[Wikimania Committee] Wikimania 2018 - Wikimania-l

24 Jul 2016


      Dear all
Please find below a message from the Wikimania committee regarding 
Wikimania 2017. This message was written by our Chair, James Forrester, 
according to the committee discussions and decisions during our last 
meeting in Esino.
Our chair seems to be ''missing in action'' at the moment, hence my 
sending the message because :
1) the meeting already occurred a month ago and it is best to publish 
whilst it is not completely outdated...
2) time is running... the earlier we decide the location for Wikimania 
2018, the better.
I will nevertheless add that this statement is only issued by the 
Wikimania Committee and that Ellie is seeking input, feedback as well as 
position from WMF at the moment.
Flo
------------
All,
At Wikimania 2016, the Wikimania Committee[0] met. The minutes of the 
meeting are published on meta.[1]
We have listened to a lot of community members, both those present at 
Wikimania 2016 and more widely, and decided overall that, given there 
was strong desire for holding Wikimania every year, we should continue 
to do so. This means that we need to pick a team and location for 
hosting Wikimania in July/August 2018 soon.
The Committee would like to ensure that Wikimania is accessible across 
the world for the Wikimedia movement’s editors. Because of this, we are 
in favour of balancing events in North America and Europe, where many of 
our communities are centred, with the rest of the world. We are not 
planning to just “rotate” to venues chosen out of a hat, however. The 
most important part of a successful Wikimania is a local, passionate 
team of Wikimedians who want to make it a great event for the community.
We are now looking for proposals of teams and locations. This is not a 
bidding process; we are keen for this to be a light-weight, simple 
request for suggestions. You don’t need to have a venue locked down, 
contracts drafted or sponsors lined up. You can have a quick look at the 
“judging criteria” which were used for 2016,[2] but the key part is 
commitment. In deciding where to hold conferences, we have to take into 
account additional factors about potential sites such as cost, 
accessibility, and security. If your team want to host Wikimania, please 
send an e-mail to wikimania-com@wikimedia.org, or you can post a 
proposal on meta if you prefer.[3]
There are a number of areas of the world where Wikimania has never been 
hosted – Russia & Central Asia, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and 
Oceania, depending on how you define areas, of course. Considering this, 
the Committee has a mild preference for Sub-Saharan Africa for 2018, but 
is of course willing to look at proposals for hosting Wikimania 2018 in 
other locations. Right now, the Committee has an expression of interest 
from Wikimedia South Africa for 2018, and we welcome further proposals.
Thank you in advance.
Yours,
James F.
Chair, Wikimania Committee
[0] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Committee
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Committee/Minutes/2016-06-26
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2016_judging_criteria
[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2018