2008/7/7 Tom Holden <thomas.holden(a)gmail.com>om>:
OK well I'm not going to fight too much for
Oxford if I'm the only one
who thinks London isn't that great an idea, but before I shut up I'll just
make a few points:
· Wikimania has been in cities other than the capital or largest
one more often than not (Frankfurt not Berlin, Cambridge not DC or NY,
Alexandria not Cairo).
· We have tried London before. Many times. Even with very active
bid leaders (Alison, Gary) we had no luck.
· London is spread out over a massive area. This either means
significant journeys from accommodation to conferences to restaurants, or
doing basically everything in one of the university's campuses, making us
very dependent on that university for everything and giving a rather
claustrophobic feel.
· London is expensive and is globally perceived as being even more
expensive than it actually is. Being firmly rooted in a university campus
would ameliorate this, but it's always going to be an issue when it comes to
evaluating bids.
· The transport advantages are illusionary. Getting into the
centre of London from Heathrow does not take significantly more time than
getting into the centre of Oxford (there are shuttle busses). (Oxford is of
course not unique in this: Reading, Guildford, Cambridge etc. all have
similar services I'd imagine).
The strongest arguments for Oxford in particular are:
· The presence of the Oxford Internet Institute. A ready source of
speakers and a unique selling point (would be particularly useful in
ensuring serious press coverage).
· Oxford's popularity as a tourist destination.
· Its compact city-centre.
· Fairly high tech population. 3 games companies off the top of my
head, major web design companies. Regular "geek nights" meetings.
Do we have any contacts in UCL/LSE/Imperial anymore? If not then my
contacts in Oxford university would be another advantage.
Tom
Tom - it's not in London for the sake of it because it's the capital -
I'd
much rather it was in Manchester. Heck, I'm going to a university in
Manchester that could easily hold it. But the fact is, London is better in
the point of view of foreigners. As Thomas said above, most flights go
through London. When I was looking at flights to Manchester from various
places, the majority go through London. It's just extra expense that isn't
needed.
We've only tried London once, for the 2007 bid when Alison was the contact.
Other times we dropped out, and didn't make it to the stage where the jury
voted. I think it's worth another try.
London is big, granted, but that's irrelevant. I don't live in London, nor
have I strong connections there, but thinking practically, it is the best
location.
--
Al Tally
(User:Majorly)