Wikimania 2010/Bids/Copenhagen

Read about Stockholm at a wiki near you: af, am, ar, arc, bat-smg, be, be-x-old, bg, bo, br, bs, ca, cs, csb, cv, cy, da, de, diq, el, en, eo, es, et, eu, fa, fi, fo, fr, fy, ga, gl, gv, he, hr, ht, hu, hy, ia, id, io, is, it, ja, ka, ko, ku, kw, la, lb, lij, lt, lv, mk, ml, mr, myv, na, nah, nds, nl, nn, no, nov, nrm, oc, pl, pms, pt, qu, ro, ru, sc, sco, se, sg, sh, simple, sk, sl, sq, sr, su, sw, ta, th, tr, uk, vec, vi, vo, yi, zh, zh-min-nan, zh-yue.

You can also see a lot of nice images of Stockholm on Wikimedia Commons.

Public transport in Stockholm is operated by Storstockholms Lokaltrafik AB. Information about tickets is available here.

You can also rent a bike (see http://www.stockholmcitybikes.se for more information).

The date for the conference will be August 5-8, 2010.

• Stockholm University (Swedish, Norwegian, Danish: Stockholms universitet, Finnish: Tukholman yliopisto, Icelandic: Stokkhólmsháskóla) is the venue for the conference. With more than 50,000 students, and 5,000 employees(ref), it should fulfill our requirements.

The currency of Sweden is the Swedish krona. All of the Nordic countries, save for Finland, are not on the euro, which may confuse some travelers coming from other parts of Europe. In September 2008, the exchange rate for one euro equaled 9.7 Swedish kronor, and one U.S. dollar equaled 6.6 kronor. Despite having different currencies, the exchange rates between Sweden, Denmark and Norway are roughly the same.

It is recommended to change your home currency to Swedish kronor once you get to Sweden. There are three exchange counters throughout Arlanda Airport: Forex, SEB, and X-Change. The latest counter closes at 11 p.m., however, so if you will be arriving in the late night hours, it may be advisable for you to exchange your money before you board your flight to Sweden.

Sweden is a part of the Schengen Agreement, which means that the nations in blue or green on the right do not need a visa. For a list of those who do, see this pdf. For more information, see http://www.swedenabroad.com/.

There are several airports in the vicinity of Stockholm, the main international airport is Arlanda, there are three other airports on an convenient distance of Stockholm, that are offering budget flights (i.e. RyanAir and Wizz Air), these are Bromma, Skavsta and Västerås.

From all airports there are airport coaches available:

• From Arlanda
  • Destination: Stockholm centre/Stockholm City Terminal
  • Time: about 40 minutes
  • Fare: roughly 19 € go and return.

• From Skavsta
  • Destination: Stockholm City Terminal
  • Time: about 80 minutes
  • Fare: roughly 26 € go and return

• From Västerås
  • Destination: Västerås Airport - Stockholm City Terminal
  • Time: about 75 minutes
  • Fare: roughly 27 € go and return

More info about the airport coaches here.

There are also an express train from Arlanda (http://www.arlandaexpress.com/) and local trains operated by Storstockholms Lokaltrafik and Upplands Lokaltrafik (via Upplands Väsby), see more info here (only in Swedish).

The mentioned priceindicator is for one way only.

¹ + commuter train ~1h

To Stockholm from Oslo (~48€) and Copenhagen (~75€) with Swebuss Express.

To Stockholm from Oslo (from ~38€) and Copenhagen (from ~45€) with Säfflebussen.

There are also good train services within Sweden and to Norway and Denmark, see SJ. It's possible (and recommended) to buy tickets online in advance.

• Fluff Abrahamsson - Gothenburg, Sweden - - I live in Gothenburg but have the opportunity to work parts in Stockholm as my employer has an office in Stockholm as well. I have previous experience with both planning and executing conferences (size from 100 to 300 participants)
• Henrik Abelsson - Linköping, Sweden - - I'd be happy to pitch in. I have some experience organizing, but mainly smaller events. I'll be living in Linköping, about one and a half hours from Stockholm.
• (削除) Mikael Lindmark - I live in Umeå so I can't do any local work. But I can make calls, send e-mails and if needed, write stuff. (削除ここまで)
  • Oskar Sigvardsson - Stockholm, Sweden - - Lives in Stockholm, replacement for Mikael Lindmark.
• Patrícia Rodrigues - Stockholm, Sweden - - I live in Stockholm and can help out with local contacts.
• Christoffer Hafsahl - Kristiansand, Norway - - Although not so local, I'll contribute to whatever field I can. Have lots of experience working on various events, mainly as a lighting designer/rigger, and after having worked at 50+ poorly prepared events (50-3000 participants), I am aware of a number of things easily forgotten during the planning stage. Work and live in Kristiansand, Norway.
• Jon Harald Søby - Trondheim, Norway - – will help anywhere I can. Even willing to move to Stockholm for the summer (of 2010) provided I find a place to stay.
• Lars Åge Kamfjord - Tønsberg, Norway - - experienced LAN-party-organizer, might be helpful with the technical part.
• Anders Wegge Keller - Aarup, Denmark - - Not exactly local, but I have both mobility and flexibility to be present in Stockholm if and when it's needed.
• Carina Tangsgaard - Aarhus, Denmark - - I'm not local and will probably not be able to go to Stockholm to plan but I'm willing to help with whatever else I can, though I don't have any experience prior to this.
• Mike Halterman - Tampa, Florida, United States - - I have experience with Wikimania process before, chairing the Wikimania 2008 bid for Atlanta. I have been elected bid chair, due to my past experience with Wikimania 2008.

There is a mailing list at wikimania-sweden at grok.se to discuss the bid. To subscribe, go here.

1. Stockholm, like the Nordic countries in general, is an expensive location. Food and accommodation is pricey.

1. In 2010 Wikimania will not have been held in Europe for five years but a large proportion of Wikimedians worldwide lives in Europe, shorter and cheaper travel will encourage participation by those people.
2. The Nordic countries harbor some very active Wikimedia communities. The combined number of articles in the Nordic Wikipedias exceeds that of the German one and Nordic Wikimedians also contribute significantly to the English language projects.
3. People in the Nordic countries are generally well skilled in English as a second language which is helpful when organizing an international convention such as Wikimania.

Please note: An informal IRC meeting is planned for sometime in the near future on #wikimania-stockholm on freenode.net. This meeting will discuss the bid team and things the bid team will need to do to start working on the bid. We will take calls for more volunteers (especially from Sweden) to be on the team. Also, Jon Harald Søby has created a facebook group so you can support the bid on facebook as well!

We are looking for people interested in the idea of holding Wikimania in Stockholm, with all the Nordic countries working together to make sure this happens. Signing your name doesn't mean you have to do work, but is simply a way to gauge interest from each of the Nordic Wikipedias. If you would like to help write the bid, however, that would be appreciated too.

Names are ordered alphabetically by language and then by name. Currently there are 109 supporters of the proposed idea, with 38 people from or living in Sweden , 25 affiliated with Norway , 18 affiliated with Finland , 14 affiliated with Denmark , and 7 people affiliated with Iceland giving their personal support. Other supporters come from other parts of the world.

Flags show countries where supporters live, and are not always indicative of the user's nationality.

• Wikimania 2010