ALEC Exposed is a wiki site set up by The Center for Media and Democracy which posts and chronicles leaked documents including more than 800 model bills drafted and approved by corporations during ALEC meetings. The documents have been analyzed and
marked-up for clarity. Journalists along with the general public are invited to
download the documents and sift through the
bills in order to help map the connections back to their own state legislation and legislators.
[more inside]
posted by stagewhisper
on Jul 14, 2011 -
22 comments
NationStates is a free political simulation game founded by author
Max Barry back in 2002 (
previously). Loosely based on his dystopian corporate thriller
Jennifer Government, the game
starts by asking players to provide some national trappings and answer a few civics questions, then generates a virtual country with a matching political outlook.
Periodic policy decisions like mining rights and compulsory voting allow players to further modify their country along
axes of social, political, and economic freedom, arriving at one of
twenty-seven colorful government types like Tyranny By Majority or Scandinavian Liberal Paradise. There's also a healthy roleplaying community -- players can discuss current events in the
General forum, practice wargaming in
International Incidents, form cooperative Regions to debate internal affairs (many of which form
their own communities), and elect Delegates to send to the
World Assembly (so renamed after
an amusing cease-and-desist from the real-world U.N.). Their collective history is thoroughly recorded in
the 35,000-article NSWiki, which provides a
detailed legislative record,
gameplay guide, and profiles on many of the
90,000 active nations,
8,000 player regions, and
countless characters that currently make up the game world.
posted by Rhaomi
on May 9, 2011 -
62 comments
Founded in 2004 as a place to catalog LiveJournal drama rejected from Wikipedia,
Encyclopedia Dramatica rapidly became the premier site on the web for all manner of
lulz. Intended
"in the spirit of Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary," ED grew into a sprawling crowdsourced compendium of memes, subcultures, communities, personalities, and the endless feuds and controversies spawned by
4chan and
other anonymous imageboards. While comprehensive, the site developed a reputation for nastiness -- full of "ironic" (?) racism, gratuitous porn, organized attacks on other sites, and disturbingly thorough dossiers on perceived enemies, all dripping with vicious snark (just check out
their entry on MetaFilter). But now, after more than six years, it appears the troll has become the trolled. Founder Sherrod "Girlvinyl" DeGrippo, allegedly
disillusioned by the site's
legal woes and
nihilistic trajectory, has
permanently shuttered the site and replaced it with
OhInternet, a slicker, cleaner, Web 2.0 effort modeled after more respectable internet guides like
Know Your Meme (which recently sold to
Cheezburger Networks for a cool
$N million, discussed
here).
Backups and mirrors abound, but as for the source? Pool's closed...
forever.
posted by Rhaomi
on Apr 15, 2011 -
85 comments
Here’s what we think the Editor Trends Study tells us: Between 2005 and 2007, newbies started having real trouble successfully joining the Wikimedia community. Before 2005 in the English Wikipedia, nearly 40% of new editors would still be active a year after their first edit. After 2007, only about 12-15% of new editors were still active a year after their first edit. Post-2007, lots of people were still trying to become Wikipedia editors. What had changed, though, is that they were increasingly failing to integrate into the Wikipedia community, and failing increasingly quickly. The Wikimedia community had become too hard to penetrate. -
The Wikimedia Strategy March 2011 Update discusses wikipedia's declining ability to retain new editors. Meanwhile the case of the
deletion (and restoration) of the article on the
remarkably notable Old Man Murray highlights the bad decisions that can occur when insular admins and editors favor deletionist sentiment and bureaucratic rule-waving over the input of outsiders and a basic level of research.
posted by Artw
on Mar 11, 2011 -
96 comments
Based on
a quirky animated short that
charmed MeFi four years ago, Pendleton Ward's
Adventure Time is arguably the most delightful thing in animation right now. Following the surreal adventures of 12-year-old Finn and his magical dog Jake in the fantastical post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo, the series has breezed through two seasons and
secured a third -- while generating a devoted fandom along the way (partially through savvy callbacks to things like 4chan's
Courage Wolf meme and
Kate Beaton's pudgy Shetland pony).
There's
an exhaustive wiki,
an active discussion board,
oodles of fan-art, and
AdventureTi.me, a fan-made repository of previous episodes (complete with
a mobile version) that makes catching up a cinch. Want more? Then check out the show's
bountiful production diaries, its
equally in-depth blog at Frederator Studios,
catch some official clips, follow Pen Ward
on Twitter, or
buy or
make your own awesome Finn hat (though not necessarily
what lies beneath). Oh, and a new episode is airing... oh, right now. Totally math!
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Jan 24, 2011 -
54 comments
Everybody knows
TVTropes is the best and most
time-
killing-est way to learn about the clichés and archetypes that permeate modern media. But dear reader, there is
so much more. Enter
Useful Notes. Originally created as a place for tropers to pool factual information as a writing aid, the subsite has quietly grown into a small wiki of its own -- a compendium of crowdsourced wisdom on a staggering array of topics, all written in the site's signature brand of lighthearted snark. Though it reads like an irreverent and informal Wikipedia, its articles act as genuinely useful primers to complex and obscure topics alike, all in service of the project's five goals: "To debunk common media stereotypes; to help you understand some media better; to educate, inform and sometimes entertain; to promote peace and understanding (maybe); and... to facilitate world domination." Sounds about right. Click inside for bountiful highlights... if you dare.
