Hello list, especially Sydneysiders,
A friend of mine, Donna Benjamin, is organising an event in Sydney in
October called "Open-Edge" (as in education I think).
http://open-edge.info/ They have relatively short speaking slots
(15-30 minutes) and I think it would be great if there was a
Wikimedian presentation there.
Does anyone feel up for it? She is looking to finalise the line-up
relatively soon.
If you have never presented before, those of us who have can give you
some tips for what to cover, common questions etc. There are also
quite a few existing slide sets etc you can draw on. It's quite a
short time so you don't need to present the comprehensive thing ever,
and the audience should be quite friendly.
Anyone keen?
thanks,
Brianna
Forwarding from foundation-l,
A reminder that scholarship applications for Wikimania are closing soon. As a past recipient of this scholarship I would like to strongly recommend that anyone who has been thinking that going to wikimania would be good - apply! Attending wikimania is like nothing else in the Wikiverse. You get to meet some fantastic people and it really broadens your perspective on what we can achieve.
Only a very few Australians ever go to Wikimania which is a great shame IMO. Please, don't let a lack of personally available funds for the flight stop you from attending what is shaping up to being the best organised wikimania ever!
On a side note to Wikimedia Australia chapter exec:
Do you intend to set some money from the fundraiser aside to directly fund scholarships for Australians and/or New Zealanders and/or people in our region? (e.g. I'd love to see an East Timorese wikimedian at wikimania!) as you can see at the bottom of the forwarded email, so far both Wikimedia Austria and Switzerland have chapter-run scholarship programs and wikimedia France (and Germany?) have done so in the past. For what it's worth, I would suggest it would be a good use of some of the Australian funds.
Best,
-Liam
Wittylama.com/blog
Peace, love & metadata
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Harel Cain <harel.cain(a)gmail.com>
> Date: 23 January 2011 18:54:06 AEDT
> To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List <foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, "Wikimania general list (open subscription)" <wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: [Foundation-l] Reminder: Scholarship applications for Wikimania 2011 to end on January 31st
> Reply-To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List <foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
>
> Hi all,
>
>
> This is just a reminder that the main scholarship application process for
> Wikimania 2011 will end on January 31st at 23:59 UTC.
> Applications received after that time will be discarded [see note].
>
> If you or any of your friends were planning to apply for a scholarship but
> haven't done so yet, I would advise you to do so now, before it's too late.
> Even though we already received many hundreds of applications, we will be
> sorry to see anyone left out just because he or she missed the application
> deadline.
>
> All information about scholarships and how to apply for them is at
> http://wikimania2011.wikimedia.org/wiki/Scholarships.
>
>
> Note:
> Wikimedia Austria and Wikimedia Switzerland have announced separate
> scholarship programs for people in their respective countries.
> Applications for those will be made through the same website and will remain
> open till February 28th, 2011.
> Other chapters might follow suit soon, so stay alert for announcements from
> your local chapter.
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Harel Cain
> Wikimania 2011 local team
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Leigh Blackall <leighblackall(a)gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 2:09 PM
Subject: Spread this
To: Laura Hale <laura(a)fanhistory.com>, Mark Dilley <markwdilley(a)gmail.com>
You're help to spread the new home for RCC 2011 Canberra to those who
attended, and to help fill out the session sub pages
http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/University_of_Canberra/RCC2011
--
--
Leigh Blackall
+61(0)404561009
skype - leigh_blackall
leighblackall(a)gmail.com
http://leighblackall.blogspot.comhttp://lifesouth.blogspot.com
--
mobile: 0412183663
twitter: purplepopple
blog: ozziesport.com
I need to eventually try to integrate in various blog posts, pictures and
videos into the wiki. If anyone can help with that, we'd very much
appreciate it.
Some of the issues that we've dealt with so far that have been interesting
from an organizational point of view:
* wifi has been a problem. Many people have not been able to get it to
work. This wouldn't be so bad except that the venue is also in a bit of a
dead zone for 3G coverage. (I think about 1/2 the people attending brought
their own 3G dongles.) I'm not quite sure how to fix this in terms of
hosting the next RCC in 2012. We'll have to hope the university can fix it.
