Here's an introduction from a new list member ..
For those who haven't done so already, I'd also appreciate an introduction.
As a reminder, the purpose of this list is to bring together people with big ideas around MediaWiki, and those with the means to make them happen. Ideally they're both in one person. ;-)
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Bill F bill.altmail@gmail.com Date: Sep 24, 2007 1:22 PM Subject: Re: MediaWiki NG list membership To: Erik Moeller erik@wikimedia.org
My name is Bill Flanagan. I work for MIT as a programmer responsible for OpenWetWare.org, an NSF-funded collaboration project using MediaWiki as its basis. There are currently over 3000 researchers at over 100 labs globally using OpenWetWare on a daly basis. Lab notebooks, information sharing, and blogging are all supported.
We are currently augmenting citation and image editing tools. Search and metadata-handling functions are also being improved. Private wikis are provided on request for individual projects and labs where needed.
Prior to this, I worked on a now defunct attempt to use Mediawiki as the basis of a for-profit business-oriented version of Wikipedia. My background is in collaborative application systems. I was one of the lead architects on the Lotus Notes product from the time the product was released until Lotus was sold to IBM.
Thanks.
Bill Flanagan
On 9/23/07, Erik Moeller erik@wikimedia.org wrote:
All -
you've applied for membership in the "MediaWiki Next Generation" mailing list. The purpose of the list is to bring together funders of "big picture" changes to MediaWiki with those interested in working on implementations, and to coordinate such efforts to avoid duplication.
If this is what you signed up for, please tell me a little about yourself, and I'll add you to to the list.
If you do not take any action in response to this mail I won't add you to the list.
It's currently low traffic, but I for one do send updates about my own work through multiple organizations, as it relates to MediaWiki.
-- Toward Peace, Love & Progress: Erik
DISCLAIMER: This message does not represent an official position of the Wikimedia Foundation or its Board of Trustees.
As technologists, we cannot overlook the technologically driven phenomenon of mass collaboration. Social computing tools such as Wikis, blogs, instant messaging, MySpace, YouTube and mail list servers (to mention just a few), are transforming not only the mode of communication, but the culture of communication right under our noses. Indeed, the successful IT organizations will harness this culture not only to serve their companies, but also to transform and enhance their own roles.
Bottom-up knowledge creation is not just changing the traditional roles of IT departments (Governance, Strategy, Coordination, Project Management, Acquisition . . .), it is obliterating them. As a pragmatist and I do not believe the hype of technological innovations until I have had experience of it myself. For the betterment of my organizationa and constituents, I investigate real-life examples of how to harness the media, culture, and economics to transform and facilitate collaboration in the increasingly dynamic environment. Specifically I am implementing in areas related to strategic planning, project management, requirements analysis, service oriented approaches, vendor management - and most importantly, learning to use the inexorable fluidity to achieve objectives without loss of sanity (or job)!
Wikipedia and MediaWiki are two exemplary examples of not only superb product, but a beacon for the implementation process, through collaboration, for the next generation of IT development.
My primary interest is to observe and learn the best practices used in the development of MediaWiki and transform those practices into government with a secondary interest of extending the functionality of MediaWiki to the intranet world (note this does not mean change the primary direction of fully open collaboration, but only providing extended functionality where closed community-based peer collaboration is necessary). Yeah, I know, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you", but maybe this could a small part of increasing openness in government while lowering costs.
Two extensions to date:
1) DiscussionThreading (http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:DiscussionThreading) - a primitive extension to discussion pages to make them listserv-like with threading of discussions and responses. 2) ImageLockdown capability (not released, but see http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension_talk:Lockdown#Image_Lockdown_--Makar _17:35.2C_20_August_2007_.28UTC.29)
Still waiting for SVN access to post DiscussionThreading extension.
Jack D. Pond CIO, Montgomery County, PA (610)278-5200
"Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors." -- African Proverb
Bio:
Currently serving as the Chief Information Officer for Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Jack has extensive background drawing on more than 25 years of management and consulting experience.
Jack has planned and executed high-tech projects employing a variety of technologies spanning telecommunications, converged data and voice networks, enterprise software systems, and enterprise infrastructure. He has overseen implementations in client/server, open systems, mainframe, and Internet platforms, and he has a strong personal interest in the use of the Internet to conduct electronic commerce. Additionally, Jack has worked on the creation and development of both network and data operation centers for large organizations with more than 30,000 users.
Jack is perhaps best known for his work as the deputy chief technical officer for the city of Washington, DC. While there, he was responsible for managing enhancements to the District's technology infrastructure, including network security. His leadership on the DC.GOV website earned a top-50 rating by SNAP.COM - the only government site to earn such a distinction at that time.
Throughout his career, Jack has worked in management and consulting positions for some of the country's best-known and respected companies, including Honeywell, CoreStates, Sallie Mae, Bankers Trust, Harvey Hubbell (PulseCom),Titan Systems, CashFlex, KnowledgeFlow and Integrion Financial Network.
On 9/24/07, Erik Moeller erik@wikimedia.org wrote:
For those who haven't done so already, I'd also appreciate an introduction.
Greetings everyone. I'm George Herbert, known on many of the Wikipedia sites as User:Georgewilliamherbert .
I've been a UNIX user since I was in my early teens (Friend's dad's company had a VAX 11/750), Internet and Usenet user since 1987 (I was a witness to the Morris Worm), and Wikipedian for the past few years. I'm an administrator on en.wikipedia, member of the unblock-en-l mailing list, and active on several of the policy level lists (wikien-l, foundation-l).
I code things here and there, but I'm primarily an IT consultant in systems architecture and operations, ranging from site architecture for large websites and internal IT organizations to senior system administration work.
My interest in this list and topic is in general wanting to see how use of the tools has developed in ways that would make software architecture or implimentation or UI changes beneficial - Wikipedia works pretty well now, but I think that there is much more future evolution ahead in this type of online collaboration tool.
My name is David Tod Sigafoos (dsig is pen name). Been working in electronics since a very young age (almost with Edison himself :) and computers since 1974 blah blah blah <G>
I went to a company, last November that had no way of sharing information between their divergent developers (web, pc, mini etc) and so tasked myself with finding a technology which was easy enough for all users to access. Wiki was the preferred method and MW is 'state of the art' for wiki and so here we are.
I have been trying to wrestle MW into something that can retain its ease of use but more aimed at business environments by serve up documents (office etc) as well as some added security.
I have put out an extension BoilerplateSelection (http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:BoilerplateSelection) which allows creation of articles with predefined 'boiler plate' text determined by the title.
We also have a need in the technical side to display source code. As we have a 4 tier environment (development, test, staging and production) we need to be able to display source from any of these areas AND/OR a DIFF of the codes from selected areas. I am working on specing this out now.
Having been involved with open source before I find the people involved with MW a mixed bag. For the majority there is a lot of help to be had on the 2 primary lists. But at times there appears to be a complete cutoff on any thought of what MW could do outside of WP. But maybe that is why we are here.
Having been in computers for some 30 years (having owned my own consulting business for 25 years) I find this all very fun. Poking around and learning different technologies.
DSig David Tod Sigafoos | SANMAR Corporation PICK Guy 206-770-5585 davesigafoos@sanmar.com
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