BaltoCo-News

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[edit] The Baltimore Collective Newsletter 2008 Aug

[edit] The Baltimore Collective Newsletter 2008 Aug

WELCOME! to the Baltimore Collective Monthly e-News!
a community recollection of things uniquely Baltimore
 
   Subscribers will receive only 12 emails a year, keeping you up-
   to-date on the latest joys, triumphs & challenges of Baltimore's 
   MediaWiki cultural archive.  The name Baltimore Collective and our 
   easier-to-type nickname, BaltoCo.org, are used here interchangeably.
 
   Please fwd this newsletter to interested friends, neighbors &
   colleagues.  You can sign off or onto this e-list at anytime 
   via our Google group site, or by contacting us:

• BaltoCo-News Google Group
http://groups.google.com/group/BaltoCo-News

• The Baltimore Collective Friends & Curators Google Group
http://groups.google.com/group/BaltoCo

• The Baltimore Collective Contact page
http://BaltoCo.org/wiki/BaltoCo:Contact
Phone:  (443) 629-0334

• This monthly newsletter is archived, here
http://BaltoCo.org/wiki/BaltoCo-News

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VITAL STATS — BaltoCo ANALYTICS

   We've got about 40 subscribers on the BaltoCo-News list.

   The BaltoCo.org wiki site gets about 300 page-views per day 
   (2,000+ page-views per week).  These numbers have been consistent 
   for some months now.  Most 'hits' are from Google searches landing 
   directly on a specific page.  Click on these Google links for a 
   couple of examples:

• Google Searches that land on BaltoCo.org pages
http://google.com/search?q="Crater+Baltimore+Committee"
http://google.com/search?q="No+Pants+Day"+Baltimore

   You can always check in on Baltimore Collective Stats, and our 
   current Top-75 wiki-pages, listed here:

• BaltoCo Stats
http://BaltoCo.org/wiki/Special:Statistics

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NEW PAGES ON BaltoCo

   In July, our community added several new wiki-pages, including:

• Greenfields Nursery at Falls Road & Northern Parkway
http://BaltoCo.org/wiki/Green_Fields_Nursery

• A cool technology group calling itself DorkBot Baltimore
http://BaltoCo.org/wiki/Dorkbot

• Baltimore Bar Crawl
http://BaltoCo.org/wiki/Bar_crawl

• Baltimore's Transmodern Festival & performance artist Ric Royer
http://BaltoCo.org/wiki/Ric_Royer

• A preliminary page for the Streetcar Museum
http://BaltoCo.org/wiki/Streetcar_Museum

• Help for smarter, clickable images on your wiki-page 
http://BaltoCo.org/wiki/Help:Images2

• You can always check in on Recent Changes to the wiki, here
http://BaltoCo.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Recentchanges

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MEETUPS — BaltoCo WIKI-PAGING WORKSHOPS

   The Baltimore Collective has contacted the Waverly Public Library, 
   near the corner of 33rd St. & Greenmount Ave., about meeting up 
   there on a Saturday in late September:

   http://www.PrattLibrary.org/locations/waverly/  

   Come to our wiki-paging workshop, where you can create some new 
   articles for your community history or project.  Please let us 
   know what dates and times would be best:  9/13/2008, 9/20/2008 
   or 9/27/2008?  See contact info above.
 
   In January of 2009, we hope to meetup again, back at the historic
   Edgar Allan Poe Room of Pratt Central Library.  We may also invite 
   other regional Wikipedians & WikiMedians, for our 1st anniversary!
 
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ISO MISSING PAINTINGS FROM ARTSCAPE

   Baltimore artist Mars Tokyo painted 2 gorgeous circus-sideshow 
   canvases, depicting the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM), 
   for the recent Artscape Festival.  The Baltimore Collective has 
   been running images of these posters on our homepage and on our 
   Facebook page, in the hopes that they will be returned swiftly 
   and safely, so that everyone can enjoy these marvelous works:

• AVAM Posters on the Baltimore Collective homepage
http://BaltoCo.org

• AVAM Posters on the Baltimore Collective Facebook page
http://facebook.com/pages/The-Baltimore-Collective/26871949824
 
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CONTROVERSY — THE IMAGE OF BILLIE HOLIDAY

   The Baltimore Collective homepage features a historic portrait of
   Baltimore Jazz diva Billie Holiday, lifted from Wikipedia.  The 
   photograph is by Carl Van Vechten:

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Holiday
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Van_Vechten

   We try to use visual & textual content that is either given to 
   BaltoCo.org by the authors, is in the public domain or is licensed 
   under the Creative Commons. 
   
   A web visitor writes:
      "The use of that image of Billie Holiday, with the off-the-
      shoulder garmentia, seems exploitive in the context of this 
      site.  Given her drug addiction, desperation and history 
      of being sexually abused, you're kind of perpetuating the 
      unearned intimacy/male gaze cr*p, IMO.  Not helpful!"

• Billie Holiday critique
http://BaltoCo.org/wiki/Talk:Main_Page

   It's a priority of the Baltimore Collective to honor the lifework
   of Billie Holiday and all Baltimore musicians in ways that are 
   deserving of their great contributions.  Please consider working 
   on wiki-pages, images & links that celebrate Billie Holiday & 
   all of Baltimore's cultural history.  We will always be looking 
   for more open-content images and other media, including poetry.

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Q&A — ASK THE BALTIMORE COLLECTIVE

   Q:  Why not Wikipedia.org?  If anyone in Baltimore can create and 
   edit wiki articles on Wikipedia's huge website, why do we need a
   local version running the same software?  

   Natty Boh
 

   A:  That's a good question, Mr. Boh.  It may surprise you that
   Wikipedia actually discourages a wide range of localized content, 
   including original thought, directory listings (particularly 
   Baltimore listings :) and memorial pages.  One of our most popular 
   wiki-pages is in memory of conceptual artist Peter Zahorecz, which 
   would be explicitly excluded from Wikipedia, along with Rupert 
   Wondolowski's beautiful poem, I Remember Peter Pan:

• What Wikipedia is Not
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:What_Wikipedia_is_not

• Rupert's poem, I Remember Peter Pan
http://BaltoCo.org/wiki/Peter_Zahorecz 


We'll see you in September!  And online @ BaltoCo.org 
Aug 2008 © The Baltimore Collective