* An education group attended and had their own break out session on
Saturday. This actually worked out pretty well. It gave the people who
needed and wanted a chance to network for that reason more of a reason to
attend, to network, to learn about educational practices and gave them
additional exposure to wikis. They produced a high quality video related to
their session.
* More people at RecentChangesCamp this time were probably less into wikis
than RecentChangesCamps I had attended in Palo Alto and Portland. This
probably was a very good thing. It helped provide a bit of a broader
perspective and more insight into how wikis work and how wikis don't work.
* Wikimedia Australia was one of our sponsors. They provided about $2,000
in airfare to bring Mark Dilley down to facilitate. They also provided
around $5,000 to help offset airfare for five or so attendees. Their
support in helping bring people together was invaluable. Seriously so. The
people that came were not all Wikimedia Foundation users. One is an
Appropedian. I believe another one was a WikiTravel person. These voices
were fantastic to hear. Beyond that, it was a great learning opportunity to
better understand how the Wikimedia Australia works and what it is capable
of doing. That Wikimedia Australia's scope is beyond just WMF projects and
includes the greater Australian wiki community and collaborative projects is
fantastic. I can't say enough good things about Wikimedia Australia and the
two people from the organization who attended.
* Some people appeared a bit concerned about the lack of structure prior to
attending. Once we got into the sessions and planning, these concerned
appeared to melt away. We might try a barn raising of some kind in one
session but if it doesn't happen, it is perfectly okay.
* When we did the one day camp, people appeared less than satisfied with
what they got out of it because things didn't go into the depth that they
needed. This three day session had that depth that people appeared to have
craved. (This could be a function of the difference in who attended both
camps.)
* The social eating component appears to have been really important. We had
a few people get together on Thursday night, a few people get together on
Friday night, a barbecue last night. This allowed people another chance to
get to know everyone and unwind. It might have been nice to try to do
something like we had with the wikiHow party and invite more people, wiki
people in Canberra who otherwise wouldn't be attending RecentChangesCamp to
just show up for the food and socializing part. It is something to consider
in the future.
* Power points for plugs were pretty available. At times, they were a
little inconvenient because we had white board walls and that meant plugs
were only on two sides of the room.
* White board walls? The most fantastic thing ever! Seriously awesome. We
had a session on why wikis don't work. The people who had a session on
wikis and facilitation got to see our notes from that session. It created
additional points for conversation. It also meant that we weren't
constrained to writing on blocks of paper. It gave the whole camp more of a
wiki feel because of those lack of limits. The notes on walls issue were
great conversation starters. People took lots and lots of pictures of
them. The ability to write on the walls probably helped offset the
annoyance over the lack of wifi and 3g. (The physical space was one thing I
really loved about this. Yeah, each of the three places for sessions was in
its own room and this isn't generally part of the whole concept of Open
Space but it worked for who was there.)
* Many of people who attended were very much into Wikis as Wikimedia
Foundation projects or who knew wikis from education. This was
interesting. At past RecentChangesCamp, such people were clearly in the
minority. There were more interests from people attached to other wikis
like AboutUs, wikiHow, wikiTravel, kiki, wine wiki, Wikia, Fan History. It
changed some of my way of thinking and reinforced some of the ideas that I
had regarding WMF projects. In the future, I'd love to see more people from
those projects as people were blown away to hear about our experiences in
non-WMF projects and outside education... but if it doesn't happen, it is
still okay. (the wikiTravel session was really interesting.)
* Updating the RCC wiki was a pain in the butt. This caused some
aggravation and I think they moved the content they would have put on it to
Wikiversity. It was annoying and because of the lack of wifi and time zone
syncing with the people maintaining it, we couldn't really get things fixed.
* If we had more information on research on how wikis successfully
functioned, that would probably have been awesome. I cited wikiHow as
having done research but it was hard to find that while attending RCC.
