[Wikimediaau-l] Wikimania 2010 bid idea: joint-bid with iSummit?

[Delphine Ménard]

On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 10:16, Liam Wyatt <liamwyatt at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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!
>
> I disagree with them that it would be a good idea to have an
> australia-specific scholarship fund - we are in no more need than New
> Zealand or any other nation that happens to be far away from the wikimania
> of that year.

Agreed with you on this.

>I can see us being looked down upon by the rest of the world
> for being considered a special case (especially since we're a developed
> country). I certainly not want scholarships to be given out as a consolation
> prize or as hush-money to stop us from applying for the conference. Any
> application - no matter where it is from - should stand or fall on its own
> merits!

And unfortunately, one of those merits is how many people from across
the world can access it.

>
> I personally do not think Australia will get it this year for one main
> reasons:
> - they've not been to either N.America nor Europe for 3 years (by 2010) and
> the vast majority of regular participants to wikimania are from there.
> - there are three bids from Europe lining up that look like they'll all be
> very strong.
> The rotation thing was never an official policy and in no way do we
> "deserve" to have this. No country is "owed" a wikimania. - I'm not saying
> that anyone has said this, but after a while we might start to think along
> these lines. This is where Turin ended up, and Vancouver to a degree.
>
> I would dearly love to see Wikimania in Australia. But I think we should be
> pushing for 2011 instead. There, I said it. If we do indeed have a bid, I
> will support it and help wherever possible - I'm not going to play the
> spoiler like that. But if we spend the intervening year building our
> capacity and experience - especially by hosting a national conference of
> some sorts (where we invite the board etc. as suggested in that IRC
> discussion) then we'd have:
> a) a much better chance becuase we'd have "runs on the board"
> b) better knowledge of where we are strong and relatively weak which would
> make for an improved bid and ultimately improved conference.
> c) a stronger Australian community. Starting with building the Chapter.
>
> We need to work UP to wikimania, not start with it. I believe that Brianna's
> 3 step plan formulated last year is still our best model and, despite our
> best efforts, I think we'll be barking up the wrong tree trying to justify
> the costs of hosting wikimania here before we can show there is a demand,
> local capabilities and skill capacity.

I can only applaud this way of looking at this whole thing.

I won't comment on the "rotation" thing, since there are strong
disagreements as to whether that plays a role or not ;-), but I think
your approach is the right one.

Let's see, as a European attendee, I'd love for Wikimania to be in
Europe in 2010, because then it's gonna be cheap for me to get there,
and I think I could actually have enough time to save up for Wikimania
in Australia in 2011.

I personally think that for example, Wikimania could be a conference
happening every other year, allowing people to plan in advance and
save up in advance for their trip to wherever in the world it happens.
But apart from that, I do agree with Liam that working UP to wikimania
is a much better plan than starting with it and being disappointed and
hindered in your motivation.

Wikimedia Australia supporting Wikimania in two years from now has
more contacts, more recognition, more stability to find the necessary
resources to bring everyone to Australia in 2011 for Wikimania. Or
even to do something else entirely. Who knows.

Delphine

-- 
~notafish

NB. This gmail address is used for mailing lists. Your emails will get lost.
Ceci n'est pas une endive - http://blog.notanendive.org