P-blogs revisited once again

Back in 2004, and later in 2005 I wrote why politicians should be blogging.

Indeed, the number of people - and politicians - blogging has been increasing. A month after I blogged about it a second time, Wikipedia got an entry on "political blog" - and not by me (although it would be too much expect that I've coined that term, I am proud to have foreseen that).

Blogs are becoming a force that can 'make or break' people. Consider Dean US presidential campaign, or various politicians that have resigned after blogosphere shined light onto some of their more shady activities. I am sure there are and will be more politicians podcasting and videocasting, too. But the most important thing on the Web 2.0 is the 'human to human' interaction - or in that case, 'human to politician' (pun partially intended).

On Web 2.0 people consider themselves more equal and deserving a reply. A politician that will reply to his blog comments, that will show he is ready to discuss issues with his constituents 24/7, will surely be more popular than his more traditional counterpart (let's not forget the generational change, too - this simply will be expected and normal for the future generations).

Consider, now, how this can impact political decision making. The representatives will be brought closer to the electorate; some may even start polling the readers of their blog on what they should do.

Perhaps we will even see a form of direct democracy with representatives reduced to little more than voicing the demands of their blog readers.

Likely it will not happen exactly like this. But one way or another, Web 2.0 will change quite a few things. And our politics will surely be no exception.

Real voice of the Prokonsul

I got interviewed by Wikipedia Weekly!

Among other things, I blabbered about: Is there a cabal? Are Polish Wikipedians different? Is Wikipedia facing a crisis? How to encouraging civility and cooperation? How to use WP in the classroom to benefit both the student and the project?

TTags: Wikipedia

WikiScanner: more good stuff to come?

WikiScanner seems to be the hot wikitopic of the month (read more: Wikipedia Signpost, Wired).

Instead of repeating the things that others have wrote about already, I'd just post you to a slightly more hidden but quite interesting link: this Wired article is a gateway to their "report an edit and sort them by most popular/new/etc."

My personal favorite: NSA removes link to ECHELON

That said, this is all a tip of iceberg. It is still not that easy to just specify an organization and see what it has done. And the concentration on US government and corporations, while not suprising, is probably missing over the "really interesting" stuff. I am waiting to find out what edits have come from such interesting entities as State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus, Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, Ministry of State Security or Gazprom...

Unfortunatly, the IP ranges of those organizations are not well known. Or are they...?

TTags: Wikipedia, Wikiscanner, Wikipedia

The conversion of Kniaz Jarema

Translation of Kniazia Jaremy nawrócenie (song by Jacek Kaczmarski, translation by yours truly).

Tremble in fear Cossack masses,
horsers rear high,
Knyaz Jarema is converting,
Discarding Orthodox faith.
Storm is coming, hearts are uneasy,
Peasants - bearded priests and icons,
And him - Lord King of Rus,
Duchy bringing to the Crown.

Twenty years his soul slept,
Till he saw Rome's cross' light,
Knyaz Jarema, Knyaz Jarema,
His children will fear his wrath.

Louldy plead Ruthenian folk:
- Look into your soul, lord,
Cause you give up all for nothing!
And forsake us with your politics!
Their pleas powerless,
Knyaz prayed all night,
- Who loves me - will go with me
Or I will see him on stake!

Twenty years his soul slept,
Till he saw Rome's cross' light,
Knyaz Jarema, Knyaz Jarema,
Blood of Rus' he offers to God.

- You will not reach through piety,
Royal antechambers,
Firestorm will grip Zaporizhia,
Your inheritance will burn!
- Before the inheritance is my homeland,
Before my homeland is salvation,
For Christ's wounds,
Let the generations burn!

Twenty years his soul slept,
Till he saw Rome's cross' light,
Knyaz Jarema, Knyaz Jarema,
He inflamed the souls of many.

- Blood for you, not the offices,
Hate, not love, for prince of Rus',
We are for Rzeczpospolita,
Like nails to be shortened!
- If he shortens, he will be burnt,
For I will block with my cross,
The Coroniers will yet see,
Wisniowieccy's on their throne.