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Dec 26, 2010 -
43 comments
Do you like manuals? Do you like Wikis? Do you like open source software? Check out
FLOSS Manuals for wiki-fied manuals for popular and fun open source software, including
PureData,
Inkscape,
Blender,
Ardour, among others. Taking a page from programmers, the group endorses "
book sprints", where creative writers, editors and artists work closely together to complete an online book in a short, intense burst of effort.
posted by Blazecock Pileon
on Oct 1, 2010 -
6 comments
Hackspaces are open resources for community, group, or solo work on digital media, electronics, robotics, and art installations. Many allow drop-ins, and are run on a voluntary, non-profit basis - there’s likely
one near you. Just want to repair something by yourself?
iFixit, previously known for their teardowns of Apple products, have launched an open wiki to create manuals on how to
repair everything from vehicles to household appliances.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul
on Sep 3, 2010 -
22 comments
Davis, California is a small town by almost any measure, yet is home to one of the
busiest local wikis in the world. The Davis Wiki chronicles the
mundane and the
bizarre, but also serves more practical information, such as lunch specials, housing guides,
news events, and the hours of the local
bike collective. In recognition of the outstanding success of the Davis Wiki, the founders were recently awarded a $350,000 grant to develop their
Local Wiki software for more general application, including intensive development of wikis in a number of pilot communities.
Many communities already have a wiki, though only a few have really taken off; with luck and a bit of a kickstart, the
experience of the Davis Wiki founders can be applied to make this invaluable resource available in more cities.
posted by kaibutsu
on Jul 29, 2010 -
46 comments
Lost Films, a project of the German Federal Cultural Foundation, is a wiki aimed at identifying the over 3500 films declared orphaned or lost in their archives. Other archivists and the public can go to the
Identify section and look at surviving photographs, film fragments, and documents, as well as comment and upload any materials of your own, just in case you had promo materials for some unidentified 1915 German war buddy comedy just lying around. (Via
Slate).
posted by Weebot
on Jul 9, 2010 -
6 comments
Play Pen - It's a Wiki-based pixel-art user-created point-and-click freeform adventure game/story/experience. Look, just go there and
do something.
posted by Jimbob
on Apr 20, 2010 -
18 comments
"...and as we have an endless abundance of MP3’s (we fucked up and made too many of them), anything you take from the library is yours to keep. You will not be notified if you fail to return something on time, and you will not lose your library privileges if you share selections with friends."
In 2003,
Conor Oberst (wiki) started the independent record label
Team Love (youtube). Offering the latest in the free music revolution, Team Love has established the
Team Love Library, offering up all of their albums for free.
posted by Lutoslawski
on Dec 12, 2008 -
14 comments
Cyberdyne. Works on robotic systems that shouldn't kill you unless you are named John Connor. And, maybe not then.
Cyberdyne. Works on robotic systems that could actually
help you walk.
Does it help any that they named it HAL?
posted by dwivian
on Oct 8, 2008 -
26 comments
"
Smugopedia is a collection of slightly controversial opinions about a variety of subjects. We offer you the chance to buy a fleeting sense of self-satisfaction at the small cost of alienating your friends and loved ones."
posted by PM
on Sep 5, 2008 -
28 comments
After an abysmal, embarrasing
attempt at collaborative fiction by Penguin Books, a new site takes a stab at the
Wikinovel, this time, it appears, with a little better organization and planning. Though, still no users.
posted by nospecialfx
on May 30, 2007 -
31 comments
WiserEarth is a user-editable relational database that aspires to list, categorize, and describe every non profit and civil society organization on Earth. It currently includes
104,
304 organizations which can be viewed by
name,
location, or
areas of focus. You can perform
complex searches. You can post (or search)
jobs,
events, and
resources. You can discuss areas of focus, such as
Urban Forestry,
Evolutionary Ecology, or
government oversight and reform. You can also
visualize the networks connecting these areas of focus and
the various organizations.
posted by alms
on May 9, 2007 -
6 comments
"Tired of the
LIBERAL BIAS every time you search on Google and a Wikipedia page appears?" At
Conservapedia, a "conservative encyclopedia you can trust," you can learn that "faith" is
a concept "exclusive to Christianity," and about how Wikipedia is
biased in matters such as its description of the Bell Trade Act of 1946, its gossipy treatment of the private life of NPR reporter Nina Totenberg, and its seeming acceptance of evolution. The Wikipedia bias entry also complains of a "rant" against the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, a group for which Conservapedia founder (and son of conservative gadfly
Phyllis Schafly)
Andrew Schlafly has worked. Signups are
here; its take on evolution is criticized
here.
posted by ibmcginty
on Feb 23, 2007 -
153 comments
"A Million Penguins is an experiment in creative writing and community. Anyone can join in. Anyone can write. Anyone can edit. Let’s see if the crowds are not only wise, but creative. Or will too many cooks spoil the broth?"
posted by goo
on Feb 1, 2007 -
39 comments
Wikiwords is a collaborative project to create a dictionary of all terms in all languages.
posted by anjamu
on Aug 11, 2006 -
18 comments
