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

[James Forrester]

On 19 January 2011 13:04, Harel Cain <harel.cain at gmail.com> wrote:
> I would just like to correct myself and all those people who I misled into
> using the word "biannual". Thanks to Asaf Bartov to pointing out to me that
> the correct form is "biennial". According to most dictionaries, biannual
> does exist but means semi-annual (occurring twice a year). I don't think
> anyone out there thinks we need *biannual* Wikimanias then, just maybe
> biennial :)

To jump in a little late and take this on a different tack, I do.

Specifically, I suggest that the annual global conference,
"Wikimania", is held in July-August each year, and that around
Wikipedia Day (December-January) there is a series of near-continental
(rather than global) large meet-ups[0], perhaps called
"Wikiconference" or something to distinguish them.

This would give "local" teams opportunities to work out how to run
such an event at a (slightly) smaller scale[1], and a trial-run so
they could bid to run Wikimania based on real-world experience that
they know what they are getting in for - and that the jury can use on
which to base its decisions.

These wouldn't necessarily need to be big, all-out affairs, and they
would open up the wiki conference process to more people. It would
allow new editors a more local conference to which they could go with
less effort than flying half-way around the world. They could be
supported by the local chapter, by the Foundation directly, or
(ideally) not at all: our conferences should be from the community,
not the charities that support us, and should be organised as such.

Right now, Wikimania is very cliquey - I'm one of only 10-15 people
who have been to every Wikimania, and a lot of the time us old people
just hang out which each other. Wikimania sadly  does not serve the
majority of our editors very well. It's biased towards rich, young
white people without dependants who speak very good English and are
out-going[2]. Local Wikiconferences would help open back up the
social, community side of Wikimedia - one of our very best features.

Just an idea[3]. :-)

J.

[0] - Off the top of my head, I could foresee one each in (say) East
Coast North America, West Coast North America, Latin and South
America, Europe, Africa, South Asia, East Asia, Russia and Central
Asia, and Australasia.
[1] - The 150-person West Coast Wiki Conference on 15th January was a
great example of a light-weight but very successful wiki-related
conference that took a huge amount less effort and planning than a
full Wikimania.
[2] - Over time this is becoming less and less reflective of our
community, but it isn't reflected at Wikimania. :-(
[3] - I'm sure other people have had this idea before, as I've
discussed it pretty much every Wikimania since 2006... Not trying to
take the credit here!
-- 
James D. Forrester
jdforrester at wikimedia.org | jdforrester at gmail.com
[[Wikipedia:User:Jdforrester|James F.]]