Talk:Wikimedia Conference/2015–2017 Report

Feedback & Comments

Hi all! We are happy to receive feedback, comments, etc on this report. Feel free to share it here – or, if you prefer, via e-mail to cornelius.kibelkawikimedia.de. Cheers, --Cornelius Kibelka (WMDE) (talk) 15:26, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

Questions from Pine

Hello Cornelius, Nicole, and Daniela,

Thank you for sharing these reflections.

After reading this document, I have a few questions.

1. The document recommends that WMCON evolve into a conference that focuses on strategy and governance. My guess is that Wikimedia has tens of thousands of contributors who are not members of affiliates, and it seems to me that strategy and governance conference should include significant participation from online contributors who may or may not be associated with an affiliate. Would you agree with that, or do you envision WMCON becoming more narrowly focused specifically on offline strategy and governance such that representation from the broader online community is not necessary?

2. If WMF were to adopt your recommendations about narrowing the focus of the conference, then would it be reasonable to place WMCON immediately before Wikimania and/or the MediaWiki Developer Conference, in the same venue or a smaller venue in the same local area, for the purpose of reducing the combined costs of the conferences, total amount of time that people spend traveling, and the environmental impacts from travel?

3. I agree that there can be good value in regional and thematic conferences. I also get the impression that WMF is more willing to support regional and thematic events financially than they were in the past. Are there learning patterns, case studies, or other information from WMCON that you would especially recommend for study by organizers of regional and thematic conferences, organizers of Wikimania, and staff or committee members for the WMF Conference and Events Grants program?

4. The report says, "We experienced that most of those who attend the Wikimedia Conference are highly interested in working together with people from other affiliates and engaging in international collaboration. However, international collaboration per se is rarely part of affiliates’ budgets, or is even cut from grant proposals." I wonder whether greater emphasis on fostering the development of more thematic organizations, and user groups with thematic goals, would be helpful. Would you recommend that WMF and the Affiliations Committee consider what measures could be taken to foster the creation and development of thematic organizations and thematically-oriented user groups? Also, do you have any recommendations for the WMF grants staff and grants committees which you think could foster the development of international cooperation in ways that lead to specific, measurable, and timely benefits that provide good value for money?

Thank you for your work on WMCON. I have read a number of WMCON reports from 2015 onward and I have consistently found them to be interesting and valuable.

--Pine^✉ 21:44, 25 March 2018 (UTC)

Dear Pine!

Thanks a lot for your thoughtful questions. While we have definitely thoughts and opinions regarding your answers, we think it’s not entirely up to us to answer them, but more up to the Movement (as a whole) and the Wikimedia Foundation (in particular). At the upcoming Wikimedia Conference in Berlin, participants will also discuss, among other important topics of the Wikimedia movement, the future of global events. We will ensure that all feedback and conversations are properly documented and will come back to you with the documentation after the conference. Cheers, --Cornelius Kibelka (WMDE) (talk) 10:45, 16 April 2018 (UTC)