(I mean in terms of applying for and receiving visas, sorry if that wasn't clear.)
*Joseph Fox* enwp.org/user:foxj On 4 October 2015 at 22:42, Joseph Fox <[email protected]> wrote: > On 4 October 2015 at 22:01, aude <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I am not convinced this is a good idea, given this definition of regions. >> >> Eastern Europe should definitely be considered along with western, >> southern, ... It is pretty cheap to travel there from elsewhere in europe, >> probably venue + accommodations are cheaper, and most important we have >> significant communities there with track record of organising regional >> conferences. >> I would also be tempted to include north Africa and middle east with >> europe. (after all, the next European hackathon is being held in Israel) >> >> I also think having wikimania in Canada + US every three years is too >> often. The visa process for the US is hugely annoying, difficult and >> results in excluding attendees. >> >> Also, while great and important to have wmf support for wikimania, imho >> it is important that ultimate leadership for wikimania each year is from >> volunteers. I am not sure the volunteer community in the US + Canada has >> this capacity to be lead organizer every three years. Maybe once every four >> years is reasonable, imho. >> >> Also, stuff like accommodations tends to be a bit expensive in the US >> compared to elsewhere, and flights within north America (especially Canada) >> are also somewhat pricey in my experience. >> > Likewise, accommodation in western, northern and southern Europe is also > pretty expensive. > > I'll agree that having US/Canada hold the conference every three years is > a bad idea for the community, even if convenient for the WMF and their > staff. > >> Cheers, >> Katie >> >> Beyond the first two areas, we may not visit some as often as others. (I >> have not listed Antarctica as an area to which we will rotate, which may >> well be a disappointment to members of the British Antarctic Survey and >> others in that location.) >> > >> > >> > More widely, we would like to encourage Wikimedia conferences as open, >> engaging and fun community meetups, alongside the annual Wikimania >> conference. I know that several chapters run country-specific conferences >> each year, which is a good move. I think that there should be at least one >> annual Wikimedia conference in each of these areas. This would help newer >> editors know that there are people like them nearby without requiring the >> existence of, or putting too great a demand on, every national chapter or >> other local affiliated body. In some areas like Africa where the distances >> are great, multiple regional conferences may make sense. >> > >> > >> > As part of the new system of location selection, we will no longer have >> a 'bidding' process. Instead, the Committee invites people interested in >> leading or helping to run a Wikimania to contact us on-wiki, or via the >> wikimania-l list. If you think that you know a great team, venue or concept >> for holding Wikimania, in your area or anywhere else, please discuss the >> possibilities with us. We will work with interested community members to >> narrow down the selection to a particular venue. >> > >> > >> > Our next few locations will thus go like this: >> > >> > >> > * 2016: Western, Northern, and Southern Europe – Esino Lario in Italy >> > >> > * 2017: Canada and United States – TBD >> > >> > * 2018: TBD – TBD >> > >> > * 2019: Western, Northern, and Southern Europe – TBD >> > >> > * 2020: Canada and United States – TBD >> > >> > * 2021: TBD – TBD >> > >> > >> > As you can see, as well as picking the 2017 venue in Canada or the >> United States, for which we have a candidate lined up, we need to select >> very quickly the area for 2018, and after that, 2019 and beyond. There are >> several areas we’ve outlined above that have never had a Wikimania, and >> others where we have not visited for some time. We would love your thoughts >> on the areas on which we should focus for 2018 and beyond. We’ll also be >> asking in future for your thoughts about how to structure the programme of >> each Wikimania to make it as good as it can be for you, for others, and for >> our community overall. >> > >> > >> > Thank you. >> > >> > >> > Yours, >> > >> > -- >> > >> > James D. Forrester >> > >> > Chair, Wikimania Committee >> > >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Wikimania-l mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l >> > >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimania-l mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l >> >> >
_______________________________________________ Wikimania-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
