[Foundation-l] A question for the Wikimania jury

[Brion Vibber]

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Jason Safoutin wrote:
> Really we can do without the attacks of being "NATO-centric" Its not 
> about that. Its about who can attend. And maybe if WM was in areas that 
> people would be able to attend, people would go...at least more than 
> from what I hear, 25% of the people not affiliated with WMF.

That figure was quoted for Boston -- the "most accessible" location yet
for Americans. (Including, naturally enough, interested Americans who
aren't part of our community, but are curious about it.)

> I don't know where you get a superior attendance from a place like 
> Toronto or something else. Maybe the jury has money or is well off, but 
> if you took into consideration the "cultural diversity" then you would 
> realize that WMF contributers, a majority cannot dream of going there or 
> Egypt.

Well, that's exactly why we have the one official worldwide conference
in a *different* place each year -- different people can reach different
places, and we can encourage mixing between those communities by moving
the big official event around.

In addition to that official global conference, which is Wikimania,
there are numerous local meetings put on by Wikimedian groups in the
Netherland, China, Italy, etc etc.

This is a fairly common conference/convention methodology, and can be
seen in industry and fan/hobby conventions of all types.


If you're interested in establishing a more regular North American or
Europe-wide conference the for years when we don't have Wikimania in the
area, then great! We can certainly use more local organization of this
sort in the US, and at the Europe-wide level in addition to the numerous
country-wide groups there.

- -- brion vibber
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