Grants:TPS/Kevin Gorman/DC PR Summit

I will be involved in this meeting as the President of Wikimedia District of Columbia. I believe Kevin is highly qualified to represent the Wikipedia community on this issue and that this meeting has high potential for impact, given the high profile of this issue. harej (talk) 00:20, 28 January 2014 (UTC)
As the individual organizing this event and who extended the invitation to Kevin (and also James) I would also like to endorse this request. Kevin's knowledge about this topic would be a very valuable addition to the discussion this day. One note: I have corrected the date above: the meeting will occur Friday Feb. 7. WWB (talk) 05:09, 28 January 2014 (UTC)

Budget breakdown

Provide a detailed breakdown of your funding needs here. Please specify the currency for all amounts. For example:

Travel: USD 336 roundtrip airfare, USD 70 roundtrip shuttle from Dulles to the hotel (with luck, I'll be able to arrange alternate transportation, but if not, this is Super Shuttle's quote. Depending on the speed of approval, the airfare costs may increase - unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, this grant app is a lot later than I would have preferred it to be.) = USD 396 total for travel.
Accommodation: USD 185 per night x 2 nights = USD 370 total (This is for the Donovan Hotel, the venue hosting the event. I realize this is higher than 75% of the per diem accomodation rate for DC. Unfortunately, I'll be attending the event with a severe foot injury while on crutches, so walking any significant distance is both difficult and painful. If necessary, I can cover the difference between 75% of GSA and this, but would prefer not to - I'm still an underemployed recent graduate, and the event has a lot of potential for benefit.)
M&IE: USD 100 at most, and likely less. (USD 100 is 75% of GSA for two days, the amount of time I'll be in DC for. I could be in town for a shorter period of time, but it'd drive the airfare up. Without being fully familiar with the area, I hesitate to guarantee a lower number, but will aim at frugality.)

Total: USD 726 ($656 assuming I find alternate transportation, and less if entire M&IE budget isn't spent.)

I'm an active administrator on the English Wikipedia, and I've had significant interactions with both ethical PR practitioners and with unethical PR practitioners. I was one of the people who helped significantly with the community investigation and clean-up of Wiki-PR's activities, and have also helped a number of editors with conflicts of interest successfully follow the brightline rule. This is a small by-invite event with only around 15 participants including 10-12 high level participants from top PR agencies including Edelman, Burson-Marsteller, and Fleishman-Hillard. The event will be held under the Chatham House rule and not all participants have agreed to disclose their identities publicly, but other top agencies will also be represented. PR Industry association representatives may also be present, as will Andrew Lih. One of the primary goals of the event is attempting to shape a statement of ethics that would be publicly agreed to by the PR-side participants regarding their relationship to and interactions with Wikipedia. I've been invited to attend to help shape the discussion and provide feedback from a Wikipedian's viewpoint about what such a statement should look like. (A few additional details have been forward to the participation email account by the event organizer.) Kevin (talk) 23:56, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

Given the continued high level tensions between Wikipedia and the PR industry, the amount of time that Wikipedians spend cleaning up after covert PR practitioners, and the threat to the integrity of Wikipedia's content presented by continued tensions and high levels of covert COI editing, I believe that this event has the potential to have an incredibly significant effect on the future of Wikipedia. If top PR firms publicly agree to a statement of ethics that holds their behavior to a standard that is in line with Wikipedia's community standards, it is likely to have an effect far beyond those firms alone - it will put pressure on smaller PR firms to conform, will put pressure on unethical faux-PR firms to disband, and will make more of the potential client base for unethical PR editing aware that it is, well, unethical. (Unfortunately, huge numbers of Wiki-PR's clients were unaware that paid covert editing of Wikipedia wasn't a normal, accepted practice.) I believe that the attendance of experienced Wikipedians at the event will mean that whatever statement emerges from the event will be more likely to be in line with our principles. Kevin (talk) 23:56, 27 January 2014 (UTC)