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.
true,
And if I am the only one having these concerns then no worries, but taking a couple of days to share concerns might be a good idea :)
Jan-Bart
On 23 nov. 2011, at 20:17, James Forrester wrote:
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.
James D. Forrester jdforrester@wikimedia.org | jdforrester@gmail.com [[Wikipedia:User:Jdforrester|James F.]]
foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
On 23 November 2011 19:31, Jan-Bart de Vreede janbart@wikimedia.org wrote:
On 23 nov. 2011, at 20:17, James Forrester wrote:
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. :-)
true,
And if I am the only one having these concerns then no worries, but taking a couple of days to share concerns might be a good idea :)
Sure. I'm totally not going to try to rail-road this discussion (or maybe it should be on-wiki?) by announcing a Jury when we're not sure how we'll proceed. :-)
J.
It could be possible that a Wikimedia chapter is chosen to organize a Wikimania, and they can then decide where to go (within their country). Of course, the local chapter is always involved in organizing it, anyway. So instead of a city bid one would have a responsible chapter bid. This of course means that the global community gives a huge amount of trust to that chapter that they look for a place with sufficient infrastructure, public transit/air connection and whatever is necessary... So, the jury would then only choose the chapter (and thus the country), instead of a city.
What is absolutely not possible is just to say "city X will host Wikimania 20xx. Now all go and organize." So there needs to be some system of bids, I think.
Th.
2011/11/23 James Forrester james@jdforrester.org:
On 23 November 2011 19:31, Jan-Bart de Vreede janbart@wikimedia.org wrote:
On 23 nov. 2011, at 20:17, James Forrester wrote:
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. :-)
true,
And if I am the only one having these concerns then no worries, but taking a couple of days to share concerns might be a good idea :)
Sure. I'm totally not going to try to rail-road this discussion (or maybe it should be on-wiki?) by announcing a Jury when we're not sure how we'll proceed. :-)
J.
James D. Forrester jdforrester@wikimedia.org | jdforrester@gmail.com [[Wikipedia:User:Jdforrester|James F.]]
On Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 14:47, Thomas Goldammer thogol@googlemail.comwrote:
It could be possible that a Wikimedia chapter is chosen to organize a Wikimania, and they can then decide where to go (within their country). Of course, the local chapter is always involved in organizing it, anyway. So instead of a city bid one would have a responsible chapter bid. This of course means that the global community gives a huge amount of trust to that chapter that they look for a place with sufficient infrastructure, public transit/air connection and whatever is necessary... So, the jury would then only choose the chapter (and thus the country), instead of a city.
What is absolutely not possible is just to say "city X will host Wikimania 20xx. Now all go and organize." So there needs to be some system of bids, I think.
I disagree. At some point, the jury has to compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of each potential site. That comparison is difficult enough between specific cities; it's downright impossible to compare all possible venues in multiple different countries.
Yes, that's why I just gave this as a possible alternative saying that there would need to be a lot of trust in the chapter to do exactly this sort of comparison (within their respective country). In case it wasn't clear, I do support sticking to the method we used so far, amendments and improvements not excluded, of course.
Th.
2011/11/23 Jim Redmond jim@scrubnugget.com:
I disagree. At some point, the jury has to compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of each potential site. That comparison is difficult enough between specific cities; it's downright impossible to compare all possible venues in multiple different countries.
On 11/23/11 12:47 PM, Thomas Goldammer wrote:
It could be possible that a Wikimedia chapter is chosen to organize a Wikimania, and they can then decide where to go (within their country). Of course, the local chapter is always involved in organizing it, anyway. So instead of a city bid one would have a responsible chapter bid. This of course means that the global community gives a huge amount of trust to that chapter that they look for a place with sufficient infrastructure, public transit/air connection and whatever is necessary... So, the jury would then only choose the chapter (and thus the country), instead of a city.
It's good to have chapters more involved, but not essential. Some chapters may be well-suited for developing online activities, or in-person activities of a local nature, but totally lack the logistic expertise to organize a major international conference attended by people from more than 50 countries.
Past results have been mixed, and there has been one Wikimania where a national chapter was not up to the task, and outside volunteers had to step in so that necessary tasks could be done. That sort of situation is not always foreseeable at the bid stage.
Ray
On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 12:37 AM, 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
Hey Jan-Bart
I agree with the general sentiment. Any ideas on how to go about this?
Regards Theo
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
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