Wikimania live stream

[HRIP7]

The Wikimania live stream is here, if anyone feels like watching: http://new.livestream.com/socreclive/wikimania

Jimbo is speaking at the moment.

[neved]

The Wikimania live stream is here, if anyone feels like watching: http://new.livestream.com/socreclive/wikimania

Jimbo is speaking at the moment.

He says his wife is going to have a baby on August 19.

[Zoloft]

(ec) Congrats, Jimbo!

[HRIP7]

He is saying that he will start a mailing list to discuss ideas on how to redesign journalism – not purely a volunteer effort as in Wikipedia, as journalism requires you to get out, get on location, which requires a salary, but a hybrid model where the volunteer community is at least equal to the professionals.

One reason he gives is that Wikipedia is good at sober reporting, while journalism often focuses on trivia.

Right now, he is presenting a pre-recorded video eulogy to Sue Gardner, featuring Risker, Phoebe Ayers, Sydney Poore, Oliver Keyes and others.

[HRIP7]

Sue says, "As always, Oliver Keyes said it best." (He described Sue as "intimidating, but in a good way" in the video.)

Standing ovation for Sue, lots of hugs – from Erik Möller, Jan-Bart de Vreede, etc. etc.

[HRIP7]

This year's Wikipedian of the Year is French Wikipedian Rémy Mathis.

Press question about Baidu, and whether there is any collaboration between Wikipedia and Baidu. Sue Gardner says Baidu has a similar scope and is very popular in mainland China, but there isn't any sharing or collaboration – Baidu and Wikipedia are completely separate.

[Bielle]

This year's Wikipedian of the Year is French Wikipedian Rémy Mathis.

Press question about Baidu, and whether there is any collaboration between Wikipedia and Baidu. Sue Gardner says Baidu has a similar scope and is very popular in mainland China, but there isn't any sharing or collaboration – Baidu and Wikipedia are completely separate.

You are more tolerant than I am.

[EricBarbour]

One reason he gives is that Wikipedia is good at sober reporting, while journalism often focuses on trivia.

BULLSHIT. They are both trivia-obsessed.

Also, is Remy gonna get his $5k or not?

[Vigilant]

One reason he gives is that Wikipedia is good at sober reporting, while journalism often focuses on trivia.

BULLSHIT. They are both trivia-obsessed.

Also, is Remy gonna get his $5k or not?

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!

Give the man a few years, okay?

*sheesh*

[Anthonyhcole]

Press question about Baidu, and whether there is any collaboration between Wikipedia and Baidu. Sue Gardner says Baidu has a similar scope and is very popular in mainland China, but there isn't any sharing or collaboration – Baidu and Wikipedia are completely separate.

A Chinese-speaking American journalist just told me the actual question, in Cantonese, was along the lines of "With the presence of these other Chinese wiki-encyclopedias, what is the point of Wikipedia in Chinese?" but the translator got it wrong. I asked Shi Yuhang after his presentation whether there was a problem with bias in those other Chinese wiki-encyclopedias. He answered "Yes, very." The journalist asked him a similar question and he said the standard of sourcing in the others was poor.

Shi Yuhang is very concerned that if the Foundation forces all Wikipedias onto https, it will shut most of China out of Wikipedia. I hope the Foundation is listening. I didn't recognise any foundation officers or board members at his presentation.

[Poetlister]

BULLSHIT. They are both trivia-obsessed.

Also, is Remy gonna get his $5k or not?

Hmm. No doubt Jimbo and his supporters would accuse you of being trivia-obsessed. What's $5k in the great scheme of things?

[Peter Damian]

Sue says, "As always, Oliver Keyes said it best." (He described Sue as "intimidating, but in a good way" in the video.)

Standing ovation for Sue, lots of hugs – from Erik Möller, Jan-Bart de Vreede, etc. etc.

I thought you were joking but you are right about the "intimidating, but in a good way". I couldn't find the "As always, Oliver Keyes said it best.". Did she really say that?? What does she mean 'as always'? She is referring to the sex doll remark? The remark about stabbing a woman through the windpipe?

[EricBarbour]

I thought you were joking but you are right about the "intimidating, but in a good way". I couldn't find the "As always, Oliver Keyes said it best.". Did she really say that?? What does she mean 'as always'? She is referring to the sex doll remark? The remark about stabbing a woman through the windpipe?

She said that at the keynote speech, no written record. Just take it down and add it to the wiki. It might have value later.

[Peter Damian]

I thought you were joking but you are right about the "intimidating, but in a good way". I couldn't find the "As always, Oliver Keyes said it best.". Did she really say that?? What does she mean 'as always'? She is referring to the sex doll remark? The remark about stabbing a woman through the windpipe?

