I think the Wikimania this year was well organized, the talks were diverse and the timing was swift, but I agree with Manuel that there seems to be different groups with diverging goals.
Perhaps it would make sense to think of Wikimania as an outreach event for people that are not in the movement, and put contributors in a separate event (as now happens with tech and representatives). That way we would have: - Wikimania: first timers, outreach, showcase, invited speakers - Wikicontributors (?): to discuss collaboration, build consensus, learn, and share more advanced knowledge - Hackathons: for advanced tech contributors - WikiCon: for representatives
Some coordination discussions need a long time, and it is not very wise to put it all together in the same event, because everyone is rushing from one talk to the next without getting any in-depth knowledge. And some other would have been more productive if instead we would have focused on teaching how certain tools work before having the discussion... specially regarding sister projects (wikidata, wikisource, wikibooks, etc), that after so many years some contributors don't know very well what they are about because nobody cared to explain it to them and walk them through the edition basics.
In Amical Wikimedia we have planned to organize an internal conference so each editor can show others the projects they are working with, how to use the tools, etc. I think it could be worth thinking of this as potential international event too.
Cheers, Micru
On Wed, Aug 13, 2014 at 9:29 PM, Manuel Schneider < manuel.schneider@wikimedia.ch> wrote:
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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