 Good morning ladies and gentlemen. So our first session today is all about the future of participation at wikimania And we have Yolanda and Martin and Phoebe and Maché and Nangara just to go through the discussion. So over to them So we have one hour to talk about the future of wikimania. We certainly don't have enough time so this is obviously just a glimpse and we thought of organizing this session basically by Focusing on two issues. The first one is relevance. So why wikimania is relevance? Also, there have been a Increasing number of events in the wikimedia movement. Why wikimania in itself Is significant? What can be its impact and its specific impact? Of course, we start from the idea that wikimania has value. This is the starting point But obviously we need to make it as significant as possible The second issue is related to participation as scholarship. Not everybody can attend wikimania This is the reality scholarship are limited and it is an important topic because Scholarship also determine who participate or who cannot participate in the event The idea is we're gonna have a 10 minutes introduction. So I'm just gonna show you few slides Just to make sure that we are all on the same page related to the basic information We do a round of presentation and also some point of view of The people here on stage and then we're just gonna get the town from the stage to actually discuss with you What's your opinion and what you think about the event and also if you have any proposal and any idea related to those topics? So first of all the location wikimania is an international event It took place in different parts of the world and there is a willingness of Organizing wikimania in different area of the world the fact of changing location every year Creates a complexity. So that's not an obvious thing But it's also something that we believe is an added value of the event. So that is how it happens Throughout time also the venue that hosted wikimania varied throughout time We had quite a few university involved, but also conference center cultural center hotels Venues that sometimes are easier than others. Obviously in organizing the event and Lastly the number of attendees in general, there is an average number of 800 people participated in the event with Few events that had a greater number. So Around 1,400 participants, but they're quite exceptional in general the average number is 800 participants With an event that is mostly in English. Sometimes there have been some translations some possibility of having other other moments sessions in different languages, but it's quite predominant the English characteristic of wikimania You can find some more information on meta. There is a Comparative page. Also, if you want to add the information about previous wikimania, that would be precious to update those information From an organizational point of view the wikimania steering committee Is the group of people the volunteers that are past organizer and people that have been engaged in previous wikimania And they have the role of advocating for wikimania but also selecting the locations and supporting the organizer of current wikimania At the moment also we are thinking about how to enlarge the team So you're also welcome if you would like to join the committee or you would like to also Suggest the other members of the committee, please do not hesitate to contact us We also we are also in the definition of the next wikimania So 2024 has been selected and we are currently working on 2025 and 2026 So we are be changing the system to allow people to have more time to organize wikimania So this is just an update and I leave the floor to the others Yes, I would like also maybe you can also state your position also about Hello, I'm Martin from Berlin Germany but also very interested in international topics and for that reason I've been member or organizer of the scholarship committees over the past couple of years and to make participation possible to wikimania to get diverse group and There was always doing this together with others and this year is with Nangara So that people from around the world can attend wikimania and have a fair selection process while still knowing that We cannot make everyone happy and there has to be some kind of selection because there is a limitation of budget and Of course, we're here to look for your feedback What could be improved and Yeah, so I'm Adding over to the next one super. Thanks And thanks for all your work Martin on scholarships. It's amazing. My name is Phoebe airs. I have Been to all of the wikimanias, but one I helped organize the program for wikimania 2006 and then 10 years later for wikimania 2017 And I've helped out with other parts of the organization for several others And I am currently vice chair of the steering committee and Have been for a number of years. We've been on the steering committee together. Yolanda and I So, you know, I really believe in making wikimania both an accessible Experience to attend and also to organize and participate in And I'm happy to talk about like what we think the future of this global event for us should be Thank you Hi, my name is machi and I'm a relative newbie to the movement in regard to my fellow colleagues here on stage I've started editing 2016, but really joined the movement in 2019 just before the covid pandemic I've actually planned to go to Bangkok originally, but it wasn't possible and Here I'm representing the co-organizing team for 2024 for the next wikimania that is scheduled to happen in Krakow in Poland. Thank you Hi, I'm Nengarra This is actually the third wikimania I've worked on And you can say probably will be the last after