WikiConference North America 2023

[tarantino]

Sue Gardner, who is apparently still a special advisor to the wmf, is giving a keynote speech.

WikiConference North America
Toronto — 9-12 November 2023

[Vigilant]

Swine at the trough.

[Casliber]

Swine at the trough.

Awww...I liked Sue. She was happy to judge some core contest competitions with me

[Zoloft]

Swine at the trough.

Awww...I liked Sue. She was happy to judge some core contest competitions with me

[Beeblebrox]

sigh.
I would've been getting on a plane tommorow to go to this, I got a scholarship.

I was having some issues booking with the hotel, and then also suddenly realized I had made an error on a project timeline at work. The project, my project in fact, is at a critical point on the exact days of the conference. If the work doesn't get done in the next six days, it will have to wait ten weeks, and will cost us tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue. As it was my idea and my design, once I realized the overlap I had to cancel.

WCNA usually does not have the "star power" that Wikimania has. The WMF is actually minimally involved and Jimbo and "top people" from the foundation are not usualy there. There's going to be a number of presentations on Friday hosted by current and former arbs and functionaries, I'm kind of bummed to be missing that.

On the other hand it was starting to look like a fairly expensive "free" trip. I would've had to pay half the lodging in order to have a room to myself, plus a new passport, plus dining out in a very expensive city.

[No Ledge]

Unlike Boston 2019, the organizers reserved a room for me, which was nice. I had to put a security deposit on my credit card which should be refunded when I check out. Easier than having to send receipts for later PayPal reimbursement. The hotel was originally a student dorm I was told, so the rooms are on the small side. But nice and modern remodel. Just down the street is the old Maple Leaf Gardens, former longtime home of the NHL team. They remodeled it so there's now a supermarket on the ground floor and a smaller, college hockey rink above, I assume the same college, Toronto Metropolitan U.

With the current WMF chief technical officer and former chief Sue Gardner as keynotes, and NY Brad also appearing on the main stage, this conference has more star power on the schedule than the previous two I attended combined.

[Ron Lybonly]

Unlike Boston 2019, the organizers reserved a room for me, which was nice. I had to put a security deposit on my credit card which should be refunded when I check out. Easier than having to send receipts for later PayPal reimbursement. The hotel was originally a student dorm I was told, so the rooms are on the small side. But nice and modern remodel. Just down the street is the old Maple Leaf Gardens, former longtime home of the NHL team. They remodeled it so there's now a supermarket on the ground floor and a smaller, college hockey rink above, I assume the same college, Toronto Metropolitan U.

With the current WMF chief technical officer and former chief Sue Gardner as keynotes, and NY Brad also appearing on the main stage, this conference has more star power on the schedule than the previous two I attended combined.

Didn't someone on WR call Sue Gardner "spider hands"? I never understood that.

[FelinaLavandula]

Aww. Toronto is a nice city. This conference sounds awful but the location seems pretty nice, it’s near some great restaurants and my beloved Glad Day Bookshop (recommended). I hope everybody has fun and eats some good food and buys cool books or whatever.

[Giraffe Stapler]

Didn't someone on WR call Sue Gardner "spider hands"? I never understood that.

She has a tattoo of a spider (apparently a black widow) on her right hand.

[Ron Lybonly]

Didn't someone on WR call Sue Gardner "spider hands"? I never understood that.

She has a tattoo of a spider (apparently a black widow) on her right hand.

Yikes - she must scare small children.

[No Ledge]

I was curious about Toronto Metropolitan University as I'd never heard of it. So I looked it up and discovered that until last year it was Ryerson University (T-H-L), a name that is familiar to me. Renamed because... issues with Egerton Ryerson (T-H-L)'s biography.

[Beeblebrox]

Unlike Boston 2019, the organizers reserved a room for me, which was nice. I had to put a security deposit on my credit card which should be refunded when I check out. Easier than having to send receipts for later PayPal reimbursement. The hotel was originally a student dorm I was told, so the rooms are on the small side. But nice and modern remodel. Just down the street is the old Maple Leaf Gardens, former longtime home of the NHL team. They remodeled it so there's now a supermarket on the ground floor and a smaller, college hockey rink above, I assume the same college, Toronto Metropolitan U.

With the current WMF chief technical officer and former chief Sue Gardner as keynotes, and NY Brad also appearing on the main stage, this conference has more star power on the schedule than the previous two I attended combined.

