[Wikimania-l] What to do about 2012, and the future

[Delphine Ménard]

On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 1:13 PM, Finne Boonen <hennar at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 12:44, Lodewijk <lodewijk at effeietsanders.org> wrote:
>>> To me, the lack of strong bids is an indicator that holding a big,
>>> expensive and complex international conference in a changing location year
>>> after year is not very realistic in the long term - and Wikimania is just
>>> becoming ever more big, expensive and complex (for example, WM2011 will see
>>> at least three side events preceding/co-locating with it).
>
> Maybe the problem is that every conference tries to do better/bigger
> then the previous ones? Which can quickly lead to 'too
> big/complicated'
>
>>> Few international organizations do that. In fact, many international
>>> conferences such as the International Congress of Mathematicians are held
>>> every 4 years! I don't think it will be a bad sign for the Wikimedia
>>> movement / foundation to decide to hold Wikimania every two years, just a
>>> realistic understanding on its part that the tradition of annual Wikimanias
>
> However, most other fields have several conferences a year where
> people meet each other. I'm not sure we have enough events that allow
> real international 'mingling' to take place. In my experience most
> conferences we have are very local events, and there is real benefit
> from interacting in person with a wider community then the local one.

I am a bit with Harel on this one. However, I agree with you Finne.
To me, the solution would be to have a rotating (yes, the big R word)
international event every other year (ie. it would be decided _in
advance_ which continent wikimania is happening on) and allow/foster
more regional international meetings the year in between. This would
allow for the following:
* Regions could gather experience in putting together bigger events
* International mingling still occurs, if on a smaller scale, and
nobody prevents anyone from the US to participate in a European event,
or anyone from Africa to participate in a South American event.
*This would actually strengthen the ties between communities of big
regions (such as the US, for example), by allowing people to
participate in an event close to home at least once every other year.
*This would allow people in countries in another hemisphere to hold
meetings when it is most suitable for them (Summer holidays are not
the same for everyone, for example)
*Having a continent picked _ in advance_ for the big international
Wikimania would foster good competition, as the chances of a wikimania
happening in a given place is higher than when cities scattered across
the world are competing
*Preparing for a Wikimania is a huge thing (or at least, has become
one). The bids we've had in the past few years have shown extreme
cooperation with host cities, locations, local partners etc. These are
things that are better achieved if you know that your chances of
actually winning the bid is higher.
*It would give a team two _whole_ years to prepare the international
event, and more potential for finding sponsors, partners, etc.
*It is easier, on a personal level, to plan to go to the international
Wikimania every two years (you know, families and stuff, they might
not like it that every year, half of your personal holidays are spent
at the other side of the world in some wiki freak show ;)). It also
gives a fair shot at remote(r) locations, such as Australia, because
people have time to save the money to get there for an international
event.
*It would allow people with little time to at least attend a
international (a region here is an international thing, if smaller
than "the world") events closer to home every other year.

etc.

My 0.2 €

Delphine

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