She said that at the keynote speech, no written record. Just take it down and add it to the wiki. It might have value later.

Right, but which video stream and at what point. I sat through some of it without getting too ill, but I couldn't find that bit.

[Zoloft]

For posteriority:

WikiMania2013_Sensible_Attendees.jpg

[EricBarbour]

Right, but which video stream and at what point.

I could not bear to watch more than 5 minutes myself. It was in the "video eulogy" for Sue.

[Peter Damian]

Right, but which video stream and at what point.

I could not bear to watch more than 5 minutes myself. It was in the "video eulogy" for Sue.

It was the "As always, Oliver Keyes said it best" bit I was looking for, uttered by Sue. I'll ask JN.

It's worth watching a bit. It's excessively creepy, lots of group hugs, the whole team saying 'thank you Sue' over and over again. Lots of reference to 'the movement' and 'our values'. It looks more like a gigantic cult every day. They talk about how Sue took it from a 'shaky' group of less then five people, to an organisation of well over 100 people. But of course this organisation now depends financially on the existence of Wikipedia.

[dogbiscuit]

Right, but which video stream and at what point.

I could not bear to watch more than 5 minutes myself. It was in the "video eulogy" for Sue.

It was the "As always, Oliver Keyes said it best" bit I was looking for, uttered by Sue. I'll ask JN.

It's worth watching a bit. It's excessively creepy, lots of group hugs, the whole team saying 'thank you Sue' over and over again. Lots of reference to 'the movement' and 'our values'. It looks more like a gigantic cult every day. They talk about how Sue took it from a 'shaky' group of less then five people, to an organisation of well over 100 people. But of course this organisation now depends financially on the existence of Wikipedia.

I tried hunting it out - I saw his second spot but couldn't stand watching it over - the player had a glitch at the vital point.

What struck me about the eulogy was just how carelessly it had been put together. Extremely amateurish, no thought to throwing out the substandard mobile phone footage that was unwatchable and added nothing, something that would have been extremely dull to inflict on the WikiMasses. I was struck by the lack of genuine humour.

Jimbo's intro was also pretty dire, mumbled asides about not being there yet, a major time filler on attendees, and a generally lazy and unprepared performance. I found a little bit of his news thing, but it was so clear that even he didn't believe in it and hadn't thought it through. I suspect the night before he was trying to think of a big announcement and he was sulking about how he wasn't getting the world press coverage on his big HTTPS idea (that is of no interest to 99.999999% of the world) and he decided that he could do a better job. Without having thought it through, he forgot that within the world of WMF, they've already tried it.

WikiNews is now such a dismal failure that they still have the Doctor Who announcement on the front page as latest news, with some other minor stories ("WikiNews interviews a thoroughly nice person of no interest to the rest of the world's press!!"). They hadn't even got Jimbo's HTTPS story on the front page when they should have had ready access to the man himself.

Had to laugh at this nicely ambiguous lede:

Peace activist Cindy Sheehan, who recently announced her intention to run as the Peace and Freedom Party's nominee for governor of California in 2014, took some time to answer five questions from Wikinews.

[HRIP7]

Right, but which video stream and at what point.

I could not bear to watch more than 5 minutes myself. It was in the "video eulogy" for Sue.

It was the "As always, Oliver Keyes said it best" bit I was looking for, uttered by Sue. I'll ask JN.

It's worth watching a bit. It's excessively creepy, lots of group hugs, the whole team saying 'thank you Sue' over and over again. Lots of reference to 'the movement' and 'our values'. It looks more like a gigantic cult every day. They talk about how Sue took it from a 'shaky' group of less then five people, to an organisation of well over 100 people. But of course this organisation now depends financially on the existence of Wikipedia.

It was after the tribute video. She joked she would rename her blog "intimidating but in a good way". Mentioned in two tweets from Wikimania attendees.

Sue Gardner: "As always, Oliver Keys (@quominus) says it best." #wikimania

.@quominus Sue is going to retitle her blog to "intimidating in a good way" #wikimania

[HRIP7]

Wall Street Journal interview with Wales.

Includes mentions of his "scruffy beard", "scare stare", donations budget (now at $49m) and the Chinese and Kazakh Wikipedias.

[Cla68]

I'm probably going to regret it forever that I didn't take the three-hour flight over there to attend this shindig.

[HRIP7]

There is a strong Kazakh delegation in Hong Kong.

[thekohser]

Jimbo's intro was also pretty dire, mumbled asides about not being there yet, a major time filler on attendees, and a generally lazy and unprepared performance.

