Writing is much more a part of system administration than most people acknowledge. A good writer will be more likely to produce quality documentation and presentations and other documents.

Writing for Wikipedia can be one method that you can use to improve your writing (by seeing other’s writing, and by getting reviews from others). However, contributing to Wikipedia is also a way to give back to the community, a way to show appreciation for what Wikipedia provides.

The most obvious is to just edit any article that needs it, and to improve its wording and spelling. However, there are techniques that are not as obvious in which you can participate in the growth of Wikipedia.

First, there is the Wikipedia Community Portal – a sort of single point of entry for contributing to Wikipedia. This should be a starting point for anyone "going deep" into Wikipedia contributions.

One can also join a Wikipedia Patrol. Wikipedia patrols watch over a certain type of Wikipedia page for problems and assist in making pages better.

For example, one join the Recent Changes Patrol, watching the Recent Changes page (reloading every so many seconds for instance) for new edits, and check any that appear to need closer examination: edits that are from IP addresses, or that have no comments – or edits that come from users that are making a lot of edits rapidly.

One could also join the Random Page Patrol, selecting a random page to improve.

Another thing to do is to join a Wikipedia WikiProject. For instance, there is the Wikiproject Circus – which is focused on improving pages about circuses. (By the way – you really should visit the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin, sometime…)

Contributing – and improving your writing and others – is not limited to Wikipedia: you can add your abilities to Wikipedia’s sister projects:

• Wikiquote (quotations)
• Wikiversity (learning)
• Wiktionary (dictionary)
• Wikibooks (text books)
• Wikinews (news reports)

Add your voice to Wikipedia!

You can also work on similar sites that are not directly related to Wikipedia – such as WikiHow (how-to manuals) or others – but Wikipedia and its related sites are probably better because of their respectability, their focus towards writing (articles, etc) and their wide audiences.

Mon., Nov. 23, 2009

Former Iranian vice-president Mohammed Ali Abtahi has been released on bail pending appeal after being sentenced to six years in prison on Saturday for his part in the protests following the presidential electionsin June.

“Abtahi was sentenced to six years in prison for acting against national security and propaganda activity,” an anonymous court official told the INSA news agency. According to the agency, he was released on bail set at seven billion rials (US$700 thousand (€472 thousand)); under Iranian law, all convictions of a minimum of three months are subject to appeal and bail may be granted for the first twenty days to allow anyone sentenced to lodge one. “Abtahi was released this afternoon after he paid the bail amount,” Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi told IRNA.

Abtahi, who was as a minister and vice-president under President Mohammad Khatami from 1997 to 2005, is amongst thousands who were arrested following protests; two hundred still behind bars of which around eighty have been sentenced to jail and a further five to death. He has remained in custody ever since his arrest. He was convicted of various charges, including “gathering and plotting against the country’s security, propaganda against the regime, insulting the president and participating in an illegal demonstration.” He also faces further charges of “keeping classified documents.”

Opposition critics have called the prosecutions “laughable show trials” and spoken of “forced confessions”. They have called for the unconditional release of prisoners. On Friday, a United Nations committee passed a vote to approve a non-binding resolution which condemns Iran for its reaction to the protests following the election, criticising Iran’s record on human rights, highlighting torture and executions. The committee has also called on the Iranian government to stop persecuting its political opponents and release political prisoners.

From Wikinews, the free news source at en.wikinews.org

This version was found at http://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Former_Iranian_vice-president_sentenced_to_six_years;_released_on_bail_pending_appeal&oldid=915447

Au cours de mes deux ans de contributions sur Wikipédia, on m’avait fait part d’un addon de Firefox, pour avoir la définition du Wiktionnaire dans une infobulle.

Je l’avais installé, et puis constatant que cela fonctionne, je l’ai peu à peu oublié. Jusqu’au jour où au cours d’une discussion sur IRC, en réfléchissant sur comment faire pour sortir Wikinews de sa coquille, l’idée m’est revenue. Mais, contrairement à Wikilook, je trouvais ça bien de ne pas l’avoir que sur Firefox.

En effet, ça arrive à tout le monde de changer de pc, et l’idéal serait quand même de ne pas avoir à changer ses habitudes en changeant de navigateur. C’est le principe même des préférences pour ceux qui ont un compte sur Wikipédia.

Donc il nous fallait un gadget. C’est chose faite, comme sur la version francophone de Wikinews, nous ne pouvions pas le faire, ce sont nos camarades anglophones qui ont permis la création de ce bout de code Javascript.

Ce code est composé en deux parties, une partie qui extrait les définitions des Wiktionnaires, et une autre, le gadget, qui les restituent sur les projets où il se trouve. Il ne va pas sans dire que le travail est double, d’une part il s’agit de traduire/adapter le code d’extraction, mais également demander de placer le gadget sur les projets, s’ils le souhaitent.

