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Wikimania 2015 bids/Esino Lario

< Wikimania 2015 bids

In 2013 Esino Lario started preparing its bid to host Wikimania in 2016. This is the first proposal presented, why we applied in 2014 for 2016 and the project history. Please find the new project description in Wikimania 2016 bids/Esino Lario.

Vision

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In ten years of history, Wikimania has always been hosted in major cities: Frankfurt, Boston, Taipei, Alexandria in Egypt, Buenos Aires, Gdansk, Haifa, Washington DC and Hong Kong. From a 380-person meeting hosted at the Frankfurt youth hostel in 2005, the 2014 event is now planned for 4,000 people in London. But what is Wikimania becoming? Who is it for? Is reaching the maximum number of people our goal? Will this goal be sustainable in all potential countries hosting the annual international gathering of Wikimedia?

Since we are already here we might as well get some work done

Wikimania Esino Lario brings Wikimania outdoors. It challenges the format of Wikimania and proposes a site-specific event for our community: a gathering in a small mountain village over Lake Como to encourage intensive interaction. Different from the dispersive nature of a city, Esino Lario offers our community the opportunity to intensify its exchanges and focus. Wikimania Esino Lario is a chance to experience a new way to gather and work together. Wikimania Esino Lario is structured so as to leave a legacy: a territorial development which produces permanent Internet wifi distribution in Esino Lario, increased accessibility to the local Sports Hall and the establishment of collaborative space.

Executive project

The organization of Wikimania Esino Lario presents a peculiar complexity. Esino Lario is a mountain village with 780 inhabitants, located 12 km above Lake Como and 100 km from Milan in the Province of Lecco in Lombardy Region. The village is not a typical conference site. The proposal we present is an executive project designed for 1’000 participants and structured in 4 working areas: location, program, participants and organization.

2016

We are applying now to organize Wikimania Esino Lario in 2016. We are aware that this is an unusual request, but we trust that providing two years to organize Wikimania can be a beneficial change for all Wikimanias and in Esino Lario it specifically allows us to manage and reduce risks. In case our proposal is considered relevant and valuable, we ask until December 2014 to fundraise and confirm our financial obligations.

Location

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View of Lake Como
 
Core housing of Esino Lario. Its accommodation capacity goes far beyond its 780 inhabitants.

Esino Lario is a mountain village just above Lake Como, a renowned Italian tourist destination. Immersed in the Grigna mountains, the municipality of Esino Lario has around 780 inhabitants but its accommodation capacity goes far beyond this number.

Geography

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Climate
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Esino Lario, like most of the Valsassina, features a humid temperate climate, cooler than in the Po Valley due to the higher elevations. In Barzio, the nearest weather station (elevation 770 m/2,500 ft.)[1], mean annual temperature is around 10°C/50°F (compare, for example, with around 13°C/55°F in Milan). Precipitations are abundant, with more than 1,700 mm (55 inches) falling in an average year. Rainfall are frequent in every season, with a little minimum in winter when there can be snowfall.[2] As in most of temperate climates, there are prolonged and well-defined intermediate seasons.

Summers are moderate, with frequent rain showers and thunderstorms. Mean summer temperature is around 19°C (66°F), higher in July and August, and slightly lower in June; even during the most intense heat waves, anyway, maximum temperatures very rarely exceed 32°C (90°F). Winters are quite mild; the average temperature for December, January and February is around 1-2°C (34-35°F), more or less the same temperature recorded in the Po Valley at much lower elevations. This is due to the phenomenon of the inversion (a deviation from the normal atmospheric behavior, where temperature increases with elevation) frequently observed in midwinter when subtropical high-pressure systems reach northern Italy. Anyway, winters can become snowy, as extratropical cyclones carry moist and cool air from North Atlantic.

Averages Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Max. temp. (°C/°F) 14.7 / 58.5 4.9 / 40.8 6.1 / 43.0 10.4 / 50.7 14.3 / 57.7 18.9 / 66.0 23.4 / 74.1 25.4 / 77.7 24.7 / 76.5 19.8 / 67.6 14.5 / 58.1 9.3 / 48.7 4.9 / 40.8
Av. temp. (°C/°F) 10.3 / 50.5 1.3 / 34.3 2.0 / 35.6 5.8 / 42.4 9.7 / 49.5 13.8 / 56.8 18.2 / 64.8 19.9 / 67.8 19.5 / 67.1 15.2 / 59.4 10.5 / 50.9 5.8 / 42.4 1.6 / 34.9
Min. temp. (°C/°F) 5.9 / 42.6 -2.3 / 27.9 -2.0 / 28.4 1.3 / 34.3 5.2 / 41.4 8.7 / 47.7 13.1 / 55.6 14.4 / 57.9 14.2 / 57.6 10.6 / 51.1 6.5 / 43.7 2.4 / 36.3 -1.7 / 28.9
Precipit. (mm/inches) 1,761 / 57.78 68 / 2.23 67 / 2.20 82 / 2.69 166 / 5.45 226 / 7.41 139 / 4.56 189 / 6.20 161 / 5.28 160 / 5.25 159 / 5.22 244 / 8.01 100 / 3.28
Source: MeteoBarzio. Years 2001-2013.

Culture

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Esino Lario has been a tourist resort and a famous natural site since late 19th century and had its real estate boom in the Sixties. It has been and it is still the point of departure of scientific expeditions to study fossils, karst and other geological and paleontological phenomena; Moncodeno has over 600 caves in less then 2 km² area, the Ghiacciaia of Moncodeno (an underground glacier) was already documented by Leonardo Da Vinci; the famous thesis of Abate Stoppani was on Esino Lario fossils and most of the collection of fossils of the Museum of natural history of Milan comes from Esino. Esino Lario is the only municipality entirely located in the Grigna Park (Parco Regionale della Grigna Settentrionale.

Esino Lario has been site of archeological finds; some of those finds are preserved by Esino Lario museum (Museo delle Grigne) together with fossils, minerals, an ethno-anthropolocial collection, a collection of Italian butterflies and a specialistic collection of Chrysomelidae (leaf beetles) of the Grigna territory.

 
The 6-meters theremin which was activated by a falcon in the performance of Invernomuto with bike and motocross Italian champions.
 
A document of the Pietro Pensa Archive; Fondo Serbelloni Sfondrati, currently Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center. Photo courtesy Rockefeller Foundation, cc by-sa.

In 2007 the Pietro Pensa archive have been located in Villa Clotilde. With the archive, the villa has become the cultural centre of Esino, hosting the tourist office, the local library, part of the museum collection and a series of contemporary artworks commissioned, produced and owned by Esino Lario. The commission of contemporary artworks has invited artists to interpret archival materials with different creative languages. One of the most astonishing productions is a performance (documented in a video) of Invernomuto, who recreated folk and the sound of a legendary bird by organizing an event with Alpini, bike and motocross Italian champions, a video and a 6-meter theremin activated by a falcon. Esino Lario also owns a 6-meter theremin.

The use of open licenses and contribution to the Wikimedia projects
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Since 2006 open licenses have been used on documentation related to Esino Lario. The Pietro Pensa archive has been largely digitalized and all the images in high resolution have been uploaded on Wikimedia Commons. In 2009 the archive has received Wikimedia Italia prize for open knowledge. The Association Amici del Museo delle Grigne and the Ecomuseo delle Grigne have adopted the Creative Commons attribution share-alike license as their default license. The institutions have created specific contracts for their collaborators and a procedure to use the cc-by-sa licenses on their printed publications with the support of Creative Commons Italy. The experience of Esino Lario has been the starting point of the project Share Your Knowledge: Creative Commons and Wikipedia for Cultural Institutions.

A relevant historical custom of Esino Lario is the forest management built around the commons. The way traditional forest management recalls contemporary online Wikimedia collaborative dynamics is quite impressive. The forest belongs to the community but each member of the community manages and "owns" their own land independently (men and widowed women have the same rights); in general there are many conflicts related to borders, but whenever there is a common enemy (fire, external enemy, natural disaster...) the community gets together and really collaborates. This same approach to responding to common needs and interests is at the core of the local volunteer activism and the wide number of local associations and groups.

Venue

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The territory of Esino Lario in a map designed by Matteo Ghidoni, Salottobuono.

The venue of the conference is the territory of Esino Lario. The conference and meetups spaces are all located in the core housing area of the municipality within walking distance from each other. The majority of the accommodation is located in the same area and it allows Wikimania participates to enjoy proximity and walking distance from the accommodation to the conference and meetups spaces.

The different kind of spaces used for the Wikimania programme allow a variety of gatherings and discussions. Smaller and lager rooms are available for large session, small groups discussions, formal and informal meetups, exhibition and posters, training and workshops, working spaces and hack sessions. The use of open space, parks, green areas, streets closed to the traffic and squares contribute to the extension of the sessions and to the general atmosphere of the event.

The choice of locating Wikimania within a small natural location uses and potentiates existing spaces, it involves local institutions and operators in contributing to the conference organization, and it sets the collaborative style of the event.

Description of the venues

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Image Venue Use
  Villa Clotilde Office, registration and help desk.
  Multimedia room - New museum Presentations.
  Primary school
  • Large discussions (using the entire space)
  • Meetings (sing the small rooms)
  • Exhibition of posters.
  • One room can be used for servers and storage space for the technical equipment.
  Sport hall and multifunctional space Presentations.
  Theatre of the kindergarten Presentations.
  Former museum - Collaborative space Collaborative space meant especially for developers but open to all also at night.
  Ex-Albergo Italia Presentations
  Montecodeno Training.
  Meeting Training.
  Ex-Albergo Grigna Storage and backup.
Ex-Fioravanti Storage and backup.
  Former cinema - Hall Possible location for the conference not included in the proposal.
  Tensile structure (località Ronchei) Meetups.
  Bar Restaurant 58 Meetups.
  Bar La Sosta Meetups.
  Bar Ristorante Centrale Meetups.
  Ristorante albergo La Montanina Meetups.
  Bar Oasi Meetups.
  Ortanella Meetups, thematic dinners, excursions.
  Cainallo Meetups, thematic dinners, excursions.
  Villa Monastero in Varenna Wikimedia Foundation Board meetings and other internal or private meetings.

We are still defining the most suitable location for servers and technical materials. We would like to designate a permanent space, owned by the Esino Lario City Council; the space need to be accessible during the conference (external door or no problem related to privacy/authorizations).

Booking
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The Esino Lario city council is the major stakeholder of the venues and it has already expressed its support to the event. The other owners have already been approached; we have the confirmation for Meeting, Montecodeno and Ex-Albergo Italia. We have approached and involved one of the primary school teacher who supports the event and in case of confirmation of the event we will make an official request to the Istituto Comprensivo Bellano (which manages the building) to book and confirm the use (we do not expect specific problems; there are normally no problems in using the building of the Primary School for activities and the event will take place not during the school year[3]).

Furniture
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We have included in the renting of the textile structure also extra chairs that can be used to provide all venues with the necessary furniture.

Cleaning and toilets
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We plan to organize the cleaning of the venues and of the surrounding areas during the event. In the budget we have also included the installation of chemical toilets (and their specific cleaning) in case it happened to be necessary.

Expense Number Days Cost/Unit Total costs in euro Total costs in dollars
Cleaning service 4 7 € 200 € 5.600,00
Chemical toilets 4 7 € 610 € 610,00
Cleaning of the chemical toilets 4 € 336 € 1.344,00
Total amount planned in the estimated costs € 7.554,00
Currency € 1,00

Crowd management for the venue

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Venue People size m2 size square feet Large lecture hall or Auditorium. more than 1'000 people Rooms connected with streaming for keynotes 8-10 meeting rooms for 25-150 people 6-8 meeting rooms for 10-25 people Collaborative space meeting room hackaton for 200 people Area for lounge gathering more than 200 people Capacity conference spaces Foyers and lounge for lunch Space for people at the registration desk Storage space Toilets Location Owner Manager
Villa Clotilde - ground floor room1 15 19,74 212 15 1 Centre, garden area Esino city council Esino city council
Villa Clotilde - ground floor room2 19 25 269 19 Centre, garden area Esino city council Esino city council
Villa Clotilde ground floor entrance 12 16,45 176 12 Centre, garden area Esino city council Tourist office
Villa Clotilde - first floor room1 17 19,74 212 17 1 Centre, garden area Esino city council Ecomuseo delle Grigne
Villa Clotilde - first floor room 2 17 19,74 212 17 Centre, garden area Esino city council Ecomuseo delle Grigne
Villa Clotilde - Second floor - room attic 8 16,45 176 1 1 Centre, garden area Esino city council Esino city council
Multimedia room - New museum 38 38 38 38 2 Centre, garden area Esino city council Amici del museo
Primary school - hall 70 84 904 70 70 1 70 2 Centre, garden area Esino city council School district
Primary school - room 1 (larger) 35 42 452 35 35 Centre, garden area Esino city council School district
Primary school - room 2 with digital whiteboard - ground floor 20 36 258 20 20 Centre, garden area Esino city council School district
Primary school - room 3 20 36 387 20 20 Centre, garden area Esino city council School district
Primary school - room 4 20 36 387 20 20 Centre, garden area Esino city council School district
Primary school - room 5 20 36 387 20 20 Centre, garden area Esino city council School district
Primary school - room 6 20 36 387 20 20 Centre, garden area Esino city council School district
Theatre of the kindergarden 78 128 1377 78 78 78 Centre, garden area Non profit association Non profit association
Albergo ex-Italia 40 48 516 40 40 1 Centre, garden area Private Private
Sport hall and multifunctional space 500 700 7534 500 500 1 500 2 Centre, church area Esino city council Polisportiva
Former museum 35 35 35 1 Centre, square area Esino city council Associations
Former museum - room 20 15 20 Centre, square area Esino city council Associations
Montecodeno 30 30 30 Centre, square area Private Private
Meeting 30 30 30 Centre, square area Non profit association COE Non profit association COE
Tensile structure 500 500 500 500 Centre, square area Rented Pro Loco
Bar La Ruota 50 50 1 Centre, garden area Private Private
Bar La Sosta 50 50 1 Centre, church area downhill. Private Private
Bar Oasi 120 120 120 1 Centre, square area and downhill church area. v Private
Ristorante albergo La Montanina 150 150 150 1 Centre, square area Private Private
Ristorante albergo Rosa Delle Alpi 50 50 1 Centre, square area Private Private
Ex-Fioravanti 1 Centre, square area and downhill church area. Private Private
Albergo Grigna 40 40 1 Centrale Private Private
Bar Ristorante Centrale 150 150 150 1 Centre, garden area uphill. Private Private
Outdoor screen Esino city council Esino city council
Ortanella outdoor 4.000 1 Ortanella Esino city council Esino city council
Cainallo outdoor 4.000 1 Cainallo Esino city council Esino city council
Total 2 1.606 10 6 2 2 1 1.017 7 46 4 16

Technical

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The technical working team is chaired by Simone Sala – an expert in ICT for development with experience in connectivity in remote areas – and it involves other members with specific skills and expertise (biographies of the team).

Connectivity

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Optical fiber reaches Esino Lario, but it is only distributed using ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) over existing local telephone network wires. In order to properly serve the conference with connectivity as per required by Wikimedia in the Wikimania Handbook, an ad hoc network has been designed. Such a network responds to Wikimedia core values (e.g. openness, freedom, neutrality). The network will furthermore partly represent the legacy to Esino Lario from Wikimania, thus providing a sustainable telecommunication infrastructure for the people living in the village.

First of all, the direct access to optical fiber reaching Esino Lario has been negotiated with the Internet Service Provider serving Esino Lario. This backhaul link will provide Internet access to be shared via an open, free and neutral wireless mesh network. Such serverless network will provide Internet service on the whole territory of Esino Lario during (and after) the event. Furthermore, single wired/wireless (up to 1Gb) point-to-point links have been designed to ensure high quality Internet service in the various venues where the main Wikimania events will be held. This will prevent contention/congestion issues during heavy user demand.


Video uploads
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Presentations are video recorded during the event. Workshops and discussions are documented with photos and short interviews with participants. Uploads will not be managed in Esino Lario during the event to avoid overcharging the network. The uploads are managed outside Esino Lario by renting space in a data center.

Device Function Unit cost No. of units Total in euro Total in dollars Additional notes
RJ45 Cable (optimized for outdoor use) Distribute Internet connection via wired cables € 50 / 100m 20 € 1.000,00
Cable channel Channels to isolate wired cables from outdoor € 0.6 / 1m 2000 € 1.200,00
Ramped cable protector Protect ethernet cables temporarily installed on public roads 60 30 € 1.800,00
Cable connector Allow linking cables to cover distances > 100m 0,7 30 € 21,00
Direct access to Internet backhaul (via optical fiber) Provision of direct access to Internet for the duration of the event € 4500 (estimate) 1 € 4.500,00 Estimated cost
UPS Provision of power backup in case of blackout for key devices 250 4 € 1.000,00
Server Small server for local operations (e.g. registration, network backup 2000 € 2.000,00 We can also not use it but we prefer to include it in the budget
Wireless mesh radios Nodes of the mesh network 100 30 € 3.000,00
Point to point 1Gb link among hotspots Provision of high bandwith link among the main venues of the event € 2'000 6 € 12.000,00 Links which are redundant with the cable links. Among those, 3 can be used from the main hub to the sport hall, collaborative space and former cinema; 2 can bue used to link Villa Rogo and the industrial area of Bigallo. It is also possible to not use cables for safety reasons (the cost is 2'000 euro per link, with a 10 km range).
Wireless Router (Wireless) Distribution of Internet service across computer networks 200 22 € 4.400,00 Included 6 for the sport hall, 4 for the collaborative space, 3 for the other venues (primary school, museum, city hall and former cinema).
Switch (24 port), unmanaged Connection of devices together on a computer network 100 18 € 1.800,00 Included 3 for the venue
Data center hosting rental Rental of space in a data center (e.g. Moresi) to facilitate the upload of video shot at Wikimania € 4.000,00 Estimated cost not based on pre-invoice
Total € 36.721,00
Contingencies € 3.279,00
Total amount planned in the estimated costs € 40.000,00
Currency € 1,00

Electricity

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Esino Lario is connected by two electricity lines (one from Varenna, the other from Valsassina). There are 3 transformation cabins within the village. In case a transformer burns (an unlikely situation), it takes 4-5 hours to substitute it. The buildings used for the conference have electricity but not necessary receive the power needed need during the event, as most electrical supply per building can distribute up to 3 KW. To prepare for Wikimania:

  • we are already in contact with the regional manager of Enel Distribuzione Spa, the company managing electricity distribution in Esino Lario and in the region. We have informed him about the event, he has provided information about the current situation and he is supporting us in planning the necessary steps to upgrade the system for the event.
  • Electricity distribution systems will be upgraded in a selection of buildings according to their use during Wikimania.
  • An UPS (Uninterruptible power supply) system can be rented to provide electricity for the servers and/or for the main site (in case of a big storm). As an alternative, servers and the main sites can be connected to two different electricity lines for ensuring full service continuity. Such a decision will be planned jointly with the regional manager of Enel Distribuzione Spa (according to a cost/benefit analysis).
Upgrade Cost kw w Units Total w kw (per hour) Hours kw for day Total cost per day Days Total cost conference (7 days) in euro Total cost conference (7 days) in dollars
Upgrade to 100 kw € 800,00 100 kw 2 € 1.600,00
Upgrade to 50 kw € 500,00 50 kw 4 € 2.000,00
Upgrade to 20 kw € 180,00 20 kw 1 € 180,00
The upgrade includes fixed costs and electricity Total cost upgrade € 3.780,00
It includes an amount of electricity
Fixed cost for each upgrade € 150,00 7 € 1.050,00
Estimated consume and cost for computers € 0,30 per kw 50 2000 100000 100 10 1000 € 300 7 € 2.100,00
Consume for the tensile structure 150 5 750 € 225 3 € 675,00
Total expected expenditures € 3.825,00
Total amount planned in the estimated costs € 4.000,00
Currency € 1,00

Equipment

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All rooms used for presentations will be equipped with LCD Projector, screen, microphones, power sockets/strips for the expected number of people and all room will of course equipped with large sheets, pens and paper. The theatre of the kindergarten is already equipped (projector, screen, stage, microphone), and the Associazione Amici del Museo delle Grigne will provide 4 projectors for free. A temporary equipment will be installed in the sport hall (projector, screen, audio, power sockets/strips) and we planned to equip also the tensile structure. Smaller rooms (up to 35) will not be equipped with a projector but we will not install the audio system. The collaborative space (former museum) will be equipped with a working space for developers. Venues do not have air conditioning since the around 900 m altitude never required it during the summer.

Expense Number Days Cost/Unit Total in euro Total in dollars
Rented equipment (projector, audio, screen) - Tensile structure and sport hall 2 5 € 2.500,00 € 5.000,00
Stationery, computer rentals, printer, electronics & others 8 € 4.000
Already available projectors 4
Already available audio system 1
Already equipped Theatre Kindergarten (projector, audio, screen) 1
Permanent equipment (projector, audio, screen) - Primary school and multimedia room of the new museum 2 € 3.600,00 € 7.200,00
Total amount planned in the estimated costs € 16.200,00
Currency € 1,00

Journey

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The major city near Esino Lario is Milan, and Esino Lario is served by Malpensa airport - the main Italian international airport - Milano Linate and Milano-Bergamo Orio al Serio, two relevant airport for Italian and European low cost flights. Esino Lario is located 12 km (800 m in altitude) above Varenna. To reach Esino Lario there are two provincial streets: one from Varenna and one from Bellano-Parlasco (Strada della Valsassina). The transport necessities of Wikimania Esino Lario are met by increasing transport between Varenna and Esino Lario and by organizing direct buses from the airports in the main days of arrivals and departures.

Travelling to Esino Lario

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By airplane
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Esino Lario and Lake Como from the airplane.
 
Menaggio on the right side and Varenna with Esino Lario above on the left side.
 
 
The peninsula of Bellagio.
 
Lake Como from Agueglio in Esino Lario.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Air-travel costs (estimated)
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The fare is referenced with a departure date in 20 June 2014 from the origin airport, with a return trip leaving Esino Lario on the 30 June 2014 (round trip ticket).