Having a few drinks with NYB and a few others was one of the highlights of Wikimania 2012 for me. Of the two conferences I have been to, it's been the people more than the presentations that made it memorable, for the most part. I'm not sure I would've ever made it back to Quincy in 2019 without a certain Buckeye helping us navigate Boston's public tranportation.

[Zoloft]

Unlike Boston 2019, the organizers reserved a room for me, which was nice. I had to put a security deposit on my credit card which should be refunded when I check out. Easier than having to send receipts for later PayPal reimbursement. The hotel was originally a student dorm I was told, so the rooms are on the small side. But nice and modern remodel. Just down the street is the old Maple Leaf Gardens, former longtime home of the NHL team. They remodeled it so there's now a supermarket on the ground floor and a smaller, college hockey rink above, I assume the same college, Toronto Metropolitan U.

With the current WMF chief technical officer and former chief Sue Gardner as keynotes, and NY Brad also appearing on the main stage, this conference has more star power on the schedule than the previous two I attended combined.

Having a few drinks with NYB and a few others was one of the highlights of Wikimania 2012 for me. Of the two conferences I have been to, it's been the people more than the presentations that made it memorable, for the most part. I'm not sure I would've ever made it back to Quincy in 2019 without a certain Buckeye helping us navigate Boston's public tranportation.

I might go to a Wiki Conference or two now that I'm quintuple-vaxxed and the whole COVID thing is now just one of our daily monsters.

[No Ledge]

Start of today's session (Sue Gardner's keynote) has been delayed by a bomb threat, which they don't believe to be very credible, so they haven't evacuated the building. Fingers crossed that I don't get hurt because I'm sitting at the first row of tables behind Gardner's podium. Latecomers have been locked out of the building until security/police give the all-clear.

This comes on the heels of a ransomware attack on the Toronto Public Library which was reported on by local TV news.

I hope the Wi-Fi I'm using now is sufficiently secure.

The Boston venue (MIT) was nicer, my opinion.

[Bezdomni]

Hm. Looks like while most folks on the continent were hard at work yesterday NYB did a BroCam lecture to warm up the crowd for Rhodo's speech on deforestation and the wikitimber industry (block-logging). The Etherpads for both seem to be empty.

Looks like NYB has another intervention scheduled tomorrow on the popularity of bacon, lettuce and pickle sandwiches (BLPs). Wonder if they'll be publishing their slidedecks somewhere?

[Ron Lybonly]

What about a Wikipediocracy Conference? Anybody ever done that?

Any ideas about:

Location and date?
• Venue?

Speakers?
• Topics?

Entertainment?

Theme?

Name ?
• "Wikipediocracy Conference" sounds kind of clunky

Just throwin' this out there

[AndyTheGrump]

What about a Wikipediocracy Conference? Anybody ever done that?

• Location and date: Blue Lagoon Spa, Iceland, July 2024. (if it hasn't been buried under lava - check latest news first)
• Venue: Ice Hotel
• Speakers: I'll do a two-hour lecture on the relevance of M.M. Bakhtin's heteroglossia to a structural analysis of Wikipedian modes of production. I'll be wearing a sack over my head for anonymity. Feel free to retire to the bar...
• Topics: Trying to figure out what the heck AndyTheGrump was on about. Composing a letter of apology to the hotel management and the Icelandic Fire Brigade.
• Entertainment: Heckling AndyTheGrump. Throwing ice cubes at AndyTheGrump.
• Theme: Getting drunk. Complaining that Beeblebrox hasn't brought any samples...
• Name: Dell Computers Senior Sales Representatives International Conference 2024 - there's no way they'll accept a booking under our real name.

[The Blue Newt]

The Boston venue (MIT) was nicer, my opinion.

“Boston…MIT?”

Heretic.

[Giraffe Stapler]

Start of today's session (Sue Gardner's keynote) has been delayed by a bomb threat, which they don't believe to be very credible, so they haven't evacuated the building.

Really? I understand that some people get very very angry about Wikipedia blocking their socks or letting Jess Wade write articles, but calling in a bomb threat to disrupt a Wikipedia event? What about all the staff and the other patrons who have absolutely nothing to do with Wikipedia? Someone just doing their daily job of selling coffee and over-priced sandwiches for less than a living wage?

[Zoloft]

For a Wikipediocracy Conference, I'm gonna suggest downtown Las Vegas, the Plaza Hotel.