Les caractéristiques intéressantes du système sont:

• Détection de la langue de l’interface de Mediawiki de l’utilisateur, ce qui permet d’afficher une infobulle traduite dans la langue de l’interface (A condition naturellement que le code d’extraction soit adapté sur le Wiktionnaire de la langue choisie)
• Détection de la langue du site, permettant ainsi de renvoyer les définitions des mots en prenant en compte la langue d’origine.
• Actuellement les langages supportés sont en, fr, it, es, nl et d’autres suivront
• Le script permet de trouver également les premiers mots des phrases qui ont des majuscules alors que wikilook ne le fait pas

Utlisation du script sur l'article du Wiktionnaire 政府

En gros, si je vais lire un livre de la Wikisource anglophone, je change l’interface en français, puis je choisi le gadget wiktionary Hover, Je pourrais lire un livre en anglais et si je bute sur un mot avoir la définition en français du mot anglais. J’obtiens ainsi la traduction de ce mot.

De plus, Bawolff a annoncé sur son blog que le script fonctionne aussi pour les blogs. Il vous suffit de double-cliquer pour vous en rendre compte!

On retrouve ce bout de code également sur ce site. Je ne ferais pas une liste exhaustive, mais c’est une affaire à suivre…

Si vous trouvez des erreurs, bogues en tout genres, merci de les reporter sur cette page.

Hoje comecei o dia lendo um artigo de Emir Sader, no Comunique-se, que propõe discutir se é possível existir imprensa livre feita por empresas privadas. O sociólogo argumenta que, como qualquer empresa, as de comunicação são movidas pela busca do lucro e que, portanto, estariam vinculadas aos interesses das elites econômicas e de seus anunciantes, o que inviabilizaria a liberdade de imprensa em suas fileiras.

É um bom ponto, e bem exposto. Mas terminei de ler o artigo com uma pergunta que o autor não discutiu convincentemente: afinal, então de onde viria a assim chamada imprensa livre? O máximo que Sader disse foi, no penúltimo parágrafo, que ela “tem que ser pública, de propriedade social e não privada”.

Respeitosamente discordo. Iniciei a minha carreira há 16 anos na Folha de S.Paulo, que hoje passa, junto com outros nomões da imprensa, por uma vergonhosa crise de credibilidade (o que estaria de acordo com o proposto por Sader). Mas foi interessante trabalhar lá no momento em que ainda existia alguma inocência do “foca”, para poder ver, por baixo de toda a sujeirada, como é possível fazer jornalismo sério e –sim– livre em uma empresa privada, se assim você se propuser.

Ao contrário do que sugeriu Sader, o último lugar onde a imprensa será livre é nas mãos do poder público. Pode até ser de qualidade: a TV Cultura de São Paulo é um bom exemplo que se mantém há décadas, apesar de ter agonizado por falta de verbas há alguns anos. Mais recentemente, vemos a TV Brasil, outra boa iniciativa. Mas obviamente elas não são livres.

Uma alternativa interessante é a da britânica BBC: apesar de possuir 12 superdiretores indicados pelo governo, eles não têm função executiva, atuando como uma espécie de board. A empresa é comandada de fato por outros diretores, executivos, e é financiada por uma espécie de imposto pago por todos os domicílios do Reino Unido que possuem televisão, o que lhe garantiu polpudos 3 bilhões de libras em 2005, fora qualquer outra renda que tenha obtido.

Mas o ponto é: não há interferência governamental na programação da BBC, condição crítica para sua qualidade e independência, que se tornaram referência internacional. Quando essa ingerência acontece, a imprensa vira joguete político e peça de campanha, confundindo-se com publicidade oficial, como a que foi parodiada no vídeo acima, do governo da Bahia.

Uma imprensa apenas do governo ou submissa a ele consegue ser pior que uma imprensa em que isso seja equilibrado por uma versão privada, mesmo que, no meio dela, apareçam veículos vergonhosos, como a Veja. Pois, em repúblicas de bananas como as nossas, um governo sem limites se deteriora em ditaduras chavistas, destruindo o país aos poucos. Já andei por vários países da América Latina, e a relação entre uma imprensa frágil, governo forte (e populista) e país depauperado é gritante.

Existe ainda uma terceira via, que sequer foi cogitada por Sader, e que pode ser a resposta à pergunta que dá o título a esse post: o jornalismo-cidadão, que floresce cada vez mais na Internet. Só não o coloco ainda como A resposta, pois, como seria de se esperar, misturam-se na Grande Rede jornalismo de primeiríssima qualidade com iniciativas antijornalísticas. Afinal, qualquer um pode escrever nela o que bem entender, sem se preocupar com a seriedade da apuração ou da produção do material. E também aí existem interesses, como no caso das empresas e do governo. Mas nessa (imensa) pluralidade pode-se encontrar a verdade. E ferramentas como o Google News ou Wikinews podem servir para colocar ordem na “bagunça”. Sader passou longe disso.

The English version of Wikipedia, the collaborative online encyclopedia, hit 3 million articles Monday, August 17.

The honors were taken by a short article on a Norwegian soap opera actor called Beate Eriksen.

In a brief statement on its homepage, the site’s registered 10 million users were congratulated for contributing to this collective body of information which totals more than 17 million pages and 325 million edits. While celebrations are in order, what I wonder will be the fate of Wikipedia’s younger and more troublesome off-shoot, Wiki  journalism.