Europe
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Europe
From Airline Airport Price (USD) Flight Time Stops Notes
  Zurich Swiss Airport 1hr 0
  Frankfurt Alitalia Airport 1hr15 0
  Paris (BVA) Ryanair Airport 1hr20 0
  Vienna Niki Airport 1hr20 0
  Prague Czech Airline Airport 1hr25 0
  Brussels (CRL) Ryanair Airport 1hr30 0
  Budapest Ryanair Airport 1hr30 0
  Paris (CDG) Easyjet Airport 1hr30 0
  Amsterdam Easyjet Airport 1hr40 0
  Berlin Easyjet Airport 1hr45 0
  Belgrade Easyjet Airport 1hr45 0
  Copenhagen Easyjet Airport 2hr 0
  London (STN) Ryanair Airport 2hr 0
  London (LGW) Easyjet Airport 2hr 0
  Barcelona Ryanair Airport 2hr 0
  Sofia Bulgaria Air Airport 2hr 0
  Warsaw Ryanair Airport 2hr10 0
  Bucarest Blue Air Airport 2hr15 0
  Madrid Ryanair Airport 2hr20 0
  Athens Ryanair Airport 2hr25 0
  Dublin Ryanair Airport 2hr30 0
  Lisbon Easyjet Airport 2hr30 0
  Stockholm Ryanair Airport 2hr50 0
  Moscow (SVO) Alitalia Airport 3hr45 0
  Skopje JAT Airport 4hr 1 via Belgrade
  Helsinki Finnair (AY)
KLM		 Airport
3hr
7hr		 0
1
via Amsterdam (AMS)
  Tallinn Lufthansa Airport 4hr45 1 via Frankfurt (FRA)
  Kiev Air France Airport 7hr 1 via Paris
  Moscow (DME) Air Berlin Airport 9hr 1 via Dusseldorf
  Oslo Air Baltic Airport 11hr 1 via Riga
  Tbilisi Alitalia
Ukraine International Airlines		 Airport
7hr
8hr		 1
1		 via Rome
via Kiev
Asia
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Asia-Pacific
From Airline Price (USD) Flight Time Stops Notes
  Tokyo (Narita) Air China (CA) 17hr 1 via Beijing (PEK)
  Dubai Pegasus Airlines
Emirates(EK)
12hr
7hr		 1
0
via Istanbul(SAW)
  Singapore Swiss
Singapore (SQ)
15hr
12hr		 1
0
via Zurigo(ZRH)
  Seoul (Incheon) Aeroflot 17hr 1 via Moscow(SVO)
  Beijing Air China (CA)
Aeroflot
12hr
16hr		 1
via Moscow(SVO)
  Taipei Air China (CA)
KLM
20hr
 1
1
via Placerville (PVG)
via Amsterdam (AMS)
  Kathmandu Turkish Airlines 12hr 1 via Istanbul (SAW)
  Kuala Lumpur Air France 17hr 1 via Paris (CDG)
  Manila Emirates 18hr 1 via Dubai (DXB)
  Jakarta KLM 20hr 1 via Amsterdam (AMS)
  Mumbai (Bombay) Lufthansa 11hr 1 via Munich (MUC)
  Delhi Turkish 11hr 1 via Istanbul(SAW)
  Dhaka Turkish 15hr 1 via Istanbul (SWA)
  Bangkok KLM 14hr 1 via Amsterdam(AMS)
  Doha Turkish
Qatar		 14hr 1 via Istanbul(SAW)
  Jerevan Air France 7hr 1 via Paris (CDG)
  Tel Aviv Meridiana 3hr50 0
  Istanbul Turkish(TK)
Alitalia
2hr30
4hr		 0
1
via Rome (FCO)
  Riyadh Emirates (EK) 12hr50 1 via Dubai
  Amman Egyptair 11hr 1 via Cairo (CAI)
  Auckland Air New Zealand (NZ) 28hr 1 via Hong Kong
  Melbourne Air China 28hr 0 via Placerville
  Vladivostok Alitalia 16hr 1 via Moscow (SVO)
Africa
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Africa
From Airline Airport Price (USD) Flight Time Stops Notes
  Cairo EgyptAir Airport 4hr 0
  Johannesburg KLM Airport 14hr 1 via Amsterdam (AMS)
  Rabat Royal Air Airport 6hr 1 via Casablanca (CMN)
  Casablanca Ryanair Airport $- hr 1
  Fez Ryanair Airport $- hr 1
  Marrakesh Ryanair Airport $- hr 1
  Tangier Ryanair Airport $- hr 1
  Tunis Alitalia Airport 4hr 1 via Rome (FCO)
  Addis Ababa Airport Turkish 13hr 1 via Istanbul(IST)
  Lagos Iberia Airport 11hr 1 via Madrid
  Karthoum EgyptAir Airport 14hr 1 via Cairo (CAI)
Tripoli Tunis Air Airport 5hr40 1 via Tunis (TUN)
  Algiers Alitalia Airport 4hr 1 via Rome (FCO)
  Nairobi Ethiopian Airlines Airport 11hr 1 via Addis Abeba
America
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Americas
From Airline Price (USD) Flight Time Stops Notes
  New York (JFK) Emirates 8hr 0
  New York (Newark) Lufthansa
SAS
8hr25
15hr		 0
via Copenhagen
  Los Angeles Turkish 18hr 1 via Istanbul
  San Francisco Delta 16hr 1 via Atlanta; New York
  Washington Delta/Alitalia 13hr 1 via Atlanta; New York
  Toronto Turkish 17hr 1 via Istanbul
  Montreal Air Canada
Jet Airways India/Brussels Airways
8hr
10hr		 0
1
via Bruxelles
  Mexico City Delta/Alitalia 16hr 1 via Atlanta
  Bogota Iberia 14hr 1 via Madrid
  Caracas Lufthansa 14/26hr 1 via Frankfurt
  São Paulo TAM
Delta
11hr
28hr		 0
1
via Atlanta
  Rio de Janeiro TAM 16hr30 1 via São Paulo
  Santiago LAN 16hr30 1 via São Paulo
  Buenos Aires Air Europa 16hr 1 via Madrid
  Lima LAN 16/30hr 1 via Madrid
  Montevideo TAM 16/23hr 1 via São Paulo
  Asuncion TAM
TAM
15hr
14/21hr		 1
2		 via São Paulo
via São Paulo, Buenos Aires
  Panama Iberia 14/27hr 1 via Madrid

Further information on cheap flights to Milan on flycheapo.com.

From the airport to Esino Lario
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Distance and cost from the airports with regular public transport
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Airport Typology Directions with public transport Time with public transport Price public transport[4] Time by car/direct bus[5]
Milano Malpensa Terminal 1 (MXP) International airport, long distance-European and national flights.
  1. From Milano Malpensa Terminal 2 to Milano Centrale by train (43-52 minutes, every 37 minutes or every hour, 10 €[6]) by bus (50 minutes, buses every 20 minutes, 10€ one-way, 16€ return ticket[7]).
  2. From Milano Centrale to Varenna-Esino by train (1 hour, trains every hour, 6.45€).
  3. From Varenna-Esino to Esino Lario by bus (40 minutes, 2.40€).
 2.5 hours 18.85€ 2h
Milano Malpensa Terminal 2 (MXP) International airport, European and national flights, low cost flights.
  1. From Milano Malpensa Terminal 1 to Milano Centrale by bus (50 minutes, buses every 20 minutes, 10€ one-way, 16€ return ticket[8]).
  2. From Milano Centrale to Varenna-Esino by train (1 hour, trains every hour, 6.45€).
  3. From Varenna-Esino to Esino Lario by bus (40 minutes, 2.40€).
 2.5 hours 18.85€ 2h
Milano Linate (LIN) International airport, mainly European and national flights.
  1. From Milano Linate to Milano Centrale by bus (25 minutes, buses every 30 minutes, 5€ one-way, 9€ two ways ticket).
  2. From Milano Centrale to Varenna-Esino by train (1 hour, trains every hour, 6.45€).
  3. From Varenna-Esino to Esino by bus (40 minutes, 2.40€).
 2 hours 13.85€ 1h30
Milano-Bergamo Orio al Serio (BGY) Mainly low cost flights.
  1. ATB bus form the airport to Bergamo railway station (10 minutes, 2€[9]).
  2. Form Bergamo di Varenna-Esino by train - change in Lecco (Bergamo-Lecco 40 minutes, trains every hour; Lecco-Varenna-Esino, 21 or 37 minutes; trains every hour; total cost of the ticket 5.30€).
  3. From Varenna-Esino to Esino by bus (40 minutes, 2,40€).
 2 hours 9.70€ 1h40
Direct buses from the airports
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During Wikimania Esino Lario a direct bus service between the airports and Esino Lario will be organized. Please note that once you have arrived in Esino Lario everything is within walking distance: differently from big cities in which you need to take public transport to reach your accommodation or the venue, in Esino Lario accommodation and the venues are all there, located in the near surroundings. Direct buses from the airports will take the Valsassina road and carry up to 50 people each.

By train
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The Varanna-Esino railway station. Pietro Pensa Archive.
From Itinerary Time Price Note
Milano
  • Direct trains from Milan (Milano Stazione Centrale) to the station of Varenna-Esino (direction Lecco, Morbegno, Sondrio, Tirano). Trains every 2 hours[10]; h 1:03 ride with regional trains from Milano Stazione Centrale; 6,45 € ticket.
  • Bus from the station of Varenna-Esino to Esino Lario (the bus waits for the train, 2,40 €).
 1h 40 minutes. 8,85 € Milano Stazione Centrale has direct trains from
  • Napoli (Rome, Bologna, Florence)
  • Paris
  • Geneva
  • Zurich
  • Basel
  • ...
Cars or buses
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The construction of the street Strada della Valsassina.

Please note that buses should not exceed 35 seats on the Varenna-Esino road whereas 50-seat buses can take the Valsassina road.

From Directions Km Miles Time[11]
Milano SS36 + Provincial road 62 + Provincial road 65 (Strada della Valsassina) 99 61 1h39
Lecco SS36 + Provincial road 62 + Provincial road 65 (Strada della Valsassina) 43.2 26 51 minutes
Varenna Via per Esino 12,4 7 26 minutes
Lugano
  1. By car+boat. Gandria-SS340-Porlezza-Menaggio (29km, 44 minutes) + boat Menaggio-Varenna (8.60€-14.40€ for car and driver only according to the car size, 15 minutes; buses too can cross the lake by ferry-boat) + Varenna-Esino Lario (12,4km, 26 minutes).
  2. By car. Gandria-SS340-Porlezza-Menaggio-Colico-Varenna-Esino Lario (93,4km, 2h).
  1. By car+boat: 1h10 + boat ride
  2. By car 2h

It is possible to rent cars from Milan and from the airports. Among the main car rental companies AVIS, Europecar, Hertz.

Moving around

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Buses
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From To Time Price
Bellano Esino Lario 2.40€
Varenna Esino Lario 40 minutes 2.10€
Perledo Esino Lario 1.70€

Time of the buses on LT Lecco Trasporti website (SAL Servizi Automobilistici Lecchesi S.r.l. - Linea Bellano-Esino Lario D21; info 800.011.840 / Tel. +39 0341.363148). The timetable of buses is organized to wait for the train to arrive (normally trains from Milan).

More buses
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During Wikimania Esino Lario the bus service between Varenna and Esino Lario will be intensified[12] and we will rent some small 8-people vans for the entire week.

Travel Estimated time for a roundtrip in minutes Estimated roundtrips per day[13] Number of busses Number of people per bus Total displacement of people
Varenna-Esino 100[14] 4 5 35 700
Inside Esino Lario 30[15] 30 4 8 960
Expense Number Days Cost/Unit Total in euro Total in dollars
Buses to intensify the service between Varanna-Esino 5 7 € 450 € 15.750
Minubus 8 places 4 € 400 € 1.600
Total amount planned in the estimated costs € 17.350
Currency € 1,00
Boats
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Arrival of the boats in Varenna.
 
Boat for the transport of people on Lake Como-

From Varenna it is possible to navigate on Lake Como to many destinations, among which Abbadia Lariana, Argegno, Bellagio, Bellano, Careno, Cernobbio, Colico, Como, Gravedona, Isola Comacina, Lecco, Mandello, Menaggio, Piona, Pognana, Torno and Tremezzo. The ferry-boats between Varenna, Menaggio, Bellagio and Cadenabbia allow the transport of both cars and buses. Fast rides are more expensive than regular transport. Boat rides are also a beautiful and cheap way to enjoy sightseeing on Lake Como.

From Time Price
Menaggio* 15 minutes (7 minutes for passengers only - fast transport, more expensive) 4.60€ one-way; 15€ one day. Car+driver: 8.60€-14.40€[16]
Bellagio* 15 minutes 4.60€ one-way; 15€ one day. Car+driver: 8.60€-14.40€[17]

Time and frequency of boats on Lake Como on navigazionelaghi website

Trains
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From Esino Lario the nearest railway station is Varenna-Esino. The railway station is at walking distance from the lake and from the port of Varenna. The building of the railway station is actually located in Perledo and it hosts the Perledo tourist office. There are trains from Milan approximately every hour; direct trains every 2 hours (and every hour at peak hours) leaving from Milan Central Station. The last train from Milan Central Station to Varenna is at 21:20 (arrival at 22:35); the next train is at 6:20 in the morning. The last train from Varenna to Milan Central Station is at 22:21 (arriving at 23:30); the next train is at 5:26 in the morning.

Bicycle
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Varenna–Esino and Esino–Passo Agueglio are very popular cycling destinations. The trip from Varenna (train station) to Esino is 12 km with an average ascent of 5.7 %. Bikes can be carried on trains.

See for more information:

Parking
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Parking needs to be managed during the conference. There will be runners, vans, bus stops, busses and cars to park for visitors and attendees.

  • Runners and vans. Runners and vans will need parking specifically reserved for them.
  • Bus stops. Presumably we will have between 3 and 5 bus stops.
  • Private parking. In particular during the week-end visitors by car can increase (please refer to the hypothesis of number of participants and please refer below for the estimated flows between Varenna and Esino Lario. Some apartments we will use have private parking; parking is also available at Villa Rogo - Pime. There are some parking in the centre of Esino Lario but we will not encourage visitors to use them during the conference; we will rather ask permission to use the industrial area of Bigallo and streets managed by the city council; Cainallo and Ortanella can provide parking but transport inside Esino Lario needs to be managed (15 minutes van ride from and to). We didn't jet explored the possibility of parking cars on streets managed by the Province of Lecco.
  • Busses. If busses remain in Esino Lario they can be parked at night in the industrial area of Bigallo (we need to ask permission).

Crowd management for transport

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Varenna-Esino Lario flows
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Transport between Varenna and Esino Lario can be managed by car, bus and van. A round trip takes approximately approximately 100 minutes (40 minutes to go, 40 minutes to come back and an extra 20 minutes to included). Busses can be rented for the day. This hypothesis does not take into consideration normal flows (below 35 or 70 people) but it focuses on the exceptional peaks of Wikimania Esino Lario.

Varenna-Esino Lario Expected participants Wikimania Takes Lake Como Wikimania Takes Lake Como Wikimania Takes Lake Como Wikimania Takes Lake Como Pre-conference Pre-conference Conference Conference Conference Post-conference Post-conference
Organizers Wikimedia 100 50 50 50 25 25
Organizers Esino Lario 100
Organizers Extra 30 30 30
Organizers from the territory 50 25 50 50
Attendees from Italy 50 5 35 10 40 10
Occasional visitors (conference days) 100
Occasional visitors (conference days) 150 30 100 100
Hotel guests in Varenna 53 53 53 53
Expected travelers by train 29 37 24 36 6
Total extra flow Varenna-Esino Lario 633 114 72 168 203 347 71 31
Number of extra rids (considering no cars) 35 3 2 5 6 10 2 1
Number of extra rides (considering cars) 1 1 2 2 2 1 1

We expect different kind of flows:

  • a flow associated to arrivals and departures (people based in Italy, participants traveling by train or boat - in particular from Wikimania Takes Lake Como and some participants from Lugano)
  • a flow coming from the railway station (in particular people arriving with direct trains from Milan on saturday and sunday)
  • a regular flow of participants who have their accommodation in Varenna or organizers-volnteers based in the area.
Flows from the airports
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Arrivals and departures of international guests Expected participants Wikimania Takes Lake Como Wikimania Takes Lake Como Wikimania Takes Lake Como Wikimania Takes Lake Como Pre-conference Pre-conference Conference Conference Conference Post-conference Post-conference
Wikimedia Chapters (board and staff) 100 50 50 50 25 25
Wikimedia Foundation (board, committee and staff) 100 50 50 50 25 25
Scholarships 250 125 125 63 188
Attendees from abroad (Europe + North America and Oceania). Including journalists. 80 24 56 24 56
Researchers 40 40 20 20
Total 570 249 321 207 314 50
Percentages of provenence Expected participants Wikimania Takes Lake Como Wikimania Takes Lake Como Wikimania Takes Lake Como Wikimania Takes Lake Como Pre-conference Pre-conference Conference Conference Conference Post-conference Post-conference
By train (arrival in Varenna) 11% 26 34 22 33 5
Orio al Serio 11% 26 34 22 33 5
Linate 11% 26 34 22 33 5
Malpensa 68% 170 219 141 213 34
Total 100% 249 321 207 314 50
Number of busses in Orio 50 1 1 1 1 1
Number of busses in Linate 50 1 1 1 1 1
Number of busses in Malpensa 50 3 4 3 4 1
Number of minibus rides (if we use only those) 8 31 40 26 39 6
Info Point Malpensa Malpensa
Info points
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We plan to set an info point at the Varenna-Esino railway station. We still need to arrange it but the Varenna-Esino railway station is a building of the Perledo city council which already hosts the tourist office. According to the hypothesis of flaws it is reasonable to create an info point also at the Airport Malpensa in the two days of main arrivals.

Food

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Food makes an event. Wikimania Esino Lario relies first of all on all local restaurants, bars and food shops. The number of seats available is increased during Wikimania with a tensile structure, a catering service and we are considering the idea of involving street food vendors. This combination allows us to offer the participants varied and interesting culinary experiences. Tommaso Fara will be our food curator, checking and coordinating the menus (biographies of the team).

Cuisine

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The Esino Lario traditional local cuisine is a simple mountain cuisine, based essentially on polenta, potatoes, dairy products, nuts and pork meat, with some specialities such as the ravioli called patole or the simple dessert called "paradell". More broadly the traditional cuisine of Lake Como, Valsassina and Valtellina includes specialities such as fish from the lake (i.e. lavarelli - whitefish, pesce persico - perch) on a white risotto, pizzoccheri and grilled pork (ribs and sausages). The local cuisine is today always mixed with Italian cuisine coming from different regions and which can satisfy also vegetarian (V) and vegan diets (VV) and include meat dishes which do not include pork. We will concentrate on Italian and mountain food for two reasons: because we are in Italy and in the mountain, and because this is the kind of food local providers are more accustomed to preparing.

Meals
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Breakfast will be provided by hotels, restaurants and bars; we are considering the idea of providing apartments with a welcome box which includes our welcome kit, information about the apartment and the basics to have breakfast. Differently from the Italian tradition, lunch will be a lighter meal than dinner; in Italy we would say that it is mainly focussed on the "primo" (what in Italy is the first course); there will mainly be pasta, pasta and rice salads, salads, vegetables, cheese and bread, and of course fresh fruits. Dinner will be on the "secondo" (what in Italy is the second course or main course); there will be mainly traditional cuisine, meat, soups with beans, stuffed vegetables and of course vegetables and bread, and of course a dessert. Pizza will be available in two restaurants and sandwiches in bars. We will discuss with restaurants and the catering about the menus to make sure there is variety.

We are aware that non-Italians get a little tired of pasta after few days (even if it has different shapes and sauces, people just see it as a lot of pasta pasta pasta), so we would like to allow them to taste some specialties – also vegetarian (V) and vegan (VV), which will be selected according to seasonal-local-available ingredients and the weather – they might not know or they might have experienced differently: for example polenta (VV), pizzoccheri (V), panzanella (VV), zuppe di legumi (VV), minestrone (VV), caprese (V), prosciutto e melone, panettone gastronomico, bluefish (such as sardines, anchovies and mullet) pollo alla cacciatora, vitello tonnato, bruschetta (VV), risotto (V), farinata (VV), focaccia (VV), piadine, tramezzini, gnocchi (VV), ravioli (V), parmigiana (V), fiori di zucca ripeni (V), peperonata (VV), caponata (VV), carciofi alla zudìa (VV), cheese with honey and jams (V), verdure sott'olio (VV), pasta al forno (V); and desserts (of course all vegetarian, and some of them also vegan) such as sorbetti (VV) e gelati, panettone and pandoro, cantucci con il vin santo, panna cotta, tiramisù, gelatine di mele cotogne (VV), semifreddo, granita (VV), torrone, affogato al caffè, zabaione, bunet, panforte, confetti (VV), salame al cioccolato, pesche al vino, gianduiotti, croccante (VV), frutta di pasta di mandorle (VV).

Special diets
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To satisfy different tastes and diet, during Wikimania we will focus broadly on Italian cuisine with a specific attention for vegetarian and vegan food. We will not ask all restaurants to use vegan dairy or to cook specialities from other countries because they are not necessarily accustomed to those menus and ingredients; vegetarian and vegan food is already part of our Mediterranean cuisine and we will focus on it. The restaurants in Esino Lario – and the available food market - is not equipped to produce a properly Kosher food (we are also unable to manage two kitchens for the tensile structure and the catering), but we hope vegan food can maybe provide an adequate compromise. Food will be labelled and one restaurant will focus on specific dietary needs. We can organize without specific problems to have soya milk available. Local cuisine will be served in particular in two specific restaurants.

Restaurants and bars

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Image Restaurant/shop Location Typology Seats Bar Restaurant Pizza Sandwiches Ice cream Drinks Prize range Note
  Ristorante La Montanina and Rosa delle Alpi Centre, square area. Restaurant and bar. around 200. X X box X
  Ristorante pizzeria Centrale Centre, garden area. Restaurant and bar. 150. X X X X box X
  Ristorante pizzeria Oasi Centre, square area. Restaurant and bar. 120. X X X X box X
  Ristorante La Lucciola Uphill. Restaurant and bar. 100. X X X box X
  Ristorante Santa Maria Uphill. Restaurant and bar. 30 (+ large outdoor). X X X box X
  Ristorante Cacciatori Ortanella Restaurant and bar. 120. X X X box X
Ristorante agriturismo Ortanella Ortanella Restaurant and bar. around 50. X box X
  Ristorante Cainallo Cainallo Restaurant and bar. 100. X X X box X
  Bar La Sosta Centre, square area. Bar. around 50. X X box X
Bar Tabaccheria Lisa Centre, square area. Bar. around 20. X box X
  Gelateria da Eli Centre, garden area. Food shop with artisanal ice cream. 2 benches outside. X
  Alimentari Virginia Centre, garden area. Food shop. None X X box X
  Mini Market Chicco & Nadia Centre, square area. Food shop. None X X box X
  Panificio Pietro Pensa Centre, garden area. Food shop with bakery. None X X box X
Catering service. Centre, square area in the tensile structure. Temporary service. Estimated 500 seats.
Street Food Centre, church area. Temporary service. None X X X X X
  Accommodation with kitchen Esino Lario. DIT solution From 4 to 50 people (a dorm has an equipped kitchen)
Tensile structure and rented furniture
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To accommodate the number of attendees at Wikimania we planned to install a tensile structure for 500 people. The tensile structure will be used for lunch and as a meeting space. This estimated cost can be used for 1 large tensile structure or 2 tensile structures. The location Ronchei has already been selected and checked by an experienced technician; this location allows trucks to deposit the equipment and it is located in a very convenient spot in between all venues. The tensile structure will be used to provide lunch for 500 people (catering), it will be a meeting space with coffee and in the evening it will work as bar. The tensile structure will be managed by Pro Loco and lunch will be prepared by a catering.

Number Days Price Total in euro Total in dollars Notes
Structure € 6.000,00
Floor € 2.000,00
Doors € 500,00
Chairs 1000 € 1.500,00 The chairs will be used also in other venues
Palk € 200,00
Technician who guarantees the security in the mounting phase 2 € 300,00 € 600,00 250 euro work, including food and accommodation.
Tables with benches 63 € 12,00 € 756,00 Each table for 8 people
Transport. Tracks for the round trip 8 € 400,00 € 3.200,00
Total without taxes € 14.756,00
Taxes 22% € 3.246,32
Total tensile structure and rented furniture € 18.002,32
Currency € 1
Mounting and dismounting is assured by volunteers.
Restaurants outside Esino Lario
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Restaurant/shop[18] Location Seats Prize range[19] Note
Al Terrazzo Eremo Gaudio Perledo 40 25 euro
Crotto del Meo Perledo 60 22 euro
Ristorante Del Sole Varenna 120 27,50 euro
Ristorante Il Cavatappi Varenna 20 27,50 euro
Ristorante La Contrada Villa Cipressi Varenna 70 25 euro
Ristorante Cavallino Varenna 40 25 euro
Ristorante Crotto di Pino Varenna 50 35 ero
Ristorante Gourmet Royal Victoria Varenna 300 40 euro
Ristorante Nuova Isola Varenna 30 30 euro
Ristorante La vista Milano Varenna 55 -
Ristorante Olivedo Varenna 40 30 euro
Ristorante Quatro Pass Varenna - 30 euro
Ristorante Victoria Grill Varenna 100 25 euro
Ristorante Varennamonamour Varenna 45 30 euro
Ristorante Moncodeno Varenna 55 22 euro

Crowd management for the food

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The tensile structure with the catering is necessary to manage lunch (this assures that lunch is provided very closed to the location of the venues), but we envision to avoid catering for the evening to provide variety, to limit the costs for participants and to take advantage of the existing restaurants.
We expect to use tickets to manage lunch and dinner. At the moment the hypothesis is to assign lunch seats randomly (expect for special diets) and to implement a reservation system for the evening with also thematic dinners planned before the event.

Site Breakfast Lunch Coffee break (always open) Dinner without catering (2 shifts)
Bar Ristorante Centrale 160 150 250
Ristorante albergo La Montanina e Rosa delle Alpi 160 150 250
Bar Oasi 150 120 200
Bar La Ruota 50 50
Bar La Sosta 100 50
Bar Lisa 60 30
Catering in the tensile structure 500 1000 no catering
La Lucciola (also accommodation) 100 100
Santa Maria (also accommodation) 30 30
Villa Rogo-Pime - has kitchen 70
Ristoro - has kitchen 50
Cacciatori 10 70
Cainallo 39 70
Varenna 30 70
Total 1009 1050 1000 1040

Please note that for breakfast there are also some B&B (which are not included above) and we are also considering to use welcome box (managed by the local food shops).

