[Wikipedia-l] A WikiJamSession Fantasy

Fri Jul 23 01:58:52 UTC 2004

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 14:48:29 -0700, Jimmy (Jimbo) Wales
<jwales at wikia.com> wrote:
> 
> So, I had this idea for something we could do as a part of a drive
> towards 1.0.  We could get permission from a library or libraries in
> some densely populated centers around the world to gain admission
> during a holiday or weekend that they would normally be closed.  We'd
> set up a wireless broadband network and bring together as many people
> as possible to work together day and night in a fun atmosphere to fact
> check articles and process them for final publication in a CD-ROM,
> with an eye towards print as well of course.

I like the idea of having the libraries to ourselves, and of symbolically being 
there when they would otherwise be closed.  However, there would still have
to be library staff, guards, etc. in the library 24/7 during this time
-- a donation
by the library, perhaps, but a significant one.  
   ( 3 staff @ $14/hr for 72 hrs : $3k )

To improve our chances of having libraries agree, it would be nice to
start trying
libraries where many librarians are already Wikipedians or fans, and would be 
willing to donate some of their time. It might also help to use
libraries that already
have a wireless network set up...

> Imagine (go with me on this fantasy here) 1000 people working around
> the clock with timeouts just to sleep and eat, for 3 full days, to
> fact check, copyedit, and approve as many articles as possible.

I like this fantasy, and don't think it has to be linked to a print
edition -- as a general
validation exercise, it has great appeal.  However, having a mass of
people converge
on a library will inevitably involve some extra wear and tear; it
might help to address
that in any proposal to a library... 

~sj~