As Pharos says, my understanding also from
discussions was that North
Americans were planning to have a pre-conference or post conference at
Wikimanina 2017.
Sydney
Sydney Poore
User:FloNight
Wiki Project Med Foundation
WikiWomen's User Group
Facebook
On Wed, Jul 6, 2016 at 1:15 PM, Pharos <pharosofalexandria(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
Yes, we were thinking more along the lines of an
expanded preconference
with greater regional opportunities, rather than a separate track during
the actual Wikimania.
Thanks,
Pharos
On Wed, Jul 6, 2016 at 1:11 PM, phoebe ayers <phoebe.ayers(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
> 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
>>>>>>
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