See below; anyone interested in doing a video interview?
Thanks, Mike
Begin forwarded message:
From: Ian Hawkins ian.hawkins@gmail.com Date: 25 June 2009 13:01:45 BDT To: press@wikimedia.org.uk Subject: Interview request
Hello Mike, My name is Ian Hawkins. I am an independent filmmaker and I talked to you briefly yesterday.
I'm working on a documentary called Desperately Seeking Democracy (www.desperatelyseekingdemocracy.com is currently under construction). I'm looking to find out how democratic our system of government really is, but I'm also looking to find out why democracy isn't more common in other areas of life.
It's rare to find anything other than top-down structures in business, banking, the media, education etc. I wondered if Wikipedia is a great example of a more open and democratic structure.
I'd like to organise a video interview with someone who could represent Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Foundation and describe your open ethos. I would be very grateful if you could help me with this.
I'm based in Northwest England so places like Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle etc are easier for me to get to than London but I'd be delighted to travel anywhere within the UK for an interview.
Thank you for your time and I hope you can help with my request.
Very best wishes Ian
Ian Hawkins www.desperatelyseekingdemocracy.com
2009/6/25 Michael Peel email@mikepeel.net:
From: Ian Hawkins ian.hawkins@gmail.com It's rare to find anything other than top-down structures in business, banking, the media, education etc. I wondered if Wikipedia is a great example of a more open and democratic structure.
Controversial topic! Wikipedians can't generally agree on how democratic Wikipedia is currently or how democratic it should be in the future. Doing justice to the topic will probably take longer than the couple of minutes I expect he's after. Personally, I wouldn't want to step on that particular ants nest without doing justice to it, so I'm afraid I will decline.
2009/6/25 Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com:
2009/6/25 Michael Peel email@mikepeel.net:
From: Ian Hawkins ian.hawkins@gmail.com It's rare to find anything other than top-down structures in business, banking, the media, education etc. I wondered if Wikipedia is a great example of a more open and democratic structure.
Controversial topic! Wikipedians can't generally agree on how democratic Wikipedia is currently or how democratic it should be in the future. Doing justice to the topic will probably take longer than the couple of minutes I expect he's after. Personally, I wouldn't want to step on that particular ants nest without doing justice to it, so I'm afraid I will decline.
Might be worth emailing him to point out that per policy wikipedia is not a democracy and see if he realises what he is getting into.
2009/6/25 geni geniice@gmail.com:
2009/6/25 Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com:
2009/6/25 Michael Peel email@mikepeel.net:
From: Ian Hawkins ian.hawkins@gmail.com It's rare to find anything other than top-down structures in business, banking, the media, education etc. I wondered if Wikipedia is a great example of a more open and democratic structure.
Controversial topic! Wikipedians can't generally agree on how democratic Wikipedia is currently or how democratic it should be in the future. Doing justice to the topic will probably take longer than the couple of minutes I expect he's after. Personally, I wouldn't want to step on that particular ants nest without doing justice to it, so I'm afraid I will decline.
Might be worth emailing him to point out that per policy wikipedia is not a democracy and see if he realises what he is getting into.
Yes, I agree. We should let him know that the answer isn't going to be anything simple.
(If anyone is interested in this topic, there is a discussion on the future governance of Wikipedia going on here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Giano/The_future
The discussion is focuses around deciding if we need to have a more formal discussion about the issues. [Don't be frightened away by the fact that it is in Giano's userspace, it's being held with an amazing amount of maturity and courtesy by all parties.])
I've replied to Ian volunteering to be interviewed, as no one else has expressed an interest.
I'll let you know what he comes back with - sounds interesting!
On Jun 25, 5:56 pm, Thomas Dalton thomas.dal...@gmail.com wrote:
2009/6/25 geni geni...@gmail.com:
2009/6/25 Thomas Dalton thomas.dal...@gmail.com:
2009/6/25 Michael Peel em...@mikepeel.net:
From: Ian Hawkins ian.hawk...@gmail.com It's rare to find anything other than top-down structures in business, banking, the media, education etc. I wondered if Wikipedia is a great example of a more open and democratic structure.
Controversial topic! Wikipedians can't generally agree on how democratic Wikipedia is currently or how democratic it should be in the future. Doing justice to the topic will probably take longer than the couple of minutes I expect he's after. Personally, I wouldn't want to step on that particular ants nest without doing justice to it, so I'm afraid I will decline.
Might be worth emailing him to point out that per policy wikipedia is not a democracy and see if he realises what he is getting into.
Yes, I agree. We should let him know that the answer isn't going to be anything simple.
(If anyone is interested in this topic, there is a discussion on the future governance of Wikipedia going on here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Giano/The_future
The discussion is focuses around deciding if we need to have a more formal discussion about the issues. [Don't be frightened away by the fact that it is in Giano's userspace, it's being held with an amazing amount of maturity and courtesy by all parties.])
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