Talk:Wikimania 2015 bids/Bali

Visa

The visa map is very depressing. --Nemo 13:31, 21 December 2013 (UTC)

I suppose it depends on how you look at it. The number of visa free countries is small, but from my experience "visa on arrival" is a fancy government way of saying "tax on arrival" – their primary purpose is to get money off you and I wouldn't consider them a major problem. A $25 charge isn't too bad; scholarship recipients could have this charge covered by the Foundation. For countries where a visa is required in advance, the amount of trouble this will cause I guess depends on the difficulty of getting a visa. Certainly the seventeen countries which require an in-person visit by a sponsor to the Immigration Head Office in Jakarta for approval will require a lot of careful planning and coordination by the organizers if people of those countries will be able to attend. CT Cooper · talk 20:36, 21 December 2013 (UTC)

Are there stats on visa rejection? Fact is, until you have a visa you can't be sure you'll be able to attend. Even counting the "visa on arrival" countries, the total of semi-free visa countries is less than the visa-free countries for the Schengen area (which due to immigration paranoia is not utopia either). --Nemo 17:36, 23 December 2013 (UTC)

Visa on Arrival rejection rate is very close to zero. Unless you do something stupid like put 'terrorist' as your occupation, it is approved without background checks or concerns. The process of Visa on Arrival / Immigration takes around 15 minutes, maybe a bit more if a few international flights have landed at the same time. The staff all speak English to varying degrees. However, to be sure, have a ticket out of Indonesia when you enter it. It is required by law; they dont always check, and it is relatively easy to get past this requirement even if you dont have one, but it will make your passage through immigration less happy. If you want to wander around Indonesia and exit the country when you please, a simple solution is to buy a $25 ferry ticket from Indonesia (e.g. Batam) to Singapore - it is an open ticket with expiry in 12 months. John Vandenberg (talk) 01:09, 22 March 2014 (UTC)

Security

How have things changed since the Bali bombings? What level of security risk is there? WereSpielChequers (talk) 19:09, 12 January 2014 (UTC)

I know that you cant assess the situation 18 months out, march 2014 travel advice(current update) from Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says there is high threat of terrorist attack and Terrorist groups remain active throughout Indonesia despite police disruptions. Police continue to conduct operations against these groups and have stated publicly that terrorist suspects remaining at large may seek to attack Western targets I think this should be considered for inclusion as a weakness, given how 1,000 people from across the world could make an inviting target. Gnangarra (talk) 06:09, 22 March 2014 (UTC)

The above assessment is not very helpful. IGF 2012 was run in Bali. Good security is needed at any conference, but very good security is relatively cheap in Indonesia . John Vandenberg (talk) 06:40, 22 March 2014 (UTC)

The question has remained unanswered for 2 months.... Thats the official Australian government assessment of the risk to travellers, obviously an answer from someone involved with an Indonesian source could offer balance. Gnangarra (talk) 07:10, 22 March 2014 (UTC)

Vegetarianism

We always have a significant number of vegetarians at Wikimania, how will you cater for them? WereSpielChequers (talk) 19:09, 12 January 2014 (UTC)

http://thelittlegreenhouse.net/2012/04/17/a-vegetarians-guide-to-bali/ John Vandenberg (talk) 06:34, 22 March 2014 (UTC)

Organizers

Are there any organizations participating in the process? Is Wikimedia Indonesia engaged somehow? --Oop (talk) 19:42, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

Web

As a resident of Indonesia for the past eight years, I doubt that the internet facilities will be up to 800+ Wikimedians accessing the internet at the same time. I'll be happy to be proven wrong, but considering how many complaints there were about Hong Kong, Bali could lead to a mutiny.Crisco 1492 (talk) 05:21, 22 March 2014 (UTC)

http://igf2013.or.id/ was a success in that regard. It comes down to budget and planning. And WMID ran the Creative Commons Asia Pacific Conference 2012 bringing their own comms infrastructure to handle the load. John Vandenberg (talk) 06:30, 22 March 2014 (UTC)

• So, in other words, Chapter support required... I doubt the on-site Wikimedians have ready access to such infrastructure.Crisco 1492 (talk) 23:40, 23 March 2014 (UTC)