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Hello, All: <br>
<br>
<br>
I'm planning to lead a series of "Wiki Workshops" at the Peace
Center devoted to both the mechanics of how to edit a Wiki page and
the rigorous habit of thought that is needed to write good text for
"THE Wikipedia"? This can be a high leverage activity. The
Wikipedia article on the Stop Online Piracy Act received a million
views between Nov. 24 and Dec. 24. Contributing to Wikipedia can
also help you develop a critical, analytical habit of thought and
expression, because such is needed to write good text for Wikipedia
(because without it, edits you make are more likely to be undone by
someone else). This habit of thought and expression may also make
you more effective in other things you try to do. <br>
<br>
<br>
I'm about to schedule Monday, January 9 for the first
session. Depending on the response, I plan to schedule others,
e.g., once per month or per week, depending on the level of
interest. <br>
<br>
<br>
I have three questions regarding this that I'd like to ask you
all: <br>
<br>
<br>
1. Might the Green Party like to co-host something like
this with Occupy San José? <br>
<br>
<br>
2. Might you be interested in participating in such? <br>
<br>
<br>
3. Might you be interested in participating virtually,
i.e., via the Internet from wherever you happen to be at the
appointed time? <br>
<br>
<br>
Thanks, <br>
Spencer <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
TITLE: Occupy Wiki Workshop <br>
<br>
<br>
SHORT DESCRIPTION: The Wikipedia article on the "Stop Online Piracy
Act" received over 1,000,000 views in the month between Nov. 24 and
Dec. 24. Clearly, work to improve the content of such a page can
have a large impact. Accordingly, the Education and Research
Committee of Occupy San José would like to recruit people with or
without experience editing Wikis to meet regularly in working /
education sessions to increase the impact of the participants while
also improving their skills. We will change and add to a Wiki
devoted to Occupy San Jose (<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://occupy.pbworks.com/?_ci=15332.o6tKe2-2">http://occupy.pbworks.com/?_ci=15332.o6tKe2-2</a>)
as well as "THE Wikipedia" and perhaps others. We will discuss the
interests and desires of participants, select things to change and
add, share knowledge about how to make changes and additions and how
to do research so your edits will more likely be accepted and read.
[Contributing to Wikipedia can help you develop a critical,
analytical habit of thought and expression, because such is needed
to write good text for Wikipedia (because without it, edits you make
are more likely to be undone by someone else). This habit of
thought and expression may also make you more effective in other
things you try to do.] <br>
<br>
<br>
FACILITATORS: Henry Gage and Spencer Graves<br>
<br>
<br>
On 12/23/2011 11:29 AM, Ana Maria Candela wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:CA+Pr-g8gG=eAYnmfRaAZEOnSd=6yA_hA9BLsNkJL=PfpHnYarg@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">Hi Spencer,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>We should do this at the peace center, which has a projector
we can use. To schedule the workshop, I need a title, a short
description and a rough idea of how long it will be. Then we
need to pick a date and reserve it on the SJPJC calendar. Here
is what is available at SJPJC for January that would work for
us:
<div> <br>
</div>
<div>Monday, January 9 - 7pm</div>
<div>Saturday, January 14 - all day</div>
<div>Monday, January 16 - 7pm</div>
<div>Saturday, January 21 - all day</div>
<div>Monday, January 23 - 7pm</div>
<div>Monday, January 30 - 7pm</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Once everything is in order, I can schedule everything.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Thanks for doing this!</div>
<div>Ana</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
<div><br>
<div class="gmail_quote"> On Fri, Dec 23, 2011 at 11:15 AM,
Spencer Graves <span dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:spencer.graves@prodsyse.com">spencer.graves@prodsyse.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> Hi, Ana, et al.:
<br>
<br>
<br>
What's the next step? <br>
<br>
<br>
I think we should mention both the Occupy Wiki
and "The" Wikipedia to attract an audience. I agree
we should encourage people to do things with the
Occupy Wiki as well as "The" Wikipedia. The latter
has an article on "Occupy San Jose", but the most
recent event recorded there is dated Oct. 21. A lot
has happened since then, and people can make changes
there that are less likely to be challenged than my
attempts to edit the SOPA article. <br>
<br>
<br>
I want to call it a "Workshop" for two reasons:
First, I won't feel a need to do a lot of
preparation. Second, people should expect to come and
"work" in the "shop". (It doesn't all have to be
serious: There are various Wikijoke pages.) <br>
<br>
<br>
Spencer <br>
<br>
<br>
On 12/23/2011 10:33 AM, Ana Maria Candela wrote:
<blockquote type="cite">Hi Spencer,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I think this is a great idea. I think we
should begin by training people to use the OSJ
Wiki that Henry developed. So much comes through
on the google group that needs to be on that wiki,
it would be nice to start sending people there to
document our resources.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Best,</div>
<div>ana<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Dec 22, 2011 at
9:50 PM, Spencer Graves <span dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:spencer.graves@prodsyse.com"
target="_blank">spencer.graves@prodsyse.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0
0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc
solid;padding-left:1ex">Hi, Ana, Henry, Pablo,
David:<br>
<br>
<br>
WIKI POWER<br>
<br>
<br>
I tried recently to edit the Wikipedia
entry on the Stop Online Piracy Act,
especially adding a section on the "Media
Conflict of Interest". My additions were
removed 18 minutes later, complaining I did
not have a valid source.<br>
<br>
<br>
That article has been receiving between
100,000 and 150,000 views per day, which means
that any editing effort can have very high
leverage. I learned that, because earlier
today, I was officially invited to participate
in a discussion about whether to split the
article. I think the consensus is to try to
shorten the article by not including as many
lengthy quotes.<br>
<br>
<br>
OCCUPY WIKI WORKSHOP?<br>
<br>
<br>
What do you think about trying to
organize a Wiki Workshop at the Peace Center?
I'd be willing to facilitate something like
this as a recurring event. What is our status
with the Peace Center?<br>
<br>
<br>
The basic idea is to help people become
Wikipedians by learning both the mechanics of
the Wiki markup language and (more
importantly) the rigorous habit of thought
that is required to make good contributions
that people want to read and quote.<br>
<br>
<br>
I've made probably a few thousand edits
over the past 6 years. Most of these were for
a corporate wiki internal to where I used to
work. However, I've made a few hundred edits
to "the" Wikipedia, and I think I understand
their standard and how they think.<br>
<br>
<br>
I'm thinking of structuring the Workshops
so they start with a discussion of what the
attendees want to do, either with the Occupy
Wiki that Henry initiated or "the" Wikipedia.
After recording the desires of the attendees,
we could then spend a few minutes answering
the easiest questions. For the more difficult
questions, we could recruit volunteers to
prepare brief presentation(s) at later
session(s) -- or handle those questions via
email. Then there should be time for brief
presentations people prepared for question(s)
raised in previous session(s).<br>
<br>
<br>
If we can use the Peace Center's computer
projector, that might be best. I could take
notes in an email, which I could then send to
interested parties at the end of the meeting.
If we can't get the projector, then I could
bring a portable easel. I have a backup
notebook computer I could bring, also, which
could be used by attendees who do not bring a
notebook.<br>
<br>
<br>
Best Wishes,<br>
Spencer<span class="HOEnZb"><font
color="#888888"><span></span><br>
</font></span></blockquote>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"> </font></span></div>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"> </font></span></div>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"> </font></span></blockquote>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"> </font></span><br>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
President and Chief Technology Officer
Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
751 Emerson Ct.
San José, CA 95126
ph: 408-655-4567
web: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.structuremonitoring.com">www.structuremonitoring.com</a>
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