{"id":31,"date":"2007-10-09T18:45:41","date_gmt":"2007-10-09T16:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greenman.co.za\/wordpress\/?p=31"},"modified":"2007-10-09T18:45:41","modified_gmt":"2007-10-09T16:45:41","slug":"wikimania-2008-goes-to-alexandria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenman.co.za\/blog\/?p=31","title":{"rendered":"Wikimania 2008 goes to Alexandria"},"content":{"rendered":"

The jury for the Wikimania 2008 has awarded the 2008 conference to Alexandria. Here’s the text of the email, which includes the scoring.<\/p>\n

The Jury for Wikimania 2008 bids have met and are pleased to announce<\/p>\n

that Wikimania 2008 will be held in Alexandria, Egypt.<\/p>\n

The Bids were assessed by a Jury[0] which included community members
\nrepresenting various geographical areas, and organisers of the previous
\nconferences. The Jury used 12 criteria[1] to judge the bids, which were
\ndrawn up based on the Jury’s previous experiences organising the
\nconference and with input from a wide range of community concerns.<\/p>\n

Alexandria was found to be particularly strong in the areas of
\nreflecting the Wikimedia Foundation’s roots in geo-diversity and<\/p>\n

multi-lingualism, of the very exciting nature of the proposed venue
\nand its local facilities, and of the particularly advanced nature of
\nthe financial planning.<\/p>\n

All three Bids were very strong in differing ways, each with stronger
\nand weaker points. We would like to draw particular attention to the
\nefforts of the team behind the Atlanta bid, which came in second place
\nand was particularly commendable in the areas of providing in-facility
\naccommodation and social space, and for doing great outreach to local<\/p>\n

Wikimedians. Their efforts could serve as an example to any team
\nhoping to get the local community involved. The Cape Town bid was
\nmarked strongly by the Jury for cultural diversity, a particularly
\nbenign local environment, and efforts to secure local recognition and
\nfacilities. We’d especially like to congratulate Cape Town on
\nproviding our very first strong bid from the Southern Hemisphere.<\/p>\n

A table of the results is given below. Each member of the jury had up
\nto 60 points to allocate to the bids in each of the 12 categories,<\/p>\n

which they did after a period of discussion and careful deliberation.<\/p>\n

Category Alexandria Atlanta Cape Town<\/p>\n

Accommodation 251 298 71
\nFunding 264 224 152
\nLocation 294 154 182
\nInternet Access 204 263 133
\nLocal Laws 155 253 222
\nPress 232 235 153<\/p>\n

Organizing Team 244 206 163
\nRotation 305 55 260
\nSocial Areas 222 258 140
\nCost 289 206 125
\nVenue 323 158 139
\nVisas 243 109 263<\/p>\n

Total 3026 2419 2003<\/p>\n

Note that a 13th category, on personal preference, was polled but is<\/p>\n

not included as it had no significant effect on the result.<\/p>\n

The Jury would like to thank all of those involved in bids, including
\nthose whose bids did not go forward to the final selection, for their
\nefforts which combined to produce a competitive field.<\/p>\n

We strongly encourage all those who bid this year, and those of you
\nwondering whether your city could have done the same, to consider
\nbidding for Wikimania 2009, for which the decision will begin very
\nshortly. See the Wikimania 2009 page on meta[2] for further updates<\/p>\n

within the next few days.<\/p>\n

We are especially looking forward to the Wikimedia Foundation
\ncollaborating with one of the most famous repositories of knowledge in
\nthe world, and emphasising the newly developing Wikimedia projects in
\nAfrica and the Middle East. We would like to encourage the entire
\ncommunity to support the Alexandria team over the coming year in
\nproducing an outstanding conference, and look forward to meeting as
\nmany of you as possible there.<\/p>\n

On behalf of the Wikimania 2008 bid Jury.<\/p>\n

[0] – http:\/\/meta.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/Wikimania_2008\/Jury<\/a>
\nSue Gardner and Jan-Bart DeVreede abstained from voting.
\n[1] – http:\/\/meta.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/Wikimania<\/a> 2008\/Judging criteria
\n[2] – http:\/\/meta.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/Wikimania_2009<\/a><\/p>\n

— James D. Forrister Cary Bass<\/em><\/p>\n

So, congratulations Alexandria – I look forward to attending, especially since I’ve never been to Egypt.<\/p>\n

Looking at the criteria, I’ve got no complaints. Cape Town’s bid was weaker in some important areas, especially accommodation (markedly so) and funding. It surprises me that Cape Town didn’t score higher in local laws, press and rotation, but that didn’t have a real impact on the overall results.<\/p>\n

Coming in third with just over a month’s preparation, ahead of cities such as London and Toronto, and with our rivals in the final round having had much more preparation time (this is Alexandria’s 3rd year of bidding), is no shame, and I’m pleased with the outcome, as well as the increased publicity for Wikimedia in South Africa. There’s a lot more to come.<\/p>\n

So, congratulations again to Alexandria.<\/p>\n

Related Posts<\/p>\n