[Foundation-l] Taipei chosen to host Wikimania 2007

[Stephen Bain]

On 9/28/06, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The procedure as it is evidently needs work, since other bidders (e.g.
> London) are disappointed at their hard work being pretty much wasted.
>
> The current system seems to ensure a lot of volunteer time and effort
> being futile. This is damaging to the project.

The problem this year was that there were so many high quality bids
which made it to final consideration, each of which had substantial
amounts of effort invested in them. In one way it's excellent that the
jury is spoiled for choice, but it's indeed a shame to "waste" that
effort. [1]

One issue is the time the process takes. At the moment the whole
process, from initial bids to selection, takes only two weeks. To have
a practical chance of success, a team really has to prepare all
aspects of their bid before the first round officially ends, so it's
not just the shortlisted bids who put in great amounts of effort.

Perhaps there could be another round of pruning between the original
acceptance of bids and the final shortlist? There were only four bids
in the shortlist this year but that number will likely rise as
chapters take hold and local communities grow.

---
[1] Many cities who don't succeed may well bid in later years, and
much of the work will carry over, but securing sponsorship, venues etc
will often be time specific.

-- 
Stephen Bain
stephen.bain at gmail.com