User:Matt/Wikimania 2012/Random observations

The wiki philosophy is not an add-on, it’s essential to how the community operates. The community and the platform are one. Even the software development is connected this way.

The vibe is of a meeting between colleagues, albeit ones that mostly don’t know each other or work together; it is not of a normal conference of non-colleagues. The feeling of common purpose is very strong. The intentional community.

Fascinating how WMF devs are struggling with usability questions, just like everyone else. It’s about engagement, lowering the barriers to entry, user-friendly tools, more images, less text, not scaring noobs, etc.

Having networks and other community structure is a big advantage for corporate wikis. WMF wishes it had ways to communicate, connect, reach out, etc. They are having to retro-fit this to the community.

Jimmy Wales is amazingly community-oriented, humble, fair, and balanced.