Defined by Wikipedia itself as a “form of participatory journalism or crowdsourcing which uses wiki technology to facilitate collaboration between users”- it has its pros and cons. The largest example of Wiki journalism, Wikinews –  launched in 2004 by Wikipedia- has admittedly been useful in covering large scale events like Hurricane Katrina and the Virginia Tech shooting where first-hand experience was very important.

But participatory journalism does have its limitations. Take the LA Times experiment with a wikitorial in 2005 during which readers were invited to rewrite an online editorial on the Iraq war. The piece was removed after three days during which it had been completely erased and rewritten, and finally reduced to an unfortunate explicative.

The dangers inherent in this degree of collaboration are evident, not to mention other troubling issues such as intentional vandalism and plain old inaccuracy. Nevertheless, journalism has embarked on a new partnership with its audience that cannot be reversed. Consumers also want to be contributors and right now Wiki journalism seems to be one of the best games in town.

The United States automobile manufacturing firm General Motors announced on Wednesday that most of its bondholders did not exchange GM’s US$27 billion debt for a ten percent share in the company’s stock.

The automaker, in financial straits, has a June 1 deadline to finish a government restructuring plan that includes plant closures and other debt reduction measures. US President Barack Obama’s administration said it would not give more financial aid to the firm unless 90% of GM’s bondholders would agree on compromises that would significantly reduce the firm’s costs.

“The principal amount of notes tendered was substantially less than the amount required by GM to satisfy the debt reduction requirement,” GM said in a statement.

“They said no. That’s it. They tried. That’s why they’re going to have to file for bankruptcy,” said a university professor from the University of Michigan who specializes in bankruptcy.

Did you hear that Steve Jobs had a heart-attack?

Of course you didn’t; because it wasn’t true. But last year, a fake or misinformed report on the ill health of the CEO of Apple prompted a momentary plunge of it’s stock before official sources rectified the false alarm. The market regained itself after the clear up, but it showed how much people were taking information on the net for granted.

The misleading report was posted on CNN’s iReport, where anyone is allowed to post “Unedited. Unfiltered. News”. The website embraces a growing online phenomenon called “citizen journalism” which has been defined by Bowman and Wills (2003 cited in Flew 2008, 144) as “the act of a citizen, or a group of citizens, playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analysing and disseminating news and infroamtion”. As I mentioned in my last blog post on becoming a produser, with the rise of new media technologies, more and more people are able to state their voice to the public. But the downside of letting everyone and anyone have a say is, as the fake Steve Jobs heart-attack news showed, how do we know if we can trust what they say?

Before we believe anything we read on the internet, there are few evaluations we can do to determine the reliability of the information, and the QUT Library site gives a pretty comprehensive list of things to consider, but here are some major points:

1. Research what others have said about the same topic
2. Regard the credibility of the person who posted the information
3. Check their references (and do they have any in the first place?)

But trying to do this alone means, at least for me, it’s going to take more time and effort. Sure it’s important to get your facts right, but it is easier if the journo’s did all the research, pursued interviews, and went to the scene of crime, while I just have to sit on my couch and listen to their 30 second run-down of their essential findings… However as the limitations of professional journalists become clearer, more people are turning to citizen journalism for the ‘whole truth’. But ‘finding the truth’ isn’t necessarily up to an individual to discover in citizen journalism; it is a continual process by the community.

Bruns (2007) has suggested that artifacts from produsage processes are never completed because it continues to be edited, updated and refined by other participants. This ’communal evaluation’ allows people to identify and pick out infortmation that is unreliable  because “those contributions deemed useful and and relevant will be further improved upon, while those leading to dead ends of development…will remain un-used” (Bruns 2007, p.25).  In the case of the eariler example, once other sources revealed the error of the post, the administrators of CNN’s iReport quickly pulled it off the web. Many of the online news sites, like CNN’s iReport,  only allows select people to edit content, while there are more open sites that allow more blatant ’collaborative editing ‘ (Flew 2008 145) such as wikinews.

More common ways in which ’communal evaluation’ of news takes place , however, is by participant ratings (sometimes externally -e.g. Digg) and comments, where the more popular news posts can be regarded as the more important or relevant news to the community (Bruns 2007, 76). On the other hand,  therefore, if someone posts news that is dishonest or misinformed, others will be able to discredit their information by refering to other sources, or people will simply ignore it, and the reputation of the citizen reporter as being a trsutworthy source will definitely disintegrate.  Of course, this also happens to untruthful news reporting by traditional journalists; and in fact. one of the major roles of citizen journalism is said to be ‘Gate watching’ where news that comes through the conventional ‘Gate keeper’ news outlets are monitored by citizens to discern what news is most relevant to the community (Bruns 2007, 74).

So in a nutshell,  in traditional journalims it is the responsibility of the journalists to present to us the unbiased objective ‘truth’, while in citizen journalism the responsibility of ascertaining the ‘truth’ falls to us, the citizens.

But hey, don’t take my word for it.

References

Bruns, A. 2008. Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond: From Production To Produsage. New York: Peter Lang

Flew, T. 2008. New Media: an introduction. 3rd Ed. South Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press.

