Hi folks, For several years now, people have occasionally floated the notion that there should be a permanent Wikimania oversight committee – basically, a group of people responsible for giving some coaching and guidance and oversight to the local planning team each year. Over the years, support has been offered each year by people like Phoebe, James Forrester, Delphine (Delphine both in her staff role and as a volunteer) and SJ … but there has never (AFAIK) been a formal oversight committee. I think there probably should be.
I've been talking about this idea with a few people over the past several months. Based on those conversations, I'd propose a mixed committee of volunteers and staff, with a small membership – let's say, five or so people. Ideally the people would remain on the committee for several years, and would have experience with past Wikimanias. The role of the committee would be to provide coaching and guidance for the local planning team (“here is how we've done it in past years, here's what usually works, here are some problems you should watch out for”) … and also to provide oversight to the local team, and help them course-correct if they're having problems. Essentially, the committee would be responsible for helping to ensure, in partnership with the local team, that every Wikimania is a success. I want to reiterate that I (and I think we all) see Wikimania as a volunteer-led event. The Wikimedia Foundation plays a fairly small role --- it is its biggest sponsor, and it supports it in various ways. But Wikimania is a community event, which I don't think should change. I'd like to throw this out for discussion, and also ask people to self-nominate if they're interested in being on such a committee. If everyone interested will be at Gdansk, the best next step may be to arrange a face-to-face meeting there to figure out how best to do this. And I warn Phoebe via this note (although I'm sure she can anticipate it), I will be aiming to pull her in to help think it through, since she has been one of the most consistently-active planners/organizers, at pretty much every Wikimania so far. I'm interested in everyone's views on this, and I'd be particularly interested in hearing from the people who've been involved in past Wikimanias, and also from the Haifa people, to hear if this'd be useful for them for 2011. Thanks, Sue -- Sue Gardner Executive Director Wikimedia Foundation 415 839 6885 office 415 816 9967 cell Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
