Talk:EduWiki Conference 2013

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Taking shape

Great to see this taking shape - well done all. Jon Davies WMUK (talk) 14:40, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Thank you, Jon. I'm pretty sure that the collaborative effort of all involved will make this a worthy follow-up to last year's EduWiki conference. --Toni Sant (WMUK) (talk) 15:57, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Date

The date doesn't seem right.. I think the 1 November is a Friday, not Saturday. Mark M (talk) 13:28, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

You're absolutely right! It's should be Friday 1 and Saturday 2 November 2013. Well spotted! Thank you very much. I'll fix it right away. --Toni Sant (WMUK) (talk) 18:22, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Audience attendance

Hi all. One of the big challenges for a conference like this is bringing together the two different audiences - those that work in education, and those that work on the Wikimedia projects - and helping them have a joint discussion about the common goals that they are working towards, and the issues that are faced along the way. Those two audiences have rather different working hours, though - one audience works primarily during the week between 9am-5pm, the other works primarily over the weekend and evenings. So this conference needs to ask both groups to spend some time outside of their normal working hours in order to interact fully - by asking wikimedians to spend a workday at the conference, and asking educators to spend a weekend day at the conference. I hope that the conference attendees will be willing to make this sacrifice.

On that basis, I would recommend that there is a single registration fee for the whole conference, rather than having day rates, which would hopefully help bring the two audiences together. It might also be worth thinking about bundling overnight accommodation into the registration fee to help facilitate this. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 20:53, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Venue

Cardiff Bay

  • Cardiff Bay has been proposed as an ideal location for this conference.
  • Venues we considered include:

Other venues considered

The Education committee has discussed other possible venues, which have been considered, but it was agreed to proceed with the proposed general area of South Wales.

Below is a list of venues in the chosen area, which have been contacted but are not available on 1-2 Nov 2013, and are therefore struck off the list of considerations:

  • The "new" University of South Wales [4]
  • Newport Conference Centre [5]
  • Best Western - Parkway Hotel, Newport [6]
  • Mercure Cardiff Holland House Hotel and Spa [7]

The venue has now been booked/confirmed and the appropriate details appear on the information page. --Toni Sant (WMUK) (talk) 11:56, 9 July 2013 (UTC)

Aspects of an education program

Hi! I would love to see a bit about various aspects of an education program and what ways there are to conduct it. Such as in Macedonia & Uruguay where they are working directly with the government, in Argentina where they signed an agreement with the city council of Buenos Aires, or in Sweden where we have a Wikipedian in Academy etc. In essence, to be able to see a variety and to be inspired by the many ways to include active contribution to Wikipedia in education. --SOsterberg (WMF) (talk) 12:18, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

Hi Sophie -
Thanks for your comment...and congratulations on your recent WMF appointment!
I hope we can find a way to attract an appropriate international presence at this conference. Not exactly sure what's the most effective way to do this just yet. What would you suggest? An open call for proposals? (this is what I'm working on right now) Or perhaps a more concerted effort through support from WMF and chapters? --Toni Sant (WMUK) (talk) 12:46, 17 July 2013 (UTC)
Hi Toni & thank you! Spontaneously I would say both. Could there be an organised half day with workshop&presentations and half a day with an unconference where people may sign up for whatever they may be interested in listening to/sharing/learning about? Another idea is to have a time for pecha kucha where people may deliver short ideas/projects/updates. How does that sound? SOsterberg (WMF) (talk) 09:51, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

Format

This topic was moved from the planning page to remove clutter. Comments about it are still welcome, of course.

  • Option 1: A series of plenaries based on a programme encompassing all sessions/interests
Pros - everyone gets to see/hear everything + easier to organise
Cons - not everything appeals to everyone
  • Option 2: A limited number of plenaries with parallel session for topics/activities
Pros - more content can be included in a shorter period of time
Cons - more to organize + not everyone gets to see/hear everything

We could possibly run two streams, if we go with option 2:

  1. Hands-on workshops/demonstrations
  2. Lecture-style presentations and round table discussions

--Toni Sant (WMUK) (talk) 15:10, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

Background

That bright yellow background is very difficult for me to read with my poor eyesight... could we change it to something a little more pastel-coloured? Richard Symonds (WMUK) (talk) 15:21, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

I find pastel colours nauseating! :-) So we need to find a compromise. This is a wiki, so please feel free to propose something that's less offensive to you. I could probably live with #ffffcc if I really had to. --Toni Sant (WMUK) (talk) 15:23, 2 August 2013 (UTC)
Pale yellow looks like mould has set in, how about the light blue I just used? Richard Nevell (WMUK) (talk) 16:28, 2 August 2013 (UTC)
Lovely! Thanks. --Toni Sant (WMUK) (talk) 16:51, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

Deadline

Given that the call for papers is still being sent out and this is a holiday weekend, doesn't it make sense to have the deadline later than 26 August? MartinPoulter (talk) 12:36, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

Yes, I agree! Let's move it to 30 August. How's that? --Toni Sant (WMUK) (talk) 15:02, 23 August 2013 (UTC)
Thanks Toni. MartinPoulter (talk) 16:11, 23 August 2013 (UTC)
Updated the deadline date, in the main page - it was still Monday.. Shani (talk) 16:40, 25 August 2013 (UTC)
  • Sept 15 & still no programme details. We really need to get at least some of it up now. Johnbod (talk) 17:32, 15 September 2013 (UTC)
Thanks for your interest in the programme, John. We moved the original deadline for proposals and naturally this has delayed work on the programme by as many days. However, we have had something ups since last week: a draft schedule with panels and sessions timed as a guidance to when things will be happening. The bulk of proposals are now with the conference committee (which has a scheduled meeting this week) and the plan is to have a full draft of the schedule (with presenter names and session titles) by the end of this week. --Toni Sant (WMUK) (talk) 08:37, 16 September 2013 (UTC)
Education committee has the talk proposals to comment on now - the conference committee is welcome to get engaged too though. Anyone interested is encouraged to get in touch with Toni. Daria Cybulska (WMUK) (talk) 14:53, 16 September 2013 (UTC)

Scholarships

This text has been moved here from the main page for information. The call is now closed and all applications have been acknoledged.

There is a limited budget to support scholarships for the conference. These are mostly aimed at supporting speakers participating in the event (please contact Wikimedia UK for details). We may be able, however, to support some delegates from education organisations, and key members of the Wikimedia community - please let us know by Monday 7 October 2013 at noon BST.

Please contact Daria Cybulska (daria.cybulskaatwikimedia.org.uk) to apply, including:

  • the estimate costs that you would require for support
  • outline of your engagement within education sector
  • benefit you would bring to the conference

We are able to provide financial support to cover:

  • Registration fee
  • 2 nights accommodation cost up to £140
  • travel costs up to £150
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