Re: Thoughts on WAWG F2F + I Annotate next spring

Ivan and Stian,

Thanks for your offer of assistance.  I’d really welcome yours or others help in hosting I Annotate in Europe, either in AMS, Manchester (never been either place!) or elsewhere when it makes sense. The goal is to have I Annotate be much more of a community led and produced event moving forward.

Given that the arrangements in Europe might be pushing it on short notice, as Rob mentioned, Paolo reached out to me two days ago with an offer of organizing the event in Boston (Cambridge) as an alternative to San Francisco in the event that Europe didn’t work out this time.  He and I and the several others with an interest in having it there will discuss (availability of a suitable venue, etc).

Is this group OK exploring the idea of the F2F in this location instead?  I assume around the same date— April 22. 

If so, we would make sure there was an additional day planned for the venue and other arrangements.

D

On November 21, 2014 at 12:35:31 AM, Ivan Herman (ivan@w3.org) wrote:
Ben, everybody,  

I did not expect my remarks to lead to such a major discussion... and I do not want to loose our energy over this, we have much more important and more interesting things to discuss!  

The way the reactions went so far, details put aside, is that only Stian had some preference to hold this meeting in Europe; nobody else raised his/her voice apart from me. As the saying goes, speak now, or forever hold your peace...:-)  

The alternative of organizing I Annotate elsewhere and combine the F2F with the new location/place seems to be, though possible, a bit complicated by now; taking into account the upcoming Thanksgiving and Xmas period this may be a rush (at least in my experience). So, withdrawing my original remarks, here is my proposal:  

- Hold to the original plan, have the F2F meeting in April adjacent to I Annotate in San Francisco  
- The F2F meeting following that one will be in Sapporo, Japan, at TPAC  
- The F2F meeting following that one will be in spring 2016 and we should plan to have it in Europe. If we are able to find a place for I Annotate to be organized in Europe at the same time and place, that would be a big cherry on the cake; if this is not possible or wishful for any reason, we would still hold the F2F on this side of the pond.  

In return for the commotion I created:-) I am happy to actively help in trying to locate a place for both events in Europe. A possible place is the campus where I am located in Amsterdam, though it is unclear whether I could get a free conference room for the I Annotate event (it should not be a problem for the F2F for which there is a big enough meeting room which I have already used for F2F meetings in the past).  

Ivan  



> On 20 Nov 2014, at 21:52 , Benjamin Young <bigbluehat@hypothes.is> wrote:  
>  
> Two things to sum up this conversation (from what I'm hearing):  
>  
> 1. missing out on Sloan's gracious grants for a F2F at iAnnotate would  
> be unfortunate...perhaps wasteful  
> 2. everyone agrees that in future we should work hard to have more  
> diverse F2F location, so Europe should be considered next; Japan  
> following that (perhaps).  
>  
> The key thing to avoid, then, is setting up a F2F meeting at or near  
> the same time as iAnnotate in a different geographic region that would  
> essentially cause a rift in our little group of annotators. :)  
>  
> Seems easily avoided.  
>  
> Perhaps the conversation should now move to where else (Stian's  
> suggestion of AMS or Manchester seem reasonable) *after* this spring  
> 2015 F2F should we next meet. Goal being to begin working out all the  
> details of where, when, how, to what extent. :)  
>  
> Let's hang together whatever else we do. :)  
>  
> On Thu, Nov 20, 2014 at 5:56 AM, Stian Soiland-Reyes  
> <soiland-reyes@cs.manchester.ac.uk> wrote:  
>> If there's flight funding - then it would be fine by me at least - also an  
>> excuse to stay for the conference as well I guess. ;)  
>>  
>> I would still prefer a F2F in AMS or similar European city (we in Manchester  
>> can also provide conference room, as we have done before) - but it would be  
>> silly to squeeze that right next to the I Annotate.  
>>  
>> On 14 Nov 2014 20:37, "Doug Schepers" <schepers@w3.org> wrote:  
>>>  
>>> Hey, folks–  
>>>  
>>> I see the reasoning from both sides. As someone in the middle (East Coast  
>>> US), I don't mind flying to California or to Europe.  
>>>  
>>> The WG is currently split pretty much down the middle between Europeans  
>>> and North Americans; but as Nick said, the 5 Hypothes.is folks from Europe  
>>> will be there anyway, leaving 13 Europeans in the WG that may have a  
>>> different preference.  
>>>  
>>> I'm most curious how they feel about it. If you are a member of the WG in  
>>> Europe, please let us know if you feel disadvantaged by having an April F2F  
>>> co-located with I Annotate in San Francisco (given the potential flight  
>>> funding by Sloan). I'm sensitive to Ivan's concerns, but I don't want to  
>>> assume that Europeans are against this; they may enjoy a trip to SF, or they  
>>> may not be inclined to go to a F2F no matter where it's held. I'd like to  
>>> base our conversation on facts.  
>>>  
>>> Regards-  
>>> -Doug  
>>>  
>>> On 11/14/14 6:43 AM, Nick Stenning wrote:  
>>>>  
>>>> On Fri, Nov 14, 2014, at 11:39, Ivan Herman wrote:  
>>>>>  
>>>>> Dan,  
>>>>>  
>>>>> I really appreciate your offer. I do have one issue, though: I am  
>>>>> concerned about "continent diversity".  
>>>>  
>>>>  
>>>> It's worth noting that a substantial contingent intersecting with the  
>>>> WAWG will be going to I Annotate regardless (it is a conference about  
>>>> annotation, after all). You're probably not saving as many people as you  
>>>> might think from a 10+ hour flight by holding the F2F back in Europe.  
>>>>  
>>>> Yours, the obviously biased on this matter,  
>>>>  
>>>> -N  
>>>>  
>>>  
>>>  
>>>  
>>>  
>>  
>  


----  
Ivan Herman, W3C  
Digital Publishing Activity Lead  
Home: http://www.w3.org/People/Ivan/  
mobile: +31-641044153  
ORCID ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0782-2704