On Thu, Aug 7, 2008 at 15:50, Sean Whitton <sean(a)silentflame.com> wrote:
On Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 20:09, Hani Morsi
<hani.morsi(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Those of you in the "First world" are
living where innovation, access and
decent standards of living are already existent, and most politicians are
already doing a pretty good job of messing up the world, so what openness do
you speak of if cultural bridges are not built at the grassroots level? Why
would we let our personal biases, ethnocentrism and fears of the different
or uncomfortable cloud our visions of amazing opportunities for the
promotion of potential platforms of global understanding? You can edit and
read wikipedia all you like, you can be an open knowledge activist, or an
arm chair promoter of openness, but if you shy away from going out and
bumping your head against another culture/people/environment, dealing with,
absorbing and learning from whatever is different in the process, then you
should ask yourself if whatever you are doing is really meaningful. It is
very simple really, you either go or you don't, but you will never really
know unless you go. The way I see it, talk all you like about promotion of
openness, freedom and access in conferences in the "First World", but if
you're serious about it, go where it really matters now, go to the
South/Third World/developing world...whatever you would like to call it. If
you feel that uncomfortable with it, that is understandable and you should
stay home or go somewhere similar to home, just don't call yourself and
advocate of openness. To you, it is probably just it's just a hobby :),
which is still fine by me.
I would like to contest this attitude that dedication to the various
ideals we all hold as Wikimedians is only serious if people are
willing to travel in the way you describe. Sure, there is a lot to be
gained from such exposure, and I don't deny it. But not everyone is as
brave as we might like, and for some such a trip is a lot more
difficult than it is for others. I don't know if I could do it. But
that doesn't mean that I am any less devoted than people who have been
to the ideals of freedom that we are aiming to spread. I'm just not as
good at travelling as they are :-)
I think that there is truth in both visions, actually. Being a
seasoned traveler myself, in all kinds of settings (from sleeping
under a tarp in a wild canyon far away from civilization to staying in
5 stars hotels), I can understand both Majorly's and Hani's vision of
"travelling" and meeting the world and I believe I understand both
their reactions.
I agree with you Sean, though, that there is no such strong relation
between being "open" in the sense of our projects and being "open" to
travel around the world and attend a conference. They are simply two
different things.
What I think was the point here, is not so much *where* Wikimania was,
but rather what expectations were formed as to how the Wikimania
team(s) could help the attendees.
To some extent, I believe those expectations were simply wrong. I
believe that some attendees were simply expecting too much from a
conference organizing team to start with. A conference, wiki or not,
is not a travelling agency that takes care of everything and makes
sure you're accompanied all day long in your ventures. Mind you, I
also believe that we (the Wikimania team) probably raised expectations
a bit too much, pressured by a somewhat controversed welcome of
Wikimania in Egypt in the first place, as well as the "wiki" spirit of
collaboration. Sometimes, you have to learn to say "sorry, we can't"
and that's something we did not do well.
I have read everyone's comments with interest, whether negative or
positive, and my conclusion is that Wikimania, as any other travel
destination/conference/event-some-place-other-than-home will never
(ever) satisfy everyone, and it is good so. Because diversity does not
only mean "people from everywhere with different backgrounds in a
different place", it also means "people with different life
experiences and opinions". Frankly, I would be very sad if Wikimania
ever prompted any kind of NPOV at the end of it, for lack of strong
feelings and opinions about it. I'd say that's where we've started to
fail.
So thank you all for your comments, and know that adventure can be
around your street corner. Also.
Cheers,
Delphine
--
~notafish
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