For hearts content the topic,
Lies in the crypt under glass,
Knyaz Jarema, Knyaz Jarema,
Father of children put on stake,
Knyaz Jarema, Knyaz Jarema,
Neophite, as politician.

TTags: Poetry, Kaczmarski

Wikis and Wikipedia as a Teaching Tool

I've just learned that my article was published by International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning. In January, but let's skip this miscommunication technicality - instead, this little delay allows me to review what, if any, impact my work has had.

First, IJoITaDL makes it very easy for others to read its contents. Being open access journal, it belongs to the still rare but growing faction in the academic community, which argues that making academic works available online free of charge to anyone, thus being true to the science mission of educating the public and spreading knowledge is actually a good idea. Such approach is still being opposed by the "tradional" faction, which prefers restricting access to academic works from "unwashed masses" beyond "pay-per-acccess" traditional databases, which until recently did a splendid job of ensuring that unless you are an employee or student at a rich Western university, or go through slow and cumbersome interlibrary loan (again not available in most non-Western countries), you will have to pay few dozen $ for the privilige of reading anything but an abstract. Guess where my sympathies are :)

Therefore I was nicely - but not very - suprised when the editor of the journal told me today that my article has received 2320 page and an even larger number of downloads as part of the entire January issue :) A brief web search on my article led to some interesting findings:
* Google Scholar doesn't see it? :(
* it is mentioned in blog comments and such - so indeed somebody reads it :)
* somebody thinks its "somewhat scholarly" :)
* somebody discusses it in Finnish :)
* it was mentioned in British Council and various databases

I couldn't find any more in-depth reviews or references, but it's a nice start :)


TTags: Wikis, E-learning, Wikipedia

Hilarious reminder

Few months ago I posted 2 photos from Wikimania which had me in it. Now I found a third :)


This is a group of Wikipedians making fun of the semi-serious hate site, Wikitruth.

What's not so fun is that some find the above photo controversial and demanded - and succeeded - in censoring it out from Wikipedia itself...

TTags: Wikipedia, Wikimania2006, Wikiturth

Wales on copyright

Doing some research, I spotted an interesting quote by Jimbo Wales: I am not a thief - I'm the founder of Wikipedia, but bad law treats me like a teen music pirate. The quote comes from Newsweek International (2005-11-28 : 71) - and to much of my suprise, it was not picked up and reffered to anywhere online. With a little effort, I tracked the article - unfortunatly Newsweek's articles are not free. The article can be accessed by subscribers of Newsweek, BL Direct, and Expanded Academic ASAP (via InfoTrac) (sorry, no direct link I could find). The article may be over 2 years old, but what Wales notes is even more applicable today, as the struggle of free culture continoues. Here are a few interesting excerpts from the article:

*"bad copyright laws are increasingly affecting a much more important group of cultural producers"

*"we [Wikipedians] are forced to become copyright experts, because so much of our cultural heritage is being threatened by absurd limits on fair use of information in the public domain. I get two to three threatening lawyergrams each week; one I just received from a famous London museum begins, typically, "We notice you have a number of images on your website which are of portraits in the collection of [our museum]... Unauthorized reproduction of such content may be an infringement..." I now respond with a two-part letter. First, I patiently and tediously explain that museums do not and cannot own the copyrights to paintings that have been in the public domain for hundreds of years. And then I simply say: "You should be ashamed of yourselves." Museums exist to educate the public about our shared cultural heritage. The abuse of copyright to corner that heritage is a moral crime. "

*"The excuse normally given, that producing digital reproductions is costly and time-consuming, and museums need to be able to recoup that cost, is entirely bogus. Just give us permission, and Wikipedians will go to any museum in the world immediately to make high-quality digital images of any artwork. The solution to preserving our heritage and communicating it in a digital form is not to lock it up, but to get out of our way."

