Wikimania 2009/Bids/Bogotá

Wikimania 2009 official bids:
Brisbane - Buenos Aires - Karlsruhe - Toronto
Questions and Answers:
Brisbane | Buenos Aires | Karlsruhe | Toronto

Country	Colombia
City	Bogotá
Proposed dates	July 17 to July 20
Contact	Wikimedia Colombia Carlos Thompson
Venue	to be defined

Bogotá, also called the Athens of South America characterized by its university and cultural life, is the capital city of Colombia.

Attractions in the city include the Simón Bolívar Metropolitan Park, bigger than Central Park in NYC; Monserrate hill, with a sighting of the Down Town; Barrio La Candelaria: the historical Down Town with the sees of the National and Distrital government; Centro Internacional: the financial downtown that includes Colombia's tallest building (and one of the top-5 in Latin America); the abovementioned colleges and museums, from which we can single out the Gold Museum and the National University; and plenty of places for the party.

There are many options to hold the event, most of them close to hotels ranging from cheap accommodation to five-star hotels. Any of them is less than USD 10.=, or 90 minutes cab ride from El Dorado International Airport (some are much closer).

Bogotá is covered by a WiMAX network, and most sites would provide WiFi facilities as well. Broadband conections might be expensive but this shouldn't be an issue. Most top hotels also provide wireless internet, but this might not be the same for cheeper ones. There are, however, many free WiFi hotspots, as well as Internet Cafes.

The local chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation is being consolidated, and will provide the logistics liason to the event. Several wikimedians do live in Bogotá.

Conference Venue

The conference venue is yet to be defined, but Bogotá offers plenty of scenarios all over the city, from Universities, Hotels, and specialized Venue Centers. Many of them have a complete portfolio of multimedia aids and internet connections including WiFi.

An incomplete list of possible venues include:

Venue	Description	Halls	Technical facilities	Accommodation
Centro de Convenciones "Gonzalo Jiménez de Quezada"
Centro de Convenciones de Corferias
Centro de Convenciones Compensar

Transport and accomodation

Accommodation

• Accommodation: most probably off site.

  The most probable conference venues have plenty of hotels nearby including cheap accomodation and five star hotels.

  Some hotels offer internet access, including WiFi. This is less probable in the cheaper hotels.

Party opportunities

Wikimania traditionally hosts two parties, one for attendees (capacity of 250-350) and one for sponsors and VIPs (capacity 40-60).

• Party: Official parties to be defined.

  Bogotá has a good variety of bars and clubs.

Travel and transportation

• Airport: El Dorado International Airport

  This airport is adjacent to the city and is covered by metropolitan transport system. Taxi fares to hotels and the conference venue will range from USD 5 to USD 10 according to location of hotel and conferences.

  El Dorado has direct connections to many South-American, North-American and European cities, including Mexico, Dallas, Atlanta, New York, Montreal, Miami, London, Paris, Madrid, Caracas, Quito, Lima, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Santiago.

• Transport inside the city: Taxi, bus, and bus rapid transit system.

  It is advised to take taxi services provided by the hotel or the airport.

Logistics and support

Local sponsorship opportunities

Possibility of local sponsorships

• Contacts

Local team

The local chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation is being consolidated, and will provide the logistics liason to the event. Several wikimedians do live in Bogotá.

Volunteer	projects
Carlos Thompson	eswiki

Miscellaneous

Anything you feel should be brought to the attention of the jury.

Self-evaluation

• Weaknesses of the proposed location ...and how to overcome those weaknesses

1. Crime rates might be an issue.

   Look at the comments bellow.

• Strengths of the proposed location

1. While in South America, Bogotá has good connections with North America and Europe.

Concerns

Human Rights

Colombia is referred in several lists of Human Rights concerns such as Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch. The main concerns are assassinations of opposition leaders, union leaders, and journalists. However:

1. There is not any official policy that promotes or suggest that this is a state policy. All these human rights violations are punishable under Colombian law.
2. Reported violations have decreased.

Crime and Armed Conflict

Bogotá has been mostly spared by the armed conflict caused by left-wing guerrillas, or right-wing paramilitaries. Currently most places around Bogotá are quite safe for tourism.

Crime is an issue, and some times a largely advertised issue in Bogotá. However statistics show that there should not be more security concerns than in most big cities.