Talk:Wikipedia Science Conference

Unconference

I notice that the description of the unconference currently says

A block of the conference will be left unplanned so that attendees can divide into groups and run short sessions on what they are interested in. Could we have a noticeboard where people post "I want to tell people about..." and "I want to learn about..."?

Yes. This is basically how I ran the unconference that I led. We a board an post-it notes. Part of the board had specific rooms listed on it, so we could schedule what happened when. Part of the board was for "sessions without a leader". If you want a session on something, but don't feel comfortable leading it, you can stick post-its in there and if someone sees it and can wants to lead it they can grab it and move it into the scheduling area. As facilitator, I also tried to find appropriate people to lead sessions that had been requested.

Yaris678 (talk) 11:56, 14 September 2014 (BST)

I have experience of running unconferences, with pitching for sessions at the start; happy to expand on this, or assist at the event. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 14:49, 15 September 2014 (BST)

You both have way more experience of this than I so it will be great to have you involved, and don't be surprised if I leave the organisation of that block to you. ;) We will have access to decent breakout rooms as well as a main conference space. MartinPoulter (talk) 21:47, 15 September 2014 (BST)

Topics and other comments

I think this idea is really interesting, but I'm somewhat concerned about the topics/focus of the conference. If we're going to call the conference a 'Wikipedia Science Conference', then I'd really like to see it focus on increasing scientific knowledge via the Wikimedia projects, if that is possible, rather than just covering science outreach / metadata / helping scientists find funding. Those other topics are very important, though, so perhaps there could be different threads/parallel sessions covering the different topics here? Or if that isn't the purpose of this conference, it might be better to rename it?

There seems to be a misunderstanding here. Where have you got the impression that the proposed conference is "just covering science outreach / metadata / helping scientists find funding"? How is "increasing scientific knowledge via the Wikimedia projects" not covered in the themes? MartinPoulter (talk) 21:59, 15 September 2014 (BST)

If you want to escape London, then I would be willing to look into finding a venue in Manchester.

Thanks, but why escape London? What scholarly societies are based outside London? As I've said, I advocate for geographical diversity but have to acknowledge that the highest concentration of the target audience will be London. MartinPoulter (talk) 21:59, 15 September 2014 (BST)

I'm never keen on 'invited speakers', particularly within the Wikimedia ecosphere - it would be much better and fitting to have a single approach for proposed sessions that's open to all, and then choosing proposals that best fit the purpose of the conference, rather than having a bypass route that's only available for a few people (particularly if inviting speakers means that "there will not be much time available" for proposed talks, as that can be both off-putting and kinda insulting to people that haven't been invited).

I don't understand what the force of the objection is. The invited speaker/ submitted session format works for EduWiki, and since part of the idea is to build relationships, inviting speakers who might not think of themselves as "within the Wikimedia ecosphere" is one way to do that. Who are these people who are insulted by not given the honour of being an invited speaker at a conference? MartinPoulter (talk) 21:59, 15 September 2014 (BST)

Date-wise, sometime in the summer break (July/August) would probably work best for researchers that also teach. September can be busy with new students (e.g., it's fresher week this week in Manchester), and Easter can be filled with preparation for exams / other conferences.

Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 21:05, 15 September 2014 (BST)

This last point is useful feedback. I of course won't go for July/early August because so many people are on holiday or unavailable, but I understand the problem with Easter. Thanks, MartinPoulter (talk) 21:59, 15 September 2014 (BST)