Hi, Evgenia.
Yes, I would be happy to meet with the General Secretary if it would
help the community bring some issues we care about to the ministry! By all
means, let's start that page to plan what we want to say, and gather good
examples from other countries etc. And yes, it would be appropriate to
inform the community this is planned.
Our travel assistant is looking into my travel arrangements right now
(I'll probably be landing on Apr 11th, leaving on the 16th), but if you
have hotel recommendations I'd be happy to hear. The two main factors are:
it needs to be reasonably frugal -- no five star hotels, no need for any
special facilities (spa etc.) -- and reasonably practical, i.e. close to
where most meetings would be likely held, especially considering Athens's
famous traffic congestion. :)
A.
On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 7:54 AM, Αχρήστης <wikieugenia(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Asaf,
Sorry for bothering you by e-mail but I am not sure if this is a
question up to you (& the foundation) or up to the greek wikimedian
community as well:
-Would you be interested in having a meeting with the General Secretary
of the Greek Ministry of Education (Athanassios Kyriazis) in the scope of
public relations, cooperation, or lobbying (concerning freedom of panorama,
public domain issues etc)?
I am currently working for the Greek Ministry of education and I can
make a first contact with his office next week to see whether he would be
interested as well. I have to know in advance if you/we are interested
because i will have to be sure before making any contact with his office.
And (if no-one else volunteers for the task) I am eager to help you
prepare the meeting by opening a page in greek wikipedia with potential
proposals concerning the ministry and making a brief report in english for
you. In case you feel that the community should be informed before
commiting in seeing him, we will address the issue as soon as possible.
+If you need any arrangements about your staying in Athens, there is a
wikipedian that we can contact in order to help you. :)
sincerely
Evgenia (user: Αχρήστης)
2013/3/1 Glavkos Xaon <glavkos(a)gmail.com>
> Hi Asaf,
> we are excited that we are going finally to meet you in
> Athens in the mid of April.
> I just created a page on ELWP which we can use to coordinate our
> meeting. Here it is:
>
http://bit.ly/XI9GPa
>
> All the best,
> Nikos Papadimoulis , aka Glavkos
>
> 2013/3/1 Asaf Bartov <abartov(a)wikimedia.org>
>
>> Thanks, everyone!
>>
>> It's settled, then! :) I'll be booking my flights in the next
>> couple of days and will let you know as soon as I've made them. The plan
>> is to arrive on the 11th and leave on the 15th or 16th. Let's start a page
>> to plan this together. Would a page on Meta be okay? If you prefer, I'm
>> happy to do this on ELWP as well -- just send me a link.
>>
>> I look forward to seeing you! :)
>>
>> A.
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 10:11 PM, Focal Point
<focalpointx(a)gmail.com>wrote;wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Asaf,
>>>
>>> After discussion in the Agora from 23 until 27 Feb, there are 5
>>> positive answers from registered members of the wikipedia commnity
>>> (FocalPoint, Ttzavaras, Pyraechmes, Glavkos, geraki), of which one
>>> (Pyraehmes) finds it difficult to attend because of distance and other
>>> obligations.
>>> Αχρήστης initiated the discussion, and I suppose that she will also
>>> answer positively.
>>>
>>> Discussion up to now concerning organization of events is for:
>>> *a wikipedians informal meeting
>>> *a one-day conference (space is secured)
>>> *or both
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> FocalPoint
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Feb 28, 2013 at 2:03 AM, Glavkos Xaon
<glavkos(a)gmail.com>wrote;wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi all,
>>>> I surely can arrange a leave to visit Athens for this
>>>> meeting. I can be there for the weekend and probably earlier (on
11th/12th
>>>> of April). Certainly I am also willing to do what it takes to support
the
>>>> meeting and help in organizing the needed details before and throughout
>>>> the event(s).
>>>>
>>>> All the best,
>>>> Nikos Papadimoulis
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 2013/2/28 Asaf Bartov <abartov(a)wikimedia.org>
>>>>
>>>>> That works for me. I could arrive on the 10th/11th, and we can
>>>>> set up meeting before, during and just after the weekend, as
appropriate.
