Category: 4. Society-at-large
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Design and Implementation of Wiki Content Transformations and Refactorings [WikiSym 2013]
Abstract: The organic growth of wikis requires constant attention by contributors who are willing to patrol the wiki and improve its content structure. However, most wikis still only offer textual editing and even wikis which offer WYSIWYG editing do not assist the user in restructuring the wiki. Therefore, “gardening” a wiki is a tedious and…
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Call for Proposals: 2nd Open Data Dialog
November 18-19, 2013, Berlin “Open data has the potential to transform society, government and the economy, from how we travel to work to how we decide to vote,” declared Rufus Pollock, co-founder of Open Knowledge Foundation, at the 1st International Open Data Dialog, which took place in December 2012 in Berlin. With this year’s motto…
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On the Technology Behind the Wikipedia Sexism Debate on “American Women Novelists”
The English Wikipedia is currently embroiled in a debate on sexism (local copy), because of classifying female American novelists as “American Women Novelists” while leaving male American novelists in the more general category “American Novelists”, suggesting a subordinate role of female novelists. I find this debate regrettable for the apparent sexism but also interesting for…
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Call for Participation: OC13 – Open Commons Kongress in Linz, Austria, 2013-05-14
Please consider participating in the Open Commons Kongress, OC13, in Linz, Austria (I’m on the advisory board.) More information below (in German). [DR] OC13 – Open Commons Kongress 14.05.2013, 9:00 – 16:30 Uhr Wissensturm Linz, Austria Lernen und Leben mit digitalen Gemeingütern Zum zweiten Mal veranstaltet die Johannes Kepler Universität Linz und die Open Commons…
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Looking Back on One Year of Public Policy Consulting
2012 was the year when I first did some serious public policy consulting. I found it quite informative to see how politicians work and what the impact of lobbyists is. I’m a professor of computer science at a German technical university. I also have an M.B.A. from Stanford. I consult on open source, software development,…
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Why Open Source is Good for German Software Businesses
I’m on the expert advisory committee of one of the German parties for the current “Internet Enquette”, a commission tasked by the German parliament with suggesting future directions for Germany’s stance toward the Internet and everything digital. At a meeting this evening, a lobbyist confided in me: “Open source is bad for German software vendors!”…