[WikiEN-l] Getting hammered in a tv interview is not fun

[Ian Woollard]

On 29/03/07, Jimmy Wales <jwales at wikia.com> wrote:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Fanning
>
> This article said that "She is the sister of [[Powderfinger]] frontman
> and solo artist, [[Bernard Fanning]]."
>
> Not true.
>
> She asked me about this on television.  I danced around it as best I
> could, but basically it was not fun. :(
>
> Fortunately, this bit of incorrect information was not negative.  But it
> made it hard for me to make a positive image for us.

OK, here's my personal take on it.

Really, it seems to me that you are a politician; politics is the art
and science of decision making and you are involved in that with
regards the wikipedia.

You probably need to use the tricks that politicians use in interviews
more (fortunately or unfortunately), such as having a message, staying
on the message, and not necessarily directly answering any questions
that deviate from that message etc. etc.

For example, try not to get drawn too much into specifics on errors;
there's inevitably going to be lots of errors, or if you do point out
that the particular example violates the processes of the wikipedia
(which is pretty much guaranteed or if it doesn't then the fault lies
elsewhere in an external source). And explain where these processes
come from and how these processes are inculcated and how they are
improved etc. etc. Boring (so don't overdo it!) but they can't nail
you on it. To be honest the wikipedia could probably pass ISO 9001
with a bit of care.

Try to point to the *general* facts that the wikipedia is growing
hugely in size and increasing greatly in overall accuracy with time
(it has to be provided the average effect of an edit is positive,
which it is right now). And point out that all the other sources of
information have lots of errors in as well and usually are far worse
at correcting them.

I mean that's really what *you* are trying to do isn't it, to improve
the wikipedia in *general*?

I think that you shouldn't be getting hammered; but interviews with
the press are often not going to be a bundle of laughs.

These are all only my own personal views.

> --Jimbo

-- 
-Ian Woollard

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