Management of the lunch and coffee breaks
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Expense Number Days Cost/Unit Total in euro Total in dollars
coffee breaks preconference 500 3 € 5 € 7.500
coffee breaks conference 1.000 3 € 5 € 15.000
catering lunch 500 3 € 22 € 33.000
restaurant lunch (conference and preconference) 500 5 € 10 € 25.000
Total amount planned in the estimated costs € 80.500
Currency € 1,00

Accommodation

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We designed the event to have the majority of the attendees living and sleeping in Esino Lario. The hosting capacity of Esino Lario is far beyond its 800 inhabitants and it is linked to its touristic economy. The majority of the apartments belong to the people of Esino Lario who rent them; there are few hotels (one of them fully equipped for people with special needs), there are some accommodations structured as dorms and there is space for comping and caravans. All accommodation in Esino Lario is inexpensive and simple; there are no 4 stars hotels, which are available in Varenna (20-40 minutes ride from Esino Lario). The accommodation is managed by Catherine de Senarclens and the team of the Esino Lario tourist office (biographies of the team).

Apartments in Esino Lario

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Accommodation in Esino Lario city centre. One of the building with apartments in Via Castagneto available for Wikimania Esino Lario.
 
Accommodation in Esino Lario in the woods. One of the houses available for Wikimania Esino Lario.
Last update Number of apartments Location Beds Typology Regular prize/person Number of owner
11 March 2014 Almost 70 apartments. Esino Lario 414 beds confirmed Private apartments and houses. Normally rented for the season or per year. Around 60 private owners (including B&B Rainbow House). At the moment we only asked owners of apartments living in Esino Lario[20].

The apartments are quite diverse; the majority are flats and a large number are in Via Adamello, via Dante, via Castagneto and via alle Grigne. There are also some villas which has been made available and one apartment in Villaggio Riva with swimming pool.
Out of the current apartments, there are apartments normally rented to tourists and managed by the Tourist Office (kept vacant for the event); another flats are private homes made especially available for Wikimania international participants. The apartments normally rented to tourists and managed by the Tourist Office are in total 86 (according to the recorded numbers); at the moment around half of them have confirmed availability for Wikimania. Since they are normally rented those apartments do no present particular problems and the owners are used to manage them. The flats and houses made especially available for Wikimania international participants can present some specific situations; some of them have electricity disconnected and some owners provide the apartments but they can not manage the bedding (or - since they provide the apartments for free - we do not want to ask them to manage the beddings). The reimbursement is planned to cover the necessary expenses (i.e. necessary copies of the keys, reinstalling the electricity which is only 32 euro/44 $ - we already checked with the electricity company). For the apartments and houses for which is needed, we will use the reimbursement to cover in a centralized way the costs for bedding and cleaning; in particular we will do it for apartments which are provided to us for free.

In case the bid is successful we will proceed with a specific census of the apartments which will be done by a specific person, visiting the apartments and collecting the following information: address, geographic coordinates, photos to document the status, situation of electricity, situation of hot water (and amount of liters), situation of heating, availability of sheets, covers and towers, necessary to manage the cleaning, bathrooms, number of beds (single, double, condition of the beds), use of the kitchen, use of the laundry, amenities, available keys and necessary keys, emergency numbers, parking, estimated reimbursement and information about the management of the reimbursement.

Dorms in Esino Lario

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Image Accommodation Distance from the venue Size Type Owner
  Scout centre / Ristoro 20 minutes walk from the centre. 55 beds, 4 bathrooms inside the building, 1 bathroom outside the building. The dorm is a simple and clean accommodation in building with kitchen, 2 large living rooms and a garden. To provide a comfortable accommodation we will reduce the number of guest per room (at the moment there are 5 rooms with 8 beds). In the summery of the accommodation we have already removed 20 beds (the list includes only 35 beds). Dorm Private rented by a non profit.
Antropos/former-La Colonia 20 minutes walk, trails from the centre. 20 beds (old info online). We do not have confirmation of those beds and at the moment we do not know if this accommodation can be used during Wikimania. In the summery of the accommodation we have removed those 20 beds. Dorm Private
  Villa Rogo - Pime [1] 20 minutes walk, trails from the centre. 70 beds. Religious catholic structure. Dorm Pontificio Istituto Missioni Estere (PIME). Costalevante Srl. A cura di c/o Guglie Viaggi Srl

Hotels in Esino Lario

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Image Accommodation Distance from the venue Size Type Regular prize/person Owner
  Hotel La Montanina Centre 47 rooms, 75 beds 2 stars hotel 45 € COE Centro Orientamento Educativo, catholic non profit organization.
  Hotel Rosa delle Alpi Centre 15 rooms, 25 beds 3 stars hotel 50 € COE Centro Orientamento Educativo, catholic non profit organization.
  Hotel Centrale Centre (up) 16 rooms, 24 beds 2 stars hotel 35 € Private.
  Hotel La Lucciola 10 minutes ride, trails from the centre 13 rooms, 20 beds. 1 star hotel 38 € Private.
  Hotel Santa Maria 15 minutes ride, trails and street from the centre 7 rooms, 19 beds. 1 star hotel 35 € Private.
  Hotel Cacciatori 15 minutes ride (Ortanella). 5 rooms. 70 € Private.
  Hotel Rifugio Cainallo 15 minutes ride (Cainallo). 23 rooms, 39 beds. 30 € Private.

Accommodation in Perledo

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Image Accommodation[21] Distance from the venue[22] Size Type Regular prize/person[23] Owner
  Castello di Vezio - Vezio s.r.l. [2] 15-30 minutes 27 beds Farm holidays (9 houses) 95 euro per person Private.

Accommodation in Varenna

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Image Accommodation[24] Distance from the venue[25] Size Type Regular prize/person[26] Owner Note
  Villa Monastero [3] 20-40 minutes 12 rooms, 20 beds; 4 conference venues, garden. 121 euro; 2218 euro for the entire complex. Province of Lecco. Villa Monastero is a conference centre located on the shores of Lake Como in a very charming historical building and renewed botanical garden. It can be a relevant location for a GLAM event and eventually for hosting Wikimedia Foundation board members in case they need a specific working space or they have particular requirements. It can eventually host also keynote speakers if the have particular requirements.
  Villa Cipressi [4] 20-40 minutes 43 rooms, 97 beds 4 stars hotel 220 euro. Mainly Varenna city council. Managed by a company. Relevant location for participants looking for a higher range accommodation.
Hotel Royal Varenna [5] 20-40 minutes 43 rooms; 97 beds 4 stars hotel 220 euro. Private. Relevant location for participants looking for a higher range accommodation.
Hotel DuLac [6] 20-40 minutes 17 rooms; 35 beds 4 stars hotel 240 euro. Private.
Eremo Gaudio [7] 20-40 minutes 11 rooms; 22 beds 4 stars hotel 125 euro. Private.
Hotel Milano 20-40 minutes 8 rooms; 16 beds 3 stars hotel 160 euro. Private.
Hotel Olivedo [8] 20-40 minutes 10 rooms; 20 beds 3 stars hotel 150 euro. Private.
Hotel Del Sole 20-40 minutes 7 rooms; 15 beds 3 stars hotel 170 euro. Private.
Hotel Montecodeno [9] 20-40 minutes 11 rooms; 18 beds 3 stars hotel 100 euro. Private.
Milano dipendenza - Casa rossa e casa gialla 20-40 minutes 4 rooms; 8 beds 2 stars hotel 185 euro (room in the home). Private.
Hotel Beretta 20-40 minutes 10 rooms; 20 beds 1 stars hotel 80 euro (room in the home). Private.

The majority of the data come from http://www.alberghieturismo.it.

Crowd management for accommodation

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Last update 3 March 2014.
We expect Esino Lario to be able to accommodate 700 people. For the apartments, at the moment we asked only owners who live in Esino Lario; we didn't approach apartment owners who do not live in Esino Lario. We expect that - by further asking - the number increases, but after the visits, double check on the apartments, review of rooms (i.e. double beds for single use, reducing the number of beds to arrange convenient accommodation), we expect the total number to remain 700.
Accommodation in Varenna and Perledo is a relevant option for the event, not only because it can provide further beds but also because it offers a wider range of quality (with 4 and 5 stars hotels; the best hotel in Esino Lario has 3 stars). Varenna is around 30 minutes car ride (40 minutes according to regular bus schedules; 20 minutes by car - 12 km) from Esino Lario; Perledo is slightly closer.

Accomodation (status 11 March 2014) Beds
Total beds in apartments in Esino confirmed 441
Total beds in hotels in Esino 219
Total beds in dorms 105[27]
Total beds in Esino Lario 738
Total beds in hotels in Varenna/Perledo 387[28]
Total Esino Lario, Varenna, Perledo 1125

Safety

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Esino Lario is a very safe location with extremely low criminality rate, and with an already organized system to manage medical assistance and emergencies. Due to the exceptional number of attendees expected during Wikimania, we are however putting in place a series of step to assure full safety and risk management.

  • An experienced and specialized person in charge of safety regulations (please refer to team). Venues and the tensile structure need to be managed and equipped according to safety regulations, which in Italy are restrictive.
  • The presence of an ambulance during the entire event and the pharmacy opening hours increased during the event. The ambulance will be an additional presence; there is already in Esino Lario a medical clinic, a pharmacy, an association with trained volunteers (Soccorso Val d'Esino) and a airstrip for helicopters). We already discussed with the City Council about the pharmacy opening hours (the pharmacy is owned by the City Council) and the open hours will be notified in May according to the procedure.
  • Notification of the event at the three nearby hospitals (Lecco, Gravedona, Morbegno), at the provincial Protezione Civile, firefighters and local police station.
  • Insurance for the participants.
  • Excursions in the mountains in collaboration with the Regional Grigne Park. This assures that the excursions in the mountains are accompanied by experienced guides.
  • Guidelines for the participants. A little booklet available before coming to Wikimania Esino Lario, with practical information about cloths, equipment for excursions in the mountains and contacts in case of emergency.
  • A reference person for each venue who can manage the key.
  • Storage space locked and managed by specific teams (in particular the technical team for the equipment).

Health and medical service

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The pharmacy of Esino Lario next to the medical clinic.
 
Airstrip for helicopters in Bigallo in Esino Lario.
 

For general medical necessities in Esino Lario there is a pharmacy owned and managed by the City Council, a medical clinic and a medical car equipped for wheelchair transport and managed by a team of trained volunteers members of the association Soccorso Val d'Esino. The nearest ambulance comes from Bellano and it provides transport to the nearest or most suitable hospital.
In case of a medical emergency, during the day transport is managed by helicopter. In Esino Lario there is a airstrip for helicopters near the city centre (Bigallo) and there are suitable locations for helicopter landing in the territory (notably Ortanella and Cainallo). During Wikimania there will be an ambulance 24/24 available.

  • Pharmacy, Piazza Pietro Pensa, Esino Lario. The pharmacy is located next door to the medical clinic, in the middle of Esino Lario just below the city council building.
  • Medical clinic (ambulatorio medico), Piazza Pietro Pensa, Esino Lario. The medical clinic is located next door to the pharmacy, in the middle of Esino Lario just below the city council building.
  • Doctor on call (servizio di continuità assistenziale - ex-guardia medica). A local phone number which provides assistance when the Medical clinic (ambulatorio medico) is closed.
  • Soccorso Val d'Esino. It is an association of volunteers who intervenes in case of emergencies in Esino Lario or for medical related transport necessities. The association involves trained volunteers in first aid; some of the volunteers are also active in the Red Cross service of Bellano.
  • General medical emergency number 118. This phone number manages the Italian medical emergency centralized system. It provides first advice, it connect to specialized assistance and it manages according to the situation the requests for an ambulance or helicopter.
  • Airstrip for helicopters, Bigallo.
  • Nearest hospitals: Lecco, Gravedona, Morbegno.
  • Specialized structures: Milano. Also the above hospitals have specialized medical assistance in specific areas.

Accessibility

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Esino Lario is a mountain village with streets and paths characterized by slopes. Slopes are certainly not the best situation for wheelchairs and for people with difficulties in walking.

  • Transport. The Association Soccorso Val d'Esino has a medical car equipped for the transport of wheelchairs; this car can be used during Wikimania and transport for people with specific needs can be assured using this car from the airport or from Varenna railway station. We also planned to rent 4 small vans (8 seats) which can facilitate displacements.
  • Facilities. The Hotel Rosa delle Alpi is equipped to allow access with wheelchairs, and we will provide accommodation here to guests with specific needs (15 rooms, 25 beds); there are in particular two bathrooms in two main locations of the conference designed to allow access with wheelchairs.
  • Venues. Not all venues are fully accessible. The sport hall is at the moment only accessible to wheelchairs in the gallery area; 4 rooms of the Primary School out of 7 can be reached though a staircase and the collaborative space (former museum) have few steps to be accessed. Other venues – Villa Clotilde, the multimedia space of the new museum, Theatre of the kindergarten – do not seem to present problems.

Attendees with specific needs will be invited to provide information on their registration form. Assistance can be organized and we expect that the concentration of people in Esino Lario during Wikimania will also facilitate support.

Editing Esino Lario

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Priority 1

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The proposal Wikimania in Esino Lario includes 3 upgrades. Those upgrades represent a necessity for the conference, but they are also a way to produce through the conference a legacy for Esino Lario and its territory.

  1. Internet connectivity in Esino Lario. The technical implementation of Wikimania Esino Lario will not only meet the necessity of the conference but it will produce internet connectivity in Esino Lario from the centre to the industrial area of Bigallo and Villa Rogo-Pime. This internet connectivity uses the broadband which already reaches Esino Lario and it implements its wifi distribution. Please refer to the technical.
  2. Collaborative space. The Esino Lario former museum owned by Esino Lario city council will be transformed for Wikimania into a collaborative space; this space will remain a collaborative space for the local associations after Wikimania. Please refer to Collaborative space.
  3. Accessibility of the Sport Hall. For Wikimania two staircases will improve access and safety in Esino Lario Sport Hall owned by Esino Lario city council. This upgrade will allow this space to host from 100 to 500 people during the conference and after it. Please refer to Sport hall and multifunctional space - Priority 1.

In case the price allows it, instead of renting the equipment we will buy it and installing it permanently where relevant for further uses. Please refer to equipment
This legacy is not directly produced with the support of Wikimedia funds, but it is triggered by Wikimania Esino Lario. Please refer to the financial plan.

Expense Number Total in euro Total in dollars
Sport hall 2 metal dismountable self-stending stairs which increase the accessibility of the main hall (in accordance with the safety regulations) € 20.000
Collaborative space (former museum) Repurpusing the building: electricity (wired), painting, forniture € 17.000
Total amount planned in the estimated costs € 37.000
Currency € 1,00

Priority 2

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We have highlighted a series of other upgrades which can be implemented in Esino Lario according to the results of the fundraising with sponsors and grant-makers. Those upgrades are not indispensable to host Wikimania and they are not included in this proposal, but they could be another legacy not directly produced with the support of Wikimedia funds, but triggered by Wikimania Esino Lario.

  1. Improving the accessibility of the Primary School. Connecting the Primary School owned by Esino Lario city council with the garden of Villa Clotilde. This improvement creates wheelchairs access to all school rooms, it allows the building to take full advantage of the large outdoor space and it connects the Primary School with the public library and Esino Lario museums with its multimedia room. Please refers to Primary school - Priority 2.
  2. Improving the accessibility of the Sport Hall. Creating a wheelchairs elevator inside the Sport Hall. This improvement allows full accessibility from the gallery to the main level of the sport hall. Please refer to Sport hall and multifunctional space - Priority 2.
  3. Creating a Esino Lario hall in the former cinema. At the moment the former cinema is used as an office of Pro Loco and a storage space. By upgrading it, there would be a space for workshops, exhibitions, party, projections and conferences for around 300 people well located, easier to heat during the winter compared to the Sport Hall, and relevant not only for Esino Lario but also for Perledo, Varenna and Valsassina (there are no spaces for such a large audience in the area). Please refer to Hall - Priority 2.

Program

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Esino Lario is a small village and the attendees of Wikimania will benefit from proximity, walking distances, open space, formal and informal gatherings. Beyond the working sessions, an evening program is proposed with different activities, places to gather and special events; the program also includes activities for children. Our proposal highlights some excursions attendees might be interested in and the possibility to arrive before the pre-conference in Como for the Wikimania Takes Lake Como soft program. A broader calendar of initiatives is organized in North of Italy and in the Italian-speaking Switzerland to take full advantage of the preparation and visibility of Wikimania.

Structure of the schedule

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Area Excursions Excursions Excursions Excursions Pre-conference day 1 Pre-conference day 2 Conference day 1 Conference day 2 Conference day 3 Post-conference day 1 Post-conference day 2
Como Como Como Como Esino Lario Esino Lario Esino Lario Esino Lario Esino Lario Esino Lario Esino Lario
Excursions Wikimania takes Lake Como Wikimania takes Lake Como Wikimania takes Lake Como Wikimania takes Lake Como Excursions Excursions
Sessions Meetups Meetups Meetups Meetups Meetups Meetups Meetups
Sessions Volunteer training Volunteer training Trainings Trainings Trainings Wikimania meeting
Sessions Hackathon/DevCamp Hackathon/DevCamp Collaborative space Collaborative space Collaborative space Collaborative space
Sessions Thematic discussions Thematic discussions Thematic discussions Thematic discussions Thematic discussions
Sessions Keynote Keynote Keynote
Sessions Presentations Presentations Presentations
Food Lunch in restaurants Lunch in restaurants Lunch in restaurants Lunch in restaurants Lunch in restaurants Lunch in restaurants Lunch in restaurants
Food Lunch catering Lunch catering Lunch catering
Special events Evening program Evening program Evening program Evening program Evening program
Children Childcare 2-5 Childcare 2-5
Children Childcare 6-10 Childcare 6-10 Childcare 6-10 Childcare 6-10 Childcare 6-10 Childcare 6-10
Journey Arrivals in Como Arrivals in Como Arrivals in Como Main arrivals in Esino Lario Arrivals in Esino Lario Main arrivals in Esino Lario Daily arrivals and departures Daily arrivals and departures Daily arrivals and departures and main departures Main departures Departures
Journey Info point at the railway station of Varenna-Esino Info point at the railway station of Varenna-Esino Info point at the railway station of Varenna-Esino Info point at the railway station of Varenna-Esino Info point at the railway station of Varenna-Esino Info point at the railway station of Varenna-Esino Info point at the railway station of Varenna-Esino
Journey Info point at the airport
Journey Increased transport Varenna-Esino Increased transport Varenna-Esino Increased transport Varenna-Esino Increased transport Varenna-Esino Increased transport Varenna-Esino Increased transport Varenna-Esino Increased transport Varenna-Esino
Journey Direct transport from the airports Direct transport from the airports Direct transport to Milan and airports Direct transport to Milan

Just before the event

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  • Wikimania Takes Lake Como.

Pre-conference

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The pre-conference lasts two days and it includes

Conference

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The conference lasts three days and it includes

Post-conference

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The post-conference lasts one day and it includes

Before and beyond Wikimania Esino Lario

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To reach a wide public Wikimania is surely the right event. It highlights Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects, it can generate media coverage and it is a chance to meet people engaged in it. But to have an efficient impact on a territory the event needs to be framed on a wider program of activities. Wikimania Esino Lario is framed within the Alps thematic program (already involving Esino Lario, Wikimedia Italia, Wikimedia CH and institutions in the Province of Lecco, Valsassina and Ticino), which focuses in particular on North of Italy and in the Italian-speaking Switzerland and it includes.

  • Networking with GLAMs and establishment of partnerships.
  • Presentations about Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects.
  • Training sessions
  • Activities in libraries and schools.

Working sessions

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The working sessions we propose for Wikimania Esino Lario are based on the analysis of the different sessions which has already being organized in previous editions of Wikimania and other relevant conferences, and they relay on the observation of the targets we want to address (their relevance for the movement, their expectations and the way their expectations can be met).

Beyond our pillars, the structure of the Wikimania Esino Lario sessions is based on a series of key principals:

  • Focus on the attendees (needs/expectations/themes/newbies). This means that the sessions organized are not only focussed on what people want to say but also on what people want to hear. Each session needs to specify if it is meant for a specific target and if it requires background knowledge to be understandable.
  • Site-specific event. This means that the program structure is tightly related to the characteristics of the venue (space, size, atmosphere).
  • Interactive sessions and training meant to gain new skills. Since we are organizing an event in a small village, this means that we want to take full advantage of the interactive nature of the venue and that we want to encourage as much as possible the organization of discussions, exchanges and training meant to gain new skills. To properly do it we can involve in the sessions a wider network of people and institutions which can bring new expertise to the movement.
  • Transversal approach. This means that the working group is composed of people which represent the interests of specific groups (i.e. education, GLAM, research, gender...); the team will contribute to the work of the Program Committee by:
    • evaluating the proposals submitted;
    • triggering proposal from different groups of interest;
    • checking with the different groups of interest if they are need/want specific sessions;
    • checking that the interest of the different groups are part of the program at large (side events, excursions...);
    • making sure that there are representatives of the different groups of interests attending relevant discussions.

Format of the sessions

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Plenary sessions
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The size of Esino Lario makes the entire event a plenary session. People will be in one small place, at a walking distance from all sites, and with plenty of chances to cross, meet and discuss formally and informally. Esino Lario does not have a room to host +500 people. It doesn't have it, it will not have it and it does not need it neither for Wikimania nor for the future. Such a structure would be unsustainable. Building it would make it useless in the future and impossible to maintain; creating a temporary tensile structure of this size would make the event an isolated gathering which does not take advantage of the nature, atmosphere and characteristic of Esino Lario location[29]. Therefore Esino Lario considers plenary the entire event; will not have a room for +500, it will host short keynote presentations in the largest rooms (with available streaming) and it will use the projectors-TV-screens-audio systems available in the different sites to provide short communications about the program every morning.

Short communications
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A short communication about the program every morning (5 minutes) is meant to provide participants with an overview of what is going on that day, to have a slot for practical information and to address everybody for a short moment. This communication can be video or audio recorded or made live; the same communication will be made available online in a short text. The communication will use projectors-TV-screens-audio systems available in the different sites to be disseminated.

Keynotes
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We envision to have 3 keynotes at Wikimania Esino Lario. Keynotes are 20-minute presentations which will take place in the largest room (500 people) and which will use projectors-TV-screens-audio systems available in the different sites to be made accessible. Among the keynotes, we would be delighted to have Jimmy Wales and we already approached Massimo Banzi (co-founder of Arduino); the third keynote will be discussed and decided later, when we advance in the definition of the program[30]. It is important to mention that we use the term keynotes to define only the three presentations we plan to stream in Esino Lario, but we are aware that many other people will provide the event with presentations and contributions that are inspirational and capable of triggering thoughts and discussions (what keynotes are meant for). Addressing specific people (by involving them in the team and in the sessions as discussants) is planned to enrich the participation to Wikimania but also to establish links with relevant guests, like-minded organizations and specific organizations the movement can benefit from. Chiara Somajni is the member of the team focusing on the keynotes and the "special guests" (biographies of the team).

Expense Number Days Cost/Unit Total in euro Total in dollars
Guest speakers travel 3 € 800 € 2.400
Guest speakers accommodation and food 3 3 € 195 € 1.755
Total amount planned in the estimated costs € 4.155
Currency € 1,00
Presentations
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Presentations are 20-minute talks accompany by 10 minutes questions. According to the discussions on past Wikimanias we highlighted the need of two kind of presentations: presentations meant for newbies which provide an overview of a topic and presentations which are more in-depth which assume the public have already a certain degree of knowledge on a topic. Presentations will be selected for Wikimania Esino Lario using a call for proposals and a selection process managed by the Program Committee. We will invite proposals to choose between two formats: user digest and critical issues. Participants will also be invited to contribute to Wikimania by preparing posters. Presentations will be video recorded and uploaded online after Wikimania and not in Esino Lario[31].

User digest
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A "user digest presentation" is a presentation which provides an overview of a topic. It is a sort of extended "State of the Wiki" which can browse all sort of more specific topics: status of the organization (i.e. Wikimedia Foundation, chapters-affiliates-groups around the world), strategies related to territories (i.e. Iberocoop, Africa, Wikipedia offline and on mobile phone), specific projects (i.e. Wikidata, Wikisource), projects in the field of education (i.e. schools, high schools, universities, outreach targeting specific groups), partnerships with GLAMs, dynamics of the online community, research related to Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects, software development, events, legislation...

The idea behind general presentation is that people can be extremely informed in a specific field, but they can be newbies in another. The "user digest presentations" are conceived to provide an overview of a topic, and they do not expect people to have background knowledge on it. This kind of presentation can be conceived collaboratively by groups (i.e. people working in education and partnerships with GLAMs) or they can be proposed by individuals. The evaluation of the user digest presentation should take into consideration the preparatory work of the applicant and the capacity of the presentation to acknowledge not only what is going on in one country or one linguistic projects but around the world and in different linguistic projects.

