Talk:Main Page

From Wikimania 2012 • Washington, D.C., USA

Will sessions be recorded?

I'm unable to make it to the conference and I'm really bummed that I'll be missing the sessions on the Community track. Will they be recorded? If there are no official plans then would someone be willing to do an audio recording from their seat? R.J. Steinert 16:22, 20 June 2012

All sessions will indeed be video recorded and archived for all to share and benefit from :) --AutoGyro (talk) 15:57, 21 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Hey can we already download this video ? If not do you know when that will be accessible.--Tomasz Odrobny (talk) 19:08, 21 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Not yet. Within a year seems a reasonable bet given the past experience. --Nemo 20:11, 21 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hm

I hope no one minds that I gave the main page a bit more swag. Fetchcomms 03:27, 15 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wow. If you'll pardon my lolcat; that is teh awsum! Rock drum (talkcontribs) 15:08, 15 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Does this convention have an app? Somewhere to see all schedules, events, maps, etc???? If not it should!!! and if you don't want to pay to make a big fancy app checkout Guidebook.com --they used it at pycon this year! it was awesome/cheap

The site logo in use right now dates back to 2006 and is kind of dry. I recommend that it be changed to match the banner:

Any agreement? Disagreement? Harej 22:24, 17 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Happy to change it! :) Aude 01:22, 18 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Since this a site of the particular event, I also agree on this novelty.--Kiril Simeonovski 19:52, 18 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Why not? --Vibhijain 17:12, 19 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Gujarati

I have translated Main Page in Gujarati more than a week ago, and marked it Ready as well. It's still not published. How long does it take to publish once done???--Dsvyas 19:49, 20 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Protection

Every year wikimania page was left not protected until the end day. Why change this way? Knowledge is free but not in this page? Thanks a lot. Regards--Pierpao 16:40, 2 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Only the Main Page is protected, since it is high visibility. We allow anon IP edits everywhere else on this wiki. Cheers. Aude 16:41, 2 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Previous Years

I think the order of previous years should be either chronological or reverse-chron. As it is now it's not in either; it jumps around Kristinwt (talk) 01:56, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

At the very least an explanation here on the discussion page would ease my mind. Not chronological, not alphabetical, not regional... (BTW: the previous years had them chronological) 68.104.224.143 19:52, 14 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Conference page grammar error

The page which announces the DC Wikimania Conference contains a grammatical error: "Relish in a world in which every single human being. . . ."Relish" is a transitive verb and should not be followed by a preposition. The passage should read "relish a world in which every single human being. . . ."

systemic bias in wikipedia, Is wikipedia turning into the "American television watchers' encyclopedia"

65.94.204.129 05:25, 14 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Suggesting a forum for intelligent future changes, to be stored for future researchers on your sites

This entry follows a request of the wikipedia administration to contribute information. > > What about a chapter or register card for some suggestions to shape a positive future better, a global brain storm so to say ? My sense for social responsibility for instance includes regular considerations for qualitative improvements in the future. An example : My suggestion for a qualitative improvement is the implementation of a new philosophy how to reduce our energy demand and save the world for our children in the future also. It is very obvious that a reduced demand helps us to protect our resources, isn't it ? Our contemporary mistake is the belief that we do not have to live in a sustainable balance with nature. Especially the USA have on of the biggest energy consumers in their private households. A start : Allow people to sign a contract with any green energy provider in the US instead of a nuclear power station, your energy net should be able to compensate the distance between end user and power stations already today. You will not have a nuclear waste problem in the future. It is worth a try to conquer your energy lobby, the consumer demand will help us you to make a change towards green energy. My complete technical industry needs a general change to create new working places, I will have to write a law to define the maximum amount of allowed consumption per electrical device - television, radio, computer, oven, fridge etc. - lower and new. We can make some better devices, you could have an industrial intelligence competition, the question is who produces the most efficient device ? Another intelligent question in this context is how do I reduce my consumption to zero by changing my consumer habits, do I really need so much energy ? A fundamental change is required, it starts in school already. We will replace some worth of our strong personalities with intelligence features and flexibility. The goal : zero energy from the net in a brighter future in harmony with nature. How can we make sure you will publish my ideas somewhere even if the management of wikipedia or your government does not like them ? From my point of view these considerations should have a logical place in our public brain and history at least somewhere in the net. A researcher in the future should be given the chance to study the qualitative logical development of our politics and general energy approaches carefully to understand the consequences in the future. Unfortunately I can not afford to join you on the conference but I appreciate the way you provide neutral information. Some of it could be organized better from general to more specific levels, especially if science is involved. This is the question for a structure of our complete global knowledge. Do you have a start page with contents directing you to every possible chapter ? I did not find a button for it, some knowledge has not been added to wikipedia yet, for instance in my field, building architecture ( housing etc. ) Furthermore it seems reasonable to add an entry with the scientific term "ECOSON" to wikipedia. Unfortunately I was not able to find information in the net, who can help ? According to a book I could read in Hongkong 2008 the term ECOSON measures the impact of a human being on our environment during a lifespan, for instance water demand, coal, ores, oil, gas, wood, extinct species etc - there is much more to measure. If I would like to reduce pollution the knowledge about my ECOSON demand will help me to improve my consumer habits and to protect the environment and nature, for instance by replacing metal devices with sustainable wood wherever possible, or avoiding the use of not renewable in general. I will not do any damage to not renewable resources with wood. A list with visualized information about the irreversible damage my consumption does to nature should be very impressive. I hopefully have suggested some useful new qualitative changes. Your comments are welcome.

