HackMD
Tips and guidelines for supporting online participation
tags: community slack
Q by ET: I’m wondering if anyone has insights/experience on providing support for remote participation for online events? Our participants’ requests include headsets, data bundles/internet subscription and fuel for power, but I’m lost on how to budget/put a cap on this.
Existing practices
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OBF fellowship:
- https://www.open-bio.org/2020/03/13/obf-travel-fellowships-update-in-light-of-the-coronavirus-covid-19-/
- Developing guidelines for capping and particulars will be shared soon by MS (contact her if want to see a document in progress)
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SSI fellowship:
- By RA: t has been standard practice at SSI to mail out decent headsets with microphones (~£30 each x 30 candidates) to shortlisted SSI Fellows for the selection process - it really helps the online event to run smoothly and it costs significantly less than paying for travel. As far as supporting current Fellows with their online activities, we are subject to Uni of Edinburgh finance policy, so pretty much anything we can claim through the Uni that the PI approves (and is in line with the SSI goals/values) we are able to support. I don't think that things like internet/data count for us, but I saw this article floating around on Twitter in case it's useful to estimate: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cost-of-mobile-data-worldwide/
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eLife sprint: Currently in progress by ET
- I’ve spent some time digging around. FYR all our current requests came from Africa (Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya). For data, unlimited mobile data for a month cost £40-£100; fuel for power generators came up to <USD$10 / day… so for our 2-day event, if we provide a headset + data + fuel, it should cost ~£100/participant (in line with some previous funding requests). This could be significant if the event is on a tight budget… but we also used to fly people from all around the world and this is <10% of the past travel support cost
Discussion and resources
Comment by RS: Valuable thread. Adding 2 cents.
- You want to avoid international mail. Google doesn't ship Google Summer of Code goodies to some countries because of problem with custom. You send one US$10 T-shirt and have to paid >US$10 in taxes. And the package stays weeks waiting processing. And during 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, you will have to use FEDEX/DHL for international delivery.
- Logistic to buy products and send it to participants can be very expensive in terms of your time.
- Transfer money international can be incredible painful. You might need to go to your bank branch to sign some paperwork. But your branch is close do 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. And transfer is not complete because the paperwork was not signed in 7 days. Will be great to have a public document sharing the experience of this kind of things. Large organisations have this in private silos. Small projects don't.