Critical issues
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Presentations around critical issues are meant to present a topic more in-depth (problem, possible solution, critical analysis). Those presentations do not target newbies, and they can assume attendees have already a background knowledge on the topic. Those presentations are also meant to nourish discussions. In the call proposals, applicants will be asked to specify who is the target of the presentation and what they would like the presentation to produce (i.e. decision, beta test, creation of a new specific project, collaboration with specific groups, application to the IEG or other grant). Those presentations can be also further discussed during meetups.

Thematic discussions
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Thematic discussions are discussions with an objective; the objective is what determines their structure. Among the objectives there can be for example taking a decision, browsing possible solutions for a problem, making latent problems and issues emerging, considering a topic from different perspectives.

It could be interesting to browse the possibility of transforming the Q&A with Wikimedia Foundation board into a discussion; also the presentation of Wikimedia Foundation could be structured differently: with a "user digest presentation" of the executive director and a discussion involving the executive director and representatives of the different areas of the foundation.

We planned to have two facilitators involved in supporting the planning of those session (selection and definition of the structure, i.e. plenary and group discussions, simulations, different technique of brainstorming...) and contributing in facilitating their implementation.

Expense Number Days Cost/Unit Total in euro Total in dollars
Facilitators 2 € 3.000
Total amount planned in the estimated costs € 3000
Currency € 1,00
Training
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A training is a session meant to enhance skills. The idea of the training is that you come out of it with a new or reinforced competence (or at worst you come out it knowing who can answer your questions). A call will be made to ask people what kind of training they want or need. Training can be on all sort of topics: how to contribute to a project (i.e. Wikipedia, Wikisource, Wikidata), how to get your group recognized by Wikimedia Foundation, how to organized an educational event in a high school, how to request a grant to Wikimedia Foundation, how to evaluate a project, how to take photos for the Wikimedia Projects, how to organize a contest, how to download and install kiwix, how to involve a museum, how to use QRpedia in a museum, how to adopt on open licenses or how to make others using them...

Furthermore

  • The collaborative space will also be designed to have an help desk where people can ask questions, in particular short technical ones (i.e. how do I make a table using a wiki, how I convert my video, how I do become an admin...).
  • Workshops will also be organized in the evening as a sort of hands-on training.
Meetups
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Meetups are informal meetings. We expect the proximity which characterizes Wikimania Esino Lario to facilitate meetups. We expect them to take place in bars, restaurants and in the tensile structure (please refer to the session food).

Technical
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Hackathon/DevCamp
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The Wikimania hackathon is a classic Wikimania pre-conference event during which computer programmers are invited to collaborate insensibly on Wikimedia software projects. The connectivity planned for WIkimania Esino Lario should allow to provide the technical requirement to host such event (please refer to Esino Lario/Technical).

Collaborative space
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The collaborative space is a building which will be 24/24 open and equipped with working stations. We would like to create in this space also a sort of help desk where people can ask questions, in particular short technical ones (i.e. how do I make a table using a wiki, how I convert my video, how I do become an admin...). The collaborative space will remain a collaborative space also after Wikimania and it will host Esino Lario associations.

Theme

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An idea which have been proposed is to give a general theme to Wikimania. A possible theme could be “Wikipedia as a driver for change”. This theme taps on the specific characteristics of Wikimania Esino Lario, it relates to the classic thematic tracks which have already structured past Wikimanias, and it allows to slightly change the general perspective of the event and its sessions. We plan to involve the community in the discussions by using a call for proposal, asking people in which ways they think Wikipedia is a driver for change. Using Wikipedia as a reference in the title is not meant to reduce the importance of other Wikimedia projects, but to refer to Wikipedia as the initial project and as the current largest and most well-known one. We assume that some of Wikipedia features (open license, editable content, collaborative work, community, work in progress, neutral point of view, no distinctions between editors based on academic titles, be bold...) have been relevant for the establishment of other projects and we assume that by focusing on Wikipedia features we can also consider links with other initiatives, groups and approaches online and offline.

Rather than a topic, the general theme guides the way sessions are structured. We would like to ask presentations to include in their proposals and talks visions for the future, or observations related to what have changed from the past (positively and negatively).

Recordings of the sessions (videos, photos and data)

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Keynotes and presentations will be video recorded. The video recording will be made with 1 camera frontal and fixed. To provide already formatted videos, the title will be filmed and recording will be stopped at the end of the presentation (20 minutes). Discussions and trainings will not be video recorded; we will document the event with photos, we will have the moderator recording general data about the event (number of attendees, and comments on questions, discussions and the general atmosphere), and a short interview with a participant can be video recorded.

We will not video record discussions and training;

Expense Number Days Cost/Unit Total in euro Total in dollars
Video recording 4 3 € 200 € 2.400
Total amount planned in the estimated costs € 2400
Currency € 1,00

Evening program

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The game Esino è un paese in discesa (Downhill Esino Lario) by TooA Francesca Cogni and Donatello De Mattia

Always according to our site-specific approach, instead of organizing one big event per evening, we propose a series of initiatives taking place during the week of the conference. This allows attendees to have a broader choice of activities and it reduces the complexity of managing them. The eventing program is organized in collaboration with local associations and artists, and it takes advantage of the network Esino Lario and Wikimedia Italia has established through time. The curator of the special events is Domenico Barardinelli (biographies of the team). Please note that we included in the estimated costs the payment of the siae license for the days of the conference.

Collaborative space
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The collaborative working space will be open 24/24.

Free as free beer
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We will set a gathering space for the evening. In the estimated budget we included 15'000 euro () for the welcome event; this budget can also be used as following:

Expence liters euro per liter people days Total in euro Total in dollars
Beer evening preconference 30 € 89,06 € 2,97 500 4 € 5.937,33
Beer evening conference 30 € 89,06 € 2,97 1000 3 € 8.906,00
Total € 14.843,33
Total amount planned in the estimated costs € 15.000
Currency € 1,00
Workshops
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The workshops in the evening are organized as sort of hands-on training, they are sort of games and they take advantage also of the skills of our keynote speakers and "special guests". Among the possible workshops:

  • Simply in a Box, organized by ImpossibleSites dans la rue (and Giuditta Nelli). A workshop to build and use a pinhole cameras. Giuditta Nelli has already gave her availability.
  • Open Street Map. This is a classic event at Wikimania which it would be nice to organize in collaboration with the Italian Open Street Map group (which is currently associated to Wikimedia Italia).
  • According to the interest, it is possible to ask Massimo Banzi co-founder of Arduino if he can lead a workshop on Arduino.
Performances
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Some of the possibilities for performances are:

  • Performance with a concert and music by Roberto Paci Dalò. Roberto Paci Dalò has already gave his availability.
  • Performance by Invernomuto. Invernomuto has being commissioned the artwork Culiarsi which belongs to the Associazione Amici del Museo delle Grigne in Esino Lario. The artwork is composed of a 6-meters theremin; in 2011 the theremin was activated by a falcon, and it included in the performance the meal prepared by the Alpini, a presentation of two Italian champions of bike and motocross and video. Invernomuto also works with music (very broad international interest in music) and it will dj the evening. Invernomuto have already gave their availability.
  • Spot-Concerts. It is a format that has been already organized in other places in Italy. It is quite charming. Little orchestras and musician play one after the other in different spots. The programme tells when the concert starts and ends, but not the locations. People need to listen and follow the music, and by following the music the discover a place.
Video projections
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The theatre of the Kindergarten can be used in the evening for video projections (videos of artists, open license videos, documentaries or films).

Thematic dinners with short evening excursions
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Thematic dinners can be planned before the event and organized in particular in the restaurants of Cainallo and Ortanella (please refer to the session food). With a nice weather Cainallo and Ortanella are particularly enjoyable locations; Cainallo with an impressive view of the Grigna mountains and Ortanella with a beautiful view of Lake Como (in particular from San Pietro in Ortanella, a short 10 minutes walk from the restaurant)

Excursions

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Esino Lario is located in North of Italy, in the Alps above Lake Como. It is a charming mountain village immerse in a 18,66 kmq green area and in the Northern Grigna Regional Park. Esino Lario is the starting point for excursions in the mountains and visits to naturalistic, panoramic and historical sites in its territory and on Lake Como, Valsassina, Valchiavenna, Valtellina, Brianza, Milano, Ticino in Switzerland.

Wikimania Takes Lake Como

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Wikimania Takes Lake Como is four-days soft program of gatherings and site-seeing designed for early arrivals and for people who want to take advantage of the event to visit and discover Lake Como. Participants will be accommodate in the city of Como, the program will include excursions on the lake, in the Como and Varese area and in Ticino in Switzerland[32]. Como is a relevant location for this pre-conference event for its charme, its convenient distance from Malpensa airport, for its strategic position in between Lake Como, Milan, Province of Como, Province of Lecco, Province of Monza and Brianza, and Ticino. Transport from Como to Esino Lario will be organized by boat and bus. The format of the event relies on the Wikimania Takes Manhattan model and it responds to the need of enlarging the geography of the event and take advantage of Esino Lario location to allow attendees to enjoy and experience other sites and cities[33].

For Wikimania Takes Lake Como we will provide:

  • Information related to accommodation in Como; participants will manage directly their reservation.
  • A soft program of gatherings and site-seeing; participants will be free to join the program and they will have the chance to meet for those gatherings and excursions.
  • The presence of two volunteers organizing and facilitating Wikimania Takes Lake Como.
  • An organized travel by boat and bus to Esino Lario on time for the pre-conference.
Expence Number Days Price Total in euro Total in dollars
Reimbursment for Wikimania Takes Lake Como 2 4 € 100 € 800
Total amount planned in the estimated costs € 800
Currency € 1,00


Esino Lario, excursions and panoramic sites (walking around)

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    Esino Lario.
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    Excursions on the Grigna mountain.
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    Rifugio Brioschi.
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    Church of San Pietro in Ortanella with panoramic view of Lake Como.
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    Panoramic view of Lake Como from San Pietro in Ortanella.
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    Church of San Vittore.
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    Via Crucis by Michele Vedani.

Lake Como, its villas, botanical gardens and Romanesque architecture

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30 minutes from Esino Lario by bus or car. From Varenna trains to move on the oriental side of the lake and boats to cross the lake.

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    Lake Como.
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    Varenna.
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    Villa Monastero in Varenna with its botanical garden.
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    Il Castel of Vezio, between Perledo and Varenna.
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    Orrido di Bellano.
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    Bellagio and Villa Serbelloni.
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    Villa Carlotta in Tremezzo with its botanical garden.
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    Corenno Plinio (Dervio) with its church and castle.
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    The monastery of Piona (Colico).
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    Santa Maria del Tiglio in Gravedona.
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    Como with its cathedral and San Fedele.

Milan area (moving south)

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Valchiavenna and Valtellina area (moving north)

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  • Palazzo Vertemate Franchi (Chiavenna)
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    Palazzo Besta in Teglio

Ticino and Switzerland

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Program for children

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The sound installation Animagus by Roberto Paci Dalò in Villa Clotilde

To meet the necessities of the volunteers involved in the organization and to offer a relevant program for all the attendees, children-care and activities for children are planned in collaboration with local institutions. The cost of the child-care will be cover meals, insurance and staff.

Age Description # places available Where Who
2-5 years old Playing space for children. 20 children. Only Saturday and Sunday. Kindergarden Scuola dell'infanzia di Esino Lario (non profit organization supported by the city council). Coordinator Giusy Nasazzi.
6-10 years old Green week (settimana del verde). Workshops, excursions and activities tp discover the nature and culture of the Grigna Park. 40 children. Space next to the kindergarden (sala dell'oratorio) and outdoor. Parco regionale della Grigna Settentionale (organizing the week in Esino Lario since 2012). Coordinator Tecla Barindelli.

Esino Lario was awarded in 2010 the Prize FamilyWork for its project Esino Lario child-friendly (Esino Lario a misura di bambino), which included activities, workshops, artworks and a simple communication system with logos which identify available services for children. The prize is promoted by Lombardy Region and ALTIS, a research unit at the Catholic University of Milan.

Participants

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Wikimania Esino Lario is designed for 1’000 participants, with the objective of welcoming 700 participants.

Number of participants

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Participants are a variable, therefore:

  • we consider for the planning (logistics, services, expenses): 500 participants at the pre-conference and 1’000 participants at the conference. This means that all aspects of conference organization need to be able to manage those numbers.
  • we consider for the expected income: 100 participants at the pre-conference and 500 participants at the conference. This means that we set a low expected income for risk management.
30% margin of risk

1’000 is the number which allows venues, sessions, special events, excursions, food, accommodation and transport to be manageable; it is the maximum number of participants we set. If 1’000 participants is the maximum number, this means that our objective is not to welcome 1’000 participants, but to welcome 700 participants (which allows a 30% margin of risk). If our objective was to welcome 1’0000 participants we had to design the event for around 1’500 participants, which is not a manageable number of participants for Esino Lario.

Hypothesis participants

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See also Wikimania/Target.

Hypothesis number of participants
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Estimated participants Number Lunch Accommodation in Esino Lario Accommodation Varenna (higher level 4 and 5 stars) Pendular Number of rides by bus if nobody among the pendular has a car Possible car (and parking spots)
Organizers Wikimedia 100 100 100 Possible car 20
Organizers Esino Lario 100 50 House in Esino Possible car 20
Organizers Extra 30 30 30 Possible car 6
Organizers from the territory 50 50 House in the area 50 Possible car 10
Attendees from Italy 50 50 40 10 10 Possible car 10
Wikimedia Chapters (board and staff) 100 100 100
Wikimedia Foundation (board, committee and staff) 100 100 77 23 23
Scholarships 250 250 250
Attendees from abroad (Europe + North America and Oceania). Including journalists. 80 80 70 10 10 Possible car
Researchers from Europe and US 40 40 30 10 10
Occasional visitors from Esino (conference days) 100 House in Esino Possible car 20
Occasional visitors (conference days) - Including journalists from Milan and the territory, stakeholders 150 150 For the day 150 Possible car 30
Total 1.150 1.000 697 53 253 7 116
Hypothesis main interest of the participants
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This hypothesis is only meant to have some references to plan flows (in participants possible numbers for pre-conference, conference and post-conference).

Estimated interests Description Number Percentage
Organizers (not included international) Wikimedia, Esino Lario, Extra and from the territory 280 24%
Politics (board, staff, commitee) Wikimedia Foundation, chapters and 30% of the scholarships 275 24%
Active contributors Half of the attendees from Italy and from Europe and US; half of the scholarships 190 17%
General - potential newbies Half of the attendees from Italy and from Europe and US; 20% of the scholarships; occasional visitors 365 32%
Researchers 40 3%
Total 1.150 100%
Hypothesis provenance of the participants
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This hypothesis is only meant to have some references to plan transport, visa and flows (in participants possible numbers for pre-conference, conference and post-conference). This hypothesis is based on the numbers above (with the assumption that participants in an event in Italy might be more numerous from Italy and Europe) and it is based on the estimates below (related to Wikimedia Chapters and scholarships).

Estimated location of arrival and departure Number Percentage
Varenna (probably trains from CH, DE) 61 11%
Airport Orio al Serio 61 11%
Airport Linate 61 11%
Airport Malpensa 388 68%
Total 570 100%
Estimated provenance (necessary to plan transport) Number Percentage Total of non local Percentage of non local
Local 580 50%
Europe 242,5 21% 242,5 43%
North America and Oceania 190 17% 190 33%
South America 47,5 4% 47,5 8%
Africa 30 3% 30 5%
Asia 60 5% 60 11%
Total 1150 100% 570 100%
Visa requirements 137,5 11,96%
Wikimedia Chapters (board, staff, further scholarships) - Excluding Italy Number Percentage
Europe 70 70%
North America and Oceania 5 5%
South America 10 10%
Africa 5 5%
Asia 10 10%
Total 100 100%
Scholarships Number Percentage
Europe 112,5 45%
North America 25 10%
South America 37,5 15%
Africa 25 10%
Asia 50 20%
Total 250 100%

Registration

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All participants need to be registered. Registrations allows us to collect information about the participants before the event, to manage special needs, to provide all participants with a personal insurance and to count the participants.
The registration process will have to include specific information related to our project, such as:

  • Insurance. It might be necessary to inform participants that their personal information will be used also for the insurance (and therefore shared with the insurance company).
  • Accommodation. The need for accommodation might be useful to be included in the registration form.

Wikimania Esino Lario is designed for 1'000 participants; this means that we will define quota for different kind of participants (i.e. scholarships, volunteers, Wikimedia Foundation, chapters) and we will close the registrations once we reach 1'000 participants. Allowing to increase this number will do no good to anyone; the event risks to be unmanageable and venues, food, transport and special events risk to be overcharged.

Insurance

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Insurance will be provided by default to all participants. Due to the different kind of venues (owners and management), we expect a personal insurance to be the most suitable solution. The information necessary for the insurance will be collected during registration.

Expense Number Cost/Unit Total in euro Total in dollars
Personal insurence 1.000 € 10 € 10.000,00
Total amount planned in the estimated costs € 10.000,00
Currency € 1,00

Special needs

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Visa

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dark blue - no visa required, Schengen area; light blue - no visa required, special territories of Schengen member states; dark green - no visa required (annex II), red - visa required (annex I); brown - visa required (annex I), transit visa required; pink - passport not recognized; gray - no information.
See also the official visa map

Italy is part of the Schengen area, which has a uniform visa policy:[34] requirements can be strict but most Wikimania attendees will need no visa, or enjoy visa facilitation. Rejection rate for Schengen short-stay visa is is less than 5 % and as little as 1 % for many countries:[35] EU and Italy have good relations with almost all the countries in the world; in particular for Italy Middle East, Northern Africa and the Balcans, all countries quite poorly "served" by Wikimanias after Alexandria 2008.

Citizens of 73 countries will not need to worry about visa, making Wikimania Esino Lario the second most internationals-friendly Wikimania ever![36] You can easily check the requirements for your country, if any, with the Ministry's Do you need a visa? tool.

Free access (Schengen area)

  1. Austria
  2. Belgium
  3. Czech republic
  4. Denmark
  5. Estonia
  6. Finland
  7. France
  8. Germany
  9. Greece
  10. Hungary
  11. Iceland
  12. Italy
  13. Latvia
  14. Lithuania
  15. Luxembourg
  16. Malta
  17. Netherlands
  18. Norway
  19. Poland
  20. Portugal
  21. Slovakia
  22. Slovenia
  23. Spain
  24. Sweden
  25. Switzerland
  26. Liechtenstein

European Union free movement (non-Schengen countries)

  1. Bulgaria
  2. Croatia
  3. Cyprus
  4. French territories of French Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion, Mayotte, Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin
  5. Ireland
  6. Romania
  7. United Kingdom

Visa free

  1. Albania (+visa facilitations)
  2. Argentina
  3. Australia
  4. Bahamas
  5. Barbados
  6. Bosnia and Herzegovina (+visa facilitations)
  7. Brazil
  8. Brunei Darussalam
  9. Canada
  10. Colombia
  11. Chile
  12. Costa Rica
  13. El Salvador
  14. Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (+visa facilitations)
  15. Guatemala
  16. Honduras
  17. Hong Kong SAR
  18. Israel
  19. Japan
  20. Mexico
  21. Macao SAR
  22. Malaysia
  23. Nicaragua
  24. New Zealand
  25. Panama
  26. Paraguay
  27. Republic of Korea (South Korea)
  28. Saint Kitts and Nevis
  29. Serbia (+visa facilitations)
  30. Seychelles
  31. Singapore
  32. Taiwan
  33. United Arab Emirates
  34. United States of America
  35. Venezuela

Visa facilitations

  1. Armenia
  2. Cape Verde
  3. Georgia
  4. Moldova
  5. Montenegro
  6. Russia
  7. Ukraine

Managing visa

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Visa procedures for Wikimania Esino Lario attendees will be managed by the staff of Wikimedia Italia. The staff has previous experience in managing visa requests for the Wikimedia Conference organized in 2013 in Milan; for this event the majority of the visa procedures were successfully managed; difficulties emerged for participants coming from the Philippines and Indonesia[37]. To make sure all participants can apply for visa with the necessary support we set a proper timeline and the partnerships with Wikimedia CH will allow us to relay also on another country' procedures for visa requests, in case Italy present a more difficult situation.

Excursions in Switzerland

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For participants coming from outside the Schengen area, to be able to make an excursion in Switzerland it is necessary that the visa is "Valid for Schengen area" (not a visa valid only for Italy)[38]. Please make sure to specify it when you make the visa request.

Cost for participants

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Through scholarships, support of institutions (i.e. Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia chapters, university fund) or directly, participants will pay for:

  1. Registration cost. The registration cost is the cost of lunch (10 € / 13,37 $ during pre-conference and post-conference, and 16 € / 22 $ during the conference[39]) and the cost of insurance (10 € / 13.70 $).
  2. Dinner. The cost of dinners is from 10 €.
  3. Accommodation. The cost of a shared room in Esino Lario with breakfast will be 20 € in apartments and dorms.
  4. Transport to Esino Lario. For the costs for traveling to Esino Lario (by airplane, train and car/caravan) please refer to Esino_Lario/Location#Travelling_to_Esino_Lario. We expect direct cost of transport from airports to Esino Lario to be below 25 € / 34,37 $ one way (the regular cost of public transport from Malpensa is 18,85 € / 25,92 $; we estimated the cost of direct transport by planing the cost of 50 people busses - 500 euro / 687,48 $ - divided by only 20 people, to manage the risk).

The estimated costs below include direct transport from the airports and provide an idea to calculate costs for participants and scholarships. Those estimated costs do not include the costs for visa.

Estimated cost to attend conference Cost Days Total in euro Total in dollars
Cost lunch during the conference € 16,00 3 € 48,00
Cost dinner (average) € 15,00 4 € 60,00
Cost bed in a shared room € 20,00 4 € 80,00
Insurance € 10,00 € 10,00
Roundtrip from the airport € 50,00 € 50,00
Total estimated cost to attend conference € 248,00
Plus travel costs to Milan Plus travel costs to Milan
Currency € 1,00
Estimated cost to attend preconference+conference Cost Days Total in euro Total in dollars
Cost lunch during the preconference € 10,00 2 € 20,00
Cost lunch during the conference € 16,00 3 € 48,00
Cost dinner € 15,00 6 € 90,00
Cost bed in a shared room € 20,00 6 € 120,00
Insurance € 10,00 € 10,00
Roundtrip from the airport € 50,00 € 50,00
Total estimated cost to attend preconference+conference € 338,00
Plus travel costs to Milan Plus travel costs to Milan
Currency € 1,00

International scholarships

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International scholarships will be managed as usual by the Scholarship Committee. We have drafted a proposal to contribute to the brainstorming on how to improve the scholarship system for Wikimania.

Italian volunteers and guests

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Expense Number Days Cost/Unit Total in euro Total in dollars
Insurence for the volunteers 200 € 10,00 € 2.000,00
Travel expenses volunteers 50 € 50,00 € 2.500,00
Travel expenses volunteers 50 € 100,00 € 5.000,00
Accommodation and food 50 9 € 50,00 € 22.500,00
Accommodation and food 50 5 € 50,00 € 12.500,00
Lunch for volunteer resident 50 8 € 10,00 € 4.000,00
Lunch for guests (companies, workers, stakeholders) 150 € 16,00 € 166,00
Insurence for guests (companies, workers, stakeholders) 150 € 10,00 € 1.500,00
Welcome bag and thank you t-shirt for volunteers 200 € 5,00 € 1.000,00
Total amount planned in the estimated costs € 51.166,00
Currency € 1,00

Volunteers will be invited to support the event through their associations, among those: wikimedia chapters (in particular Wikimedia Italia and Wikimedia CH), associations in Esino Lario (Pro Loco, Alpini, Soccorso Val d'Esino, CAI, group of teachers, Amici del Museo delle Grigne), networks of local associations (in particular Pro Loco and Alpini), like-minded associations and groups (Creative Commons, Open Street Map - which in Italy is already linked to Wikimedia Italia, Linux groups and other open software and open knowledge groups and associations). We are also exploring the possibility of involving the association STS Italia - Società Italiana di Studi su Scienza e Tecnologia (Italian society of studies on science and technology), which is an association of researchers which could also contribute to the evaluation of Wikimania Esino Lario.

Keynotes

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For the keynotes please refer to the Program.

Organization

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The four main working areas of Wikimania Esino Lario.

