All: Based on a number of the posts in this thread, I think a few points are worth underscoring.
1. The Wikimania Jury (historical -- and for what it's worth, I was a member) and Wikimania Committee (present) have never had a strong mandate. Its recommendations have generally been accepted by the Wikimedia community and the Wikimedia Foundation. 2. While it's possible the Wikimania Committee made what it *originally intended* to be a final and binding decision, there is nothing preventing the committee from revisiting its decision. 3. As evident in Siko's post, the WMF does not yet regard the Montreal decision as final, and does not expect to reach such a decision before the end of 2015. Siko's message aligns with the long-published timeline for venue selection.[1] For comparison, past decisions have been made as late as March or April. There is still A LOT of time to make a final decision. I'd suggest that anybody deeply dissatisfied with either the process or proposed decision of the Wikimania Committee simply devote their efforts to supporting an alternative bid (Perth, Manila, or elsewhere; the original timeline still allows plenty of time for even *submitting* a bid). The Wikimedia Foundation has a good deal of influence over legitimizing the choice of a private group. [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2017_bids In short, there is no emergency here; rather, there's lots of opportunity to come up with alternative venue options and alternative process proposals. -Pete [[User:Peteforsyth]] On Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 10:48 PM, Carlos M. Colina <ma...@wikimedia.org.ve> wrote: > Hi Siko > > El 06/10/2015 a las 01:11 a.m., Siko Bouterse escribió: > >> Hi folks, >> >> Just letting you know that I’m reading the recent Wikimania-focused >> mailing >> list threads with interest, as the Community Resources team is now >> on-point >> for funding and coordinating WMF’s involvement in Wikimania. >> >> A couple of first thoughts to share: >> >> 1. WMF has learned from past Wikimanias that we need to do our >> due-diligence on venue etc before the host team and location is announced. >> One reason for this is that we have a limited budget for Wikimania, and >> doing a site visit before the host is finalized helps us ensure that we’re >> able to support the costs of the event in a given location. Ellie Young is >> headed to Montreal in 2 weeks and based on what she learns from that >> visit, >> we’re aiming to give the steering committee what they need to confirm >> selection before the end of 2015. >> > > Seriously? But the committee seems to have already taken a decision as > early as August, with the e-announcement mail scheduled to be sent sometime > in October > > /// > > /Wikimania Committee meeting/ > > 2015-08-21, 16:00 UTC / 09:00 PDT > DECISION: Committee happy to endorse Montréal as a great choice for > 2017. / > > / > / > > /Venue//////: wikimedia-l, wikimania-l/ > > /Audience////: Prospective Wikimania attendees, and other interested > Wikimedians/ > > /What//////: Announce 2017 venue/ > > /When//////: ~ October 2015/ > > /From//////: James F. as Chair, o/b/o the Wikimania Committee/ > > > /Subject////: //Wikimania 2017 to be held in Montréal in Canada/ > > > /All,/ > > > /I am delighted to announce on behalf of the Wikimania Committee > that Wikimania, the annual Wikimedia community conference, will be > held for 2017 in Montréal in Canada; congratulations. / > > > > That said, we recognize that >> communications around this haven’t gone as planned, >> > > Sort of. > >> and we are looking into >> improvements…(see thought 2) >> >> 2. We, too, would like to see the movement building towards a shared >> vision >> of Wikimania! It is great to see so many people, in true Wikimedian-style, >> thinking about big-picture questions of participation, representation, and >> content at Wikimania. Knowing that mailing list discussions have their >> limits, here’s how my team is thinking about collecting feedback more >> systematically for this going forward: >> >> We’ll be launching a community consultation in November to help build >> towards more shared vision and process improvements for Wikimania 2018 - >> 2021. Two key inputs we’ve been thinking about using to launch that >> conversation are 1) responses from the survey of last Wikimania’s >> attendees >> and 2) the steering committee’s recommendation for host selection going >> forward. >> >> We’re still regrouping from the latest Resources Consultation, and will >> begin planning for a Wikimania Consultation next week, so after that we’ll >> be able to share more information about what this consultation will look >> like and the exact timeline. Meanwhile, suggestions and open questions >> that >> you’d like to see resolved via this consultation are most welcome in this >> thread. My hope is that a consultation will help broaden participation in >> these conversations and get us from input to action. >> > The problem here is that even if the reasoning for deciding behind closed > doors the host for Wikimania 2017 was 100% valid, the way it was done, > planning everything as early as August and planning when to release > information to the people to make it seem transparent (as the WMF expects > from all wikimedians), the way how it was handled lacked ethics and the way > the WMF seems to react ("yeah well, we think we screwed it, let's move > forward") happens again and again, and the movement receives always the > same poor excuses. > >> >> Warm regards, >> Siko >> >> > -- > "*Jülüjain wane mmakat* ein kapülain tü alijunakalirua jee wayuukanairua > junain ekerolaa alümüin supüshuwayale etijaanaka. Ayatashi waya junain." > Carlos M. Colina > Socio, A.C. Wikimedia Venezuela | RIF J-40129321-2 | www.wikimedia.org.ve > <http://wikimedia.org.ve> > Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Affiliations Committee > Phone: +972-52-4869915 > Twitter: @maor_x > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