dropping the marker fight I've been on the steering committee for a little while I worked on Bangkok, which we never got off the ground because of Some little bug that no one could see and I worked on 2021 I got to help with the create the online experience and How we were going to do that and of course finally we're back here in Singapore, which Has been an amazing journey and as Martin alluded to I Pretended to be in charge of the scholarships while Martin did all the work and now Gisgar is doing all the work for us Back here, yeah, it wasn't working Maybe we can start with the relevance so Would you like maybe to start answering? So what do you think is the relevance of wikimania? So if you would like to share your opinion, and then I'm just going to go down and collect other hints and ideas Can anyone help us with an etherpad to take some notes? So thank you very much fantastic. Yeah, there's microphones or they should be microphone Yeah, coming down to the things if you want to move out there to ask any questions So first question relevance, so why should we do it? Why it is important? What do you think makes it different from other events and what can bring to the movement specifically? If you want to maybe do around them and then I'm just gonna go okay Well, we get people moving to ask questions I think one of the big important things is that personal contact the chance meeting in corridors listening to speech or talk That you wouldn't normally switch on to When it was online or by itself people would only go to the things that Interest them and caught their attention. Whereas now when you're in person You know walking into a room to listen or staying around after One talk to and hearing another and suddenly new ideas come along. I think that's such a valuable part of the experience For me wikimania Is relevant as it allows people from multiple communities regional countries to find that I get to know together I've came to the movement in a Pretty weird time when everything moved online late 2019 early 2020 And it's been quite hard to accomplish and even get to know many people Around here because they've all known each other for the last 10 20 15 years wikimania In just the last four days allowed me and many of my friends to meet people that they would never probably normally meet Because there is no reason for me to go to country X and people from country X to go to Poland But they may meet at some wikimania. They may work together. They may start some cooperation together And it removes the barriers between us It's quite easy to say that we no longer need these type of events when Someone just saw already everything knows everyone and have done everything But it removes those barriers for those people that are just now trying to get into the movement Know the people and start collaborating I'm so glad you had that experience this week, right? Like I think that's what we hope for in wikimania I think that has been true for many of us at wikimania is that we have met people that we then Not just became colleagues with but became personal friends with right or or informed this kind of community that last year over year over year it's I Think many of us have had this experience of seeing people for the first time after four years who we also know very well and have Seen online right and it's Amazing to see people in person. I think wikimania Provides that it also provides Elena would speak to this I think a way to do outreach in your local community to talk about like wikipedia is actually people right like there are people behind the scenes and This is who we are. This is what we look like You too can be a wikipedia right for people who just might encounter the conference in their community their place It also provides a way I believe very strongly You can test this out for me next year For people to become involved in the movement in a different way through organizing the event right through producing thing for Your colleagues your peers you can Contribute in a very particular way Yeah in times of Carbon footprint discussions everywhere and Such it's it's really tough to to think of a conference global conferences where everyone has to fly tens of hours including myself and So I also always often think in the last years should we really have wikimania should we really have wikimania Once a year maybe twice a year there many great conferences and related to smaller communities or to continents and Definitely a discussion we can have how often wikimania should take place But it's really the only place where you can meet people from around the world and see their projects I give them visibility and Start conversations so for me it's more like networking event then Having sessions because sessions we can also deliver online. It's it's talking with people and Seeing what's going on around the world and that's Given why wikimania Well, I'll say you standing out there with a question Okay, so I'll be wearing two hats first is the Being the Singapore organa Singapore wikimania organizer and at the same time a volunteer So we have two major topics here is the future of wikimania and then also the participation First for the future. This is not a question The feedback that I got on 2019 they mentioned Stock home is the best wikimania ever so That fuels my motivation to keep all my notes and for the past three years and That's what we see right now So this it's a great collaboration of the Asia people get all the ideas By the way, the idea of the karaoke is from our Australian colleagues and then the end of Korean colleagues and then Another is from other Members of the Asia people. Okay, so my second point is regarding the