Month: July 2008

Categories
Social Media

Wikipedia: less wiki more pedia

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

Interesting. Wikipedia may be instituting an approval system. If the current experiment detailed in the Times article expands to all of Wikipedia, any change made to an article by a person who hasn’t made 300 or more previous edits will be held in moderation until approved. Contrary to the juicy exclamations of delight, this is actually counter to the original premise behind Wikipedia. Or at least, counter to my original expectations of Wikipedia.

Originally, I thought that Wikipedia would be edited by millions of people, focused specifically on areas of intense interest and expertise. Because of this, I would assume very few people would make 300 or more edits. Contrary to some people’s belief, we all don’t know everything. Additionally, if you’re expert in one topic or another, you don’t have time to spend hours at Wikipedia making changes, much less making edits across a wide variety of topics.

What the new philosophy means, then, is that these expert changes will now be held in review by people who are, for wont of a better term, know-it-alls. And until one of these know-it-alls has the time to check the change, it doesn’t show up at the site.

Supposedly the entire reasoning behind this move is to eliminate vandalism. However, I’ve not seen vandalism in most of the articles I’ve read at Wikipedia. Of course, I never use Wikipedia to get information about a “controversial” topic, either. It also seems to me that if an article is vandalized, someone fixes it fairly quickly. Then there are concerns about the “tyranny of the editors” at Wikipedia, and I’m not sure this move would add to the warm and fuzzy feeling about the site.

Regardless of the good or bad of the idea, what a time for Seth to go on vacation. Great cartoon, though.

update Looking at Kathy Sierra’s entry in Wikipedia and the history of revisions (per discussion in comments), I noticed edits by Seth. Now Seth would be one of the authorities eligible to OK edits under the proposed new plan under consideration, because he has made many edits, usually to wikify an article, or correct grammar or reverse vandalism. If anyone could be guaranteed to remain neutral regarding any article, it would be Seth. I imagine the same could be said of other people whose main contribution to Wikipedia is to wikify articles, or make grammar and spelling corrections. So I need to be careful about associating 300+ edits with a person being a “know-it-all”.

However, I’d still hate that an edit of mine on, say, the supposed hidden Confederate gold in the limestone caves of Missouri, would have to wait on even Seth’s official okee dokee. I’d probably edit once, and then never edit again.

Categories
Books Writing

PTW on Kindle

Painting the Web is now live on Kindle, and I downloaded a sample chapter. I ended up being pleasantly surprised at the figures. Though they are in grays, they’re large enough to be easily viewable, and nicely integrated into the text.

It’s fun seeing your work in a new medium. Reminds me of the thrill I felt when seeing my first book in print.

update The URLs I included in the book are also converted into working links, and if the wireless connection is turned on, clicking one of the links opens the page in Kindle’s built-in browser. Tough to do that with a paper book. The spacing for the code samples is off, but this isn’t too much of a problem since examples can be downloaded from O’Reilly.

PTW on Kindle

Categories
Just Shelley

This week in Missouri

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

For this week’s recap of Missouri news, I’m going to focus on one event that is both trivial and profound: the closure of 16 Starbucks in the St. Louis area.

First, some context. Bob Sutor provides a link to a PDF listing all of the closures, nationally. Bill Greer at Off the Map has taken this data and mapped the location, as well as providing analysis of most impacted areas. As you can see from his list, though we didn’t have the most closures, we’re probably one of the most impacted per capita.

One of the Starbucks being closed in this area is also the closest to where I live. However, I go to another store anyway, because it’s closer to where I walk. Of course, I stopped going to Starbucks, and therein lies the profound nature of this event.

It’s not surprising that the Starbucks stores haven’t been doing as well in St. Louis. We don’t have the highest unemployment rate, but we do have unemployment beyond the national average: we’re now at over 6% unemployed and rising, aided and abetted by the closure of these stores.

However, high unemployment doesn’t necessarily mean that a luxury food store like Starbucks is going to be impacted. After all, when a people have little money for new TVs or cars, they can still escape the circumstances of their lives with the illusion of wealth by buying a tiny box of chocolates at Godiva, or a Starbuck’s White Mocha.

This year, though, even the few dollars that might go for these small luxuries are being eaten up by food prices that shock every time we go to the store, as well as gas prices that leave all quiet and subdued at the pumps.

Instead of Starbucks, we’re going to McDonald’s for a hot cup of coffee, or bringing our own home brewed, as we head to the Zoo, Art Museum, Arch, or other free, and most importantly, local spot; to spend time with family or friends, or our own thoughts. To find comfort in things that don’t require credit cards.

It’s difficult to hear of yet more closures in St. Louis. Will the last person leaving St. Louis, please remember to pull the plug on the Mississippi. However, there is a sanity to the lifestyle changes we’re having to make. Someday, when this is all behind us, forgive me if I hope these closed Starbucks stores never return.

Categories
Media

Josh Whedon strikes again

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

I’m predisposed to like anything from Josh Whedon, but his newest, an online webisode show, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog, is the cat’s jammies.

The 3-part show is hosted through Hulu, and can also be downloaded through iTunes. The first two shows are available, and the third goes up tomorrow. If you’re a fan of Firefly, keep an eye out for “Captain Hammer”, and you’ll see an old friend. However, everyone in the show is exceptional, including Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible, Felicia Day as Penny, Dr. Horrible’s secret love, and, yes, that is Nathan Fillion as an outstanding Captain Hammer.

What an absolute treat. And to add to the enjoyment, also check out the fan site. But check the show out quickly, because according to the fan site, the freebie shows will end July 20th.

(via Doug)

Categories
People

Inattention

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

The folks of St. Louis are still talking about the massive freeway crash that occurred Tuesday afternoon during rush hour. Three people have now died, and several are still in the hospital.

For those not from our area, the interchange between our Highway 40 (Interstate 64) and southbound I270 is incredibly busy in the afternoon rush hour. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for people to be forced to slow or even stop in the rightmost lane. Tuesday afternoon, a semi-truck hauling scrap aluminum hit, and literally ran over ten cars. Two people died immediately, and a third died today. Two of the three who died were Amish, traveling in a hired van heading to a funeral.

All the facts aren’t in and the police haven’t issued a report yet, but one thing is known: the truck driver was not paying attention before he hit the cars. A person driving besides the truck, who ended up getting hit by one of the cars knocked over the truck, estimated it was going 75 MPH when it hit the cars, and with no slowing down.

No charges have been filed yet. The driver has a clean record, and is emotionally wrecked, as you can imagine.

Tonight, one of the local news stations reported that the driver was distracted by a cellphone call just before the accident. I don’t think any of us are surprised.

The biggest cause of accidents, in this area and most likely elsewhere, is people not paying attention. They talk on the phone, they eat, try to read the newspaper while waiting at lights, check their email, and probably send Twitter updates. We travel in vehicles weighing thousands of pounds, traveling at high speeds, surrounded by other big, fast moving vehicles, and seem to think it’s perfectly acceptable to have a phone conversation with Joe, or quickly check that email from Jane—not to mention drinking hot coffee, smoking cigarettes that drop hot ash, or fiddling with the in-dash GPS, iPod, or radio.

Needless to say, the accident has awakened the call to make cellphone use while driving illegal. We shouldn’t need a law, though. We have something between our ears called a brain.