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So, given that, I'd like to thank Pete publicly for picking up the
ball and seeing what interest there is in the community for a North
American RCC, and to everyone else for constructively working on the
idea.
Re: West Coast WikiConference -- I can't say I've looked at the RCC
wiki, so I don't actually know what's being talked about. But, for a
bit of background for those who weren't there, WCWC was a one-time
event that was quite successful -- it drew people from SoCal & Oregon
as well as SF, and despite being centered around Wikipedia's 10th
birthday there were quite a few non-Wikip/media folks there, including
people from WikiHow, LocalWiki, (I think?) Wikia, and various other
projects, including non-wiki projects. The infrastructure left over
from that event is a domain, some blank name badges & supplies that I
have stored in my bedroom, and what I think is quite a good conference
name, if I do say so myself. Naturally, anyone who wants to use any of
these things to plan a event is welcome to them.
best,
Phoebe
p.s. who knew Sean Parker was subscribed to the sf-list?? Not me!
As someone who is from the wikiHow community and has been involved in organizing RCC for going on four years now, I just want to speak to a few points here.I may not be angry at the WMF necessarily, but at the first Wikimania I remember feeling like the ugly wiki stepchild because I was from a non-WMF project that was for-profit and didn't use the same licensing (ironic now). I didn't get to meet any of the people Eugene mentioned in his email and probably if he did things would have been different. It wasn't until RoCoCo that I realized I could go to a conference and be around non-wikiHowians that knew about wikiHow and were appreciative about what we were doing. I've never had the ugly wiki stepchild experience since then, I think largely because of the community and experience I had at RoCoCo. I was really put off by wiki conferences after attending Wikimania and very nervous going into RoCoCo, so I'm glad I started attending RCC and didn't give up going to wiki conferences altogether.Since RoCoCo, RCC has really been the go-to wikiHow conference, and for wikiHowians there aren't any other events that do what RCC does that we can attend. I think the academic scope of Wikisym isn't seem as being relevant to some of the community and the expense of both the conference and travel can be off-putting. Wikimania is usually too far away for most wikiHowians to attend and while some of the content can be applied to wikiHow, I don't think it's as useful as having a format where wikiHowians can suggest sessions on issues that directly effect wikiHow and learn from how other wikis handle those issues. The 100% open space format has worked for wikiHow. Maybe another format would work for wikiHow and other wikis. I just feel that more input from other wiki communities is needed before we do an event format that isn't 100% Open Space.Right now the format change is just a suggestion, and probably what will end up happening will not look 100% like West Coast Wiki Con, but I think for me to see West Coast Wiki Con mentioned so much in the initial planning was off-putting to me.I think trying to get newbies is great, but some communities also need the supporting the existing Wiki Ohana part of RCC and can't get it elsewhere. I think getting newbies will take a lot of discussion and thought and sometimes it's hard enough to just get an event together. I know with Boston I wanted to do a wiki 101 event and do more outreach to local non-profits since many non-profits are interested in wikis as a low cost content management solution. The problem was that people bailed out, so I didn't have enough volunteers to help do outreach.Sarah, I don't know if you are aware of that part of RCC's history -- developing bigger plans and then not being able to carry them out because the people who said they would do things couldn't follow through -- but I think it is a significant part of the RCC organizing experience. I think that's why many people are so hesitant to organize, because those close to RCC organizers know how stressful things can be especially if you end up being the one tasked with way more than you expected. With Boston, attempts were made to make things easier by tasking people with very specific things and having a 5 or 6 committee system involving former attendees/organizers in other cities.In addition to getting wiki newbies, I think we should also focus on getting attendees who are just new to RCC and attendees from communities that haven't been represented at RCC before.In terms of money, maybe it's easier to get money for wiki events in San Francisco given the amount of wiki companies head-quartered, but for Boston it was very difficult given the recession. I think for the future, we should try to do more to get donations for RCC. Yes, it's a free event, but I think there are people who would donate money who aren't being asked. I've worked in fundraising and most donations come from individuals, not corporate sponsors. I know the process of becoming a 501c3 is tedious, but I do think being a registered non-profit organization would make some aspects of organizing RCC easier. I also think that if at all possible, we should be looking for more gifts in kind, even if it's just donated food. I remember once in library school we had a SkillShare where the food was donated by a local restaranteur who loved libraries. Surely, there's some restaurant owner who loves wikis enough to donate some food. I don't know how we find that out, but I'm just throwing it out there.In terms of inviting Sue Gardner, I'm the one who suggested it. I did not suggest Jimmy Wales because he has never attended an RCC event or expressed any interest that I know of and I think he's aware of it. If you think you can get him to attend, great.