On Feb 11, 2013 2:25 AM, "James Forrester" <james@jdforrester.org> wrote:

Oh, whoops. I moved the pre-amble down to be "notes", and somehow it's
back. My apologies.

Everything between "== Preamble ==" and "However, no real discussion
has taken place, and it's clear" can be ignored.

J.

On 10 February 2013 18:22, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton@gmail.com> wrote:
> I think this email has been corrupted...
>
> On Feb 11, 2013 2:15 AM, "James Forrester" <jdforrester@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> [Please note that I send this as a volunteer, and in no connexion to
>> the Wikimedia Foundation.]
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> == Preamble ==
>>
>> Last year, after some discussion on this list[0] and other places, I
>> felt we as a community had said we were unhappy with the traditional
>> ad-hoc system for selecting the location for each year's Wikimania,
>> and wanted something different, a process that involved the community
>> and was more transparent, clearer and possibly set out candidate areas
>> or countries rather than inviting interested bids alone. In the hope
>> that the community would self-organise along these lines, I haven't
>> done anything to re-run the existing system.
>>
>> However, no real discussion has taken place, and it's clear
>>
>>
>>
>> [0] -
>> http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimania-l/2011-November/003225.html
>> etc.
>>
>>
>> It's getting towards the end of November, which means it is time to
>> run the Wikimania bidding process for 2013[0].
>>
>> Given the traditional absence of a formal system, I'm putting myself
>> forward as Jury[1] co-ordinator - a non-voting person who helps the
>> Jury form and Bids get started up, sets the timeline[2], and hopefully
>> makes sure everything happens smoothly.
>>
>> In this role, I would like to make two requests:
>>
>> Firstly, I'm sure the whole Wikimedia community would love to see as
>> many good bids as possible. There are already a few bids[3] on Meta,
>> but if you or your local community are thinking about putting one in,
>> I'd urge you to get started now - there's not much time left before
>> new bids will not be accepted. Making a good bid for Wikimania can be
>> a lot of work, but we all benefit from there being a strong field of
>> bids.
>>
>>
>> Secondly, [Please note that I send this as a volunteer, and in no
>> connexion to the Wikimedia Foundation.]
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> I write again to ask for people to submit bids to host Wikimania in
>> 2014[0], and also to serve on the Jury to select which bid will be
>> chosen, in my traditonal .
>>
>>
>> == Request for bids ==
>>
>> As always, the whole Wikimedia community would love to see as many
>> good bids as possible. There are only two bids[1] on Meta, so if you
>> or your local community are thinking about putting one in, or
>> re-submitting one that is now withdrawn, I'd urge you to get started
>> right away - there is very little time left. Making a good bid for
>> Wikimania can be a lot of work, but we all benefit from there being a
>> strong field of bids.
>>
>> I have updated the timeline[2] to have an (extremely) foreshortened
>> pre-bidding process, which means that all provisional bids must be
>> created by 23:59 UTC 3 March 2013 at the latest - i.e., three weeks'
>> time from when this e-mail was written. I appreciate that this is
>> short notice, but it's very important to give the winning bid the time
>> to make a success, and the idea of bidding for Wikimanias should not
>> be completely new to everyone by now.
>>
>>
>> == Request for Jury volunteers ==
>>
>> I would like to invite volunteers to serve on the Wikimania 2014 Jury.
>> There is a list of general requirements on Meta[4], but to summarise:
>>
>> * The Jury will be mostly community volunteers with possibly some
>> Wikimedia Foundation staff or Board members;
>> * We of course want a mix of people from a diverse range of
>> backgrounds, sexes, cultures and regions of the world;
>> * We want to represent the community across the different projects and
>> activities;
>> * You can't be on the Jury if you are closely involved in a Bid (it's
>> a conflict of interest); and
>> * You need to have some free time during the selection period
>> (March-April).
>>
>> If you wish to be involved in the Jury, please e-mail me (off-list) at
>> jdforrester at gmail.com - I will announce the Jury in one week's
>> time, so please contact me immediately.
>>
>>
>> == Note ==
>>
>> Last year, after some discussion on the Wikimania list[4] and other
>> places, I felt we as a community had said we were unhappy with the
>> traditional ad-hoc system for selecting the location for each year's
>> Wikimania, and wanted something different, a process that involved the
>> community and was more transparent, clearer and possibly set out
>> candidate areas or countries rather than inviting interested bids
>> alone. In the hope that the community would self-organise along these
>> lines, I haven't done anything to re-run the existing system.
>>
>> However, no real discussion has taken place, and the process is now
>> four months overdue[5]. It's clear that a community-agreed system
>> won't magically snap into existence in the next few days.  I would
>> implore the community to work to establish a selection system for 2015
>> and beyond, but we cannot wait for 2014. Therefore, on the basis that
>> I've done this before, I am running the process for Wikimania 2014 as
>> before, as a non-voting organiser like the previous times. I would
>> hope that this is the last time.
>>
>>
>>
>> Please also consider passing this message on (and translating it!) for
>> your wiki's community forum for those that don't read these mailing
>> lists.
>>
>> Thank you, and good luck to all Bids.
>>
>>
>> [0] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2014
>> [1] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2014/Bids
>> [5] -
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2014_bid_selection_timeline?oldid=5233347
>> [3] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_jury
>> [4] -
>> http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimania-l/2011-November/003225.html
>> etc.
>> [5] -
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2014_bid_selection_timeline?oldid=5042528
>>
>> Yours,
>> --
>> James D. Forrester
>> jdforrester@gmail.com
>> [[Wikipedia:User:Jdforrester|James F.]] (speaking purely in a personal
>> capacity)
>>
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--
James D. Forrester
jdforrester@gmail.com
[[Wikipedia:User:Jdforrester|James F.]] (speaking purely in a personal capacity)

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