[okfn-discuss] Open Knowledge Festival 2015 - Location Thoughts

Thu Oct 9 07:05:07 UTC 2014

As someone who's dealt with the pain of visas quite a bit, I'd like to add
my 2 cents *only* about the visas from a community member point of view.
I'm *not* speaking with my Open Knowledge employee hat on.

Germany - (Cost of Visa - €60)
UK - (Cost of Visa - £83 or €105)

>From the point of view of ease of application, both are fairly the same.
They both require a ton of documentation (I clearly remember submitting 100
pages of documentation for Germany. Can't remember my last UK visa). Both
of them require finger prints and biometrics, which will be verified at
port of entry.

Additionally, places in Asia/Africa may need visas but usually have
visa-on-arrival for most people, which is usually not a hassle. If I were
to place them on a scale, acquiring visas for countries like Malaysia or
Singapore is much easier than Europe, and Europe is easier than United
States. Within Schengan countries though, it varies from country to
country. I've never traveled to South America, so I can't make any
meaningful comparison.

Nigel Babu
Senior Sysadmin, Open Knowledge

On 9 October 2014 04:18, Anna Daniel <a.daniel at griffith.edu.au> wrote:

> Europe is centrally located
>>
> To Asia it's not. Turkey might be easier.
>
> Can I add to the list of requirements
> - degree of civic participation/openness in the country
> - that the location not require a lot of injections/vaccinations before
> entry?  That's a pain
> - +1 to immigration requirements & minimal visa processes
>
> A.
>
> Kind regards
> Anna Daniel  PhD
> Information Policy, Griffith University
>
> Contact: Tel +617 3735 4007 / 0439 061 834 | a.daniel at griffith.edu.au |
> www.griffith.edu.au/copyright-matters
> Location and postal address: Information Management, Griffith University
> | Willett Centre (N53) 0.45P | 170 Kessels Road | Nathan Queensland 4111,
> Australia
> Disclaimer: this information is provided for general guidance only and
> does not constitute legal advice.
>
>
>
> On 9 October 2014 02:42, P Kishor <punk.kish at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 8, 2014 at 4:40 AM, Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org>
>> wrote:
>> > At present, the two likely options are London or Berlin based on:
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>> Berlin is great, and while I too support the gathering to move outside of
>> Europe/America, I realize it is complicated, Europe is centrally located,
>> and in fact, perhaps even settling on one place can reduce complexity (for
>> example, AGU is always held at Moscone Center in SF, and OSCON is always
>> held in Portland, Oregon).
>>
>>
>> > ..
>> >
>> >
>> > Would be great to get folks’ thoughts both on additional items not
>> included and any thoughts on this list as well as generally.
>>
>>
>> But, would you strike me with the hammer of Thor if I were to say that
>> while Kulturbrauerei was a great as a cultural location, it was not very
>> good for the actual sessions. Every session I went to was just too noisy
>> (noise from adjacent sessions), acoustics were really terrible, the spaces
>> were shaped non-conducively (pardon my tortured sentences here).
>>
>> Now, if only you could transport that fabulous Aalto School of Design to
>> Berlin, and bring some good English beer with you…
>>
>> --
>> Puneet Kishor
>> Manager, Science and Data Policy
>> Creative Commons
>>
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