The organization of Wikimania in Esino Lario presents a specific complexity. For this reason we have been working on a executive plan in collaboration and with a strong involvement of the local community, institutions, operators and experts in specific fields. The executive plan is guarantees that all the different challenges are addressed and managed, and that the proposal is ready to be implemented.

Pillars

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The fundamental principles by which Wikimania Esino Lario operates can be summarized in five "pillars":

  1. Collaboration. The team is one team, which includes all the people involved, who are already wikimedians or not. The edit button exists also offline, and wikimedians are all the people who want to modify things to share their knowledge and to support the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual, educational content. We include all the project contributors in the organizing team, we attribute work, we design a program meant for different kind of participants, we include in a transversal way the interests and needs of different people, we make sure participants are in the best conditions to obtain a visa, we select for scholarships dedicated members which need economic support to participate (through a transparent process which provides full - really full - or partial scholarships, according to the needs), and we plan an inclusive and collaborative event.
  2. Scalability. We are not planning one event, we are planning a format which can be replicated in other places. We document what we are doing and how we do it, we produce guidelines for the future and to involve people who can contribute further to other events; we look for solutions which can be relevant for other contexts.
  3. What already exists. Priority is given to local suppliers and to tap on existing resources. We look at previous experience and we build on it.
  4. What can last. Priority is given to invest in what lasts beyond the event. We reduce to the minimum all the expenses related to the ephemeral and we invest time, energy budget in what is useful and relevant beyond the event.
  5. Experimenting and having fun. We gather for the pleasure of it.

Team

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Cute and cuddly, boys. Cute and cuddly! Skipper, Madagascar, 2005.
 
A limited overview of what the four main working areas of Wikimania Esino Lario imply.

Wikimania Esino Lario is a conference promoted by Wikimedia Italia and Wikimedia CH in partnership with Esino Lario city council, Ecomuseo delle Grigne, Pro Loco Esino Lario, Parco Regionale della Grigna Settentionale and the Esino Lario local associations and community. Please refer to the support of institutions. Wikimania Esino Lario team is composted mainly of volunteers, it will have a specific staff and it will be implemented also with the support of some of the staff of Wikimedia Italia and Wikimedia CH. Wikimedia Italia board is part of Wikimania Esino Lario team, but it is involved - in this planning phase - with an institutional role. This is due to two reasons: 1. we want to make sure other people are fully involved since the event planning with specific roles (suitable and fun); 2. we do not want to overcharge the board. In any case they will be engaged, because of the role of Wikimedia Italia in the event and they are already contributing to it by supporting the planning.

Working groups

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Area Team Outcome Composition Tools/references
Program Working sessions
  1. Making sure the program takes into account previous experiences and comments from participants.
  2. Designing the draft structure of the program (schedule, slots, typology of sessions, itineraries for each typology of attendees).
  3. Making sure a series of central topics are transversally represented in the program of the event (including sessions, side events, excursions).
  4. Defining the output we expect for each group of participants of Wikimania.
  5. Making sure all the program responds to the output we expect (including sessions, side events, excursions).
  6. Making sure Wikimania Esino Lario is a site-specific event. This means that the program structure is tightly related to the characteristics of the venue (space, size, atmosphere).
  7. Including in the program interactive sessions and training meant to gain new skills.
  8. Triggering proposals and ideas for Wikimania by involving different communities and groups of interest.
  9. Selecting the definitive program of Wikimania Esino Lario (the selection of submissions will be implemented by the same team or a different one)
  10. Managing the program (answer to questions, contacts with speakers, appointing moderators for each sessions, making sure the documentation about sessions is recorded and shared...)
  • Program team chair: Marco Chemello
  • Program team deputy chair: Michele Lavazza
  • Program team - focus on gender: Ginevra Sanvitale
  • Program team - focus on GLAMs: Shani Evenstein
  • Program team - focus on education: Leigh Thelmadatter
  • Program team - focus on research:
  • Program team - focus on tools/software:
  • Program team - keynotes: Chiara Somajni
  • Program team - format of the sessions: Damiano Ramazzotti
  • Members of previous Program Committees and new members.
Program Special events team
  1. Designing a program of activities during Wikimania beyond the conference.
  2. Implementing the organization of the special events.
  3. Making sure the special events are coherent with the overall program (in collaboration with the program team)
  • Events and art curator: Domenico Barardinelli
  • Artists: Roberto Paci Dalò, Invernomuto and Giuditta Nelli (who have already gave their availability)
  • Like-minded organizations: i.e. Open Street Map for a OSM workshop
  • Free as free beer: Pro Loco.
Program Children
  1. Designing a program of activities during Wikimania for children to support the involvement of volunteers with children and to facilitate the participation of families.
  • Children activities (2-5 years old): Giusy Nasazzi.
  • Kids activities (>5 years old): Tecla Bertarini.
Program Excursions team
  1. Implementing the organization of the excursions.
  2. Making sure the excursions are coherent with the overall program (in collaboration with the program team)
  • Excursion Wikimania Takes Lake Como: Ilenia Atzori
  • Excursions in the park: Comunità Montana, Giacomo Camozzini.
  • Collaboration with Wikimedia CH: Ilario Valdelli
Location Venues
  1. Preparation of the venues (security, insurance, upgrade, authorization to use the spaces).
  2. Management of the venues during the conference (emergency, keys, opening-closing). Making sure there is always a person in-charge in the venue or near the venue.
  3. Taking care of the venues after the conference (making sure storage and cleaning are properly managed)
  • Villa Clotilde: Esino Lario City Council (currently Carlo Borgia)
  • Primary School: Elvezia Bertarini
  • Theatre of the Kindergarden: Giusy Nasazzi
  • Sport Hall/Multifuncional space: Giovanni Viglienghi
  • Former museum: Esino Lario City Council (currently Elisa Dell'Era)
  • New museum: Esino Lario City Council (currently Giammario Ortelli)
  • Meeting: Association non profit COE
  • Montecodeno: Private owner
  • Ex-Albergo Grigna: Private owner
  • Tensile structure: Pro Loco
  • Cleaning. We included at the moment an amount in the estimated budget.
  • Equipment: Technical team
  • Upgrade: Technical administrator of Esino Lario city council.
  • Safety: Safety team
Location Transport
  1. Taking care of the transport (timetable, transport on-call).
  2. Taking care of the 4 different transport necessities: Varenna-Esino, airports, accommodation, excursions.
  3. Managing information for cars (parking) and bikes.
  4. Taking care of the transport hubs (Milan, Varenna and Esino).
  5. Managing circulation (pedestrians, bikes, cars, busses).
  6. Locating Wikimania signs.
Location Accommodation
  1. Recording data about the accommodation (private and hotels) and collecting agreements.
  2. Relationships with accommodation owners (privates and hotels) - payments.
  3. Managing problems and finding accommodation solutions in case of problems (extra beds, sofas...)
  • Initial contacts and phone calls: Catherine de Senarclens
  • Follow up of contacts (tourist office in Esino Lario): Ester Maglia and Tecla Bertarini.
  • In collaboration with the registration team.
Location Food
  1. Recording data about restaurants/bars and makes agreements.
  2. Planing and reviewing menus. Making sure there is food for vegetarians, vegans, food with no pork and regional cuisine - the latter doesn't fits with the others. Making sure breakfast is more than the Italian breakfast (cappuccino and brioche), something like eggs, sandwiches, ham, juice, fruits, yogurt, cereals, bread... Making sure there is always water, coffee and tea available and some snacks for the breaks.
  3. Making sure the offer of food is enough and diversified.
  4. Managing special diets.
  5. Supporting the plans also for special events.
  • Food curator: Tommaso Fara
  • Professional catering:
Location Technical team
  1. Making sure the technical requirements are met. Technical requirements on Wikimania Handbook.
  2. Making sure the connectivity both in the venues and accommodation responds to our needs.
  3. Making sure the electricity supply is managed.
  4. Making sure the recordings and video and documentation uploads are managed
  5. Making sure the technical equipment is available and properly stored.
Location Safety team
  1. Making sure the logistics (venues, buildings, equipment) meet the safety regulations.
  2. Making sure buildings are properly equipped and accessibility is facilitated.
  • Responsible for safety: Pietro Pensa
  • Insurance: At the moment we contacted an insurance company for an estimated budget.
Location Medical assistance
  1. Making sure there is the appropriate medical assistance (regular and emergencies).
  • Medical clinic with Esino Lario doctor.
  • Esino Lario pharmacy.
  • Volunteer doctors.
  • Volunteers of the association Soccorso Val d'Esino.
  • Hospitals of the area informed about the event.
Participants Registration team
  1. Registration Team - online
  2. Registration Team - during the conference
  • Registration team chair: Roberto Corda
  • Coordinator of the registration team during the conference:
  • Members of previous Registration Committees and new members.
Participants Scholarships team
  1. Proposing ideas and approach for Wikimania scholarships
  2. Contributing to manage the scholarships process, requests and evaluation.
  3. Contributing to the work of the scholarship committee.
  • Scholarships working group chair: Federico Leva (Nemo)
  • Scholarships working group deputy chair: Martin Rulsch
  • Members of previous Scholarships Committees and new members.
Organization Team management
  1. Involving active Wikimedia and Wikipedia volunteers in Wikimania planning, organization and implementation (both national and international volunteers).
  2. Recruiting new volunteers for the Wikimedia projects and for Wikimania.
  3. Making sure volunteers receive the best support, acquire new skills, take full advantage of the experience (i.e. agreement with universities for internships, certificates, managing the volunteers schedule according to their interest...) and have fun (i.e. group work rather than individual work, possibility to be part of the conference/attending it...).
  4. Facilitating the involvement of the volunteers in the Wikimedian movement beyond Wikimania.
  5. Involvement of stakeholders, institutions, public administrators.
  6. Involvement of local, national and international sponsors.
  7. Involvement of national and international grant-makers.
  8. Making sure questions and requests are answered or forwarded to the right people;
  9. Making sure institutions, sponsors and grant-makers are addressed and receive the information requested/needed on time.
  10. Making sure the participants receive the necessary assistance (visa, special needs, answers to their questions).
  • Wikimedia Italia reference person:
  • Volunteer coordinator:
  • Local stakeholders: Catherine de Senarclens.
  • Sponsors:
  • Grant-makers:
  • Front desk:
  • Visa management:
Organization Budget and fund-raising team
  1. Collect all the invoices and administrative reports.
Organization Communication team
Concept
  1. Project plan, design, concept.
  2. Identification of the vision and the key concepts of the project.
  3. Making sure sure the vision and the key concepts are represented in the plan and activities implemented.
Media team
  1. Prepares the press kit.
  2. Manages media contacts (media contacts lists, contacts with media and answers to media requests).
  3. Makes sure logos and credits are correctly used and fully included.
Newsletters, websites and social networks
  1. Making sure potential attendees are reached
  2. Making sure information about the event is available and updated
Concept
Media team
  • International media contacts: --- (Wikimedia Foundation)
  • Local and national media contacts (Wikimedia Italia press contact): Maurizio Codogno
  • Project manager (checks the logos and credits): Giulia Sepe
Newsletters, websites and social networks
  • Wikimedia Italia newsletter, website and social networks: Francesca Lissoni (staff)
  • Bureaucrats of wikimania20xx.wikimedia.org: 1. ---- 2. ---
  • Documentation and update of wikimania20xx.wikimedia.org:
  • Wikimedia CH newsletter and website and social network:
Organization Communication / Documentation and Wikimedia projects team
  1. Upgrading the Wikimedia projects with content related to the territory (photos, data, texts, sources...).
  2. Collecting and uploading content produced during the conference.
  3. Contributing to the outreach (program of Wikimedia related events before and after Wikimania)
  • Geography: Remulazz
  • Wikivoyage: Andyrom75
  • OpenStreetMap: Yiyi
  • Georeferenced data about the territory: Carlo Maria Pensa and CAI sezione Esino Lario.
  • Photos of the territory: Piercarlo Barindelli, Paolo Boncompagni, Mauro Cassina, Carlo Maria Pensa.
  • Photos of the event: Niccolò Caranti
  • Presentations of Wikipedia and training sessions in Ticino: Ilario Valdelli
  • Presentations of Wikipedia and training sessions in Lombardy Region:
  • Video production company:
  • Video recording and streaming team:
  • Wikimania digital book:
 Municipalities, images, cultural heritage, natural sites, history, culture of the territory; Esino Lario on it.wikipedia, on en.wikipedia, on Wikimedia Commons, on it.wikivoyage, Province of Lecco, Province of Como, Province of Sondrio, Valsassina, Ticino. Collaboration with the project The Alps on Wikipedia.
Organization Evaluation team
  1. Checking that the criteria of the evaluation are directly connected to the project proposal (objectives and expected results)
  2. Checking that feedback is collected and documented before, during and after the event.
  3. Involvement of 5 qualitative evaluations from 5 external people (<2 pages report).
  4. Collaborating with the Documentation and Wikimedia projects working group to make sure documentation about the event is collected and produced.
  5. Managing an online questionnaire (designing it and sent it out).
  6. Collecting statistics related to the scholarships.
  7. Making sure feedback pages are created on Wikimania website and people know about them.
  8. Making sure the post-mortem report/lessons learned is delivered on time after the conference.
  • Evaluation team coordinator: Luca Martinelli
  • Evaluation team deputy coordinator:
  • 5 external people (not members of the chapters directly involved, not members of the team, people attending the event):
  • Support and scholarship report: Global Learning & Evaluation, Wikimedia Foundation - Jessie Wild.
Institutional interface
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Wikimania Esino Lario requires an institutional interface to

  1. apply to grant-makers (the grant-makers we are targeting do not accept requests from individuals or informal groups)
  2. support visa management (an invitation letter needs to be signed)
  3. manage grants and budget in a transparent and accountable way.

At the moment Wikimania Esino Lario is involving a series of institutions. The institutions involved can be the institutional interface of the project, or they can decide to collaborate for the duration of the project in a sort of association of institutions.

Decision making
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To facilitate decision making and the monitoring of the project a core team is identified. The core team also represents how the process have been implemented so far and it is composed of

  • coordinator Esino Lario: Giovanni Dell'Era (major of Esino Lario)
  • coordinator program at large (sessions, special events, excursions and children): Ginevra Sanvitale
  • coordinator participants: staff member of the project
  • coordinator organization - Wikimania Esino Lario project manager: staff member of the project
  • among the promoters: Iolanda Pensa (focus on fund-raising); Carlo Maria Pensa (focus on stakeholders)
  • representative of Wikimedia Italia (in particular for the involvement of Wikimedia Italia members and the role of institutional interface)
  • representative of Wikimedia CH (in particular for the involvement of Wikimedia CH members and the role of institutional interface)
  • Wikimedia Foundation coordinator for Wikimania: Ellie Young

A specific role is played by the technical chair (Simone Sala), the responsible for security (Pietro Pensa) and Pro Loco Esino Lario (Serena Nasazzi).

Biographies

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Image Name Last name Involvement Based Skills / biography Wikimania experience Team Contacts
Andyrom75 Andyrom75 Volunteer Italy, Florence area Member of Wikimedia Italia, very active on wikivoyage in Italian. Wikimania 2013 Hong Kong. Documentation, wikivoyage User:Andyrom75
  Ilenia Atzori Volunteer Italy, Sardinia Active member of Wikimedia Italia. Involved in Wiki Loves Monuments. Bachelor in Operator for cultural tourism and experience as a tourist guide. [it], [en]. Wikimania 2013 Hong Kong. Program, wikiexcursions.
  Fabio Baioni Volunteer Italy, Milan area Active member of Wikimedia Italia. Work in ICT and he has experience in Wikimania 2013 Hong Kong. Technical, equipment User:Fabexplosive
Piercarlo Barindelli Volunteer Italy, Esino Member of associations and groups in Esino Lario (Soccorso Val d'Esino, Esino 2000, CAI). Works in a studio of an architect. / Location
Domenico Berardinelli Volunteer Barcellona, Spain Experience in designing and coordinating public programmes both for cultural and educational organizations. In addition, works in the sector of communication 2.0, specifically dealing with social media management for arts & design. [it], [en], [es]. / Program, special events, art curator. linkedin
Elvezia Bertarini Volunteer Italy, Esino Teacher at Esino Lario primary school; involvement in off school activities and workshops. / Location
Tecla Bertarini Volunteer Italy, Esino Student in Natural Sciences (Master), collaboration with the city council of Esino Lario (tourist office) and Comunità Montana della Valsassina, Valvarrone, Val d'Esino e Riviera (excursions, activities for children, workshops). [it], [en]. / Location
  Carlo Borgia Volunteer Italy, Esino Member of Esino Lario city council, hear of tourism. Coordinator of the program of events in Esino Lario. / Location
  Niccolò Caranti Volunteer Italy Photographer and active member of Wikimedia Italia. [it], [en]. Wikimania 2011 Haifa, Wikimania 2012 Washington DC, Wikimania 2013 Hong Kong. Documentation, Photos of the event. user:Jaqen
  Mauro Cassina Volunteer Switzerland, Ticino Wikimedia CH board member. Wikimedian, wikipedian and photographer. He has worked in the field of events and catering and he currently works in the field of renewable and alternative energy. Documentation, Photos of the event. User:Cassinam
  Marco Chemello Volunteer Italy, Vicenza area Architect with experience in working in innovative projects involving both communication and technology. Co-promoter the Festival delle libertà digitali (Festival of digital freedom). Active member of Wikimedia Italia. / Program, chair of the sessions user:Marcok
  Cristian Consonni Volunteer Italy, Trento and Milan area Wikimedia Italia vice-president, wikipedian, wikimedian. Researcher at the Bruno Kessler Foundation. [it], [en], [fr] Wikimania 2010 Gdansk, Wikimania 2012 Washington DC, Wikimania 2013 Hong Kong. Wikimedia Italia board User:CristianCantoro
  Roberto Corda Volunteer Italy, Milan Wikipedian and wikimedian. Works in ICT. Wikimania 2005 Frankfurt.
  Elisa Dell'Era Volunteer Italy, Esino / Lecco Member of Esino Lario city council. University degree in economics, she has been working for several years in event planning on Lake Como. She has also experience in managing a 1'000 participants conference. / Location
Giovanni Dell'Era Volunteer Italy, Esino Major of Esino Lario. Quantitative surveyor (geometra) and municipal engineer (tecnico comunale). / Location, chair
Simona Dell'Era Volunteer Italy, Esino [it], [en]. / Location
  Shani Evenstein Volunteer Israel Involved in Wikimedia projects related to GLAMs, education and outreach. Teaching experience. She works at Tel-Aviv University [TAU], at the Sackler School of Medicine. Wikimania 2011 Haifa, Wikimania 2012 Washington DC, Wikimania 2013 Hong Kong. Program User:Esh77
Tommaso Fara Volunteer Italy, Milan Consultant and collaborator for an organization of of catering; he is specialized in proposing menus, organizing thematic lunches and dinners, and experimenting new recopies and traditional and innovative cooking techniques. He is the author of radio programs about cuisine and of the books “Il cucchiaino caramellato” (DeAgostini, 2005), “La cucina a impatto [quasi] zero” (in collaboration with Lisa Casali, Edizioni Gribaudo, 2010) and “Diversamente cotto: Metodi di cottura e strumenti tra tradizione e innovazione” (Edizioni Gribaudo, 2012); he is the curator of eight volumes on Italian cuisine for DeAgostini (2007-2008). He also works as restorer of antiquities. / Location, food curator
Susanna Giaccai volunteer Italy, Firenze Wikimedia Italia member. Librarian. / Program User:Giaccai
  Michele Lavazza Volunteer Italy, Milan Wikipedian, wikimedian. Student in philosophy. [it], [en], [fr]. / Program MLWatts
Federico Leva Volunteer Italy, Milan
  • Wikimedian since 2006 in several areas, did stuff.
  • WMIT: treasurer 2008-2009, wrote first reimbursement policy; helped a bit setting up WMIT Wikimania scholarships program 2011–, evaluator in 2013.
  • University of Milan: board of directors 2009-2012 overseeing 750 M€ budget, contracts up to ~10 M€; committee dividing ~170 k€ / y among students orgs; co-organised students event with thousands participants, 2009-2012.
 Attended 2010 and 2011 kickstarting a renewed Italian delegation; into Wikimania discussions since then; watched since 2007. Scholarship working group, chair User:Nemo_bis
  Lorenzo Losa Volunteer Italy, Milan area and Pisa Wikimedia Italia board, wikipedian, wikimedian. Wikimania 2011 Haifa, Wikimania 2012 Washington DC, Wikimania 2013 Hong Kong. Wikimedia Italia board User:Laurentius
Ester Maglia Volunteer Italy, Esino Manages Esino Lario tourist office and she is involved with Pro Loco in the organization of events. Student in pharmacy. / Location
  Luca Martinelli Volunteer Italy, Rome area Wikimania 2011 Haifa, Wikimania 2012 Washington DC, Wikimania 2013 Hong Kong. Evaluation, chair
Giusy Nasazzi Volunteer Italy, Esino Teacher in Esino Lario Kindergarten. / Location
Nicola Nasazzi Volunteer Italy, Esino Member of Esino Lario city council. / Location
Serena Nasazzi Volunteer Italy, Esino Treasurer of the association Pro Loco in Esino Lario. She has been organizing and managing events in Esino. / Location
  Giuditta Nelli Volunteer Italy, Genova area Artist. / Program, special events
Giammario Ortelli Volunteer Italy, Esino Lario Esino Lario city council, vice-mayor. / Location
  Roberto Paci Dalò Volunteer Italy, Rimini Artist and composer. / Technical and Special events Roberto Paci Dalò
  Iolanda Pensa Volunteer Italy, Milan / Esino Experience in directing and managing international projects, and in fundraising, research and communication. Interdisciplinary academic studies (university degree in medieval art history, thesis in contemporary art, Ph.D. in anthropology and territorial government and planning). Experience in problem-solving, international youth exchanges and social work. Coordinator of the Ecomuseo delle Grigne. Wikipedian and wikimedian, volunteer in Esino Lario. [it], [en], [fr]. Wikimania 2011 Haifa, Wikimania 2012 Washington DC, Wikimania 2013 Hong Kong. Promoter iopensa
  Carlo Maria Pensa Pensa Volunteer Italy, Lake Como / Esino Engineer and businessman. As a volunteer - among other activities - mayor of Esino Lario for 10 years, involved in the Comunità montana, president of Associazione Amici del Museo delle Grigne. Deep knowledge of the territory. / Location and promoter
Pietro Pensa Volunteer Italy, Milan area / Esino Architect and engineer. He is specialized in safety and security issues. He is one of the professional experts in-charge of safety and security for Expo Milan 2015 buildings. / Location, security and infrastructural upgrades [10]
Alberto Pinto Volunteer Italy, Milan area / Switzerland, Ticino Expertise in sound and acoustics (BS-MS in pure mathematics, MS in applied physics focusing on digital signal processing perceptual audio coding and music information and Ph.D. in computer science at the University of Milan and visiting scholar at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics at Stanford University; he is the director of the CESMA, a European Centre for Studies in Music and Acoustics based in Lugano). He is also plays the organ (conservatory of Milan, Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève, organist of San Bartolomeo church in Milan, Prize of the National Organ Competition of Viterbo - CariVit and the "Pierre Segond" Prize - City of Geneva) / Technical, sound [11]
Vincent Plisson Volunteer France / UK / South Africa Graphic designer. He has been working in Great Britain, France and South Africa. / Communication [12]
  Remulazz Remulazz Volunteer Italy, Milan area Wikipedian. / Documentation, geography User:Remulazz
Simone Sala Volunteer Italy, Milan; Switzerland, Lugano 9-year experience in a wide range of cross-sectorial applications of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Sustainable Development in emerging regions. Proven ability to design and deliver tailored ICT-related projects and programmes to both non-governmental organizations and governmental institutions in Bangladesh, Bolivia, Ghana, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Senegal, United States of America. [it], [en], [fr], [es]. / Technical, chair linkedin
  Ginevra Sanvitale Volunteer Italy, Bologna area / South Corea Engagement in Wikimedia Italia activities, specific interest in gender activities and projects (in Italy and at large), collaboration in WLM communication. [it], [en], [es]. Wikimania 2011 Haifa, Wikimania 2012 Washington DC, Wikimania 2013 Hong Kong. Program, general coordinator User:Atropine
  Catherine de Senarclens Volunteer Italy, Lake Como / Esino Experience in organizing events (school exchanges, trips of the Associazione Amici del Museo), volunteer coordinator, editor of books and excellent organizational and relational skills. Former English teacher and vice-headmaster of a linguistic high school. [it], [fr], [en], [de]. / Location, accommodation
Giulia Sepe Wikimedia Italia staff Italy, Milan Project manager, experience in organizing and implement large-scale events, project manager of the Wikimedia Conference 2013 in Milan. [it], [en], [es], [fr]. / Wikimania Esino Lario bid project manager
  Chiara Somajni Volunteer Germany, Berlin Independent journalist, formerly employed at Il Sole 24 Ore (major Italian financial newspaper), writing, editing, focus on culture and technology. Board member of ActionAid International. [it], [en], [de]. Participated in Wikimania 2005 Frankfurt. Program, relationships with keynotes. linkedin
  Leigh Thelmadatter Coordinator-Wiki Borregos Tec de Monterrey Mexico Language professor in Mexico's largest private university system. I have worked with Wikipedia in English-as-a-foreign-language classes since 2007. Since 2011, I have coordinated efforts to develop a Wikipedia Education program at the school with projects in classrooms, to fulfill community service requirements and organize events such as photo contests related to Mexico's culture. These efforts have been recently re-organized under the name of "Wiki Borregos" (name of school mascot), accepted by the school system but still in process to be recognized as a user group by the Foundation. [en], [es] Wikimania 2012 Washington DC speaker. Program
  Ilario Valdelli Wikimedia CH staff Switzerland, Lugano Excellent knowledge of the territory of Wikimania Esino Lario, network in Italy and Switzerland, experience of organizing and contributing to Wikimedia events, strong engagement in the movement. Community manager in Ticino Switzerland for Wikimedia CH, he also works in ICT. [it], [en], [fr]. Member of the jury of previous Wikimania. Program, Wikimania Takes Lake Como, activities in Ticino Switzerland. User:ilario, linkedin
Fabio Vanin Volunteer Italy, Venice Architect and urban designer, Ph.D. in Urbanism. He worked as project leader for several strategic plans in Europe (Antwerp, Gent, Gorzow, Poznan) and Africa (Nairobi), and as research assistant at TU Eindhoven and at University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He is the co-founder of Latitude: Platform for Urban Research and Design. / Location Linkedin, site
Giovanni Viglienghi Volunteer Italy, Esino Entrepreneur in Esino Lario, president of the Alpini, member of Esino Lario city council. / Location
  Jessie Wild WMF staff US, San Francisco Staff of Wikimedia Foundation, focus on evaluation (Grantmaking team, senior manager, Grantmaking Learning and Evaluation). Evaluation User:Jwild

Institutions

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Support

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Support by Role
Wikimedia Italia With general assembly vote in October 2013 (further specified in April 2014), Wikimedia Italia is promoter of Wikimania Esino Lario.
  1. Promotes Wikimania Esino Lario.
  2. Makes sure the event is properly communicated to its community (Wikimedia Italia communication tools: website, social networks, newsletters, mailing lists, meetings, general assembly).
  3. Involves its volunteers in attending the event and in contributing to the planning and organization of the event.
  4. Contributes to the event with the involvement of its staff during the week of Wikimania Esino Lario (in-kind contribution).
Wikimedia CH With the board resolution in February 2014, Wikimedia CH supports and co-promotes Wikimania Esino Lario.
  1. Promotes Wikimania Esino Lario
  2. Make sure the event is properly communicated to its community (Wikimedia CH communication tools: website, social networks, newsletters, mailing lists, meetings, general assembly)
  3. Involves its volunteers in attending the event and in contributing to the planning and organization of the event
  4. Contributes to the event with the involvement of its staff during Wikimania Esino Lario (in-kind contribution).
  5. Supports the organization of special events and excursions in Switzerland
  6. Decides its eventual in-kind and financial support to Wikimania Esino Lario in its next budget and financial plan.

