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
--
-Andrew Lih
USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism
Email: andrew(a)andrewlih.com
WEB:
http://www.andrewlih.com
BOOK: The Wikipedia Revolution: http:/www.wikipediarevolution.com
PROJECT: WikiFactcheck:
http://wikifactcheck.org/wiki