[Wikimania-l] Comments
Ray Saintonge
saintonge at telus.net
Sat Aug 2 08:25:08 UTC 2008
Brian McNeil wrote:
> I suppose the key point to take from the gripes Majorly and I have posted is
> that you need input from people outwith the hosting country. People who have
> visited the country as tourists and can comment on where and how there will
> be attempts to take advantage of you.
>
True enough, though I think that much of the problem related to an
inattention to details. Residents of a country tend to take their way
of doing things for granted, and this includes any number of practices
that are completely foreign to us foreigners. It takes a great deal of
foresight to anticipate the kinds of problems we foreigners may
encounter. The website for the Cairo International Airport does
include information to the effect that there are two commercial
companies providing bus service to Alexandria, but says nothing about
where in the airport one might find these services, not even in which of
the two terminals. This inattention to detail, or lack of specificity
may be endemic in Egyptian society, and is not limited to our own
organisers. What is needed is detailed specific instructions from the
time we leave the airplane until we arrive safely in the hands of the
conference organizers.
Some of us who may arrive a couple of days early to offset jetlag need
to know where we can meet other earlybirds. Setting up an early
information desk to deal with this is very helpful.
Ec
More information about the Wikimania-l
mailing list