It's a known entity, and if we go in the late spring or early fall (dodging huge events), rooms will be cheap. We can convene at various restaurants and bars, saving conference room costs. Perhaps the latter part of April.

I'd aim small for the first year, with under 50 attending. If it's fun, hold a UK one next.

[No Ledge]

Start of today's session (Sue Gardner's keynote) has been delayed by a bomb threat, which they don't believe to be very credible, so they haven't evacuated the building.

Really? I understand that some people get very very angry about Wikipedia blocking their socks or letting Jess Wade write articles, but calling in a bomb threat to disrupt a Wikipedia event? What about all the staff and the other patrons who have absolutely nothing to do with Wikipedia? Someone just doing their daily job of selling coffee and over-priced sandwiches for less than a living wage?

I don't know what the motivation was. The ransomware attack was last week, before the Wikipedia conference. The conference is being held in relatively small part of the library building which was still open to the public. Most of the public is likely unaware there is even a Wiki conference happening there. There are also small protests in town related to the Israel-Hamas war.

The organizers were great in dealing with this incident and rearranging the schedule on the fly. Gardner's talk, on disinformation, was moved to the lunch hour and some other sessions were moved to Sunday.

[Giraffe Stapler]

I don't know what the motivation was.

The bomb threat was intended to disrupt the Wikiconference, apparently.

Tweet:

There is a bomb threat at the Toronto Reference Library. Earlier, this account, claiming to have been hacked by the "Anti-Terror Squad", said they were targeting a Wikipedia conference, threatening further attacks. Account is from India, oddly. No evidence of any threat.

[Midsize Jake]

Account is from India, oddly.

"Oddly"? This Austin Kelly dude is supposed to be a journalist, based in Toronto, but it seems like he hasn't heard that India-Canada tensions have hit a crisis point due to allegations that India sent a team of assassins to Canada to murder a Sikh dissident — resulting (so far) in the expulsion of an Indian diplomat from Ottawa and the withdrawal of 41 Canadian diplomats from India.

In other words, it would have been more odd if the account had been traced to a country other than India. And since the Indian government hates Wikipedia already because it mentions the BBC documentary about Narendra Modi (T-H-L) in his BLP article (not to mention the article on the documentary itself, India: The Modi Question (T-H-L)), it's like threatening two birds with one stone!

[Beeblebrox]

It's just some coward trying to feel important. That would be true even if the threat were real, but I am for sure glad that it wasn't.

[Bezdomni]

sigh.
I would've been getting on a plane tommorow to go to this, I got a scholarship.

Maybe you can apply for the Wikipediocracy schoollarship bingo ticket. Who knows, your number might come up again! (§)

[Zoloft]

sigh.
I would've been getting on a plane tommorow to go to this, I got a scholarship.

Maybe you can apply for the Wikipediocracy schoollarship bingo ticket. Who knows, your number might come up again! (§)

I know you’re just having fun, but I propose this on a budget of pocket lint and a brass button I found in my back yard.

[Vigilant]

sigh.
I would've been getting on a plane tommorow to go to this, I got a scholarship.

Maybe you can apply for the Wikipediocracy schoollarship bingo ticket. Who knows, your number might come up again! (§)

As long as the center square is 'Vigilant'.

[Ognistysztorm]

Unlucky streak: Amtrak between Albany and New York City is suspended.

[Anroth]

I'm not sure I understand what that person thinks Amtrak can do about a private building thats clearly having structural issues over their track other than stop all the trains running through it.

The lack of a buffet car and train schedules being re-jigged are just a consequence. Pretty sure Amtrak like every train operator doesnt just have fully stocked trains sitting around waiting to go at a moments notice from every location.

[Smultronstället]

sigh.
I would've been getting on a plane tommorow to go to this, I got a scholarship.

Maybe you can apply for the Wikipediocracy schoollarship bingo ticket. Who knows, your number might come up again! (§)

As long as the center square is 'Vigilant'.

I'd rather play Wikipediocracy Trivial Pursuit than Bingo though.

[No Ledge]

Apparently none of the presentations in Toronto were recorded because the Toronto Reference Library was wanting to charge more for video services than the organizers were willing to pay. There were multiple cameras in the main room but apparently they were only taking still pictures or short videos. Don't know why the organizers didn't just set up their own person to record it, maybe the library didn't allow them to?