*"This issue, public-domain artworks, is about an abuse of existing law. But the law itself is also a problem. Copyrights have been repeatedly extended to absurd lengths for all kinds of works, whether the author aims to protect them or not. Even works that have no economic value are locked away under copyright, preventing Wikipedians from rewriting and updating them."

*"We have the people to do it. We have the technology to do it. And we will do it, bad law or no. But good law, law that recognizes a new paradigm of collaborative creativity, will make our job a lot easier. Copyright reform is not about kids' stealing music. It is about recognizing the astounding possibilities inherent in the honest and intelligent use of new technologies."


TTags: Copyright, Jimbo Wales, Free culture, Wikipedia

A forgotten poem

Long time ago (read: several years), when I was still gamemastering Earthdawn in Kraków (good old times), I found a very nice journal. Around that time, when I was on holiday in some warm southern European country, I stumbled upon a very nice Earthdawn poem. Being unable to save it (era of floppy drives, and don't ask me why I didn't get one, I don't remember); I wrote it down on a paper bag :) And I can tell you why I wrote the poem down instead of the url: it was unfinished, and I liked it so much, that I decided to finish it myself (which, amazingly, I did).

Today, I found the bag. A quick internet search seems to indicate the page is no longer online (I thought it was on that journal page, but it isn't); I can't find it in the Internat Archives... so I decided to rewrtie it from the paper bag here, and help ensure it is immortalized on the web.

The poem is dedicated to the twelve Passions of Earthdawn. As any fan of Earthdawn knows, three of those entities went mad during the Scourge; the poem as I found was the post-Scourge variants, missing three strophes - as it is considered unlucky to mention the names of the Mad Passions. Long story short, I wrote the missing strophes, and I am still happy with that job.

Disclaimers: if the unnamed author ever comes forward, kudos to him! In few places I couldn't read my old scribblings so I had to change his words; and in a oneor two others I replaced his verses with my own when I thought they sounded better. So, without further due, the new Hymn to the Twelve Passions:

The first to enter with this song,
To leave her out would do much wrong
For Astendar comes forth from our art
And by her love burns heart to heart.

With money comes Chorrolis touch,
The glint of gold, the jewels, and such.
And glad for trade he makes your mind,
For beauty's sake, he walks behind.

About the home is Garlen realm,
For any ilness she is a balm.
A gentle touch beyond the view,
A mother stays to comfort you.

Within the woods, the restless wild,
Jaspree galoops, storm and mild.
Outside the city, rules he there,
All things of nature are in his care.

Boundaries forged of stone and brick,
Upandal builds them well to stick.
With thoughtful planning, patent tries,
He's nearby when machines rise.

Thystonius, champion of the brave
Honors war, strife, for valor's sake.
For all who live and die by sword
They may be certain he's their lord.

Freedom's sacred to us all,
Lochost brings change to any soul.
For life is change as all may see
And seeing change we are all free.

The wind blows strong to charge your feet,
Flonranuus in your speed you greet.
He aids the body and helps soul fight,
With blaze of future, always bright.

Mynbruje's law is justice and truth.
Rights and duties live under her roof.
Those left behind or falsly blamed,
Will topple giants with sound of her name.

Feared by many he brings good health,
Vestrial cares not for signs of wealth.
Pride worst enemy, friend of quick wit
His laughter echoes with many a trick.

In every pattern there is her trace,
And laws of man reflect her grace.
Erendis is hard work that brings us peace.
When she is gone, all is amiss.

There is always first and and foremost,
And Rashomon is one behind such post.
Where there is need for wisdom, not speed,
His words should be the ones they heed.




TTags: Earthdawn, Poetry

The cabal

The CABAL



Source: Image at Wikipedia

I am there, too - second from the right, front row :) On a more serious note, this does seem to prove (since we have no stats yet) that Wikipedia is male dominated...

