foundation-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org wrote:
> Austin
> If it were simply a matter of being "closer to Europe and North
> America," however, and if that were the deciding factor, Toronto would
> have won easily. When we talk about "accessibility," we look at the
> broader community, not just the NATO-centric view. As Patricia points
> out later in this thread, South America is home to a huge chunk of our
> existing and potential community; we could go on to talk about the
> continuing recovery from the eswiki fork or debate Ameri- and
> Euro-centricity, and although I'm sure somebody will before this
> thread ends, the plain fact is that Buenos Aires was judged the
> superior bid?with due consideration to who will be able to attend.
Really we can do without the attacks of being "NATO-centric" Its not
about that. Its about who can attend. And maybe if WM was in areas that
people would be able to attend, people would go...at least more than
from what I hear, 25% of the people not affiliated with WMF.
I don't know where you get a superior attendance from a place like
Toronto or something else. Maybe the jury has money or is well off, but
if you took into consideration the "cultural diversity" then you would
realize that WMF contributers, a majority cannot dream of going there or
Egypt.
What broader community exactly? Because the way I see it is the
project's communities come first. My biggest priority would be to get
contributers there first rather than seeing if we can appeal to people
who have no clue what Wikimedia is.
Jason Safoutin (DragonFire1024)
Halo, I'm one of guys from WMHK
As somebody living near Mainland China, I think such thing is worth
trying......
but however, I think we need to consider a few more steps to cope with the
counter-measurement by the GFW authority....
because break through the blockage via blogs is not uncommon, many bloggers
use this way in this year's President election of R. of China (Taiwan). I'm
not sure this may brought any legal responsibilities to the blog hosting
services company. But I think it's better for us to check it out
first........
>
> Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:34:52 -0400
> From: Chad <innocentkiller(a)gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Promote Wikipedia in China using blog
> it/email it/etc links
> To: "Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List"
> <foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Message-ID:
> <5924f50a0803310934p104f44cay8469d5689e821579(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> There's already several MediaWiki extensions that do this exactly.
>
> 1) http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:EmailArticle
> 2) http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ShareThis
>
> Both come to mind off the top of my head. It's just a matter of getting
> local community approval and filing the request in Bugzilla for a sysadmin
> to activate the extension for you.
>
> -Chad
>
> On Sun, Mar 30, 2008 at 5:47 PM, Jesse Martin (Pathoschild)
> <pathoschild(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > This is a forwarded suggestion from a user in China, who preferred to
> > remain anonymous.
> >
> > Wikipedia could be promoted in China by placing a promotion toolbar at
> > the bottom of articles, with links like "Copy to clipboard", "blog
> > it", or "email it". This visual cue would actively remind the visitor
> > further disseminate the Wikipedia content he's seen to his friends,
> > via his blog (one-to-many outlet) or email (one-to-one outlet).
> >
> > --
> > Yours cordially,
> > Jesse Plamondon-Willard (Pathoschild)
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > foundation-l mailing list
> > foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
> >
>
>
Yours Truly
Jeromy-Yu Chan (Jerry~雨雨)
Laudamus quae laudentur
Hello,
This is a forwarded suggestion from a user in China, who preferred to
remain anonymous.
Wikipedia could be promoted in China by placing a promotion toolbar at
the bottom of articles, with links like "Copy to clipboard", "blog
it", or "email it". This visual cue would actively remind the visitor
further disseminate the Wikipedia content he's seen to his friends,
via his blog (one-to-many outlet) or email (one-to-one outlet).
--
Yours cordially,
Jesse Plamondon-Willard (Pathoschild)
foundation-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org wrote:
> In the letter, the Jury wanted to note that they *had* paid attention
> to the many discussions on this subject, that this issue of community
> accessibility had been discussed extensively amongst the jury members,
> give the reasons why it was felt Buenos Aires was the best bid
> irregardless of location, and also acknowledge that there are a lot of
> people who would like to see another Wikimania in Europe or North
> America -- and that thus strong bids from those places would be
> welcome for 2010's Wikimania.
>
> -- phoebe
>
>
>
Its really clear at least in my opinion they have not. It seems from my
experience on WMF they pick locals that will make the most noise in
terms of publicity. If you take a map and point to Buenos Aires, and
compare that to any other place, we may as well go to Antarctica. I am
being realistic here.
This just reiterates my earlier point of this is nothing but a bells and
whistles publicity cry. If the Jury truly paid any attention to the
concerns with Egypt and previous Wikimanias then I serious doubt we
would be having this conversation. Stop making Wikimania a political
stunt. The more we rant about how the jury obviously has more money than
the rest of the WMF contributers, the less that will go. This is
supposed to be something for the contributers, and as I stated before,
the vast majority of those contributers, will not be able to attend.
