Wikimedia-SF February 2010

wikimedia-sf@lists.wikimedia.org

10 participants
10 discussions

March meetup
by James Salsman 02 Mar '10

02 Mar '10

I guess Micha hasn't suggested a date for March's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/San_Francisco_12 after Jon suggested that he pick one because he must be waiting for other people to express a preference at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/San_Francisco_12#Attendees Also, if we were to make Phoebe's suggestion for the PLATO exhibit at Mountain View's Computer History Museum http://platohistory.org/conference/50th-anniversary Wednesday, June 2, 2010 6p.m. Reception 7p.m. Program Discussion Thursday, June 3, 2010 6p.m. Reception 7p.m. Program Discussion Would the 2nd or 3rd be better? I registered -- http://www.computerhistory.org/events/index.php?id=1260822096 -- for "both" just in case, and I may actually go both days because I've been a big fan of Plato Learning (nasdaq: tutr) for a long time, but I don't want to crowd out other people by reserving a date I won't be there, so it would be great if we could have some preferences, especially from Cam, who offered to carpool from Oakland (2 seats left), and will therefore decide the date I'm sure to go. Also, do office staff want a big LCD display? It would be great to get some idea of the aspect ratio we are working with (projector vs. HDTV) for https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=22445 Cheers, James

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Chinese New Year Parade tomorrow
by Guillaume Paumier 27 Feb '10

27 Feb '10

Hi, The Chinese New Year Parade is happening tomorrow Saturday, February 27 from 5:30 pm to 8 pm in downtown San Francisco. I'm going to take some pictures, but this is typically the kind of event where the more people cover it, the more chances we have of getting good shots. So if you know a thing or two about photography, and you don't have any plans for tomorrow late afternoon, feel free to grab your camera and come. I'm sure it'll be worth it (and if it rains, well, it'll be fun). It's the biggest Chinese new year parade outside China. Map and additional information at http://www.sanfranciscochinatown.com/events/chinesenewyearparade.html -- Guillaume Paumier [[m:User:guillom]] http://www.gpaumier.org

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Fwd: [Air-L] Conference Announcement: 50th Anniv of PLATO System (June 2-3, 2010)
by phoebe ayers 26 Feb '10

