Display:
If we use MediaWiki, do you think we can almost let the revision and update process for "position papers" be run on automatic?  In other words, with MediaWiki, is it likely that we won't even have to task individuals or teams explicitly to draft and polish these articles?  In practice, could we rely on those passionate and knowledgeable enough about the topics concerned to "get it right", with only intermittent and minor editorial and/or community intervention/judgement calls?
That's exactly the point. If you have an active wiki you don't need to appoint anyone. Vandalism is self-correcting, too, especially if we integrate the blog recent comments with the wiki recent edits.

When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 03:28:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I rather assume that people are going to self-appoint from project to project: I'm not entirely sure how ET would go about appointing people to do anything!

I'd envisage locked "final" versions of documents in some cases, together with supporting documentation and so on.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 03:44:40 AM EST
[ Parent ]
All sounds good - especially if it works!  I'm not aware of the experience of either Wikipedia or other mediawiki implementations and the operational issues they have to overcome - other than apparent attempts to edit out any comments/articles which might be deemed critical of the security policy of certain states  - the price you pay for becoming as important and influential as Wikipedia has become.  I suppose I'm just looking ahead to a time when ETmedia might become a perceived influential player in the EU politics/policy space and thus become vulnerable to hostile attacks.  The notion of using mediawiki as a participative self-empowering community knowledge management tool really excites me.

"It's a mystery to me - the game commences, For the usual fee - plus expenses, Confidential information - it's in my diary..."
by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot dotty communists) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 05:29:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The notion of using mediawiki as a participative self-empowering community knowledge management tool really excites me.
Isn't that what MediaWiki was written for in the first place?

When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 06:09:40 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Migeru:
Isn't that what MediaWiki was written for in the first place?

You tell me - this is mostly new territory for me.  

However I'm still struggling with how we would present ETmedia to a wider audience.  We're not an encyclopedia, we're not a political or campaigning organisation although we do do politics and sometimes campaign, we strive to be evidence and fact based but from a "progressive" perspective, we're not an on-line newspaper or current affairs e-zine, we're not just a blog or a group of nerds with no friends and lots of time to spend on-line.  So what are we -in simple terms that simple journalists can understand and communicate - and why should they give any especial importance to what we have to day?

"It's a mystery to me - the game commences, For the usual fee - plus expenses, Confidential information - it's in my diary..."

by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot dotty communists) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 10:55:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]
We're a progressive Eropean expert community blog, at least that's what I'd say, but people don't like.

Also, we're the people we have been waiting for.

When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 01:14:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Migeru:
we're the people we have been waiting for.

Maybe we've been waiting for us, but are the MSM? This is about enticing them to come to us, and claiming to be experts or the coming people may not be enough to do so

"It's a mystery to me - the game commences, For the usual fee - plus expenses, Confidential information - it's in my diary..."
by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot dotty communists) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 01:50:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The MSM are sooo 20th Century.

When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 02:06:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
ok - so how do you propose to greatly expand our direct readership/membership - especially if others are starting to steal our name?

"It's a mystery to me - the game commences, For the usual fee - plus expenses, Confidential information - it's in my diary..."
by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot dotty communists) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 02:20:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Who is starting to steal our name?

And if what we want is to change the conventional wisdom, is greatly increasing the number of our readership/membership the primary concern? It's just as effective to be read by a smaller number of influential people (measured by how many people read them).

When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 03:16:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
see comment below
Frank Schnittger:
I know this sounds horribly commercial, but you do have an established brand which you are not leveraging very much.  I see someone else has now taken up the Eurotribune.eu and .net domains and styles themselves as "The European Tribune: Independent Journal - and is sometimes ranked above Eurotrib in google rankings.  You stand still in this game, and you could lose prominence very quickly.


"It's a mystery to me - the game commences, For the usual fee - plus expenses, Confidential information - it's in my diary..."
by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot dotty communists) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 03:34:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Eurotribune predates Eurotrib, I think. They're a group of Spanish academics and journalists. I did some research on them a while ago. Note that they have funding from some sort of EU media programme.

How many of the Eurotrib.* domains do we not own?

When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 03:46:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Migeru:
Note that they have funding from some sort of EU media programme.

Any reason why we can't apply for similar support, especially as we are far more pan european in membership and with a significant input/influence beyond yurp?

"It's a mystery to me - the game commences, For the usual fee - plus expenses, Confidential information - it's in my diary..."

by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot dotty communists) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 04:02:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
No reason at all. I'll get my sister on the case.

When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 04:53:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
i don't mean this at all as a prod, but just to find out:

is development on ET 2.0 already in process, or are there decisions still pending?  i guess i am just curious if the incorporation of the MediaWiki thing is already something to be expected, or something that still needs to be greenlighted and that may or may not actually happen.

from Migeru's phrase "kicking about", i am guessing everything is still very much up in the air, but i just wanted to find out for sure.

A language is a dialect with an army and navy.

by marco (cowannar at gmail punkt com) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 12:25:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Going to happen.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 12:25:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Lots of decisions still pending. Need a prototype before we can make useful decisions.  Working towards prototype.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 12:30:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I just popped over to EuroTribWiki for the first time in a very long while.

Two things are immediately clear:

  • in addition to the diaries referenced up-thread, there has been a lot of work done already not only to convert EuroTrib diary material into wikiable pages, but also to organize this material to highlight critical issues in a focused and structured manner.

  • there has been some serious vandalism done on pretty much every page there, by the looks of it, auto-generated by some spam software.

On that first point, I am not sure whether it is necessary to have a directory structure as a sort of map of the wiki topics, although if done well, it clearly could be enormously helpful.

Related to that, I am assuming that Wikipedia's Contents and List of Topics are completely manually created (i.e. not dynamically/programmatically generated), is that correct?

A language is a dialect with an army and navy.

by marco (cowannar at gmail punkt com) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 12:45:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Part of the point of integration is to link the wiki to ET accounts, which will make random vandalism harder.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 12:48:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Maybe if we use mediawiki, we can copy wikipedia's blacklist...
by nanne (zwaerdenmaecker@gmail.com) on Thu May 1st, 2008 at 07:25:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Display:
Login
. Make a new account
. Reset password
Recommended Diaries
Debates
Campaigns
Occasional Series
Agriculture
by afew - Aug 7

Anglo Disease
by Migeru - Aug 3