Wikimania 2015 bids/Cape Town/Meeting notes/2014-02-19

Wikimania 2015 - 6th Meeting edit

  • Dumi
  • Douglas
  • Oarabile
  • Theresa
  • Kim
  • James
  • Isla
  • Maarten


Mail to Ellie at WMF edit

Ellie did send response but it got stuck in spam filter. Douglas has replied to her apologising for the delay. Will respond to her questions this evening. Theresa to assist with extra quotations :

  • Accommodation (cheap as possible) from list of hotels (host 200 people / block booking)
  • Breakdown of transportation costs

Budget edit

- Catering should be for large amount of people taking into account all the dietary requirements. At present the quote is very expensive. This is ball park figures for now and can be cut down to suit requirements. Budget can be viewed once completed - Douglas to send metapage with info.

- Next meeting (26 Feb), bid must be complete as time has run out.

Making vision reality= edit

4 projects :

Tier 1

Action : Dumi & Isla - 3 solid ideas of things that can be incorporated into programme that will facilitate this / promote these issues by next Wednesday. Workshops, activities, key note speakers etc as examples.

For Wiki contributors from these parts of the world increase understanding of issues faced by editors from the developing world, improve quality and content of articles related to these parts of the world - Africa + developing world (louder voice, greater presence

Working together, learning together (Isla) - bringing the ‘North’ to see how they can benefit from what the ‘South’ is doing; and discussing how we can all make things much better. Together. Approaching each other as equals. Projects, ideas, outreach and focus?


Can look at division between Africans as sub-issue. WikiIndaba issue. This is a more global approach.


Tier 2

Existing Wikipedia editors and ideal new editors. Bridging the divide academics and existing editors. Encourage experts to edit Wikipedia by making it easy in the current environment. Perhaps ask people to ask submit papers on how we can bridge this divide? Discuss this in focus groups. Adminstrators should perhaps be invited to attend Wikimania - what role do they play in getting academics involved? Douglas to discuss with Ian. James to discuss with US institutions and Lourie.

Main focus now is to come up with a theme how to build this.

Professor from Wits University who attended Wikipedia Marathan with 702 and Cape Talk - Prof Burger who is an editor of Wikipedia. Could be used as a contact, perhaps facilitating a session where this is discussed. Dumi to make contact.

Isla can also help with ideas about connecting with African academics. and also with activities such as a jaunt to the SKA and connecting with AIMs.

Tier 3

Increasing access to information - Adam Habib has agreed to act as key note speaker. Dates need to be confirmed with his PA. Great to approach the public prosecutor as well Thuli Madonsela. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuli_Madonsela

Jay Naidoo as possible speaker as well - Isla to make contact

Perhaps people from MTN as part of discussions. Isla to make contact.

Tier 4

Gender Gap - Wikimedia DC can assist with this, good opportunity for two chapters to work together to bridge this gap. Representation of females is a general problem in the movement. Not just focus on gender but in a broader sense as well. James and Isla to action. Be careful what exactly we define as gender gap. Isla to also link with gay organisations. LGBT translates to loud voice at the moment. Radio presenter from 702 to come and address this issue. Divides within Wikimania is quite clear, important to shake these tracks. Integrate diversity, increase participation.

Isla proposes a 5th Tier where the divisions caused the Wikimania programming creates divides and allow people to work out of their silos/comfort zones.

Dumi and Isla to discuss the idea of randomness. James to add ideas. Findings to be discussed next week. Meeting scheduled for Monday evening at 19:30.

Sponsorships edit

Theresa and James have been working on it. James currently working on other projects which take priority now. Changes have been made to the bid page. Suggestion that it is less cramped. Only highlight stuff that is important to the bid, perhaps too much information as it is now. Perhaps distribute this on seperate pages or refer people to relevant wiki pages.

Summary of bid should contain more information and Letters of Support must be seperate. Perhaps on the team page. Can be done once everything has been finalised. James to attend to the website issues.

This can be revisted when the February deadline has passed. We only need to approach sponsors once the bid has been awarded. This is not important at this point in the bid.


Media Relations edit

Douglas had interview with Human IPO. Media presence can be dealt with later.


Plans to attract people from Cape Town edit

Discussions with technical people around Cape Town have taken place. We want to bring on board people involved in open source softare, open street maps etc. Ian has given some contacts in this regard.

  • Technical approach
  • Educators
  • Industries that would benefit from creative commons sources

Ideas for attracting more people :

- Maarten has people from Madagascar that are interested in editing and will invite them to attend Wikiindaba


Volunteers edit

Confident that we can get enough people to assist with event. To approach organisations like for example Boston House (the right departments) will provide opportunities for students to assist and get credits. Theresa to get contacts from Isla. Involve independant newspapers as well.


Quotes edit

Must make sure that the prices are fixed for 2015. This has been a problem at other Wikimania's. We need to get commitments from the venue, caterer etc. Include a big contingency or set up multiple budget scenarios.

Douglas prepared 3 budgets to date :

  • Skeleton - R 3.5 million (500 - 600 people)
  • Mid Budget - R 4.5 million (1 000 people)
  • Ideal Budget - R 6 million (max number of people with all the trimmings


Deadline edit

End of this month - submit bid document


Visas edit

Douglas to attend to this. Just expand the information currently on the bid document. Don't give too much information, people who want to attend must get their own information. Douglas, this is a really good format for visa requirements. simple format and its easy to double check: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2015_bids/Bali#Visa_requirements

Bio's for team members edit

Please send Douglas information.

Theresa to send request to Prof Habib for the same information.

Next meeting edit

26 February 2014 19:00 South African time, 17:00 UTC. Etherpad link

Further reading edit