On 8/30/07, Jennifer Gristock <J.J.Gristock(a)sussex.ac.uk> wrote:
Hi Sean, Hi Sandy, Hi everyone,
Hi Jennifer :-) I'm sorry to hear about your father - I hope he makes
a full recovery soon.
[snip]
I want to make things happen. Here's an idea: I
would like to organise a
1-day conference in the UK on Wikis, Academia and Public engagement. It
would be hosted in my department and we have lovely open spaces in our
building.
I will be asking a contact at a research council to support it financially,
but they usually only do it if it is co-funded and would be attended by
some big names. What are the chances of that, do you think???
I'm very interested in getting such a conference together - thanks to
Angela for thinking of me - I've just joined this list. :-)
Christophe's suggestion of a Wikipedia Academy is something I've been
dreaming about for a while now. ;-) I suggest we contact Frank
Schulenburg (I can do this), and others who have been active in
previous Wikipedia Academies.
By "big names", are you referring to people in the Wikimedia world,
well-known academics in a given field (free culture, open education,
etc), both, or other? By "co-funded" - do you mean by Wikimedia, or by
any other organisation?
I would like to brainstorm what Wikimedia could give to and gain from
such an event in terms of resources, and opportunities for further
work.I would also like to brainstorm what the likely "draws" of such
an event would be - what angle are people in the academic world likely
to be interested in? For example, there are plenty of academics
interested in the world of wikis and other collaborative tools in
education and research - are we pitching to an already-aware audience,
trying to get more people interested in such work, or pitching it
somewhere in the middle?
I'd also like to know where this bid has gone, and where it is going.
Specifically, who are the potential funders you have applied to? FWIW,
I think bodies like JISC and ESRC would be prime candidates for bigger
bids in the future, though I'm not sure if they would fund a one-off
conference.
If Sandy thinks this is a good idea, I'd love to
know who would like to
come and we could brainstorm to shape the idea up a little.
Is it better for us to stick to email for the moment, or should we
organise/discuss this on Meta? In any case, count me in!
Cheers,
Cormac
PS: Yes, I'm studying in Manchester - though briefly located in Reading. :-)