User:Nsh/History-flow-request-email

Draft email to IBM asking about plans they have with their History Flow software. See http://research.ibm.com/history/index.htm

Possible targets

• cambridge_research@us.ibm.com (The department who did the study)
• Martin Wattenberg

Research Staff Member, IBM. Martin works on new visualization methods for complex data sets. In the past he has created visualizations in domains ranging from finance (SmartMoney Map of the Market) to music (Shape of Song). mwatten@us.ibm.com

• Fernanda B. Viégas

Graduate student, MIT Media Laboratory. Fernanda is fascinated by the historical aspect of online social data; her current work focuses on visualizing large datasets of personal and communal online interactions. Previous work includes creating graphical interfaces for mediated communication (ChatCircles). fviegas@media.mit.edu

There's no reason, of course, why we couldn't ask them all.

Why this would be cool

All code is cool. But besides that, people often inquire as to who is the biggest editor to a particular article or how diverse an articles authors are. People also like to see where a particular passage of text has originated (hopefully not always to bitch at the author ;-). So blah blah blah, this would be a cool tool.

Email

Dear <Recipient>,

Hi. First of all, I think it's apt for us to thank you for taking an interest in the Wikipedia project. Apologies are also in order for not attempting to contact to you earlier. At Wikipedia, there are few things we enjoy more than seeing the project in the press, not through vanity, but because the quality of Wikipedia increases with the number of users, something I'm sure you understand. However, this story brought particular joy because it was above the average reaction of "What, anyone can edit?" or just "Wow, this is amazing". The research involved is genuinely interesting for a large number of Wikipedians who often meditate on the dynamics of their collaborative model.

Despite the highly flexible and well developed mediawiki software, people very often request further information on the history of an article than is available (or summarised) by the history page and its assorted cousins. Tools such as that of being able to trace the origins of a passage in an article would be of invaluable aid to many Wikipedians, as would being able to identify the core contributor(s). This is useful not just for improving the article, but because people are increasingly perusing Wikipedia as a resource for anwering questions and solving problems which don't lend themselves easisy to being written about directly. Such queries can be found on the Wikipedia reference desk and transiently in the main IRC channel (Freenode #wikipedia).

While there are people working on external tools to aid Wikipedia editing and or analysis - most notably the Wikipedia Firefox extension - they are mostly in their infancy or theoretical stage, whereas - at least from appearances (we all know what a hack research code can be) - the History Flow software appears to be well developed in features and interface. As such, if you have already guessed, it occurs to ask as to the copyright and release status of the software involved. Understandably, you may have no intention of releasing the code, as such research tools are often bespoke and not suited to public use. However, we are blessed, by virtue perhaps of pure number but also atributable to the general "nerdiness" of the Wikipedian demographic - with great human resources in the programming field. So, in conclusion, it would be considered most generous and humanitarian if we could adapt the code used in the History Flow software. A free license, such as the GPL, would be most practiable method of granting us this humble request.

Regardless of the outcome, your efforts in researching in publicising Wikipedia, in addition to the time taken to read this letter, is greatly appreciated. Your further corespondance is eagerly awaited.

Yours sincerely, etc

-<Sender>