Good job.
Jason Safoutin (DragonFire1024)
Except that this one should have gone to foundation-l
hmmm, the oddities of gmane...
At least, now, you guys know that Wikipedia-l is not dead !
ant
Florence Devouard wrote:
> A Barn raising is an event during which a community comes together to
> assemble a barn for one or more of its households (...). In the past, a
> barn was often the first, largest, and most costly structure built by a
> family who settled in a new area. Barns were essential structures for
> storage of hay and keeping of horses and cattle, which in those days
> were an inseparable part of farming.
>
> ----------
>
> Barn raising occurs when a community actively decides to come to the
> same place at the same time to help achieve some specific goal. The goal
> may be of direct interest to a subset of the community or it may be a
> superordinate goal, of interest to the entire community, such as an
> international event.
>
> Make the impossible possible. It's pretty much impossible for one person
> to raise alone a barn. The main part of the process is taking two framed
> walls that have been built lying on the ground and raising them to
> vertical. Thus barn raising demands collaboration in a way that other
> activities do not.
>
> Make friends. A barn raising tends to be a situation where you raise the
> walls of a barn, then you have a big party with everyone who's around.
> That's where the social aspect of it comes from. Lift some walls,
> rejoice, have beer, and dance.
>
> Benefits to the community, and to the individuals involved:
> A typical barn raising generates a sense of accomplishment within a
> short period of time. This is a collaboration booster, and generates
> good will.
>
> The people helping expect to learn about how to raise barns which will
> help them when it comes to their own barn.
>
> Barn raising is fun, as a social event! Having a barn to raise does more
> than just get people together and let them talk. It gives them something
> to talk about.
>
> When the entire town helps someone build a barn, then that person is
> beholden to the entire town, so it creates new and strengthens existing
> social bonds.
>
> Asynchronous collaboration liberates us from the need of proximity, but
> it also weakens the bond. When the work is done, you're drinking alone
> and you have no one to dance with.
>
> Wikis thrive on asynchronous, gradual improvement, and barn raising
> events are rare, but important.
>
> Barn raising is not church raising. Although often it is valuable to
> build an immaculate example of some ideal or utopian philosophy, these
> projects often require a large investment and religious zeal to hold
> them together. Sure, churches are often beautiful, but they are
> impractical en masse. Conversely, barns are practical, functional,
> cheap, full of horseshit, and you don't need to be a hallowed Prophet to
> make one. Don't we prefer barns to churches here ?
>
> However, barn raising does requires humility, trust, accountability,
> commitment, and sacrifice from and among its community.
>
> Barn raising is not GroupThink. The individual grants the Collective
> influence over how she acts, but not how she thinks. Each barn raiser's
> motivation may differ, so it doesn't matter if the community disagrees
> as to the purpose of the barn, provided that it agrees that a barn is
> necessary.
>
> Sources: Wikipedia, Meatball wiki, and some personal tweaks
>
> ----------
>
> What does it teach us ?
>
> It may not matter so much that the entire community does not fully agree
> with the purpose of the conference. Frankfurt's event may have been a
> proof of concept. Boston's may have been a PR event. Taipei's may have
> been an asian reachout. Alexandria will perhaps be an arab and public
> institutions reachout. And perhaps in the future, London will be a
> fundraising event; Paris a political event; Antartica a "save the ice
> event". Who knows ?
> We will never all agree, and that's fine. Wikipedians can be influenced,
> but no one can tell them what to think. They may participate, or not,
> they may have different motivations, they may have a different vision,
> but that is not what is really important.
>
> What is important is that we collectively agree that an event, which we
> chose to call Wikimania, is necessary.
>
> What is important is that we organise this event together.
> What is important is that bids are proposed by wikipedians themselves.
> What is important is that bids are selected by wikipedians themselves.
> What is important is that the program, the speakers, the social events
> be chosen and organized by wikipedians themselves.
> What is important is that the event be meant with wikipedians and
> wikimedia projects in mind.
>
> Get to know other participants. Get to make friends with some of them.
> Fight, sweat, scream, cry with them. Damage your nails on the wood. Get
> too short nights. Struggle for that hammer. Compete for the jug of
> water. Disagree with which paint should be put on it.
>
> But in the end, get the feeling of accomplishment with the others.
>
> Want to kill the barnraising effort ?
