Location Discussion

From the participants, three main geographical areas seem feasible:

• US West Coast
• US East Coast
• Europe

• Easy to co-locate with OOPSLA 2006 (will be in Portland, OR)
• Difficult/expensive to reach for Europeans
• Since RecentChangesCamp will be in Portland it feels like location/region oversaturation

• Easier to reach from Europe, easy to reach from US West Coast, worst for Japanese
• Some good places, but no conference known yet to co-locate with
• (Co-location with Wikimania seems not to be an option)
• Since Wikimania will be in Boston it feels like location/region oversaturation

• Easy to reach from US East Coast, difficult for the West Coast
• Can be cheap for participants (at least some attractive places are)
• Will demonstrate our international nature, will get Europeans involved
• European Wikipedians who can't attend Wikimania 2006 will find an outlet
• (Wikimania 2006 will be in Boston and too expensive for many Europeans)
• "70 per cent of the world's open source developers are based in Europe" http://www.pingwales.co.uk/2005/10/31/FLOSS-Lisbon.html

Discussion

I think it would be nice to have it in Europe. I had been afraid that WikiMania would become "the de-facto European wiki conference" and that we would become "the de-facto American wiki conference". If WikiMania and WikiSym both switch continents every year then that is avoided.

Unfortunately, I probably will not be able to attend next year if it's in Europe. But I still think it's the best thing to do.

Bayle Shanks

+1 on doing it in Europe in 2006, alternating with WikiMania, especially if Dirk promises to show me where to get that awesome Berlin chocolate. Eugene Eric Kim

I also love the idea of Europe. Not sure I can commit to getting there. If I do, I'll be co-convening a WikiTrainOpenSpace to get there from somewhere else in Europe. TedErnst

I think the switch back and forth between continents every year makes good sense. At the same time, I'm sad to miss a great opportunity to have it in my hometown and the birthplace of the original wiki (Portland) co-located with OOPSLA. I'll attend WikiSym in either place and will be co-convening a WikiTrainOpenSpace if it is in Europe. BrandonCsSanders

I'll talk up wiki on my upcoming trip through South Asia - maybe WikiSym 2008 could be in Sri Lanka! --John Abbe

+1 on Europe. Aside from anything else, it increases the chances of people going who have, um, issues with being treated like a criminal on arrival into the US.

Also there's the matter of cost - I'd've loved to've come to WikiSym this time round but I couldn't've justified it for work, and on a personal basis I don't think I'd've been able to justify it. (That wasn't an issue in the end, I was speaking at EuroOSCON when WikiSym2005 was happening anyway :-)

I added the pro comment for europe regarding 70% of open source developers. For me that's a compelling reason to have something in Europe. The cost reason is a good compelling reason for wikimania to happen in the US next year (something I was pleased to hear about). MichaelSparks