[Foundation-l] Software idea: a "Wikipedia Explorer" that lets you browse Wikipedia and more

Tue Dec 27 22:39:29 UTC 2011

If Wikipedia can implement the things I talked about so far (topic-specific
chat rooms, forums, topic-specific resource announcement and discovery)
right on wikipedia.org, then certainly it's the most ideal solution. But as
Thomas Dalton said, if Wikimedia Foundation continues to take a "purist"
stance and only wants to build the encyclopedia itself and ignores the
wonderful potential of Wikipedia as a global infrastructure for topic-based
communication (unlike "friend-based communication" like social networks)
and topic-based resource sharing (e.g. announcing or finding products,
books, jobs, etc. for a specific topic), then we have to implement all this
on a separate website or as a separate program ("Wikipedia Explorer").

On Wed, Dec 28, 2011 at 5:30 AM, Gregory Varnum <admin at wikiqueer.org> wrote:

> I tend to agree that MW focus should be on the web applications -
> including mobile.  However a free (and ad-free) third-party Adobe AIR app
> that integrates new web features with services offered by other sites in
> ways not otherwise allowed by WMF policies - might be interesting for folks
> that enjoy browsers like Flock and such (which I know is a surprisingly
> large audience)
>
> I'm not personally that socially oriented (beyond sharing things on FB,
> Twitter and G+) - so chat and such wouldn't interest me personally.  As far
> as the app experience, I do occasionally use Mac OS X Dictionary's ability
> to browse Wikipedia from time to time.  That pretty much fills that void
> for me the few times a year I feel it.
>
> -greg aka varnent
>
>
>
> On Dec 27, 2011, at 4:15 PM, John Du Hart wrote:
>
> > I personally would prefer to see such new features added directly to
> > Wikipedia instead of focusing on another product. Remember, this is 2012,
> > we don't need dedicated software for most things anymore.
> >
> > On Tue, Dec 27, 2011 at 4:01 PM, Yao Ziyuan <yaoziyuan at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Remember there was MSN Explorer (desktop software) that let you browse
> MSN
> >> and use MSN services such as Hotmail?
> >>
> >> Remember Google Earth (desktop software) that lets you browse the Earth
> and
> >> provides additional services based on the Earth?
> >>
> >> We can also make a "Wikipedia Explorer" (desktop software) that lets you
> >> browse Wikipedia AND provides an added layer that enables users to:
> >>
> >> * Chat/discuss with other users interested in the same topic (Wikipedia
> >> article).
> >> * Announce/find resources related to a topic (products, books, jobs,
> >> anything).
> >> * More.
> >>
> >> I intend to see such a "Wikipedia Explorer" developed, or personally
> >> develop it. Any comments?
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >> foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
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> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > John
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