Schonfield, E. 2008. Citizen “Journalists” Hits Apple Stock With False (Steve Jobs) Heart Attack Rumour. http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/03/citizen-journalist-hits-apple-stock-with-false-steve-jobs-heart-attack-rumor/ Accessed 3 May 2009.

QUT Library. Evaluating information. http://www.library.qut.edu.au/learn/learnhow/evaluatinginformation.jsp Accessed 4 May 2009.

Other Blogs on Citizen Journalism

• “The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” by Barbra Kurkowski
• Lite on Gatekeeping, not a word is rejected by Crystal Leung
• Dr. A Citizen and Colleagues by Amanda
• Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it’s citizen Journalism by Georgia Rost

At the centre of new media technologies is the phenomenon of produsage.  As discussed in my previous blog, produsage is where everyday individuals have become both users and producers of online digital media content (Bruns 2007).  Citizen journalism is an important and powerful form of produsage, transforming the consumption and engagement of news and current affairs, challenging the role of journalism and bringing significant social change.  Citizen journalism is where a non-professional or citizen plays an active and collaborative role in the process of producing and disseminating news, in order to provide independent, wide ranging and relevant information to society (Bowman and Wills in Flew 2008, 144).

The emergence of new media technologies that support produsage has spurred the growth of citizen journalism, creating new online publishing spaces where diverse voices express alternative views on news and current affairs (Adams 2006, 1). Slashdot, Wikinews, Crikey, OhMyNews and Indymedia are examples of websites which play host to online collaborative environments of citizen journalists.

Citizen journalism has brought a new dimension to the way society is consuming and engaging with news and current affairs which is challenging the practice of journalism and its role of gatekeeping.  Traditional journalists have often had an institutional resistance to audience research, with a unidirectional communication model that ignores the reader’s voice (Wilson, Saunders and Bruns 2008, 2).  As information gatekeepers they only publish what they consider relevant and important for society, whereas citizen journalists adopt the role of gatewatching which attempts to capture all relevant information with differing levels of emphasis, allowing the reader more agency (Wilson, Saunders and Bruns 2008, 2).  As argued by Flew, contrasting to traditional journalism, “citizen journalism is enabling more localised, on-the-spot narratives on current events to reach a wider audience” (Flew 2008, 92).

Citizen journalism developed from a growing dissatisfaction with traditional news media and set out to counter its unidirectional, biased and censored nature by nurturing freedom of speech and democracy (Flew, 2007, 2).  Since its beginnings these principles have seen citizen journalism achieve social justice around the world.  For example the political achievements of the Zapatista’s have been largely supported through the efforts of citizen journalists.  During an uprising led by the Zapatista’s in Mexico, the commercial media refused to publish any news on the event (Russel 2001, 400).  In an attempt have their message heard the Zapatista’s spread details of the uprising over online networks where thousands of everyday citizens around the world blogged and published stories about the Zapatista struggle (Russel 2001, 400).  International news organisations discovered these citizen stories and broadcast them across mainstream networks (Russel 2001, 400), demonstrating the power of citizen journalism to present stories which would normally be silenced.

For the professional practice of PR, the rise of citizen journalism means practitioners must seek to develop online relationships and network with prominent citizen journalist communities to ensure messages are received by publics through all possible media outlets including blogs and independent media sources.

While citizen journalism brings an alternative perspective to traditional news media, its reliability is not always comparable to professional journalism. As highlighted by Mimi in her blog Citizen Journalism: Proceed with Evaluation we must always question the accuracy of citizen journalism material.  Mimi has presented a guide to evaluating the reliability of information provided by citizen journalists.  Along with the QUT library evaluating information check list this approach should be consulted when looking to citizen journalism for news and information.

REFERENCE LIST

Adams, D. 2006. Journalism, citizens and blogging. In Proceedings 2006 Communications Policy and Research Forum, University of Technology Sydney. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00006112/01/6112_1.pdf (accessed April 22, 2009).

Bruns, A. 2007. Produsage: Towards a Broader Framework for User-Led Content Creation. Proceedings Creativity & Cognition 6: 1-7. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/6623/1/6623.pdf (accessed April 21, 2009).

Flew, T. 2007. A Citizen Journalism Primer. In Proceedings Communications Policy Research Forum 2007, University of Technology Sydney.      http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00010232/01/10232.pdf (accessed April 29, 2009).

Flew. 2008. New Media: An Introduction. 3rd ed. South Melbourne: Oxford UP.

Russel, A. 2001. The Zapatistas Online: Shifting the Discourse of Globalization. Gazette 63 (5): 399-413. http://augustana.ab.ca/rdx/eng/documents/mexico/The%20Zapatistas%20Online%20-%20shifting%20the%20discourse%20of%20globalization.pdf (accessed May 1, 2009).

Wilson, J., B, Saunders and A. Bruns. 2008. “Preditors”: Making Citizen Journalism Work. In AMIC Conference: Convergence, Citizen Journalism and Social Change, Brisbane Queensland,       March 2008. 1-39. Brisbane: University of Queensland. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/17398/1/17398.pdf (accessed May 1, 2009).

