User:Conor Kenny/Archive

From SourceWatch
Jump to navigation Jump to search

I'm the managing editor of the Congresspedia project on SourceWatch. It's my job to help out citizen editors and sysops with any needs they might have, blog about Congress and Congresspedia, resolve disputes, recruit new editors and help develop the wiki, as well as making edits, correcting errors and checking facts like any other editor. I also work with the staff of the Sunlight Foundation, the co-operators of Congresspedia.

I used to work for Congress Watch division of Public Citizen, a national, non-profit public-interest organization. At Congress Watch I spent several years researching and reporting on influence and corruption in the federal government. I studied political economy at Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA and Deep Springs College in California. I live in Washington, DC.

My full bio is here. This is my personal page. If you'd like to leave me a message, leave it on my talk page.

"I dearly love the state of Texas, but I consider that a harmless perversion on my part, and discuss it only with consenting adults." -Molly Ivins (Yeah, I"m from Texas)

Current meta-SourceWatch/Congresspedia projects

Revamping Help pages

Actions on SourceWatch/CP

Meta projects not started yet

Debating points on SourceWatch

Wikipedia has put a lot of thought into this and in general I'd like to move SourceWatch away from depending on case-by-case judgments from the sysops and managing editors. This should include a way of debating topics on SourceWatch.

bit.ly

[0.appendChild(o);})();window.location='twitterrific:///post?message='+escape(o.data) is.gd]

Original research policies

  • Wikipedia has a policy banning synthesis of sources to advance a point (WP:SYN) as part of its policy on no original research. We need to write a more complete policy on original research for SourceWatch and I think I have no problem with what is banned under WP:SYN. This should be looked at thoroughly, however.

Keeping track of changes

Headline feeds

Updating OpenTasks through the pearlebot

Navigation templates and boxes

Opening up the policy-making process

Differences between Wikipedia and SourceWatch

Articles that need revamping:

Current research projects

Thoughts on design

One of the things I think about a lot is the design and display of SourceWatch and Congresspedia. If you like, you can see my notes on the matter and share some wisdom with me:

Useful shortcuts

Things I'm looking at that are cool

Thoughts on wikis and news

  • "Most notably, wikis can transcend the short attention span and fragmented view of issues and events inherent in traditional story-format reporting. With a wiki, no topic ever really "scrolls off the home page." Wiki pages are forever active -- even if they lie fallow for long stretches of time. And interested people can continue to watch and edit these pages indefinitely."
    - Amy Gahran, "Where Are the News Org Wikis?" Poynter Online, March 20, 2007.

Stuff of utility to me

Congress upcoming week news

These are other sources of upcoming-week-in-Congress news: