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,
KatieBeyond 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.)
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> 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.
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> 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.
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> Our next few locations will thus go like this:
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> * 2016: Western, Northern, and Southern Europe – Esino Lario in Italy
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> * 2017: Canada and United States – TBD
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> * 2018: TBD – TBD
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> * 2019: Western, Northern, and Southern Europe – TBD
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> * 2020: Canada and United States – TBD
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> * 2021: TBD – TBD
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> 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.
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> Thank you.
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> Yours,
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> --
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> James D. Forrester
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> Chair, Wikimania Committee
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