>>>>> Then I can leave for Milan on the 16th.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'd like a couple more people to confirm that this would work
for
>>>>> the community, and then I can go ahead with the arrangements and we
can
>>>>> take our time planning how to make the best of my visit.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>
>>>>> A.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 1:55 PM, Tassos Tzavaras <
>>>>> tzavarastassos(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hello everybody. I would suggest the date of 13-14th April,
>>>>>> since the 27 - 28 is the beginning of Easter period in Greece and
possibly
>>>>>> many of us will be absent on Easter vacations (including
myself). We look
>>>>>> forward to see you in Greece and have a face to face conversation
for our
>>>>>> Community here. Thanks in advance,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Tassos Tzavaras
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi, folks.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The answer is _yes_, I can make those dates, but I need to know
>>>>>> by Friday if possible, as we're making arrangements for
Milan, and I need
>>>>>> to know how to book my flights there.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm happy to answer any questions, of course, and to plan
the
>>>>>> particulars of my visit with you.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Asaf
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 12:14 AM, Konstantinos Stampoulis <
>>>>>> geraki(a)geraki.gr> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hello Asaf.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> To keep you informed, there is a conversation about your
visit
>>>>>>> in Greece, in Wikipedia's Agora (Village Pump):
>>>>>>>
http://goo.gl/k9xRo
>>>>>>> So, it is not that we are not interested for your visit, but
we
>>>>>>> still talk if a conference for the general audience should be
organised on
>>>>>>> the occasion or just do some community meetings.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> A question I have: Since you will be in Italy at 18-21
April,
>>>>>>> you must extend your trip for some days to be in Greece for
at least a
>>>>>>> weekend. Can you extend it for enough days to be here at
13-14th or 27-28th
>>>>>>> of April? Any community meeting should be on a weekend.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I'm posting this mail to WikiEL mailing list (I think
you are
>>>>>>> already a member) so that it will be more open, and we can
link to your
>>>>>>> mails.
>>>>>>> I suggest that all cc'd users subscribe to it.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Konstantinos Stampoulis
>>>>>>> geraki(a)geraki.gr
>>>>>>>
http://www.geraki.gr
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 2013/2/20 Asaf Bartov <abartov(a)wikimedia.org>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Hi, folks.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I haven't heard back from you in a while. What are
your
>>>>>>>> current thoughts about my proposed visit to Greece?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> As a reminder, I was thinking of visiting for the
following
>>>>>>>> goals and activities:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 1. to meet with as many of you as possible and learn
from you
>>>>>>>> about the state of the community, your personal projects
and plans, the
>>>>>>>> obstacles you face.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 2. to do one or more development workshops for the
community
>>>>>>>> in Greece -- i.e. discussion and (two-way!) experience
sharing toward
>>>>>>>> growing the Wikimedia community and its reach in Greece.
We could discuss
>>>>>>>> whatever problems or challenges you feel would be most
valuable to work on.
>>>>>>>> Some examples might be: representation (who gets to
speak for Wikipedia in
>>>>>>>> Greece? How?); creating partnerships (how? when? with
whom?); how to live
>>>>>>>> with (and without?) community conflict, etc.
>>>>>>>> (I have extensive program experience in the movement,
including
>>>>>>>> as a former board member of a local chapter, as well as
experience with
>>>>>>>> volunteer recruitment and management outside the
movement, from other
>>>>>>>> projects I've been involved with as a volunteer over
the years.)
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 3. to help your group secure meetings with potential
>>>>>>>> partners, in case an official representative of the
Foundation, or just "a
>>>>>>>> visitor from the US", would help get a first meeting
with people like
>>>>>>>> university rectors, mayors, etc.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 4. if helpful, do public speaking (in English,
unfortunately)
>>>>>>>> about Wikipedia in general public occasions or at
universities. In
>>>>>>>> general, I think it's better for local volunteers to
do public speaking,
>>>>>>>> but again, if an international guest would bring a larger
audience or
>>>>>>>> something, I'm happy to help. We can also think
about a joint presentation
>>>>>>>> -- one of you speaking in Greek about the Greek community
and about
>>>>>>>> Wikipedia particulars, and I giving a broader view of the
movement,
>>>>>>>> international activities, and maybe one or two of the
sister projects.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> All of this is just an outline of what a visit _can_
be.
>>>>>>>> What it _would_ be really depends on planning work
we'd need to put into
>>>>>>>> this (i.e. actually securing meetings, lectures, picking
dates, etc.), and
>>>>>>>> most of that work would best be done by Greek-speaking
locals... So it's
>>>>>>>> really up to you.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Concretely, I am traveling to Milan, Italy for the
Wikimedia
>>>>>>>> Conference 2013 in mid-April, and would be able to come
to
>>>>>>>> Greece before/after it, _but if so_, we need to start
making arrangements
>>>>>>>> for this very soon. If you'd like me to visit but
can't spare the time to
>>>>>>>> prepare, or just want it to be later, that's fine,
and I can make a
>>>>>>>> separate trip to Greece later in the year.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> If, in the meantime, you have come to the conclusion a
visit
>>>>>>>> would not be very useful or appropriate now, that's
fine too, and please
>>>>>>>> don't hesitate to say so if that's the case.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Asaf
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Asaf Bartov
>>>>>> Wikimedia Foundation
<http://www.wikimediafoundation.org>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely
>>>>>> share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
>>>>>>
https://donate.wikimedia.org
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Asaf Bartov
>>>>> Wikimedia Foundation <http://www.wikimediafoundation.org>
>>>>>
>>>>> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share
>>>>> in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
>>>>>
https://donate.wikimedia.org
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
http://wikimedia.gr/wiki/
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Asaf Bartov
>> Wikimedia Foundation <http://www.wikimediafoundation.org>
>>
>> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share
>> in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
>>
https://donate.wikimedia.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
>
http://wikimedia.gr/wiki/
>
--
Asaf Bartov
Wikimedia Foundation <http://www.wikimediafoundation.org>
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share
in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!