That link didn't work for me, but the home page did link me to http://www.dfes.gov.uk/aboutus/whoswho/ministers.shtml (I guess their servers are in a state of flux at the moment)
the other relevent part of the split is the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills http://www.dius.gov.uk/
It might also be worth looking to local government i.e. The mayor/assembly ( www.london.gov.uk) and the LDA (www.lda.gov.uk) they seem to fund things in London that are considered worthy (eg London Film Festival, London Mela etc)
On 31/08/2007, Gary Kirk gary.kirk@gmail.com wrote:
Who's who in the department - http://www.schools.gov.uk/aboutus/whoswho/ministerinfo.shtml
On 8/31/07, Gary Kirk gary.kirk@gmail.com wrote:
Maybe the Department for Culture, Media and Sport could be contacted. I believe the DfES was split after Gordon Brown took over as PM and we now have a 'schools minister' instead of an education secretary - Jim Knight - someone could please look into that and maybe establish contact? The previous education secretary, Alan Johnson, said Wikipedia was 'a force for good' - point that out. Regards
On 8/31/07, Gary Kirk gary.kirk@gmail.com wrote:
I had a look about funding and perhaps people could take a look at lotteryfunding.org.uk and awardsforall.org.uk
On 8/31/07, Cormac Lawler cormaggio@gmail.com wrote:
On 8/30/07, Majorly axel9891@googlemail.com wrote:
On 30/08/2007, Gary Kirk gary.kirk@gmail.com wrote:
All very well, but has anybody actually done anything? This is
not a
dig because that serves no purpose, but - I did bring up the
idea of
an unofficial bid in October last year - can people actually
start
cross-checking the 2007 bid with the 2008 bid. I have been told
by
UCL
it's likely technical facilities, rooms etc will be available
same
as
last year. If we can decide on things like dates, UCL can start putting things in place. Regards, Gary
I *want* to help... but I have no idea whatsoever what I'm doing
:S
:-)
I've been involved in a London bid before (two years ago), which wasn't as good as others at the time - largely due to the perceived expense of London, and an unresolved question about technical facilities. If facilities are in place (and they seem to have been fine from last year), the main cloud over any London bid will be
cost.
Money. Sponsorship. If there is not an indication that there will be significant sponsorship, and if accommodation/travel/food will be a significant expense to visitors (who, bear in mind, and assuming it doesn't change so much in the coming year, would be dealing with the strength of the British pound), then I don't hold out much prospect for a London bid. That would be my main advice for this bid -
identify
full costs (both to Wikimedia, and to individual participants), and show how/where they can be cut, offset, or minimised.
On dates, I would keep to the same schedule as previous years, ie first week of August. The first few days of August 2008 are the weekend - maybe have the hacking days over these days and start the conference proper on the Monday, 4th. So, hacking days: 2-3; conference 4-6 (inclusive).
To return to my main point - money - I think there would be *plenty* of interest in Wikimania within the media, educational sector, and business. Sponsorship would be forthcoming - and plenty of people
not
yet committed to this bid will have links that can be milked. So, consider that whatever funding opportunities could be explored in
the
next month would not be the last word in funding - but still I
stress
that we would need some indication of interest at this stage.
However,
potential funders have to be made aware of the fact that this is
still
only a *bid*, and that there is no guarantee that it will be happening. We are simply wondering about the possibility of their interest in the event of Wikimania coming to London. :-)
That's my tuppence worth for the moment,
Cormac
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
-- Gary Kirk
-- Gary Kirk
-- Gary Kirk
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l