> Make it an event in San Francisco every year, organized by a
> professional team, with a clear agenda defined by the ED (400 people,
> must accomodate the press, must be an opportunity to raise money, should
> involve 3 international big speakers, opportunity to announce new
> software development). This event might be interesting, but that will be
> the death of Wikimania.
>
> This is my vision of what Wikimania is.
>
> Ant
foundation-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org wrote:
> Judson
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Cohesion
>
> As said, it was considered. But Buenos Aires surpassed Toronto almost
> in every criteria. And if US people want to have a conf, they can
> organize it themselves, like Italian, Dutch or Hong Kong Wikimedians
> did in the past.
That is not the point of Wikimania. We should not have to do that. It
should be something where we all can enjoy something together.
Jason Safoutin (DragonFire1024)
I was so excited about sending the announcement that I forgot to
proofread the subject line! Oh well. Both *2008* AND *2009* should be
exciting conferences :)
On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 8:44 AM, phoebe ayers <phoebe.wiki(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> All,
>
> We are pleased to announce that Buenos Aires has been selected as the
> location for Wikimania 2009.
>
> The jury was particularly excited by a few parts of the Buenos Aires bid:
> * A strong, organized team, with division of labor already underway
> and support from Wikimedia Argentina. Many people contributed to the
> bid, with obvious enthusiasm for organizing the conference and quick
> responses to inquiries.
> * A detailed budget proposal and planning schedule. Many major
> expenses are being covered by the provider. The total budget is
> similar to Wikimania 2007's, including a larger travel scholarship
> fund, and they have provided detailed charts ahead of time.
> * A significant number of sponsors already lined up, with some already
> confirmed. They hope to cover half the accommodation and $60k in
> travel scholarships, which will help to ease travel costs for
> participants from far away.
> * A solid venue : as with Toronto, this was situated within a
> well-maintained cultural center in a major international city, near an
> airline hub; culturally open, and an international melting pot.
> * Relaxed visa rules, and easy entry from South American countries.
> * Good Spanish-language media contacts, with the promise of outreach
> to and the opportunity to work with the Spanish-language Wikimedia
> communities.
>
> Toronto, the runner up, also provided a great bid. The jury was
> especially excited by:
> * Strong English-language press in the area, and media experience
> among the bid team
> * A very accessible venue, especially for US/European attendees.
> * An excellent venue : a university campus, with dorms directly at the
> venue. As with Buenos Aires, it was situated within a well-maintained
> cultural center in a major international city, near an airline hub;
> culturally open, and an international melting pot.
> * Extensive budget accommodation in the dorms; with many options for
> casual social space.
> * A dedicated bid team, with the hope of Wikimedia Canada being formed
> in time to help coordinate.
>
> However, the jury felt that Buenos Aires' bid showed stronger
> organization overall. Additionally, much of the information in the
> Toronto bid was carried over from previous bids, and it was unclear
> how much of a commitment for the University of Toronto facilities
> there was specifically for 2009.
>
> Brisbane and Karlsruhe also provided good bids. Brisbane in particular
> had an enthusiastic bid team and a strong proposal, with particularly
> good local sponsorship opportunities; though this was offset by the
> high travel costs for out-of-country attendees. The jury felt both
> bids needed more detail (including specifics about accommodation
> options, and more detailed budget information) to be compelling.
>
> As in previous years, the relative accessibility of locations was
> extensively discussed. The jury believes that it's important for
> Wikimania to be accessible to as wide an audience as possible,
> particularly to members of the Wikimedia community; the relatively
> high cost of travel to South America from Europe and North America was
> one of the most significant drawbacks we identified in the Buenos
> Aires bid—especially coming on the heels of Taipei and Alexandria.
> Having said that, the jury believes that the Buenos Aires bid overcame
> this drawback with its numerous advantages, among those the
> opportunity to hold the conference in a Spanish-speaking locale, on a
> new continent. We hope to receive strong bids from easily accessible
> locations for 2010.
>
> Congratulations to the Buenos Aires team! Wikimania 2009 promises to
> be an exciting and successful conference.
>
> -- Phoebe Ayers, Cary Bass, James Forrester (non-voting jury
> moderators), on behalf of the Wikimania 2009 Jury
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2009/Jury
>
The open submissions round for the Wikibooks and Wikijnuior logo
selection processes is over, and we have started the first selection
round. During this round, which is ending around April 15th, we are
selecting language families: a single concept from which many
individual logos can be formed by changing details (colors, orderings,
ect). We are selecting the top 10 families from the submissions for
each project to move on into the final rounds.