scholarships. Okay Nothing personal. I don't want to mention a specific scholar, but I've been receiving a lot of queries regarding this because There are questions about term limits on the regional grants committees term limits on the board of trustees, so Is there any possibility despite there is a meritocracy regarding the scoring system of the scholars that we should be limiting the frequent flyers from attending wikimanias in Full scholarship If you agree, we can maybe collect some other in so on also the relevance and then move to the scholarships So also we give us some explanation on how a structure at the moment and then Moving forward with the discussion. So is there any Idea concept you want to share about the relevance or how we can make it more relevant wikimania to me For example, time is a very important element so having time to prepare for wikimania having a Selection that is well ahead of time makes a real difference because it allows to organize local events Also, the preparation to the event allows also to bring attention to the region to the area And it allows also to have a broader impact in the territory So I think that is an element that we are considering also for the future and that cannot A systemic element that can bring something more. I think there were someone rising ahead Layla, please First of all, thank you so much for being on the steering committee and organizing wikimania It's a lot of work behind the scenes in terms of relevance I think for me I want to just double down and it resonates with me that it's an event that removes some of the barriers that exist For us for example, we focus on specific projects specific regions sometimes specific languages So all of those except the challenge of language basically are almost removed for wikimania So we get a lot of exposure to different things that are happening across the movement One question that I have is how much we want to remove this barrier and connect to other Entities that can be in the open free knowledge ecosystem So for example, we see of course creative comments being relatively presence in in this wikimania And this is great Are there other entities that we want to create bridges with and remove and lift the barriers that we have through an event such as wikimania? Thank you Do you want to I check do you want to respond? Yes So Please note if I heard you're right as we are having a bit of a trouble of Hearing the questions on stage because the speakers here are working So if I understand correctly the second part of your question was regarding opening wikimania for outside cooperation And incorporating those organizations a bit more Imagining creative commons so I can be collaboration with other networks open-street map So Without disclosing too much information this is being taken very much into the consideration and While I still have the mic I wanted to add one point of Relevance to what butch mentioned before at the mic about wikimania being organized as the original Attent we've seen last year this being pioneered during the online edition where we have people at the CUT from many Many different countries that have most likely never worked before this year is the first in person wikimania organized by people from all across the world Living in all the countries in the region and some of them even outside of it And Our wikimania we also try to bring the whole region and I can see a big benefit here a big exercise in the capacity and Trust each other in bringing the event that not only one country one organization can connect to like it was done in the past But in different times done to our movement that is growing and connecting and our regional hubs our general cooperatives are growing I have also seen that the French affiliate while mentioning their expression of interest has also expressed the interest of working with the entire francophone community I hope that in the future will see a bit more of wikimania bringing this international cooperation into the event into all Into all of the actions surrounding it as this I think maybe one of the most Important and most relevant thing that wikimania can bring to the movement It can take out of out of our silos out of out of our normal Co-operations out of our normal group of friends that we know all and we have always worked and maybe we'll finally start talking to each other to add on this I think we achieved The regional collaboration is the alpha was already something new in the dynamic We've been talking for many years about collaborating or joining Events with creative commons doing something together with open-street map So combining events you never really worked. So we never reached that point So it has always been one of the top possibilities, but we never actually happened So it is something that maybe if we want to plan it we need to start planning and now So that is something that we can definitely consider But we need to start a more official negotiation and we didn't do it yet Even if they're being always an openness and a willingness so but more a blah blah rather than actually Please I have one singular question Sorry, I have a single question to Marche after I make my comment I think that wikimania is immensely important as a networking enabler For the future because Marche seriously you've been editing since 2016 17 Do you think you would be here if you didn't come personally to wikipedia's 18th birthday back in 2019? Hello hello. Yeah, Vojtek is talking that actually my first contact wikipedia's was me just finding about wikimedia Poland's Party for wikipedia's 18th birthday. Yeah, I thought that your first in person experience Yes, I've heard about