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A quick reminder--don't miss this one if you're interested in the political campaign season & in SFe next Monday.
Begin forwarded message: Date: September 11, 2008 5:10:22 PM MDT Subject: sfx News: Romanpoet (aka Virgil Griffith) to Speak on September 15 at 6:00
 | Un-hacking Wikipedia:
Who's Editing that
Wikimedia Page?
| Virgil Griffith speaks at Santa Fe Complex, 632 Agua Fria, on September 15th at 6:00 p.m. Parking is available from via Romero St. Admission is free but a $5.00 contribution is suggested. Light refreshments will be available. For more information, call 505/216.7562 or visit sfcomplex.org.
| | | | | | | | Wiki Edits I've Known
and Loved
Don't Like History? Rewrite It.
|  We can expect the electoral campaign season to be filled with the usual rewrites of history, similar to the recent New York Times story on the changes made to Sarah Palin's wikipedia page the night before she was introduced as John McCain's running mate. WikiScanner creator Virgil Griffith (aka Romanpoet) will offer his analysis of the various ways people and corporations try to rewrite history--or, at least, their Wikipedia pages--on September 15 at 6:00. Admission is free but a $5.00 contribution is suggested. Virgil, a graduate student in computation and neural systems at Caltech, spends his weekends using "data-mining to make the Internet a better and more interesting place." He is also a visiting researcher at the Santa Fe Institute where he studies emergence and innovation in evolutionary systems and the dynamics of living systems Virgil describes Wikipedia as "Wikipedia is a staple of the Internet user's information diet." That isn't necessarily good, however, as he cautions: "Because of this, Wikipedia is also laden with manipulation, forgery, and the downright unscrupulous." Which leads to his current passion--or, at least one of his passions--tracking down the clandestine edits designed to buff up a reputation in Wikipedia. As the New York Times says, "Griffith created a computer program to unmask Wikipedia vandals." That program, WikiScanner, offers trackbacks to the networks used when anyone changes a Wikipedia page. While it can't tell who made the edits, it points in the direction of the editor. That means a bit more sleuthing can, potentially, identify the culprit. Virgil speaks at Santa Fe Complex on Monday, September 15 at 6:00 for an informal discussion of his work, the future of wikis and questions from his audience. | What Can You Do? As a follow-on to Virgil Griffith's discussion of Wikipedia edits, Santa Fe Complex will host a three-part seminar on using the Internet to understand the infomation and disinformation in the current national and local political campaign. Journalist and professor Tom Johnson will lead the sessions. Participants will have assignments and will help build a wiki that can be used by the general public this fall in New Mexico. Click here more information. | Virgil Griffith News and Info
| - Official Site: Virgil Griffith
- Wikipedia: Virgil Griffith
- Official Site: The WikiScanner
 - ABC News: Wiki-Revise: CIA, Politicians, Microsoft Change Their Wikipedia Entries (August 14, 2007)
- Wired Blog: Vote on the Most Shameful Wikipedia Spin Jobs (August 13, 2007)
- NPR: Scanner Tracks Who's Changing What on Wikipedia (August 16, 2007)
- Lifehacker: Identify anonymous edits with Wikipedia Scanner (August 15, 2007)
- Reuters: CIA, FBI computers used for Wikipedia edits (August 16, 2007)
- New York Times: Seeing Corporate Fingerprints in Wikipedia Edits (August 19, 2007)
- Wired: See Who's Editing Wikipedia: Diebold, the CIA, a Campaign (August 14, 2007)
| | Coming Event: Richard Bassara Concert Kicks Off Occam's Razor Festivities |  In the spirit of Occam's Razor, Robert Bassara will offer a "Symphony of the Solo String" on Saturday, September 27 beginning at 7:00 pm.
Bassara, a world traveler, artist, and ethno-musicologist, will play some of the simplest and most exotically named instruments -- with exotic names like ecktar, birembaud, winged thing, kyi tzi, jaws a phone, breathe flute, bird flute and ker pe -- in this one-night performance. His performance is a prologue to the Occam's Razor show, which opens on October 18th.
Bassara has collected, borrowed, modified, invented, designed, handcrafted or fabricated all the instruments he plays. He will be joined by several other musicians in concert as well as the artists whose work will be displayed in the actual show. The concert is free; a contribution of $5.00 is suggested. Click here for more information.
| | Come Visit Us
|  Santa Fe Complex is located in the Railyard Art District within walking distance of the hotels, restaurants and shops at the plaza downtown. We're housed in two facilities, the project space at 624 Agua Fria and the work space at 632 Agua Fria. The conference area contains meeting rooms and facilities for short-term use associated with on-going sfComplex projects. The project space houses the great room, where we hold events and offer Internet access, working facilities, a coffee lounge and work carrels for laptop users. While there is parking at 624 Agua Fria, the Romero Street parking lot is more conveniently located for the 632 facility. Romero St. is an old-style Santa Fe ox-cart road just east of the 624 driveway. Follow it until it opens up to two lanes and turn hard right into the parking lot for 632. Here's a map to our location, a representative shot showing the Railyard District and a sketchup drawing of the facility at 632. For more information, call 505/216.7562 or click here. | Don Begley
Managing Director
Santa Fe Complex
624 Agua Fria St
Santa Fe, NM 87501
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