After April 15th, we will enter an open discussion round where the
logo families must be reduced to a single "best" candidate logo. It is
during this phase that colors and details must be finalized. In the
final voting phase, the best logos from the top 10 families (10 logos
total) will be voted upon to produce the winning logo.
I encourage people to come participate in this discussion, view the
existing logos, make comments and suggestions, and show your support
for the good designs. The more input we have, the better.
--Andrew Whitworth
Relax, the question is a valid one. Easily accessible is vague and I too am curious as to the exact meaning. Its not about being euro centric, just a clarification of wording.
----- Original Message ----
From: Patricia Rodrigues <snooze210904(a)yahoo.se>
To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List <foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2008 2:56:22 PM
Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] A question for the Wikimania jury
I'm sorry to start the e-mail like this, but... this is getting on my nerves.
pt.wikipedia and es.wikipedia are two of the biggest Wikimedia projects. en.wikipedia is edited by people from all over the world, predictably also by people from South America. Guess what: South America is Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking (respectively Brazil and *the rest of the whole continent*). According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_American there's more than 370 million people living in the continent.
Can we stop being Euro- and North American-centric in what concerns Wikimanias and actually realize that there is a big probability that Wikimania will *eventually* visit all continents and we all get to go there?
Is this going to be another thread about "how bad it is that people from Europe and North America can't easily access [insert place here that displeases europeans and north americans]"?
Congratulations to the winning bid, I hope to be able to go and see lots of my fellow editor colleagues. Even if that means stopping moaning about the fact I live in Sweden.
Patrícia
Andrew Whitworth <wknight8111(a)gmail.com> wrote: On Sun, Mar 30, 2008 at 5:42 PM, David Gerard wrote:
> Are you answering as a jury member?
>
> I'm asking what the phrase actually meant when they were using it.
No, i'm not a jury member, and I'm definitely not trying to answer the
question. I'm just trying to show that either interpretation should be
acceptable, because being accessible by Europeans and North Americans
is an important point to be concerned with. Exactly what the jury
meant by that statement, I do not know.
--Andrew Whitworth
_______________________________________________
foundation-l mailing list
foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
---------------------------------
Sent from Yahoo! Mail.
A Smarter Inbox.
_______________________________________________
foundation-l mailing list
foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
____________________________________________________________________________________
No Cost - Get a month of Blockbuster Total Access now. Sweet deal for Yahoo! users and friends.
http://tc.deals.yahoo.com/tc/blockbuster/text1.com
foundation-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org wrote:
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:56:22 +0100 (BST)
> From: Patricia Rodrigues <snooze210904(a)yahoo.se>
> Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] A question for the Wikimania jury
> To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List
> <foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Message-ID: <239732.46585.qm(a)web27411.mail.ukl.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> I'm sorry to start the e-mail like this, but... this is getting on my nerves.
>
> pt.wikipedia and es.wikipedia are two of the biggest Wikimedia projects. en.wikipedia is edited by people from all over the world, predictably also by people from South America. Guess what: South America is Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking (respectively Brazil and *the rest of the whole continent*). According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_American there's more than 370 million people living in the continent.
>
> Can we stop being Euro- and North American-centric in what concerns Wikimanias and actually realize that there is a big probability that Wikimania will *eventually* visit all continents and we all get to go there?
>
> Is this going to be another thread about "how bad it is that people from Europe and North America can't easily access [insert place here that displeases europeans and north americans]"?
>
> Congratulations to the winning bid, I hope to be able to go and see lots of my fellow editor colleagues. Even if that means stopping moaning about the fact I live in Sweden.
>
> Patr?cia
>
>
The point is that its simple. The jury needs to stop picking the places
that will generate headlines. Its not about Europe and North America but
of the 370 million people living in S. America, I doubt every one of
them contribute to a WMF project.
These places, Egypt, Argentina were IMHO picked to glisten and
shine...aka bells and whistles. We pick this place because it makes the
biggest statement. WMF is not about making statements. Its goal is not
to be political. It is to celebrate the work that Wikimedians do. And to
hold this in places thats dangerous and has severe rights violations
(Egypt) Or in a city, where I would love to visit but cannot because I
don't have the luxury of being rich or better off.
I mean being realistic, does the jury even take into consideration the
amount of money it will cost to travel to these places for the people
who will actually make an effort to attend? I am not trying to be biased
but fair and logical. Stop using Wikimania as a political statement or
to use it to make headlines. This is supposed to be a celebration, not
an publicity contest.
Jason Safoutin (DragonFire1024)