Commons

Wikimedia Commons (frecuentemente abreviado como Wikicommons o simplemente Commons) es un proyecto de Wikimedia creado el 7 de septiembre de 2004 cuyo objetivo es servir como almacén de archivos de imágenes y otros formatos multimedia para el resto de los proyectos de la fundación.
Es una mediateca de 4,346,195 archivos multimedia libres, donde todos pueden contribuir

Wikcionario

es un proyecto de diccionario de la Fundación Wikimedia, que contiene definiciones, traducciones, sinónimos, pronunciaciones de palabras en múltiples idiomas. Al igual que Wikipedia, Wikcionario está basado en la tecnología wiki, utiliza el software MediaWiki y su contenido está bajo la licencia libre GFDL.
La edición en español es la vigésimo-primera en número de artículos con 37.430 artículos y 52.408 páginas el 1 de enero de 2009.

Wikisource

Objetivo es crear una biblioteca de textos originales libres, que hayan sido publicados con una licencia GFDL o que sean de Dominio Público; junto con su traducción en distintas lenguas. Este sitio forma parte de la fundación Wikimedia.
Algunas fechas,de cómo ha ido ampliándose el wikisource en castellano:
• 13 de marzo de 2006: Se alcanzan las 10.000 páginas.
• 1 de marzo de 2007: 20.000 páginas.
• 18 de enero de 2008: las 30.000 páginas.
• 8 de noviembre de 2008: las 40.000 páginas.

Wikinoticias

Wikinews (o Wikinoticias) es una fuente de noticias de contenido libre y un proyecto de la fundación Wikimedia. Wikinews permite que cualquier persona reporte noticias sobre una amplia variedad de temas. Su misión, como se expresa en su página principal, es crear un ambiente diverso donde ciudadanos reporteros pueden informar de forma independiente las noticias sobre una amplia variedad de eventos actuales.
los artículos de Wikinoticias son escritos desde una punto de vista neutral y no tienen opiniones o comentarios.

 Wikilibros

El proyecto es una colección de libros, manuales, y otros textos, de contenido libre, que se escribe colaborativamente como Wikipedia. El sitio trabaja con tecnología wiki, lo que significa que cada usuario puede colaborar en la escritura de cualquier libro, haciendo clic en un enlace “editar” que existe en cada página.
Al comenzar el año 2006, Wikilibros había alcanzado las 1.000 páginas.

Wikiquote

es una colección de citas célebres de personajes famosos, libros y proverbios. Se realiza de forma colaborativa a través de Internet, bajo la licencia libre GFDL, y basándose en tecnología wiki.
No ha alcanzado un desarrollo tan grande como Wikipedia, pero existen ya versiones en varios idiomas. Entre todos ellos cuenta con más de 313.000 páginas, de las que unas 91.000 pueden ser propiamente artículos de citas
La versión en español es la décima en número de artículos: tiene más de siete mil páginas, de las que más de tres mil son artículos de citas.

Wikiespecies

Su misión es la de ser un directorio libre de especies. Cubre los animales, plantas, hongos, bacterias, arqueas, protistas y otras formas de vida, y se desarrollará en estrecho contacto con otros proyectos wiki, especialmente Wikipedia.

Meta-Wiki

Es un sitio web de apoyo a Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre y sus proyectos hermanos de la Fundación Wikimedia. Como ésta, Meta-Wikipedia se edita como un wiki.
La Meta-Wiki sirve actualmente como una de las tres mayores vías de discusión para los Wikipedistas, junto con las listas de correo y las páginas de discusión de artículos concretos.

Wikiversidad

Investigación y Aprendizaje
objetivo es construir una plataforma educativa virtual libre y gratuita, con filosofía wiki y que forme parte de la fundación Wikimedia. En este proyecto también es posible crear grupos de aprendizaje a otros niveles educativos. Este sitio forma parte de la fundación Wikimedia.
Actualmente en castellano hay 820 articulos.

The national football teams of Australia will qualiy for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa if the win their respective qualifying matches on June 6. (Australia just need a draw)

Japan play Uzbekistan, Australia play Qatar.

If worst comes to worst for both teams, they will play each other in their final match, against each other, a the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

In their previous qualifier, in Yokohama, the teams played out a scoreless draw in February.

The report from Wikinews;

Australia and Japan played out a scoreless draw in front of sixty five and a half thousand spectators at Yokohama International Stadium in Japan. Both countries are expected to go through to the World Cup in South Africa.

The Australians sustained heavy pressure throughout the match, they managed to defend effectively. The pressure however cause three players to be booked by the referee. Namely Scott Chipperfield (after 21 minutes), Luke Wilkshire (25 minutes) and Carl Valeri (1 minute into 2nd half added time).

Japan managed to open up Australia’s left hand side and create a number of chances up front. Unfortunately for the Japanese, the chances resulted in corners and near misses at best.

“It’s a great result,” said Tim Cahill, Australia’s makeshift striker. “They’ve had five weeks preparing, we’ve had two days. We will take that result – and I’m sure they will too.”

The result sees them two wins clear of Bahrain, who would play-off for fifth overall in Asia if qualification happened after four games per team.

“You’ve got to look at the table,” Cahill said. “We’re six points clear of the team in third (Bahrain). We’re sitting pretty and so are Japan.”