Thank you for summing up exactly what I thought of it. He is such an uninspiring speaker to crowds, it is a wonder why he's even invited to speak any more.

[dogbiscuit]

Jimbo's intro was also pretty dire, mumbled asides about not being there yet, a major time filler on attendees, and a generally lazy and unprepared performance.

Thank you for summing up exactly what I thought of it. He is such an uninspiring speaker to crowds, it is a wonder why he's even invited to speak any more.

I'm not an expert at these gatherings - they are a very American institution in my eyes, but in my Borland days (probably 1995) I went to a Borland User conference in LA (evening trip to Disneyland included) - presented a couple of papers.

As with all things Wikipedia, this comes across as a shambolic, amateur effort. People paid good money to get there and good money to attend, so they should get some professionally produced content.

At Borland, when they did their movie introduction, it was based on Indiana Jones, had some professional production team putting the employees into a mildly entertaining skit, and the end was a HumVee driving through the screen to the edge of the stage. The content was designed to help people use the tools with C++ streams and Pascal streams amongst other things. We had access to the developers and we learned things. Also, I realise that these events are partly used as a company perk, so people expect them to be fun.

I'd be interested to be pointed to any content that shows a professional, constructive and useful presentation, rather than a bluff that Wikipedia is a useful pursuit for Jimbo's (ex-)acolytes.

[neved]

Wall Street Journal interview with Wales.

Includes mentions of his "scruffy beard", "scare stare", donations budget (now at $49m) and the Chinese and Kazakh Wikipedias.

I was not able to concentrate on what Mr.Wales was saying. I was concerned that a button on his tummy is going to be ripped off at any moment.

[Vigilant]

You'd think he'd prepare a bit for a live interview.

He comes off as wildly amateurish.

[DanMurphy]

You'd think he'd prepare a bit for a live interview.

He comes off as wildly amateurish.

Meh. He's not a good or fluent interview, but lots of people aren't. It was just dull. The key to an interesting interview, unless you have a real pro at the other end, is good questions. WSJ hack didn't exactly help him out.

[Vigilant]

You'd think he'd prepare a bit for a live interview.

He comes off as wildly amateurish.

Meh. He's not a good or fluent interview, but lots of people aren't. It was just dull. The key to an interesting interview, unless you have a real pro at the other end, is good questions. WSJ hack didn't exactly help him out.

Maybe my assessment is harsh and I was expecting too much.
It's *the* annual wiki-show. You'd think he'd want to wow the audience.
He just comes off as bored and disconnected.
You have this first tier media opportunity and you can't be bothered...

To my mind, as the spokesman emeritus, that's wildly amateur behavior.

[Peter Damian]

It was after the tribute video. She joked she would rename her blog "intimidating but in a good way". Mentioned in two tweets from Wikimania attendees.

Sue Gardner: "As always, Oliver Keys (@quominus) says it best." #wikimania

.@quominus Sue is going to retitle her blog to "intimidating in a good way" #wikimania

Ah yes got it. http://new.livestream.com/socreclive/wikimania 42:00 I missed it because it followed so closely all that hugging which was too horrible not to skip.

Yes, the whole thing lacks any known form of humour.

[thekohser]

Wall Street Journal interview with Wales.

Includes mentions of his "scruffy beard", "scare stare", donations budget (now at $49m) and the Chinese and Kazakh Wikipedias.

I was not able to concentrate on what Mr.Wales was saying. I was concerned that a button on his tummy is going to be ripped off at any moment.

+1 to Neved. This is what I love about Wikipediocracy.

[Wer900]

The rightmost entry in the top row of the "Supporters" section of the Wikimania main page is an embarrassment to Wikipedia. Frei Kultur Kinder are not supported by the big evil gummint or corporations, right?

[dogbiscuit]

Oh, I hadn't spotted the tagline for the conference...

Of one mind in pursuit of our dream
All discord set aside

At least they admit there is discord to set aside - I'm not sure that they've checked AN/I in the last day or so though.

[Randy from Boise]

I'm not an expert at these gatherings - they are a very American institution in my eyes...

Nah, British political parties and trade unions have had annual conventions for more than a century (which is as far back as I know anything about). Americans might have made them into an art form, but it's no American innovation...

RfB

[Randy from Boise]

Oh, I hadn't spotted the tagline for the conference...

Of one mind in pursuit of our dream
All discord set aside

At least they admit there is discord to set aside - I'm not sure that they've checked AN/I in the last day or so though.

It probably sounds better in Mandarin...

RfB