Hi Loic!
That is of course unfortunate that it didn't work as planned. Maybe if we can get more people signed up for Wikiprojects it would make it easier to get more specialised sessions organised. Or even plan separate events. Especially for free software it might also make sense to have a workshop and booth at open source conferences. The data from Wikidata could be very useful for example to the freedesktop initiative, so there would be a lot of synergies.
-tobias
Hi,
A short mail to report a bug in the organization of the wikidata workshop held today during the wikiconvention in Paris[1]. Weeks in advance I convinced a few people to attend so that we can work on our topic of interest: Software and Free Software in particular[2]. There is no better context than being surrounded by seasoned wikidata contributors to improve and contribute at the same time. The description was appealing:
"After a one hour training, we will create groups according to the desire of the participants: contribute, discover and install useful gadgets..."
When the audience was asked for their preferences, I raised my hand and happily declared "Contributing to the Software and FLOSS projects !". Much to my surprise this was quickly dismissed: "we're only going to learn about tools, we create groups to use and learn about tools, not to work on a specific project". My interest for the Software project is known to both Harmonia Amanda and Ash_Crow, to the extent that I discussed with them my intent to recruit people to participate in the workshop for that particular topic[3], well in advance. The focus of our interest was also made clear in the participant list[4].
Of course the rebuttal was not enough to discourage us from contributing to wikidata :-) We found another room and did useful work together, just without the pleasure of being part of the group.
When facing such a minor disappointment, I suppose there is not much cause for concern. But I thought it would be useful to report what appears to be a glitch in the organization so that it can be fixed. This is not a pleasant thing to write or read, but what would be life without a few mistakes ?
In conclusion I would like to thank everyone for a wonderful first experience, specially Harmonia Amanda and Ash_Crow who do a tremendous work with wikidata.
Cheers
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiConvention_ francophone/2016/Programme/ Atelier_de_formation_%C3%A0_ Wikidata
[2] https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_ https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Informatics/Software Wikidata:WikiProject_ Informatics/FLOSS
[3] 15 july 2016 <dachary> Ash_Crow: pour https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiConvention_ nous serons au moins trois avec pour centre d'intérêt https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/francophone/2016/Programme/ Atelier_de_formation_%C3%A0_ Wikidata Wikidata:WikiProject_ et https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Informatics/FLOSS Wikidata:WikiProject_ . J'espère convaincre deux autres personnes mais c'est pas gagné ... l'attrait des vacances...Informatics/Software
[4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiConvention_ francophone/2016/Programme/ Atelier_de_formation_%C3%A0_ Wikidata#Participants_int.C3. A9ress.C3.A9s_.28inscrivez- vous_ci-dessous_et_posez_d.C3. A8s_.C3.A0_pr.C3.A9sent_vos_ questions_.C3.A0_l. 27organisateur_de_la_session. 29
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Loïc Dachary, Artisan Logiciel Libre
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