Wikimania 2013 Report/Jon Davies

Our stall

Thanks to everyone for staffing it and making it a real focus for discussions and meeting up. It gave us a place to meet and supplied the whole conference with biscuits for two and a half days! The special Hong Kong print run of our Annual Review was well received.

Lessons learnt

Positives

• Very friendly atmosphere
• No typhoons
• Food good and fresh and served quickly.
• Lots of willing volunteers
• The social events were fun, even if we ran out of food at the Beach Party.
• Chapter's Village a really good idea and central meeting point.
• Hotel very close to venue
• Seemed to be a more balanced gender mix.
• Lecture theatres nicely set up
• Good wifi
• The giant TV screen playing chapter videos.
• That the vast majority of UK delegation staying in the same hotel.

Could do better

• Badges had very small printing of names on them.
• The system of not letting people in to sessions without the slip of white paper was farcical at times.
• There was very little in the delegate bags. Needed more stuff like in Washington.
• Not enough places for people to sit.
• Attendance list needed so you could find people and know who was there.
• More details of the sessions in the printed booklet e.g. summary and speaker names.
• Volunteers needed more distinctive t-shirts to make them identifiable.
• No associated local cultural wiki opportunities (e.g. editathons)
• A lot of wandering around with only average signposting.
• Would have been good to have a delegation meet-up before the start.

Lessons for London

• Get the scholarships sorted out early to allow for Visa issues.
• Be aware of our pernicious visa regulations for people from Ghana, Nigeria, Pakistan and Bangladesh amongst other places.
• Tie in with local institutions – Museum of London on doorstep so special after hours visits?

Some sessions I attended and key points (All sessions will be on-line)

Chapters Association

I was on the panel for a session on how to make the transition from volunteer run to professionally run. This went well and was practical and positive. The next day the Association attempted to reform itself and instead fell apart with France, the Chair and Vice Chair all resigning. Very Monty Python's Parrot.

Key Lesson: we need, as chapters to keep the good work going, Chris is doing this via chapter governance training. Other chapters doing different things especially Germany.

Executive Director's meeting (CEO's)

For the first time all the ED's from the chapters got together in person to discuss matters of mutual interest, metrics, the new WMF ED, the FDC process. Reps from the UK, France, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Argentina, Serbia and Sweden. We also met with Annasuya , the FDC director and Garfield Byrd the WMF CFO. Very useful discussions and a chance for the new French ED to learn.

Multimedia and Wikimedia

An interesting session on how to improve our rating of pictures, categorisation, feedback to uploaders and implications for 'campaigns' like monuments.

EU Advocacy group

A meeting of EU chapters with a view to making sure our ideas and aims are put in front of candidates for the European Elections next year. Very clear and to the point. Agreement to look for support regarding Freedom of Panorama, Government works in the public domain, and orphan works. A statement will be drafted for chapters and supportive organisations to support.

Wiki Ecology session

How do wikis evolve, how are we doing in terms of retention etc. Research and metrics being undertaken.

FDC session

A chance to get some idea of the FDC members but ran out of time. Discussed tensions between expectation and realities of funding regime. The need for sensible growth plans. The need to remember the bigger wiki picture.

The Global South

The dramatic contrast between user and editor numbers in the North and South of the world and the need to address it. There will be a focus in the countries based on population and active communities: India, Brazil, Philippines, Argentina, Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt and Vietnam. There will be no more WMF parachuting in to countries.

The Legal Team

The lawyers for the foundation presented their work and priorities. They are proactive and have a good success record in defending the Foundation, the wikis and the editors. Lots of work around Trademarks, Governance and defence against litigation.

The future of chapters

Alice and Patricio, WMF board members, led a discussion with Chapters on what the future looks like. General discussion of the issues with Chris and Jon taking part.