On 07/14/2014 01:25 PM, Fæ wrote:
Yes, some people may get scholarships to travel to Wikimania or other conferences, however my understanding is that this would be limited to those presenting.
Scholarships are also made available to attendees, specifically to allow those who would not otherwise have the financial resources to do so the opportunity to participate in those events.
Remote collaboration is perfectly workable; most of the ops team is remote and we do the vast bulk of our communication online, though email, on IRC and in hangouts.
But there /is/ value in the opportunity to connect physically with peers and colleagues - even if infrequently. Virtual participation also has value (and I agree with you that we should strive to increase it especially for big events like Wikimania) but they do not replace meatspace entirely.
-- Marc