[Wikipedia-l] A WikiJamSession Fantasy

Fri Jul 23 18:24:30 UTC 2004

Universities tend to be a little more standoffish about this sort of
thing; faculty and students are focused on their studies, and the
unwashed masses of the general public 1/2 :-) are an unwelcome
distraction.

I'd think public libraries would be more enthusiastic, WP being more
in line with their mission. But somebody will likely have to know
somebody, either in the library administration, or alternatively, at
the local newspaper, heh-heh, who might like this kind of an oddball
story ("Amateur scholars take on Britannica at the local branch"), and
could help grease the skids with the librarians, for whom the extra
trouble is worth a mention in the paper.

Another way to do it is a la Critical Mass - everybody just show
up and overrun the library. That will get some publicity too. :-)

Stan

Angela_ wrote:

>I love the idea of having a weekend where people get together to
>finalize the articles for a print edition. I sent off a few emails to
>libraries in Birmingham (Birmingham being a more central location than
>London, and considerably cheaper) just to get an idea of whether it
>would be possible and the only response I've had so far was not
>positive. The email below was from the University of Birmingham.
>Perhaps finding libraries that have large rooms available that we
>could use during normal library opening hours would be better than
>hoping to have whole libraries to ourselves?
>
>
>>On enquiry to a more senior member of staff the reply is that we would
>>not be able to provide the facilities for this. This building is open
>>all days except Sundays and our computing facilities are restricted for
>>use by members of the University of Birmingham. If we were to open the
>>building for you we would need to employ both security and IT staff to
>>support you and this would be very difficult. Please check the
>>University home page wwww.bham.ac.uk for details of conference
>>facilities if this could be of help.
>>