Re: [Wikimediaau-l] SMH article
I answered the questions guardedly as you can probably tell :) I think I was fairly represented in the article as you can see below. Re general stuff, part of my reply was: I don't agree with the findings as a general rule for Wikipedia although it may apply to the participants in some of Wikipedia's stranger conflicts. If you want to see grumpiness and closed-mindedness at work, hanging around AN/I and RfAr (where our stickiest problems end up) is always fun - intractably opposed contributors, many with vested interests, slugging it out to the death. However I don't think this applies more broadly to the encyclopaedia's culture which is a lot less fun to watch. I then explained Wikipedia's policy-based culture. The answer I gave him re Australia was in part: I find Australian Wikipedia is one of the oases of relative calm on Wikipedia generally - I retreat to it when stressed with working on other areas. This can be measured in part by the lack of arbitration interest in our project - only one Arbitration Committee proceeding, back in 2006, ever centred on an Australian article, and that was not a conflict in the traditional sense. I also said the reason for this in my view is that the Australian community works in good faith, is a meritocracy and works pragmatically. cheers Andrew 2009/7/8 YellowMonkey blnguyen2...@gmail.com The sample space is too small anyway. Plus in some wikicountries, a large chunk of the editors are obseesed with a certain topic. Still I agree with the egocentric part On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 11:19 AM, private musings thepmacco...@gmail.comwrote: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/wikipedians-are-a-bunch-of-egocentric-introverts-study-20090708-dcnk.html It's a bit of fluff really - but Andrew and Daniel did well to expose the weaknesses of the israeli study, I reckon. In particular I'm sure Daniel was talking about me when he said 'Established Australian Wikipedians are some of the most well-connected in real life, both as members of the education and information revolution, and also socially' - just needed to add that we're also very good looking :-) cheers, Peter, PM. ___ Wikimediaau-l mailing list Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l ___ Wikimediaau-l mailing list Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l ___ Wikimediaau-l mailing list Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l
Re: [Wikimediaau-l] smh article
On 2009-May-24 16:32:34 +1000, private musings thepmacco...@gmail.com wrote: Indeed - the danger is that someone browsing through http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Young_women (not a great look for how wikimedia feels about young women) To be fair, there's also http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Young_men - though that doesn't include as many scantily clad young men. I'm not sure that the existence of a category of people's photographs suggests that they are sex objects or similar. (Though I agree that some of the young women aren't wearing a great deal). ends up somewhere like http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Erotic (or more explicit!) If someone wants to find erotic or pornographic material in Wikipedia, they can just search for any number of words. and feels that maybe these images shouldn't be available in schools. Trying to draw a fixed line at what is or isn't allowed in schools is impossible. What's suitable for a Yr12 class may not be suitable for a Yr1 class. Likewise, some of the material on sexuality would probably make a suitable resource for a PD class (if a teacher was game enough). You could equally note that someone researching The Magic Pudding could wind up reading up on Norman Lindsay and his other artworks - some of which are less suited to young children. It's impossible to stop Wikipedia vandalism without completely changing the Wikipedia model. Stressing adult oversight is probably the best approach. -- Peter Jeremy pgpFw1GkSPLNt.pgp Description: PGP signature ___ Wikimediaau-l mailing list Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l
Re: [Wikimediaau-l] smh article
2009/5/24 private musings thepmacco...@gmail.com: see http://www.smh.com.au/news/home/technology/parents-warned-of-wikiporn-risk/2009/05/23/1242498976065.html Unfortunately it's not a good news one, dealing with 'Wikiporn risk' - but I think a 'well done' to brianna for sounding wise and sensible in a difficult situation is due :-) Thanks, although this is just a completely bog-standard vandalism story (with a local angle, and some unrelated internet filtering news tacked on the end). I was actually told that parents/students had been told by the school/teachers to use Wikipedia - which I was naturally surprised to hear - although this story says the opposite. And for the record I said I could *not* speak on behalf of Wikipedia, and I'm sure I would have said that readers needed to be able to critically evaluate what they are reading, not just be informed about the pitfalls. But I'll chalk those bits up to the power of the soundbite. :) Brianna -- They've just been waiting in a mountain for the right moment: http://modernthings.org/ ___ Wikimediaau-l mailing list Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l
Re: [Wikimediaau-l] smh article
What you did get quoted as saying was good (as PrivateMusings said), and it is a shame that what you just described was cut ou - especially the bit about critical evaluation. It really is unfortunate that they can make a news item about one parent who happens to stumble upon vandalism in an article about a children's book. They did note that they vandalism was removed quickly, but quite a long way down the page. I think if we get this kind of thing in the future then we should emphasise the fact of the speed at which 'bad things' are removed demonstrates the system working and shows that we are trying hard to improve. -Liam wittylama.com/blog Sent from Sydney, Nsw, Australia On Sun, May 24, 2009 at 4:16 PM, Brianna Laugher brianna.laug...@gmail.comwrote: 2009/5/24 private musings thepmacco...@gmail.com: see http://www.smh.com.au/news/home/technology/parents-warned-of-wikiporn-risk/2009/05/23/1242498976065.html Unfortunately it's not a good news one, dealing with 'Wikiporn risk' - but I think a 'well done' to brianna for sounding wise and sensible in a difficult situation is due :-) Thanks, although this is just a completely bog-standard vandalism story (with a local angle, and some unrelated internet filtering news tacked on the end). I was actually told that parents/students had been told by the school/teachers to use Wikipedia - which I was naturally surprised to hear - although this story says the opposite. And for the record I said I could *not* speak on behalf of Wikipedia, and I'm sure I would have said that readers needed to be able to critically evaluate what they are reading, not just be informed about the pitfalls. But I'll chalk those bits up to the power of the soundbite. :) Brianna -- They've just been waiting in a mountain for the right moment: http://modernthings.org/ ___ Wikimediaau-l mailing list Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l ___ Wikimediaau-l mailing list Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l
[Wikimediaau-l] smh article
see http://www.smh.com.au/news/home/technology/parents-warned-of-wikiporn-risk/2009/05/23/1242498976065.html Unfortunately it's not a good news one, dealing with 'Wikiporn risk' - but I think a 'well done' to brianna for sounding wise and sensible in a difficult situation is due :-) The worry is that in many ways this is the tip of the iceberg in regard to 'wikiporn' - unfortunately I've well and truly passed the stage where I'm boring folk with my concerns (see the foundation-l list for more details) - but much of the material on commons (shots of nudity taken at beaches without the subjects' permission, and freely licensed images of all sorts of explicit sexual activity) makes me worried that this story may not be the last we hear on this subject... cheers, Peter PM. ___ Wikimediaau-l mailing list Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l
