2023:Tech Subcommittee/Request for Proposal

16–19 August 2023, Singapore and Online
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Wikimania 2023 – Tech stack for executing hybrid conference

For clarifications, please use the talk page and ping User:Robertsky for attention.

Project Overview

Wikimania 2023 is slated to be a hybrid conference bringing delegates on-site in Singapore and online. The Core Organizing Team is looking for solutions which can enable a seamless experience bridging the online and onsite audience for the 5-day conference. There will be multiple tracks going at the same time. The conference is envisaged to have talks, seminars, hackathon(s), exhibits, and social/meeting spaces.

This RFS is a call for proposed solutions, along with the accompanying monetary costs, infrastructure resources, maintenance, support, and documentation.

Project Goals

1. The solution should allow people to purchase tickets for the conference.
2. The solution should allow the online audience to view live streams of the conference sessions and allow interactions by the online and onsite audience in form of chat, polling, screen share.
3. The solution should allow a viewing of virtual exhibits which may or may not be a duplicate of live exhibits onsite.
4. Participants should be able to interact with the solution in their native languages (if supported).
5. The solution should be capable of simultaneous broadcast of livestreams with translated audio feeds.

Scope of Work

We are looking at 1,000 on-site participants, and as many as 2,000 online participants for the conference. Likely there will be up to 5000 participants who register overall. The online participants may be viewing the conference proceedings from across the world. Onsite and online participants may use a centralized platform to interact with each other. We have a strong preference for FLOSS solutions.

There are two parts of the solution we are requesting:

1. Provision of a centralized platform or an online solution for hosting the conference and allowing interested parties to register for the event.
2. Provision of a live streaming solution that’s capable of multiple, simultaneous live streams with multiple audio feeds for translations. Auto-translated captions are tolerated.
3. Provision of video conference solution with livestreaming output.
4. We are expecting support and documentation from December 2022 to November 2023. For conference days, tentative 15-19 August 2023, we expect technical support for at least 20 hours per day to respond to technical issues raised by online participants.
5. Training on the usage of tools/solutions.
6. If multiple vendors are involved:
   1. appoint a lead vendor/point of contact.

Requirements

General requirements

This section is applicable for all solutions.

1. The solutions proposed must be GDPR-compatible. Documentation and support must be provided on dealing with GDPR related requests, i.e. data deletion requests, data compilation requests, etc.
2. Recorded materials format:
   1. Videos and their accompanying audio, if any, are to be first saved in H.264 format, as well as be either exported or simultaneously saved to .webm format.
   2. Standalone audio (including user-provided translation feeds), if any, are to be first saved in .wav format, as well as be either exported or simultaneously saved to .webm format.
3. Free of any third-party analytics tracking. This includes but not limited to: Google Analytics, YouTube cookies, etc.
4. If there is on-platform analytics tracking for diagnostics and general attendee engagement and interaction statistics, it should comply with GDPR requirements. If the on-platform analytics tracking is for marketing or personalization purposes, participants should be able to deny such tracking.
5. Free-Libre / Open Source Software(s) is preferred. However, if this preference cannot be met at certain parts of the solution, it should indicate that that part(s) is/are of proprietary software.
6. Solution should meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1’s AAA level of conformance.
7. Solution should be mobile first.

Centralized event hosting platform or event hosting solution

1. Online registration of participants
2. Logins for registered participants to access the livestreams, and online interactions
3. Interface languges: English, Chinese, Indonesian Malay. (To be determined: German, 1 South Asian language)
4. Email workflow functionality to automatically email registrants on key information such as:
   1. Key event information, schedule
   2. Thank you for participation email
5. Onsite check-ins of registered participants
6. Ability for registered participants to
   1. Switch to their native languages, if supported for the user interface.
   2. Switch to their native language audio stream of the videos, if supported.
   3. Be marked as translators so that they can deliver their translations of the livestream in their browser.
   4. Switch between livestreams.
   5. View virtual exhibits
   6. Interact with each other via chat, poll, and/or screen share in each livestream and exhibits
   7. 1-to-1 or group chat with each other
   8. View the schedule for the conference and enter each livestream from the schedule
   9. Tap to alert conference safety helpdesk for complaints or immediate virtual assistance
7. Ability to project/simulcast user interactions onto screens at the onsite venue/rooms.
8. Ability to play recorded videos in lieu of live streams at the end of the day. This is to allow registered participants living on the other side of the world to watch in their own time zones.
9. Export of email lists, if any.
10. Export of user interactions in livestreams and exhibits in a csv format.
    1. Note: The purpose of the exported user interactions is that they may be uploaded onto suitable pages at https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2023:Wikimania
11. Export of virtual exhibit materials saved at the start of the event in the form of HTML.
    1. Note: The purpose of the exported exhibits is that they may be uploaded onto suitable pages at https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2023:Wikimania
12. Documentation should be provided on how the platform(s) can be used by participants, and how operators can perform administrative actions such as modifying registration details, moderating interactions, opening/closing chats/polls/votes, etc.
13. If the solution requires multiple platforms, the proposed solution should indicate if data import/export is required to bring user profile details across the platforms, and how these details are transferred.

Live streaming solution

1. Multiple, simultaneous livestreaming tracks for 5-day event. Assume 9am-6pm continuous sessions.
2. Each session is to be streamed individually on to the centralized hosting platform/hosting solution.
3. Each session is assumed to be delivered in English. Do suggest a suitable translation service or setup. Do indicate if there’s support for eventualities that some sessions may be delivered in another language.
4. All video/audio materials are to be recorded per point 2 of the General requirements section.
5. All recorded livestream should be made available to the organizers without delay for separate uploads for on-demand viewing and global participation.
6. Support for multi-language live-caption. Indicate if the captioning is human- or AI-translated.
7. Live streams from onsite venues should be free of jitters and artifacts that are associated with bandwidth/transmission issues. The onsite venue can be assumed to have more than sufficient bandwidth to support multiple simultaneous livestream output at the same time.

Video conferencing solution

1. This solution is optional. It may be used if some speakers are not able to make it for onsite presentations.
2. Allow multiple speakers.
3. Allow presentation of speakers’ screens and audio output.
4. Holding room before going live.
5. Output may be fed into the livestream solution, if not integrated/offered alongside with the livestreaming solution.

Current roadblocks and barriers to success

1. The Core Organizing Team and its subcommittees consist of volunteers who may not be technically inclined. Thus,
   1. It is prudent to have clear documentation on how to operate the solution proposed.
   2. Event setup support is crucial
2. If there is a need to self-host parts or all of the solutions, it should be supported by the vendor. Assume limited support from Wikimedia Foundation technical staff and resources.

Evaluation metrics & Criteria

The proposed solution will be evaluated on the following criteria:

1. Ease of use:
   1. Event registration
   2. Frontend event pages
   3. Administration of
      1. Event pages
      2. Livestream setup
   4. Device/screen compatibility
2. Accessibility
3. GDPR compliance
4. Costs of solution

Submission requirements

Submissions should be emailed to wikimaniawikimedia.org.

The submission should contain the following details:

1. Financial information – to provide a copy of latest 2 years financial audited statement
2. Project organization chart & team experience
3. Proposed timelines
4. Proposed solution to RFS
5. Prior works
6. Costs

Schedule of events

Activity	Date
RFS publication
RFS clarification period
Award and appointment