the event in the morning And I just decided to go there after work to this day People are making fun of me for appearing at the wikimedia event wearing a suit and a shirt and a tie Come on. It was birthday Yes, but I would say that Without coming to this event and then just a couple of weeks later to wikimedia, poland general assembly I would not be sitting here. I would not be a board member to commedia Europe I would not be organizing wikimania. You would be online probably you would still be online. I don't think so This was like the push I needed to get like involved into more than just adding commas. Okay, hands up for Marche I think that's I think that's wonderful and an experience we all have whether it's a local meet-up or regional meet-up or a thematic meet-up or wikimania itself Those in-person connections are what keep keepers coming back what drivers to go past the Two or three years of this is fun. Let's edit a little bit Once you start talking to people and making friends in real life. You really do keep Ongoing and that was the same for me. You know first edited in 2005 first meet-up was in 2007 that drove me along first wikimania was in 2012 and at that stage I was having some issues with some things and kind of yeah Do I stay do I go and That time in Washington was amazing. I met a lot of amazing people and I stuck Yes, thank you so much for for all the work you're doing both in this year and Wikimania Okay, I'll talk a little louder. Thank you I was wondering for all the people that are watching and that are wondering should I Apply to organize wikimania in the future. What would you tell to a community that is considering to apply to? To enter a bid why should they do it because the international benefits are obvious But what do you what do you get out of it as a local community and what? Conditions do you need to meet as a local community not to not destroy yourself in the process? Yes, that's a great question. That's a set of questions right those are different questions What could you consider I think the people are the most important element Do you have people who want to run a wikimania with you right? This is not a solo endeavor It's very difficult to run anything by yourself, but it's impossible to run a conference like this by yourself. I will say The foundation the wikimedia foundation is here for you This is an event that is co-produced with the local community and the wikimedia foundation and You know all these logistics and things like that. We're not expecting Local groups to do all of this by yourself, right? Yeah Foundation has been absolutely Fantastic with their support over the last couple of years, and it's really making a difference So I don't think people should worry that like oh, I've never booked a convention center Like who has booked a convention center before right we we can help you with those things But what you do need is an enthusiastic local group who wants to wants to you know host Wants to be up here on stage and wants to make a program wants to showcase your local place Wants to bring people to their home city, you know poor steering committee has been hearing from me since 2012 let's go to Perth. Let's go to Perth. Let's go to Perth. I'll help with Bangkok There I'll help get involved. Just keep persisting. We are hearing it for sure There is also however, there are things that are out of anyone's control At least anyone here in this room perhaps Things like how easy is it to obtain a visa to your country, right? I live in the United States We all know it's very very very difficult to get a visa to the United States from many many countries in the world Because we want to be a global Conference because we want everyone to participate as to the greatest extent possible We think about visas a lot on the steering committee as Nangara and folks know You wanted to comment about I Wanted to comment about the other part of the question of what it brings to the community. What's like the Let's not call it the benefit because everything comes with costs and everything comes with costs and Profits for the lack of better words. I would say that for our community in the city. It already brought First of all a lot of energy a lot of happiness Wikimedia is coming to our region for the first time in almost 15 years at the moment Our community heard that Wikimedia will happen in Krakow. They were ecstatic And I hope that later today will be able to share with you one of the things they started created just that I Can already see that this is a big exercise in capacity for the organizing chapter or organizing people This is a big event and From what I've heard for this year and from what I hope for next year It won't be a crashing mountain coming on the local community We've already experienced a lot of support from the foundation a foundation has dedicated an amazing team of staff To help us to train us people that are specialized in our region like local movement comm specialists People that have event management experience people that have been Working on these types of events almost all of their professional life And I hope that all of people in our team not only the main COT, but up to The volunteers that will only help us for a few hours during the event They will learn a lot of things not only about Wikimedia, but also about trust and safety finance management event management I can see every volunteer working at Wikimedia learning something that will help them elsewhere I'll say two more thing just a little bit more before Yolanda you should jump in also on this question We also think you mentioned come into your region We think about going to different regions, right? We don't