Dear all,
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, I would like to invite volunteers to serve on the Wikimania 2013 jury. There is a list of general requirements on Meta[4], but to summarise:
* The Jury will have some from the Wikimedia Foundation's Board and staff alongside the community volunteers; * You can't be on the Jury if you're closely involved in a Bid (it's a conflict of interest); * You need to have some free time during the selection period (January-March); * We want to represent the community across the different projects and activities; and * We of course want a mix of people from a diverse range of backgrounds, sexes, cultures and regions of the world.
If you wish to be involved in the Jury, please e-mail me (off-list) at jdforrester@gmail.com - I hope we can announce the Jury in the first week of December, so please contact me as soon as you can.
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_2013 [1] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2013/Jury [2] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2013/Bids/Timeline [3] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2013/Bids [4] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_jury
Yours,
Hi All,
Disclaimer: this is my personal opinion, and in no way represents any sentiments of the board.
That being said
In the past years I have seen a lot of people spend a lot of time on different bids which never made it (even though they were pretty good). Could this be the year that we change this procedure and try to do things differently? I would love to explore how we can avoid a lot of people wasting their energy...
How about taking a little time to look at these and other imperfects of the current system before jumping right in, and trying to see if we can improve it?
Jan-Bart
On 23 nov. 2011, at 19:47, James Forrester wrote:
Dear all,
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, I would like to invite volunteers to serve on the Wikimania 2013 jury. There is a list of general requirements on Meta[4], but to summarise:
- The Jury will have some from the Wikimedia Foundation's Board and
staff alongside the community volunteers;
- You can't be on the Jury if you're closely involved in a Bid (it's a
conflict of interest);
- You need to have some free time during the selection period (January-March);
- We want to represent the community across the different projects and
activities; and
- We of course want a mix of people from a diverse range of
backgrounds, sexes, cultures and regions of the world.
If you wish to be involved in the Jury, please e-mail me (off-list) at jdforrester@gmail.com - I hope we can announce the Jury in the first week of December, so please contact me as soon as you can.
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_2013 [1] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2013/Jury [2] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2013/Bids/Timeline [3] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2013/Bids [4] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_jury
Yours,
James D. Forrester jdforrester@wikimedia.org | jdforrester@gmail.com [[Wikipedia:User:Jdforrester|James F.]]
Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
On 23 November 2011 19:07, Jan-Bart de Vreede janbart@wikimedia.org wrote:
In the past years I have seen a lot of people spend a lot of time on different bids which never made it (even though they were pretty good). Could this be the year that we change this procedure and try to do things differently? I would love to explore how we can avoid a lot of people wasting their energy...
How about taking a little time to look at these and other imperfects of the current system before jumping right in, and trying to see if we can improve it?
Happy to pause things, but there's limited time (even if we just awarded it today, 19 months isn't a huge amount of time to organise an event which is quite a significant amount of work). Previously there have been calls for the Board to establish a "Committee" of some sort to oversee Wikimanias and try to come to some agreement about how to improve the system - but I worry that if we start discussions about how we're going to decide to decide we'll never get anywhere. :-)
J.
On 11/23/11 11:17 AM, James Forrester wrote:
On 23 November 2011 19:07, Jan-Bart de Vreedejanbart@wikimedia.org wrote:
In the past years I have seen a lot of people spend a lot of time on different bids which never made it (even though they were pretty good). Could this be the year that we change this procedure and try to do things differently? I would love to explore how we can avoid a lot of people wasting their energy...
How about taking a little time to look at these and other imperfects of the current system before jumping right in, and trying to see if we can improve it?
Happy to pause things, but there's limited time (even if we just awarded it today, 19 months isn't a huge amount of time to organise an event which is quite a significant amount of work). Previously there have been calls for the Board to establish a "Committee" of some sort to oversee Wikimanias and try to come to some agreement about how to improve the system - but I worry that if we start discussions about how we're going to decide to decide we'll never get anywhere. :-)
I agree that 19 months is short. The first three didn't even have that much time.
Bidding is still a competitive process. I remember that the organizers from Turin were very upset when their excellent bid failed. To get the best bid I don't think we can avoid competition, though we can probably develop a short list fairly early on, so that the less likely candidates can limit their efforts.
