[Wikimediaau-l] Wikimania 2010 bid idea: joint-bid with iSummit?
Liam Wyatt
liamwyatt at gmail.com
Thu Aug 21 12:01:23 UTC 2008
I agree that it is indeed strange that taipei and buenos aires are
considered more accessible destinations than australia. The "over-
representation" is the same thing that happens in elite sport (e.g.
Olympics) where we always punch above our weight. I think we should
think of this as a positive and see the quotes that I pulled as
positive rather than negative. We are a special case and that is a
good thing! People take notice of us and this bodes well for how much
WM-AU can achieve. Remember that the only two times the Olympics have
come to the Southern Hemisphere have been to Australia!
So, moving to practical matters:
part 1 -
Well, if we do indeed decide to do a national event of some sorts I
think there are two directions we could take it: Internal or External.
1) Internal - a.k.a "Capacity Building"
This would be focused on the existing wiki community with other
related groups (e.g. Linux Australia or OLPC Australia). The idea
would be to improve the technical expertise of Australian Wikimedians
both on-wiki (with workshops on media-wiki, illustration, copyright
etc.) and off-wiki (with workshops on fundraising, the australian non-
profit space etc.) and some things that cross over both (such as
dealing with the Australian OTRS queue). The added value of being
able to meet and share experiences in the real world can also not be
underestimated.
2) External - a.k.a. "Outreach"
This would be a different focus - one which looked at expanding our
'presence' in the australian scene. It would be about explaining to
people who are not wikimedians about who we are and what we are here
for. This would be to educate several key groups: the media,
academics, single interest groups, cultural institutions. The media
often mis-represents us but is also very interested in working with
us because of how we make their research job so much easier.
Academics also have a love/hate relationship with wikimedia [this is
my particular area of interest]. Single interest groups - i'm
thinking of people such as the world-class amateur astronomy
Australia produces - need to be introduced to how sharing their
passion through our projects can be achieved. Finally, cultural
institutions such as museums, libraries and galleries are aware of
our common aim of public education but don't know how to tie-in to
what we do.
Both of these types of events would be difficult to achieve but also
very valuable to the chapter (and the projects as a whole). But I
think we would need to be clear about the purpose of the event as
these two purposes cross over somewhat at Wikimania - we should start
with one at a time.
End of part 1 - please comment on this dichotomy.
Part 2 -
As for how we might do this, it is currently my opinion (although I'm
willing to have this opinion changed :-) that we should start with
the former - working on as small a budget as possible - and then
proceed to the latter which should be done with sponsorship and try
to look snazzy. This greatly resembles Brianna's "three tier"
approach of going local>national>global but this is more internal
(national)>external(national)>global.
I propose that we try to hold two sessions of the first type
(capacity building) - one in Melbourne and one in Sydney. Perhaps one
of these could even be at the same time as the AGM. My hope would be
that people offer to share their spare sofas/foldout beds and return
the favour in the other direction. This would greatly cut down on the
cost of accommodation (I'm still working on how to cut down on the
cost of travel...). Along the lines of a bar-camp everyone would be
encouraged to participate not just sit and watch. We don't have to
all present or lead a session but we should all be engaged in growing
our own skills and knowledge and sharing the knowledge that we do
have to others. This would be a highly practical event that I imagine
would go for 2 days 3 nights.
The second of the events would be held in an attempt to show
ourselves to Australia. This would require an impressive venue and go
for a day. We would invite people from the aforementioned areas of
interest and run it like a mini conference. There would hopefully be
sessions specifically tailored to each group (media, academic etc.).
If we hadn't already launched an official presence by then (e.g. a
Blog and website) then this would be the time. This would require
sponsorship and proper planning.
Perhaps these different groups require such a different approach that
they should be dealt with at different times, different events etc.
I wrote to Cary Bass (volunteer coordinator on the foundation staff
in San Fran.) today on Skype and asked him about that discussion on
the IRC chat that was posted here regarding board/staff visiting us
in Australia. He said that yes indeed they would come - but we would
have to provide airfares. So, the more we raise and allocate to that,
the more people who would come from overseas. So, apart from
actually developing our skills, experience and public awareness this
would be the other factor in getting wikimania - having the
foundation come to visit!
end of part 2. please comment on this practical application proposal.
All in all, I think I've written too much today! Sorry for being so
verbose.
Best,
-Liam Wyatt
wikipediaweekly.com
Skype - Wittylama
Wikipedia - [[User:Witty lama]]
On 21/08/2008, at 6:33 PM, Craig Franklin wrote:
Yes, I understand now why I was fobbed off by multiple members of the
jury at the time when I asked what the main issues were with the
Brisbane bid! I'm disappointed, but not too surprised Its especially
disappointing given that it was more or less agreed that we are "over-
represented", because I really think that the AU community punches
above its weight in terms of being strong contributors to the
project. Especially because there seems to be the impression that
Egypt and Buenos Aires (which are fantastic destinations, don't get
me wrong) are somehow "more accessible".
I was very enthusiastic about actually making the bid for 2010, but
now I'm not so sure. If we're just going to be dismissed out-of-hand
by a bid committee dominated by North Americans and Europeans, I
guess we should realise that we're not wanted and direct our energies
to something more constructive. If we're going to do a regional
conference though (even with the board), I guess we should really ask
ourselves what the purpose of such a gathering would be before we do
anything else - while a meeting with all of you would be great I'm
sure on a social level, I'm not sure that there's that much that
would be achieved from getting us all together in the one room that
we couldn't do through teleconferencing or on-wiki collaboration.
-------------------
Craig Franklin
PO Box 1093
Toombul, Q, 4012
Australia
http://www.halo-17.net - Australia's Favourite Source of Indie Music,
Art, and Culture.
----- Original Message -----
From: Liam Wyatt
To: Wikimedia-au
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 6:16 PM
Subject: [personal] Re: [Wikimediaau-l] Wikimania 2010 bid idea:
joint-bid with iSummit?
well, with phrases like:
- "The Australian problem"
- Australians being " unusually over-represented on our projects"
-.au people are disadvantaged.
I can see where a society can start to develop an inferiority complex!
--
wikipediaweekly.com
Skype - Wittylama
Wikipedia - [[User:Witty lama]]
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