I think Iolanda means that, even though Ghana and
Senegal are both in
Africa, the cost of travelling from one to the other is still very
high—probably too expensive for many people.
Joe
On Mon, 5 Oct 2015 at 21:08 Reem Al-Kashif <reemalkashif(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
Hi Iolanda,
This is Reem from Egypt. Thank you for your email. I'm silently
following the threads of emails about this. But would you please explain to
me what do you mean by the following:
let’s be very clear: if the event is in Ghana, this does not mean that
it is possible for a person from Senegal to
afford his/her trip.
I'm not sure I understand why (maybe something is lost in translation as
I'm a non-native speaker of EN) ^_^
Best,
Reem
On 5 October 2015 at 18:58, Iolanda Pensa <iolanda(a)pensa.it> wrote:
dear all
the rotation we have set for Wikimania guarantees that at least once
every three years we do not pick the easiest, cheapest and safest location.
The reality is that US-Canada and Europe are the easiest and cheapest
locations. Well, with Esino Lario we have done our best to assure some
complexities, but in general organizing wikimania in Asia, Latin America,
Africa and Australia is more challenging and more expensive for people who
have the money to pay their travel to travel there (let’s be very clear: if
the event is in Ghana, this does not mean that it is possible for a person
from Senegal to afford his/her trip. If the event is in Europe, US and
Canada it is much more likely that a person from there can afford his/her
trip. Australia is an exception in many ways but in general it is expensive
for the majority of the partcipants).
I personally believe the real criteria to choose where to host
Wikimania should be a positive impact. If organizing Wikimania in a
location can bring resources (volunteers, brains, fundings, content...),
boost projects, involve communities it does make sense to organize it there
even if it is much more expensive than in other location. I personally
believe our goal should not be to put our flag in a new location but to
make the best impact where Wikimania takes place. And let’s get ready to
invest more (money, time, difficulties) if it makes sense.
Wikimania needs to change its selection process. My experience (and the
experience of others) is that the current system is not a healthy system.
We are putting teams one against the other and hurting people we do not
want to hurt: we want everyone to win and to be involved in different
capacities in the Wikimedia projects and in Wikimania.
Montreal has been chosen because it is a very good site, with a very
good team, a safe place, and for the first time in a francophone
location; by selecting as rapidly as possible the venue for 2017 we provide
the Montreal team enough time to prepare the event and we have time
ourselves to discuss and establish a new process.
The committee has met twice in the past three months and we were
getting ready to announce the news. The delays are never positive and it is
good that the topic is now at the centre of discussions. please do
contribute to the process and the discussion about it also on meta to make
sure its more easily recorded and accessible
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_selection_process
iolanda / iopensa
member of the Wikimania Committee and volunteer for Wikimania Esino
Lario
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--
*Kind regards,Reem Al-Kashif*
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