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19 Jan 2012 15:32

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Politics: Wikipedia’s blackout funnels huge number to look up congresspeople

  • 8 million users looked up their House Rep. by Wikipedia yesterday source
  • » Well, that sure worked: During the “great blackout” yesterday, one of the only things you actually could do with Wikipedia was get the information about your local congressperson, so to lodge a complaint against the SOPA and PIPA legislations that were the order of the day. This stripping down to such a basic, singular function proved to have just the effect Wikipedia had hoped for, as evidenced by the figure above; this surge in popular outcry clearly rattled quite a few on Capitol Hill, as numerous former supporters have changed their tunes.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jan 2012 00:52

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Tech: Reddit, Wikipedia want the Internet to imagine a life with SOPA

  • downtime To demonstrate what Internet life might be like with SOPA/PIPA in the mix, Reddit will be shut down on Jan. 18. Instead, users can watch a livestream of a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee meeting on DNS and search engine blocking, where the site’s co-founder, Alexis Ohanian, will offer remarks to Congress.
  • backup Wikipedia co-founder, Jimmy Wales, has expressed his support of Reddit’s move, and may even work with the site, potentially creating a similar shutdown of Wikipedia. With big websites explicitly showing users what a life with SOPA/PIPA is like, could public outrage crop up? And will Google or Facebook join in? source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jan 2012 11:41

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Tech: Wikipedia’s parent raises tons of cash from yearly fundraiser

  • $20 million in donations raised by the Wikimedia Foundation source
  • » Wikimedia’s best year ever: More that 1 million people donated to the Wiki-cause, a campaign that draws a bit of parody over the somewhat in-your-face nature of the fundraising calls. Honestly, they seemed a little bit more in your face in 2011 than 2010. Do you think Wikipedia should just start running modest ads? As one of the largest sites on the internet, they could easily hit the $20 million mark with some text ads. It’d be a lot less in-your-face, that’s for sure.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Nov 2011 10:05

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Tech: Wikipedia co-founder mistaken for Julian Assange by immigration agent

  • No, no, no. Different guy. Not wanted in Sweden.
  • Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales • Revealing, under embarrassing circumstances, that he had been mistaken for Wikileaks’ Julian Assange by an immigration official in Britain. This despite the fact that Wales runs one of the most popular sites on the Internet. And he likes using this power to stare at you. Wales used the point to emphasize, despite his site’s massive growth, he’s managed to remain mostly anonymous. Good work, son. You proved Julian Assange has more influence than you. Time to update your Wikipedia page. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Feb 2011 10:11

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Music: On Justin Beieber fans defacing Esperanza Spalding’s Wikipedia page

  • Look, these attacks appear personal. It appears that Ms. Esperanza Spalding’s Wikipedia page has been attacked by the Bieber faithful for her win for Best New Artist at the Grammys last night – a ringer who beat out four well-known acts. But, a piece of advice to Bieber fans: If you want to deface a page, how about the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences one? It’s their fault that the Grammys are completely out of lockstep with pop music, that favors music completely out of the popular zeitgeist. Otherwise, stop watching The Grammys. There are other, more useful, ways to show your love for musicians. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink

20 Jan 2011 13:54

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Tech: Wikipedia celebrates a decade, gets animated

  • It’s hard to believe it’s already ten years old: Wikipedia has been with us for a while now, and over its decade lifespan it has left an indelible mark on the culture of online information. We’ll let this beautifully animated video take it from here (thanks Simon Owens of Bloggasm).
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Jan 2011 11:37

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Culture: Jimmy Wales on Wikipedia’s future: We’ll make it easier to edit

  • We have to support our old power users because they build the site. But we also need to have a ramp for new users.
  • Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales • Explaining the the encyclopedia’s next move, as it celebrated its tenth anniversary, involved simplifying its complex editing process. “If you click edit and you see some Wiki syntax and some bizarre table structure — a lot of people are literally afraid,” he explained. “They’re good people and they don’t want to break something.” This would be the probable next step for the site to expand its audience from 400 million to what Wales hopes is 1 billion by 2015. Despite this, the organization has no plans to change its model, which involves fundraising, usually involving Jimmy Wales‘ Joe-Millerish mug. Happy birthday, kids, and we’re sorry you’re no longer the most-famous Wiki-leader, Jimmy (friggin’ Julian)! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

22 Nov 2010 09:58

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Offbeat: Some genius figured out how to put Jimmy Wales on every site

  • Meet our new favorite extension ever. Some clever bastard decided to make a Google Chrome extension that takes those Jimmy Wales guilt-you-into-donating banners and puts one on EVERY. SINGLE. PAGE. Here’s one on Encyclopedia.com, just to show the power of this amazing, immaculate banner. Worth an installation just for a laugh. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Nov 2010 22:00

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Tech: Why did Wikipedia decide to have Jimmy Wales look into your soul?

If you’re like us, you’ve been wondering how Wikipedia created its very effective-looking fundraising ads. Well, the secret is that they’ve been doing some insane audience testing. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Aug 2010 09:50

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U.S.: The FBI thinks Wikipedia has no right to use its logo

  • The reasoningWikipedia puts logos on its various pages, often recreating them in a vector format in cases where the original is a low-resolution sample. Also, most things acquired by the U.S. government, from logos to photos to numerous other assets are designated public domain. Certain insignias, such as the FBI’s, however, are restricted for non-copyright reasons.

    The conflict This particular logo of the FBI led to Wikipedia’s offices getting a letter claiming that “Whoever possesses any insignia …or any colourable imitation thereof..shall be fined … or imprisoned … or both.” Considering that the seal is commonly used in other places, this seems like an odd source to attack. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 6 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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