I am not convinced this is a good idea, given this
definition of regions.
Eastern Europe should definitely be considered along with western,
southern, ... It is pretty cheap to travel there from elsewhere in europe,
probably venue + accommodations are cheaper, and most important we have
significant communities there with track record of organising regional
conferences.
I would also be tempted to include north Africa and middle east with
europe. (after all, the next European hackathon is being held in Israel)
I also think having wikimania in Canada + US every three years is too
often. The visa process for the US is hugely annoying, difficult and
results in excluding attendees.
Also, while great and important to have wmf support for wikimania, imho it
is important that ultimate leadership for wikimania each year is from
volunteers. I am not sure the volunteer community in the US + Canada has
this capacity to be lead organizer every three years. Maybe once every four
years is reasonable, imho.
Also, stuff like accommodations tends to be a bit expensive in the US
compared to elsewhere, and flights within north America (especially Canada)
are also somewhat pricey in my experience.
Likewise, accommodation in western, northern and southern Europe is also
pretty expensive.
I'll agree that having US/Canada hold the conference every three years is a
bad idea for the community, even if convenient for the WMF and their staff.
Cheers,
Katie
Beyond the first two areas, we may not visit some as often as others. (I
have not listed Antarctica as an area to which we will rotate, which may
well be a disappointment to members of the British Antarctic Survey and
others in that location.)
More widely, we would like to encourage Wikimedia conferences as open,
engaging
and fun community meetups, alongside the annual Wikimania
conference. I know that several chapters run country-specific conferences
each year, which is a good move. I think that there should be at least one
annual Wikimedia conference in each of these areas. This would help newer
editors know that there are people like them nearby without requiring the
existence of, or putting too great a demand on, every national chapter or
other local affiliated body. In some areas like Africa where the distances
are great, multiple regional conferences may make sense.
As part of the new system of location selection, we will no longer have
a
'bidding' process. Instead, the Committee invites people interested in
leading or helping to run a Wikimania to contact us on-wiki, or via the
wikimania-l list. If you think that you know a great team, venue or concept
for holding Wikimania, in your area or anywhere else, please discuss the
possibilities with us. We will work with interested community members to
narrow down the selection to a particular venue.
Our next few locations will thus go like this:
* 2016: Western, Northern, and Southern Europe – Esino Lario in Italy
* 2017: Canada and United States – TBD
* 2018: TBD – TBD
* 2019: Western, Northern, and Southern Europe – TBD
* 2020: Canada and United States – TBD
* 2021: TBD – TBD
As you can see, as well as picking the 2017 venue in Canada or the
United States,
for which we have a candidate lined up, we need to select
very quickly the area for 2018, and after that, 2019 and beyond. There are
several areas we’ve outlined above that have never had a Wikimania, and
others where we have not visited for some time. We would love your thoughts
on the areas on which we should focus for 2018 and beyond. We’ll also be
asking in future for your thoughts about how to structure the programme of
each Wikimania to make it as good as it can be for you, for others, and for
our community overall.
Thank you.
Yours,
--
James D. Forrester
Chair, Wikimania Committee
_______________________________________________
Wikimania-l mailing list
Wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
_______________________________________________
Wikimania-l mailing list
Wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l