Chuck0 wrote:
Jama Poulsen wrote:
On Sun, Nov 14, 2004 at 07:05:46PM -0800, Jimmy (Jimbo)
Wales wrote:
Has anyone been thinking about how Wikinews could cooperate with the Independent Media Center (IMC) project (http://www.indymedia.org)?
I'm skeptical about this idea. What is the political orientation of Wikinews?
My guess is that it would have the "Neutral Point of View". I've been impressed at how well wikipedia has been able to maintain this goal on controversial subjects.
Indymedia exists as an alternative media space for the political left (broadly defined). Is Wikinews apolitical, left-leaning, or friendly towards neo-fascists?
That's a bit harsh. Can you point to a single wikipedia article that has been friendly to neo-fascists?
Indymedia is "left-leaning" but could certainly be an automated/semi-automated contributor to wikinews even if there are viewpoints on there that are generally not on Indymedia. Wikinews could have both, like news.google. Wikinews is probably more sympathetic to Indymedia than google as well. See the wikipedia entry on Indymedia--it's current & good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indymedia
Or take a look at their entry on Anarchism (which nicely links to Chuck's infoshop.org): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchism
I've been told that Wikipedia is run by right wing libertarians, so hwo do we know that the volunteer work put into a joint project won't be exploited by venture capitalists when they try to turn Wikipedia into an IPO?
wikipedia is a non-profit and the articles are under the GFDL. I doubt it will ever go IPO... For more info, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Overview_FAQ#Who_owns_Wikipedia.3F http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home
If it ever does turn commercial, you can download the /entire/ database and set up your own wikipedia and do whatever you want with the articles as long as you comply with the GFDL. See: http://download.wikimedia.org/
I wish Indymedia database dumps were publicly available!
I'm opposed to this partnership until it can be determined how Indymedia would benefit from any partnership with a newly launched project.
It could benefit by wider distribution of Indymedia content. Wikipedia has a huge audience, and deservedly so. In general, I'm in favor of collaboration between wikinews & indymedia.
Chuck, stop dissing one of my favorite Internet projects. ;)
Thanks,
-Jeff