Hi Matthias,
good points. I think it would be really cool if we could accommodate all
features in one big conference.
My personal experience is a bit different, though.
Last year I wrote a mail summarising some of my thoughts on this (in
german):
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/vereinat-l/2013-March/001464.html
We do have several events on different levels and with different goals
already in place.
* local events
** meet-up
** working meetings (Wiki Takes ...)
* regional events
** WikiCon
** Workshops
* international events
** Wikimania
** Wikimedia Conference aka. "Chapters Meeting"
not all meet-up regulars in the target area of WikiCon has visited it.
Not all WikiCon participants are interested in Wikimania.
WikiCon has much more "workshop character" on a high level: good talks,
working groups, racking brains together, energizing each other, exchange
ideas, start new projects etc...
Wikimania has been like this in the start but with an ever growing
community with many organizations in the Wikiversum and international
diversity it has become much more strategical and political.
I do not want to miss Wikimania but it is not a "working meeting"
anymore ("working" as in "creating content") in contrast to a
WikiCon.
The most interesting part of Wikimania are all the ad-hoc meetings which
happen in the hallways, at lunch etc. Apart from this it's the exchange
of several groups, like tech meet-ups, chapters meetings etc.
A Wikimania is a marathon of meetings and sessions. I can only make it
to a hand full of sessions in a Wikimania because of all these other
ad-hoc meetings.
There has been a discussion following on Wikimania reports who should
attend a Wikimania and what the use for the local community is.
My thoughts on this (in the same mail linked above) where that there are
two main participant groups for Wikimania:
* first-timers who mostly benefit personally from attending Wikimania -
like learning about the international movement, make new contacts,
better understand what our movement is (especially those who have only
worked in their local language project before and don't know anything
else - opening their eyes)
* representatives who have certain tasks and goals for their
participation in Wikimania
Regards,
Manuel
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Wikimedia CH - Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens
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