Rewrite History

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 rewrite of Sarah Palin’s wikipedia page. WikiScanner creator Virgil Griffith (also known as Romanpoet in the hacker community) 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 at Santa Fe Complex. Admissionis free but a $5.00 contribution is suggested to help defer the costs of the event.

Virgil describes Wikipedia as “. . . 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 in Wikipedia designed to buff up a reputation or rearrange a page. 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 will speak on Monday, September 15 at 6:00 for an informal discussion of his work, the future of wikis and questions from his audience.

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.