[Seth-Trips] Jimmy Wales at Fort Mason, Friday

[Seth David Schoen]

Via Quinn Weaver on the Free Software Business list.

----- Forwarded message from Stewart Brand <sb at gbn.org> -----

Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 12:12:58 -0700
To: salt at list.longnow.org
From: Stewart Brand <sb at gbn.org>
Subject: [SALT] 
	Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales this FRIDAY, Apr. 14 (for forwarding)


Vision is one of the strongest forms of long-term thinking.

Like any project, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia deploys month-to-month 
tactics in the service of year-to-year strategy.  Both must serve an unusually 
ambitious decade-to-decade vision, stated by founder JIMMY WALES: "Wikipedia is 
first and foremost an effort to create and distribute a free encyclopedia of 
the highest possible quality to every single person on the planet in their own 
language."

The English language edition of Wikipedia, which started in January 2001, 
reached its millionth article last month.  A year ago it was half that.  There 
are 123 other language editions active, with German (350,000 articles), French, 
Polish, and Japanese leading the way. The editing process is radically "open 
source"--- anyone can edit any article.  Article authors and amenders get no 
pay and no public credit.  Against reason, the process works spectacularly.  
Wikipedia has become the primary online research source.  It currently costs 
$320,000 a quarter to produce.

For the talk on Friday, Wales is expanding on his usual Wikipedia-only 
presentation to address the larger and longer picture that Wikipedia's success 
hints at:

"Vision: Wikipedia and the Future of Free Culture," Jimmy Wales, Cowell 
Theater, Fort Mason, San Francisco, 7pm, Friday, April 14.  The lecture starts 
promptly at 7:30pm.  Admission is free ($10 donation welcome as always, not 
required).

NOTE ON SECURING A SEAT:  This talk may be very popular, with the possibility 
of an overflow audience.  You can ensure yourself a seat by making a 
reservation, which costs $5 a person.  Reserve through Long Now's home page 
(http://www.longnow.org) or phone 415-561-6582. Reservations will stop being 
taken at 4:30 pm April 14.  Apart from reserved seats, which must be occupied 
by 7:20 pm at the event or be released, seating is first-come-first-served, and 
admission is free.

(This reservation service is offered in an attempt to avoid previous problems 
with exceptionally popular talks.  Jared Diamond and Brian Eno, for example, 
had far more people at the door than could fit inside, and many went away 
frustrated.  Anticipating that problem at a joint talk by Freeman, Esther, and 
George Dyson, Long Now offered the ability to make reservations by phone.  
People then filled the house with what turned out to be illusory reservations.  
My email about that discouraged other people from showing up, and we wound up 
with half a house.  So this time there's a financial incentive to make only 
sincere reservations.  The Cowell Theater seats 400, with room for another 40 
in the lobby watching on live TV.  My email to this list on Friday will reflect 
your prospects of getting in by just showing up.  Reserved seats not filled 
will by released at 7:20pm, ten minutes before showtime.)

This is one of a monthly series of Seminars About Long-term Thinking organized 
by The Long Now Foundation, usually on second Fridays, usually at Fort Mason.  
If you would like to be notified by email of forthcoming talks, please contact 
Simone Davalos--- simone at longnow.org, 415-561-6582.

You are welcome to forward this note to anyone you think might be interested.

				--Stewart Brand

PS.  Much of Kevin Kelly's March talk, "The Next 100 Years of Science:  
Long-term Trends in the Scientific Method," is now available in text form, with 
his great slides, at Edge.org: 
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge179.html .

-- 


Stewart Brand -- sb at gbn.org
The Long Now Foundation - http://www.longnow.org
Seminars: http://www.longnow.org/projects/seminars/calendar.php
Seminar downloads:  http://www.longnow.org/shop/free-downloads/seminars/

----- End forwarded message -----


-- 
Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org> | This is a new focus for the security
     http://www.loyalty.org/~schoen/   | community. The actual user of the PC
     http://vitanuova.loyalty.org/     | [...] is the enemy.
                                       |          -- David Aucsmith, IDF 1999