Wikimedia CH could be the institution applying to Swiss grant-makers.

Esino Lario city council It has expressed its support September 2013; the city council has also produced a board resolution which officially supports the bid.
  1. Free use to city council infrastructures: Villa Clotilde, multimedia room of the Museo delle Grigne, former Museum della Grigne, Primary School, Sport hall/multifunctional space.
  2. Volunteer commitment of different members of the city council to contribute to the organization of the event.
  3. Access to information necessary to plan and organize the event.
Pro Loco Esino Lario It has expressed its support September 2013. Pro Loco will be partner of the event and it will directly promote activities and initiatives in Esino Lario. It will have a key role in managing volunteers and in taking care of some of the tasks necessary to implement the event in Esino Lario. Pro Loco are local associations meant to manage events. The involvement of Pro Loco Esino Lario is a great advantage for the event because of its experience and because of the specific legislative advantages local Pro Loco have. A meeting between Pro Loco and Wikimedia Italia is necessary to define a partnership agreement, but in general we already envision the role of Pro Loco Esino Lario as following
  • being the organizer of the event in Esino Lario
  • managing the smaller reimbursements for the accommodation
  • managing the tensile structure and the coffee breaks
  • managing the necessary licenses (siae); Pro Loco have a specific less expensive fee.
  • facilitating the involvement of volunteers.
Ecomuseo delle Grigne It has expressed its support September 2013. The Ecomuseo delle Grigne will be partner of the event and it will contribute in it by involving its community and network of associations.
Comunità montana della Valsassina Valvarrone Val d'Esino e Riviera and Regional Grigne Park Support letter received February 2014.
  1. Support of the event.
  2. Involvement of the Comunità montana della Valsassina Valvarrone Val d'Esino e Riviera and Regional Grigne Park in the organization of excursions and in the program of workshops and activities for children.
  •  
    Support from the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center
  •  
    Support from the Comunità montana della Valsassina Valvarrone Val d'Esino e Riviera and Regional Grigne Park

Stakeholders

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Stakeholder Interest Resources Possible benefit
Wikimedia movement
  • Getting together.
  • Collaborate.
  • Having time to develop projects further.
  • Comfortable, enjoyable and affordable experience.
  • Interest and commitment in the Wikimedia projects and open content.
  • Involvement in the organization and participation in the event.
  • Decision related to Wikimania and volunteer support to it.
  • A new format for Wikimania. A change, innovation and challenge.
  • An event focused on the community, human-scale (versus the urban-scale), inevitable proximity and collaborative atmosphere.
  • An affordable event; enjoyable landscape, attractive Lake Como; possibility to visit Expo Milan 2015; proximity to Milan, Lombardy Region and Switzerland.
Wikimania Jury
  • Selecting the best location for Wikimania.
  • Checking feasibility and affordability.
  • Meeting the bid criteria and come to consensus (does the 5th pillar can be taken into consideration?)
  • Reviews the bid criteria.
  • Considers options, evaluates and takes the decision.
  • Involves members who have previous experience in organizing Wikimania, have attended many Wikimania and are actively involved in the movement.
  • Makes questions to investigate all aspects of the organization, logistics and challenges which can be used to further develop the proposal.
  • Contributes to produce a more detailed proposal and verifies information.
  • Supporting a new idea.
  • Experimenting a different format for Wikimania which can open the way to new working directions and which can contribute to ideas and proposal for Wikimania beyond this event.
  • Ensuring that movement resources are used to concretely advance the Wikimedia mission, not just for a party for wikimedians at the expense of donors.
Previous organizers of Wikimania
  • Active in the Wikimedia movement.
  • Experience.
  • Hints.
  • Ideas and proposals to implement Wikimania.
  • Possibility of sharing invoices, purchase orders, documents very valuable to reduce work and getting a sense of reasonable choices.
  • Making sure Wikimania relies on their experience.
  • Making sure the projects builds up and do not waste their work.
Wikimedia Italia
  • Supporting free knowledge and the Wikimedia projects in particular in Italy.
  • Long-term collaborations and impact on open knowledge in Italy.
  • Support to its volunteers and the Wikimedia movement.
  • Experience in managing a conference in Italy.
  • Chapter engaged and active in the Wikimania movement at an international level.
  • Good relationships with like-minded organizations, some very relevant potential sponsors, public administrations and cultural institutions in Italy.
  • Good press contacts.
  • Wikimania in Italy.
  • Reinforcement of the relationships with like-minded organizations, public administrations and cultural institutions in Italy.
  • Relevant opportunity for Wikimedia Italy members to attend the gathering and experience for the volunteers involved.
  • Strengthening the communication of Wikimedia Italia with its direct role in hosting Wikimania and the Wikimedia movement.
  • Wikimedia Italia would be the promoter of the initiative.
Esino Lario city council
  • Supporting the territory and the community.
  • Showing their commitment and great results.
  • Improving the quality of life of the people living in Esino Lario.
  • Facilitating tourism.
  • Fostering a positive reputation of Esino Lario.
  • Supporting the organizations of events.
  • Coordinating the work of associations and volunteers.
  • Ownerships of a series of buildings and open spaces.
  • Tourist office and support in renting flats already active.
  • The administration is made of volunteers committed to support the territory and the community.
  • People with different skills, networks and roles within the territory.
  • Access to maps and documents.
  • Increased visibility for Esino Lario and the name of Esino Lario associated to Wikipedia and what the Wikimedia movement represents (technology, collaborative work, knowledge, innovation).
  • Relevant use of public buildings and spaces.
  • Improvement of public buildings used for the community.
  • The City Council could be co-promoter of the event.
Ecomuseo delle Grigne (with associations and operators of Esino Lario)
  • Preserve, document and foster the territorial cultural heritage, intangible heritage and landscape.
  • Active involvement of the community.
  • Quality of life.
  • Knowledge of the territory.
  • Wide team of heterogeneous people with different skills, networks and roles within the territory.
  • Experience in organizing conferences and events (not only in Esino Lario).
  • Active engagement in the production of the event.
  • The success of being part of creating an ambitious project.
  • The pride of hosting an international conference related to technology, collaborative work, knowledge, innovation.
  • The experience of working together as a community and as part of the Wikimedia movement.
  • The involvement of your people.
  • Increased visibility for Esino Lario and the name of Esino Lario associated to Wikipedia and what the Wikimedia movement represents.
  • The Ecomuseo delle Grigne would be co-promoter of the event.
Varenna city council
  • The municipalities of Esino Lario, Varenna, Lierna and Perledo are becoming one municipality.
  • Existing synergy with Esino Lario.
  • International conference site (important conferences about physics and public administration).
  • Villa Cipressi (located in Varenna and mainly owned by the city council).
  • Villa Monastero (located in Varenna, owned by Provincia di Lecco).
  • Accommodation.
  • Railway station (asking if the space can host a welcome room, space where to storage luggage while visiting Varenna; and a WIP – Wikimedian important people – room).
  • Tourist and information office.
  • Being part of the event and its communication.
  • Hosting part of the guests.
Perledo city council
  • The municipalities of Esino Lario, Varenna, Lierna and Perledo are becoming one municipality.
  • Existing synergy with Esino Lario.
  • Accommodation.
  • Being part of the event and its communication.
  • Hosting part of the guests.
Lierna city council
  • The municipalities of Esino Lario, Varenna, Lierna and Perledo are becoming one municipality.
  • Existing synergy with Esino Lario.
  • Accommodation.
  • Being part of the event and its communication.
  • Hosting part of the guests.
Regione Lombardia
  • Esino Lario is located in Regione Lombardia.
  • It is organizing in 2015 the Expo in Milan.
  • It has a strategic touristic focus for Lake Como.
  • The Ecomuseo delle Grigne is an ecomuseum recognized by Regione Lombardia.
  • Possible financial support.
  • Possible support to improve tourist receptivity and public buildings.
  • Support to its territorial development.
  • Richer programme for Expo Milan 2015.
Provincia di Lecco
  • Esino Lario is located in the Province of Lecco.
  • They manage the networks in the Province of Lecco (libraries, museums...).
  • They support the local transport in the province.
  • They own Villa Monastero in Varenna and other sites.
  • They have access to data and expertise in events.
  • Existing synergy with Esino Lario. The Province of Lecco was one of the main partners of the project "Vestire i paesaggi".
  • Villa Monastero in Varenna is owned by the Province of Lecco.
Comunità Montana della Valsassina, Valvarrone, Val d'Esino e Riviera
  • Esino Lario is a member of the Comunità Montana della Valsassina, Valvarrone, Val d'Esino e Riviera.
  • The Comunità Montana della Valsassina, Valvarrone, Val d'Esino e Riviera coordinates the activities of the Parco Regionale della Grigna Settentrionale.
  • They coordinate a network of municipalities and territories.
  • They have experience in events and logistics. They can support us in making the plan and checking its feasibility.
  • They manage the Parco Regionale della Grigna Settentrionale.
  • They have links with experts, local organizations and companies.
  • Existing synergy with Esino Lario.
  • Support to a municipality of the Comunità montana and its territorial development.
  • Supporting the territorial development of their area.
Parco Regionale della Grigna Settentrionale
  • Parco Regionale della Grigna Settentrionale is a regional park.
  • Esino Lario is the only municipality located entirely in the Parco Regionale della Grigna Settentrionale.
  • It is coordinated by the Comunità Montana della Valsassina, Valvarrone, Val d'Esino e Riviera.
  • Organization of excursions.
  • Organization of workshops for children.
  • Support to a municipality of the park and its territorial development.
  • Supporting the territorial development of their area.
  • Larger audience of the park activities and programmes.
  • Being part of the event and its communication.
Fondazione Cariplo
  • Support to cultural and territorial projects.
  • Specifically interest in territorial development created with partnerships.
  • Philanthropic organization.
  • Co-fundings (around 50%).
Fondazione della Provincia di Lecco
  • Support to volunteer organizations mainly in the Province of Lecco.
  • Support to services (social and community welfare).
  • Philanthropic organization.
  • Co-fundings (50-70%).
  • Participation in a larger project.
  • Consistency in the support to Esino Lario.
  • Support to a project that is both social and cultural, with an innovative approach.
Rockefeller Foundation (Bellagio Center)
  • Focus on Revalue Ecosystems (global vision and impact).
  • Support to international gathering capable of triggering policy and decision making.
  • Digital jobs Africa
  • Hosting international conferences and scholars at the Rockefeller Foundation Center.
  • Supporting conferences related to the programs of the Rockefeller Foundation Center.
  • Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center.
  • Support to projects/conferences related to the Rockefeller Foundation program.
  • Prestigious and beautiful site on Lake Como just in front of Varenna-Esino Lario.
  • Conference space for around 23 people (meals and accommodation supported by the Rockefeller Foundation).
  • In case of guests coming from the so-called Global South it is possible to apply for fundings to cover their travel expenses).
  • Support to an initiative that is in the area of Bellagio but international in its vision. Letter of support of the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center.
  • Interest in pilot projects that can be replicated globally.
  • A conference could be proposed (related for example to the use of ICT in small isolated area).
  • It is possible to apply for a more specialistic international conference hosted at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, but it needs to be a specific project for only 23 people.
  • Extending our program of activities with an international and global conference on a specific theme.
  • The guests of the specialistic international conference hosted at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center could attend Wikimania (an opportunity to invite other relevant international thinkers) but this is not a normal procedure for Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center conferences (it is necessary to check if it is possible).
Wikimedia CH
  • Supporting projects and initiatives in Switzerland.
  • Interest and experience in supporting broader and international projects.
  • Program and activities related to the Alps.
  • Esino Lario is close to Lugano.
  • Possible involvement in organizing the conference.
  • Synergy in particular with Ticino.
  • Co-organization of Wikimania.
  • Synergy with activities related to the Alps.
  • Event very close to Switzerland.
  • Nice new collaboration between two chapters in organizing Wikimania.
Wikimedia Foundation 5-year strategic priorities of
  • stabilize infrastructures
  • increase participation
  • Improve content quality
  • increase reach
  • encourage innovation (including organize meetings and events and "create community spaces dedicated to the exploration of new ideas")
  • Financial support to Wikimania.
  • Helping in organizing the event.
  • Helping the planning team secure sponsorships.
  • Support in activating its network of institutions and potential sponsors (?).
  • Contributing to the organization of the event (suggestions, remarks, communication).
  • Participating in the event.
  • Opportunity to meet with Wikimedia Foundation staff for the conference planning team, after being awarded the bid (before meeting them, get a clear idea of what you want from the staff).
  • Experimenting a new format for Wikimania which could open a new working approach for conferences and events.
  • Showing that the impact of the event is beneficial also for a territory and goes beyond the event on the middle and long-term.
  • The organization of Wikimania contributes to articles, images and georefericated data of the territory (this is the approach we are currently using with also planned event in the territory).
  • Several women in the organizational team; enjoying Lake Como; the proximity to George Clooney :).
Creative Commons Italia
  • Supporting free knowledge in particular in Italy.
  • Focus on open government and open data.
  • Like-minded organization.
  • Supporting pilot initiatives which can be replicated in Italy.
  • Involving volunteers in presentations and in "telling about CC licenses".
  • Member of the international Creative Commons network.
  • Network of lawyers and experts.
  • Possibility of involving them in training sessions.
  • Technical support related to licenses, suggestions, ideas for the conference program.
  • Involvement in the project.
  • Synergy with Wikimedia (already established and with good results)
  • Creative Commons Italia partner of the conference.
Interreg programme
  • European grant programme (new programme 2014).
  • Supporting transnational projects related to the Alps.
  • Emphasis on tourism, development of mountain territories and on access to digital resources and connectivity.
  • Financial support.
  • Project application in partnership with different countries.
  • They are already supporting the project The Alps on Wikipedia.
  • Develop further content on the Alps, documenting what has been already produced in the frame of the programme and synergy between countries.
Alpine Space Programme
  • European grant programme (new programme 2014).
  • Supporting transnational projects related to the Alps.
  • Emphasis on access to digital resources and connectivity in mountain territories.
  • Pilot projects.
  • Financial support.
  • Project application in partnership with different countries.
  • Develop content on the Alps, documenting what has been already produced in the frame of the programme and synergy between countries.
Politecnico di Milano - Polo di Lecco
  • Based in Lecco.
  • Faculty of Engineering.
  • Projects in the territory.
  • Students and potential volunteers.
  • Students and teachers who might contribute to Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects.
  • Presentation related to Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects.
  • Upload on the Wikimedia projects of background documentation related to their projects/research areas.
Camera di Commercio di Lecco
  • Supports operators/companies in Lecco area.
  • Possibile financial support.
  • Links with local networks.
  • Partner or supporter of the conference.
  • Associating their work to Wikipedia, technology and innovation.
Camera di Commercio di Milano
  • Supports operators/companies in Milan area.
  • It has supported innovative projects such as Meet the Media Guru in Milan.
  • Possibile financial support.
  • Links with local networks.
  • Partner or supporter of the conference.
  • Associating their work to Wikipedia, technology and innovation.
Camera di Commercio di Como
  • Supports operators/companies in Como area.
  • Possibile financial support.
  • Links with local networks.
  • Partner or supporter of the conference.
  • Associating their work to Wikipedia, technology and innovation.
Sistema bibliotecario della Provincia di Lecco (network of libraries)
  • Network of libraries and librarians.
  • Promotes cultural initiatives.
  • Good system to involve local GLAMs.
  • Good system to disseminate information.
  • Possibile involvement of librarians and library in activities related to Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects.
  • Enriching its cultural programme.
  • New skills for librarians and the audience of libraries.
  • Partnership with Wikimania in developing territorial activities.
Sistema museale della Provincia di Lecco (network of museums)
  • Network of local museums.
  • Promotes cultural initiatives and publications.
  • Good system to involve local GLAMs.
  • Possibile involvement of museums in activities related to Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects (promoting Wiki Loves Monuments).
  • Enriching its cultural programme.
  • New skills for people working in museums.
  • Contribution to Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects with their content.
  • Partnership with Wikimania in developing territorial activities.
  • Press pass (Wikipedians press pass) for all museums: permission to take photos and release them in cc by-sa, free access...
Lago Fiere
  • Exhibitions and congress centre.
  • Network of local operators.
  • Calendar of events involving local operators (tourism, cultural institutions, companies)
  • Possibile synergy to inform local operators/companies about Wikipedia and how they can contribute by releasing content.

Communication

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Instant book. One of the communication template of TOI Things of Internet designed by Antonio Scarponi for Esino Lario to create 8-pages small books georeferenciated and made of simple recycled A4 paper.
 
Making instant books.

Target and communication tools

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Target Objective Tools
Working team
  • Coordinating the work to plan and implement Wikimania Esino Lario.
  • Making sure that people can access information both in Italian (national team) and English (international team).
  • Making sure every person involved is welcomed and knows how he/she can contribute to.

Please note that the working team is made of all people working on the organization of Wikimania, regardless of where they are based.

  • Wikimania Esino Lario bid - working and coordination pages on meta (English and Italian)
  • Wikimania Team wiki,
  • Mailing list for the group and for specific working groups: wikimania-l (general), wikimania-planning-l, wikimania-program, wikimania-scholarships, wikimania-core , internal-l for collaboration with various Wikimedia insiders
  • Description of the team, objectives and tasks of each group
  • Contacts with Ellie Young and the Committees
  • Planning meetings
  • Mailing list in Italian esinolario at wikimedia.it
  • Visits to Esino Lario
  • Documentation shared and updated (management tools, road book)
  • Specific registration for the working team
People involved in Wikimania at an international level
  • Making sure we take full advantage of the experience of people linked to Wikimania-Wikimedia.
  • Making sure the working team is open to the contribution of all people interested in supporting the organization of Wikimania.
  • Communicating broad issues related to Wikimania to the community interested in the event and in the future of the event.
  • Please refer also to the working team.
  • wikimania-l
  • Wikimania Esino Lario bid - presentation of the proposal
  • Exchange with the jury and answers to their comments
Wikimedia community in Italy and like-minded organizations
  • Inviting them to participate in Wikimania.
  • Inviting them to contribute to Wikimania as volunteers.
  • Providing information about the Wikimedia movement and in which ways they can contribute to it (online and offline).
  • CentralNotice
  • Media (local, national and international)
  • Scholarships
Wikimedia community in Switzerland and like-minded organizations
  • Inviting them to participate in Wikimania.
  • Inviting them to contribute to Wikimania as volunteers.
  • Providing information about the Wikimedia movement and in which ways they can contribute to it (online and offline).
Members of Wikimedia Italia
  • Inviting them to participate in Wikimania.
  • Inviting them to contribute to Wikimania as volunteers.
  • Wikimedia Italia mailing list
  • Wikimedia Italia newsletter
  • Wikimedia Italia website and social networks
  • Decision of the board and of the general assembly
  • Scholarships
  • General assembly of Wikimedia Italia (to inform, update and collect feedback)
Members of Wikimedia Switzerland
  • Inviting them to participate in Wikimania.
  • Inviting them to contribute to Wikimania as volunteers.
  • Wikimedia CH mailing list
  • Wikimedia CH website and social networks
  • Wikimedia CH member wiki (internal website)
  • Decision of the board
  • Scholarships
  • General assembly of Wikimedia CH (to inform, update and collect feedback)
  • Scholarships
Potential attendees from all-over the world
  • Inviting them to participate in Wikimania.
  • Providing information about the Wikimedia movement and in which ways they can contribute to it (online and offline).
  • Specific website wikimania20xx.wikimedia.org (presentation of the event and overview)
  • Replies to comments on the website.
  • CentralNotice
  • OTRS
  • Media
  • Scholarships
Attendees (communication before, during and after the event).
  • Providing practical information about the event and support to attend and enjoying it (before and during the event).
  • Providing information and documentation about the event (videos, photos, feedback).
  • Collecting feedback.
  • Specific website wikimania20xx.wikimedia.org (practical information)
  • Replies to comments on the website.
  • OTRS
  • Scholarships
  • Support for the visa procedures
  • email to the attendees before arrival (to remind them where to find everything)
  • Emergency number
  • People involved in the organization who both know Italian and English (and other languages)
  • Information desk
  • Welcome begs
  • Paper booklet
  • Badge
  • Announcements during the conference
  • Signs on rooms and around the locations (urban signage)
  • Moderators for each session
  • Recording or video recording short description of the results of working sessions (trainings, workshops, discussions).
Media and press
  • Providing a presentation of the event (texts, information, images, news and updates).
  • Supporting the participation of media and press in the event (practical information, a specific space for interviews, registration, support in organizing interviews).
  • Press kit
  • Press contacts (local, national - Italy and Switzerland - and international)
  • Answers to media requests
  • Press conference
  • Specific registration for the press
  • Press office (news, updates, information, images, texts, support in organizing interviews) - Documentation in Italian and English
  • Space for interviews
Stakeholders
  • Providing reports and documentation which allows to evaluate the project (correspondence between the project and the results, definition of outcomes and metrics, documentation with data and photos)
  • Supporting stakeholders in attending the event.
  • Crediting correctly the support and engagement of stakeholders.
  • Sponsor kit
  • Credits and logos (according to trademarks and stakeholders-partners requests)
  • Request of support letters
  • Application forms and communication specifically designed for each stakeholder
  • Reports (narrative and financial) according to the guidelines of each stakeholders
  • Contact person for stakeholders.
  • Specific registration for the stakeholders
  • Press coverage (local, national and international)
  • Evaluation
Legacy
  • Making sure the event is documented and its documentation to people who attended it or didn't.
  • Making sure guidelines and documentation related to the experience is documented to allow others to replicate or build upon the experience.
  • Documentation about the process.
  • Press coverage
  • Recording or video recording short description of the results of working sessions (trainings, workshops, discussions).
  • Video recording of presentations.
  • Photos of the events.
  • Upload of the video recordings
  • Upload of photos of the event
  • Conference "post-mortem"
  • Collecting attendees feedback
  • A representative of the team will join the Wikimedia team the year after.
Local media
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Relationships with local media are important to inform about Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects, to provide people of the territory a calendar of events and presentations related to Wikipedia/Wikimedia and to involve volunteers in contributing to the Wikimedia projects and in supporting the organization of Wikimania. Local media are also essential to involve potential local sponsors: Lake Como area and Valsassina are not only touristic area, but they also have a lively industrial production and some national-size companies.