want the conference to be always in the same place certainly not the same country, but also You know time zones like we want people to be a shorter flight for People at least some years, right? Here's the thing though. There's a lot of places in the world, right? There's a lot of places that we would love to have this conference that would love to host this conference and So it's not like a perfect rotation, right? There's not a plan where it will go to Certain countries in this order, but we do think about moving around, right? So Wikimedia is in different places and The last thing I want to say about that is Wikimedia is not our only event In the movement, right? And I'm curious what you all think about this, but One thing that often local groups Who are interested in running event end up doing is running perhaps a more regional conference and getting that experience and seeing what it's like to run a conference and Often I find a lot of value in the regional conferences that we have Because often people can come to those who can't fly around the world to Singapore, you know So Wikimedia is not the only thing that you can plan to run if you want to run a conference in Wikimedia Okay, but I think and we need also to move to the participation, which is the other topic of our discussion as we were mentioning at the beginning we're talking about a conference that has a Limited capacity the reality is scholarship have been given throughout time But maximum 500 people have benefited somehow the scholarship there are scholarship from the Wikimedia Foundation other chapters Sometimes participants can attend also with funds from their institution or research units but the reality is that participation obviously is not That democratic and there are criteria also to select the scholarship Maybe Martin can introduce the system that have been used this year And we can answer also the question of which are related to regions, please Yeah So scholarship process is more or more less like that There is an application form So Wikimedia Foundation scholarships Just to be clear There's an application form that asks for your relevant experience and the way you want to share your information on Wikimedia how you want to participate and this year we got more than three thousand applications and Had to figure out the valid ones and the the ones of active contributors with at least 50 edits there was a bit of screening If there's where concerns raised before to Wikimedia Foundation, and we ended up with 1200 valid application applications 1200 people who would definitely enrich this conference who has applied for a scholarship and Then there was a jury in the each year There's a jury that gives scores on Special criteria that was Over the past couple of years state more or less the same was changed a bit for this year and Out of these we got Around 120 to 150 people There's a ratio for each Region of the world and this is always Sat by the local COT To Get the right people to the conference. Of course, we know that there in some regions chapters affiliates provide more scholarships. So it's the number Yolanda was mentioning from other organizations and For this year, particularly we were looking into diversity of countries who participate so we took the results from the jury process in phase two and Try to Get as many countries as possible Here still basing on the scores Should it be directly into butch's question like participation No, no, I remember the question that's fine, so but it do you still want to hear me, okay? Sorry Martin could butch ask the question because I don't believe I don't think I can I can yeah, okay, okay, so By the way What like to give a little refer also on how Krakow got the announcements a little bit early Because the I'm also wearing a regional grants committee hat So we just need to make sure that if in case is an affiliate It's interested to send out their own scholars that they know how to plan it effectively on their annual plan That's why did they have their own scholarships and Planet accordingly so Mike the question that I have earlier is this is a very burning question that I receive each and every Wikimedia and also with this Wikimedia why this X person had been in Wikimedia for X number of years already For free. He's already They joke on me if you already he already or she already got X number of flyer miles I'm going to Wikimedia For of course subsidized by the foundation So we also receive some feedback that there's they request term limits on grand committees Board of Trustees why not scholars also have some term limits that they have a Certain limit of number of times that they could attend Wikimedia until they get another chance to get a scholarship Beyond the meritocracy process that we have Yeah, I think one of the things that we considered starting and spoke about with the scholarship process for Singapore was that It had been four years or it would have been four years since we were last all together in person And I think to panelize someone and say well bad luck you went to stock on four years ago And like the rest of the community have done amazing things since You can't go now. It may be that we can look crack our will look at it next year differently Because it's only going to be eight or nine months Is it eight or nine months between now and about July next year 11 months, okay? My maths isn't all that good when I've only got one hand to counter And They will look at it differently to say look you had that opportunity a lot more recently Maybe you don't get the next opportunity next year and we look to bring new people in But it's always a balance of we need experience people in the room