26 Feb '10

This sounds kind of amazing... and maybe relevant for thinking about Wikimedia's future. In 41 years, will we have a Wikipedia@50 conference?! ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Brian Dear <brian(a)platohistory.org> Date: Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 4:20 PM Subject: [Air-L] Conference Announcement: 50th Anniv of PLATO System (June 2-3, 2010) To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org [ Conference Announcement ] "PLATO @ 50" A 2-day Conference Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the PLATO Computer System and its Online Community Co-produced by the PLATO History Foundation and the Computer History Museum, with major support from Microsoft Corporation. WHERE AND WHEN: Computer History Museum Mountain View, California June 2-3, 2010 --> This is a FREE conference and is open to the public. <-- HOW TO REGISTER (FREE): http://www.computerhistory.org/events/index.php?id=1260822096 FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://platohistory.org/conference/50th-anniversary ABOUT THIS CONFERENCE: This once-in-a-lifetime conference focuses on the history and significance of the PLATO computer system and online community. PLATO began in 1960 as an experimental computer-based education system running on the ILLIAC-1 computer at the University of Illinois. During the 1960s the system expanded greatly and as early as 1963 PLATO offered college courses for credit. One of the pioneering efforts of the 1960s became a true phenomenon by the 1970s, where the PLATO IV system, funded by NSF and ARPA, supported 1000 simultaneous users connected via gas-plasma flat-panel display terminals with built-in touch screens (the gas-plasma flat-panel display was invented for the PLATO system, decades before it would emerge as a television technology for consumers). For nearly ten years, there were more users connected to the various PLATO systems installed around the world in the 1970s and early 80s than there were on all of ARPANET, the major precursor to the Internet. This conference is the first opportunity to discover an entire, amazingly rich and vibrant history of computing, social media, and online community that flourished long before many people would have thought it was possible for such things to exist. A HANDS-ON EVENT: A number of fully-restored, functioning PLATO terminals will be available during the conference for actual hands-on interacting with a live PLATO system that includes thousands of courseware lessons on subjects ranging from elementary math and reading to advanced chemistry and calculus; games (Empire, Avatar, Moria, etc.); and social media (TERM-talk, Talkomatic, Notes, Personal Notes, etc.) WHO SHOULD ATTEND: * Anyone interested in Social Media, Social Software, Blogs, Online Newspapers, Digital Journalism, Online Communities: it all emerged on PLATO years before anywhere else. * Anyone interested in Internet Studies (come find out everything that happened before the Internet took off) and the History of Technology and Computing * Anyone interested in the history of online games, online virtual goods and economies, multiplayer games, MUDs, sports games, card games, simulations, and how PLATO influenced and continues to influence and inspire game development today * Anyone interested in the impact of computers on society, cyberculture, online relationships, online addiction, privacy issues, censorship, and the controversies of anonymous online postings. * Anyone interested in computer-assisted instruction, e-Learning, CBT, computer-based education, authoring systems, online testing and administration. PLATO was the largest government-funded system in the history of educational computing. * Anyone who loves technology, computers, and the Internet, and wants to learn what the Future looked like decades ago, at a time when Google's founders were still in diapers, and Apple and Microsoft had not yet been founded. PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE: (NOTE: SUBJECT TO REVISION - follow the platohistory.org site for updates) [----------- Wednesday June 2 -----------] 6pm-7pm: Reception 7pm: General Introductions, and an Overview of PLATO History Featuring John Hollar, CEO of Computer History Museum, and Brian Dear, PLATO History Foundation 7:20pm: Panel #1: SEEING THE FUTURE THROUGH THE PAST: A CONVERSATION WITH DONALD BITZER AND RAY OZZIE Featuring Dr. Donald Bitzer, Distinguished Research Professor and creator of PLATO, and Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect, Microsoft Corporation. Dr. Bitzer was only 26 when he began work on creating the PLATO system in the summer of 1960. Ray Ozzie got his start as a student programmer on PLATO at the University of Illinois in the 1970s, and the experience has guided and inspired his career (which includes creating Lotus Notes, named after PLATO Notes) ever since. [----------- Thursday June 3 -----------] 8am: Coffee 8:30am Morning sessions Panel #2: AN EARLY ONLINE COMMUNITY: PEOPLE PLUS COMPUTING GROWS COMMUNITES Featuring Dave Woolley, Doug Brown, Kim Mast, and others. How PLATO's online community emerged in 1972-73, including one of the first conferencing/message-board systems (PLATO Notes), the first multi-user chat room (Talk-o-matic), one of the first instant messaging applications (TERM-talk), sophisticated remote-monitoring functionality, live online consulting and help, PLATO's electronic mail (Personal Notes), and more. Learn how the PLATO system provided its thousands of users with one of the earliest glimpses of what would be coming decades later with the Internet and Web. Panel #3. PLATO GAMES: AN EARLY, ROBUST COMMUNITY OF MULTI-PLAYER, ONLINE GAMES Featuring Brand Fortner, John Daleske, Andrew Shapira, and others. PLATO's games are legendary and some of the earliest examples of sophisticated multi-player games, including Empire (precursor of NetTrek and dozens of others), Airfight (precursor of Microsoft Flight Simulator), Avatar/Moria/Oubliette/DND (precursors of DOOM, EverQuest, and World of Warcraft), and countless other games. 12:00pm LUNCH INCLUDED 1pm: Afternoon sessions PANEL #4: PLATO SOFTWARE: DRIVEN BY A CLEAR, COMPELLING CHALLENGE Featuring Bruce Sherwood, Michael Walker, Bob Rader, others. Learn about how the PLATO system software evolved over the years, including the powerful TUTOR authoring language, the powerful graphics editors, sophisticated answer judging, and other tools and utilities. PANEL #5: EARLY ON-LINE EDUCATION AND COURSEWARE: LESSONS LEARNED, INSIGHTS GLEANED Featuring Dr. Ruth Chabay and others. Find out the lessons learned from one of the earliest and most major courseware development projects across all areas from elementary education to college-level to industry and government. What can we learn from the evolution of courseware from its designers and their subsequent careers? PANEL #6: PLATO HARDWARE: MISSION-BASED DEVELOPMENTS LED OTHER PLACES Featuring Donald Bitzer, Roger Johnson, Larry Weber, others. Learn about the amazing innovations including the history of the gas-plasma flat-panel display (which, in 1968, was a major inspiration for Alan Kay and his "Dynabook" personal laptop computer), PLATO's touch panel, the CYBER mainframes and custom peripheral systems, and other innovations. PANEL #7: A CLOSE LOOK AT A CULTURE OF INNOVATION: WHAT DON BITZER WROUGHT; WHAT CAN BE LEARNED FROM IT Featuring Bob Sutton, CK Gunsalus, Bob Price (former CEO of Control Data Corporation), David Frankel, and others. Learn about the culture of the PLATO laboratory at the University of Illinois that enabled and empowered bright people to excel. Also covered will be lessons learned from Control Data Corporation's marketing and commercialization of PLATO, its many years of interactions and collaboration with the University of Illinois, and CDC's own PLATO innovations in hardware, software, courseware, and addressing society's major unmet needs. 5:30 (approx) Wrap-up and conference closing. (Once again: times, speakers, etc. still subject to some revision and minor changes). This is not your average conference. It is going to be a major historical event and one that offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear and meet many of the original PLATO system creators, users, and researchers. This free event is sure to fill up early, so register early to make sure you can attend. HOW TO REGISTER (FREE): http://www.computerhistory.org/events/index.php?id=1260822096 FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://platohistory.org/conference/50th-anniversary LATEST UPDATES: see the PLATO History Blog at http://platohistory.org See you there! Brian Dear PLATO History Foundation La Jolla, California http://platohistory.org brian(a)platohistory.org _______________________________________________ The Air-L(a)listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/

