I was at that lunch.
There was no one from Thailand except me - and I'm just a Brit who has been living there for the last 14 years, so let's be objective rather rather than using icebergs for metrics.

In my opinion, it is not helpful to group Asia-Pacific together for scholarship allocations, particulary in view of the huge disparities in the economies of the countries in that region. When I tried to address this during Wikimania at DC I was given the brush off. 

Kudpung
On 13 Nov 2012, at 20:08, Gnangarra wrote:

I was in Washington and on the last day there was at short notice an impromptu Wiki Asia meetup lunch organised which was attended by over 20 people, it was from that group that this mailing list was started. There was also many people who had other arrangements or hadnt even got the message that didnt attend. I think there is a misconception that not many people attended, when the reality would be more like judging the size of an iceberg from what is seen above the water only.

One thing I do suggest is that then when people are moving around the region for whatever reason we should be encouraging them to allow a couple of hours to meet the locals if at all possible.


CHeers
Gnangarra

On 13 November 2012 20:18, John Vandenberg <jayvdb@gmail.com> wrote:

The WMF explained their scholarship distribution like this:

a) Asia and Pacific were grouped together.

b) That grouping recieved the appropriate number of scholarships.

They provided a per-country breakdown of scholarships on meta.

We should build a list of Wikimedians who havent gone to Wikimania yet and help them get the scholarships.

John Vandenberg.
sent from Galaxy Note

On Nov 13, 2012 6:47 PM, "Kudpung ‘Ψ΄ΌΦι§" <kudpung.wikipedia@gmail.com> wrote:
Those who  organise the various Wikimanias tend to  ignore the fact  that  people in  developing or emerging  economies only have a fraction of the spending power of those in  Western style countries. 
There are 'islands ' of Western level economy in Asia such as Taiwan, S. Korea, HK, and Singapore,  but foreign travel is almost out of the question for the majority of citizens of  Thailand, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and perhaps Malaysia, and Indonesia and countries of the Indian sub continent.

Until  the Foundation is prepared to  rethink its scholarship funding in order to  bring  it   in line with  its Global South policy, with  the paucity  of funding  available for the travel of volunteer Wikipedians compared to  the massive travel budgets allowed for Foundation employees, in my  opinion the effort should be to  concentrate on getting  Asian editors to  Wikimania Hong Kong.  They were extremely  poorly  represented at  Wikimania DC.



Kudpung ‘Ψ΄ΌΦι§

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On 13 Nov 2012, at 07:59, Charles Gregory wrote:

As an idea - seeing as Wikimania will be in Hong Kong, would it be preferable to focus on that in 2013 and have an Asian Wikimedia meeting in 2014?

Many people/chapters have limited resources and may have to choose between an Asian Wikimedia meeting and WM2013.

Another option is to choose a location which has a short, cheap, high traffic route to Hong Kong (such as Singapore or Kuala Lumpur) and have the meeting the week before or after WM2013?  Similar to what New York did with Wikimania Takes Manhattan this year.

Regards,

Charles


On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 10:40 AM, Gnangarra <gnangarra@gmail.com> wrote:
I agree Singapore is also a good option, as it is readily accessable by everyone,

Hong Kong would give the organsiors of Wikimania a chance to test on smaller scale with less pressure to perform, though could also have a negative affect on local sponsors, causing a drain on local resources.

The malaysia visa concern raise is something that would need to be checked,

Thailand, Philipines are both options....

Why not just see what each place can organise before the end of the year 31 Dec, run with the best option decided by mid 15 Jan that give a clear 4 months to organise.

For those that dont know I'm Australia and its too expensive, we lack sufficient available accommodation and cheep flights to Perth to even suggest here
Gnangarra



On 13 November 2012 06:15, Taweetham <taweetham@gmail.com> wrote:
BTW, for those who went to Israel (Wikimania 2011) and got any stamps
or visa labels from there, you probably need to be apprehensive about
going to Malaysia.

On 13 November 2012 09:08, Taweetham <taweetham@gmail.com> wrote:
> I agree with Tomo regarding visa policy. In addition to four countries
> mentioned, I'd like to add
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Singapore
> to the list as well.
>
> As far as I know, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are probably the
> best locations if you consider availability of low-cost airline
> connections.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_low-cost_airlines#Asia
>
> However, I have to admit that we don't have the capacity to organize
> an international event on our own.  We can only help you book a
> reasonable accommodation and venue.  What do you think of this?
>
> Taweetham@thwp
>
> On 13 November 2012 03:58, Tomoaki Suzuki <tmoszk@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I too, think it's a fabulous idea for us to get together in our cities.
>> As Kevin said, selecting a hosting city is one of the most important point
>> for successful convention.
>>
>> My recommendation, in addition to Hong Kong, which was mentioned on
>> Facebook, is the following four countries, as they have generous visa policy
>> and direct flights from most Asian countries.
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_South_Korean_citizens#Asia
>> - South Korea
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_the_Philippines - Philippines
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Thailand Thailand
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Malaysia - Malaysia
>>
>> We also need to consider how well the local hosting group is organized. For
>> me, Hong Kong, Philippines, and South Korea seem to exceed among those in
>> this regard. Anyone from these countries who are willing to welcome Asian
>> Wikimedians?
>>
>> Tomo
>> (Tomo_suzuki@jawp)
>>
>>
>>
>> 2012/11/12 Doraemon <ka360@live.hk>
>>>
>>> Good idea. But we have to consider about the city, because unlike Europe,
>>> Asian countries are separated.
>>>
>>> Kevin
>>>
>>>
>>> (2012/11/13 0:16), Josh Lim wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi guys,
>>>
>>> There's talk right now on the Facebook group about a proposed Asian
>>> Wikimedia meeting, similar to the Central and Eastern Europe meeting held
>>> last year in Belgrade.  What do you guys think?
>>>
>>> For reference, information on the CEE meeting may be found here:
>>> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Meeting_2012.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Josh
>>>
>>> JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
>>> Block I1, AB Political Science
>>> Major in Global Politics, Minor in Chinese Studies
>>> Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
>>> Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
>>>
>>> Trustee (2010-2013), Wikimedia Philippines
>>> Member, Ateneo Debate Society
>>> Member, The Assembly
>>>
>>> jamesjoshualim@yahoo.com | +63 (917) 841-5235
>>> Friendster/Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
>>> http://akira123323.livejournal.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Wikimedia-asia-chapters mailing list
>>> Wikimedia-asia-chapters@lists.wikimedia.org
>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-asia-chapters
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Wikimedia-asia-chapters mailing list
>>> Wikimedia-asia-chapters@lists.wikimedia.org
>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-asia-chapters
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Wikimedia-asia-chapters mailing list
>> Wikimedia-asia-chapters@lists.wikimedia.org
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-asia-chapters
>>

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