“It’s frustrating not to take three points at home,” said Japan coach Takeshi Okada, who had admitted his job was in trouble. “We did everything but put the ball in the net. But it’s about qualifying for the World Cup. We have four games left and have to keep pushing.”

Hé oui, ces derniers jours j’ai fait un court retour sur WN pour écrire deux petites pages sur le lancement de navettes spatiales.

<satirique>Mais j’avoue que je craint de faire de nouvelles pages sur les lancements de l’agence spatiale Indienne: c’est trop petit comparé à la Nasa et surtout y’a que les intéréssés d’astronautique qui la connaissent. Ca serait benné au bout de 3 jours.</satirique>

[i] So, ich habe jetzt einen Entwurf für alle 5 Unterrichtseinheiten zusammen. Der Rote Faden für den Kurs soll Recherche sein, jedenfalls inhaltlich gesehen. Technisch gesehen will ich sukzessive Werkzeug um Werkzeug einführen um die Teilnehmer in die Lage zu versetzen, das Netz effektiv und kompetent zu nutzen.

Richtig gelesen! Ich habe fünf Unterrichtseinheiten entworfen, obwohl ich nur vier Termine zur Verfügung habe. Die Idee dabei ist, die vier Stunden in der Bücherei lediglich als “Vorbereitung” zu nutzen: Die Teilnehmer werden sicherlich genauso gerne unabhängig sein wie ich selbst. Daher möchte ich ihnen in den ersten vier Stunden alles Wichtige beibringen, um alleine schwimmen zu können. Natürlich spielt Recherchieren dafür eine große Rolle, aber dafür trainieren wir das ja.

Die fünfte Stunde soll dann “draußen” stattfinden: In fremder Umgebung, in potentiell belauschtem Netz. Da wird dann das Thema Sicherheit eine ganz große Rolle spielen, und die Teilnehmer haben alle Werkzeuge in der Hand. Ihr Recherche-Ziel für diese fünfte Stunde wird sein, zusammenzutragen, wie sie sicher — ohne Lauscher — an ihre EMail kommen. Oder unabgehört chatten können.

Ich hoffe, damit überfordere ich niemanden.

Wie bereits in meinem vorigen, langen Post zum Kurs angedacht, werfe ich mit diesem Ansatz das klassische Konzept Kurs über Bord: Ich möchte, dass meine Teilnehmer ihre Kenntnisse anwenden und erweitern und sich selber schlau machen. Ich bin vielleicht der Rote Faden, und die Bücherei der Ort, wo sie an die Rechner können, aber die Information ist “da draußen” — bzw.: da drinnen. Eben deswegen sage ich ihnen in der ersten Stunde, wo sie Informationen finden, wo und wie sie recherchieren können.

Die zweite Stunde fügt das zweite Wichtige am Netz hinzu: Kommunikation. Präzise: digital kommunizieren. Copy&Paste statt Abtippen, Speichern statt Ausdrucken und Neu-Eintippen, Screenshots machen — und wissen, die Elemente richtig zu benennen. Nichts ist nervtötender für die Verwandtschaft, wenn Old-Mommi einem sagt: “…und dann habe ich das Bild da rechts oben…” — Bild? Fenster? Reklame im Fenster? Rechts oben? Auf dem Desktop? Am Fensterrahmen? Im Fenster selbst? Im Menü- oder im Browser-Bereich? …

Vier Augen sehen mehr als zwei, insofern ist Kommunikation mit einzelnen Menschen gut. Aber viele Augen sehen mehr. Deswegen führt die dritte Stunde in Benehmen im Netz ein — und darein, wie man Foren, Wikis, Kommentarfunktionen von Blogs nutzt. Die Themen Datenschutz und Urheberrecht kommen hier nicht zu kurz. Ziel dieser Stunde ist, einen Wiki-Artikel zu erstellen. Wikipedia, -news oder -travel, je nach Interessenlage der Teilnehmer. Wichtig ist hier, dass die Teilnehmer zusammenarbeiten, um diese Weise der Netznutzung kennen zu lernen.

Stunde vier bereitet darauf vor, das Netz auch außerhalb der gewohnten Umgebung — den Rechnern der Stadtbücherei — zu nutzen. Wir erkunden das Menü, die Optionen, laden Plug-Ins herunter — schalten das nervtötende Werbe-Geflimmer ab –, lernen Bookmarks kennen und richten uns rundum gemütlich ein. Damit wir unsere Einrichtung auch in Zukunft nutzen können, laden wir uns den Browser herunter und richten ihn auf einem Speicherstift ein. Die Teilnehmer werden gebeten, sich für diese Stunde einen USB-Stick zu besorgen, möglichst mit MP3-Abspielfunktion. Bei der Gelegenheit gehen wir auch auf Podcasts, RSS-Feeds und Feed-Reader ein. Falls sich dies als zu umfangreich herausstellen sollte, können wir auch auf die kommende Unterrichtseinheit ausweichen.

