Talk:Future of Affiliate Gatherings

Comment on "Discussing the future of global affiliate gatherings"

(Repeating what was posted at: Talk:Wikimedia_Summit_2024#Comment_on_"Discussing_the_future_of_global_affiliate_gatherings" so we make sure the right folks see it.)

• I would suggest that the group of folks listed as looking into the future of affiliate gatherings engage members of the Wikimania Steering committee (of which I am one). Other than the Wikimedia Summit, Wikimania is the effort that deals with the most logistics relevant to what might be needed for an affiliates meeting or a Global Council meeting. We consider things like travel proximity to our community, costs/scholarships, regional rotation, trust/safety issues, and visa considerations. Therefore, we are very happy to be involved with this conversation as soon as possible, and have already started discussing within the Wikimania committee how the next few Wikimania locales could possibly support functions similar to what Wikimedia Summit/Berlin has in the past few years. The chairs of the committee are Phoebe and Iopensa, so feel free to get in touch with them, or I can relay any messages. Ping to FULBERT, NANöR, SRientjes, Shahadusadik, TheAafi, Olaniyan Olushola, Windblown29, Emmanuelle Guebo (Wikimedia username?)

Cheers. - Fuzheado (talk) 02:27, 24 April 2024 (UTC)

Hello @Fuzheado and thanks for the suggestion. The Summit is currently in transition as we understand the 2024 was the last of its kind and our team would be working on designing a new concept and strategy for the next Summit. Subject to the affiliate gatherings survey report and what happened at the Summit, my team would be doing a lot of evaluation and learning from other perspectives, of course, from Wikimania folks. This is so because a vast number of people want the Summit to be rotated. I assure you that we will engage with all possible stakeholders and actors who can contribute in shaping the future of this gathering. Best regards, ─ Aafī (talk) 02:59, 24 April 2024 (UTC)

@Fuzheado Thanks for your helpful suggestions. We heard and learned from some representatives of other conference organizers through this process while at the Summit, and we knew that the Wikimania Steering committee would also likely be willing to share what they have learned across their own years of service. We appreciate your pinging us about this and are grateful for your offers of assistance. FULBERT (talk) 09:58, 24 April 2024 (UTC)

Thanks @Aafi and @FULBERT for confirming the opportunity to work together. In case folks missed it, the next two locations for Wikimania after this year have been selected already, which is a new phenomenon for the Wikimania planning:

• Wikimania 2025 - East Africa (city being determined)
• Wikimania 2026 - Paris, France

Full details can be read on diff. - Fuzheado (talk) 13:00, 24 April 2024 (UTC)

@Fuzheado Thank you for this additional information. FULBERT (talk) 14:37, 24 April 2024 (UTC)

One of the main issues I would like to outline is the fact that the Wikimedia Summit has been traditionally highly restricted to representants of Wikimedia Affiliates. This means restricting access to many individuals, either because they are not « representants » or because their groups are not affiliates, or because they do not belong to any affiliation system. Traditionally, the Wikimania Conference host about 2 or 3 pre-conference days where a smaller crowd has the opportunity to discuss transversal topics, host small related summit, network, hack, or explore strategic topics. If the Wikimedia Summit was moved to twin with Wikimania, it could happen immediately before or immediately after Wikimania (most likely before as Wikimania is quite exhausting). In any cases, it would probably means those 2 pre-conference days would either entirely disappear or be highly crippled by the co-happening of the Wikimedia Summit. Yet, I see that the survey (answered only affiliates) as well as the results of the discussion during the last Wikimedia Summit show there is a desire to limit attendance to affiliates, pretty much in the same way it is currently happening. Those would have a super detrimental impact on all those who are not allowed to join the Wikimedia Summit. What do you suggest to mitigate that ? Anthere (talk) 10:49, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

I agree we need to be careful and intentional with any type of possible combined conference or experience. Some thoughts:

• Regarding Anthere's concern that the event may "limit attendance to affiliates" – I too wonder if this is the assumption the planning group is working with. The survey does use language such as "affiliate-only gathering" and "exclusively for its affiliates" but it's not obvious this is a direction that survey respondents chose and reflects their opinions, or whether this is simply checking the box of pre-determined language in the original survey.
• Burnout from longer events is very real, and we need to be especially sensitive to those who are participating in a language that is not their "mother-tongue." For that reason, we need to look very seriously about upgrading and maintaining our commitment to simultaneous interpretation in major languages. I recall for some of the Berlin Wikimedia Summits when Movement Strategy brainstorming and collaboration was high, we did have simultaneous interpretation booths, but I'm not sure what the situation was in 2024 in Berlin as I was not there.
• One unusual benefit of COVID forcing us to do Wikimania virtual in 2021 is that we ventured into multilingual interpretation support, which we have continued to do (while not always perfect, it was a big accompolishment over previous Wikimanias) with Singapore as a hybrid conference. Whatever the case, we need to make sure to resource this properly for any meaningful future affiliates gathering, and that is something where working with Wikimania may have some good logistical efficiencies.
• That said, I think there are ways to have the equivalent of learning days at Wikimania within a longer, crowded, and combined event. As we get bigger, there are just going to be times where you cannot attend everything you want. Fortunately, with the hybrid approach we have now, most of these sessions will be recorded for later consumption.

- Fuzheado (talk) 15:44, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

+ 1 to Andrew's and Antanana's. In particular, we need to ensure that many non-native English speakers can participate effectively. At Wikimania 2022 we talked about this issue and some challenges and lessons about participating in an international event and English as a tool for either inclusion or exclusion were made visible.

I also think it is a very good idea to learn more about how our colleagues behave in these environments, not only quantitatively, but also what non-statistical data can show us. ProtoplasmaKid (talk) 16:58, 25 April 2024 (UTC)