User:Sj/Wikimania2006

Various Wikimania drafts not yet moved to meta; to keep people from worrying that any terrible swift changes are occurring. These are only early drafts [ideas, letter templates, &c]; others may have better suggestions. If the drafts are any good, it is due to fine suggestions made last year and this.

Call for papers
Call for Submissions ~V draft draft draft

_About Wikimania:_

Wikimania is an annual conference devoted to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia Foundation projects. It is an international gathering of Wikipedians, open to the public and all interested parties. Wikimania is both a scientific conference and a community event. The conference is an opportunity to exchange ideas and report on research and projects. It is also a chance for Wikipedians and the general public to meet and interact.

We are accepting submissions for presentations, posters, tutorials, and birds of a feather/discussion groups. We are also accepting nominations for speaker panels and keynote speakers, and suggestions for other activities. Anyone within or outside the Wikimedia community is welcome to make a submission. Be bold in your submissions! The audience will consist primarily of active Wikimedia users from all over the world.

_Topics and Tracks:_

Multilingualism ~V languages and cultures and their interactions online; how can wikis be used in a multilingual world?

Wiki Sociology ~V the contributors and users (who are they? Where do they come from?), reputation and identity issues, how do conflicts get resolved, how a diverse community works together

Technical Issues ~V everything technical; issues related to Mediawiki development; new ideas for development

Projects and content ~V new ideas for the projects and their content, future of the projects, how to make content better, wikis in education, wiki journalism, growth, local chapter reports (what is going on in the local chapters and other projects?)

Free knowledge and other wiki initiatives ~V related projects that aren't Wikipedia or Mediawiki-based; state of the field for free knowledge initiatives

_Types of Submissions:_

30-minute presentations/papers 10 minute short presentations/papers Posters Panels Tutorials [how long?? 2 hrs? 1/2 day?] Birds-of-a-Feather/discussion sessions (BOF) [how long?]

_IMPORTANT DATES_ ? Submission of extended abstracts ? Notification of acceptance ? Early registration deadline ? Conference

_Submission details:_

Abstracts of submissions are due: on the fifth of never!

Complete papers and images of posters are due: on the fifteenth of never!

Papers should include the title, abstract, text of the paper and slides if available. If the topic is about a specific wiki project, that should be clearly stated. For papers/presentations, please state what formats you would be willing to present in: 30 minute presentation, 10 minute presentation, or poster session.

Submissions for tutorials should include the proposed topic, and an overview (1-2pp) of the specific areas to be taught.

Speaker panels should include the proposed topic of discussion, an abstract describing the topic, and a list of the proposed participants with short biographies.

BOF proposals should include the proposed topic, an abstract describing the significance and community interest in the topic, and the name of the proposed discussion leader.

All submissions should include a title, full name (and wiki name if desired), contact information and affiliation of the user, and an abstract between 100-200 words.

Each submission must be licensed under a free content license (GFDL, CC-SA~E), and provided in an open format (OpenOffice, LaTeX sources, HTML...). All submissions should be sent to cfp--at--wikimedia.org.

Variables in templates
- Wikimania logo. Should we use the wikimedia logo with "Wikimedia"? A Wikimedia logo with "Wikimania"? A new logo, similar to the wikimedia logo, but visually recognizable on its own from a distance? One of the above with specific small text added specific to Wikimania 2006?

- Names of groups, events, and teams. -+ "Wikimania 2006", as in "The second annual Wikimedia conference, /Wikimania 2006/" -+ "Hacking Days", as in "the Hacking Days of Wikimania 2006" -+ "program committee", as in "On behalf of the Wikimania program committee..." -+ "translation team", as in "Join the Wikimania translation team for gratitude and glory..."

- Titles of Wikimania organizers. With a brief description of duties, including capacities (communication with the outside world) in which the titles may be needed.

a) conference organizer[s] - coordinating the overall conference logistics; contacting hosts and partner organizations. a') assistant organizer(s) - doing much of the same. (should know about everything going on, and be able to fill in in an emergency.)

b) program chair - the person(s) signing speaker invitations and related communication (presumably also responsible for overall program logistics and completeness; mediating or at worst settling any impasses in track-level decisions). b') track organizer - the person responsible for balance and completeness of presentations and panels within a given track; including sending out and following up on panel invitations. b) a general title for other people on the program committee, when they correspond with guests, speakers, &c. in that capacity; for people responding to cfp submissions and other requests on OTRS b') hacking days chair - the person(s) organizing the schedule and events during hacking days.

c) translation coordinator(s) - person(s) responsible for overall translation logistics; coordinating translators wit submissions and content, to make sure the latter gets to the right translators promptly.   Communication with translator groups. c') lead translators in each core language - for communication with other transient translators in their language; via mailing lists when looking for translator support, responding to OTRS translation-queue.