Name Type Language Level of Wikipedia-issues Coverage Website
La Provincia di Lecco local newspaper Italian almost none http://www.laprovinciadilecco.it
Giornale di Lecco local newspaper Italian almost none http://www.giornaledilecco.it
La Provincia di Sondrio local newspaper Italian almost none http://www.laprovinciadisondrio.it
Giornale del Popolo (Ticino) local newspaper Italian almost none http://www.gdp.ch
Il Giornale del Ticino local newspaper Italian almost none http://www.giornaledelticino.ch
Il Corriere del Ticino local newspaper Italian almost none http://www.cdt.ch
Lago di Como - lakecomo.it Online information website Italian and English almost none http://www.lakecomo.it/en
Terra di laghi (Italy and Ticino) Online information website Italian none http://www.terradilaghi.com
Il Lago di Como Orientale (Oriental side of Lake Como) Online information website Italian, English, German none http://www.larioorientale.eu
VAOL.IT - Quotidiano online della Valtellina, Valchiavenna, Lago di Lecco e Como Online information website Italian almost none http://www.vaol.it/it/
Valsassina News Online information website Italian almost none http://www.valsassinanews.com
National media
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National media have been already involved in the communication of Wiki Loves Monuments in Italy. Relationships with national media are important to inform the Italian bid and eventually Wikimania in Italy, to recruit volunteers in contributing to the Wikimedia projects and in supporting the organization of Wikimania, and to target national sponsors.

Name Type Language Level of Wikipedia-issues Coverage Website
ANSA Press information / news Italian http://www.ansa.it
Corriere della Sera national newspaper Italian
La Repubblica national newspaper Italian
Il Sole 24 Ore (with Nova - technological focussed paper and Cultura - cultural pages on sunday) national newspaper Italian
La Stampa national newspaper Italian
Radio 3 (cultural programmes; in particular Fahrenheit does direct recordings/interviews during events; Radio 3 Mondo) radio Italian http://www.radio3.rai.it
Radio 2 (entertainment programs; in particular Caterpillar) radio Italian http://www.radio2.rai.it
RSI Radio Svizzera Italiana radio Italian http://www.rsi.ch/home.html
International media
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For local and national media relationships the focus is both on Italy and Switzerland. Other international media are involved in collaboration with Wikimedia Foundation (review press kits and contact management). The relationship with international media taps on current links and contacts and it focuses on the theme of Wikimania which in Esino Lario goes green and sustainable.

Communication materials

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Expense Number Days Cost/Unit Total in euro Total in dollars
Promotional materials € 5.000
Participants package 1.000 € 5 € 5.000
Total amount planned in the estimated costs € 10.000
Currency € 1,00

Administration and management

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Staff

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The large involvement of people and providers in Wikimania Esino Lario requires a specific administration and management.

  • The administrative work includes processing payment, checking pre-invoice and contract, veriying bill, veryfing budget, updating calendar of payments and income - regularly checking the account, asking for authorization, executing payment, archiving bills, updating budget, making the financial reports and contributing to the management of the event during Wikimania week.
  • The management of the event includes checking apartments, hotels, dorms, food providers, venues, transport and equipment; checking the project status with meetings and calls; managing problems, updating the websites with the information, producing the necessary reports and contributing to the management of the event during Wikimania week.
  • The management of the participants includes managing the registrations and the visa process, providing support to the participants (accommodation, transport, problems, help desk) and contributing to the management of the event during Wikimania week.
Estimated providers for area Number
Food 15
Accommodation apartments 70
Accommodation hotels 13
Bills per year for the staff 60
Transport 10
Communication 5
Equipment 12
Venues 12
Total 197

To make sure the event is self-stending and it can be properly implemented, we include in the budget an amount for the staff.

Expense staff Estimated salary per year Estimated day Estimated percentage Total in euro Total in dollars
Administration € 30.000 88 39% € 11.835,84
Participants € 30.000 102 46% € 13.744,64
Senior manager € 50.000 94 43% € 21.282,19
Junor manager € 30.000 56 25% € 7.564,38
Total € 54.427,04
Total amount planned in the estimated costs € 55.000,00
Currency € 1,00

Below a draft on how the amount was calculated. The amount can be distributed differently according to the staff selected. The percentage is calculated on 1864 working hours per year and on a 8,4 number of working hours per day.

Administration Number Number of hours Hours Number of days Days Hours Percentage
Financial reports for Wikimedia Italia 4 34
Financial reports for grant-makers 4 3 12 101
Updating calendar of payments and income - regularly checking the account 12 1 12 101
Processing payment, checking pre-invoice and contract, veriying bill, veryfing budget, asking for authorization, executing payment, archiving bills, updating budget 197 39 331
Food 15 3 45
Accommodation apartments 70 1 70
Accommodation hotels 13 3 39
Bills per year for the staff 60 1 60
Transport 10 3 30
Communication 5 3 15
Equipment 12 3 36
Venues 12 3 36
Managing registration numbers, chapters, wikimedia foundation, problems of payments with participants 3 25
Meetings 6 3 18 2 18
Involvment in the event 15 126
Total number of days, hours and percentage of the year 88 735 39%
Management of the participants Number Number of hours Days Hours Percentage
Managing the visa process (expected number of visa see transport session) 140 2 33 280
Time for each participant (accomodation, transport, problems, help desk) 860 0,5 51 430
Meetings 6 3 2 18
Involvment in the event 15 126
Total 102 854 46%
Senior manager Number Number of hours Hours Number of days Days Hours Percentage
Review of the general financial report 4 34
Review financial reports for grant-makers 4 1 4 34
Reports for grant-makers 4 3 12 101
Meetings 12 1 12 101
Check on the project status (calendar, people, budget, problems). Updates online. 12 2 24 202
Problem-solving per estimated payments 197 1 197 23 197
Involvment in the event 15 126
Total number of days, hours and percentage of the year 94 793 43%
Junior manager Number Number of hours Hours Number of days Days Hours Percentage
Checking the accommodation apartments 70 2 140 17 140
Checking the accommodation hotels 13 3 39 5 39
Checking the food providers 15 3 45 5 45
Checking the venues 12 3 36 4 36
Checking the equipment 12 3 36 4 36
Checking the transport 10 3 30 4 30
Meetings 6 3 18 2 18
Involvment in the event 15 126
Total number of days, hours and percentage of the year 56 470 25%

General costs

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To make sure the event is self-stending, we include in the budget an amount for general costs (opening a specific bank account, phone calls, and general office costs). We also include in the general cost the cost of an Italian license (siae).

Expense Number Days Cost/Unit Total in euro Total in dollars
Licenses (siae) 5 € 200 € 1.000
General costs of the office € 3.000
Total amount planned in the estimated costs € 4.000
Currency € 1,00

Contingencies

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An amount is planned in the budget to manage unexpected expenses or possible increase of costs.

Expense Total in euro Total in dollars
Contingencies € 20.000
Total amount planned in the estimated costs € 20000
Currency € 1,00

Budget

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Cost for participants and scholarships

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Please refer to cost for participants.

Expenses

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The proposal is a self-stending project. The budget includes all expenses necessary to produce the event and a amount defined as "contingencies" meant to manage risks and unexpected expenses.

Costs by area
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Area Total in euro Total in dollars Percentage
Direct costs of the event € 248.927 63%
Legacy € 88.200 22%
Management € 59.000 15%
Total expenses € 396.127 100%
Currency € 1,00
Detailed costs
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Area Expense General costs conference euro General costs conference dollars
Participants Lunch and coffee breaks € 80.500
Participants Personal insurence € 10.000
Participants Italian volunteers and local guests € 51.166
Venue Tensile structure and rented forniture € 18.002
Venue Cleaning and toilets € 7.554
Venues/Legacy Upgrades of buildings € 37.000
Transport Busses € 17.350
Technical/Legacy Connectivity and video uploads € 40.000
Technical Electricity € 4.000
Technical/Legacy Equipment € 16.200
Program Facilitators for the thematic discussions € 3.000
Program Video recording of the sessions € 2.400
Program Keynotes - guest speakers € 4.155
Program Welcome event € 15.000
Program Wikimania Loves Lake Como € 800
Communication Communication materials € 10.000
Organization Staff € 55.000
Organization General costs € 4.000
Organization Contingencies € 20.000
Total expenses € 396.127
Currency € 0,73

Financial plan

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Expected income Total in euro Total in dollars Percentage
Request to Wikimedia Foundation € 182.151 250.000 46%
Planned income from registrations € 68.000 93.329 17%
Sponsors and request of grants € 145.976 200.351 37%
Total expected income € 396.127 543.680 100%
Total expected expenses € 396.127 543.680
Difference with the expenses € 0 0
Currency € 1,00
Request to Wikimedia Foundation
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We are making a request to Wikimedia Foundation of 250'000 $. We do understand that Wikimedia Foundation could eventually cover up to 400'000 $ of Wikimania; there are two reasons why we do not ask for this amount:

  1. 250'000 $ is approximately the cost of Wikimania Hong Kong which had 700 participants + 300 volunteers. The number of participants and volunteers at Wikimania Hong Kong is comparable with our proposal and the budget spent during this event is considered reasonable.
  2. We are aware that Wikimania Esino Lario is a new format and a complex event. Setting the request to 250'000 $ allows to have 150'000 $ that we do not plan to use, but that can put Wikimedia Foundation in the position to manage risks.
Planned income from registrations
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We plan to cover insurance and lunch with the registrations. This approach have the advantage that scholarships, institutions supporting specific participants (i.e. Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia chapters, university fund) and participants will pay directly for a cost associated directly to their participation. Differently from other venues in which catering is basically a fixed cost, at Wikimania Esino Lario we also take advantage of restaurants and bars, which allow the cost to be reduced if the number of participants is less. The estimated cost of insurance and lunch in the budget corresponds to the planned income from registrations (and it can decrease accordingly). Please refer to cost for participants.

Sponsors and request of grants
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Technical sponsors can reduce our costs; we already had a printing society and a wine society giving their availability to support the event with their services and products. We also expect the good relationship between Wikimedia Italia and a major communication society in Italy to facilitate/support the implementation of the connectivity. In general we do not expect sponsors to cover the costs of the event with money; this is due to the current economic situation and to the fact that sponsorship is traditionally not so strong in Italy as in other countries.
Our financial strategy is mainly focussed on grant-makers. This is unusual for an event, but our event is unusual. Wikimania Esino Lario includes a series of activities and costs related to territorial development. This approach can be supported by non-profit grant-makers because it can contribute to their mission and it has short, middle and long-term fall-outs. More specifically we will fundraise to

  • create the collaborative space in Esino Lario which will remain after the conference as a building for association
  • provide two staircases in the sport-hall with allow the space to welcome more people in security
  • provide internet connectivity to the entire village.
  • support the management and implementation with some payed staff.

We defined the amount of co-funding based on the specific expenses we can cover with the support of grant-makers.
Wikimedia Foundation grant will cover the specific costs of the event and it will not cover costs associated to territorial development. Even if not directly associated to territorial development, the grant from Wikimedia Foundation will support grant-seeking as a co-funding, with a multiplier effect which creates benefits for a broader audience. Furthermore the expenses associated to territorial development relate to connectivity, accessibility and collaborative work[40].

Assuring the ability to meet financial responsibilities
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The only way we can assure our ability to meet financial responsibility is to bid in 2014 for 2016. If the jury considers the proposal relevant for 2016, we can fundraise until December 2014 to assure the co-funding for Wikimania Esino Lario. This allows the event to have the necessary resources to be implement and in case the team is unable to meet its financial responsibilities the event in 2016 can be reassigned on time to a different location. This is the only solution to avoid the jury, the steering committee, Wikimedia Foundation and the institutions involved in Wikimania Esino Lario to take financial risks. Please refer to the Esino Lario/2015-2016.

Applying in 2014 for 2016

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We decided to apply in 2014 to host Wikimania in Esino Lario in 2016. We are aware that this is an unusual request and below we present the reasons and the implications of eventually supporting this proposal.

  • Proposed dates: Wikimania Esino Lario takes place in the last week of June 2016.
    • Pre-conference: Wednesday 22nd and Thursday 23rd June 2016
    • Conference: Friday 24th, Saturday 25th, Sunday 26th June 2016.
    • Post-conference: Monday 27th and Tuesday 28th June 2016 .

In case the proposal Wikimania Esino Lario is considered relevant and valuable, we ask until December 2014 to fundraise and confirm our financial obligations.

Risk mitigation

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Internal risks
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Area (internal) Risk Result Impact Likelihood in 2015 Mitigation strategy 2015 Likelihood 2016 Mitigation strategy 2016
Location/Accommodation Limited accommodation, accommodation does not respond to the expected quality. Negative feedback from the participants; the event is unsuccessful. High Medium
  • Preparation of the bid which includes: first enquiry on the accommodation available (to Esino Lario owners only); random visit to apartments and dorms; feedback from the apartment owners; consensus on the definition of the reimbursement and definition of the request to participants; definition of alternative possibilities. Involvement of Esino Lario tourist office staff and definition of a coordinator for the task (Catherine de Senarclens).
  • 1 year to prepare the accommodation: request of apartments to owners not living in Esino Lario; census of the accommodation and apartments (information, photos, status, request of upgrade), definition of number of beds for each apartment, editing of instructions for each apartment, definition of people/groups for apartment or typology of acomodation and management of special needs. Information for participants before they register (to understand the atmosphere and define their expectations.
 Medium
  • 2 years to prepare the accommodation. Please refer to 2015 for the tasks.
  • 1 extra year allows also to imagine the follow up (centralized website for the apartment and the accommodation in Esino, proposal of establishing a diffuse hotel).
Location/Food Disorganized lunch and dinner, waiting time, not sufficient quantity and variety of food. Negative feedback from the participants; the event is unsuccessful. High Medium
  • Preparation of the bid which includes: enquiry on the restaurants and bars available; discussions with the restaurant and bars owners; request of pre-invoices to catering services; definition of prices and presentation of issues related to special diets. Definition of a coordinator of the task who can review menus and provide feedback and hints to restaurants, bars and catering (Tommaso Fara). Including in the budget catering expected costs for lunch and coffee breaks.
  • 1 year to manage the food.
 Medium 2 years to manage the food. More time also allows us to browse and implement solutions which can enrich the variety (es. street food, chefs in accomodation with kitchen).
Location/Transport Disorganized transport, waiting time, difficulty to reach Esino Lario. Negative feedback from the participants; the event is unsuccessful. High Medium
  • Preparation of the bid which includes: request of pre-invoices to bus companies, hypothesis of number of participants and flows; including in the budget expected costs for transport (Varenna-Esino and transport within Esino Lario; definition of a price for participants to organize direct transport from the airports.
  • 1 year to manage transport.
 Medium 2 years to manage transport.
Location/Venues Not enough venues, equipment does not respond to the expected needs. The event is a failure. High High
  • Preparation of the bid which includes: list of venues; collecting maps of venues, identifying needs and limits (accessibility, equipment, current and future use); collecting data (maps, details); definition of priorities and related budget; definition of the equipment needed.
  • 1 year to manage the venues. 5 months to fundraise for the necessary upgrades (no time to redefine the location in case the fundraise is unsuccessful) and 5 months to implement the upgrades.
  • To manage risks (in particular issues related to how much time is necessary to implement the upgrades) the proposal looked only at interventions priority 1 (interventions which are indispensable to host Wikimania).
 Low
  • 2 years to manage the venues.
  • 5 months to fundraise for the necessary upgrades (with time until December 2014, which allows to redefine the location in case the fundraise is unsuccessful) and 17 months to implement the upgrades.
  • More time allows to consider also interventions priority 2 (interventions which are not indispensabile to host Wikimania but which can provide better conditions and leaving a greater legacy). Time also allows to use more efficiently the budget for the equipment with careful expenses thought also for the future use of the venues.
Location/Connectivity Connectivity does not respond to the conference requirements. The event is a failure. High Medium
  • Preparation of the bid which includes: collecting data on the status, definition of the strategy, definition of a budget, definition of a coordinator with experience in ICT for development and connectivity in remote areas (Simone Sala).
  • 1 year to manage the connectivity.
 Low

2 years to manage the connectivity. More time to implement and test the system, to manage problems, and to define the best solutions also for future uses.

Program / Sessions he program does not introduce any new element. Sessions are poorly selected and they do not respond to expectations and needs of the attendees. The event is a failure. High Medium
  • Preparation of the bid which include an overview of past wikimania, potential target groups and their expectations, review of the feedback, format of sessions.
  • 5 members of the team already focussed on the working sessions.
  • 5 months prepare the program: identify other 5 members of the team who can work and review the structure of the working session and prepare call for proposals; specifically define the program, involve the community, collaborate with the program committee.
 Low 12 months to prepare the program.
Program / Special events and excursions The location does not offer any enjoyable activity, it is boring, it does not respond to the expectation of the attendees of enjoying their time together. Negative feedback from the participants; the event is unsuccessful. High Medium
  • Preparation of the bid which includes: contacts with artists (for music, performances and workshops), definition of a budget, definition of a coordinator for the special events and two people involved in managing the excursions; establishing a partnership with the Comunità montana and Regional Grigne Park for excursions in the mountains.
  • 1 year to manage the special events and excursions.
 Low 2 years to manage the special events and excursions. More time can also allow to enrich the program with more events and a better calendar before and after Wikimania. This can allow to take full advantage of the communication and visibility of Wikimania.
Organization/Financial plan Incapacity of responding to the financial obligations. The promoters are incapable of responding to the financial obligations. High High
  • Preparation of the bid which includes: identification of potential donors, definition of the budget, definition of priorities for upgrades.
  • 3 months to prepare applications and to contact sponsors (no time to redefine the location in case the fundraise is unsuccessful).
  • To implement the event in 2015 the financial strategy is based on reducing the budget to the essential, to focus on 1 donor (and the specific costs this donor and the relevant program can support), to include in applications only upgrades which are the most easy and fast to implement, and to consider specifically donors which can respond in a short time.
 Low Fundraising structured in two phases:
  • 5 months to fundraise for the necessary upgrades (with time until December 2014, which allows to redefine the location in case the fundraise is unsuccessful). The first phase focuses on guarantee the financial sustainability of the event and to cover its necessary costs (focus on priority 1 upgrades).
  • Other 12 months to further fundraise with donors and sponsors. This fundraising can provide funds also for priority 2 upgrades and to take full advantage of the organization of Wikimania (communication, events, outreach, side events, side projects).
Organization/Stakeholders Stakeholders do not support the event or they withdraw from their support. The event demonstrates to have a very limited capacity of collaborating with people and institutions. Medium High Preparation of the bid: contacts with stakeholders, presentation of the proposal (concept) to stakeholders, asking for letters of support or resolutions and collecting them. Medium Time until December 2014 to test the proposal and to see if it can get the necessary financial support to be implemented. The implementation in 2016 also provides a start-up phase of the project in which not only the concept of the proposal is supported but stakeholders can have the time to see, discuss and verify the plan. The time also allows stakeholders to consider their eventual in-kind and financial commitment.
Organization/Stakeholders Wikimania Esino Lario produces a disproportionate increase of work for Wikimedia Italia. Wikimedia Italia staff is overcharged, volunteers are overcharged, regular activities are postponed or treasured. The general atmosphere and the workflow of the association is challenged. It is important to mention that applications and request to donors need to be signed by Wikimedia Italia; Wikimedia Italia is the registered association which can make requests (an individual or informal group can not); Wikimedia Italia is not the only institution which can endorse the project and sign grant requests, but for some donors it is the most suitable institution. High Medium
  • Preparation of the bid: self-stending budget, the budget includes staff and general costs, the financial plan which does not include funds from Wikimedia Italia, the preparatory phase did not include the direct involvement of Wikimedia Italia board. Identification of a person who will manage the fundraising with institutions (Iolanda Pensa).
  • Wikimedia Italia has financially supported with a board resolution the involvement of a conference manager in the preparatory phase of the bid. The proposal is also linked to current activities in which Wikimedia Italy is involved (GLAMs in Lombardy Region - ArcheoWiki and Wiki Loves Monuments; outreach in schools and libraries; The Alps on Wikipedia). Wikimedia Italia is not expected to cover the costs of the event; it is expected in the agreement to promote it (communication, role, acknowledgment) and to be the financial sponsor of the event (which means that grants and financial support pass through Wikimedia Italia account and expenses are monitored by the association (accountability).
  • The proposal is conceived to boost the visibility and communication of Wikimedia projects in Italy; it is important to consider side initiatives (i.e. training for volunteers) to make sure Wikimedia Italia can take full advantage of Wikimania outreach and take care of its follow up and its fall-outs.
 Low
  • Time until December 2014 to guarantee the necessary financial support from donors (also Wikimedia Italia can decide to support the event with in-kind contribution or a budget). This time allows to to redefine the location in case the fundraise is unsuccessful.
  • Possibility of involving a person who can work on Wikimania and on other linked initiatives of Wikimedia Italia.
Organization The complexity of the logistics and the implementation of the financial plan are considered so challenging and such a priority, that all other aspects of the conference are underestimated and not followed properly. The conference only provides the necessary. Other important elements such as the structure and content of the program, the quality and variety of food, the quality of the special events and excursions is managed in the last minute. Negative feedback from the participants; the event is unsuccessful. High High
  • Preparation of the bid: review of existing documentation and past Wikimanias, proposal which includes all the aspects of the conference, identification of members of the team who can focus on specific aspects (not only logistics and budget).
  • Necessity of involving a project manager who monitors the advancement of the project in all areas.
 Low
  • More time to take care of all the aspects of the conference.
  • Necessity of involving a project manager who monitors the advancement of the project in all areas.
External risks
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Area (external) Risk Result Impact Likelihood in 2015 Mitigation strategy 2015 Likelihood 2016 Mitigation strategy 2016
Stakeholders Lack of support from the local hotels, dorms and apartment owners. Hotel or dorms in Esino Lario close and they can not be used. Limited accommodation, accommodation does not respond to the expected quality. High Medium Request of support during the bidding process. We didn’t count the available accommodation: we specifically checked the support of people. We consider that the number of available accommodation can increase and decrease. We set 700 beds in Esino Lario as a reasonable goal and we planed the management of transport from Varenna and Perledo. We also set the number of participants accordingly. Medium During the process of requesting support we noticed that time is an important element to allow people to take the decision and to commit to the event. Time until December 2014 to double check the accommodation.
Stakeholders Lack of support from the local restaurants and bars. Restaurants and bars in Esino Lario close or they can not be used. Disorganized lunch and dinner, waiting time, not sufficient quantity and variety of food. High Medium Contacts with restaurants and bars in Esino Lario. We set 1’000 people as the number of participants. We considered the number of seats in local restaurants, we planned the tensile structure and we didn’t consider the option of sandwiches. Medium Time until December 2014 to double check bars, restaurants and catering.
Stakeholders People can not believe it is possibile to organize a conference in a small village and they are unsure if the information provided is true and correct. The discussion is influenced by a negative bias and it concentrates on evaluating the idea rather than getting things done. Negative atmosphere or the bid is not selected. High High Detailed executive plan. Clear and transparent overview of current status, plan, budget and risks. Full access to further data and documents, possibility to talk directly to all the people involved in the planning. Review of the Jury, possibility for the community to contribute to review the bid, possibility to involve other people in reviewing the bid, possibility to visit Esino Lario.

It is important to mention that it is in the interest of everybody to produce a successful event. Wikimania Esino Lario had required and will require a lot of work. Winning the bid and being incapable of properly implement the event will only produce a failure and a bad reputation.