TTags: Wikipedia, Wikimania2006

Movie advert 7 (Kochaj albo rzuć)

Polish Student Alliance
in Pittsburgh, PA

invites you to the
6th POLISH MOVIE NIGHT
(free)
Movie of the week: Kochaj albo rzuć

When? December 8 (Thursday) 7:00PM-9:00PM

Where? 4130 Posvar Hall (University of Pittsburgh)

Movie genre: comedy

Year: 1977; director: Sylwester Chęciński; length: 116m; color; English subtitles.

Last part of the saga of the two families in "Sami swoi" and "Nie ma mocnych". The seniors of both families with their granddaughter visit relatives in Chicago where the differences in customs, life conditions and habits create many comic situations.

It was one of the most popular Polish comedies of its times and still remains an old favorite. Lubomierz has a museum dedicated to the movies, and Toruń has a statue of the two main heroes, Kargul and Pawlak.

Winner of 1974 Polish Film Festival audience awards. IMdB ranking of 6.9/10.

TTags: University of Pittsburgh, Poland, Movie

Movie advert 6 (Nie ma mocnych)

Polish Student Alliance
in Pittsburgh, PA

invites you to the
6th POLISH MOVIE NIGHT
(free)
Movie of the week: Nie ma mocnych

When? November 2 (Thursday) 7:00PM-9:00PM

Where? 4130 Posvar Hall (University of Pittsburgh)

Movie genre: comedy

Year: 1974; director: Sylwester Chęciński; length: 84m; color; English subtitles.

The main characters are the same two quarreling pesant families introduced in "Sami swoi" (shown the previous month). The action of the film starts 18 years later. The old quarrels have been forgotten, but new problems keep popping up. They have no adult male successors to inherit the farms. But they have a granddaughter, and a plan…

It was one of the most popular Polish comedies of its times and still remains an old favorite. Lubomierz has a museum dedicated to the movies, and Toruń has a statue of the two main heroes, Kargul and Pawlak.

Winner of 1974 Polish Film Festival audience awards. IMdB ranking of 7.8/10.

TTags: University of Pittsburgh, Poland, Movie

The wheel of history

It is interesting to note that much of the trouble we have today with copyright was foreseen and discussed by people hundreds of years ago. I throughoutly enjoyed reading the 19th century speeches by Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, which you can find here. Also, take note of this essey by Eric Flint, which directed me there in the first place.

TTags: Copyright

Yalta, translated

My translation of 'Jałta' by Jacek Kaczmarski.

Like new tsars' residence,
Servants know their duties,
Far were the Tatars resettled,
From where the world is judged.

Widows now see, the walls listen
How coughs with his cigar the Lion,
How squeks the wheelchair pushed
with broken Democrat inside.

But nobody sees and nobody hears,
Highlander's doings in Crimean night,
When with faithful comrades' gesture
He speaks with his legandary power.

Don't blame Stalin,
He was not pulling the strings,
It was not his fault,
That Rooslvelt in Jałta had no strenght.
When the triumvirate together formed
the history of the world,
- It's obvious who played the Ceasar's role
and such is the truth behind Jałta.

In the weak light of cigar's butt
Floated the face of Albion's lion:
Let's not talk about the Baltic,
Why would Europe need so many states?

Poles? - after all there is just the matter
that they have to live somewhere...
Poland, it was always trouble...
The Cripple cares and shakes.

But sooths them master of the house,
Stroking his yellowish moustache:
My country will lend them a helping hand,
Later they can do what they want.

Don't blame Churchill,
He was not pulling the strings,
After all, the triumvirate was only there
So Stalin would get what he desired.
Who values peace,
Will always back out of the fight -
Win will the one who fears not the wars
And such is the truth behind Jałta.

The palace's walls strain to hear
When to the Cripple speaks the Lion -
- I believe in Stalin's thruthful words
He seems to care for Soviet's blood.

And so the Cripple nods to that,
Unbroken guardian of democracy
Stalin, he's the man of the century
The men of state, the leader!

As alliance of great ones, it's not a cabal
It's the world's future - freedom, order -
With them, the weak will survuve,
And receive his share... of losses.