as much as we need New people in the room because if we bring everyone that's never been before Then we have no one to share their experience and learn from Martin Yeah, so this question is of course a very important one and it's not raised for the first time obviously However, I Feel a bit like the only constant since 2012 on that so I've been on the scholarship committee and In various roles for the past couple of years Co-lead or scholarship committee member etc. It's really it really depends on how much time you can spend on improving things When it comes to thousands of applications So for this time we had to spend a lot of time on the tool to actually get people Scored by the jury and we also had to find people to To Help scholars after they get selected I'll share Insights what changing hats now as well I'm also working for Wikimedia Deutschland and I'm there the delegation Lead for the German scholars is so Wikimedia Deutschland gives additional scholarships and at that place I could already change some of the Criteria to get a more diverse group to the conference I'm convinced that we we definitely have to have both Things we have new we have to have new cumbers at Wikimedia, but we also have to have people here Who are experienced community leaders who? Who are organizers of big events? and and and have special knowledge on that and There's we also have to have a system how to get them to Wikimedia and Wikimedia Deutschland we have a percentage for new Applicants and for returning applicants that was the first step and we tried to We tried that out and we found out that it's still more people Applying who have been to a Wikimedia of course it makes sense you now know how this conference works So it's much much easier for you to Answer the questions in the Application form because you know oh it's about networking at their sessions. I can participate that way Of course, we can try to to make newbies more aware of How the conference looks like but we learned for Wikimedia Deutschland that this is not enough and for that reason We tried out for the first time in 2019 a system. We've called tandem scholarships so instead of giving an equal number of scholarships to new and returning scholars we are Giving a limited number to returning scholars, but additional scholarships with tandem partners. So there's based in Germany who Made friends or contacts At previous Wikimedia's and still want to work on these topics they can apply for tandem scholarships with people from outside of Northwest, South Europe and of course This comes along with other questions like bringing your own friends once again to Wikimedia, but It's still I think at least a bit fairer more fair to To do that way To to actually those who know already about Wikimedia to give them some extra task to do that It's logistical impossible to do that for hundreds of scholars at For Wikimedia foundation scholarships, but I'm very open to work on that however there has to be some group that definitely wants to work on scholarships and It has always been more or less that Another person and I were doing the scholarships. They disappeared a new one showing up for next Wikimedia and there We were talking about being exhausted after the conference, etc. So We have to find a way to actually work on this in a committee Please all right So by the way, I was one of the members of the scholarship committee It was very interest to seeing the a lot of applications It is hard to evaluate seriously with the Just for the text that they're providing and providing just a score with that I know some some peers. I know in the applications. They had a significant coming KK I mean the committee engagements has been denied even because of like because this is kind of the limitation That's what I believe Okay, so what I was feeling is with this at the what I was hearing from the conversation is kind of the Abilities can be having more perspective to like the evaluate the sending the Better like the scholars and whoever is part of the committee member from their community can be joining us at the Wikimedia I know Wikimedia Dutch land or like the large affiliates They can possible to send scholarship by their budget But like the what I was thinking on our side is so many affiliates are feeling like they're like having limitation to apply the grants Because if they want to sending like for example like the one to two scholarship It is like kind of having like the two three thousand to four thousand dollar increase on budget. So like it is going to be I know Dutch land is going to be very small of a tiny increase But like the some ability is going to be like the huge parts of the increase on the budget So it's like kind of what I was thinking was probably the providing the support and like the Foundations of engagement with the those kind of stops for the opportunity to provide opportunities as well with the cooperation of local affiliates That's what I was thought. Thank you so young to Yeah To comment a bit on what you mentioned and fortunately I don't think it would be the place of this year's organizers next year's or any future organizers to the directly But I can see a place for Wikimedia organizers to coordinate With the affiliates in their need of grant increases It is not for us to say whether it should be done or not. There is a grant process But uh, I know that certain regional grant officers have worked in the past with Their respective affiliates to allow for that after the pandemic A bit has changed, but I hope that affiliates will be able to send more people to Wikimedia as this only benefits all of us I wanted to come back also to what butch mentioned about the questions