Hi Iolanda,

This is Reem from Egypt. Thank you for your email. I'm silently following the threads of emails about this. But would you please explain to me what do you mean by the following:

let’s be very clear: if the event is in Ghana, this does not mean that it is possible for a person from Senegal to afford his/her trip.

I'm not sure I understand why (maybe something is lost in translation as I'm a non-native speaker of EN) ^_^

Best,
Reem 

On 5 October 2015 at 18:58, Iolanda Pensa <iolanda@pensa.it> wrote:

dear all

the rotation we have set for Wikimania guarantees that at least once every three years we do not pick the easiest, cheapest and safest location. 

The reality is that US-Canada and Europe are the easiest and cheapest locations. Well, with Esino Lario we have done our best to assure some complexities, but in general organizing wikimania in Asia, Latin America, Africa and Australia is more challenging and more expensive for people who have the money to pay their travel to travel there (let’s be very clear: if the event is in Ghana, this does not mean that it is possible for a person from Senegal to afford his/her trip. If the event is in Europe, US and Canada it is much more likely that a person from there can afford his/her trip. Australia is an exception in many ways but in general it is expensive for the majority of the partcipants). 

I personally believe the real criteria to choose where to host Wikimania should be a positive impact. If organizing Wikimania in a location can bring resources (volunteers, brains, fundings, content...), boost projects, involve communities it does make sense to organize it there even if it is much more expensive than in other location. I personally believe our goal should not be to put our flag in a new location but to make the best impact where Wikimania takes place. And let’s get ready to invest more (money, time, difficulties) if it makes sense. 

Wikimania needs to change its selection process. My experience (and the experience of others) is that the current system is not a healthy system. We are putting teams one against the other and hurting people we do not want to hurt: we want everyone to win and to be involved in different capacities in the Wikimedia projects and in Wikimania. 

Montreal has been chosen because it is a very good site, with a very good team, a safe place, and for the first time in a francophone location; by selecting as rapidly as possible the venue for 2017 we provide the Montreal team enough time to prepare the event and we have time ourselves to discuss and establish a new process. 

The committee has met twice in the past three months and we were getting ready to announce the news. The delays are never positive and it is good that the topic is now at the centre of discussions. please do contribute to the process and the discussion about it also on meta to make sure its more easily recorded and accessible https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_selection_process 

iolanda / iopensa

member of the Wikimania Committee and volunteer for Wikimania Esino Lario

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--

Kind regards,
Reem Al-Kashif

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