Hello,
I totally support Illario words: "if the option is to pay 500 long travels
for scholarships by flight to attend a single event or to pay 500 travels
for the staff of WMF to attend several regional conferences, the answer
will be in favor of the second option which is more sustainable and more
efficient." and what Fae and others have been saying all along. It makes
much more sense to restrict global meetings and events to the minimum
essential, and support instead regional events, which are way more cheaper,
democratic, sustainable (in all ways) and have a much less significant
carbon footprint. By inviting Wikimedians from nearby countries, WMF staff
and very selected international scholarships we can still be able to
provide great "flesh-and-bones" interaction, and can eventually coordinate
with other groups of Wikimedians from any part of the world through
videoconferencing. In this last Wikimania in Stockholm, I was actually able
to successfully participate remotely in a panel there, along with 2 other
remote fellows (me in Madeira Island, one in Israel and another in Mexico):
https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2019:Education/Education_%26_Libraries:_Opportunities_Explored Of course, presential attendance and interaction is still crucial, as we
(generally) are not hermits editing from caves, and it has a fundamental
effect in local community capacity and structure building, but that can be
done at a regional (rather than national, as travel costs and footprint do
not respect national boundaries) level.
For those reasons, I believe there should be a strong strategic focus on
funding regional conferences in the Wikimedia Movement, and was somewhat
disappointed when the organizing teams at Wikimania 2019 and the last Wiki
Education conference at the Basque country apparently had not also focused
on this regional approach (if it existed, it either was not explicit, or I
couldn't find it), with a weighting factor on scholarships related to the
proximity/vicinity of attendants.
I agree that it is very cool to be immersed in a sea of diversity and
cultural interchange at Wikimedia events, with people coming from all parts
of the world, but that is not sustainable, and as has been mentioned, that
group of attendants is not necessarily representative of the active
Wikimedian communities. More regional events, building up a strong regional
Wikimedia structure, and limiting global events to the very essential, is
the way to go IMO.
Best,
Paulo
Fæ <faewik@gmail.com> escreveu no dia segunda, 23/09/2019 à(s) 13:10:
> Imagine a world where instead of going through security for 2 or 3
> hours, flying for 4 hours and travelling by train and bus to get to
> and from airports in order to enjoy a physical meeting with fellow
> Wikimedians, you simply got a bus or train and travelled for an hour
> to a fun meeting place where you met several fellow Wikimedians in
> your country, and together spend the day playing around with immersive
> conferencing to workshop, discuss and learn from fellow Wikimedians in
> other countries. All this and still get home to spend the night in
> your own bed, feed your cat, or meet your kids coming back from
> school.
>
> That's "making time and space for both" while taking real measurable
> action for climate change by reducing our entirely avoidable numbers
> of international flights.
>
> The truth is, that despite discussing this since Wikimania events
> started, and in that time technology making doing this is almost as
> simple as an Affiliate hiring headsets for mobile phones, we have
> never even trialled decent immersive virtual conferencing spaces for
> productive conferencing.
>
> Fae
>
> On Mon, 23 Sep 2019 at 12:57, Rebecca O'Neill <rebeccanineil@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > Is it, perhaps, that the value a lot of people derive from these events
> is
> > not just the conference itself, but the ability to meet fellow
> Wikimedians
> > face-to-face and make meaningful contacts and even friendships that may
> > never otherwise have come about? I'm all about virtual, but there is
> value
> > in physical events, and I would say that we should make time and space
> for
> > both.
> >
> > On Mon, 23 Sep 2019 at 12:54, Ilario Valdelli <valdelli@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > > Yes
> > >
> > > We dont give all scholarships for that reason while for regional
> Wikicon we
> > > receive more requests and we fill the amount immediately.
> > >
> > > It's not an opinion that in our events people prefer to arrive by
> train and
> > > not by flight. We see it as soon we receive the expenses report and
> when we
> > > ask the reason the answer is the climate change.
> > >
> > > Kind regards
> > >
> > > On Mon, 23 Sep 2019, 13:25 Gabriel Thullen, <gabriel@thullen.com>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > > I am a Swiss member, and I did go to Wikimania (and did a small
> > > > presentation).
> > > >
> > > > I think that you need to clarify you statement:
> > > > "In Wikimedia CH we cannot give scholarships for Wikimania because
> people
> > > > would not do long trips."
> > > >
> > > > When looking up what was sais for Wikimania 2019 I read:
> > > > "Wikimedia CH offers scholarships for active Wikimedians. They cover
> > > > transportation, hotel (max 3 nights) from the 16th to the 18th, and
> > > > registration fees. To check your eligibility, you can consult
> conditions
> > > of
> > > > eligibility on this page
> > > > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CH/Policies/Scholarships
> >."
> > > >
> > > > Best regards
> > > > Gabe
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 1:14 PM Ilario Valdelli <valdelli@gmail.com>
> > > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Anyways this is perceived by the community.
> > > > >
> > > > > In Wikimedia CH we cannot give scholarships for Wikimania because
> > > people
> > > > > would not do long trips.
> > > > >
> > > > > IMHO the problem is these big events.
> > > > >
> > > > > For this reason we prefer to give more scholarships for regional
> > > wikicon
> > > > > than to Wikimania.
> > > > >
> > > > > This is the reason why you dont see more Swiss people at Wikimania.
> > > > >
> > > > > Kind regards
> > > > >
> > > > > On Sat, 21 Sep 2019, 00:51 Samuel Klein, <meta.sj@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > On Fri, Sep 20, 2019 at 4:00 PM Robert Fernandez <
> > > > wikigamaliel@gmail.com
> > > > > >
> > > > > > wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > > I think we could drastically lower our carbon footprint by not
> > > using
> > > > > > > community digital resources to beat the same dead horse for a
> > > > billionth
> > > > > > > time.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I laughed out loud.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > AND. I love that the WMF joined the strike, and have some
> practical
> > > > > > thoughts.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > a) Reach out to Stripe
> > > > > > <https://stripe.com/gb/blog/negative-emissions-commitment>,
> which
> > > has
> > > > a
> > > > > > through self-assessment and a negative-emissions program, and the
> > > Long
> > > > > Now,
> > > > > > to coordinate efforts.
> > > > > > b) Evaluate the community-wide carbon footprint, which is
> dominated
> > > by
> > > > > > b.1) How we run conferences [*mostly in person*]
> > > > > > b.2) How we choose partners, communicate climate imformation,
> and
> > > > > > prioritize related policies [*fairly ad-hoc*]
> > > > > > _______________________________________________
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> > Project Coordinator Wikimedia Community Ireland <http://wikimedia.ie>
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