I can understand this very well, I would feel the same. I had refrained from filing a submission this year, because I would give a talk and lead a discussion with my inadequate English language abilitys, but I would not have this documented on video, which is absolutely mandatory for all submissions for the first time this year.

I understand that the non-participants want to be able to reproduce all sessions on video. But on the other hand this present urge to stream and/or record absolutely every event, in my opinion has the effect, that more and more participants refusing to play an active part in the program.

This is a conflict that is apparently often overlooked or taken too lightly.
 
Regards,
Steffen
 


2014-04-03 21:41 GMT+02:00 Lodewijk <lodewijk@effeietsanders.org>:
I think it is a mostly personal decision, that depends more on the person than on the audience. 

In general, my experience is that Germans underestimate their English abilities. But not sure if that is helpful. 

Lodewijk


2014-03-30 12:51 GMT+02:00 rupert THURNER <rupert.thurner@gmail.com>:

Hi lodewijk,

Good to hear! All the non native English speakers from institutions i spoke to (admitted, this is not hundreds) have basically the same concern: the conference is huge, a panel is somehow prominent resp the persons sitting on the panel are kind of exposed, the result is uploaded to youtube. There was one suggestion to just schedule it in a less formal open discussion style at the end of the glam track. This then would give the persons a possibility to anyway participate without beeing so much exposed. What you think?

Rupert.

Am 29.03.2014 00:38 schrieb "Lodewijk" <lodewijk@effeietsanders.org>:


>
> Hi Rupert,
>
> this sounds like something the panel organizer has to arrange for. Last year in the WLM panel, we also had a panel member from Latin America with similar doubts - and we asked a Wikimedian from Latin America to translate for them. It is not an optimal situation, but it can be done. 
>
> Lodewijk
>
>
> 2014-03-25 19:42 GMT+01:00 rupert THURNER <rupert.thurner@gmail.com>:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Would there be any possibility ro have simultaneous translation at the glam podium discussion? The person whom we asked from the swiss national library refused to take part as his English would not be up to a level allowing him to sufficiently contribute. This would be German - English.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Rupert
>>
>>
>>