@stephenharrison.com.bsky.social
Tech lawyer and Wikipedia beat reporter (NYT, Slate, WIRED). Author of THE EDITORS. Newsletter: stephenharrison.com
I had a great conversation with @stephenharrison.com about how #Wikidata is quietly powering much of the digital infrastructure that we use every day. And the coolest part: you don't need to be a programmer to contribute. Small contributions can spread further than you might imagine.
#OpenData
"Your contributions to Wikidata spread so much further..." — @lydiapintscher.bsky.social, Portfolio Lead for Wikidata at Wikimedia Deutschland
Wikidata is the structured knowledge base with influence far outside of Wikipedia. I interviewed Lydia to find out how it works.
Dave Matthews, Sting, and Guster each covered "God Only Knows" in tribute to Brian Wilson, while Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong shared a cover of "I Get Around"
12.06.2025 13:16 — 👍 39 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0Overheard at Dallas City Hall: “Keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it.” —Molly Ivins
14.06.2025 17:17 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Gold and silver necklaces with 230 on them
My Section 230 necklaces are here! 🥰
13.06.2025 23:09 — 👍 109 🔁 4 💬 5 📌 0
Lawrence Wright on fiction/nonfiction
04.06.2025 19:50 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Has anyone seen research on whether AI-generated misinfo is more easily spotted in print? Already searched but curious if fellow humans have leads.
03.06.2025 18:13 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0A theory: one reason that this AI slop was so easily caught/widely mocked is because it appeared in print.
03.06.2025 18:13 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0you guys are being very cynical about this but the real explanation is that bears and Bigfoot are buddies. They like to hang out and do stuff together
03.06.2025 03:11 — 👍 6923 🔁 1206 💬 148 📌 42Klein goes on: "Part of what's happening when you spend seven hours reading a book is you spend seven hours with your mind on this topic. The idea that O3 can summarize it for you is nonsense. ChatGPT outputs don't impress themselves upon you. They don't change you."
02.06.2025 22:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Ezra Klein: I used to conceptualize knowledge the way you see it in 'The Matrix.' I thought reading was downloading information into your brain.
Now I think that what you're doing is spending time grappling with the text. Making connections through the process of grappling.
There is unfortunately a ton of racism in the comments on the TikTok videos with Gukesh’s victory
02.06.2025 17:06 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0
“Shouldn’t there be at least one component of our professional routine that doesn’t kill our soul?”
Yes, bring back after-work happy hours!!! Doesn’t have to be a drinking thing (mocktails and topo chicos are just fine, too)
slate.com/life/2025/05...
Hopefully the print renaissance also include large print editions for those who need!
26.05.2025 23:05 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Is this true, Gen Z? (The Revenge of Analog, David Sax)
26.05.2025 16:48 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0“The Moleskine notebook’s simple, unobtrusive design makes it feel like a natural extension of your body. It doesn’t interfere in your personal style, and because of this, it allows for an undiluted physical recording of your mood.”
—David Sax, Revenge of the Analog
This from @slate.com humanizes the latest AI slop story.
Yes, it's awful that this freelancer misused ChatGPT-- producing a "summer reading list" with fake titles
Yes, freelancers like Buscaglia face an impossible workload of low-paid media gigs that make LLMs tempting
slate.com/technology/2...
New piece from @antisomniac.bsky.social in @techpolicypress.bsky.social
20.05.2025 21:55 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
When Wikipedia works, it's because:
(1) The editors summarize existing publications (no original research)
(2) Decisions made by incremental consensus-building (not a democratic vote)
(3) Most editors care more about the project itself than pushing an agenda
www.techpolicy.press/what-attacks...
Did a roundup of my greatest hits from years of covering Wikipedia as a journalist.
www.sourcenotes.blog/p/wikipedia-...
Found it! Might have to resubscribe to the Economist to read this, or else use the Wikipedia Library
www.economist.com/business/202...
Don’t get me wrong, I see the value in decentralized peer production (I’ve written about this a lot). But not everything needs to work like Wikipedia.
17.05.2025 17:17 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0One reason modern life feels so stressful is the realization that our drafts are never really private anymore. Especially at work.
“Cool, this doc is finally ready to share… oh wait, it’s been on the company server getting nonstop comments and judgment since the first autosave.”
Big month for Wikipedia:
- Got a threatening letter from acting U.S. attorney Ed Martin challenging its nonprofit status
- Won a major free speech case before India's Supreme Court
- Now defending editor privacy against UK's flawed online safety act
Hat tip to @dflovett.bsky.social for the confessional post and analysis
12.05.2025 21:18 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
This guy edited the new pope's Wikipedia page to say he was a Cubs fan—everyone was saying it, and there was a source (USA Today) to back it up.
Then the new pope's brother confirmed that Leo has always been a White Sox fan.
Lesson: Verifiability ≠ truth.
edithistory.substack.com/p/i-edited-p...
Vatican News Pope Leo XIV to Cardinals: Church must respond to digital revolution
they're going to put indulgences on the blockchain
10.05.2025 14:02 — 👍 819 🔁 81 💬 46 📌 9
Reuters: India Supreme Court reverses article takedown order against Wikipedia’s nonprofit organization
The free encyclopedia is still free.
www.reuters.com/world/india/...
Wikipedia has been blocked in China. Fined in Russia. Editors jailed in Saudi Arabia.
Now the American far-right wants to strip its nonprofit status.
I spoke with Vox’s Today Explained about the letter Wikipedia received from the acting U.S. attorney in D.C.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