d) press contact - person responsible for managing relations with the press (print, audio, tv, etc), and coordinating with the WMF press officer (title needed unless this *is* the press officer :) and the venue press staff (@ Berkman, the Media Lab) d') publicity and PR lead - contact with Schwartz, the press contact; for managing relations with leaders of other communities helping us get the word out; monitoring publicity overall and in targeted audiences. External announcements.

e) communications coordinator - responsible for getting the word out to the communities, maintaining social mailing lists for (would-be, past, future) attendees, soliciting feedback throughout the year and at key points, getting the community involved in discussions, competitions, &c surrounding the physical event. 3') a general title for assistant coordinators in this capacity (internal announcements)

m) general conference title - for people responding to info and other queries on OTRS.

x) titles for key roles, though they may not have much correspondence with the outside world: leads for
 * (conf software) programming,
 * A/V & 'casting work,
 * website managment,
 * banner/poster/collateral design & printing,
 * social events,
 * proceedings and publications

CfP submission invitation letters
Dear ,

The second annual Wikimedia conference, Wikimania 2006, is now accepting submissions of papers, tutorials, and roundtable proposals.

You are cordially invited to submit your own work or ideas for inclusion in the conference. For submission details and a list of topics, please see the attached call for papers.

Sincerely, , Wikimania 2006

[2] Speaker invitation letters, to speakers who have already submitted an accepted paper.

Dear ,

On behalf of the, it is my pleasure to invite you to  at the second annual Wikimedia conference, Wikimania 2006, to be held in Boston, USA on. The conference aims to.

Your will be covered [thanks in part to the generosity of, if applicable]. Please rsvp to confirm that you can attend, and to finalize your travel details.

I look forward to meeting you in Boston.

Yours sincerely, , Wikimania 2006

More speaker invitation letters
''to speakers who the program committee wants to come without seeing a paper. Ideally sent by the chair?''

Dear ,

On behalf of the, it is my pleasure to invite you to  at the second annual Wikimedia conference, Wikimania 2006, to be held in Boston, USA on. The conference aims to.

Your will be covered [thanks in part to the generosity of, if applicable]. Please rsvp to confirm that you can attend, and to finalize your travel details.

I look forward to meeting you in Boston.

Yours sincerely, , Wikimania 2006

Panel invitation letters
to panelists who have not yet accepted.

Dear ,

It is my pleasure to invite you to  a panel on [along with ] at the second annual Wikimedia conference, Wikimania 2006, to be held in Boston, USA on.

Your would be covered. Please let us now soon whether you are interested in partaking in such a panel, so that we can plan accordingly.

Early press release: open meeting
Press release for Wikimania open meeting

2005

Wikimania 2006 The 2nd Annual Wikimedia Conference

For Immediate Release:

2nd annual Wikimedia conference / Wikimania 2006 Holds First Open General Meeting

2006 Wikimedia Conference Solicits Participants & Ideas

At noon, Saturday, April 30th, 2005, the Wikimania 2006 committee will be hosting an Open General Meeting online via IRC and in .

The meeting is open to all. We welcome those who are currently working on the event, those who would like to become involved in working on it, and anyone with ideas and suggestions for it.

The agenda for the meeting is to discuss the general plans for the conference. We will be covering what the committee hopes to accomplish and how they plan to go about it. We are talking big ideas and grand schemes. We will be covering everything from major events, programming, themes; a general layout of the planned facilities, and a host of other areas. Wikimania 2006 is looking for eager, enthusiastic people wanting to contribute to making this conference everything it can be. We are interested in your ideas and looking for people who want to join in the fun of creating a great community event.

The physical meetings will take place at

The meeting will start at and is expected to run for a number of hours. The day will include formal and informal discussions about the conference and general socializing. This will enable all those concerned the opportunity to get to know each other better. Drinks and snacks will be provided in person, including an L.A. classic-style barbecue.

For anyone traveling in for the meeting, we have a limited number of couches available...

While Wikimania is primarily an event for active users of and contributors to the Wikimedia projects, we believe that it should include researchers investigating the social and resarch uses of wikis, proponents of every aspect of free knowledge, and enthusiastic users of wikis of all kinds. Whether your interest is primarily education, archiving, free information, or wiki platform development, we feel you should be part of this conference and this conference should have something to offer you and your colleagues. The only way for this to happen is if people of all interests get together to work together to make the conference the best possible event.

If you are interested in assisting with the conference or have ideas and are unable to attend, please contact us at. Please spread the word. All who want to help are invited.

--

Contacts

General: wikimania-info@wikimedia.org Press/Media: wikimania-press@wikimedia.org

Wikimania 2006, dept c/o S.C.I.F.I., Inc. P.O. Box 8442 Van Nuys CA 91409

The 2nd Wikimedia conference, known as Wikimania 2006, will take place in Anaheim, California from Wednesday, through. More information, including current registration rates, is available from its web site or by writing to wikimania-inof@wikimedia.org.

To be removed from the Wikimania 2006 announcement mailing list, please contact wikimania-info@wikimedia.org