[Foundation-l] On Wikimania locations

[phoebe ayers]

On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 5:32 PM, Gregory Maxwell <gmaxwell at gmail.com> wrote:
> Wikimania 2011 has come, yet again another location in the middle-east.
>
> It seems to me that every major populated geographic region has a
> multitude of sites which could create viable wikimania candidacies—
> and this has certainly been supported by the past applications.
>
> A leading application takes an enormous amount of work, expenditure of
> political energy, etc. on the part of the proposing team— work that
> could perhaps be applied to advancing the Wikimedia mission in other
> ways for candidacies which are ultimately fruitless.
>
> I believe that if you were to take the best candidate from each region
> and compare among them you'd find them all to be excellent options and
> ultimately end up choosing based little details and preferences, often
> ones mostly outside of the control of the applicants.
>
> Accordingly I believe it would be better if we pre-announced a
> preferred geography for the candidacies each year.
>
> Effort could then be conserved for producing really excellent
> proposals in those years when a candidacy is most likely to be
> successful. This could also be expected to result in better
> applications.

Ah, rotation, the bane of Wikimania planning... or perhaps the
challenge, the opportunity?

This seems like a good opportunity to propose an idea I have had for a
long time, and have discussed with many people, but have never
formally proposed.

I'm interested in seeing a community-based group being formed to work
on the on-going issues surrounding Wikimania. Such a group could (for
instance):

* work on documentation of past conferences and best practices, so
each new team does not have to work hard to get this information (as
is currently the case)
* set the timetables for choosing future locations and perhaps provide
optimal planning schedules (much as the election committee does, in
years when it exists)
* provide a centralized resource of knowledgeable people that all
interested parties (Foundation staff, conference planners, community
members, etc) could turn to with questions and ideas
* and last but not least.... actively hold and host [and perhaps come
to consensus on] discussions such as this (the rotation issue) which
has come up every single year in the public and private bid
discussions, to no resolve.

I imagine such a group would be separate from the year's actual
conference planners and the bid jury. This would rather be a group of
those interested and those with past wikimania experience -- perhaps
less formal than the current standing committees but more formal than
the current situation of "whoever happens to work on wikimania and
answer their mail." Imagine a really engaged wikiproject.

I have had this exchange more than once:
"Hey Phoebe, how do I contact the Wikimania group [with my idea for
the future/question/proposal]?"
"You do realize there's no such thing, right?"

And I would like to change that situation.

What do you all think? Anyone interested? Starting on meta seems like
a good idea: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania/community

-- Phoebe


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