Comments on: Wikimania 2007 is a failure http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2007/08/01/wikimania-2007-is-a-bit-of-a-failure/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:39:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: denny vrandecic http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2007/08/01/wikimania-2007-is-a-bit-of-a-failure/comment-page-1/#comment-6246 denny vrandecic Sat, 04 Aug 2007 07:04:38 +0000 http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/index.php/2007/08/01/wikimania-2007-is-a-bit-of-a-failure/#comment-6246 Almost every major conference does travel around the world, Africa/Europe, the Americas, Asia/Australia. This is in order to ensure that it is reasonably "cheap" for everyone at least once in three years. And sitting at Wikimania right now -- which does indeed have more than 500 attendees this year, the numbers you have quoted are out of date -- and looking around, it is obvious that there are much more attendees from Asian countries -- not only Taiwan, but also India, Japan, Mainland China, Hong Kong. For them it would be much harder to travel to Europe or America. And it is an active way to *not* discriminate against geography. 2500$? I flied for about 900€, coming from Germany. It's actually cheaper than Boston last year, for me. You claim that the board has chosen the place for personal gain? I doubt that claim highly. Why would they then choose a location like CTOYAC, a youth hostel? Why would they then have decided for Taipei instead of Tokyo? Because Taipei is far cheaper than Tokyo. The Japanese Wikipedia is one of the biggest ones, and so is the Chinese one. They have big communities living in East Asian Countries. Why should they not get the chance to go to a Wikimania as well? The US, by the way, are much harder to reach for many Wikipedians than Taiwan. It is often hard to get a visa, and a letter of invitation coming from the Wikimedia Foundation is not always a big help. Almost every major conference does travel around the world, Africa/Europe, the Americas, Asia/Australia. This is in order to ensure that it is reasonably “cheap” for everyone at least once in three years. And sitting at Wikimania right now — which does indeed have more than 500 attendees this year, the numbers you have quoted are out of date — and looking around, it is obvious that there are much more attendees from Asian countries — not only Taiwan, but also India, Japan, Mainland China, Hong Kong. For them it would be much harder to travel to Europe or America. And it is an active way to *not* discriminate against geography. 2500$? I flied for about 900€, coming from Germany. It’s actually cheaper than Boston last year, for me.

You claim that the board has chosen the place for personal gain? I doubt that claim highly. Why would they then choose a location like CTOYAC, a youth hostel? Why would they then have decided for Taipei instead of Tokyo? Because Taipei is far cheaper than Tokyo.

The Japanese Wikipedia is one of the biggest ones, and so is the Chinese one. They have big communities living in East Asian Countries. Why should they not get the chance to go to a Wikimania as well?

The US, by the way, are much harder to reach for many Wikipedians than Taiwan. It is often hard to get a visa, and a letter of invitation coming from the Wikimedia Foundation is not always a big help.

]]>