New Hobby
(this news item posted on April.09.2007)
Last year I started doing research for a book I will write some day called Alexandria. It's actually two books. It's historical fiction about Northern Africa in the 1300s.
One of the absolute best places I found to conduct said research was Wikipedia. There is SO MUCH information to be had there and more every day. I read about the 1200s and the 1300s until my eyes were about to bleed.
Then I got a bit sidetracked. I began to look up everything I was curious about. And then I discovered that if you saw a spelling or gramatical error anywhere on wikipedia you could just fix it right then and there. And then I figured out that if information was missing you could add it. And then I found out you could spend the rest of your life on Wikipedia because stuff gets added even faster than you'd be able to read it all. It's kinda mind boggling.
So, after a while I extricated my brain from the Wikipedia and got back to doing research and every once in a while I'd write an article. It's kind of fun. And kinda nerdy. And pretty interesting. And ultimately useful I think.
I have a few long term goals on the Wikipedia:
* I'd like to get some of the mainstream cultural bias out of the articles about adoption and put some reality in.
* I'd like to make the articles on polyamory a bit more interesting.
* I'd like to create more pages for progressive artists and activists that deserve entries but don't have them.
And my ultimate long term goal is to do something big enough that an article that can be written about me that won't get deleted.
Anyway, this journal entry is starting to feel more like a confession of a guilty pleasure so I think I'll just end it here and post it before I end up deleting it.
be Peace,
-Alex
One of the absolute best places I found to conduct said research was Wikipedia. There is SO MUCH information to be had there and more every day. I read about the 1200s and the 1300s until my eyes were about to bleed.
Then I got a bit sidetracked. I began to look up everything I was curious about. And then I discovered that if you saw a spelling or gramatical error anywhere on wikipedia you could just fix it right then and there. And then I figured out that if information was missing you could add it. And then I found out you could spend the rest of your life on Wikipedia because stuff gets added even faster than you'd be able to read it all. It's kinda mind boggling.
So, after a while I extricated my brain from the Wikipedia and got back to doing research and every once in a while I'd write an article. It's kind of fun. And kinda nerdy. And pretty interesting. And ultimately useful I think.
I have a few long term goals on the Wikipedia:
* I'd like to get some of the mainstream cultural bias out of the articles about adoption and put some reality in.
* I'd like to make the articles on polyamory a bit more interesting.
* I'd like to create more pages for progressive artists and activists that deserve entries but don't have them.
And my ultimate long term goal is to do something big enough that an article that can be written about me that won't get deleted.
Anyway, this journal entry is starting to feel more like a confession of a guilty pleasure so I think I'll just end it here and post it before I end up deleting it.
be Peace,
-Alex
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