Ray
I am not sure about that is a waste of energy though
for area with a chapter like us in Hong Kong such a bid is a nice cause to get reach people around to seek potential sponsor for smaller scale events
and a great way to test out our connections
On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 16:55, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
On 11/23/11 11:17 AM, James Forrester wrote:
On 23 November 2011 19:07, Jan-Bart de Vreedejanbart@wikimedia.org
wrote:
In the past years I have seen a lot of people spend a lot of time on
different bids which never
made it (even though they were pretty good). Could this be the year
that we change this
procedure and try to do things differently? I would love to explore how
we can avoid a lot of
people wasting their energy...
How about taking a little time to look at these and other imperfects of
the current system
before jumping right in, and trying to see if we can improve it?
Happy to pause things, but there's limited time (even if we just awarded it today, 19 months isn't a huge amount of time to organise an event which is quite a significant amount of work). Previously there have been calls for the Board to establish a "Committee" of some sort to oversee Wikimanias and try to come to some agreement about how to improve the system - but I worry that if we start discussions about how we're going to decide to decide we'll never get anywhere. :-)
I agree that 19 months is short. The first three didn't even have that much time.
Bidding is still a competitive process. I remember that the organizers from Turin were very upset when their excellent bid failed. To get the best bid I don't think we can avoid competition, though we can probably develop a short list fairly early on, so that the less likely candidates can limit their efforts.
Ray
Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
I'd just like to be the bad guy and repeat my suggestion expressed in the past in this list and on wikimania-planning-l that in the future Wikimania be held every two years. The no-Wikimania years could possibly be devoted to regional conferences, smaller in scope and cheaper to produce.
Producing a very good bid for a constantly-expanding and improving conference, every time in another place, is a task we won't be able to support over time.
Harel Cain Wikimedia Israel
On Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 21:07, Jan-Bart de Vreede janbart@wikimedia.orgwrote:
Hi All,
Disclaimer: this is my personal opinion, and in no way represents any sentiments of the board.
That being said
In the past years I have seen a lot of people spend a lot of time on different bids which never made it (even though they were pretty good). Could this be the year that we change this procedure and try to do things differently? I would love to explore how we can avoid a lot of people wasting their energy...
How about taking a little time to look at these and other imperfects of the current system before jumping right in, and trying to see if we can improve it?
Jan-Bart
On 23 nov. 2011, at 19:47, James Forrester wrote:
Dear all,
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, I would like to invite volunteers to serve on the Wikimania 2013 jury. There is a list of general requirements on Meta[4], but to summarise:
- The Jury will have some from the Wikimedia Foundation's Board and
staff alongside the community volunteers;
- You can't be on the Jury if you're closely involved in a Bid (it's a
conflict of interest);
- You need to have some free time during the selection period
(January-March);
- We want to represent the community across the different projects and
activities; and
- We of course want a mix of people from a diverse range of
backgrounds, sexes, cultures and regions of the world.
If you wish to be involved in the Jury, please e-mail me (off-list) at jdforrester@gmail.com - I hope we can announce the Jury in the first week of December, so please contact me as soon as you can.
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_2013 [1] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2013/Jury [2] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2013/Bids/Timeline [3] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2013/Bids [4] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_jury
Yours,
James D. Forrester jdforrester@wikimedia.org | jdforrester@gmail.com [[Wikipedia:User:Jdforrester|James F.]]
Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
And/or changing the character of the event in discussion. Some other FLOSS community/project have more mutual communication-oriented events I heard. For example, Mozilla Summit: they, so I heard, gather less frequently than us (once some years) and spare more time just to interact themselves offline, it's more like to sort of retreat as far as I imagine hearing from those who attended.
Just my 2 cent. Cheers,
On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 4:18 AM, Harel Cain harel.cain@gmail.com wrote:
I'd just like to be the bad guy and repeat my suggestion expressed in the past in this list and on wikimania-planning-l that in the future Wikimania be held every two years. The no-Wikimania years could possibly be devoted to regional conferences, smaller in scope and cheaper to produce.
Producing a very good bid for a constantly-expanding and improving conference, every time in another place, is a task we won't be able to support over time.
Harel Cain Wikimedia Israel
On Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 21:07, Jan-Bart de Vreede janbart@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hi All,
Disclaimer: this is my personal opinion, and in no way represents any sentiments of the board.
That being said
In the past years I have seen a lot of people spend a lot of time on different bids which never made it (even though they were pretty good). Could this be the year that we change this procedure and try to do things differently? I would love to explore how we can avoid a lot of people wasting their energy...
