That's great Tom, thanks! The main things that we would need to know
about any bid is whether there is a suitable venue (ie with a variety
of big/small lecture theatres, collective spaces, organising rooms,
etc). We would then need to see what the accommodation situation would
be - is it close by, or would it require something like shuttle-buses,
and how many people would be accommodated (and in what kinds of
groupings - single rooms/dorms..)? Would catering be available
adjacent to the conference space? And finally, what would all of this
cost? :-) (See * below for more.)
I wouldn't say we need to restrain ourselves in terms of a single bid
at this stage, or even by what has failed in the past. If this bid can
be worked up with sufficient detail, we should submit it - if there's
an option in London, we can submit both, or decide which one looks
most viable and run with that one. But we would need more details
first...
Thanks again,
Cormac
* More details at:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2009/Official_requirements_for_bid…
On 12/19/07, Tom Holden <thomas.holden(a)gmail.com> wrote:
I have heard back from the director of the Oxford Internet Institute today
and he seemed very positive about the idea, particularly if they could host
a parallel more academic conference. (There's got to be an economy of scale
since many speaker's would be appropriate for both.)
The OII have fairly limited facilities so may not be of that great a
financial benefit to us on their own. The importance of their interest
though is in the still close ties they maintain with Balliol college
(Jimmy's talk for example was introduced by the master of Balliol at his
recent talk) who may be able to properly help us out on accommodation and in
the help their endorsement would provide in securing central university
facilities. The master of Balliol expressed initial interest and said he
would get back to me in the new year.
What do people think to this possibility? We've had several failed London
bids in a row, if this came together would people be behind an Oxford one?
Tom
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