Hi all,
2012 has been the second year that we have an international Wiki Loves Monuments competition, and it is quite a ride! While we're not finished yet with this years competition, it is probably good to look forward to 2013. A number of countries have indicated they would love to join next year. Some who have already participated this year, some who will be joining for the first time. Some who participated this year, but not to the extent they would have liked to.
But for a smooth organization, we will need a dedicated volunteer team for the international coordination. This year the team consisted from Maarten (Multichill), Elke (Elya), Tomasz (Odder) and myself with the valuable support of Barbara who was working from the Wikimedia Deutschland office. At least a few of this team have indicated that they are unlikely to help coordinate to the same level as this year.
Lets put it bluntly: without coordinating team, there will be no international competition for Wiki Loves Monuments in 2013. So the question is... are there any volunteers?
Maybe you wonder what this coordinating is all about. Most of it is stuff that others will never see. Talking with network partners, keeping track of status and documentation, a whole bunch of technical stuff in tool- and database maintenance and also a lot of knowledge transfer to local teams (chats, meetings, workshops). The time it costs can vary widely, but should not be underestimated (I think a few hundred hours is on the lower side). Of course the more skills and people, the less work per person.
Would you be interested? Just drop me a note or ask some questions on this list, in a chat or somewhere else. We don't need to make this decision right now - but if we want another WLM international - we will need to get started with budget requests pretty soon thanks to the more complicated budget allocation rules we're facing. I'm happy to help get that done - but only if I'm confident that there will be a great team once again :)
I'm looking forward to any questions or emails on this topic.
Best, Lodewijk (not on behalf of anyone)