Wikimania 2008/Bids/London

Update:the London team dropped out of contention for Wikimania 2008.

Wikimania 2008 Candidate City

English: London is the capital city of England and the home of a huge number of businesses and individuals - Londoners as well as cultural spaces like museums, restaurants and world-famous locations: the Houses of Parliament, shopping in Oxford Street, Hyde Park - all in London, and via London's widely-used public transport network all available to Wikimania 2008 attendees. English is the main and official language spoken in London but as a diverse capital many different languages are spoken, with residents from all over the world.

City details

Country: United Kingdom
City proposed: London (Images: page • category)
Proposed dates: 2-6 August (Hacking days: 2-3; Wikimania main conference: 4-6)
Contact person(s): Wikimedia UK; Lcarsdata

Conference venue

A central London (zone 1) university with all conference facilities on a single campus, WiFi internet and disabled access.

University College London ("UCL") is the oldest and largest college of the University of London. Founded in 1826, UCL was the first university to be established in England after Oxford and Cambridge; the first to admit students of any race, class or religion; and the first to welcome women on equal terms with men. Larry Lessig launched the Creative Commons UK licenses at UCL; and UCL hosted the 8th International Society for Knowledge Organization Conference and the Econometric Society World Conference.

The main UCL campus occupies one block in the Bloomsbury area of London. All seminar rooms, dining halls, lecture theatres, meeting rooms and lounges recommended below for Wikimania use are contained within this main campus, and are within five minutes' walk of each other. Sufficient dormitory and hotel accommodation is available within a few minutes’ walk of the main campus. All on-campus facilities have disabled access except the one stated.

Main hall:
Seminar rooms:
Lounge facilities:
Other rooms (organisation, staff, speakers, interviews/press, storage):

Socializing areas (Garden, lounge etc.), their capacity and the hours at which they are opened/closed:
Contacts with conference venue (emails, price quotes etc.)

FREE Internet access for conference attendees with WiFi coverage of almost the whole campus via RoamNet and ethernet ports in each Halls of Residence bedroom.
Full details of the IT provision available to conferences at UCL is available here. The organisers will liaise with the UCL Education and Information Support division in advance to arrange logins for attendees.
In addition to these standard services, we will have the use of computer, photocopying and printing facilites via the Department of Computer Science.
Streaming services and other allied services for online attendance at Wikimania will be provided.
Bulk printing facilities are available in advance through UCL's printing partner or at short notice via The London Student Print Centre or Kinko's, both of which are around 1 minute's walk from UCL.
UCL has a professional quality video edit suite (details) along with a Multimedia Unitwhich includes facilities to produce CD-ROMs, DVDs, and output to web via streaming servers.

Accommodation

Location of main accommodation facilities

(where can the attendees be hosted. On site, off site, how far from conference venue? For attendees? For VIPs?)

Room details and price range

(What's the accommodation like? Dorms, B&B, Hotel? Singles, doubles? How much does it cost per person and per day?)

Catering (one meal a day, breakfast is a plus)

(Where do we eat, how much it costs)

Contacts with accommodation partner(s)

(Have you contacted the proposed locations, exchange of emails, price quotes etc.)

Party opportunities

Wikimania traditionally hosts two parties, one for attendees (capacity of 250-350) and one for sponsors and VIPs (capacity 40-60).

Attendees party(ies) propositions

(location, how to get there, what's cool and relaxed about it)

Sponsor party(ies) proposition

(location, how to get there, what's chic and high profile about it)

Travel and transportation

Estimation of travel costs from all continents:
Distance from international airport(s)and how do we get to the location:

London has several international airports, of which Heathrow and Gatwick are the busiest. All are connected to the capital by regular rail services and by low-cost coach services. High-speed Eurostars also run from Europe.

Local transportation and local social opportunities

The London Public Transport system has been voted the best in the world in a survey of tourists. It consists of the London Underground, bus and local rail services. London's famous black cabs are also available.

London Underground map

Visa issues

Countries whose citizens will require visas for entry to the UK

Those travelling from within the EU, North America, Japan, South Africa, Australasia or most of Latin America will not require a visa to visit the UK.

Many people from other regions will also be able to visit the UK without a visa. To determine whether you will need a visa to visit the UK, go to www.ukvisas.gov.uk. The nature of any visa required will depend on your nationality and your current country of residence. An easy-to-use form is available here.
It is believed that citizens of the following countries will normally require a visa, however you should confirm using the links above.