being asked by people who are attending wikimedia frequently I've had some discussion about it with some people here at wikimedia and before And This is a tough not to crack Because there are certain people that have attended wikimedia for years now Some of their own expense and we cannot prohibit that some have attended many multiple wikimanias Yeah, you banned me from wikimedia because I've been to chimini. No well No, but there are people who receive scholarships for multiple years but Without any real Proof of systemic failure or without more data I wouldn't want to comment on setting any process like for example saying you can only attend two out of every four wikimanias And that's all because in some way it would be penalizing people that still work and continue to work in certain areas I'm quite well known in the polish wikimedia community for telling A bit more experience community members that I do not consider past Actions towards wikimedia as valuable as current ones And I'm against people coming to wikimania for things they did 10 15 years ago because quite frankly Nobody cares or at least I don't But if there is a person that still continues to work continues to contribute continues to grow their projects I don't think they should be penalized just because they are good at their job Although we have to find a way that also allows people that only started contributing And are now only starting their projects to appear as well because it is very extremely hard to Be in competition with someone who's done a project 15 years in a row and a person that just started last year Yeah, it is a difficult thing to assess people It's never something that a wikimedia would find comfortable to say your work is better than someone's else Sorry, I'm didn't I also want to thank you for your work And the rest of the team that did the review process it was Just amazing how you got through 1200 applicants looking at them and Yeah, I'm just astounded by and thankful for You guys doing it because I was able to sit back and just read the end results On that we changed and had a scale we did focus On a point system that was a lot more expanded And when reviewing we wanted links to what people had done And we want we asked the reviewers to look for people that have been doing stuff and being active in the last 12 18 months at the time they did the review we were looking for people that were Really creating something and doing something in the post pandemic We weren't looking for people that were Riding on the coattails of the story they've created Five years ago or 10 years ago. You had to be active I think that's our biggest challenge is Finding the people that are doing the work and getting the message to them to actually apply especially new people because we really do miss Those people not by choice But because they don't know And whereas all the old hands know that Hey, look Wikimanias coming up. We'll know the scholarship process Is going to come soon crack how you've got to think about it I've heard rumors they want us to open the scholarship process Next week Or are you going to have a rest first? Well, maybe not first week. We actually have Kaby sitting in the audience with us She will be running the scholarship process But we remain committed to starting the process much earlier this year. Maybe not next week Let's give us at least 10 days But it is our goal to have the decisions on scholarships ready in the early weeks of next year So we want to give at least five to six months to people to apply for visas that they will need to visit Poland We have a please boot. Okay, so By the way, this is not my personal Opinion but this is based on the feedback that I'm receiving Is there any way a An applicant have a feedback mechanism because I receive one wikimaniyan Who had been attend who attend wikimanias, Singapore for the first time after five attempts So he didn't know what what did he got it this time It could be a lottery or something because they don't know at what point on the questions They got it right this year and didn't get last three attempts There's really no right or wrong answers when you apply. It's what you're doing But it's also what everyone else is doing and We got 1200 applicants We come down to 200 people that we decided on back March, April, May Um, it's hard to give immediate feedback because we've got to focus on getting those people here The visa process the letters all that organizational stuff is Attracts our attention, but We also don't want you comparing yourself to other people Everyone's doing an amazing job The fact that you weren't able to be in the room and you're watching online Doesn't mean you're not doing anything great. It just means that our limited opportunities Yeah, um, just to clarify my question. This is not compared to the other scholar is they're comparing To their own application previously. So, uh, they would like to know Is there any way for me to improve my Scholarship application in the future because this this this is the same way that we're doing in uh grant applications If in case they found out that the application is really terrible There is a way a different staff who would be doing that feedback mechanism mechanism for Uh, a grant applicant to make their application better. So again, we don't want to burden the Existing scholarship committee to do this role. Yeah Everyone's wants to jump in here. Um, I'm quickly going to say is what the people we wanted for singapore You could improve your application for singapore for next year, but it isn't in singapore. It's in crack hour They'll have a whole different type of criteria next year There isn't A right or wrong answer. There