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Wikipedia Turns 15

15.wikipedia.org

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Re: Wikipedia Turns 15

#71

Post by davidgerard »

wodenokoto wrote: post #14
edelans wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find their campaigns rather effective. I have the impression they do a big surge once a year with banners everywhere on the site. I find it very effective at reminding you how wikipedia bring you value everytime you use it. At least it made me donate at each occasions and I don't consider myself as a heavy user (hardly one consultation / week), and I think it is the only project I have donated multiple times.

Is it really only once a year? I feel like I saw it several times last year.

Test banners are run through the year - small audiences, particular countries or whatever. (Wikimedia Fundraising A/B-test the heck out of everything they do.) But the big fundraiser is the annual one, around Nov/Dec, in which they go all-out to raise this year's target as quickly as possible.

Re: Wikipedia Turns 15

#72

Post by klenwell »

coliveira wrote: post #64
klenwell wrote: post #59

I was talking to a friend the other day and came up with a term to sorta quantify what I consider perhaps the most important revolution of my lifetime: TTK or Time To Knowledge. The example I always use, the occasion when it first occurred to me, was a couple years ago when, for some reason, I decided I wanted to make a foam for a cocktail. Within 5 minutes, I had found a video on Youtube illustrating how, not to men…

This is really interesting, until you realize that 99% of the knowledge you acquire in this way is useless. In the 80s, if you didn't know how to do the foam you would just do without it, and nothing in the world would change because of that. Now, this would be certainly different if you were searching for a way to solve a hard engineering problem, but hard engineering problems cannot be learned with a 5 min youtube…

I hear your skepticism and acknowledge it. But I think you're being a little too flip with your 99% figure as well as your definition of useless.

The point is not to take a hard engineering problem and turn it into a 5 minute solution. You're right. Not all problems can be reduced to short Youtube videos (although it is amazing how many can).

The point is to take what may have been considered a hard, even impossible, engineering problem and get it in the hands or head of someone who might someday come up with a new or better solution. Even if the ultimate solution takes years or decades, it's still a radical reduction in TTK.

Re: Wikipedia Turns 15

#73

Post by klenwell »

phireal wrote: post #47
gmt2027 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wikipedia confirms that "embiggens" is a made up word from the Simpsons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_the_Iconoclast#Embiggen_a...

To be fair, all words are made up. Their usage is what makes them relevant.

This is so well put. It should be engraved over the entrance to a library or public monument somewhere.

Re: Wikipedia Turns 15

#74

Post by highphive »

coliveira wrote: post #64
klenwell wrote: post #59

I was talking to a friend the other day and came up with a term to sorta quantify what I consider perhaps the most important revolution of my lifetime: TTK or Time To Knowledge. The example I always use, the occasion when it first occurred to me, was a couple years ago when, for some reason, I decided I wanted to make a foam for a cocktail. Within 5 minutes, I had found a video on Youtube illustrating how, not to men…

This is really interesting, until you realize that 99% of the knowledge you acquire in this way is useless. In the 80s, if you didn't know how to do the foam you would just do without it, and nothing in the world would change because of that. Now, this would be certainly different if you were searching for a way to solve a hard engineering problem, but hard engineering problems cannot be learned with a 5 min youtube…

It's pretty cynical to call that knowledge useless. It's learning to do a thing you want to know how to do. That has use to you and often those around you. As for hard engineering problems, just because they're more complex doesn't make the knowledge less available. There's a massive amount of engineering knowledge free online, it only takes the initiative to go out and use it to learn it. The curriculum of many entire university degrees is now available for free online in a way its never been before.

Re: Wikipedia Turns 15

#76

Post by Retric »

Zikes wrote: post #70
Retric wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most online videos are made by people good at making videos. There not the same people that are good at making drinks or whatever.

I'm subscribed to YouTube channels devoted to crafts such as woodworking, cooking, metalworking, development, sewing, drink mixing, and others, and very few of them use professional equipment or editing software. Some of the most entertaining ones do, of course, but mostly because they started small and were able to grow their audience enough to turn it into a career, over the course of which they picked up the skill…

Yea, there are plenty of people worth following out there. But, a few minutes of random searching is probably not going to show you one of the gems. Unless, I am just bad at finding videos.

Re: Wikipedia Turns 15

#77

Post by jonknee »

In the age of Unicorns, Wikipedia is truly the rare beast. Nothing is perfect, but Wikipedia has managed to not screw up one of the most impressive collections of information the world has ever seen. They haven't sold out (like say, Mozilla) and manage to fund one of the world's most popular web sites with an annual pledge drive. Bravo!

Re: Wikipedia Turns 15

#78

Post by jonknee »

reasonality wrote: post #61
klenwell wrote: post #59

I was talking to a friend the other day and came up with a term to sorta quantify what I consider perhaps the most important revolution of my lifetime: TTK or Time To Knowledge. The example I always use, the occasion when it first occurred to me, was a couple years ago when, for some reason, I decided I wanted to make a foam for a cocktail. Within 5 minutes, I had found a video on Youtube illustrating how, not to men…

All magic comes at a price. You could have learnt other tricks of the trade, could have made new friends talking to that human bartender. Talking to someone who is a master at something is far more valuable than asking the internet specific questions - how do you know what questions to ask...

Sure, but you severely limit your potential knowledge if you have to hunt down an expert in person to learn something (especially if you couldn't use the internet to find the expert!).

If you find yourself enthralled in a subject after learning about it on Wikipedia/YouTube you can still find an expert and learn even more. Being seconds away from being able to learn about anything in the world is extremely powerful.

Re: Wikipedia Turns 15

#79

Post by prawn »

Retric wrote: post #68
judemelancon wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The internet's supply of masters is much larger and more accessible. Is there a reason to think the video or other sources he found are from someone inferior in expertise to a local? Does that reason apply even for people who live outside major urban centers? Also, that line of thinking is letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. Remember the most likely outcome before was recognizing the cost of acquiring the k…

Most online videos are made by people good at making videos. There not the same people that are good at making drinks or whatever.

Versus learning from the first person you come across in real life? Or not at all because it's all too hard compared with searching the net?

Re: Wikipedia Turns 15

#80

Post by chorizo »

klenwell wrote: post #73
phireal wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, all words are made up. Their usage is what makes them relevant.

This is so well put. It should be engraved over the entrance to a library or public monument somewhere.

Or at least the linguistics department at the local community college.
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