I agree with much of what Dr. Connolley says, with one key exception.
We must take into account the possibilty of POLITICAL bias on the part
of journal editors. Since scientists and those who publish their
findings are human beings, there is at least the theoretical possibility
that they have human failings. One of these is the desire to be
"considered right". Another is the desire to keep a steady paycheck
coming in. Then there's always the desire to use science to advance
certain causes.
The system of publishing results in referreed journals is by and large
an excellent one, but we would do the entire world a dis-service if we
were to ENDORSE the process as incapable of error or bias.
There have been enough cases of both of these problems to justify
holding off on such an endorsement, even if OBJECTIVITY were Wikipedia's
only concern.
Topics such as total world annihilation via an all-out nuclear way
between superpowers - or destruction of the environment (via
over-heating the atmosphere - are naturally of concern to scientists.
They are not mere automatons, nor are they mere disinterested seekers,
seeking to satisfy their curiosity. Science is also done on purpose to
affect technology and policy.
"If I say this, the policymakers will choose that." Who can resist such
a temptation? Is there any evidence that scientists better than the rest
of us, and immune to ordinary human failings? (And is Wikipedia prepare
to amend its NPOV policy to endorse this view of scientific objectivity
and infallability?)
I think we should stick to our original commitment. Just say that
"certain scientists" say X about Y. And don't try to endorse any
particular view on current scientific controversies as "representing a
consensus" which Wikipedia then is committing to endorsing.
Ed Poor, aka Uncle Ed
Bureaucrat
Member of Mediation Committee
Self-described "chief exponent and defender of NPOV policy"
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This is a plea to all mailing list users, especially people using gmail.
PLEASE, if you are starting a new thread (a new topic for discussion),
can you start a new email/message, rather than just hitting reply to an
existing message and changing the topic. If you reply to an existing
topic, email clients will assume that it is continuing the discussion
(when it actually isn't).
This means that people may miss your message because they aren't
particularly interested in the thread you hit reply to, so they aren't
reading all replies. Using threaded mode to display emails, in clients
such as Thunderbird, means that new discussion topics do not actually
show up as new discussion topics, which is inconvenient.
Thanks,
Chris
(Talrias on en)
- --
Chris Jenkinson
chris(a)starglade.org
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Hi Folks -
This is a copy of an email I sent Jimmy earlier today. I love it if you
could give me a read as to whether his schedule would even permit his
accepting this invitation:
Hi Jimmy -
I enjoyed sitting next to you at the Harvard blogging conference. I'm
circling back to see if I could woo you to be the keynote speaker at this
year's Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism Symposium
(http://www.j-lab.org/batten.html)?
My Advisory Board just finished meeting and selecting this year's award
winners and you were the favorite recommendation for a keynoter.
The date is Monday, Sept. 12. The event is at the National Press Club
in Washington, DC. The keynote address is given at a luncheon of about
80-100 people -- many of whom will be D.C. journalists, not always known for
innovation. And probably only distantly aware of wikis.
With Wiki launching a news site, the LA Times experimenting on its
editorial page, the robust give-and-take on the Harvard listserv, and your
own experience of having journalism "done" to you, you'd have a lot of
insights to offer. The winners of this years award's will be announced at
the symposium as well.
J-Lab could cover your travel and lodging costs -- with a grant from the
Knight Foundation that supports the awards.
I've admired your work for a long time and I'd love to have you if it
would fit into your schedule.
Best,
Jan
--
Jan Schaffer
Executive Director
J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism
7100 Baltimore Ave., Suite 101
College Park, MD 20740
Ph: 301-985-4020
Fx: 301-985-4021
jans(a)j-lab.org
Www.J-Lab.orgWww.J-NewVoices.org
Hello,
Cyrius is a reasonable and informed editor. I am quite certain he only blocks you because you adopt a certain attitude, which you probably should not. Reinserting repeatedly and on purpose links to copyrighted images is a behavior that may grant blocking. Cyrius is not in violation of any rules in doing so.
It also seems clear that the hurricane picture originated from the World Book. You may be the original author of it... but in any cases, you do not hold the copyright. Whether the information should be free to use and people should have or not to pay for it is irrelevant in this case. The World Book has a copyright on this image, so it should not be in wikipedia. If you disagree with World Book holding the copyright on one of your image or graphics, please contact the World Book to discuss the issue directly with them.
Thanks for your understanding.
Anthere
Rickyboy <turbo_benar(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 09:45:40 GMT
To: Anthere <anthere9(a)yahoo.com>
Subject: Wikipedia e-mail
From: Rickyboy <turbo_benar(a)hotmail.com>
Hello,
I have contributed some images under the user name Rickyboy. Unfortunately, another user named Cyrius thinks that they are from the World Book site, so he has blocked me. I created the graphics and took the pictures, and I discussed this issue on my talk page extensively with the user DavidH. Further, Cyrius has blocked me indefinately, which I understand is in violation of Wikipedia rules as well.
Please un-block me as his complaint has been logged on the images and he has no proof that they're from World Book.
Thanks,
Rickyboy
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Mail
Stay connected, organized, and protected. Take the tour
Someone identifying himself as thagudearbh(a)yahoo.co.uk writes:
> I can see many parents banning their children from using it - to the
> detriment of us all.
I never understand this argument, although it always seems to be advanced
to excuse to repugnant bit of crusading.
If I shut the extraneous details of the crusade out of my mind, it always
seems to come down to asking myself the following question:
What material effect would result from parents banning their children?
And obviously the answer is that more children would use Wikipedia.
Wikipedia as Rock and roll.
So how could this be to the detriment of Wikipedia?
Right. My feeling is that this heated argument (wherein I did not use
foul language or engage in personal attacks) should not be grounds for
blocking. I am quite annoyed w having been put there, considering the
circumstances. How can I go about being removed?
Jack (Sam Spade)
> Ah, I see now. That page is for reporting "people to be banned". It
> wasn't really clear, but at the face of it it seems like a heated
> argument on a talk page.
>
> Chris
Polls are evil and stupid and tend in practice on en: to be used to force
through stupid ideas in the hope no-one will notice the poll. For further
evidence, check:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_locations
Apparently started by some new users and sent under the radar. Go help kill
some of these stupid ideas.
- d.
This is somewhat related to the ongoing "fair use" discussion.
AFAIK, there are Wikipedia servers in Paris and Amsterdam.
Is it OK for Wikipedia to use an image under U.S. copyright law based
on "fair use" and the given image is hosted on French or Dutch server
and is served to French or Dutch clients but is copyrighted under
French or Dutch law?
Isn't that a copyright violation?
(I assumed that there is no equivalent of "fair use" in France or in
the Netherlands, but I really don't have a clue...)
Wouldn't this be a problem as more and more servers are installed in
an increasing number of countries?
Thanks,
nyenyec