isn't a big learning experience on how you feel it in Oh, and So, yeah, it's more or less like Most of the years past years. I was doing the more or less maintenance around scholarships and the selection criteria has always Been coming from the CUTs be it in Uh diverse like ratios for the regions like The composition of regions, etc. So you could have also given and butch a criteria on newcomers to wikimanias or Your turning attendees and we would I would have processed that but if I don't get that information like this and and Can I also add something What is also frustrating is that we decline a lot of scholarship of people that actually deserve a scholarship So that is the scenario we are in so there are great people great contributor But we don't have enough slot. So the reality is that then we introduce other criteria We try to have people coming from different countries Representative of different topics. So there are plenty of other criteria But simply because we don't have enough scholarship for everybody And we don't have enough scholarship for everybody that deserves a soft scholarship That makes it a situation that is a bit complicated also for this. So it's not that uh, uh, scholarship are declined because Among the 1000 scholarship that were selected. They already passed the first phase of uh, so they were all eligible So we're talking about a very wide number and we can only accept 10 percent I would like also to encourage you if you're interested in being part of the scholarship committee Because it is also an incredible experience. So you have in front of you A portrait of the community is one of the few chances in which you have people telling you about themself What they do how they are active and it is quite a beautiful experience to actually see from behind the scene How the community is working what they are doing. So it is uh, really a great I think it's quite touching sometimes I remember in one of the scholarship committee somebody said but this is not a participant. This is a hero He was in the evaluation criteria because you have really amazing people working in the community So it is also something that uh, well, it's a volunteer task It's quite a long one because of the number of application But please apply if you can provide some time Also to this uh, this kind of contribution to wikimania Yeah, we've got another question. Sorry And then we only have a few minutes left. So I think yeah one question and then we'll wrap up. Yeah Hi I came from india. So there are quite a few self-funded participants from southern part of india and I'm taking a consulted feedback from them. So they say that not many wikimidians who are doing great Yeah So many wikimidians who spoke to me They are saying that not many wikimidians who are doing great work Can have an art of writing a good scholarship application They're struggling with writing a good scholarship application. They don't know what are the things that they they can highlight What are the things that are relevant to scholarship committee? They think in nice ways sometimes like it is hard for them And they also think in their own regional languages not in english and it is very difficult for them to articulate in a way that it is Cutting the whole yeah Of course if The scholarship committee would have already been found and Would not have to be found each year again And we would have to look for tools again again We could spend more resources on helping people writing their application They wear some some attempts on that I remember 2014 that Handbook more less was written for that But it's not up to date of course so My suggestion is looking at wikimidia foundation here maybe to consider um a standing scholarship committee so that it's like the wiki mania steering committee so that some of these things that consume time Would be reduced so that We could focus more on things like how to write applications and such They simply not that time right now because of the process how it is designed right now Which is why we are talking here. We have another question, but it's just one minute left Sure, not a question actually. Hi everyone. My name is kelsey. I'm from the wikimidia foundation It's been really exciting Because you see so many people here at the session this morning who are excited about and invested in the future of wikimania My request for all of you is later today in your email inboxes You'll receive a link to fill out the survey for wikimania 2023 we look at this survey as a large part of our event evaluation And you can share your feedback there as a way of really helping us improve wikimania for future years So please and thank you for taking the time today to share your feedback Yep, and you know, they need that survey for the funding to show like wikimania matters to us wikimania matters to the foundation wikimania matters to the community. So Thank you all for coming. I know that there's lots of former organizers out there also the other members of the steering committee current organizers future organizers talk to us There wasn't a lot of time for discussion which we were hoping for so definitely talk to us as Over today over email over going forward There will be calls for participation for scholarships committee for program committee for maybe other committees Maybe maybe So get involved with that. We will put out a call also for people who are interested in joining The wikimania steering committee later on this year Thank you all for coming Thank you Thank you to our panelists. Um, just for everyone in the audience We have snacks anti and coffee served downstairs on the concourse and our next session with ashley boyd is at 1115