[Foundation-l] "Chinese Wikimania 2006 to be held in Hong Kong"

Thu Mar 16 14:09:37 UTC 2006

Hello, All,

It's me again.

Why hold Chinese meetup just 3 weeks after the 2006 Wikimania? Because
we assume that there will be someone attending 2006 wikimania, and we
want that one to share what he heard and saw in Boston with local
wikipedians in OUR OWN LANGUAGE. If considerate enough, you shall know
that it's not easy for people from PRC to go to the United States.
Even in Hong Kong, I am worried about there would be some people can't
come to join for visa and financial issues. And, please don't think
it's easy to talk, to write, to share in a totally different language.

Chinese wikipedia community is still young and small. Chinese
wikipedians are seperated by historic and political factors. Taking me
as an example, in the past, I couldn't imagine I can join a project
and work together with people from the "Hostile the Other side of the
Strait". Then, we argued and had many conflicts in the Chinese
Wikipedia. And now, we are trying to see each other to make friends,
to share the knowledge of interllectual property rights, the new
discoveries of wiki technologies, and to exchange opinions of managing
and promoting the wikipedia and all the projects which Wikimedia
foundation hosts, in our conservative society and even in an
environment where PRC government banned Wikipedia.

I admit the importance to work together. But I don't think we should
do the same thing together all the time. After the wikimania in
Boston, it's time to spread to strenthen the power of Wikimedia.

Sincerely,

Theodoranian

2006/3/16, Delphine Ménard <notafishz at gmail.com>:
> A few random thoughts about this.
>
> I am extremely happy that the Asian continents, and the Chinese
> particularly, are working on such a project.
>
> As a matter of fact, I believe that local "Wikimanias" or local
> "Wikimedia conferences" should be held on a very regular basis, in
> order to strengthen the community around the world and regionally.
>
> I have been thinking about these extensively thanks to Effeitsanders
> who has launched the idea of the "Wikimania reloaded" (working name)
> in the Netherlands and has many times asked for my input, which I
> scarcely gave (I didn't know what to say). So here are my thoughts
> about the whole idea, now that I have thought about it.
>
> I believe regional conferences should be planned with the Foundation
> for many reasons:
> 1) I find it a bit sad having two conferences (or three, as is) so
> close together. The idea of having a "worldwide conference" should not
> be impeeded by other conferences around the world, because it:
> a) spreads the attendance
> b) spreads the sponsors
> c) spreads the speakers
> d) somehow defeats the whole point of having a world-wide conference
> (why would I go to Boston or Frankfurt if there is a conference nearer
> to me three weeks afterwards?)
> And anyway, it is using the trademarks, so the Foundation should have
> an input in it, especially where local chapters are not present, so as
> to make sure that the name and spirit is used in the right way (not to
> mention the logos ;-) )
>
> In the end, I believe working together allows synergy. Working each in
> our own little corner thins out the efforts. I urge the organizers of
> the Chinese conference to get in touch with the Board to explain what
> they want to do and how, so that we can coordinate all of this.
>
> 2) I am more in favour of an "Olympic Games" type thing, where we'd
> have say Wikimania as an annual worldwide wikimedia conference once
> every 4 years (or 2, or 6, I don't know) and then in the years in
> between as many local conferences as there are people ready to
> organize them.
>
> That's for the grand scheme.
>
> On the more specific matter of trademark and logo use for the Chinese
> Conference:
>
> 1) Why use the Wikipedia logo if it is a Wikimedia conference?
> 2) I've changed the licence on the poster to a dual licence
> {{copyrightbyWikimedia]] for the logo and CC-BY-SA for the design.
>
> Best,
>
> Delphine
> (who still hopes to see Chinese and Dutch in Boston :-( )
>
> --
> ~notafish
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