Die fünfte Unterrichtseinheit schließlich wird in einem Internet-Café stattfinden. Das Thema wird Sicherheit sein. (Ich habe mit dem Gedanken gespielt, auf Tunnel einzugehen, halte Sicherheit aber für die Teilnehmer für wertvoller.)

Wie man sieht, habe ich — musste ich — die Stunden ziemlich dicht gepackt/packen. Und halte auch für sinnvoll, wenn wir uns während der Zeit am Rechner ganz auf das Praktische konzentrieren.

Um den Druck da etwas herauszunehmen, möchte ich die für die einzelnen Unterrichtseinheiten erforderlichen Kenntnisse/Fähigkeiten hier im Blog vorbereiten. Diese Erklärungen werde ich wohl in Howtos fassen. (Ich hatte zwar gehofft, das sogar als Screencast machen zu können, doch werde ich mit der Zeit wohl nicht mehr hinkommen. Habe zu lange auf dem Schlauch gestanden hinsichtlich der Gestaltung des Kurses.) Wer einen Screencast machen kann und beisteuern möchte, ist herzlich willkommen! Auch für Hinweise auf Seiten, die bestimmte Vorgehen in Form einer Animation oder eines Videos darstellen, bin ich dankbar. Etwa, wie man einen Browser startet, einem Link folgt o.ä.

Außerdem stelle ich mir vor, an jede Unterrichtssstunde eine einstündige Gesprächsrunde anzufügen. Ich denke mir, dass sinnvoll sein könnte, das im Café zu machen: Dort treffen sich Senioren, sind möglicherweise interessiert am Thema, könnten den Teilnehmern Fachfragen stellen, und die Teilnehmer könnten ihre eigenen Kenntnisse dadurch festigen, dass sie diesen Außenstehenden die Fragen beantworten. — Auch in dieser Hinsicht ist der Kurs offen gestaltet: Wenn die Inhalte sich verbreiten — prima!

Auf längere Sicht könnte es durchaus Sinn machen, ein regelmäßiges Treffen für Internet-Neulinge einzurichten, vielleicht als Bindeglied zur lokalen pl0gbar.
 

Die Bilder für diesen Post entstanden mit Freemind und Gimp.

Ralph Scala was sentenced Saturday for 49 counts of mischief, criminal harassment and uttering threats for seven years of neighbourhood bullying in Toronto, Ontario.

Scala, aged 36, slashed tires, smashed windows, intimidated and insulted his neighbours.

“I had to go and calm her down when she found her property littered with dog refuse, dead squirrels, cats, mice and even a skunk deliberately left behind to frighten her,” said Maria Bolotta, daughter of Carmela Canino an 87 year old widow. Canino shared a semi-detached house with Scala.

“It became impossible for me to spend quality time with her or to enjoy her property with her because of the horrible skeletons, fake camera, pitchforks, and tombs bearing her name that we had to face when we went outside.” continued Bolotta.

Bolotta recounted finding 22 sharpened bicycle spokes jabbed into the lawn while she was out with the lawn mower.

Justice Kathleen Caldwell’s sentencing of Scala was followed by a three year probation, counseling, and 200 hours of community service. Additionally he must pay the neighbourhood victims restitution and stay away from the neighbourhood and its residents.

His father, Felice Scala aged 62, faces four charges related to his son’s crimes and will appear in court in June. — Wikinews

Relics of 39 saints were found by staff of the British Museum today in a 12-century German portable altar. The altar had been donated in 1902, but the altar had not been opened until today.

It had been opened for a cleaning and a check on its condition, prior to being scheduled for display in a new medieval art gallery at the Museum tomorrow. When it was opened, James Robinson, the curator of medieval antiquities, found a linen cloth which itself contained several dozen bundles of cloth, each of which was labelled.

The back of the altar contained a list of names, including those of John the Baptist, James, John, and Mary Magdalen, and 35 others, indicating that relics of these individuals were believed to be encased there. However, only 39 bundles were found, indicating that at some point before the most recent rearrangement of the bundles in the 19th century, one had been lost.

One of the bundles contained a relic of saint Saint Benedict of the early 6th century. The reliquaries and relics will remain in the Museum. –Wikinews

Election analysts for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation have called the Queensland state election for the Australian Labor Party. The ABC lists the seats won as ALP 50; Liberal National Party 29; Others 4; and 5 in doubt.

A win for the ALP means that Anna Bligh becomes the first female to be elected premier in Australian history. She is the third female to be appointed premier.

The ABC predicted that the ALP will gain 53 of the 89 seats, the LNP 31 with 5 seats going to other candidates.

The analysts are predicting that Queensland Greens MP Ronan Lee will lose his seat of Indooroopilly.

Polls published in The Australian predicted a hung parliament. The ABC’s predictions contradict these polls.

The Courier Mail also gives the election to the ALP. They give the ALP 49 seats; LNP 27; Others 4; and 9 undecided.

Opposition leader Lawrence Springborg conceded the election at 8:15pm local time (12:15pm UTC). –Wikinews

A senior United States official has stated that the US insurance firm American International Group (AIG) has paid out US$218 million in bonuses to its executives, after receiving over $180 billion in federal aid from the government. The number is higher than the earlier figure of $165 million that was reported previously.

