Wikipedia talk:Meetup/Seattle3

Location[edit]

Some criteria about this consideration that are important to me (YMMV):

Parking. Seeing how I plan on driving up from Portland, this is the most important consideration: will there be ample (& hopefully free) parking available?
Refereshments. One gets dehydrated from talking: it's a known fact. It would be nice if we were somewhere that provided refreshments either free or for a cost. Beer is okay, but I'm probably more happy with coffee, tea, or the like. My concern with the meetings at the Seattle Public Library was that having beverages in the stacks area of a library is usually discouraged.
University location. This would be nice for the reason it helps to contribute some credibility to Wikipedia, & begins to build some bridges between us & academia. (Were this meetup help in Portland, I could get us a meeting space at PSU in the Student Commons there, even if it meant spending some of my own money.) Even if this connection at the moment is limited only to talking to a staff member, having our name appear at a University campus helps build familiarity in the right circles.
Location. Beyond the association with a University (UW would be good, but ISTR there are a few other universities/colleges in Seattle), this is a non-issue for me. I'll be driving a few hundred miles -- what is another 3 or 20?
Public notice. This if OT, but now that I'm writing, it occurs to me that perhaps we should publicize this beyond Wikipedia. I try to announce the meetings for my local Linux Users' Group on craigslist. Any suggestions for other media we should send announcements to?

Anyone care to respond? -- llywrch 20:21, 13 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Parking: U. District parking would be about $5 for the day. Up by my neighborhood would be free, but less well-served by buses (although there is a bus stop 2 minutes from my house).
Refreshments: easily done if we meet in a private space. Free obviously won't work if we use a restaurant or coffeehouse. Beer won't work if we want under-21s to be welcome.
University location tends to conflict with your previous goals. But if someone has a connection to the U.W. and can get us an on-campus room, I'd be fine with that.
Location: I'll keep making suggestions on the project page as I have them.
Public notice would, of course, be welcome. If we hold it in the U. District, flyering the coffeehouses might be a good thing to try. -- Jmabel | Talk 21:40, 13 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Suzzallo[edit]

I'm unfamiliar with this location. Would it have a private conference style room? Is it open to the public so that it's guaranteed we COULD meet there? SchmuckyTheCat 23:50, 15 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It is open to the public. It has group study rooms (although it appears you have to be UW student or staff to reserve them, is anyone able to do that for us?), I don't know about anything bigger. --Michael Snow 00:50, 16 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

There are some pretty large, almost livingroom-ish areas, similar to what we ended up using at the Downtown library. -- Jmabel | Talk 01:34, 16 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

My wife is a staff member at the UW, and could concievably reserve a room if I asked nicely (whether or not I am able to attend). I can't imagine she'd attend the meeting, however (her toleration of my occasional mania is not sufficiently high, I think), so I don't know if her simply placing her name on a reservation sheet would be enough for the rooms in Suzzallo, if she was not actually there on the day to confirm its use. If someone does the necessary investigation and determines her name on a piece of paper as a UW-affiliated person is sufficient, please let me know. Jwrosenzweig 09:17, 19 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Alternatively, I'd suggest the fairly open meeting area on the ground floor of the Allen addition to Suzzallo. It's visible, accessible, and not so close to the library stacks that our conversation would disturb others. Furthermore, if I recall correctly, there are a number of chairs that could be arranged easily enough, assuming we are no more than we were at the first meetup. Jwrosenzweig 09:20, 19 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

There are also some nice spaces on the 2nd floor of the Allen addition. I don't think we'll have any trouble finding a space; I volunteer to show up a bit early and scout. If someone else wanted to join me, that would be welcome. -- Jmabel | Talk 01:24, 20 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I think we should agree to meet somewhere easily accessible, for all the people unfamiliar w/ the library, and then head off into the stacks... I propose gathering in Suzzallo espresso, just to the right as you come into the main red square entrance, across from the exhibition room. Brassratgirl 19:15, 29 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that's a good rallying point; either we meet there, or put a sign there indicating clearly where we are. I'll have my cell phone with me, and while I don't want to post my number to the Internet, I'll gladly post it on a sign, if needed. -- Jmabel | Talk 01:07, 30 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Encarta[edit]

Let me know if this isn't the right place to post this sort of thing. I figured the talk section would be the most appropriate place to comment on what I read on the main Meetup page...

This, in particular, caught my attention.

It was pointed out that we really need to help people understand our process better, because Wikipedia is created by a large group of uncredentialed and often anonymous individuals. A contrast was made to Encarta, which began with the content of several conventional print encyclopedias and whose (small, carefully selected) group of senior editors are all have degrees in library science, so it is much closer to the conventional model of why one would rely on a book from a known publisher.

I wonder how many other Wikipedians, besides me, used to work at Encarta? (I was an indexer and proofreader there at various times from 1997-2002). I can say that the product was, and probably is still, full of errors, so even though their editors were more conventionally credentialed, it made less of a difference than one might have thought. --Lukobe 00:26, 17 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

One of the people attending was a former Encarta employee, which is a big reason the topic came up. The discussion wasn't really about criticizing Encarta; this person had good things to say about the experience there, but was also quite positive about Wikipedia and its potential. My personal assessment from the discussion is that Encarta would be a better product if more resources were devoted to it. However, I also have the impression that on the issue of whether Wikipedia is a direct competitor, Microsoft feels it has a lot less at stake than Britannica does. --Michael Snow 05:28, 17 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That was the very problem at Encarta--lack of resources. Too small a staff to make all the necessary fixes. I guess it's not much of a moneymaker for Microsoft, honestly. --Lukobe 07:37, 17 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

How to be notified about next meet?[edit]

Hi, I'm a Seattle Wikipedian and interested in the next meet, whenever we get around to doing that. But the page hasn't been created yet - what should I do or what page should I watch to be notified of the next meet so that I don't forget? Thanks. Deco 19:12, 10 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I've taken the liberty of copying your comment to Wikipedia talk:Meetup/Seattle4, which should pretty much guarantee that someone gets hold of you. - Jmabel | Talk 02:22, 16 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]