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'Wikipedia Redefined': Why not make it better, more functional?

Wikipedia Redefined :: Imagine you were granted the magic power to change any website in the whole world-wide web the way you like it, to make it better, more functional, more useful, better looking, more pleasing or disrupting to the eye. Which one would you pick?

Clipped from: www.wikipediaredefined.com (share this clip)

Wikipedia "redefined", visit the suggestions here www.wikipediaredefined.com

HT: Jan Tißler via Google+

Russian Wikipedia closes site to protest Internet law

Reuters :: The Russian version of online encyclopedia Wikipedia closed its site on Tuesday in a one-day protest against what it said were plans by President Vladimir Putin to create his own version of the "Great Chinese Firewall" to block dissent on the Internet.

Continue to read Thomas Grove, www.reuters.com

Wikipedia's founder calls for Richard O'Dwyer extradition to stopped

Guardian :: Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has made a rare political intervention to call on Theresa May to stop the extradition of 24-year-old British student Richard O'Dwyer to the US for alleged copyright offences. Launching an online campaign, Wales said O'Dwyer was the "human face" of a global battle of the interests of the film and TV industries and the wider public.

Continue to read James Ball, www.guardian.co.uk

Rbutr finds contrary opinions for stories you’re reading

Will need some time to build critical mass, but that's up to us to use it and to experiment with it and increase its quality.

Poynter :: Need to find a quick rebuttal to a news report or opinion piece you read online? There’s now an app for that. Introducing Rbutr.com, a new digital platform that uses crowdsourcing to provide arguments and counter-arguments on any number of subjects. It’s sort of like Wikipedia meets Politifact, but without journalists or other experts necessarily in the mix.

Note: requires Google Chrome

A review - Continue to read Tracie Powell, www.poynter.org

Wikipedia Zero launches in Asia: Drops mobile charges in Malaysia

The Next Web :: Wikipedia Zero, a project launched by the Wikimedia Foundation to offer free mobile access to Wikipedia in emerging countries, expanded into Asia for the first time this week via a partnership with Malaysian operator Digi, opening access to more than 10 million subscribers in the country.

Continue to read Matt Brian, thenextweb.com

Can Quora build a for-profit version of Wikipedia?

GigaOM :: The “crowdsourced” question-and-answer site Quora raised more than a few eyebrows on Monday by closing a new $50-million round of financing that values the fledgling company at $400 million, despite a conspicuous lack of scale when it comes to users. Is this just another example of the bubble-style funding rounds that have made Instagram and Pinterest the talk of the VC business — or a sign of how much power the “Facebook mafia” have in Silicon Valley — or is Quora really onto something that could potentially turn into a multibillion-dollar idea?

Continue to read Mathew Ingram, gigaom.com

Quora, Reddit, Wikipedia & Co: Replacing traditional newspaper services

"I think journalism is being replaced," writes Stijn Debrouwere - No, I don't think it's "journalism", which has been replaced, but many of the services newspapers traditionally offered as former heros in their markets.

stdout.be :: New habits. We used to peruse the entertainment section of our favorite magazine for movie reviews and recommendations. Now most of us use IMDB or the recommendation engines behind Amazon and Netflix. Same thing for music: people still find new music through Pitchfork or Rolling Stone, but services like Spotify and Rdio actually replace music journalism for many. More music and less bullshit. Better recommendations and you can start listening right away. ...

HT: Teresa Gorman, here

"People just don’t value journalism as much as journalists do." ow.ly/aJCLx

— Teresa Gorman (@gteresa) May 7, 2012

Continue to read stdout.be

Consumer Reports to support Wikipedia article improvement

Wiki Strategies :: A Wikipedian in Residence, in a six month engagement at the offices of Consumer Reports magazine, will guide collaboration between experts on consumer issues, experts in medical science, and experts in Wikipedia publishing.

Continue to read Pete Forsyth, wikistrategies.net

Authority of experts vs wisdom of the crowds: Encyclopaedia Britannica stops the presses

New York Times | Media Decoder :: After 244 years, the Encyclopaedia Britannica is going out of print. Those coolly authoritative, gold-lettered reference books that were once sold door-to-door by a fleet of traveling salesmen and displayed as proud fixtures in American homes will be discontinued, company executives said. In an acknowledgment of the realities of the digital age — and of competition from the Web site Wikipedia — Encyclopaedia Britannica will focus primarily on its online encyclopedias and educational curriculum for schools.

Like to know what Wikipedia is writting about the Encyclopaedia Britannica?

Clipped from: en.wikipedia.org (share this clip)

Continue to read Julie Bosman, mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com

Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales has been appointed as a British government adviser

Telegraph :: Jimmy Wales, the Wikipedia co-founder, has been appointed as a British government adviser on how Whitehall can make policy decisions more transparent, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

Continue to read Andrew Hough, www.telegraph.co.uk