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I'm coming to SF!
by Thomas Dalton 21 Feb '10

21 Feb '10

Hello San Francisco people! I'm coming to visit the WMF office in SF and I'd love to meet some non-staff SF Wikimedians while I'm there. I completely forgot about my plan to contact you before I came, so this is rather short notice - I get to SF tomorrow and leave on 3rd March. Is anyone available during that period for some kind of mini-meetup? Tom/Tango PS I've subscribed to this list and will stay subscribed for the duration of my visit, so you can just reply here.

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Meetup _12: March Making for Maker Faire
by James Salsman 17 Feb '10

17 Feb '10

Micha & all, Is half a month away too early to ask people to list their preferred dates and/or times on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/San_Francisco_12 ? I tried to carry as much of the results forward from Meetup_11 as I could. _13 is set for April 10th on Angel Island. The only non-active part scheduled, is proofreading (or, finishing) stuff for Maker Faire that didn't get finished online or at _12. To that end, should we try to do as much as the preparation on line beforehand as possible? There are ideas for everyone. Some of them are linked to completed projects, some of them are completely new, some of them are in between, and some of them I don't really understand. Also, I tried to tweet you and Cary -- are we allowed to use the Office again? Many of us didn't get to see the big conference room which was reserved for the Board meeting during _11. As far as I can remember, everyone behaved in an exemplary manner, so I hope so. Cheers, James Salsman

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Idea for Commons Booth at MakerFair
by Eugene Zelenko 08 Feb '10

08 Feb '10

Hi! I think will be great to organize photo/video sessions in Commons booth about how to create/fix/repair/disassemble things. Such materials will be definitely useful for Wikipedia/Wikibooks/WikiHow and it's will be well aligned with MakerFair idea itself. Eugene.