How about taking a little time to look at these and other imperfects of the current system before jumping right in, and trying to see if we can improve it?
Jan-Bart
On 23 nov. 2011, at 19:47, James Forrester wrote:
Dear all,
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, I would like to invite volunteers to serve on the Wikimania 2013 jury. There is a list of general requirements on Meta[4], but to summarise:
- The Jury will have some from the Wikimedia Foundation's Board and
staff alongside the community volunteers;
- You can't be on the Jury if you're closely involved in a Bid (it's a
conflict of interest);
- You need to have some free time during the selection period
(January-March);
- We want to represent the community across the different projects and
activities; and
- We of course want a mix of people from a diverse range of
backgrounds, sexes, cultures and regions of the world.
If you wish to be involved in the Jury, please e-mail me (off-list) at jdforrester@gmail.com - I hope we can announce the Jury in the first week of December, so please contact me as soon as you can.
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_2013 [1] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2013/Jury [2] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2013/Bids/Timeline [3] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2013/Bids [4] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_jury
Yours,
James D. Forrester jdforrester@wikimedia.org | jdforrester@gmail.com [[Wikipedia:User:Jdforrester|James F.]]
Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
-- Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.
Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
It's too late for this year, since a lot of bids have already started, but in future I would suggest formalising the currently unofficial rotation policy.
If everyone knew in advance what continent it was going to be in, you won't have bids that are disadvantaged from the outset because they're on the wrong continent. On Nov 23, 2011 7:07 PM, "Jan-Bart de Vreede" janbart@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hi All,
Disclaimer: this is my personal opinion, and in no way represents any sentiments of the board.
That being said
In the past years I have seen a lot of people spend a lot of time on different bids which never made it (even though they were pretty good). Could this be the year that we change this procedure and try to do things differently? I would love to explore how we can avoid a lot of people wasting their energy...
How about taking a little time to look at these and other imperfects of the current system before jumping right in, and trying to see if we can improve it?
Jan-Bart
On 23 nov. 2011, at 19:47, James Forrester wrote:
Dear all,
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, I would like to invite volunteers to serve on the Wikimania 2013 jury. There is a list of general requirements on Meta[4], but to summarise:
- The Jury will have some from the Wikimedia Foundation's Board and
staff alongside the community volunteers;
- You can't be on the Jury if you're closely involved in a Bid (it's a
conflict of interest);
- You need to have some free time during the selection period
(January-March);
- We want to represent the community across the different projects and
activities; and
- We of course want a mix of people from a diverse range of
backgrounds, sexes, cultures and regions of the world.
If you wish to be involved in the Jury, please e-mail me (off-list) at jdforrester@gmail.com - I hope we can announce the Jury in the first week of December, so please contact me as soon as you can.
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_2013 [1] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2013/Jury [2] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2013/Bids/Timeline [3] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2013/Bids [4] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_jury
Yours,
James D. Forrester jdforrester@wikimedia.org | jdforrester@gmail.com [[Wikipedia:User:Jdforrester|James F.]]
Wikimania-l mailing list Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
On 11/23/11 3:29 PM, Thomas Dalton wrote:
It's too late for this year, since a lot of bids have already started, but in future I would suggest formalising the currently unofficial rotation policy.
If everyone knew in advance what continent it was going to be in, you won't have bids that are disadvantaged from the outset because they're on the wrong continent.
While the rotation principle is a positive factor, i think it would be a mistake to formalize it. That could leave us stuck with accepting a bid that is considerably inferior from one from elsewhere.
Ray
On Nov 24, 2011 8:21 AM, "Ray Saintonge" saintonge@telus.net wrote:
On 11/23/11 3:29 PM, Thomas Dalton wrote:
It's too late for this year, since a lot of bids have already started, but in future I would suggest formalising the currently unofficial rotation policy.
If everyone knew in advance what continent it was going to be in, you won't have bids that are disadvantaged from the outset because they're on the wrong continent.
While the rotation principle is a positive factor, i think it would be a mistake to formalize it. That could leave us stuck with accepting a bid that is considerably inferior from one from elsewhere.
My idea is that there wouldn't be bids from elsewhere. There would be a smaller number of bids, each with a much higher chance of success, meaning teams can justify putting more time, money and effort into them. People from elsewhere could support those bids, since they wouldn't be trying to put together bids of their own.
I expect the end result would be better bids and less wasted resources.
wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org