[Foundation-l] Contingency plans for Wikimania

[Geoffrey Plourde]

Seriously, a extra field in registration is a good idea. What if someone has a heart attack during Wikimania? WMF would probably want to contact someone authorized to make medical decisions. 



----- Original Message ----
From: Mike Godwin <mgodwin at wikimedia.org>
To: foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2008 2:20:09 PM
Subject: [Foundation-l] Contingency plans for Wikimania


Danny writes:

> As such, I ask, are there contingencies  for
> unanticipated changes in the coming weeks/months? ...

<...>

> 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. WikiParenting is not exactly our strength.  
See below.

We are considering other contingency planning, of course.

> --as  simple
> as making sure someone is picking up phones in the SF office while  
> the  event
> is underway.

Certainly we will have people at the office to answer phones during  
Wikimania.  I don't think we're going to shoot for 24-hour staffing of  
the office, though.

There is lots of standard advice for individuals engaging in foreign  
travel, including contacting your local embassy before or after you  
arrive and giving them your contact information and likely location.  
I don't think the Foundation is in the position to do the work of  
multiple embassies in this regard.

Anyone who wants to start up WikiEmbassies, however, has my  
encouragement.


---Mike




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