Have a nice day

Erik Kaiser

Will Jimmy Wales come?

Will Jimmy Wales come to the Wikimaina? --Shujenchang (talk) 14:53, 14 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I think he will. I'd bet on itt

He will attend for sure. See Schedule. --OrsolyaVirág (talk) 19:17, 21 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Location of main conference "TBA"

That's what the schedule says. Is the venue really still unconfirmed? Gulp. If not, please update. Thanks Johnbod (talk) 02:29, 26 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

So that this section doesn't go unanswered: our venue was finalized last October. Thank you for your concern! Harej (talk) 15:38, 29 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Good call on scheduling

Wikimania has guaranteed to fly under the radar for its latest conference, brilliantly scheduled during the exact dates that Comic-Con will be going on, at the other end of the country. I'm sure there will be some net savvy news crew around and interested in covering Wikimania -- rather than reporting on what the 130.000 pop culture fans and media-types are up to. Seriously, did anyone bother to check the date before planning this? Given a choice, I know where I'd rather be... and it's not DC. --HidariMigi (talk) 02:17, 8 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Dates for Wikimania 2012 were finalized in March 2011. In addition, while there might be some overlap in the audience between ComicCon and Wikimania, it's minimal. Wikimania emphasizes the global Wikimedia movement, focusing on providing free global access to the sum of human knowledge, and, as such, interested attendees are individuals in open tech and open source, museums/libraries/cultural institutions, education professionals and enthusiasts, internet freedom advocates and policymakers, and many others interested in advancing free global knowledge. It would've been nice if people didn't have to choose between ComicCon and Wikimania, but there will still be many who are interested in only one or the other. --AutoGyro (talk) 15:00, 16 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Anonymous Hacking

Is this where "Anonymous Hacking" Starts?

State of Emergency in Washington, DC?

My national newspaper reports that a state of emergency has been declared---any updates on how this might affect Wikimania? Given my country of residence I don't bother the heat very much ;) but will we have power, and are the airports still open? --Pgallert (talk) 11:43, 3 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Pgallert. The storm occurred on June 29, and already all Wikimania facilities and related venues, as well as airports and public transportation options, are back to normal (or semi-normal) operation. By the start of the Hackathon on July 10, we expect everything to be back to normal :) --AutoGyro (talk) 12:18, 3 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
As far as I know everything is back to normal now. It was a big storm, but not gigantic. Zellfaze (talk) 19:13, 6 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry Everyone!

I cannot attend these events as a teen because of the impending traveling difficulties.--174.108.50.105 15:10, 3 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Help to get an expediate visa appointment to attend the conference

Hi Wikipedians, I am Salah Mhamdi from Tunisia, I wrote more than 300 articles on Arabic Wikipedia and more than 60 articles on the English Wikipedia. I want you to help me get an expediate visa interview appointment from the US embassy in Tunis. my email is salahalmhamdi(a)hotmail.com

Here's a list of emails you can contact:

  • Jimmy Wales: jwales@wikia.com
  • Sue Gardner: sue@wikimedia.org
  • Nicholas Michael Bashour (Head in Wikimedia Washington DC): nicholas.bashour@wikidc.org
  • James Hare (member in Wikimedia Washington DC): james.hare@wikidc.org
  • To request an expediate visa interview appointment from the US embassy Tunis: consulartunis@state.gov

--Salah Almhamdi (talk) 20:07, 8 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Salah. I emailed the consular section at the US Embassy in Tunis to request that they expedite the visa interview. I hope that they will respond positively! --AutoGyro (talk) 20:25, 8 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

WikiSym Link

Can we get a link to the WikiSym conference posted on the homepage? Perhaps something like "While the next WikiMania isn't until 2013, you can still participate in WikiSym 2012!" Madcoverboy (talk) 13:42, 25 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Seems reasonable. Don't expect many visits to this wiki now, though. --Nemo 13:53, 25 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Recordings?

What is the status of recordings of the conferences? Sohmc (talk) 19:12, 15 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]