[Foundation-l] Contingency plans for Wikimania

[Chad]

Exactly. The embassy staff will certainly help if it's a major issue, but
for something minor (like I said: being laid up for a day or so due a
medical issue), is something that the local organization team and the
Foundation can play a big big role in. I've traveled abroad before, and
before my group left, we registered our travel with the embassy. We
also formed a volunteer phone tree (which everyone signed up for!), so
notification of family+friends of a problem (both real or potential) could
be carried out quickly and easily.

I don't see why some people would be opposed to such a thing. As Greg
points out, such things are often mandatory. Even if you make it
optional, as I suggested, it could still be a nice asset.

-Chad

On Sat, Apr 19, 2008 at 11:53 PM, Gregory Maxwell <gmaxwell at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Apr 19, 2008 at 5:20 PM, Mike Godwin <mgodwin at wikimedia.org> wrote:
>  >  Danny writes:
>  >  > While something like this recurring is unlikely, it is probably best
>  >  > to  have
>  >  > contingencies for just such an event. This could be as simple as
>  >  > plans in
>  >  > case the conference must be cancelled at the very last minute, or
>  >  > contact
>  >  > numbers for family members of participants in the event of an
>  >  > emergency
>  >
>  >  I think privacy concerns would prevent the Foundation's keeping
>  >  contact information for everyone's parents and families, extra
>  >  personally identifying information and the like (where they would
>  >  subject to legal process and perhaps abuse, depending on whether we
>  >  kept them privately or publicly).  I also don't think the Foundation
>  >  is the logical place to focus on being able to contact your family in
>  >  the event of an emergency.
>
>  http://www.google.com/search?q=conference+registration+form+emergency+contact&btnG=Search
>
>  The collection of emergency contact information by conferences is both
>  reasonable and customary.  In my own experience it frequently isn't
>  even explicitly optional.
>
>  The privacy argument seems suspect to me when necessity requires the
>  mandatory collection for of equally invasive information electronic
>  payment purposes.  Does someone who has already given you their full
>  name, address, credit card number/email address, IP info, etc.. really
>  have anything to worry about optionally giving you a family members
>  phone number?
>
>  The lack of interest in making an optional request for information
>  which may be useful seems seems callous to me.  Certainly people ought
>  to register with the embassy, but many won't, nor can the embassy be
>  expected to be as concerned, responsive, or directly informed as
>  people involved directly in the conference, who presumably, have a
>  heightened concern for the welfare of the attendees compared to
>  embassies who must deal with many thousands of other tourists.
>
>
>
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