Thanks for starting this thread. It's cool to hear thinking about Wikimania
2013 speaker options early on. I really like the categories Andrew
proposed, and I think it will help clarify the thinking around what
different speakers can bring to the table.

On Thu, Oct 4, 2012 at 10:21 AM, Andrew Lih <[email protected]> wrote:

> 1. Ray Chan, 9gag. Certainly 9gag has made a splash in the geekier
> Internet community, but it would be good to see what he'd want to talk
> about first and whether it had any relevance to Wikipedians and free
> culture. Important to remember: Wikimania is first and foremost a community
> event, not just a great speaker series.
>

In addition to what Andrew said...

To be totally honest: 9gag is viewed by many Internet communities, such as
Reddit and 4chan, as a leech which contributes very little to these
communities. There are often rules that explicitly disallow use of 9gag
stuff on some of these sites. I don't think we necessarily want to align
ourselves with 9gag, and I don't think they would have much of substance to
say about how read online community is formed or operates.

If we want a general meme-ery speaker, Chris Poole of 4chan and Canvas fame
would be fantastic, though like Andrew said, the direct connection is
somewhat tenuous.


> 2. Charles Mok, certainly relevant to the conference, but not sure how
> exciting a speaker he is.
>
> 3. Arianna Huffington. Not really a fan of this pick. Can get quite
> political, and not obvious the overlap between her site and free culture.
>

+1. Too American-centric, too political.


> 4. Thomas Crampton is a good pick. He was a respected working journalist
> and may be able to set the table on what Wikipedia and free culture mean
> across Asia.
>
> 5. Don't know much about Ada Wong.
>
> That said, how about some other ideas:
>
> 1. Joi Ito. He's a great friend of Wikipedia, and spoke in 2007 Wikimania
> in Taiwan. He's now MIT Media Lab director, and could give great Asia
> perspectives.
>

Joi also has a strong free culture perspective. I think as far as someone
who can balance a global and regional perspective, he's a great pick.

Maybe a wiki page about the options would be a good place to store a list
for consideration?

http://wikimania2013.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Keynotes&action=edit&redlink=1:)

Steven
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