Thanks for that comment, Dariusz;
Wikimania London took over two years of preparation, and occupied me full
time for six months in the run up to the event. It's a massive undertaking,
and in retrospect it seems deeply unfair to expect volunteers to do this.
There was a bidding process, so there was heavy pressure to
minimise/understate the budget - which mostly comes at the cost of the
volunteers. I think the community just has to be more realistic about what
it costs to put on a 1000+ person event.
Were I to do it again I would absolutely include subsistence for the
organising team in the budget. It needs professional commitment and
professional skills, even with WMF staff support.
I do think that the movement deserves an annual event, and particularly
that the WMF should capitalise on it more from a comms perspective.
Wiki*edia is a significant entity and we should be presenting ourselves as
such.
*Edward Saperia*
Conference Director Wikimania London <http://www.wikimanialondon.org>
email <edsaperia(a)gmail.com> • facebook <http://www.facebook.com/edsaperia> •
twitter <http://www.twitter.com/edsaperia> • 07796955572
133-135 Bethnal Green Road, E2 7DG
In the same time, I've seen the following problems
over the years, not
directly linked to the financial cost (which in the face of our relative
financial stability can be justified by the benefits, depending on how we
define them):
- huge WMF staff involvement (most Wikimanias run smoothly also thanks to
countless hours put in by the staff),
- huge volunteer local organizers involvement (in fact, my observation is
that many chapters organizing WIkimanias suffer from a motivation crisis
afterward).
[...]
While we can get the money (at least for now), the human involvement cost
is something I would not dare to dismiss just by emphasizing the benefits
of Wikimania for the movement.
[...]
Instead of discussing whether we should have a Wikimania every year or
not, perhaps we should try to list and discuss the reasons why it is such a
big strain? If it is clear that we can't afford it every year (because of
the human cost, probably more importantly than the finances), the decision
to break with the annual format will be a natural consequence of such an
analysis.
[...]
Dariusz Jemielniak ("pundit", a current Trustee).