According to documents obtained by a subpoena by Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut attorney general, the bonus payouts were 32%, or $53 million, higher than the original number that was reported for most of the week. The documents also say that 73 people received bonuses of at least $1 million, and five were given over $4 million.

Blumenthal stated that the updated amounts “further fuel the justified anger and revulsion that people feel”, and intends to ask executives at AIG about the discrepancies in the numbers. He also stated that “unless the number can be explained, it will undercut any lingering rationale the company may have for these unjustified payments.”

A spokesperson for AIG, Mark Herr, has called Blumenthal’s claims “incorrect.”

“The payments he appears to be referring to were made months ago, have been widely reported on and were specifically disclosed to the Treasury,” he said.

Blumenthal rejected AIG’s explanation saying, “we heard a few explanations, but quite honestly, none of the apparent justifications hold water with me. Because whether the payments were made in December or March, I want to know how much they were.” –Wikinews

Peter MacKay, the Canadian Minister of National Defence, said on Sunday that he has decided not to pursue his undeclared candidacy to run for Secretary General of NATO.

A new Secretary General will be established at the NATO leaders summit held in France and Germany April 3-4.

The appointment of the new Secretary General is done unanimously within the NATO alliance.

Several countries have been reported placing their support behind Prime Minister of Denmark, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, to succeed Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the current NATO Secretary General.

“A number of people at the alliance are looking at Rasmussen as a leading candidate, but there’s been no decision yet and it takes a consensus,” said a senior United States official. –Wikinews

Boas pessoal, já fiz as minhas pesquisas sobre wikis temáticas. O tema que escolhi é um pouco abrangente:

VIAGENS

Agora vocês perguntam porquê?! E eu respondo: 

Em primeiro lugar, escolhi este tema porque gosto de viajar e estar actualizado acerca de destinos e afins.

Em segundo porque é sempre bom partilhar as nossas próprias experiencias e conhecimentos acerca do assunto…

Estes são os 3 sites:

Travellerspoint

Wikitravel

Wikiviagem

Travellerspoint. Este é um site de partilha de opiniões, opções e planos de viagens. Podemos encontrar parceiros para viagens, compartilhar ideias e sugestões. Para além do mais podemos saber ainda mais sobre os destinos que pretendemos viajar e visitar. Para planear uma viagem, para descobrir novos itinerários, etc. Na Travellerspoint até é possível partilhar as experiencias de cada viagem.

Wikitravel. É um site que visa criar um guia mundial de viagens livre, completo e actulaizado disponíveis para  todos. Podemos partilhar, guias, destinos, iteneraeos, etc.

WikiViagem. É um site novo (15 de Janeiro de 2008) que prentede criar tambem um Guia de Viagem gratuíto e atualizados para portugues, etc.

I forgot to mention Wikipedia as an increasingly powerful news source in my last post. Check out this article in the International Herald Tribune on the online ecyclopaedia’s role in reporting the Virginia Tech massacre.

And then there is sister site Wikinews and, of course, Twitizen Journalism.

L’idée est ici de développer brièvement une idée originale de système participatif. N’étant qu’un internaute amateur, voire un touriste, je ne me permets pas d’avoir la prétention de révolutionner le Web 2.0, mais ne connaissant de loin pas tous,les outils à disposition, j’espère simplement que mon idée s’avère un tant soit peu inédite!

Le modèle participatif mis en place par  me plaît beaucoup, et notamment la manière dont le savoir se trouve mis en commun et partagé. Mon idée s’appuie donc sur cette constatation: nous sommes beaucoup plus fort tous ensemble que chacun individuellement! Pour motiver les gens et éviter les dérapages, j’enlèverais par contre l’aspect bénévole et non lucratif.

Mon but serait donc de créer une entreprise qui profite du savoir et des idées novatrices venues du monde entier, et qui en fasse profiter les participants en retour, par une rémunération financière. La première étape serait de trouver les investisseurs prêts à amener des fonds, qui pourraient bien évidemment être les participants eux-mêmes. Ils participeraient tous à hauteur égale, afin de faciliter le partage des bénéfices (je me permets l’hypothèse que, mon idée étant géniale et révolutionnaire, l’entreprise fonctionnerait à merveille…!). L’étape suivante consisterait à constituer des groupes de compétences pour permettre à chacun d’exploiter au mieux ses compétences. Le but serait de proposer des idées novatrices, évaluées d’abord par les membres du groupe, afin de sélectionner la meilleure idée chaque mois, les projets gagnants étant ensuite soumis au vote de toute la communauté. Le vainqueur final serait ensuite produit en sous-traitance par une entreprise de la brache mandatée par nous, et les bénéfices retirés seraient partagés en trois parties égales: le premier tiers pour la personne ayant exprimé l’idée à la base, le deuxième pour les investisseurs et le troisième pour les participants ayant voté en faveur du projet!

Ce projet paraît bien sûr tout à fait utopique, et s’il s’avérait ne serait-ce qu’en partie réalisable, un entrepreneur quelconque l’aurait déjà développé depuis longtemps. Mais comme le dit l’adage bien connu, l’espoir fait vivre…

Source: mon imagination bien trop optimiste!!!