Selena Deckelmann left the Toronto conference early, after her opening keynote on Friday I did get a chance to briefly chat with her before she was gone, apparently to jet down to Uruguay for the GLAM conference that opened just a few days after the Toronto conference ended. But, for your viewing pleasure, her similar keynote in South America was recorded and posted to YouTube. This was my first taste of a conference where they passed out translation headsets, which I used to listen to the Sunday keynote which was presented in French. I suppose kind of like a United Nations conference. I wonder how many different languages they translate to and from at typical Wikimanias.

[tarantino]

As long as the center square is 'Vigilant'.

Center square for the win.

[Giraffe Stapler]

Apparently none of the presentations in Toronto were recorded because the Toronto Reference Library was wanting to charge more for video services than the organizers were willing to pay. There were multiple cameras in the main room but apparently they were only taking still pictures or short videos. Don't know why the organizers didn't just set up their own person to record it, maybe the library didn't allow them to?

Sorry, what? They couldn't manage to film the presentations? Who organised this conference?

[No Ledge]

Who organised this conference?

WikiConference North America. Some regulars help every year, but they also have a local user group in the hosting city participating in the organization as well.

I see they've posted Fuzheado's group photo. Fuzheado is in the picture, which he took by pressing the button on the remote camera control he's holding in his hand. Other photographers took photos using more conventional cameras, but Fuzheado's is the only group pic I've seen so far.

[Zoloft]

The conference I attended years ago had the same issue.

"Video? You mean talkies? How?"

[No Ledge]

Signpost just linked to a local news report about the bomb threat.

The library was not yet open at the time of the threat, police say.

Uh, not open to the public, but security was letting in conference attendees at the door before the threat came down, and I was inside the main conference room the whole time while the building was "cleared". One of the conference organizers told us what was happening, and said we should just remain in the room because the threat wasn't considered to be credible.

So I suppose the threat was directed at the conference as much as the building.

[rnu]

One of the conference organizers told us what was happening, and said we should just remain in the room because the threat wasn't considered to be credible.

Reminds me of a time back in school when the fire alarm went off. Everyone got up to leave the building. But our teacher told us to sit back down. He said that he hadn't been informed about a fire drill, so it must be a false alarm. The idea that it could be a real alarm simply didn't occur to him. It wasn't, but still.

[ltbdl]

Reminds me of a time back in school when the fire alarm went off. Everyone got up to leave the building. But our teacher told us to sit back down. He said that he hadn't been informed about a fire drill, so it must be a false alarm. The idea that it could be a real alarm simply didn't occur to him. It wasn't, but still.

has anyone here actually encountered a real alarm?

[redbaron]

Reminds me of a time back in school when the fire alarm went off. Everyone got up to leave the building. But our teacher told us to sit back down. He said that he hadn't been informed about a fire drill, so it must be a false alarm. The idea that it could be a real alarm simply didn't occur to him. It wasn't, but still.

has anyone here actually encountered a real alarm?

... sort of? A couple of times, at work; both ended up being overcooked food in the microwave generating smoke, so no fire, but not a drill or a faulty alarm either.

[tarantino]

I was in a 12 story Hilton hotel where the alarm went off at 2 in the morning because someone hung clothes from the sprinkler head in their room, which broke it. Everyone had to go down the stairs in their pajamas or less. There was an all clear signal after the firemen figured out what happened. Everyone went back to their rooms, and a half hour later, the alarm went off again for whatever reason. Not nearly as many evacuated the second time.

[Vigilant]

Hotel fire in Oklahoma City at 3am.
Something in the laundry room caught fire.

We were outside in our pajamas for 2 hours while the fire department did their thing.

[Jip Orlando]

Reminds me of a time back in school when the fire alarm went off. Everyone got up to leave the building. But our teacher told us to sit back down. He said that he hadn't been informed about a fire drill, so it must be a false alarm. The idea that it could be a real alarm simply didn't occur to him. It wasn't, but still.

has anyone here actually encountered a real alarm?

So IRL I'm a facilities admin for a medium sized campus and have dealt with a few actual fires. Couple things to note for anyone interested: fire alarms save lives and sprinkler systems save property. The vast majority of incidents I have responded to have been false alarms, vandalism, or accidental breakage of sprinklers. Recently we had a fire in a large dorm building (comforter, dryer) that was a mess, but the sprinklers did exactly what they were supposed to do.

Sprinkler systems work and many {{CN}} catastrophes are prevented by them. Much easier to replace water damaged drywall than rebuild a building. Sorry to wander off-topic, but these are things I've dealt with.

