Isla and Theresa have mentioned I will indeed also be attending Wikimania this year (although I was only notified very recently that I would be attending). I would be happy to help but suspect that the easiest thing for us to do with regards to a stand would be to setup a small booth that does not need to be manned. Something with a flag, some local sweets, and some leaflets explaining more about us.
How does that sound?
Cheers,
Douglas.
On 17 June 2015 at 14:09, Florence Devouard anthere@anthere.org wrote:
-----> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Africa_Portal/Wikimania_2015
I started a page from scratch. Please :
- add your name if you are going to be there
- list there items you are willing to bring, OR ship, OR would like to
get printed (per Isla email)
Ant
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