The Wikimedians Grand Tour
Speakers
Still in my late 60's - German - somewhat of a Third Culture Kid having spent my early teenage years in India and Singapore
American High School Diploma - German Abitur
Served for 15 month in well regulated militia
Studied General Economics at University of Tübingen and SUNY Stony Brook.
Diplom Volkswirt
Worked at different leading levels at various companies in the commercial cooking and dish-washing manufacturing sector
Active in the Wikiverse for over 20 years
German Language Wikipedia, Commons, brief interlude with German Wikisource, Wikidata, first steps in Wikivoyage
Participator and Organizer at differing times in Wiki loves (Monuments/Earth/Folklore)
Active in the German GLAM community. Organized or co-organized some GLAM on Tour Projects. Kulturbotschafter. Member of the Museumsverband NRW
Participated in Wikimanias at London, Esino Lario, Montreal, Cape Town, Stockholm, Singapore
Abstract
As a global Movement many Wikimedians travel the world to meet-up like this Wikimania. In terms of the [[w:Ecological footprint|Ecological footprint]] left behind\, that is somewhat questionable.
In the sense that we are all knowledge seekers we miss a great opportunity if we just fly into places, meet at universally generic conference centers and fly back home without having had the chance to learn about the culture of the place we visited.
In the time of the first Encyclopedist the [[w:Grand tour|Grand tour]] was the way for the cultural elite to broaden their horizon.
Less elitist we as Wikimedians should explore how we as volunteers can set up a network of people, who according to their personal means can either accommodate visiting Wikimedians, act as tour guides, or help in other ways, so that conference like this can have an impact beyond the walls of the conference center.
Additional information
I agree
Freedom: to meet and exchange ideas, to gather knowledge about other cultures and broaden ones horizon. Equity: The ability to extend a Wikimedia travel supported by scholarship bound by a specific purpose should depend on the privileges of personal background. Reliability/Sustainability: As Wikimedians we don't just travel for fun. The impressions we gather we share with our home communities. Pictures we take will be part of Commons,etc.
A lot of us who have attended international Wikimedia gatherings, have built private friendships and have accommodated these friends at their home, or just organized tours around such events. Could we find a way to institutionalize this in an open format to decouple it from events, or up-front to events concentrate such efforts, so people from different continents have easier, and safer contacts locally to lower the barriers and fears of plunging into new cultures. Could we even convince WMF, or chapters like Wikimedia Deutschland that some kind of support of such efforts is within their scope?
All you need is a universal landing-page, that can than be regionalized down to the narrowest local level depending on the volunteers that could be mobilized. Blog-like reports from participants will help publicize the format. If there is some monetary support involved, that can be made mandatory. It could also be institutionalized at a local level, for specific sub-communities. So top-down, or bottom-up organization should be easily possible
Everyone can participate in this session
Onsite in Paris