[Ron Lybonly]

Reminds me of a time back in school when the fire alarm went off. Everyone got up to leave the building. But our teacher told us to sit back down. He said that he hadn't been informed about a fire drill, so it must be a false alarm. The idea that it could be a real alarm simply didn't occur to him. It wasn't, but still.

has anyone here actually encountered a real alarm?

So IRL I'm a facilities admin for a medium sized campus and have dealt with a few actual fires. Couple things to note for anyone interested: fire alarms save lives and sprinkler systems save property. The vast majority of incidents I have responded to have been false alarms, vandalism, or accidental breakage of sprinklers. Recently we had a fire in a large dorm building (comforter, dryer) that was a mess, but the sprinklers did exactly what they were supposed to do.

Sprinkler systems work and many {{CN}} catastrophes are prevented by them. Much easier to replace water damaged drywall than rebuild a building. Sorry to wander off-topic, but these are things I've dealt with.

Someone told me that if one sprinkler goes off, they all go off - is this true?

[Anroth]

Someone told me that if one sprinkler goes off, they all go off - is this true?

From when I worked in construction, generally yes for sprinklers with exceptions. It depends on how it was set up. The more expensive, the more targeted. Not so much for fire suppression systems. But that was over 20 years ago, so standards have likely changed. Fundementally sprinklers are to help contain small fires and prevent it spreading as much as possible by making sure any fuel sources are not overly flammable. Confining sprinklers just to the immediate room of the fire isnt great if it fails to be contained.

[Jip Orlando]

Reminds me of a time back in school when the fire alarm went off. Everyone got up to leave the building. But our teacher told us to sit back down. He said that he hadn't been informed about a fire drill, so it must be a false alarm. The idea that it could be a real alarm simply didn't occur to him. It wasn't, but still.

has anyone here actually encountered a real alarm?

So IRL I'm a facilities admin for a medium sized campus and have dealt with a few actual fires. Couple things to note for anyone interested: fire alarms save lives and sprinkler systems save property. The vast majority of incidents I have responded to have been false alarms, vandalism, or accidental breakage of sprinklers. Recently we had a fire in a large dorm building (comforter, dryer) that was a mess, but the sprinklers did exactly what they were supposed to do.

Sprinkler systems work and many {{CN}} catastrophes are prevented by them. Much easier to replace water damaged drywall than rebuild a building. Sorry to wander off-topic, but these are things I've dealt with.

Someone told me that if one sprinkler goes off, they all go off - is this true?

Generally no, unless you have a deluge system, which are rare and expensive. Think highly explosive places where a fire can spread rapidly, like a cigarette factory or a place the processes volatile chemicals. All the sprinklers going off is a thing of the movies. Fire pumps are sized at a certain gallons per minute (GPM) here in the US and can handle many heads going off at once. I've done pump testing and we ensure that the pump puts out the specified GPM at the furthest spot in the system.

[Anroth]

Reminds me of a time back in school when the fire alarm went off. Everyone got up to leave the building. But our teacher told us to sit back down. He said that he hadn't been informed about a fire drill, so it must be a false alarm. The idea that it could be a real alarm simply didn't occur to him. It wasn't, but still.

has anyone here actually encountered a real alarm?

So IRL I'm a facilities admin for a medium sized campus and have dealt with a few actual fires. Couple things to note for anyone interested: fire alarms save lives and sprinkler systems save property. The vast majority of incidents I have responded to have been false alarms, vandalism, or accidental breakage of sprinklers. Recently we had a fire in a large dorm building (comforter, dryer) that was a mess, but the sprinklers did exactly what they were supposed to do.

Sprinkler systems work and many {{CN}} catastrophes are prevented by them. Much easier to replace water damaged drywall than rebuild a building. Sorry to wander off-topic, but these are things I've dealt with.

Someone told me that if one sprinkler goes off, they all go off - is this true?

Generally no, unless you have a deluge system, which are rare and expensive. Think highly explosive places where a fire can spread rapidly, like a cigarette factory or a place the processes volatile chemicals. All the sprinklers going off is a thing of the movies. Fire pumps are sized at a certain gallons per minute (GPM) here in the US and can handle many heads going off at once. I've done pump testing and we ensure that the pump puts out the specified GPM at the furthest spot in the system.

I just idly looked up the UK's systems, and apparantly now its only sprinklers closest to the fire. Guess things have changed significantly in 20 years....

Not sure how useful that would actually be in almost every office building I have worked in.....