* Hopefully, we'll come out of this with more people interested wikis and
wiki conferences. I think that this group is more likely to support
Wikimedia Foundation as they put on future events as they can see how their
mission is to help the broader community. I think it also helped foster an
idea of an Australian wiki community.
If you want to get more of an idea of what we've been talking about, I
filmed bits and pieces on my iPhone. That can be found at
http://www.youtube.com/laurafanhistory . We've been some what active in
updating Twitter at http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23rcc11 . Blog
posts include:
http://blog.tomw.net.au/2011/01/wikis-for-vocational-education.html and
http://blog.tomw.net.au/search/label/RCC11
--
mobile: 0412183663
twitter: purplepopple
blog: ozziesport.com
Wikimedia Australia has allocated $5,000 to grants for attendance to
the RecentChangesCamp in Canberra on 28-30 January 2011.
http://recentchangescamp.org/wiki/Canberra
The decision can be found in the committee meeting minutes.
http://www.wikimedia.org.au//wiki/Meeting:Committee_%282011-01-09%29#Recent…
Anyone can apply by emailing comm(a)wikimedia.org.au, providing a bit of
background about yourself (wiki bio and/or real world bio, as
applicable), why you would like to attend, and how much financial
assistance you are requesting.
We are especially interested in assisting people from states and
nearby countries who, without a grant, would be unlikely to attend due
to travel costs. (e.g. WA, Tas, NT, NZ, etc)
Preference will be given to members.
Early applications will be more likely to be successful, as that
allows flight costs to be locked in early & more cheaply.
Sorry that this is late notice. I look forward to seeing you there.
Regards,
John Vandenberg
Hi all,
Although it's already almost late for me to be wishing you a happy new
year ;-), I do so with the best possible wishes.
Forwarding the fact that Wikimania has already opened registration and
scholarships applications. Hope to meet as many of you as possible in
Haifa this year.
Best,
Delphine
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Harel Cain <harel.cain(a)gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Dec 31, 2010 at 8:01 AM
Subject: [Wikimania-l] Wikimania 2011 registration and scholarship
application to begin on January 1st!
To: "Wikimania general list (open subscription)"
<wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Dear Wikimaniacs,
We are pleased to announce the opening, on January 1st 0:00 UTC, of
the registration period and the scholarship application period for
Wikimania 2011, which will be held in Haifa, Israel, on August 4th to
7th, 2011.
== Registration ==
Those who register early will enjoy considerable discounts in both
registration and accommodation fees, so be sure to register as early
as possible.
* Full information about registration, including fees and registration
periods: http://wikimania2011.wikimedia.org/wiki/Registration
* Our registration website: http://wmreg.wikimedia.org.il/
== Scholarship application ==
If you require a scholarship to attend Wikimania 2011, you can apply
for one until the end of January 2011. This year, there will be
partial scholarships to cover travel costs up to USD 300, in addition
to full scholarships.
* Full information about scholarships:
http://wikimania2011.wikimedia.org/wiki/Scholarships
* Our scholarship application website: http://wmschols.wikimedia.org.il/
== Call for Papers ==
The Call for Papers for the conference has been available for a while
now. You are welcome to submit workshop, seminar, tutorial, panel, and
presentation proposals.
* The Call for Papers: http://wikimania2011.wikimedia.org/wiki/Call_for_Papers
== Translators required ==
You are welcome to help translate as much of our conference wiki into
as many languages as possible, using the regular {{Other languages}}
and {{Translation}} templates.
If you are interested in translating the registration website into
additional languages, please contact us at
wikimania-registration(a)wikimedia.org.
== Got any questions? ==
You can contact us in any of the ways listed on
http://wikimania2011.wikimedia.org/wiki/Contact.
If you have questions that might interest others, please post them on
http://wikimania2011.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania:Information_Desk.
Please excuse us if the registration or scholarship application
websites are temporarily unavailable due to maintenance.
Wishing you all a happy 2011 and looking forward to hosting you in Haifa,
Harel Cain
on behalf of the entire Wikimania 2011 local team
_______________________________________________
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Wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
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