Colleagues,
As a graduate of both Stanford and U.C. Berkeley, I agree that this event should not be a Stanford-specific event. What will people visiting Palo Alto do for public transportation, for example? You can only walk past the Facebook building once, that takes 5 minutes; the Google complex, well, if you get there by car, you can look around for 15 minutes. Then do you want to drive to Apple? Dot coms are a dime a dozen; enthusiastic start-ups hope the greatness of Silicon Valley will assure their success via osmosis.
Eclectic sites and the character in the City (SF) will appeal to a truly cosmopolitan audience. If visitors want to visit U.C. Berkeley or the area, it's a quick BART ride, and if folks want to see the Pacific Coast, the City is the quickest route. A train can be had from downtown SF to Palo Alto, then an infrequent Stanford van can take people to the campus.
If you need a hotel room, you can get one in the City for around $100. but you will need to plan to pay $200. or more per day in Palo Alto. Life in Palo Alto is geared toward the salaried, per diem expenditure, so you won't find inexpensive meals either. There are many colleges and think-tanks in the area that merit participation access in the event, as well.
Karen Sue Rolph, Ph.D.
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2011 10:16:07 -0800
From: andrew@andrewlih.com
To: wikimedia-california@lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: [Wikimedia-california] Wikimania Bidding 2012
Hi all,
New to the list, but a veteran of almost everything else in Wikipedia, including being on the Wikimania selection jury for several years, and helping logistics, programming, et al. Happy to give any advice and help as needed.
I think an SF bid would be great. With no disrespect to Stanford's proposed bid, the city-based location in SF itself would be much more conducive to outings and the vibe of other Wikimanias which have been within walking or short public transport distance to cultural institutions and funky attractions. On the other hand, Stanford being in proximity of other dot-coms and startups might provide an opportunity for outreach to other tech firms/groups that we've never had before. It might also concentrate Wikipedians together in a way to help promote more editor-editor interaction. Each one has its benefits.
I was at the WC WikiConference, and it might indeed be an interesting evolution for Wikimania. The kickoff WM in Frankfurt '05 was more casual, and really focused on Wikipedians talking with each other for the first time. '06 and '07 professionalized it quite a bit more, as it was Wikipedia's heyday and public rise. Correspondingly, the programs at those events were more formal, as it also allowed for academics/students to get funded to go to a conference that was professionally run and where submissions were peer-reviewed. In some sense, Wikisym now being concurrent with Wikimania has removed the need for the latter, and Wikimania can perhaps return to its more informal, community roots. The WC WikiConf was all open space -- that is, no agenda, all sessions proposed in a circle by attendees, and sifted and sorted in wiki style. Registration was by EventBrite, and Phoebe and Eugene were able to pull it off with much less pain than for Wikimanias. There might be something to learn from that.
Interested in other thoughts.
-Andrew
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