Afghanistan	Albania	Algeria	Angola
Armenia	Azerbaijan	Bahrain	Bangladesh
Belarus	Benin	Bhutan	Bosnia-Herzegovina
Bulgaria	Burkina Faso	Burma (Myanmar)	Burundi
Cambodia	Cameroon	Cape Verde	Central African Republic
Chad	China, People's Rep. of	Colombia	Comoros
Congo, Democratic Republic of	Congo, Republic of	Cuba	Djibouti
Dominican Republic	Ecuador	Egypt	Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea	Ethiopia	Fiji	Gabon
Gambia	Georgia	Ghana	Guinea
Guinea Bissau	Guyana	Haiti	India
Indonesia	Iran	Iraq	Ivory Coast
Jamaica	Jordan	Kazakhstan	Kenya
Korea (Dem. People's Rep)	Kuwait	Kyrgyzstan	Laos
Lebanon	Liberia	Libya	Macedonia
Madagascar	Malawi	Mali	Mauritania
Moldova	Mongolia	Morocco	Mozambique
Nepal	Niger	Nigeria	Oman
Pakistan	Palestinian Authority	Peru	Philippines
Qatar	Romania	Russia	Rwanda
Sao Tome & Principe	Saudi Arabia	Senegal	Serbia & Montenegro
Sierra Leone	Somalia	Sri Lanka	Sudan
Surinam	Syria	Taiwan	Tajikistan
Tanzania	Thailand	Togo	Tunisia
Turkey	'Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus'	Turkmenistan	Uganda
Ukraine	United Arab Emirates	Uzbekistan	Vatican City*
Vietnam	Yemen	Zambia	Zimbabwe

* (service & emergency passports only)

The Wikimedia UK chapter may be able to act as a sponsor if you need one in order to get a visa.
Tourism opportunities

(when people travel from far away, they like to come for more than just the conference. What re the tourism opportunities around the location?)

Local sponsorship opportunities

Possibility of local sponsorships

Contacts

(no name needed, just "company X, 4000 USD or will provide 300 beds)

Local team

Wikimedia UK - there is a UK chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation with the company name Wiki Educational Resources.
See also the coordination page for list of volunteers and tasks.

Miscellaneous

Anything you feel should be brought to the attention of the jury.

Self-evaluation

Weaknesses

1. Perceived threat from terrorism

The media around the world have reported on terrorist acts in the UK and London as they have in America, the Middle East and Indonesia. As can be seen by our own coverage on Wikipedia and Wikinews this coverage is often overplayed in the media's search for ratings. The UK have an unarmed police service and, along with security services, continue to keep the city and country safe with London having a very low crime rate generally. Whilst some international media has reported 'big problems', this city of 9 million people has proceeded with 'business as usual', as London residents will tell you.

2. Perception of London as an expensive city

London is a world city and attracts visitors from all over the world and, yes, some of those visitors choose to spend large amounts of money in expensive hotels and restaurants. But just as the resident population live well without finding it inordinately expensive so do most other visitors. Tourism brings many people to London every year and if we were 'too expensive' they wouldn't come. Attendees will find free museums, and can eat out and discover London for themselves, whatever their budget.

Strengths

1. Openness to all

London is a city where all nationalities, religions, and sexualities are welcome to visit without threat or worry about the possibility of 'issues' with the local population, police or security services. London is the most cosmopolitan city in the world with every nationality, culture and language represented in our schools and everyday lives, (and which also gives us the widest range of cuisine at all prices!) Similarly lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people will find a safe and public welcome here without any risks from their public or private actions, just as there are facilities for all creeds. This is a country that welcomes and supports free speech and free expression.

2. Ease of access

London is the crossroads of the world. Heathrow is the busiest international airport in the world and with five international airports - each with integrated onward fast train or tube services to the Wikimania venue - and an international highspeed railway service from Europe we are probably the easiest place for people to get to no matter where they start. And that multiplicity of travel routes usually means cheaper prices from the competition, indeed our checking of flight prices has shown we are the cheapest destination from just about everywhere.

3. Opportunities to learn, explore, meet and enjoy

Coming to Wikimania is not just about sharing our thoughts and ideas about Wikimedia, Wikinews, Wikisource, Wiktionary and the other projects in every language, but also to meet other editors socially and to have a brief visit to a new place at the same time. Wikimania London 2008 will not only provide facilities 'on campus' throughout the conference for these to happen but will also encourage visitors to take in the sights, the history and culture of London and the nightlife. Furthermore, the new Wikimedia UK chapter would benefit and learn much from participants of existing chapters.

4. Extensive Broadcast and Print Media Base

London is home to some of the world's biggest broadcasters and publishers. The UK's largest radio group - Gcap Media - are based at Leicester Square. Fleet Street is home to some of the oldest and most prestigious titles whilst the relatively new in comparison Canary Wharf is the UK base for many of the world's biggest FTSE100 companies as well as the Trinity Mirror publishing group.

London is also home to a wide range of highly prestigious broadcast radio stations including Capital 95.8 (official station of the 2012 Olympics) and major UK national stations such as Virgin Radio, Talksport and Classic FM.

The world famous BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is also based at numerous sites in London including Television Centre and Broadcasting House - two of the most renowned and historic media centres in the world.

Some of the sights of London