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On the timing of a 2012 bid
by Luca de Alfaro 08 Feb '10

08 Feb '10

I am wondering about the timing of a 2012 bid. I have organized some conferences before, and in my recollection, getting the timing right -- being able to sign the contracts at the right times, when one is able to commit, but as early as possible -- is critical. I am a little bit worried that a bid for 2012 is not going to happen until February 2011, and that we are not going to hear back until (likely) April 2011. This means that from the time we hear, to the meet-up, there is barely over one year. This is not much time for locking down space for 800 people. Especially, the earlier we are able to commit, the better conditions we may be able to extract. For other conferences I am involved in (academic-type conferences), the steering committees try to plan 2 years in advance at least. Concretely, I talked with UCSC, and they told me that they would have lots of possibilities open for 2012, but time for 2011 is tighter; they would have more constraints for space and time available. We are asking for a lot of meet space (some place where to meet in 700 people or so, plus 8-10 separate break-out rooms for 80 people or so each, would be my guess), and a lot of space for attendees. So now we are in an ideal position to enter a committment for 2012, but if we wait until 2011... who knows? Also, I am unsure about the logistics of a bid. We send a bid with what kind of agreement with the venue? - If we send it after signing an agreement, and the bid is rejected, we are in trouble. - If we send the bid without agreement, and in the time before we hear, the space is sold to others, what do we do? We then retract the bid after we hear back it is accepted? - I am not sure if there are other options. We can maybe convince the universities to keep the space reserved to us, but without a financial commitment from our part, for the duration of the bid process. This would be a huge favor to us -- normally, venues never commit space without some down-payment or agreement -- and I suspect it would be much easier to ask now, for 2012, than in 2011. When there is only one year going to the meet-up, universities may be unwilling to reserve the space for us, unless we are ready to commit. Other thoughts? This timing issue is, in my opinion, one of the hardest... When I organized my previous conference (hey, the site is still there: http://concur05.soe.ucsc.edu/), I at least knew it would surely happen in San Francisco, before I started signing contracts. Luca

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Summary of today's meetup
by Guillaume Paumier 07 Feb '10

07 Feb '10

Hi all, Just a quick heads-up to try and summarize what was discussed today. I see someone also added stuff to the meetup page, but I'm lazy so I'll just send a quick e-mail. * Maker Faire: ** The next meet-up will be coordinated by Micah and may focus on preparation for the Maker Faire. We will probably organize teams to work on general marketing materials, maker faire-specific materials, visualization, booth set-up, etc. ** I will help coordinate activities related to the marketing marathon, printed documents, etc. ** It would be nice to have a specific booth for Commons, with a few laptops featuring the new upload interface. We would show people how to upload a few of their photos to Commons, so that they can try to upload more photos when they're at home. We could tie this to workshops on how to take pictures of such or such topic (portraits, objects, etc.). Might be even more easier to attract people and recruit new participants. * Wikimania 2011 ** Basically, won't happen here. * Wikimania 2012 ** There may be a bid, and it might happen here. If someone wants it to happen. * Smaller regional conference ** Easier to organize than a Wikimania ** Would be a good opportunity to see what the BA community is capable of ** Mid/late Fall 2010 may be a good time ** It would make sense to organize this in coordination with the Media participation campaign that we'd like to run about the same time (Fall 2010) to raise awareness about Commons. I probably left out a lot of things since I focused on stuff that interest me. Feel free to add to it, here or on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/San_Francisco_11 -- Guillaume Paumier [[m:User:guillom]] http://www.gpaumier.org

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Sharing Ride for Saturday Meet-Up (San Jose)
by Eugene Zelenko 05 Feb '10

05 Feb '10

Hi! Does anybody interested in sharing ride/parking for this Saturday meet-up? I'll drive to drive from San Jose, but stopping anywhere between San Jose/San Francisco is fine (highways 101/280). Eugene.

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Feb. 6 meetup -- space questions
by phoebe ayers 03 Feb '10

03 Feb '10

Hi all, As you know we're planning a meetup for Feb. 6... however, someone mentioned to me they thought the WMF offices would not be available that day due to another meeting. Can someone from the office confirm if the space is available or not? If it's not, do ya'll want to .... 1) reschedule (back to) January 30 ? 2) meet somewhere else? Thanks! -- Phoebe

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Wikimedia-SF February 2010