Hello, as per request of Laura, I am forwarding you the following e-mail. She said, all Asian chapters are invited. :-) Sounds yay. :-D

Regards, Tanvir Rahman Wikitanvir on Wikimedia

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: lhale@wikimedia.org.au Laura Hale To: wikimedia-bd-internal@lists.wikimedia.org Date: Fri, 9 Dec 2011 08:46:36 +0600 Subject: Invitation: RecentChangesCamp 2012 in Australia

Dear Tanvir and Wikimedia Bangladesh,

I would like to invite you and the board members of Wikimedia Bangladesh to attend RecentChangesCamp 2012 in Canberra. Details are available at http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/University_of_Canberra/RCC2012 . The event is not strictly a Wikimedia Australia event, and is more of a general wiki event based on American and Canadian hosted RecentChangesCamps. Details about those can be found at http://recentchangescamp.org/wiki/Main_Page . As a chapter, we are unable to provide funding for you to participate. (We may be able to provide small grants to offset some costs, such as helping to cover the cost of a visa.) We would be happy to support any WMF Participation grants that your board members may submit in order to attend.

I believe it would be beneficial for Wikimedia Bangladesh for several reasons. First, it would be an opportunity to interact with several people from the WMF community outside your country. Both our countries often have to deal with issues that are similar like rural populations, limited access to certain resources, travel requirements hindering possible expansion, and being a long distance from the USA and the actual foundation. Beyond that, it would help strengthen ties between Australia and another country in Asia, and give us an opportunity to interact more and work on projects together. Australia is also home to a large population of university students from your region. There will likely be several Australian academics in attendance who may be interested in the work being done with wikis in your country. In addition, attending the conference would give you an idea as to how this sort of event is run. It is done at low cost, at low stress to the organisers, and takes little planning. It is also extremely adaptable to local conditions. For an organisation that is just getting underway, learning about the format may be useful for doing work back at home.

If you came, you'd be expected to participate and propose a session. Everyone who comes is basically a presenter. This is important. Your participation would be documented on Wiki. We should also be able to record some sessions if you needed that. :)

Sincerely, Laura Hale RecentChangesCamp organiser