[Wikipedia-l] Re: Sanger's memoirs

[Lars Aronsson]

lmsanger at sbcglobal.net wrote:

> I remember very clearly the evening when I got the idea for 
> Wikipedia.  It was January 2 and Ben Kovitz and I were eating at 
> a Mexican restaurant just around the corner from the old Bomis 
> office.  (I could point out the place, if it still exists, but I 
> forget the name.)

We should hang a gilded plaque there and make it a place of 
pilgrimage, obviously.  (Especially since San Diego in January is 
a nice escape from northern climates.)  That doesn't mean it need 
to be the only such place.  Such dates and places are the best we 
have, because we can seldom explain exactly how, when or why 
certain thoughts came into our heads.

As I described in my 2002 paper (aronsson.se/wikipaper.html) I 
think I first learned of wikis when the Seattle Wireless wiki was 
slashdotted on March 22, 2001.  However, a programming colleague 
of mine (Pär Fornland) has later reminded me that he tried to make 
me grasp the concept of c2.com already in 1999/2000.  It is quite 
possible that this early input was resting in my subconscious and 
provided a necessary fertile soil for the impressions I received 
in the spring of 2001.  (I don't keep detailed records of all 
impressions and ideas, but maybe I should.  I have this idea of an 
always-on digital video camera on my eyeglasses, so I can go back 
and search and replay any earlier part of my life.)


-- 
  Lars Aronsson (lars at aronsson.se)
  Aronsson Datateknik - http://aronsson.se