Low Time until December 2014 to double check the executive plan and to allow the organizers to demonstrate that they can cover their financial obligations.
2015-2016 The Jury and the Steering Committee do not want to change the timing of Wikimania and to approve a project for 2016. The bid is not selected. High High We present the reasons and implications of proposing in 2014 to host Wikimania Esino Lario in 2016. Medium The arguments we present can be relevant in the future for other Wikimanias.
Organization/Financial plan Wikimedia Foundation is worried to have to cover the financial obligations of the promoters. The bid is not selected. High High
  • Preparation of the bid: executive project, expenses, financial plan, contacts with the Wikimania coordinator for Wikimedia Foundation.
  • Proposal in 2014 to host Wikimania Esino Lario in 2016. This proposal allows the organizers to demonstrate that they can cover their financial obligations.
  • Request to Wikimedia Foundation of 250’000 $: this request is proportionate with other events of similar size, it is considered a reasonable budget for the event and it does not ask Wikimedia Foundation the maximum budget of Wikimania.
  • Definition in the budget of an amount of 20’000 euro for contingencies.
 Low Request of time until December 2014 to allow the organizers to demonstrate that they can cover their financial obligations.
Organization/Financial plan The financial support collected by potential sponsors and grant-makers is insufficient to cover the event. The event is cancelled. High Medium
  • Preparation of the bid: identification of potential donors, definition of the budget, definition of priorities for upgrades.
  • 3 months to prepare applications and to contact sponsors (no time to redefine the location in case the fundraise is unsuccessful).
 Low In case of no other financial support is confirmed by December 2014, the event can be cancelled and relocated.
Organization/Expenses The expenses planned are less than the actual expenses necessary to organize Wikimania Esino Lario. The event produces a financial loss. High Medium Bidding process: detailed executive project, detailed budget, involvement of Giulia Sepe in asking estimated costs to companies, double check of the budget, review of the budget with Wikimania coordinator for Wikimedia Foundation, including in the budget 20'000 € of contingencies. Request to Wikimedia Foundation of 250'000 $ which is less than the total budget Wikimedia Foundation can use to support Wikimania. Low Time until December 2014 to double check the budget, ask for further estimated costs to other companies and start the fundraising.
Stakeholders The Esino Lario city council will change in May 2014 and at the moment we do not know who will be the candidates. This change can in particular produce delays in resetting procedures, complete existing infrastructural projects, and providing the necessary authorizations to implement the infrastructural upgrades planned in the project High Medium Preparation of the bid: definition of priorities for upgrades. The upgrades selected are not complex infrastructural interventions: they include setting the connectivity, buying and installing two stairs in the Sport Hall and preparing the collaborative space (repurposing the building which includes electricity-wired, painting and forniture). None of those interventions require authorizations of the Sovrintendenza ai beni ambientali (regional authority), they focus on two Esino Lario city council buildings, and they do not require complex yards. Low Time allows to properly implement the upgrades in collaboration with the newly elected Esino Lario city council and eventually to implement larger upgrades if the fundraising allows it.
Participants Attendees arrive to Esino Lario thinking the conference is just as the others they attended. They expect to find the underground, millions of bars and nightclubs and public night transport guarantee until 4am. Clash between expectations and reality. Negative feedback from the participants; the event is unsuccessful. High Medium Clear and transparent overview of what we and Esino Lario can offer. Low After two year of talking about it and the event is more likely to be properly understood for what it is.
Safety The venues and the location do not respond to the Italian safety regulations. The event is cancelled. High Medium Preparation of the bid: involvement of a person in charge of safety (Pietro Pensa is an engineer specialized in building and working also on safety for Milan Expo sites; he has been involved in the definition of the upgrades and the number of people who can use the Esino Lario city council venues according to the Italian safety regulation). In the bid the number of people who can use the venues has been set not according to the maximum number of people who can fit the rooms but according to the number of exists and the distance to the exists. Low Time until December 2014 to double check the venues and the regulations.
Medical necessities Attendees have simple medical necessities; medical products, common illness, small injuries. Medical necessities need to be managed. High High
  • Preparation of the bid: definition of the timing to extend the opening hours of the pharmacy and contacts with the association Soccorso Val d’Esino
  • Opening hours of the pharmacy, involvement of the association Soccorso Val d’Esino, presence of the doctor in Esino Lario during the event and research of volunteer doctors.
 High Time until December 2014 to double check the management of simple medical necessities.
Medical necessities A medical emergency occurs. The medical emergency need to be managed. High Medium
  • Preparation of the bid: plan for the medical assistance also in case of emergency.
  • Involvement of the association Soccorso Val d’Esino, presence of the doctor in Esino Lario during the event and research of volunteer doctors, informing hospitals about the event.
 Medium Time until December 2014 to double check the management of medical emergencies.
Weather It rains for the entire week. Difficulty in enjoying the week by taking advantage of the outdoor activities and the location. Not particularly pleasant walking distances. Medium Medium
  • Organization of the event in late June (which is normally a good season).
  • All the program is based on the possibility that it will rain all week (events and special events are all planned indoors; only the mountain excursions can be negatively influenced by the rain).
  • Organization of local transport in Esino Lario.
 Medium Same strategy as in 2015.
Expectation Wikimedians want to have the biggest Wikimania ever. The bid is not selected. High Medium The proposal explicitly defines the number of people who can participate in Wikimania Esino Lario, it presents an hypothesis of participants and it highlights the positive implications of an event which is smaller compared to the number of attendees of Wikimania Washington DC and those planned for Wikimania London. The number of participants is comparable with Wikimania Hong Kong (and other previous events) and the request of funds to Wikimedia Foundation is defined accordingly. The limited number of participants is not a bug of Wikimania Esino Lario, it is a feature. The jury can decide if this specific approach is relevant or not. Medium Same strategy as in 2015.

Implications of providing 2 years to prepare Wikimania

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Disadvantages - 2 years to prepare Wikimania Advantages - 2 years to prepare Wikimania
  • If accepted, the proposal requires a change in the process.
  • The process can be changed only with a consensus (at least of the Steering Committee and Jury).
  • Some people can consider it an irregular process (even if transparent and authorized by the Steering Committee and Jury).
  • Some people can consider it unfair to other candidates (even if nobody seems to have asked it before).
  • Team. Two years allows the team to properly cross with previous teams, to take advantage of collaborating with the current Wikimania team, to provide its support and to build its skills. In other words thanks to time, Wikimania teams can team up.
  • Diverse locations. One year is sufficient to organize Wikimania in a fully equipped city but it is not enough to organize the conference in a broader range of locations (also where there are not necessary very experienced teams of volunteers).
  • Outreach. Wikimania is a great chance of visibility and communication of the Wikimedia projects. Two years allows to take full advantage of Wikimania outreach and leverage (side programs, programs in local languages, involvement of stakeholders and partners...).
  • Diverse programs. One year is very short: in the majority of the cases you will get a conference which copy and paste solutions and avoids challenges, risks and broader visions to assure it is simply manageable. More time allows to better develop the concept of the conference and to plan and manage all aspects of it, also the new ones.
  • Enlarging the number of bids. At the moment there are few bids. Two years can allow you to trigger new bids (as the committee is already planning to do), to support the proposals, to mirror the volunteer for a longer period to get them ready and to strengthen their skills, and to allow groups to team up one edition to the other (which would be a great advantage for everybody).
  • Fundraising. Two years allows to facilitate the fundraising with sponsors and grant-makers. It is important to consider that in many countries sponsorships are not necessarily the most efficient financial strategy compared to public, semipublic and private grant-makers, which require applications, co-fundings (WMF support to the winning bid can be used as co-funding), and a longer process (around 3-6 months for a reply). Fundraising can also be relevant to enlarge the number of scholarships in collaboration with other institutions and existing programs (i.e. youth exchanges, mobility programs).
  • Decision. Wikimania has currently a Jury and a Steering Committee in place which can take this decision. The decision can be discussed with the community.

Evaluation

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Objective Activities Expected results Indicators
1. Organizing a pleasant and affordable conference designed for 1'000 participants. Wikimania in Esino Lario
  • Organization and general management of the event (Wikimania checklist).
  • Providing support for visa, local transport, accommodation and meals.
  • Programme (including leisures and activities for children).
  • Independent evaluation team: 5 qualitative evaluations from 5 people; the group manages an online questionnaire and collects statistics related to the scholarships.
  • 700 participants.
  • 80% of the feedback is positive from participants, volunteers and organizations involved.
  • Availability of scholarships.
  • Cost per participants.
  • Number of requests of scholarships, number of scholarships, number of donors supporting the scholarships.
  • Number of participants (registrations online and check-in at the conference).
  • Feedback from the participants (online questionnaire).
  • Feedback from the volunteers and organizations involved (online questionnaire).
  • Feedback from 5 evaluators (qualitative <2 pages report).
  • Scholarships reports.
  • The criteria to collect feedback will be...
2. Testing a new collaborative format for Wikimania.
  • Enlarging the structure of Wikimania working team, with no separation between wikimedians and "the others".
  • Involving wikimedians, people living in the territory, and people with specific expertise in the event planning and implementation.
  • A site site-specific programme, designed specifically for the locations and the different available spaces. This is meant to associate each space with a different experience (a different way of collaborating).
  • A user-centered programme, designed for the different interests/needs of Wikimania participants. At the moment the call for participation asks people what they want to present, it does not ask people what they want to attend (there are hints in the feedback pages of the different Wikimania).
  • New ideas collected during the conference.
  • Compared to other Wikimania, Wikimania Esino Lario is perceived as something developed in a more collaborative way, and people feel more engaged and targeted. Is it ok to compare it with other Wikimania?
  • Documentation about the process used to design Wikimania: timeline.
  • Documentation of people involved in the project plan and implementation: timeline and team.
  • Feedback from the participants (online questionnaire).
  • Feedback from the volunteers and organizations involved (online questionnaire).
  • Feedback from 5 evaluators (qualitative <2 pages report).
  • The criteria to collect feedback will be...
3. Develop a sustainable Wikimania, which generates a long-term impact on the territory where it is organized (scalable experience).
  • Implementing a local fundraising focussed on territorial development and the improvement of existing structures (access and spaces for collaborative work and associations).
  • Implementation of specific projects.
  • Organization of a programme of events and meetings before Wikimania to present the WIkimedia projects, to support synergies with local GLAMs/data and to involve people in contributing.
  • Upload and edit of content on the Wikimedia projects while developing Wikimania (Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, WikiVoyage in English and Italian).
  • Setting a system to collect information on the use of spaces and feedback.
  • Should we measure the knowledge about the Wikimedia projects before and after the conference?
  • Public Internet wifi in Esino Lario (centre).
  • Transformation of the former museum in a collaborative space and space for associations.
  • Improvement of the accessibility of the Sport hall/multifunctional space (access and security).
  • Improvement of the accessibility of the Primary school (access).
  • In the preparation of Wikimania, people living in Esino Lario and in the territory of Lake Como (Lario), Valsassina and Ticino have acquired an improved knowledge of the Wikimedia projects.
  • Increased number of content on the Wikimedia projects related to Esino Lario and the territory of Lake Como (Lario), Valsassina and Ticino.
  • The structures improved for the conference are used after the conference.
  • Feedback from the organizations and local organizers.
  • Budget collected from local grant-makers for territorial development activities.
  • Number of people and institutions involved in Wikimania (letters of supports, people volunteering for the preparation of the event and volunteers active during the event).

Wikimania Criteria

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Meeting the basic requirements
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  • Venues
    • Booking. Pre-agreement for the venues.
    • Equipment. Equipment planned for the rooms and recording of the sessions.
    • Rooms. Venues and summery of the rooms.
    • 1 large lecture hall or auditorium for plenary session, which can accommodate 1,000+ attendees. Considering the size of Esino Lario and its specificity, the entire event is a sort of plenary session where people can meet, cross and discuss during sessions and in their free time. The village doesn't have an auditorium for the expected participants. We could create a large tensile structure in an open air location outside the main centre of the village (Cainallo and Ortanella), but this approach would not allow us to take full advantage of the atmosphere of the village. We are planning a 30-minutes presentation in the morning each day of the conference in the largest room (500 people) and with streaming in other main locations (estimated total viewers can be 1'600); this connected moment (which could be on streaming in low resolution on the Internet) would be used for a 5 minutes presentation of the program of the day and a keynote. The emphasis of the program will be on smaller interactive sessions, which will allow to take full advantage of the site.
  • Network Infrastructure. The network infrastructure will be developed for the conference and beyond.
  • Support service. The local host team will be able to be reached on a 24-hour basis. A representative from each group (host, WMF staff, hotel, campus, IT, AV, etc.) will be able to respond immediately to help resolve issues that may arise. All systems will be functional, reliable and have back up services and equipment.
  • Communication. The venue will be able to accommodate voice and data roaming compatibility for mobile phones and devices so that they can function effectively for the large audience (please refer to the technical plan) and the local host will provide at least 6 local mobile phones/walkie-talkies during the conference.
  • Video of Conference Sessions. Equipment planned for the rooms and recording of the sessions.
  • Childcare. Program for children.
  • Accommodation. Accommodation will be available mainly in Esino Lario with higher standard hotels and more beds in Varenna and Perledo.
  • Emergency Contact. The host will arrange for an Emergency Contact (local number) with the WMF.
  • Conference materials. Working with WMF conference coordinator, local hosts will find vendors for design and production of conference t-shirt, onsite booklet, and other materials as needed. We will also provide content for these materials.
  • Registration. The local hosts will assist WMF in handling registration duties at the venue. The registration desk at the venue will be staffed by a minimum number of 4 people to prepare badges and distribute registration packets and information to the participants. The registration desk will be staffed from 07:00-18:00 from Day 0-5 by at least 5 persons.
  • Help Desk. We will provide personnel at the registration area during conference hours every day to answer questions from attendees. The registration area is located in Villa Clotilde which is a convenient location very closed to all rooms, working spaces and restaurants. Villa Clotilde has 3 bathrooms, rooms for the registration and offices and small meetings, and at the second floor it has a double bed room. The central position, the location as the conference main office and the accommodation guarantee that in the registration area there will always be people and that the site will be always guarded.
  • Safety regulations. Safety is managed during Wikimania Esino Lario; the event will be organized according to safety regulations and it has already an expert involved as responsible for safety.
  • Medical care. Medical care is both assured for general medical needs and assistance (pharmacy with defined opening hours, medical clinic, doctor on call and the assistance of the volunteers of the association Soccorso Val d'Esino), and for emergencies. An ambulance will be present on site, Esino Lario has an airstrip for helicopters and volunteers and the medical clinic can manage first assistance (defibrillator). This guarantees that first aid is be provided by trained operators within 20 minutes; further needed medical assistance will be provided with transport to general hospitals or specialized structures by ambulance, medical car or helicopter.
  • Attendee Security. Esino Lario present a low criminality rate. Guidelines for the attendees will be provided with practical information about cloths, equipment for excursions in the mountains and contacts in case of emergency; excursions in the mountains will be organized in collaboration with the Regional Grigne Park (accompanied by experienced guides). Please refer to safety.
  • Asset Protection. A reference person for each working space will manage keys in accordance with the working space owner and its team. A technical storage space will be provided and the technical chair will manage the keys in accordance with its team. It is possible to plan lockers in the collaborative working space (former museum). Please refer to safety.
  • Sponsorship. We will address Italian sponsors and grant-makers to contribute to meet the financial responsibilities of the conference. We will work closely with the WMF staff to identify the appropriate sponsors. Acknowledgement of sponsorship will be displayed at the venue and on the web site. Sponsorship levels and benefits will be decided by the WMF in consultation with the hosts. Please refer to our financial plan, to the identified list of stakeholders and to our communication strategy.
  • Website. Conference information will be provided both on the wikimedia.org web site. We will provide links and information for travelers, weather, visa and custom requirements, local transportation, and social events; we are already working on the event detailed information. WMF will post this information as well as the schedule of meeting events which is received from the program committee, and pre-registration on the web site. Please refer to our communication strategy.
  • Outreach. Wikimedia Italia and Wikimedia CH are co-promoter of the conference in partnership with Esino Lario city council, Ecomuseo delle Grigne, Pro Loco Esino Lario, Parco Regionale della Grigna Settentionale and the Esino Lario local associations and community. The local Wikimedia community (Italian and Swiss) is involved in the organization and the broader community is informed and addressed through meetings, newsletters, media and the Wikimedia websites. A series of event organized before the conference are also meant to present what Wikimedia and Wikimedia is and to engage new users. Please refer to our communication strategy and our history.
Meeting the preferences
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  • Conference be held in a venue that is close to lodging. The venue of Wikimania Esino Lario is Esino Lario and the main lodging (estimated 700 beds) is provided within Esino Lario.
  • Lodging that is within a walking distance that is affordable, clean and safe. The main lodging of Wikimania Esino Lario (estimated 700 beds) is within a walking distance to the venue and it is affordable, clean and safe.
  • Close proximity to an international airport. Esino Lario is served by Milano Malpensa international airport (province of Varese), Milano Linate airport (province of Milan), Milano-Bergamo Orio Al Serio airport (province of Bergamo) and Milano central station (Milan). Esino Lario is a mountain village but – compared to other possible location – it has the advantage of being located in a range of 100km to a major European international airport, 2 airports with intense flights from Europe and North Africa and a major train station well-connected to Italian and European cities. It is evident that an event held in a small mountain village presents specific challenges in transportation compared to a major city. As far as time is concerned, reaching Esino Lario is not particularly longer than reaching a specific venue or accommodation in a large city. As far as services provided, to support attendees in reaching Esino Lario a series of service upgrades are organized:
1. a series of direct busses are provided from the three main airport.
2. buses from Varenna to Esino Lario are potentiated.
3. Info points are organized in Varenna and Malpensa airport.
  • Conference should be held in July-August timeframe. The conference takes place over a weekend, thursday through sunday. The conference will take place in the last week of June; this is due to risk management, to reduce costs and to take advantage of all the accommodation available,
  • Conference facilities should accommodate anywhere from 700-2000 attendees. The conference is designed for 1'000 participants.
  • The main hall of the venue should be able to host all attendees for the keynote talks. As already presented, considering the size of Esino Lario and its specificity, the entire event is a sort of plenary session where people can meet, cross and discuss during sessions and in their free time. The village doesn't have an auditorium for the expected participants. We could create a large tensile structure in an open air location outside the main centre of the village (Cainallo and Ortanella), but this approach would not allow us to take full advantage of the atmosphere of the village. We are planning a 30-minutes presentation in the morning each day of the conference in the largest room (500 people) and with streaming in other main locations (estimated total viewers can be 1'600); this connected moment (which could be on streaming in low resolution on the Internet) would be used for a 5 minutes presentation of the program of the day and a keynote. The emphasis of the program will be on smaller interactive sessions, which will allow to take full advantage of the site.
  • Ease of getting VISAs to attend. The management of visa will be assured.
  • Personal safety of participants. Safety will be managed.
  • Flexible meeting space that can accommodate multiple tracks for days. Venues and summery of the rooms.
  • Meeting space that is attractive for socializing, open 24 hrs, and close to restaurants, transportation, etc. Venues and summery of the rooms.
  • Catering menus that all accommodate spacial needs (vegetarian, kosher, etc). Food will be managed with attention to special needs.
  • Networked infrastructure. The network infrastructure will be developed for the conference and beyond.
  • Ability of hosts to meet their financial responsibilities. Financial plan and proposal in 2014 to organize Wikimania Esino Lario in 2016 to manage risks and assure to meet financial responsibilities.

Notes

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  1. ↑ Esino Lario has an elevation of about 100 meters higher.
  2. ↑ All data are from MeteoBarzio and refer to the year 2001-2013.
  3. ↑ Phone call to the secretary of the Istituto Comprensivo Bellano, Iolanda Pensa, 06/03/2014.
  4. ↑ One-way.
  5. ↑ https://maps.google.it
  6. ↑ http://www.trainmilanmalpensa.com.
  7. ↑ http://www.autostradale.it/interna.aspx?gr=2&sez=60&sot=2&ae=4.
  8. ↑ http://www.autostradale.it/interna.aspx?gr=2&sez=60&sot=2&ae=4.
  9. ↑ http://www.sacbo.it/Editorial/newsCategoryViewProcess.jsp?editorialID=2163.
  10. ↑ It is possible that during Milan Expo the number of trains will be increased. Information which needs to be checked.
  11. ↑ Google map.
  12. ↑ First phone call to LT Lecco Trasporti website] SAL Servizi Automobilistici Lecchesi S.r.l. - administration service, 13/09/2013.
  13. ↑ Calculated on a 7 hours day.
  14. ↑ 40 minutes to go and 40 minutes to come back; plus 20 minutes stop.
  15. ↑ 15 minutes to go and 15 minutes to come back.
  16. ↑ According to the car size, http://www.navigazionelaghi.it/ita/c_tariffe_1.asp.
  17. ↑ According to the car size, http://www.navigazionelaghi.it/ita/c_tariffe_1.asp.
  18. ↑ From http://www.varennaitaly.com.
  19. ↑ Information from http://www.varennaitaly.com, price without beverage.
  20. ↑ The project has been illustrated on several occasions during the summer and winter. Leaflets and forms have been given out to all families with a door to door distribution. A contest with small prizes has been organized for the 10 to 15-year-old children of the village with the help of a Wikipedia volunteer to explain what Wikipedia is about; the children were successfully taught the principles of Wikipedia, how to use the encyclopedia and how to modify items. We targeted children as a way to reach and engage families.
  21. ↑ Data from http://www.varennaitaly.com.
  22. ↑ Distance with private car or calculated according to the bus timetable.
  23. ↑ The prize is the maximum indicated on http://www.varennaitaly.com. In general it is the full prize for a double room.
  24. ↑ Data from http://www.varennaitaly.com.
  25. ↑ Distance with private car or calculated according to the bus timetable with includes stops.
  26. ↑ The prize is the maximum indicated on http://www.varennaitaly.com. In general it is the full prize for a double room.
  27. ↑ This number only includes 35 beds of the Scout centre / Ristoro (which will make the accommodation more comfortable) and it does not include the 20 beds of Antropos/former-La Colonia (since we have no confirmation).
  28. ↑ This is the number of beds of hotels in Varenna and Perledo from tourism websites. This accommodation has not been reserved, it does not include apartments and we didn't contacted the owners.
  29. ↑ Actually something like this was done in the Thirties for a Balilla gathering in the area of Cainallo in Esino Lario; obviously Wikimania will not follow the Balilla model. There are mountain gathering using large tensile structures, but the problem is that the event creates a temporary isolated venues which does not remain after the end of the event and which does not allow people to cross with the local community; during the ÄlplerFest the only event involving the local village was a parade with animals and people organized in Burgdorf (sic).
  30. ↑ Chiara Somjani prepared a short list of proposal we can share but we would not like to make public at this stage, and further proposal can be made.
  31. ↑ This is due to the necessity of not overcharging the connectivity during the event; please refer to Esino_Lario/Technical.
  32. ↑ Please note that excursions in Switzerland might require specific visa.
  33. ↑ This specific need emerged in several discussions and during Wikimedia Italia general assembly.
  34. ↑ Legislation summary.
  35. ↑ Visa statistics (2012) for the 2023 Schengen consulates of the world: in one third of cases rejection is less than 1 % and in half of cases less than 3 %.
  36. ↑ Based on the visa information pages of previous editions, which however didn't provide stats for visa rejection. The 170 visa countries record of Hong Kong is hard to match. The United Kingdom is not part of Schengen; Frankfurt and Gdańsk of course were, but EU negotiators have not stopped working since then!
  37. ↑ Please note that the difficulties were not related to a mismanagement of the procedure but to a refusal of the requests.
  38. ↑ Ilario Valdelli has checked by calling the offices of the Swiss customs.
  39. ↑ The increase of the prize for lunch is due to the average cost between 10 € / 13,37 $ which is the cost of lunch in restaurants and 22 € / 30,25 $ for the cost of the meal provided by the catering.
  40. ↑ It is also important to mention that we are already benefitting from the support of a lot of people. We took advantage of a lot of volunteer work, we had the contribution of Wikimedia Italia to cover the cost of a dedicated person to help us with the planning, we had reduced prices from restaurants, bars, hotels and dorms; people are providing their apartments for a reimbursement; the Esino Lario city council and private owners are providing venues for free and some apartments owners are also giving us their flats and houses for free. A nice story is a lady that at the very beginning of the planning immediately signed the support to the event, gave her entire beautiful villa in Esino Lario for free, and she also offered to give us 1'000 € / 1'371 $ to support the event.
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