Or -- my favorite solution -- leaving LOTS of
time in the schedule for
meetups and discussion tracks, so that all kinds of groups -- including
those interested specifically in North America-related issues (like
building a coalition of NA usergroups, planning future conferences, doing
NA-specific outreach or lobbying) can meet to discuss such things.
We've had discussion time historically at most Wikimanias but I think we
can always leave more time in the schedule for this kind of meetup.
Additionally a preconference day could work too, when multiple thematic
tracks could be scheduled (lots of people have historically asked for
preconferences, not just the hackers -- everyone from researchers to
librarians to glam outreach coordinators to affiliates have considered it
in the past).
(Of course, if I was in charge of the schedule I would probably get rid
of individual presentations altogether during Wikimania, and just have
panels/lightning talks/discussions. Best not to put me in charge of the
schedule! :)
-- Phoebe
On Wed, Jul 6, 2016 at 1:00 PM, Leila Zia <leila(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
Hi Pine,
Co-located events in conferences work well if the event that is
co-located with the main conference attracts a new audience that the main
conference doesn't usually get by default. In the case of Wikimania and
WikiConference North America, I can see a lot of overlap based on the last
couple of years' schedules. This will result in what Lodewijk is concerned
about: splitting the potential audience in smaller groups while they can
benefit from getting in one room. Also, an already hard task of scheduling
events will become even harder: For example, we need to worry about not
scheduling two GLAM events at the same time, one focusing on North America
and the other a general/global event.
This being said, I understand that you want to be mindful of the cost
and time spent for these conferences. My suggestion would be for you to
consider a 1-2 day event pre/post Wikimania focused on North America.
Best,
Leila
Leila Zia
Research Scientist
Wikimedia Foundation
On Wed, Jul 6, 2016 at 1:43 AM, Lodewijk <lodewijk(a)effeietsanders.org>
wrote:
> Hi Pine,
>
> Thanks for sharing your thought process. I can see why you identify a
> topical overlap between Wikimania in North America and the North American
> WikiConference. I also see why those topics should be part of the programme
> at Wikimania - I don't expect much disagreement in that field. And whatever
> you do, it will be.
>
> The question is, why would you want to organise it in a special
> 'track' beyond a grouping of similar topics - which seems overly formal and
> separatist. There's an overlap between all topics that you mention, and I
> wouldn't see either why there should be a 'legal track', 'glam
track' etc.
> Every 'regional topic' will likely also fall under Nature, Glam,
> Technology, Law, Education or one of the other topical groupings.
>
> Having a 'track' in a formal way, is much more heavy than grouping
> topics that are related, together. To me it would suggest that 1) North
> Americans can't learn from projects from elsewhere (I think the opposite is
> true) and 2) Non-North Americans should not attend those presentations
> (which I also think would be quite untrue).
>
> The question is what you're trying to accomplish. I would be a fan of
> rather mingling geographies, rather than separating them out, unless you
> have a strong reason to do otherwise. It makes more sense to me to have
> three presentations about education grouped together where they come from
> different regions, with different approaches than to have three
> presentations about North America on a variety of topics grouped together.
> I would find it even more odd to have a whole track dedicated to a region -
> and it would be without precedent (I think).
>
> Best,
> Lodewijk
>
> 2016-07-06 9:06 GMT+02:00 Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com>om>:
>
>> I'm fine with multiple language tracks (most likely including French
>> and Spanish).
>>
>> The reason for a geographic track (in this case, North America) is
>> that otherwise we'd be having a separate conference that served this
>> purpose. I'm sure that many of us in North America will want to attend
>> tracks on subjects other than geographic interest (technology, research,
>> GLAM, STEM, law, education, outreach, community health, and governance come
>> to mind), so there will be substantial benefit in effectively co-locating
>> the conferences. My guess is that this can be done in a way that is a net
>> positive for all. For example, the scholarship budget that would otherwise
>> be requested for a separate WikiConference North America 2017 could instead
>> be used to facilitate increased attendance by North Americans in Montreal,
>> which I think would have the benefit of increasing attendance at Wikimania,
>> and at the same time we would eliminate the need to find a time and venue
>> for a separate conference with separate expenses.
>>
>> Pine
>> On Jul 5, 2016 23:36, "Lodewijk" <lodewijk(a)effeietsanders.org>
wrote:
>>
>>> Hey pine,
>>>
>>> As most people will be able to confirm, having a bigger presence of
>>> regional topics is likely to happen anyway in any Wikimania. When Wikimania
>>> is in Asia, you'll see more Asian speakers, and when it's in Europe,
more
>>> Europeans.
>>>
>>> Separate and successful tracks have been organised before, to the
>>> best of my knowledge, in three ways: 1) language tracks - which were
>>> separate for very practical reasons (translations). 2) type-of-session
>>> tracks - which again are very practical (different needs for a discussion
>>> than for a presentation) and 3) A thematic track - but that was often
>>> organised like a type of side conference (with the US govt in 2012, with
>>> WikiSym and the hackathon).
>>>
>>> To be honest, I don't see right away why 'North American regional
>>> and local subjects' would require such track and even more why it would
>>> require a special committee. It will find its way in the programme, and
>>> it's not like non-Americans won't enjoy those topics per se. Why try
to
>>> separate it from the rest of the programme? In general I'm no big fan of
>>> splitting up the programme into smaller pieces too much - it leaves too
>>> much opportunity for good proposals to fall between the cracks and get
>>> lost. And it gets confusing easily to the participants.
>>>
>>> Now I *do* see an added value for a French language track... but I
>>> guess that'll be of little use to you.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Lodewijk
>>>
>>> 2016-07-06 7:44 GMT+02:00 Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com>om>:
>>>
>>>> Hi Wikimania folks (Ellie and the Montreal organizers in
>>>> particular),
>>>>
>>>> Those of us in the US have expressed a hope that WikiConference
>>>> North America 2017 can be united with Wikimania 2017 in Montreal. This
>>>> would likely lead to economies of scale and reduced total cost, in terms
of
>>>> both time and money, for what would otherwise be separate conferences.
>>>>
>>>> I would like to ask if WMF and the Montreal organizers would be
>>>> willing and able to have some tracks at that conference dedicated to
North
>>>> American regional and local subjects, perhaps coordinated by a dedicated
>>>> North America program committee. I foresee a modest increase in
attendance
>>>> at Wikimania 2017, and decreases in personal and WMF costs, if we can
make
>>>> what would otherwise be separate conferences happen harmoniously.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks, and I hope to see you in Montreal next year.
>>>>
>>>> Pine
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Wikimania-l mailing list
>>>> Wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>>>>
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Wikimania-l mailing list
>>> Wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>>>
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>>>
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Wikimania-l mailing list
>> Wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>>
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimania-l mailing list
> Wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>
>
_______________________________________________
Wikimania-l mailing list
Wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
_______________________________________________
Wikimania-l mailing list
Wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org