Don't blame Roosvelt,
Think what he had to endure!
Pipe, cigar's smoke and bottle,
Churchill, who cared not for alliances.
After all, three empires talked
about the borders, unclear ones:
- and in the details, Beria lied,
And such is the truth behind Jałta.

So delegations flew away,
Quiet became the tsar's Crimean castle.
And when the West was loud with guns,
Humans like cattle were hearded East.

The free world later celebrated freedom,
The fronts suddenly became empty -
Flowers fell on the president's grave,
And there were transports, so many transports.

The red dawn follows the night
The voters voted, and Churchill left!
And there the transports of live people,
And there the camps of long death.

So don't blame the Big Three,
History's judgement was behind it
Designed in every detail -
Each of them protected, what they had.
They could have erred, in the moment -
He was not a Pole, not a Balt...
Only the victims are always right!
And such is the truth behind Jałta.




TTags: Poetry, Kaczmarski

Exploding encyclopedia

As much as I am a fan of Wiki, some things make me wonder...

And if this is in, have you ever thought about what is out?

And then, of course, we have BJAODN. Enter at your peril. And don't say I didn't warn you...

TTags: Wikipedia, Humor

The Dogma of Otherness

One of the most intriguing concepts I have run into recently is the 'The Dogma of Otherness' described by David Brin. In the time and place where political correctness and cultural relativism are much more popular than arguments about benefits of the Western culture, Brin ironically and with a tongue-in-cheek manages to show how the very critiques of the Western culture in fact manage to provide compelling arguments about its unique advantages. The logic he employs is very simple - perhaps even right there along the lines 'it's so simple only a genius can see it' :> His argument, in essence, boils down to the simple statement that the (modern) Western culture is the only one which not only allows but encourages critique of itself, thus it invites change (for better), is in the best position to assimilate good parts of other cultures, and (even if it is not 'polite' to say so) is the the most tolerant and positive of them all.

To illustrate his argument, let me quote from his essay:

"Anthropologists tell us that every culture has its core of central, commonly shared assumptions--some call them zeitgeists, others call them dogmas. These are beliefs that each individual in the tribe or community will maintain vigorously, almost like a reflex.

"It's a universal of every society. For instance, in the equatorial regions of the globe there's a dogma that could be called machismo, in which revenge is a paramount virtue that runs deeper even than religion. From Asian family centrism to Russian pessimism, there are worldviews that affect nations' behavior more basically than superficial things like communism, or capitalism, or Islam. It all has to do with the way children are raised.

"We, too, have our zeitgeist. But I am coming to see that contemporary America is very, very strange in one respect. It just may be the first society in which it is a major reflexive dogma that there must be no dogmas!"

"But think, for a moment, how unique this is . . . how unusual this cultural mind-set has to be! Throughout history nearly every human society has worked hard to ingrain its children with the assumption that theirs was the only way to do things. Oh, we still get a lot of that here. It probably comes automatically with flags and nations and all that tribal stuff. But where and when else has the societal dogma also included such a powerful counter-indoctrination to defend otherness?"

"The Dogma of Otherness insists that all voices deserve a hearing, that all points of view have something of value to offer."

Is there really a war of memes? Perhaps. But if there is, the dogma of otherness gets my full support - especially over other memes that Brin describes as its opponents (feudalism, machismo, paranoia, and "the East").

Links of interest:
*begining of 'The Dogma of Otherness' essay (unfortunatly the full text is not online, but you can get it from a library near you or buy online)
*The New Meme - another of Brin's essay's which discusses this issue (this one has full text available)
*Survival of the Fittest Ideas: The New Style of War -- a Struggle Among Memes (excerpt from Brin's speech)

Googling for "The Dogma of Otherness" produces also some other people's comments about this issue, but I think reading original Brin first is a better idea.

