[Foundation-l] Call for referendum

[Kim Bruning]

On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 09:00:57AM -0700, Alec Conroy wrote:
> > One *big* problem we have now is: Wikipedia has won. Wikipedia is the
> > encyclopedia anyone actually consults, ever. Wikipedia now defines
> > what an "encyclopedia" is in popular conception.
> >
> > So we don't have any tail-lights to chase. What sets our direction?
> 
> Well, this is now completely and utterly off topic, but since I'm here...
> I _think_ maybe I've known the answer for several years now, but I
> still don't really know how to communicate it.   But since you
> asked---
> 
> The most exciting thing I've heard of  is kinda hard to explain in
> English-- at least it's hard for me to explain it.  It can be
> described in geekspeak by saying "How would Wikimedia be different if
> it had been made after Git?"   Go ask the Free Software people that
> question and watch their faces light up with possibilities.    To
> other people you can say "What if Wikimedia projects were less like a
> website and more like the internet itself?" and they'll get very
> interested, even if they don't know precisely what you mean.
> 
> Our "business model" is to take the lessons of Free Software and apply
> them to the challenges traditionally faced by librarians and
> educators.
> 
> Since 2002, literally some of the best minds on the planet have been
> working on the question of how large groups of strangers can work
> together to create documents when they don't all want the exact same
> finished product.  The lessons they've learned, and the tools they've
> created, are truly mindblowing.
> 
> Imagine if virtually every editor's computer had copies of whole
> chunks of Wikimedia projects, starting first and foremost with your
> own contributions to the projects.
> <snip cool stuff>
> Such a wiki is inevitable, I just hope we can be the ones to develop it.

Would Ward Cunningham be ok?

See
	http://wardcunningham.github.com/

He's working on the "Smallest Federated Wiki". :-D

sincerely,
	Kim Bruning

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