TTags: Culture, Brin

Movie advert 5 (Sami swoi)

Polish Student Alliance
in Pittsburgh, PA

invites you to the
5th POLISH MOVIE NIGHT
(free)
Movie of the week: Sami swoi

When? October 5 (Thursday) 7:00PM-9:00PM

Where? 4130 Posvar Hall (University of Pittsburgh)

Movie genre: comedy

Year: 1967; director: Sylwester Chęciński; length: 81m; color; English subtitles.


The movie is the story of the two quarreling families, which after the end of the Second World War were resettled from Kresy to the Regained Territories, after Poland's borders were shifted westwards. The bad blood between them runs to the times one of Karguls plew a few inches ('3-fingers-width') into the Pawlak's territory, for which one of the Pawlaks hit him with a scythe and them escapes fearing retribution, emigrating to United States. Years later, he comes back, and finds that both families live peacefuly. His brother, Kazimierz, tells him the story of how the families came to terms, in a form of Romeo and Juliet-like marriage between Pawlak's son, Witia, and Kargul's daughter, Jadźka.

It was one of the most popular Polish comedies of its times and still remains an old favourite. Lubomierz has a museum dedicated to the movies, and Toruń has a statue of the two main heroes, Kargul and Pawlak.

TTags: University of Pittsburgh, Poland, Movie

Photos from wikimania

To browse almost all photos, check 'wikimania2006' tag at Flickr and Category:Wikimania2006 on Commons. Here are some of the photos with yours truly:

From the left: Andrea (member of the Wikimedia Board of Trustees), Jimbo Wales and myself. Photo byMidom.

Others and me :) (2nd from the right). Also by Midom (tnx).


TTags: Wikipedia, Wikimania2006

Citizen Journalism

After Wikimania ended, there are still some aftershocks, the most important of those likely being the Citizen Journalism Unconference. The theme is citizen journalism, we have notes added on conference wiki, and you can see other content with 'citmedia06' tag (technocrati, flickr, etc.).

TTags: Citmedia06

Vanity

I was blogged about in the The Chronicle of Higher Education blog: Dispatches From Wikimania.

It's nice, but they missed few key points:
* sure, Wikipedia would benefit from the articles, but is is a minor issue. The major one is that the entire world would benefit from their contributions, and students themselves would realize that their work is useful instead of gathering dust on some shelves somewhere;
* one of the major advantages of having students learn how to contribute to Wikipedia is having them realize that writing papers does not have to be a boring assignment, but instead it's somehting millions of people do for fun;
* Wikipedia (and wikis in general) which were designed from bottom-up as the ultimate collaborative tools allow teachers to raise any collaborative learning activities to a new height;

I plan to have my PP slides downloadable soon - it seems like the promised download at Wikimania site has some delays.

TTags: Wikipedia, Wikimania2006

Wikimania Day 3 Report

Day 3 of Wikimania conference begun with the meeting of those interested in studying the 'great social experiment' that Wikipedia has, accidentaly, become. The Wikimedia Research Network got (hopefully) a much needed boost in members, as did one of the most important projects out there, the General User Survey. The GUS project is designed to fill in the giant missing gaps in our knowledge of Wikipedians: while we know their general numbers and can say a little about their productivity or some other editing patterns, many basic questions like the age, education, gender, or what do they (we...) think of MediaWiki interface can be answered with little more then some educated guesses. So GUS project is extremly important for those interested in 'who' keeps the Wikipedia project running.

While the big annoucements seemed to have ended with the revelations of the first two days, lot's of tiny useful things where discussed, from the new ultimate 3-D modelling tool, Sketch Up (which may not be very wiki related but it's free and so intuitive that it promises a new revolution in grapic design), through WikiPhone promising a better collaboration between Wiki users, the Great Firewall of China, the single login idea and the goodies of MediaWiki 2.0.

PS. Later in the day I got my picture taken with Jimbo :) All in all, it was another great day, and the biggest flow of the conference seems to have been its ending too soon.

PS2. As usual, I recommend browsing through Technocrati 'wikimania2006' tag for more relations!

TTags: Wikipedia, Wikimania2006